10-Story Detective, September 1941 — page 39: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

T PRECISELY 3:17 P.M. Steve Besson, immaculate in dark overcoat and hat, alight- ed from a cab at Becker Street and Park Avenue. Handing the cabby a dollar bill folded lengthwise, he airily waved away the sixty cents change. A “Thanks, guv’nor,” the cabby grunted and slid his cab expertly into the heavy traffic. Besson hesitated before the row of imposing business houses. Then shift- ing his cane to his left armpit, he fum- bled in both overcoat pockets and eventually extracted a card. FELIX MARCUM INVESTMENT CONSULTANT 188 Park Avenue Holding the card prominently be- fore him and consulting the numbers, Besson proceeded leisurely along the sidewalk. He passed 142, 140, then he headed confidently toward the door- way leading to the foyer of the main building—1388. Reflected obliquely in the broad 37 The Heist Master By Theodore Stratton Steve Besson had no use for a guy who thinks with his trigger finger. Be smart and let the old brains do the work, was Besson’s motto — until fate clamped a stop-light on his headwork. window of No. 140—the CONTINEN- TAL AERONAUTICS CORPORA- TION—Besson saw. a maroon coupé glide to the curb. The tall figure of Max Trant, assistant treasurer of Continental, slid from beneath the wheel and opened the door. Things be- gan to happen. “Bugs” Nugent threaded the pass- ersby and reached the coupé. Three others—Besson identified them as Sol- ly Sears, Izzy Kaplitz and an ex-pug called the Wasp—crowded Trant as he stepped to the sidewalk. Guns gleamed in the spent rays of the win- try sun. Besson wheeled slowly toward the holdup. There was no need for speed. Not yet. The police were on the scene. Two uniformed men leaped from a delivery truck parked just short of the crosswalk; three detectives swarmed from No. 140; a pencil ped- dler dropped his tray and drew an au- tomatic; a “white wings” fished into his barrel and came out with a Tommy gun. They closed in. Some one barked: Bugs!” The gunmen whirled. Instantly Nu- “Hands up, Conn (C NOOK ©