Read Doc Savage: The Secret of Satan's Spine (The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage Book 15) for Free Online

misunderstanding.
    “I sorta need to find out where they went,” Monk told the driver.
    “You can call the cab company, but unless you’ve got a badge backing up your court request, you’re not gonna get very far.”
    Monk muttered, “But he can’t have got very far yet, so I think that it won’t hurt to try.”
    Monk made a call from a pay phone, got into a heated argument, and was told where he could go, and how quickly to be about it.
    The hairy chemist would have hung up on the radio dispatcher, except the dispatcher hung up on him first.
    “A fine day this has turned out to be!” fumed Monk. He grabbed the next taxi in line and barked, “Doc Savage headquarters.”
    He did not have to give an address. Probably every cab driver from Albany to Newark and places in between knew that famous address.
    The cab whirled Monk away from Pennsylvania Station, his luggage, and his improvised vacation.
    “That Ham Brooks is gonna have the horse laugh on me when he hears about this!” mumbled Monk.
    In the front of the machine, the cabbie asked, “Trouble?”
    “Woman trouble,” replied Monk.
    “That’s the worst kind of trouble there is,” sympathized the hackman.
    Monk muttered, “Normally, woman trouble is my favorite kind of trouble. But not this day, or this woman, either.”
    “You have my sympathy, buddy,” clucked the other.
    “Thanks,” said Monk miserably. “But what I hanker for right now is answers.”
    “Those, I don’t have. In fact, I’m fresh out today.”

Chapter IV
    THE HAYWIRE BLONDE
    MONK MAYFAIR DID not retreat to the skyscraper headquarters establishment of Doc Savage because he was uncertain what to do next. Not at all. It was a manifest fact that he had no clue, inkling, or idea of where to locate the smoky-haired man and his blonde captive, Davey Lee.
    Otherwise the apish chemist would have hied off in any direction he thought fruitful. Nor did Monk lack bravery. In fact, he was a bit on the reckless side when it came to plunging into or after trouble.
    The real reason Monk betook himself to the Man of Bronze was because Doc possessed many amazing gadgets and devices with which to track down quarry.
    As a chemist, Monk had had a hand in perfecting some of those gimmicks, but he knew he needed the astute brain of Doc Savage in order to initiate the so-far unfruitful search.
    So Monk hectored his driver to cut corners, race traffic lights, and make all speed toward the towering stone edifice out of which the bronze man operated.
    “Keep your shirt on, buster!” the hackman burst out at last.
    Monk reached ahead and slapped him on the top of his head and snapped, “Pay attention to your daggone driving!”
    “Then stop riding me, mister!” the driver retorted.
    Monk settled into the back seat, big paws clutching his knees nervously, his tiny eyes skating out the cab windows in the vain hope of spotting the large man and Davey Lee.
    Soon, the taxi ground to a halt in front of the limestone and steel spire that was his destination.
    Throwing the hackman his last few dollars, the apish chemist charged into the lobby, arrowed for the special elevator that ran directly to the eighty-sixth floor, and hit the solitary button as the doors rolled closed.
    The elevator shot upward like a rocket. Monk landed on the seat of his pants, and remained that way until the lift coasted to a stop and the doors mechanically opened.
    Thereupon, Monk bounced to his feet and raced down the corridor until he came to a bronze door whose modest letters proclaimed Clark Savage, Jr.
    Barging into the reception room, Monk found it empty, then shoved into the library, calling out, “Doc! Are you home?”
    No response came. Only echoes rebounding off the myriad shelves of the scientific library, which was impressive indeed.
    The homely chemist crossed the enormous library, banged into the laboratory, and repeated his call.
    He found the great white-enamel walled workshop deserted.
    Monk’s simian face fell. He