ron Goulart - Challengers of the Unknown Read Free Page A

down the hall toward the sun deck.
    The footsteps had ceased to sound on the slanting shingle roof overhead.
    Prof eased a .32 revolver out of the holster at the back of his belt.
    "No wonder you felt so lumpy the last time I hugged you," remarked Hildy.
    "Back in the kitchen," he ordered without turning.
    "I'll do no—"
    An upside down red head was visible dangling over the edge of the roof and grinning at them through the sliding-glass deck doors. "Everybody decent?"
    "Once a circus clown, always a circus clown." Prof stowed his gun. "Splendid seeing you again, Red."
    "Same here." Legs flashed and Red Ryan somersaulted backward off the beach house roof to land upright on the deck. "Pleasant setup you have here. Afternoon, miss."
    Prof came, frowning some, out into the sunlight. "Who's up in the autogiro?"
    "Rocky."
    Profs left cheek puckered. "Tell him to park it," he suggested. "Then we'll all sit out here soaking up the proverbial sun. When dusk spreads along Malibu's golden shores, we can go clamming or perhaps you can stick around long enough for the next run of grunion. Or perhaps you can take—"
    "Easy, Prof, whoa," said Red with a grin. "We wouldn't barge in on your vacation unless it was important." He glanced at Profs ear. "Um . . . been having any trouble with your hearing?"
    "I turned it off. Red Ryan, this is Hildy Niven. Hildy, Red. She knows about the little summoning bug."
    "Sorry," the girl said to Red, "I stumbled on it the last time I fondled his ear."
    "Not supposed to be able to shut it off," said Red. "Your man-in-the-street electronics whiz couldn't,
    but to Prof Haley," said Prof, "such a simple problem is—
    "We have to go," interrupted Red. "That we includes me, too?" Prof asked. "Right. Ace wants us back . . . back home soonest." "Okay, I'll gather my gear together." Prof patted Hildy's elbow on his way into the house.
    The blonde girl watched Red. "You wouldn't want to tell me where the next challenge is going to take you?"
    "That's right," answered Red, "I wouldn't."
    "Kee-rist!" Rocky came rumbling into the chill meeting room, waving a tabloid newspaper aloft. "Have you guys seen this rag?"
    Slouching farther in his place at the oval conference table, Prof cupped a hand to his ear. "Eh? What say?"
    "They got a whole lot of baloney about us in this here National Intelligencer." The wide wrestler slapped the offending newspaper down on the table-top, poked a thick forefinger at it. "What kind of pea-brained nitwits read this tripe, anyhow?" He dropped into his chair with the force of a felled tree.
    When the table ceased shaking, Red said, "I haven't seen the annoying item, Rock. Read it, will you?"
    Prof slouched still farther. "Why don't you wait till your subscription copy arrives, old man?"
    "Ain't Ace here?" Rocky had realized the leader of the Challengers was not in evidence.
    Prof said, "Expected momentarily."
    The pages of the tabloid got ripped as Rocky turned them. "Okay now, listen to this bilge. 'Living on Borrowed Time, They Dedicate Lives to Fight Evil.'
    That's your here now headline. Which is right next to an ad for an Egyptian amulet that can both increase and decrease your fertility."
    "Don't scoff," put in Prof. "My Uncle Rufus had one of those and he ended up fathering sixteen children, many of them with his wife. The brood included two sets of identical twins, three sets of triplets, six sturdy—"
    "Whoa," said Red. "That's nineteen already."
    "Gosh, he was even more fertile than we realized."
    "Come on, you guys," protested Rocky, giving the newspaper article a few more pokes with his finger. "This broad goes on to say that—"
    "Which broad?" inquired Red.
    "I don't know, some dippy broad named Hildy Niven. Probably got a face like a bulldog and a build like the wrong end of a truck."
    "Could that be the same Hildy Niven I met recently in Southern California," said Red.
    Prof asked, "Did she have a face like a bulldog and a build like the wrong end of a truck?"
    "Nope,