Chapter XII: Kidnapped

As a dark colored cab stopped in front of the Nichols residence, Penny ran to the curbing before the driver could alight.

"You were sent here to take me to my father?" she asked.

"Yes, Miss."

The driver kept his head lowered so that Penny could not see his face clearly, but she was too troubled to notice anything wrong.

"Is Father badly hurt?" she questioned anxiously.

"I can't tell you, Miss. I was only told to come here for you."

The driver opened the door, and Penny stepped into the car. They sped away.

Presently Penny noticed that the taxi man seemed to be avoiding the main streets of the city. She thought little of it until she chanced to catch a glimpse of the driver's face in the mirror. She had never viewed such a hardened countenance. The man appeared to be watching her every move. It gave her a sudden chill.

"Where is my father?" she questioned abruptly.

"At a house out in the country," the driver returned gruffly.

"I didn't even know that he had left the city," Penny said suspiciously. "Tell me, how was he injured?"

"I don't know any of the details. You'll have to wait until you get there."

Penny leaned back against the cushions, to all appearances, reassured. Actually, she was terrified. The conviction was steadily growing in her mind that she had been the victim of treachery. She was almost certain that she was being kidnapped. How decidedly stupid she had been to walk into such a trap!

Penny felt actually sick as she considered the possible consequence of falling into the hands of the Molberg gang. It was not for herself that she feared but for her father. She knew him well enough to realize that he would sacrifice everything to be assured of her safety.

"If I let on that I suspect something is wrong it will only put the driver on his guard," she thought. "My best chance is to act innocent and watch for an opportunity to jump out of the car."

Already they were speeding along a dark, country road. On either side, the highway was lined with tall maples and oak trees. Houses were few and far between.

Penny tried to make careful mental note of the route they were taking from the city. It was difficult to distinguish objects for they were traveling rapidly.

As they turned into a bumpy, winding narrow road which led up a steep hill, Penny's uneasiness increased. From the manner in which the driver surveyed the roadside, she guessed that the wild ride was nearly ended.

"It's now or never," she told herself grimly.

The car had slowed down for the hill. Watching her chance, Penny made a sudden dive for the door. It was locked.

She located the catch, but not until the driver had managed to halt the car. With an enraged snarl he caught her roughly by the arm just as she flung open the door.

Penny wriggled from his grasp and started to run down the road.

"Stop or I'll shoot!" the driver shouted furiously.

Penny paid no heed. She raced as fast as she could go down the hill.

The driver, an agile man despite his heavy build, took up the pursuit. Penny could hear his feet pounding on the hard road behind her. He was gaining.

Her breath began to come with increasing difficulty. She could run no faster.

At the foot of the hill Penny noticed an automobile without headlights. She was sure it had not been parked there a few minutes earlier when the cab had passed. Had some of Rap Molberg's men followed the taxi? In that event, she was running straight into another trap.

Penny had no choice but to continue toward the waiting automobile. But as three men sprang from behind it with drawn revolvers, her heart sank within her. Her brave attempt at escape must end in failure.

A stone lay in the road. Penny did not see it. She stumbled, and, completely exhausted, fell face downward into the dirt.

"Stay where you are!" a cool voice ordered. "Don't move!"

She remained as she was, prone upon the ground. A revolver barked. There was a flash of fire dangerously close by. An answering bullet from the opposite direction whizzed over her head.

The three men moved cautiously up the hill. They had their quarry covered.

"Drop your gun!" came the sharp order.

The taxi driver mutely obeyed. As handcuffs were snapped over his wrists, Penny hurried forward to view her rescuers. One of the men she instantly recognized as a detective employed by her father; the other two she had never before seen.

"How did you get here?" she gasped.

"We've been trailing you all day," the investigator explained as he deftly searched his prisoner for concealed weapons. "The entire week for that matter. Your father's orders."

"You mean he's had me shadowed?" Penny demanded indignantly.

"Mr. Nichols was afraid something like this might be attempted."

"I guess it was lucky for me that I was trailed," Penny acknowledged gratefully. "Otherwise, I'd have been kidnapped."

She watched as the prisoner was led to the waiting car.

"Do you know who he is?" she asked a detective.

"Looks like Angel Face Myers, one of Molberg's boys. Can't be sure 'till we've mugged and finger-printed him at the station."

The three men from the Nichols Agency plied the prisoner with sharp questions. He maintained a sullen silence.

"I'd guess he was taking Miss Nichols to that abandoned house at the top of the hill," one of the detectives surmised shrewdly. "I'll stay here and guard the prisoner while you fellows investigate the place. Don't let anyone get away from you."

The other two detectives disappeared into the darkness. Twenty minutes later they returned to report that they had found no one at the old house, although there was evidence of a hurried departure. The shots previously fired by the detectives had served as a warning.

Riding back to the city with the handcuffed prisoner, Penny wondered how faithfully her father's investigators had followed her movements of the evening. Had they noted her call at the Davis home or the visit she and Susan had paid to the Hamilton building?

"I suppose I've been trailed everywhere to-night," she ventured conversationally.

"You almost gave us the slip," one of the detectives told her with a smile. "In fact, you did for awhile."

"When was that?"

"Right after you left the library."

"You turned off somewhere and we lost you for a time. Didn't locate you again until you turned up at your own home."

Penny was relieved. The detectives could not possibly be aware of the secret entrance into the Hamilton Plant. She would still be the first to report the discovery to her father.

The detectives dropped Penny at her own home after explaining that it might be necessary for her to appear in court later on to identify the prisoner.

"I'll be very glad to do it," Penny promised.

As she ran up the front steps the door was flung open and Mrs. Gallup rushed out to meet her. She flung her arms about the girl.

"Penny!" she cried tremulously. "How thankful I am that you are safe! Your father came home fifteen minutes ago. Then we knew that the telephone call was a fake."

"Where is Dad now?"

"He started for the police station."

"Then I guess he'll learn the truth in a few minutes if he's still there."

"Tell me what happened, Penny."

In the midst of the tale, a car was heard on the driveway, and a minute later Mr. Nichols entered the house. Although he was never inclined to be demonstrative, the detective clasped his daughter in his arms and Penny noticed that his hands trembled slightly.

"I've just heard the entire story at the police station," he told her. "You gave me a terrific scare, Penny."

"I gave myself one, too. If it hadn't been for your men who shadowed me, I'm afraid I'd never have returned to tell the tale."

"I doubt that the gangsters would have actually harmed you, but they would have used you as a weapon to strike back at me. I am sorry about having you trailed, Penny, but you understand my position. I was afraid of this very thing."

"It's all right," Penny smiled. "Only your men aren't so clever at keeping me in sight. I unintentionally gave them the slip earlier in the evening."

Mrs. Gallup had gone to the kitchen to prepare sandwiches and an iced drink. Taking advantage of her absence, Penny gave a detailed report of her visit to the Hamilton Plant. At first her father listened almost incredulously.

"It sounds fantastic, Penny. And yet, it's just the sort of trickery which would appeal to Rap Molberg. You say the door is operated by means of a photo-electric cell?"

"That's what I think. At least when the beam of my light struck a certain spot on the wall, the door opened."

Mr. Nichols arose and paced rapidly back and forth across the floor.

"I'm going to take you into my confidence, Penny," he said quietly. "For days my men have been circling in on Rap and his gang. We've located one of their hideouts, and we're raiding the place tomorrow night. It now seems advisable to surround the Hamilton building simultaneously. Then there will be no chance that any of the crooks can use the underground ramp to make a get-away."

"Will the police make the raid?" Penny inquired curiously.

"Yes and no. So far I have taken only one man into my confidence."

"And who is that?"

"Jerome Davis."

"I was at his house this evening," Penny announced. "A threatening note was thrown through the window while I was there."

She repeated the contents of the message.

"No doubt it came from the Molberg gang," her father said. "They are doing everything in their power to intimidate Jerome Davis. But I believe he is a man who can be trusted. Tomorrow night at eleven o'clock he will be ready with a picked group of policemen. No one but himself will know any of the details of the raid until it is actually on. In that way there will be almost no danger of the information leaking out."

"Where is this other hideout which is to be raided?"

"I can't tell you that. It isn't that I don't trust you, but sometimes an unguarded word will destroy the work of weeks."

"I guess it's just as well I don't know too much about it ahead of time," Penny agreed.

The conversation was checked as Mrs. Gallup came from the kitchen with a tray of sandwiches and a tall pitcher of fruit juice. For a time Penny and her father confined their talk to less vital subjects. But when the housekeeper had gone from the room again, Mr. Nichols took up the matter where it had been dropped.

"If my raids tomorrow night are successful, it will end the case. We may need you, Penny, to show the officers how to get into the Hamilton building."

"I'd like to help," she assured him eagerly.

"Good," Mr. Nichols said warmly as he picked up the evening paper. "Until the appointed hour, don't go near the Plant. And mind, not a word of this to anyone."