A taxi cruised slowly past. Flash quickly hailed it.
“To the _Globe_ building!” he ordered tersely. “I’ll give you an extra buck if you step on it!”
The cab roared along the highway at fifty miles an hour, slowing down only when it reached the city limits. Flash kept close watch of other automobiles as they dodged in and out of traffic, but caught no glimpse of the man he pursued.
Presently the taxi pulled up in front of the _Globe_ building. Flash leaped out, and paying the extra fare he had promised, hurried inside. Although the trip from the airport had been made in record time, he was afraid he had arrived too late.
He pressed his finger on the elevator button and held it there until the cage descended.
“What’s the big idea?” demanded the elevator man indignantly. “I can’t hurry no faster.”
“Has Luke Frowein been here in the past fifteen minutes?”
“No, he ain’t,” the man snapped. “Anyway, he usually comes in the other door.”
Flash ran around to the rear entrance of the building. As he turned the corner, a battered press car wheeled into the loading dock and stopped with a lurch. Luke Frowein climbed down. With a friendly wave of his hand at a trucker who was loading papers, he proceeded toward the rear entrance.
Flash had stepped inside the deserted vestibule beyond view. He waited.
Whistling a cheerful tune, Luke Frowein entered the building. He quickly broke off as he observed the young photographer.
“That was a dirty trick you tried to play on me!” accused Flash. “Give me my pictures!”
“Your pictures?” repeated Frowein mockingly. “Don’t know what you’re prattling about, son.”
Flash could see a flat, bulky package protruding from the photographer’s overcoat pocket. He tried to seize the parcel. Frowein pushed him roughly back against the wall.
“Keep your hands out of my pockets!” he ordered unpleasantly.
The cage of the freight elevator had started to descend slowly from the sixth floor. In another minute Flash knew the elevator man would be there to aid Frowein. He acted instinctively.
His right arm coiled back, then lashed out in a swift, sure arc. At the end of that arc, Flash’s knuckled fist exploded against the photographer’s chin. Thrown off balance, Frowein reeled, and fell backwards, sprawling awkwardly on the stairway.