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"THE ADVENTURES OF VIC SOCOTRA, PRIVATE DICK"
"THINK FAST, SOCOTRA!" YOU WILL RECALL THAT INTREPID DETECTIVE VIC SOCOTRA HAD ESCAPED the clutches of the Fat Man on the big grey boat and succeeded in turning the tables. He flew off the boat, colliding only slightly with a Russian man-of-war, and was motoring east into the setting sun.
He had noticed a surface-to-surface missile impaled on his landing gear.
The Fat Man offered the favors of Agnes Lum, the famous Japanese-American bikini model in an attempt to bribe our hard-as-nails hero. He was nearly persuaded when a red light began to glow on the dashboard that said "Low Fuel Warning." ************************ When that light came on, the first thing I noticed was how much it resembled the sunset. It was pretty - all orange and red and lighting up the whole sky. My Packard had a little light that went on when I got down to ten or twenty miles left, so I began to look around for a gas station. Up ahead was a low line with palm trees and white sand. I had been flying into the sunset for a long time, so I figured that had to be the California coast ahead. I took my foot off the accelerator, and the plane began to sink down. It wasn't hard to fly these things; all you needed was a good touch. I struck a kitchen match on the Fat Man's backside. He yelped as I lit up a Lucky Strike. "Tell me again about Agnes Lum, chump," I said. "You were just starting to make some sweet music." "I'll get her for you. Danger." His voice was muffled by the rolls of fat that hung down over his head. "I'll do anything if you will just set me free." It was great to hear him grovel. Between capturing the Fat Man and the missile stuck to the landing gear, I was going to be a very rich man. I could go down to the Brown Derby and get mobbed like the movie stars. We were just crossing the line of the beach when I saw the boxy shape of the big Grey boat. They were following me! I spun the big steering wheel and headed for the lights of the city up ahead. Just as I did so, I heard the engines start to sputter. Now I was in a fix.
The Fat Man's gang was right behind us, and I was out of gas and ideas at the same time. I looked helplessly around the cockpit. I noticed a big yellow handle sticking out of the floor next to the gearshift. The sign on it said "Pull Handle for Emergency". Well, someone had left me a note! This was an emergency, all right. I grabbed the handle and pulled for all I was worth. The world exploded in white smoke, and I had the strangest sensation of falling . . . falling . . . falling ....
TOMORROW: "SOCOTRA IN AFRICA" |