The Spider Strain | Page 6

can!"
"That would be best, I think. Do you want any help?"
"I fancy not," Warwick replied. "I'd probably work much better alone in such a case. I may use Togo, if it proves necessary. He is worth a dozen ordinary men."
"Very well; have it your own way and use your own methods," the supercriminal told him. "All I'm interested in is the proper result. I want that locket, Warwick. I must have it--and I don't want you to fail!"
"My word! You speak as though I always had failed!" Warwick complained. "Never failed yet, have I?"
"There is a first time for everything, Warwick," said the supercriminal, "and I am not eager for this to be your first failure. Keep your eyes open for the others. I am sorry that I can give you no definite information concerning them."
"Then I suppose I'll have to be suspicious of everybody--what?" Warwick said. "I'd better toddle along now, old and respected sir! I have to see Silvia again, hurry home, dress--all that sort of silly rot. 'Bye!"
"Good luck, Warwick!"
"Thanks, old sir and employer! I fancy that this will not be a very difficult job. Getting a silly locket that hangs on the end of a chain--my word!"
"Ten thousand in it for you, Warwick. That will pay for a honeymoon."
"Not for the sort that Silvia and I intend having, but it will help some," Warwick replied "'Bye!"
Warwick left the den of The Spider, and hurried down the stairs to where Silvia was waiting for him.
"Everything is jolly well all right, dear girl," he reported "I have a couple more tasks to perform for your uncle and then I am to be--er--free. Understand? And then--!"
"You'll be careful, John?"
"Of course! My word! Be jolly well careful when a mistake would mean my losing you! We are going to Mrs. Burton Barker's place tonight, remember!"
"Will you have work to do there, John?"
"Now, now! Little girls should not ask too many questions, you know!"
"But I am interested!" Silvia declared. "And perhaps I might be able to help you!"
"Heaven forbid!" Warwick exclaimed fervently. "Allow you to run into danger--what? My word!"
"Oh, perhaps you think that I am not clever enough to help you," she accused. "Please remember, sir, that The Spider is my uncle, and some of the same strain of blood that is in his veins flows through mine!"
"Why, my dear girl!"
"And I'd like to help you," she coaxed.
"But I don't fancy that you can in this--er--particular case," Warwick told her. "Perhaps you may in the other--the last one--we'll see about it later. We can't afford to take any unnecessary risks, you know. I'll tell you a bit more about it tonight. Have to toddle along now--dinner, dress, all that sort of thing. 'Bye!"
Warwick kissed her again, and then he hurried out to the curb. But he shivered as he sprang into his roadster.
"Just fancy a girl as sweet as Silvia running the danger of arrest to help me steal a silly locket," he mused as he drove rapidly up the boulevard. "My word! It isn't being done! Not the proper sort of thing at all--what?"
Chapter 3
Togo Shows Emotion
TOGO was the peer of all Japanese valets, as John Warwick often had said--and yet he was more than that. Though the world in general did not suspect, Togo himself was a valued member of The Spider's band, and had been for years before John Warwick was induced to join it.
Togo had worked for the supercriminal in the old days in Paris, and he knew many things about the band that even John Warwick did not know. The deeds of The Spider and his men and women were mild now to what they had been in those days before an accident made a cripple of the supercriminal and prevented his active physical participation in the band's doings. Though he could not get about except in an invalid's chair, yet The Spider remained the brains of the band.
Warwick and some of the others knew that in the den of the house on American Boulevard there were great filing cases that held many interesting documents. Some of these related to criminals, some were of such a nature that they could have been used against prominent men, and others were documents regarding police officers and detectives.
Whereas any well-regulated police department kept a rogues' gallery of crooks, The Spider maintained his rogues' gallery of peace officers, knew their peculiarities, their weak spots, and their strong points. But only Togo and few of the old-timers knew of other things that were in those secret archives--things that related to days gone by, little accounts that the supercriminal sought to settle from time to time, in some as the creditor and in some as a debtor.
Togo was also sincerely attached to John Warwick. Several times, he had given Warwick valuable