It was called "Demon" and it was killing people. Demon was the name of the new drug that was being illegally distributed across the northeast United States. Demon had a much higher mortality rate than any other known drug. In fact, if it wasn't instantly lethal, it almost always killed the user after the third or fourth use. And the NYPD was determined to find out who the dealer was and put him out of business.
Their information had led them to an indoor parking garage that was closed for renovations. The source of their information told them that this was being used as one of the main spots for brokering deals for the sale of Demon. The police waited patiently and were finally rewarded when a group of men showed up. Some of them were known to the police as long-time drug dealers and others were new faces. They were carrying boxes and suitcases. The head of the stakeout gave the signal and the cops popped out of hiding and closed in on the drug dealers. They thought this would be an easy arrest, but that was not to be the case.
Something happened to the police. They suddenly felt disoriented, some even felt an irrational, consuming fear, while others hallucinated about large, monsterous creatures attacking them. While the cops stumbled helplessly under the spell that overwhelmed them, the drug dealers opened fire. The police were sitting ducks. They were massacred in seconds. The drug dealers quickly finished their business and left the bodies where they lay.
The man who had caused the police to become incapacitated watched from a distance and smiled. He tapped his "thinking cap," which gave him extreme mental powers, and walked through the bodies, chuckling at his triumph.
Lamont Cranston was reading the paper and came across the story about the group of cops slain in a Demon drug bust. Cranston didn't like what he was reading. It was bad enough that Demon was killing so many people, but now the underworld was getting very bold - and very efficient - about slaying the police. The situation was getting out of control and the Shadow needed to get involved and restore order.
Starting that night, the Shadow would teach the scum behind this the meaning of fear!
Across town in the main office of the huge pharmaceutical conglomerate Coffin Industries, owned and run by the mysterious Cassandra Coffin - who liked to be called Lady Coffin - the man with the Thinking cap had arrived in Lady Coffin's office. The man held his thinking cap in his hands. The Thinker never went anywhere without his thinking cap. It was the source of his mental powers. He looked at the small, slim woman seated behind the desk and couldn't help thinking how someone so petite could be so powerful in the business world.
"Very nice work yesterday," Lady Coffin said.
"A mere trifle," the Thinker replied. "Hardly a real test for the power of my Thinking Cap."
"You'll have plenty of more chances to test your little toy," Lady Coffin said. "There will be plenty more police out to stop us. And don't overlook the possibility of one of those masked adventurers getting involved."
"I hope so," the Thinker said. "That would be a real challenge. A chance to show the superiority of my mind over their muscle."
"Just keep focused on our real objective," Lady Coffin said. "We're testing Demon, not your Cap. As soon as we finish phase one testing, we move to phase two. My people are almost done with the airborne variant."
"Don't worry, my dear," the Thinker said. "Everything will be in place by the time the military convoy brings Project M through New York."
Doctor Clark Savage, Jr. - a.k.a., Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze - pulled the sheet over the patient's head. He'd lost another one. This was the fifth person he'd lost to Demon in the last few weeks. Doc Savage wasn't used to losing patients. He had one of the best - if not the best - patient survival rate of any doctor in the country. He was taking this Demon crisis very personally. He was determined to do something about it.
Taking a sample of the dead man's blood, the bronze skinned, muscular doctor brought it to his lab. He had samples from the other four people who had died from Demon use. He hoped he'd have enough Demon traces to be able to isolate the chemical and analyze it. Maybe if he could find out what it was made of, he could somehow trace where the supply was coming from. And then he'd personally deal with the monsters who were selling this stuff. Doc Savage had battled many such men before in his globe-trotting adventures and he feared no man. He vowed that, come hell or high water, he'd find a way to stop this!
The police had gone over every inch of the parking garage where the cops had been killed. They found nothing and eventually abandon that line of investigation. But the Shadow hadn't. He understood the dark nature of the human animal. He understood their morbid curiosity and their fascination with the macabre. He knew that people liked to come to a spot where something bad had once happened and say "It was right here that . . . etc, etc." And since the whole underworld was buzzing about the police massacre, he knew that some of them would come here. And sure enough, many of them did. Just to look at the spot of their latest victory. The Shadow clouded their minds and made himself invisible to them, so he could get close enough to grab them, batter them and scare some information out of them. When he was done, he used the hypnotic power of his ring to make them forget what had happened so that they didn't warn anyone else to stay away from the garage. He was frustrated that none of them seemed to have any first hand knowledge, but one name did get mentioned several times . . . The Thinker. Apparently some genius named the Thinker was heavily involved in the whole Demon situation.
The Shadow considered. This 'Thinker' was new to the criminal underworld or else the Shadow would have heard of him before. So before now, he would have been somewhere where he was either learning, or was associating with other intellectuals in some capacity. The Shadow disregarded the learning theory because that would indicate that the Thinker was young, possibly a student. That probably isn't the case because the Thinker has the patience of an older man, not the impulsiveness of youth. So in the past few years, he'd have been either working with other brilliant people or, given the fact that he's let the whole underworld know his name, he'd have been doing something to show off his intelligence. Where was the best place for a smart guy to go to brag about his brains and compete with other intellectuals?
Lamont Cranston arrived at the 'Sky-High IQ Society of NY,' a club for people with genius IQ's. They were notorious intellectual snobs. If the Thinker was an older man who wanted to rub elbows with, and compete with, other genius minds, this was the spot to do it.
The club members happily let Cranston take a tour of their clubhouse for two reasons. One was to hit him up for a donation, and the other was because they liked to prove to themselves that they were smarter than the upper class. Cranston walked around as the group condescendingly talked down to him.
"Tell me," Cranston said. "Some friends of mine recently met a guy who they say was extremely smart. A genius in fact. He was able to rattle off any type of fact or trivia."
"Any of us can do that," the head of the club said, "and if he really was some type of genius, he'd be in the club. What was this supposed genius' name?"
"I didn't get his whole name," Cranston answered, "but he liked to refer to himself as the Thinker. He was an older man, very cool and controlled but he liked to show off."
The club members all nodded at each other knowingly. "We know exactly who you're talking about. His name was Clifford Davoe. Used to be a lawyer. I think he worked for the DA's office. I have to admit, he was indeed a genius. He left our group a year ago."
The Shadow snuck into the DA's office, unseen. So the Thinker was once with the District Attorney. That made sense, he seemed to know a lot about police procedure. The Shadow checked the DA employee files. Under the 'Terminated Employees' listing, he found Clifford Davoe. The file was very extensive. Davoe graduated college with top honors and had several skills - engineering, chemistry, law. Law was the most lucrative, which was why he probably became a lawyer. There was also a picture. So now the Shadow knew the face of his foe. He was getting closer.
Cranston went to the address that he'd gotten from the file. As he suspected, Davoe no longer lived there. Cranston made the acquaintance of the landlady and used all his charm on the old woman. Soon, she was eating out of his hand. He learned that Davoe had moved suddenly. He left no forwarding address but he told her that she could send all his mail to Coffin Industries.
Doc Savage was shocked. He'd been studying a sample of Demon and came to the conclusion that was almost identical to a type of pesticide that was once used by exterminators but was later made illegal because it was so potent that it even affected humans and animals in the area. Demon was, if anything, even more dangerous than the old pesticide. And people where injecting this into their bodies! This was madness!
Savage felt that it couldn't be a coincidence that two chemical formulas could be very nearly identical. So whoever was making Demon had access to the pesticide. The most likely place to start was the company that had originally created the pesticide . . . Coffin Industries!
Lamont Cranston got himself a rare audience with Lady Coffin by suggesting that he'd like to invest in the company but he wanted to meet with the owner first. She agreed, by proxy, and now Cranston would meet her face-to-face. He entered the building and was immediately escorted up to Lady Coffin's penthouse offices.
Soon he was in her office. Cranston also was surprised at her small size but large charisma. After some pleasantries, and some feigned interest in Coffin Industries, Cranston was interrupted . . .
"Excuse me, Lady," the male secretary said, "but someone is here to see you. I told him to leave but he refuses to go."
"Call security, you idiot!" Lady Coffin said.
"I did," the secretary said. "But they can't budge him."
"Can't . . . " Lady Coffin repeated incredulously. "What are you talking about? Who is he?"
"Dr. Clark Savage."
Lady Coffin leaned back in her seat, considering the implications of Savage's arrival. Cranston had a similar reaction. He'd heard of the legendary Doc Savage for years. Everyone had. He always assumed that their paths would cross one day. What was Savage doing here? This could be interesting.
Lady Coffin gestured for Savage to be shown in. The huge Man of Bronze entered, dragging some security officers behind him. Lady Coffin gestured for them to leave and they slipped away, embarrassed.
"I'm very busy right now, Dr. Savage," Lady Coffin said. "What can I do for you?"
"We need to talk about Pesticide BX4," Doc Savage replied.
Cranston noticed the reaction to the mention of the chemical. Savage was on to something and Lady Coffin had something to hide. That much was clear.
"We don't use that any more," she stated.
"I hope not," Savage said. "But somebody is. I need your help in finding out who, besides your company, has access to the pesticide, because it's chemical formula is being used in the creation of Demon."
Cranston noted that Lady Coffin's reaction was not one of shock. It was the familiar look of a criminal after he - or she - has been exposed. Lady Coffin put on a very fake smile.
"Of course, I'll do anything I can to help," she said, and then turned to Cranston. "If you'll excuse me, Mr. Cranston, our meeting will have to wait. Perhaps next week?"
"Of course," Cranston said. "I'll call you. Good day, Miss Coffin."
Cranston walked out, passing Doc Savage. Their eyes met for a second as they past. Cranston noticed that Savage's eye color was as unusual as his skin color. His eyeballs were gold! And there was something else strange about them. They almost seemed to twinkle, like stars. Very strange. But the main thing Cranston saw in Savage's eyes was a determination and strength of will that equaled his own.
Doc Savage also got a strong impression from their brief eye contact. He recognized Lamont Cranston, but he had thought Cranston to be a weak willed playboy. However, after looking him in the eye, Savage saw something else. Something . . . dark.
Cranston left the office. Lady Coffin politely showed Doc Savage the records of any other company who might use pesticide BX4, hoping that Savage would waste time checking out those companies and forget Coffin Industries.
But Savage wouldn't forget. He had gotten the same impression of Lady Coffin as Cranston had. She was hiding something, and she definitely reacted to the mention of the pesticide. Savage had a number one suspect.
That night, the Shadow broke into Coffin Industries. Somewhere in here was the key to the whole mystery, and also a way to trace the Thinker. He just had to find it.
While investigating the record office, the Shadow heard a noise. He quickly used his power to cloud the minds of anyone who might see him. He went into the next room. He saw the man he'd been looking for . . . He saw the Thinker.
Strangely, the Thinker, who was wearing some type of complicated headgear, turned and looked in his direction.
"So," the Thinker said, "The Shadow."
The Shadow had to hide his surprise. The Thinker could see him! How was that possible?
"I had expected Doc Savage to come nosing around," the Thinker said. "I didn't expect you. But that's alright. You saved me from a very boring vigil."
"You're beyond saving," the Shadow said, pulling out his gun.
"Oooooo, a gun," the Thinker said mockingly, "I'm so scared!"
The Shadow fired, but the bullet went right through the Thinker. Then the Thinker vanished, only to reappear in another part of the room. "Over here, Mr. Shadow," The Thinker said with a big smile.
Illusions, the Shadow thought. The Thinker is using illusions against me. The Shadow looked around. Where was the Thinker really? He was close by, somewhere. But Where?
"You look confused, Shadow. I guess you're used to being the one who does the psyching out, not being the one who gets psyched out."
Psyched! the Shadow thought. That was the key! The mind! The Shadow should be able to sense the Thinker's mind. The Shadow concentrated. But something was strange. The mind seemed to be magnified to an incredible proportion. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. It must be that cap, the Shadow thought. The cap must be magnifying his intellect. The Shadow's powers worked on a normal human brain but not on one amplified by cybernetic technology. And apparently, Cranston's brain was vulnerable to the Thinker's mental assaults.
Suddenly, Cranston started to feel disoriented. An overpowering fear came upon him. He knew that the Thinker was doing it, and he wasn't going to let his mind be a toy for anyone. He had spent too many years mastering the workings of the mind and he could play the game as well as anyone. He concentrated, and willed himself to regain control. Slowly, the fear passed, and he started to regain his composure.
And just in time. While he was disoriented, some of the Thinker's men had arrived. The Shadow got his thoughts together just in time to see four thugs charging him with billy clubs. The Shadow defended himself. He dodged the first club, grabbed the goon's arm and flipped him. He grabbed the club away and bashed the second man across the face. He stepped back to give himself some room to prepare for the other two. It didn't take him long to overcome them too. The first man got back to his feet but before he could attempt an attack on the Shadow, the Shadow pounded him.
With the henchmen gone, the Shadow looked around for the Thinker but there was no sign of him. He didn't sense the Thinker's amplified intelligence any longer. He had gotten away. The Shadow cursed under his breath. He was up against a formidable opponent, one who was immune to his power. And the Shadow had lost the first round.
The Thinker called Lady Coffin to give her a report.
"The Shadow?" she asked, surprised. "Him too? This is not good. First Savage comes to my office and then the Shadow. I don't want you to come to Coffin Industries any more. Go to the factory. I'll contact you there!"The Thinker acknowledged and hung up. He was proud of his performance this night. He was looking forward to more chances to test himself against Doc Savage and the Shadow.
The Shadow staked out Coffin Industries the next two nights but, as he suspected, there was no sign of the Thinker. The Shadow noticed the lights in the penthouse on. Lady Coffin was still there. Maybe he should pay her a visit.
In his office in the Empire State Building, Doc Savage was working in his private research lab. He had made another important discovery about the origins of the drug Demon. Savage was struck more and more by the horror of the situation. There was more to this than he had originally assumed.
Suddenly the window burst open. Six masked men swung in on ropes, each one carrying either a knife or a club.
"Lady Coffin sent us to see that you don't stick your bronze nose where it doesn't belong any more."
Doc Savage just sighed.
Lady Coffin was getting her jacket and was about to leave, when she heard a frightening laugh. She couldn't see anyone. She reached for the button that would summon the night security force but a hand grabbed her wrist.
Then, she heard the Shadow. "I know what you've done," the Shadow said. "I know about Demon, and about the Thinker and about everything else you've done. I am the Shadow and I know all the occurs in the dark. In the dark of the night or in the dark side of the mind, there are no secrets from me. Your crimes are laid bare. The Shadow knows!"
Lady Coffin tried to put on a brave face, "And knowing, what will you do?"
"I will destroy!" the Shadow said. "I know what you care about. This company. Your financial position. Your status. Power. I know what you need, what you dream about. And I'm going to take it all way. I will let you live long enough to see all that you have built and struggled for torn down around your ears. I will leave you with nothing."
The Shadow shoved her across the room. "Your only chance is to repent your evil ways and do only good. But I see in your eyes that you would not - could not - do that. So prepare to face the consequences of your choices."
The Shadow slipped away into the shadows. Lady Coffin was shaken but unbroken.
The Shadow would not kill a woman but he had hoped that he could scare her. He hoped that by threatening to topple her empire that she would back down and rethink her ways. But the Shadow could see into her soul and he knew that she would not bend, not even a little. So he would now have to keep his promise. He had to destroy Coffin Industries, as well as the Thinker.
The Shadow wondered why Lady Coffin was involved in selling drugs. Coffin Industries was a huge company. After she split her drug profits with her dealers and the Thinker, what was left would be a mere drop in the bucket to someone like Lady Coffin. It wasn't worth the time or the risk. So why was she doing it? This drug, Demon, that was the real key. That was where he should focus his investigation. But the Shadow was no chemist.
However, Doc Savage was a doctor and a chemist. And he apparently knew something about the drug that the Shadow didn't know. The Shadow needed to know what Doc Savage knew. As much as he was loath to ask for anyone's help, he had to swallow his pride this time. The Shadow had to ask Doc Savage for his help.
The police arrived to arrest the beaten, battered would-be assassins who had foolishly tried to kill Savage. "They don't make assassins like they used to," Savage said.
Savage then went down to the precinct to fill out a complaint. The assassins were tight lipped around the police but Savage knew who had sent them. Returning to his office in the Empire State Building, Savage was about to turn on the light, but then stopped, as if he sensed something. He stepped back out. After he was gone, the lights came on by themselves. Savage then peaked in through a rear door, hoping to catch his visitor by surprise. No one there. Savage crept into the office, ready for anything. He thought he saw . . . Something. It wasn't clear, like something was clouding his perceptions. But somewhere was standing there. Like a living Shadow.
"Do not be afraid," a booming voice said. "I am not here as your enemy."
Savage considered. A loud disembodied voice coming from an unseen intruder. "The Shadow, I presume," Savage said.
The Shadow came into view. "Very good, Doctor."
Doc Savage looked his visitor over. "I thought you'd be a larger man," Savage said.
"Your preconceptions of me are unimportant," the Shadow said. "What is important is what we both know. Coffin Industries. Demon. The Thinker."
"Who's the Thinker?" Doc Savage asked.
The Shadow felt a slight smile coming on. At least he was one step ahead of Savage in this respect. But he needed to gain Savage's trust if he wanted cooperation. Normally he would bully someone into helping him but from what he knew of Doc Savage, that clearly wouldn't work. So he told Savage about Clifford Davoe, the Thinker, and his connection with Coffin Industries.
"Curiouser and curiouser," Savage said. "There are layer and layers to this mystery."
"My source tell me that you know something about the drug demon," the Shadow said. "Something about a pesticide."
"Your sources are very good," Savage said. "Yes I do. I've learned a great deal. But why should I share that information with a known criminal? A wanted vigilante. Rightfully, I should make a citizens arrest."
"You could try," the Shadow said. "But I wouldn't advise it. I am armed."
Savage pointed up to some funnel-like objects on the wall. "I activated my defense system when I came in. They instantly target any gunshot and disable the shooter with a sonic stun ray. Then the police will automatically be summoned. They'll arrive while you're still asleep and helpless. You'll be captured and unmasked."
"Touche. But all this is unnecessary. We want the same thing," the Shadow said, "It's only our methods that differ."
"I never believed the ends justified the means," Savage said. "I don't like your method."
"Do you like seeing children die after taking Demon? That's what's going to keep happening unless you get off your moral high horse and tell me what I need to know."
"I'll manage without your help, Shadow," Doc Savage replied.
"You didn't know about the Thinker," the Shadow said. "I may know other things you need to know to bring this case to a quick conclusion. Remember, the longer you delay, the more young people die!"
Savage considered for a minute. "It pains me to admit it, but you seem to be the lesser of two evils at the moment. So I guess I can tell you what you want to know." Savage walked over to a blackboard where had a diagram drawn out. It was a very complicated chemical equation. "I've found out Demon was not only a powerful variant of a dangerous insecticide, and that the samples are getting more and more lethal, but if I can make a psychological evaluation of the people who are behind this, I'd say that they're going to keep on changing things. The formula will be changing in another way."
"Changing how?"
"The older samples are different than the newer samples. The older samples betray it's origins as a liquid, whereas the later ones are a solid, a powder. If my guess is right, they haven't reached the final form of Demon. And after solid and liquid, there's only one form of matter left. They're going to change it into an airborne variant. A gas. Do you appreciate the potential threat we're dealing with?"
The Shadow nodded. "They've been using the drug addicts as guinea pigs for the effectiveness of this . . . This weapon at each stage. And now that they've reached a stage where it's instantly lethal, they're going to turn it into a gas and release it into the air."
"Exactly," Savage said. "If they bought nerve gas off the black market or bought the ingredients to make a nerve gas, they would have to risk the FBI discovering the sale and tracing the sale to them. So they created a new type of lethal gas that they thought no one would trace to them."
"What could they be planning to do with it?" the Shadow asked.
"I don't know," Savage said. "But we've got to stop it!"
"We?" the Shadow asked.
"This has to be stopped. I'll need all the help I can get to stop them in time." He extended his hand to the Shadow. "Together?"
The Shadow nodded and shook Doc Savage's hand. "Together!"
Next issue: The Shadow and Doc Savage unite to solve the mystery before time runs out. But the Thinker and Lady Coffin have set a trap for them. And what is Project M? Be here next month for part two of "World's Finest" in The Shadow #8.