Chapter Twenty-six

IN THE HALL

From a distance came the soft strains of an orchestra playing in one of the more distant studios on the same floor, but there was no movement in the corridor.

Janet paused at the door. Should she snap out the lights? If no one came along they would burn all night, yet if she turned them off, she would be in utter darkness.

Then she realized that she was silhouetted in the light. Anyone who might trouble her would be even more handicapped than she in the darkness and her fingers pressed the switch.

As the lights went out, Janet stepped quickly away from the door, her feet treading silently on the heavy carpet which covered the floor of the hall.

Janet pressed close against the wall, listening for some sound which would indicate that someone was lurking in the corridor. There was only the far away music of the orchestra as it played a dreamy waltz. From outside a clock boomed, but Janet couldn't remember whether it was a half after midnight or a quarter to one. It didn't matter much, she decided.

Convinced at last there was no one moving along the corridor, she started feeling her own way along. The end of the corridor was marked by a very dim light that failed to penetrate more than a dozen feet in any direction. It was toward this glow that Janet started.

It was a ghostly and unnerving business, but she couldn't spend the whole night in Jim's office. It just wasn't possible. She had to get out.

Fighting to keep down a mounting fear, Janet quickened her steps. Then she stopped abruptly. Just why she did that, she would never know, but her instinct warned her that someone was near.

She turned toward an office door she had just passed. It was open and a flood of light poured out to blind Janet's tired eyes. The beam from the electric torch was so bright it fairly seared its way into her fatigued mind.

Then the stabbing light vanished and Janet heard a swift movement. A hard hand was clapped over her mouth and she felt an arm slide around her neck.

Before she could scream or move, a soft cloth, which reminded her of a hospital, was slapped against her face and the fumes of ether penetrated her nose and throat. Janet attempted to struggle but two capable arms held her fast.

She felt herself losing consciousness. She felt delightfully tired and dreamy. Once she rallied her senses, but the next time she slipped away into unconsciousness and her captor, satisfied that she would cause no trouble for some time, let her fall into a heap on the floor.

While Janet remained unconscious, a lithe figure darted into Jim Hill's office and the flash sought the drawer into which she had dropped the manuscript.

A small steel instrument, expertly inserted, forced the drawer open and the beam of light fell upon the inscription Janet had placed on the envelope. The intruder's breath was drawn in sharply and it was evident that this was the property sought.

Removing the envelope and placing it in his pocket, the unknown closed the drawer and slipped out into the corridor. Bending down over Janet, the figure vanished. Someone watching closely could have seen it dodge into the main reception room, but there was no one there to watch--only Janet unconscious on the floor.

Just how long she remained slumped on the floor she would never know exactly; probably it was not more than half an hour at the most.

Finally lights penetrated her tired mind and the sweetish smell of the ether assailed her returning consciousness. Someone was shaking her gently and someone else was rubbing her arms.

"Wake up, Janet, wake up!" a voice kept repeating.

It sounded strangely like Helen's voice, but Helen, she realized, had gone home hours before.

"Take a drink of this," another voice commanded and Janet obeyed almost automatically for she was far from being in full command of her senses.

The cool water, flowing down her aching throat, helped and she tried to sit up.

"Take it easy," a voice cautioned and she let her head drop back against someone's knees.

Lights were on now in the corridor and as consciousness returned Janet recognized Helen leaning over her. Curt Newsom was massaging her arms and grumbling to himself in anger.

"Feeling better?" Helen asked as Janet's eyes opened wide.

"I'll be all right, soon. I'd like another drink of water," said Janet.

A second glass of water followed the first and she felt stronger as her head cleared.

"What happened?" she asked.

"That's what we'd like to know," said Curt. "We found you unconscious on the floor a few minutes ago and the place smelled like a hospital."

"Look at Jim Hill's desk and see if the right hand drawer has anything in it," Janet whispered to Curt and the tall cowboy hurried away to do her bidding.

He returned almost instantly, shaking his head.

"Someone's pried the drawer open with a jimmy," he declared. "There isn't a thing in the drawer."

Helen looked stricken.

"Don't tell me that manuscript you worked on all evening was in that drawer," she said.

Janet looked beyond Helen and Curt to where half a dozen studio employees, most of them from the engineering department, were clustered looking at her and wondering what it was all about.

"I put the manuscript there just before I started down the hall," nodded Janet. "It looks like it's gone."

There was a flicker of her right eyelid, barely visible to Helen and Curt, and they caught its meaning and played the parts Janet wanted.

"Then that means they won't be able to bolster up the program for Ace Pictures," wailed Helen. "The World Broadcasting Company will probably lose its contract."

"Yep, and we'll all lose our jobs," groaned Curt. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. We might as well go back to the hotel. We'll report to Director Adolphi in the morning. Think you can walk if I steady you?" The question was aimed at Janet.

"I'll make it all right," she said, but the steadying influence of Curt's arm was welcome,

They walked down the corridor, across the reception lobby, and then sped downward in an elevator.

When they were outside and comfortably ensconced in a taxi, Helen faced her companion.

"Is the manuscript safe?" she asked.

"Unless Radio City burns down," replied Janet.

"Well, for goodness sake, where is it?"

"I slipped it under the rug in Jim's office and spread the sheets out so there won't be a hump which would attract attention. I'll have to get up early and phone him at the studio for he's coming down to start the revision of my material."

"You'll do no such thing," cut in the cowboy. "You've earned a morning of sleep. I'll phone Jim Hill myself and explain where the manuscript is hidden."

"Now I want to know just what happened." It was Helen speaking.

Janet shook her head.

"I don't know. I knew someone was prowling in the corridor, but I couldn't stay there in the office all night and I couldn't get a phone connection out. After I'd hidden the manuscript I turned out the light in the office and started down the hall. Someone turned a flashlight into my face, then I was grabbed around the neck and finally a cloth filled with ether was smashed against my face. About that time I forgot to remember and the next thing I knew you two were with me."

"How many jumped on you?" asked the cowboy.

"I can't be sure, but I'd say that it was one man who was capable of moving very rapidly."

"One man could do it all right," nodded Curt. "I wish I could get my hands on him and I'd teach him a thing or two."

"How did you two happen to get into the corridor? That's a question I'd like to have answered," said Janet.

"I became worried when you didn't get back to the hotel at midnight and I phoned Curt. He agreed to meet me at Radio City and we came up together. It was as simple as that," explained Helen.

"Well, for once I'm glad someone worried about me," confessed Janet. "And, oh what a headache that ether gave me. The water tasted good, but I feel queer inside now. Bed is going to seem like heaven."