The Avenger 34 - The Glass Man by Kenneth Robeson Read Free Book Online Page A

the others.
    Maybe it hadn’t bothered him as much. Maybe he’d gotten over the murder of Rusty Lamont, didn’t feel guilty.
    No matter, he was guilty.
    Now he’d be punished.
    When they’d murdered Rusty, back then, there’d been nothing Lamont could do. Not even cry; he was too old for that.
    Two or three of them, a long time after, had tried to talk to him. To do what? Apologize? Sorry we murdered your brother, no hard feelings.
    No, he hadn’t talked to them, wouldn’t listen to anything they had to say.
    Maybe he would have let them escape. If he hadn’t been assigned to the project, hadn’t returned to Nolansville . . .
    That’s when it all fell into place. He knew that Dr. Dean was close to cracking the problem. He knew that the old man would keep the secret to himself for a few days; that was his habit. So Lamont watched him, and let himself into the old man’s office after he’d quit for the day.
    Lamont was a good deal brighter than either Dr. Dean or Dr. Coopersmith imagined. He knew at once when the breakthrough was made, simply by going over Dean’s notes. It was relatively easy to duplicate what the old man had done, to provide enough of the fluid for his purposes.
    Invisible, he couldn’t be stopped. He could bring them all to judgment, every one of them who’d had a hand in the murder of his brother.
    And never be caught or even suspected.
    That was why he had to keep Dr. Dean out of sight. After all the murders were over, the old man would be found wandering in the desert. A little dazed perhaps, with some fantastic story about being kept prisoner in the pueblos. Would they believe that? Would the sheriff and the security people accept such a story?
    No, they’d assume that Dr. Dean, supposedly the only man capable of working the invisibility trick, had gone mad.
    Even then—this was the beautiful part—they’d have to keep it all quiet. They wouldn’t even be able to have a trial for Dr. Dean.
    Because no one could let out the secret. If you got up in court and accused a man of being an invisible killer, then you’d have to explain how he got to be invisible. And nobody was about to do that. The Perseus Project was one of the most secret government operations going at the moment.
    Everyone would have to conspire to keep it quiet.
    They’d all be working hard to hide the facts, to keep anything from leaking out.
    It was perfect. They’d actually be working to see that no one was ever punished for the deaths of the six.
    Everything had gone extremely well, too. The first two killings had been perfect. The little pranks he’d played while trying out the fluid had established the fact that there was an invisible man loose. The killings added to that idea.
    Getting off the project site was simple. Being invisible, all he had to do was hop onto one of the supply trucks. That got him through the gates.
    He’d done that tonight. They’d all think he was home in that miserable cottage, nursing a cold.
    There was Montez. Sitting beside his swimming pool, highball in hand.
    He’d become fat. Lost a good deal of his hair, too.
    Lamont walked closer to the big outdoor pool. There were floodlights under the water, making gold discs of light on the calm surface. Very impressive.
    Then he saw the dog. A German shepherd, black, lying next to the tube chair in which Montez was reclining. The light from the pool made shimmering splotches on the animal’s fur.
    The dog was new. Lamont hadn’t anticipated him.
    Animals can sense people. Perhaps in a later formula something could be done about that, he thought, but right now . . .
    The dog rose to its feet, snarling.
    Montez sat up, nearly dropping the glass in his pudgy hand.
    Lamont was about two hundred feet from them, across the pool.
    “Who’s there?” called out the frightened Montez.
    Lamont held his breath, eyes on the dog.
    It was standing wide-legged, back hair bristling. Growling, impatient for the order to attack.
    From out of his