9AUTHOR’S NOTE: Though Betty Dale was perhaps closer to him than anybody else, in the world, she had never been allowed to meet Secret Agent “X” in any of his permanent assumed personalities, such as Elisha Pond or A. J. Martin. Thus, she never knew in what guise he would next present himself to her. This man whose face she had never seen, she admired and loved for his kindliness, his courage, his bravery and strength. And she often wondered if it would ever be vouchsafed her to talk with him for an hour without having the shadow of some horrible crime looming over them, calling him into perilous paths.
10AUTHOR’S NOTE: Secret Agent “X” does not use lethal weapons. His gas gun contains a highly volatile, quick-acting anaesthetizing gas of his own compounding, which serves the same purpose as a lethal weapon without inflicting injury or death. It renders the subject instantly unconscious, and leaves no ill effects.
11AUTHOR’S NOTE: As has been mentioned before it was in the role of A. J. Martin that Secret Agent “X” had first befriended Jim Hobart. Jim took his orders, and obeyed them without question. Often he saw from the results of the work he was doing that his employer was a man of unusual capacity. If he was inclined to make any conjectures in that direction, he certainly kept them to himself. In any event, he never doubted that A. J. Martin was the man he represented himself to be. Jim sometimes wondered if the orders he received from Mr. Martin had not originated with someone else who was using Martin as a go-between. If that was so, Jim had a good idea, or thought he had, who that “someone else” was. But he was thoroughly satisfied to continue, because he was in a position to know, the opinion of the police to the contrary, that the “someone else” was emphatically on the side of law and order.
12AUTHOR’S NOTE: Though there was very little likelihood of a stranger working himself into the organization of Secret Agent “X,” the Agent considered it one of those things which are “possible but not probable.” Therefore he took every precaution to prevent such an occurrence. It was required that his assistants identify themselves doubly when contacting each other—once by their papers, and once more by the password, which was changed every few days. If “X,” posing as Fearson, had failed to give the proper password. Jim Hobart would immediately have had him seized and held for questioning.
13AUTHOR’S NOTE: Secret Agent “X” has been very reticent about this broadcasting equipment. The reason for this reticence is that he still finds it very useful and does not wish to reveal anything that might help in locating it. Adjusted to the same wave-length as New York police calls, the Agent is able to pick up messages from it with an ordinary radio which is installed in every one of his cars. Thus, if the car should be found by the police and examined, no suspicion would be aroused. The sending set is fitted with a device perfected by the Agent himself, which nullifies the results of the direction-finders of the police and radio authorities who might wish to locate the station. The Agent has not imparted any information to me about this device, except that he calls it a “disperser”—it disperses the short-waves so that the point of their origin cannot be determined.
14AUTHOR’S NOTE: Since messages from the Agent’s broadcast system can be received by the police as well as by himself, it is necessary that they be transmitted in code. These codes are constantly chanced, and the Agent has kindly consented to reveal the key of Code A since he no longer uses it. Code A consists of a combination of three languages—French, German, English. Three words are transmitted for each word of the message itself—the other two not counting at all, but serving as camouflage. The first word of the message, for instance, would be a French word, the second a German word, the third an English word. By rotating the order of the languages, the code is farther confused for outside listeners, but is comparatively easy to interpret, especially for one with experience in these matters. As an example here is how the simple message, “I see him.” would be transmitted. The capitalized words are those that count. “JE freund monkey SEHE when rein HIM esel ami.” It will be observed that the order of the languages rotates in this case, as follows: first: French, German, English; second: German, English, French; third: English, French, German.
15AUTHOR’S NOTE: This method of tracing criminals after a major crime has been committed was devised by Secret Agent “X.” He found it of such value, that he has permitted me to mention his use of it in this chronicle. He has also instructed me to offer the idea to the New York Police Department in connection with its air division. If the Police planes were equipped with aerial cameras, the procedure would be as follows: Immediately upon the alarm of a major crime such as a bank holdup, all traffic lights in the vicinity of the crime would flash red thus halting the movement of every vehicle except that in which the criminals were escaping. The police plane, taking off at the first alarm, could be over the city in a few minutes, and the aerial camera would then record the movements of the car in which the gunmen went fleeing. Thus, if they succeeded in evading pursuit, the camera would show unerringly just where they had holed up, and the forces of the law could then proceed to smoke them out. The Agent has suggested that the aerial camera would work even better in less populous centers, but there is no reason why it should not work in a large city.
16AUTHOR’S NOTE: It will be recalled that the Agent’s gas gun had been taken from him when he was placed under arrest by Inspector Cleary, and he had not had a chance to recover it when he made his escape from the police car. It was not a great loss, however, for, though the gun in itself was an interesting instrument, it was useless to anyone without the formula for the gas which it discharged. And the police chemists would certainly not have a chance to analyze it, for the moment the gas chamber was opened, the gas would escape, rendering whoever was present unconscious for several hours. As a matter of fact, this is just what did occur, as the Agent learned some time afterward. The incident was related to him some weeks later by Commissioner Foster on his return from Europe, when they met in the Bankers’ Club—which was frequented by the Agent in the personality of the wealthy Elisha Pond.
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The Pulp Hero Page 56
