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#2
JAN 14 |
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“Unwanted Allies” Part One
Brenda Banks smiled widely as she sat beside Hardy Moore in the front seat of his car. Her red hair was perfectly styled and she wore a new gown. Hardy looked uncomfortable in his tuxedo.
“I don’t know how you got tickets to this bash,” Hardy said.
Brenda smiled. “You just need connections, darling,” she said. “And a rich daddy doesn’t hurt, either.” She gently wrapped her arms around his left arm and laid her head on his shoulder. “Aren’t you excited? I’ve wanted to see Swing Sisson’s band since I heard their last record! It’s even better that the gate receipts are going toward war bonds!”
Hardy smiled back at her. “You know I don’t follow these orchestras like you do. Too upper class for me. I’m more comfortable in some smoky juke joint or a ball game where you don’t have to dress up like a penguin to go.”
Brenda giggled. “Oh, Hardy,” she said. “You’re so funny.”
“Right,” Hardy said unconvincingly as he pulled up to the curb in front of the theater. “At least this wasn’t over at the old Tembroke Theater.”
“I agree,” Brenda said as she checked her hair in Hardy’s rear view mirror. “Too much echo in there.”
“Plus it was so hard to get to,” Hardy said. He opened the door and a valet accepted it. On the far side of the car, another valet opened Brenda’s door and took her hand to help her out.
Hardy crossed in front of the car and Brenda took his arm. They walked in to the theater together.
“Mr. Dyce!” Hardy said as he recognized the DA inside the lobby. Daniel Dyce smiled and shook Hardy’s hand. “I’m surprised to see you out.”
“You certainly gave us our fair share of work to do with that gang of thugs that those vigilantes had caught,” Dyce replied. “Even if we can’t charge them with any weapons charges from what your report says happened on that island, they’ve all got outstanding charges against them. We’ll be filling up the court’s docket for months.”
“Thank that character the Clock,” Hardy said. “He left us a full account of events. I just don’t understand how they all wound up there together. We’ve got two known vigilantes, someone driving some sort of submersible tank and one crook kept talking about some old woman.” Hardy shook his head. “I’d write it off as total science-fiction if they hadn’t mentioned the Clock and Lady Luck. I just wish that these vigilantes would let the police do their job.”
Dyce smiled. “Still, I can’t imagine that you’re complaining too much at having this bunch off the streets.”
“I never said that,” Hardy said. He glanced around and lowered his voice. “I’m sorry about your brother,” he said in a lower voice.
Dyce’s smile faded. “Thank you,” he said, “but Derek made his choices in life and now he has to pay the price. My office is already preparing the paperwork to have another prosecutor brought in. I don’t want him denied the right to a fair trial because of a conflict of interest by my office.”
“Perfectly understandable,” Hardy said. He glanced up to see the lights dimming and coming up. “It looks like they’re about to begin. We’d better get to our seats. Good to see you.”
“Likewise,” Dyce said, shaking hands with Hardy and nodding to Brenda before heading toward another entrance to the auditorium.
“Who was that?” Brenda asked as they entered the auditorium.
“Daniel Dyce,” Hardy replied. “He took Brian O’Brien’s position as district attorney. O’Brien’s moved up the ranks and is a judge now.”
“What happened to his brother?” Brenda asked.
They found their seats and sat down. Hardy leaned in closer. “We picked up his brother after something went down on an island a little while ago. A bunch of vigilantes had apparently gone after this crook named John Carver. We’re still fuzzy on exactly what happened but Carver wound up dead. It’s a real shame, especially when you consider that he and Derek are identical twins. It’s funny to see how far apart they wound up.”
Applause signaled the end of their conversation. Hardy turned his view to the stage just in time to see Swing Sisson himself emerge from the back. The rest of his orchestra was already assembled. He bowed to the crowd, then turned to the orchestra and raised his baton. A beautiful blond woman, the group’s singer, stood and waited for her cue.
Brenda was in heaven for the next hour and a half. She laid her head on Hardy’s shoulder and sighed happily. She jerked upright when she heard a gunshot from outside. “Hardy, what was that?” she asked as the music stopped and Swing stared at the lobby door.
“I’m going to find out,” Hardy said, untangling himself from Brenda and sprinting toward the exit door. Across the room Daniel Dyce was doing the same. A moment later Brenda followed, blending in to the crowd heading toward the lobby.
“Get back!” a scarred robber yelled as he pointed a gun at the door. Behind him another robber was shoveling the gate receipts into a canvas bag.
“Put it down, boys,” Hardy said. “You know you don’t want to do this. The police are probably already on their way.”
The head robber was preparing to lower his weapon when another one ran up to him. “That’s Hardy Moore!” he yelled, pointing at Hardy. “He’s the chief of police!”
“Is he now?” the scarred robber said with a sinister sneer on his face. “Looks like there’s about to be a job opening.” He pulled the trigger as Hardy tried to move out of the way. The bullet struck him and sent him slumping to the floor. Brenda screamed and ran to his side. Dyce was already there. He’d pulled his pocket handkerchief out of his pocket and was pressing on the wound in Hardy’s shoulder.
The robber was preparing to fire another shot into Hardy’s head when he turned at the sound from outside of approaching sirens. He smirked as he shoved the gun into a holster under his jacket. “Looks like you got lucky tonight, copper,” he said before turning and running out of the theater with his accomplices.
“Go after him!” Hardy said, weakly trying to get up.
Dyce shook his head. “Your men will catch them,” he said. “You’re hurt.”
“They just got my shoulder!” Hardy said. “Go after them!”
“Hardy!” a tearful Brenda sobbed. “Please stay still.”
“All right,” Hardy grudgingly conceded. “But you’d better be right, Dan.”
Lieutenant Barry Moore was one of the first police officers through the doors of the theater. “Chief!” he exclaimed as he saw Hardy on the floor. “We need an ambulance!” he called to an officer at the door,
“Forget about me,” Hardy said through gritted teeth. “Where are those hoods?”
“They were clearing out as we closed in,” Barry said. “We’ve got ten patrolmen after them now.”
“Good,” Hardy said with a nod. His face contorted with pain from the movement.
“Don’t worry, Chief,” Barry said. “We’ll get them.”
The lieutenant’s estimation proved to be optimistic. While most of the gang was quickly captured, the scarred ringleader remained at large with the gate receipts in his possession. It was only a couple of nights later that Brenda Banks, once more in her guise as Lady Luck, made her way into Hardy’s office through the window to try and get any leads she might be able to use. She was looking through the case file on the robbery when she heard a scuff in the hall outside followed by the doorknob softly rattling.
Clutching the file, Lady Luck darted out of the window as the door to Hardy’s office quietly opened. She crouched on the fire escape and watched as three people walked in. One of them, the ringleader, looked around the office and quickly gave whispered orders. He started checking Hardy’s desk while a woman with him rifled through file cabinets. Another man watched the door.
Lady Luck was able to catch some fragments of conversation as they searched. The ringleader muttered in a frustrated tone, “That file has to be here somewhere!”
Lady Luck glanced down at the file in her hand. Somehow she knew that was the object of their quest. Knowing their search would be fruitless, she started toward the roof. However, the toe of her boot kicked a loose piece of metal, which went clanking down the escape. Lady Luck froze.
Inside the office, the leader’s head jerked toward the window. “Somebody’s out there!” he yelled. Lady Luck ran for the roof as the three inside the office ran toward the window.
Lady Luck was already charging across the roof of the station when the leader shouted, “Stop right there!” She turned to see who was chasing her. Behind her veil, her mouth dropped open as she recognized Swing Sisson. The woman turned out to be the singer and she recognized the other man as the sax player from Sisson’s band.
She quickly recovered from her shock. “And what are you doing?” she asked.
“That money was stolen from one of our gigs,” Sisson said. “And we’re making sure that it goes toward those war bonds!”
“Boss!” the woman said. “That’s Lady Luck!”
“So it is,” Sisson said. “I thought you were on the side of the angels, but it’s really starting to look like you’re in cahoots with those crooks. Why else would you steal that file from the police station?”
“You’re in way over your head,” Lady Luck said. “Why not just go back to your band? That’s something you’re apparently good at.”
“We’re not leaving without that war bond money,” Sisson warned.
“Then you’re out of luck,” Lady Luck said, “and you’re just going to get hurt.”
Sisson smirked. “I don’t think you’ve noticed that there are three of us and one of you.”
“And I’m not allergic to batons,” Lady Luck said before she whirled around and ran across the roof.
“Bonnie! Toby! Don’t let her get away! Those soldiers are counting on us!” Sisson yelled.
Lady Luck heard their footsteps following her as she leaped across a gap between buildings and kept running. The others made the jump as well. She smirked as she crossed another gap on a board laid between the buildings. Before the others could reach the roof’s edge, she kicked the board, sending it plummeting to the alley below.
She turned to see Sisson and his friends come to a stop. Sisson grabbed the man’s arm. “Don’t try it, Toby. You’ll never make it.”
“But the soldiers!” Toby protested.
“This isn’t over,” Sisson called to Lady Luck.
She smirked again. “It is from my point of view. Go home, Mr. Sisson. Let the professionals handle this.”
Sisson glared as she continued on her course across the rooftops. “This isn’t over!” he repeated, raising his voice to a shout as she ran farther away. “We won’t stop until you’re behind bars where you belong and that money’s on its way to our boys overseas!”
Wonderful, Lady Luck thought as she continued her escape. Hardy’s going to love this.
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Next Issue: In Quality Comics #3: Lady Luck continues trying to track down the robbers while Swing Sisson continues his crusade to see her arrested. Will she be able to retrieve the money before Swing has her locked up?
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