Chapter 5

As the Black Beauty streaked along an old highway on the outskirts of the city, a rain storm had robbed the night of its clarity. The Green Hornet and Kato were talking.

"What do you expect to find here besides the formula, Mr. Britt?"

"Kato, I don't know. If you remember sometime last year we heard about Barton's company scandal. Someone at Barton Pharmaceuticals was selling secrets to the Axis powers. We investigated and found that Barton's assistant was in league with Nazis. Barton has maintained his innocence but I don't believe him. How could he work so closely with his assistant and be unaware of the treason? I think Barton was taking a cut of his assistant's profits. I hope to find evidence of that at his home."

"And what of his assistant? He disappeared right?" Kato inquired as the Black Beauty turned into the long driveway that lead to the Barton estate.

"No one knows. The Sentinel followed the case. We published a story that he went into hiding but there were rumors that he was now peddling his poisons to the Soviets since war's end. I had heard conjecture recently that he was back in Detroit, but I wouldn't know where to begin to find him."

As the car pulled up to the main building of the estate, a mansion of considerable size, the masked man and his loyal sidekick got out and raced through the rain to the front door.

"Since Barton's away the place definitely looks empty."

"But its locked up tight. How do we get in?" Kato moved through the rain like a swift jungle cat, looking for an open window or some kind of entrance.

"The window just above that balcony looks partially opened." The Green Hornet glanced up at the second story balcony. "But we need a way to get up there."

With great haste Kato returned to the Black Beauty and opened the trunk. He quickly returned to his friend's side holding a large grappling hook connected to several feet of rope. With a great toss Kato threw the hook towards the house. It connected and tangled itself around the balcony railing. He tugged the wet rope hard to ensure its tense strength.

"Good thinking, my friend. Well, you go first. Be careful. The rain will make it slippery." The Hornet watched as Kato effortlessly grabbed the rope and snaked his body upward along the rope. Once his friend had reached the top, the Hornet followed.

Kato pushed open the window and stepped inside. As the Hornet followed and climbed in he pulled the flashlight from his coat pocket and illuminated the room. It was a mostly empty room with a few boxes strewn about the place. Kato opened a box and saw candles, blankets and old photographs.

"Barton must just be using this room for storage. Let's find that basement. Follow me."

"Right, Mr. Britt," Kato acknowledged as they moved into a grand hallway and treaded hurriedly down the grand staircase of the place.

As they came to a small door just in front of the large kitchen area, the Green Hornet found a lightswitch. The kitchen lit up like a bright candle. He unlocked the door and opened it.

"Well, here we are. Down those stairs is the basement." The Green Hornet aimed his flashlight and descended down the stairs.

Kato followed and reached the bottom of the stairs as the Hornet found a light at the bottom and flipped the switch. A blue light emitted from the ceiling giving the entire laboratory a sapphire glow. As the two masked men walked into the lab they saw empty beakers and flasks sitting on a large table in the center of the room. Glass containers filled with every color of fluid were labeled with various letters of the alphabet.

A row of small lockers were stacked on top of each other along the far wall. The Hornet moved to each locker and opened them. The formula appeared to be in various stages of completion. Flasks and beakers of red and blue liquid were marked as "stage one" and "stage two." Another locker showed the purple fluid in its apparent final stage.

"What do we do, Mr. Britt?" Kato asked as he looked at all of the experiments on the table.

"There's a sink in the far corner of the room. Dump everything you see. And I mean everything. When we leave here no trace of this stuff should be left."

Kato grabbed a few containers from the table and moved to the sink where he began dumping each of the liquids down the drain. First was a thin milky liquid, followed by a thick viscous brown liquid resembling motor oil. He then deposited a bright red liquid and jumped back as a small explosion occurred. Flames shot up from the drain like a geyser from Hell. Suddenly the entire far corner of the lab was engulfed in a raging fire.

"Kato, what happened?"

"Perhaps we should have been more careful. I mixed chemicals. I wasn't thinking."

"Never mind. The whole place is gonna go up. We've got to get out of here."

The Green Hornet raced to the stairs and trodded upward. Kato followed. As they reached the top of the basement steps a loud explosion was heard. The masked men could feel the heat rising from below. They charged from the basement door to the front door of the expansive house, unlocked it and bolted outside, racing to the Black Beauty.

As they entered the car itroared into life. A reddish-orange flare could be seen through the windows. The place was becoming completely immersed in hot flame. The car shot off like a bullet and sped across the long driveway into the darkness and out of sight.

The following morning Britt Reid was in the lobby of his office at the newspaper with Michael Axford, Lenore Case and Ed Lowry. They were listening to Axford relay the news that he had gotten from police headquarters.

"And it turns out that The Green Hornet was involved with those crooks all along. Reid, the cops found a hornet seal at the grocery on Gray Street and the crooks tied up in the back. Sargeant Burke said that the Hornet tipped the cops off about the place and that when they got there it looked like a tornado had come through."

"The Hornet must've figured those crooks were double crossing him or he wouldn't have tipped the police." Reid suggested.

"Sure. That's my way of thinkin' too, Reid." Axford acknowledged with a smile.

"And what of the old Barton place, Mike? You mentioned earlier that it burned down?" Ed Lowry was taking notes on a pad of paper.

"Well, when they questioned Barton and that grocer, Barton said he thought the Hornet would go out there to destroy evidence."

"They think it was the Hornet that committed the arson?" Casey's interest was peaked.

"Sure, on account of the Hornet felt double crossed by the other crooks and he went out there to take his revenge, I'll bet." Axford smiled. "Oh, what a rascal that Hornet is."

"It's strange that Doc Barton would be involved in a racket at all considering all he went through last year." Casey offered.

"Agreed, Casey. And whatever became of that scandal anyhow? I mean I know he was acquitted but—."

"You mean did they ever prove he was actually a spy, Lowry? Sarge says they searched his place this mornin' for anythin' more on the matter but didn't find nothin' conclusive. But they're still lookin'. It's a big place you know."

"Well, those crooks oughta be sent up the river for a good long while since the grocer admitted that his formula was responsible for what happened with that family."

"I don't know 'bout that Lowry. You see, they made a deal with those crooks to get a reduced sentence if they admitted to everything. And by the way, that brings to mind the fact that Barton confessed to killin' his assistant, the one that was implicated as a spy in that scandal last year."

"Really, Mike?" Britt was surprised. "Did they find his body?"

"Sure. The man's body was found in the abandoned factory of Barton Pharmaceuticals. And Barton was more than willin' to sing to the cops. The state was tryin' for the chair but now, only time will tell what happens to 'em." Axford smiled at the satisafaction that this racket was busted wide open.

"You don't think that The Green Hornet would ever admit anything if he were caught, do you, Mr. Reid?"

"Oh, I don't know, Miss Case. I guess he'd have to be caught first." Britt Reid smiled.

"Sure. And that'll never happen. That devil's too smart for us all, Reid." Axford waved his finger at Reid. "Why, if he were here, right now, I bet we wouldn't even recognize him." Axford went to the hat rack and grabbed his bowler hat. "Be seein' ya' all. Goin' down to cops headquarters to see 'bout more news." Axford put on his hat and trampled out of the office.

"I'm off too, gang!" Lowry grabbed his dark fedora from the rack. "Gonna go see Gunnigan."

As Lowry tipped his hat to them and left the office, Miss Case smiled at Britt.

"Axford's right you know, Mr. Reid. If the Hornet was here, why I bet we wouldn't even know it."

"You're right of course, Miss Case. He'd probably be right under our noses." Britt smiled before walking into his office and closing the door.