（外文电子版资料）The Avenger - Gary Barton - Deaths Option.pdfVIP

Back Stories from the pages of the Avenger Nov 1940 DEATH’S OPTION by Gary Barton Jerry Kane couldn’t take his eyes off the girl—and it led to murder! Next to taking rats apart—human rats—and forgetting to put them back together again, I like to mingle with people. I like crowds, Iights, gaiety. That’s how I came to be in Times Square that night. I was off duty. Rather, I was officially off duty. That was before I saw the girl. I don’t know why I happened to stroll into Marty’s. Maybe I wanted to sit down a while after having been chasing out of homicide all day. Maybe I wanted to have a beer and watch the show. I know damn well I wasn’t thinking of murder! But I started thinking about a lot of things when Iamped the girl sitting in the corner booth; and they all didn’t have anything to do with her figure. One of those gorgeous Broadway creations—raven-black hair, dark eyes and that glamorous but cold beauty born in the theater. But she wasn’t turning on the glamour, now. Her lips trembled; her eyes were wlde and staring—staring at me! And they were filled with terror. In a swift glance, I took in the party with her-the young, dark-haired chap next to her: the heavy-set, middle-aged man at the head of the table with the long, black cigar in his mouth; the paunchy, bald-headed guy on the opposite side of the table, obviously on the make for the hard-Iooking blonde on his right. They all seemed to be having a good time, chatting among themselves. All but the raven-tressed girl. I turned back toward her. But with that fleeting, frightened glance she had looked away. But that was enough. There was something wrong, here. I knew it! I could feeI it. I wondered what I was supposed to do about it. I couldn’t just bust in on that little party. I couldn’t— I didn’t have to wonder any longer. The man’s blood-cillling scream snapped me to my feet. I covered the yards to that table in two leaps. The middle-aged at th