Susan sat up with a start as the door of her cell burst open and Birdie, wide-eyed and choking, crashed in. An instant later Mecklen's huge form loomed in the gap, and then Morini pushed past him. "Don't yer worry, missy," Birdie got out tremulously. "I'll see yer fru--I 'ad a sister, once...." "What's this?" snapped Morini, wheeling on Mecklen. "Wotcha think?" growled Lew surlily. His raging eyes were alert for Morini's every movement, for he was twice the size of the other, and the broadcasting of Susan's presence was going to spoil Lew's plans considerably. But Morini still had his gun, and he never gave Mecklen a chance to catch him off his guard. "This is the Hawthorne girl." Gat's voice was fiery. "You were told to leave her alone. And, anyway, she was to be killed. Instead of that, you've showed her our headquarters, and you're still keeping her alive, so that if she got away we'd all be dished! Lew, I've a good mind to give you yours!" All unobserved, Birdie had edged along the wall towards the open door. Lew and Morini stood just inside. And then Sands leapt through the narrow gap like a fleeing rat, and was halfway up the stairs before the other two realised that he had gone. "Keep yer pecker up, missy!" he bawled. "I'll get the pleece!" Morini flung up his gun, but Susan kicked the table against him as he fired, and the shot went wide. The next moment Birdie was out of sight, with Lew in cursing pursuit. Susan caught Morini's wrist and wrenched it round with all her strength. His gun clattered to the floor, and he closed with her in a short, whirling, hand-to-hand tussle. Susan fought back at him furiously, but the man was wiry and as slippery as an eel. In less than a minute she found both her elbows locked behind her back. "I know ju-jitsu too," he grunted, and kicked his fallen gun out into the passage. He threw her from him violently, and the door was shut and barred from outside before she could rise again. Birdie could run! He made the front door before Lew had reached the head of the cellar steps, and Mecklen was left gaping at an empty hall. Birdie had got away! Fear of what would happen if the pickpocket reached a police station and squealed had temporarily paralysed Lew's faculties. It took him some seconds to soak up the immense significance of the disaster, and in that time Morini, more agile of mind and body, had passed him at a sprint.