Read Online The Avenger 32 - The Death Machine by Kenneth Robeson - Free Book Online

guy just saved the labels off his own wine bottles.”
    “No, the half-dozen Macri Brothers Winery labels Cole found had never been affixed to anything,” said Benson. “Which indicates he got them where the bottling is done.”
    “So maybe he took a tour of the wineries. I seen a guy with a funny hat out in front of the hotel selling bus rides and he was spieling about going through wineries and seeing the vats and all that.”
    “Yes, that’s possible. But I think it’s worth a trip up to the winery on Cole’s part.”
    “And Nellie,” added Smitty.
    “That’s what’s bothering you, is it?”
    “Naw, but I don’t like the idea of Cole taking her on a wild goose chase while everybody else is working.”
    “We may be on a wild goose chase ourselves,” said Benson. “It all depends on how accurate Dr. Friessen’s information is.”
    “I trust him more than I do a pocketful of labels,” said the giant. “Hey, there it is!”
    They had come around a bend and there ahead of them was Nolanville, still about a mile away. There was not much to the ghost town. A few blocks of tumbledown wooden buildings, many of them boxlike with ornate false fronts.
    “Looks like something out of a Gene Autry movie,” said Smitty.
    “And there’s a car,” said Benson.
    They could see a station wagon up ahead, parked in the dusty main street of the town. An old station wagon, with wooden sides.
    Smitty stepped on the gas and a moment later they were parking next to the vehicle.
    “There’s a campfire,” said Smitty, getting out into the street. “Or what’s left of one. So they must have camped here last night.”
    The Avenger said, “You check the buildings on that side of the street and I’ll take this side. Give a yell when you find them. I’ll do the same.”
    “Got you.” Smitty lumbered off. The first building he came to was the abandoned hotel. There was no longer a door. “Anybody home?” he said, crossing into the lobby.
    A lizard, a big dark green one, went scurrying across the bare floor.
    Cobwebs twisted around the oil lamps on the faded walls. Dust was thick on the registration desk and on the pigeonholes behind it.
    “Looks like business has fallen off,” observed Smitty.
    The floor was dusty, too, and except for the tracks of lizards and small rodents there were no footprints on the wood. He left the hotel and trudged along the rotted boardwalk to the next building. This was the one which had once been a saloon.
    There was still a piano, a scratched upright, against the far wall. Half of the mirror behind the bar was there yet, streaked with dust and grime.
    “I hope you guys are Dahler and Markowitz,” said Smitty to the two men who were leaning against the ancient bar.
    They both turned to face him and the giant realized they were too young.
    One of them held a pistol.
    “No, but we’re very interested in them,” said the other young man. He was holding a black box.

CHAPTER XIV

Guided Tour
    Dr. Algernon Heathcote said, “Halfwits!” while he was falling down through darkness.
    The small square of light up above, which indicated the trap door he’d just been dropped through, disappeared.
    He hit rocky ground. “This is one of the least warm receptions I’ve had in many a moon,” he muttered. “Carted hither and yon in a gunny sack, pummeled by a bunch of surly louts and then tossed into a foul dungeon. It’s enough to—”
    “Pardon me,” said a voice in the damp darkness.
    “What? Do I have companionship in this uncalled-for incarceration?”
    “I think, I recognize your voice. You’re Dr. Algernon Heathcote, aren’t you?”
    “Yes, I am, my boy,” replied the inventor. “You have me at a disadvantage, in that I don’t place your voice. Never have been much at voices, except for that foghorn fellow. Faces now I—”
    “My name’s Don Early,” said his companion in the pitch black stone room. “I’m a government agent.”
    “Ah, yes. I believe I’ve heard my