登陆注册
15385000000116

第116章

A sort of up-to-date game of holdup! The penalty of being a wealthy man! If you had named your figure to begin with, we would have saved a lot of idle talk, and you would have had my answer the sooner: NOTHING!""Do you know," said the other, in a grimly musing way, "there has always been one man, but only one until now, that I have wished Imight add to my present associates.I refer to the so-called Gray Seal.To-night there are two.I pay you the compliment of being the other.But"--he was smiling ominously again--"we are wasting time, Mr.Dale.I am willing to expose my hand to the extent of admitting that the information you are withholding is infinitely more valuable to me than the mere wreaking of reprisal upon you for a refusal to talk.Therefore, if you will answer, I pledge you my word you will be free to leave here within five minutes.If you refuse, you are already aware of the alternative.Well, Mr.Dale?"Who was this man? Jimmie Dale was studying the other's chin, the lips, the white, even teeth, the jet-black hair.Some day the tables might be turned.Could he recognise again this cool, imperturbable ruffian who so callously threatened him with murder?

"Well, Mr.Dale? I am waiting!"

"I am not a magician," said Jimmie Dale contemptuously."I could not answer your questions if I wanted to."The other's hand slid instantly to a row of electric buttons on the desk.

"Very well, Mr.Dale!" he said quietly."You do not believe, I see, that I would dare to carry my threat into execution; you perhaps even doubt my power.I shall take the trouble to convince you--Iimagine it will stimulate your memory."

The door opened.Two men were standing on the threshold, both in evening dress, both masked.The man behind the desk came forward, took Jimmie Dale's arm almost courteously, and led him from the room out into a corridor, where he halted abruptly.

"I want to call your attention first, Mr.Dale, to the fact that as far as you are concerned you neither have now, nor ever will have, any idea whether you are in the heart of New York or fifty miles away from it.Now, listen! Do you hear anything?"There was nothing.Only the strange silence of that other room was intensified now.There was not a sound; stillness such as it seemed to Jimmie Dale he had never experienced before was around him.

"You may possibly infer from the silence that you are NOT in the city," suggested the other, after a moment's pause."I leave you to your own conclusions in that respect.The cause, however, of the silence is internal, not external; we had sound-proof principles in mind to a perhaps exaggerated degree when this building was constructed.If you care to do so, you have my permission to shout, say, for help, to your heart's content.We shall make no effort to stop you."Jimmie Dale shrugged his shoulders.He was staring down a brilliantly lighted, richly carpeted corridor.There were doors on one side, windows on the other, the windows all hung with heavy, closely drawn portieres.The corridor was certainly not on the ground floor, but whether it was on the second or third, or even above that again, he had no means of knowing.From appearances, though, the place seemed more like a large, private mansion than anything else.

"Just one word more before we proceed," continued the other."I do not wish you to labour under any illusion.Here we are frankly criminals.This is our home.It should have some effect in impressing you with the power and resource at our command, and also with the class of men with whom you are dealing.There is not one among us whose education is not fully equal to your own; not one, indeed, but who is chosen, granting first his criminal tendencies, because he is a specialist in his own particular field--in commerce, in the government diplomatic service, in the professions of law and medicine, in the ranks of pure science.We are bordering on the fantastical, are we not? Dreaming, you will probably say, of the Utopian in crime organisation.Quite so, Mr.Dale.I only ask you to consider the POSSIBILITIES if what I say is true.Now let us proceed.I am going to take you into three rooms--the three whose doors you see ahead of you.You will notice that, including the one you have just left, there are four on this corridor.I do not wish to strain your credulity, or play tricks upon you; so I am going to ask you to fix an approximate idea of the length of the corridor in your mind, as it will perhaps enable you to account more readily for what may appear to be a discrepancy in the corresponding size of the rooms."One of the men opened the door ahead.Jimmie Dale, at a sign from his conductor, moved forward and entered.Just what he had expected to find he could not have told; his brain was whirling, partly from his aching head, partly from his desperate effort to conceive some way of escape from the peril which, for all his nonchalance, he knew only too well was the gravest he had ever faced; but what he saw was simply a cozily furnished bedroom.There was nothing peculiar about it; nothing out of the way, except perhaps that it was rather narrow.

同类推荐
  • 含中集

    含中集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 谷风之什

    谷风之什

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 便宜十六策

    便宜十六策

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 云峰集

    云峰集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 律宗问答

    律宗问答

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 创世别传

    创世别传

    江山如画,往事如烟,千秋功过由尔等评说。岁月似梦,人生百年,悲欢离合任作如是观。
  • 相思谋:妃常难娶

    相思谋:妃常难娶

    某日某王府张灯结彩,婚礼进行时,突然不知从哪冒出来一个小孩,对着新郎道:“爹爹,今天您的大婚之喜,娘亲让我来还一样东西。”说完提着手中的玉佩在新郎面前晃悠。此话一出,一府宾客哗然,然当大家看清这小孩与新郎如一个模子刻出来的面容时,顿时石化。此时某屋顶,一个绝色女子不耐烦的声音响起:“儿子,事情办完了我们走,别在那磨矶,耽误时间。”新郎一看屋顶上的女子,当下怒火攻心,扔下新娘就往女子所在的方向扑去,吼道:“女人,你给本王站住。”一场爱与被爱的追逐正式开始、、、、、、、
  • 恶魔阔少诱宠小娇妻

    恶魔阔少诱宠小娇妻

    生日礼物是离婚证!!!她生日,他送她的礼物是一纸离婚证!结婚1年,在这场婚姻里,她爱的沉默,他走的干脆!从民政局出来,天下暴雨,在暴雨中,那一刻,她绝望了,但是顾慕城的出现让她好像抓到了救命稻草。于是,她和顾慕城结婚了,认识不到几分钟,闪婚闪的比谁都快!她开始盘算,开始冒险跟恶魔玩游戏。她跟恶魔玩游戏,最后她管不住自己的心慢慢沦陷,等她泥足深陷她居然发现她只是个替代品,到底这场游戏谁会是胜利者!下面请看小剧场。剧场1——————一个小巷子里,某男说,“我要来了!”某女一脸懵逼,他要来啥?某女后退,某男前进。某男说,“给你三秒考虑时间。”某女一脸懵逼不说话,让她考虑啥?某男见某女不说话放开某女的手就转身走。某女怒,然后踢了某男一脚,某男躲开,回头一笑,“你干啥?”某女咆哮,“干你大爷!”某男对某女壁咚,深情对视,某男问,“我帅不帅啊?”某女无语,然后某女灿烂一笑,“帅呆了!”“真有眼光,帅哥奖励一个吻。”某男低头,吻!某女内心咆哮,流氓啊,擦!剧场2——————“老婆,我错了,我以后再也不敢勾三搭四了,我保证以后除了咱妈,你和咱闺女以外不会再背别的女人了!”穆凉雪嘴角抽搐,丫的,个不要脸,她说过要跟他生孩子了吗?“保证不背?”某男立马举起手,“我保证不背也不抱!”大街上,有人大喊,“抓小偷!”顾慕城一回头就只叫一个女的朝他扑面而来,他下意识一接住,他突然想起什么,然后一放,扑通一声那女的掉地上哎哟哎哟的叫。顾慕城笑着回头,“嘿嘿,雪宝贝,老婆,这是意外,意外,我真的不是有意要抱她的。”某女傲娇转头就走,某男瞪了一眼地上的女人然后,连忙跟上。剧场3——————“你要怎么样才可以不离开我?”“我要怎样都可以?那么我要是要你的命呢?”“只要你要,只要我有!”ps:本文双处,男女主灰常干净。保证不忽悠人,哈哈,欢迎入坑。
  • 何西四十年

    何西四十年

    最可怕的是,生活是个陷阱。那些导师们站在书本里,说的跟真事的似的。等你跳下去,他才告诉你:谎言相信到底就是真理,因为陷阱需要白骨,你不上当谁上当?万幸的是,三十年河东,四十年河西,好运终于降临————他重生了。重活一回,自然聪明了,谁也别想忽悠我了,该犯的错误全避免了,该抓住的机遇全抓住了,该享受的全享受了,该珍惜的全珍惜了,该牛逼的全牛逼了,该报的仇全报了。重生就是爽,这么好的事落到头上,难怪人家说:三十年河东,四十年何西。
  • 幻瞳

    幻瞳

    本书是一本个人文集,包括散文、故事、小说多种体裁。是一位青春少女写给千万同龄人的青春体验。包括人物篇、动物篇、感悟篇、幻想篇等几个部分。作者的神妙之笔让人从字里行间里体味文字的魅力,读出属于自己的故事。青年人对生活的真情实感跃然纸上。
  • 基于资产价格的金融安全研究

    基于资产价格的金融安全研究

    这本《基于资产价格的金融安全研究》由刘忠生著:现代金融体系是经济发展的产物,并已经成为社会经济系统的核心和动脉,它的稳定与安全对社会经济发展具有至关重要的作用,历次金融危机使人们看到金融灾难对国家经济的破坏性影响,而金融安全也因此成为人们日益关注的问题。资本市场不仅为企业提供了一个直接的、有效率的融资平台,而且也为投资者提供了更多的投资选择,其本身也是金融体系重要的组成部分。以资本市场出现为标志,金融交易日益表现出不同于实体经济的特点,同时仍然保持对实体经济的巨大影响,资产价格是资本市场运行状况最直接的反映,但其却不断表现出泡沫膨胀和破裂的过程。
  • 三国之江东霸王

    三国之江东霸王

    何为王道?就是对手不乖,从他身上碾过。何为霸道?就算乖,也得碾过。何为天道?亲,今天你该被碾了。何为帝道?你不想被碾,也不得不被碾!王道以德服人,霸道以力服人,王霸兼用,敬天治人。现代人穿越到三国小霸王孙策身上,用霸道和王道能否在这乱世之中成就帝道。敬请期待。
  • 用微信购到凯

    用微信购到凯

    主人公韩云馨犹豫在大街上遇到凯于是强制性的拿到了凯的微信,于是就。。。哈哈,看文文吧!(十年后的凯)
  • 在七扇门当差的日子

    在七扇门当差的日子

    六扇门开展江湖严打活动,导致盗圣门业务陷入寒冬。为解决这一难题,门主西门吹灯决定派闭门弟子苏犹在潜入六扇门,卷入了一场惊天阴谋之中。
  • tfboys之星辰王源

    tfboys之星辰王源

    “如果有一天,我回到从前,回到最原始的我,你是否会觉得我不错……”虞晨曦低声哼唱这这首她偶像的歌。只听一阵敲门声,“咚咚咚”门外的我对着房间里面叫道:“曦曦,该去上学啦!你爸爸麻麻把你安排在跟我们一个学校的呢!”