Temple of Fear Read Online Free PDF Page B

often. Since I am a child I have heard the name of the great Nick Carter. Now I come to you to ask for help. Or rather my father sends for help. He has great faith and trust in you. He is sure that you will come to help us."
    Suddenly he needed a cigarette. Badly needed it. The girl permitted him to light up. The other three, solemn as owls now, stared at him with unblinking dark eyes.
    Nick said: "I owe your father a debt. And we were friends. Of course I will help. I will do anything I can. But how? When? Is your father in the States?"
    "He is in Japan. In Tokyo. He is old and sick now and cannot travel. That is why you must come with us at once."
    He closed his eyes and squinted against the smoke, trying to get the thing straight in his mind. Ghosts from the past could be disconcerting. But a debt was a debt. He owed his life to Kunizo Matu. He would have to do everything he could. But first...
    "All right, Tonaka. But first things first. One thing at a time. The first thing you can do is put away that gun. If you're Kunizo's daughter you don't need it..."
    She kept the gun on him. "I think maybe I do, Mr. Carter. We will see. I will put it away when I have your promise to come to Japan to help my father. And Japan."
    "But I've already told you! I will help. That's a solemn promise. Now let's stop playing cops and robbers. Put that gun away and tell me all about the trouble your father's in. I'll figure out what to do and do it as soon as I possibly can. I..."
    The gun remained on his belly. Tonaka was looking not pretty again. And most impatient.
    "You still do not understand, Mr. Carter. You are coming to Japan now. This minute — or at least very soon. My father's trouble will not wait. There is no time for channels or for officials to confer for the various services to consult on steps to be taken. You see that I understand something of these-matters. So does my father. He has long been in the Secret Service of my country and he knows that red tape is the same everywhere. That is why he gave me the medallion and told me to find you. To ask you to come at once. This I intend to do."
    The little Nambu winked at Nick again. He was beginning to tire of the flirtation. The unholy thing about it was — she meant it. She meant every damned word of it! Now!
    Nick had a thought. He and Hawk had a voice code which they sometimes used. Maybe he could warn the old man. Then they could get these Japanese cowgirls under control, get them to talk and make sense, and start the ball rolling to help his friend. Nick sighed deeply. He would just have to admit to Hawk that he had been captured by a band of nutty Girl Scouts and ask his compatriots in AXE to get him out of it. Maybe they couldn't do it. It might take the CIA. Or the FBI. Maybe the Army and Navy and Marines. He just didn't know...
    He said: "All right, Tonaka. Have it your way. At once. As soon as I can get dressed and pack a suitcase. And make a phone call."
    "No phone calls."
    For the first time he considered taking the gun away from her. This was getting ridiculous. Killmaster should be able to take a gun away from a Girl Scout! That was the trouble — she wasn't a Girl Scout. None of them were. Because now each of the others, Kato, Sato and Mato, had reached under those trim skirts and come up with Nambu pistols. All pointed insistently at Carter.
    "What's the name of your troop, girls? Death's Angels?"
    Tonaka wiggled the pistol at him. "My father told me that you would have many tricks, Mr. Carter. He is sure that you will honor your promise, your friendship to him, but he warned me that you would insist on doing it in your own way. This cannot be done. It must be done
our
way — in absolute secrecy."
    "But it can be," said Nick. "I have a great organization at my command. Many such, If, I need them. I did not know that Kunizo was in your Secret Service — my felicitations to him for a well-kept secret — but then he surely must know the value of organization and