The Ambassador of Doom by Brant House

Book Details

Secret weapons plans are stolen and behind the scenes, Washington D.C. is in a panic. Secret Agent “X” flies to Washington to hunt down the spies involved in this treason and bring them to justice.

Through night skies Secret Agent “X” sped to Washington — summoned as a pall of horror hung over the nation’s capital. How ghastly that horror was to become even he did not guess — until he was face to face with this green masked ambassador from hell’s own legation and his horrible horde versed in the poison torments Kelantan.

Ambassador of Doom (1934)
A monster of evil came to the nation’s capital. A green-masked ambassador from Hell’s own legation, followed by a horrible horde versed in the poison torments of the Far East! Even the police who sought to trap him did not guess the ghastliness of his real motive. That remained for Secret Agent “X” to discover as he prowled through a dark and sinister labyrinth of Washington espionage.

Chapter I – Terror’s Weapon
Chapter II – Shadows in the Night
Chapter III – Death by Torture
Chapter IV – The Living Dead
Chapter V – Whispering Doom
Chapter VI – Men of Mystery
Chapter VII – A Dangerous Move
Chapter VIII – Death Cry!
Chapter IX – Death to the Agent
Chapter X – Hounds of the Law
Chapter XI – Ambushed!
Chapter XII – Sinister Smoke
Chapter XIII – The Threat
Chapter XIV – Island of Terror
Chapter XV – Green God of Death
Chapter XVI – The Idol’s Victim
Chapter XVII – The Idol’s Wrath
Chapter XVIII – Red Death
Chapter XIX – Flaming Peril
Chapter XX – A Live Corpse
Chapter XXI – Trapped

The Secret Council – Behind the Scenes With Secret Agent “X”

The Ambassador of Doom was published in Secret Agent “X” in the May, 1934 issue.

Paul Chadwick (1902–1972), the originator of the character Secret Agent “X,” the man of a thousand faces, was the author of this story, using the house name Brant House.

The Ambassador of Doom has 5 illustrations.

Files:

1. House-AmbassadorOfDoom.epub

Excerpt: Ambassador of Doom

Chapter I

Terror’s Weapon

DARKNESS lay over Washington. Darkness that was a smothering black blanket ripped apart by sinister knife blades of lightning. A jagged streak empurpled the sky. It bathed the dome of the Capitol at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue. It etched the classic columns of the White House in lurid silhouette.

Thunder rolled in like a savage war drum. When it died away, echoes raced across the Mall toward the distant ghostly spire of the Monument. Trees moaned in the night wind. Rain lashed the empty streets in chill torrents.

The city seemed deserted. Its residents had taken refuge in their snug homes. They were ignorant of the strange, secret conference in session at the State, War and Navy Building. They were unaware of the nerve-racking tension that filled a locked and windowless room where seven men sat.

Five of these men were United States senators. One was a cabinet member close to the President. The seventh was an army officer attached to General Staff.

The army officer was concluding an amazing speech. He stared from face to face of the tense circle around him.

“Let me repeat,” he said, “that the discovery of Doctor Browning’s just before his death was quite accidental. His life was given to the study of radioactive substances. He was an authority on radium, thorium, and uranium. It was a radium-induced cancer that sent him to an early grave. But the destructive possibilities of radioactivity didn’t concern him. He was interested only in its therapeutic effects.”

The young officer paused, cleared his throat, and fingered the papers on the table before him.

“When Doctor Browning sensed the sinister powers of the ray amplification mechanism he had built, he was profoundly shocked. To make sure that his fears had a basis in fact he tested the mechanism on animals. He found that it caused complete and permanent paralysis of all nerve centers. He found that it turned living things into horrible hulks with a bare spark of life still remaining. He found, moreover, that it was effective at a great distance. “He was about to destroy it when he was stricken by death himself. Fortunately, the United States government saw fit to confiscate the mechanism and the blueprint plans.”

The army officer sat down abruptly. In spite of the chill of the room, beads of sweat glistened on his forehead. He wiped them away and his hands shook nervously. A peal of thunder boomed far off on the horizon like deep-toned mocking laughter.

The gray-haired cabinet member at the table’s head rose. For a moment he, too, stared at the five senators. Then he spoke in a voice that seemed unnaturally dry:

“You’ve heard Captain Nelson’s testimony, gentlemen. You’ve heard reports and seen statistics showing what the mechanism of Browning’s can do. There’s no question, gentlemen, but what the United States has in its possession one of the most terrible offensive weapons on the face of the earth. A weapon, let me remind you, so ghastly, so inhuman that it appears to be outside the pale of civilized warfare. The purpose of this meeting is to decide whether or not this weapon should be preserved or destroyed. What are your feelings in this matter, gentlemen?”

FOR a moment there was silence punctuated only by the faint footfalls of the armed guard outside and the muffled rumble of the thunder. The senators were grappling mentally with the appalling horror of what they had heard. They were visioning armies going down under the force of an invisible ray. Visioning strongmen being turned into paralyzed, corpse-like wrecks; men speechless, motionless, yet still alive—legions of the living dead.

White-haired, ruddy-faced Senator Blackwell, chairman of the committee, rose to his feet, fists clenched. He struck the table a terrific blow. His finely molded face was quivering with emotion.

“It must be destroyed!” he cried. “Get rid of it for all time. Burn the plans, sink the machine into the deepest depths of the sea. I don’t care how you do it—but destroy it!”

He sat down, breathing heavily. Three other senators—Dashman, Foulette, and Cobb, nodded instant agreement. But the fifth, Senator Haden Rathborne, a pale, saturnine man, shook his head. There was a fire in his eyes as he faced the others.

“Gentlemen,” he said harshly, “I understand your feelings. But war is war—and the instruments of war must be effective. We have machine guns, explosives, poison gas. Why not a paralyzing ray?”

Again Senator Blackwell became the spokesman for the others.

“Why not?” he shouted. “Because, as we’ve just heard, it’s inhuman, ghastly. Because we know that paralysis is one of the most horrible things that can afflict a man. Because it is a fate we wouldn’t wish even upon our enemies.”

Senator Rathborne jumped to his feet. The light in his eyes had become a living flame. He thrust his short necked head forward, hunched his shoulders, and drew up his hands in a gesture of angry impatience. His voice rose in sudden, fierce emphasis:

“With war threatening in a dozen countries it is madness to destroy such a weapon. The interests of humanity? Very pretty, gentlemen—very pretty! But we have the interests of our own country to consider. If war should come we can’t afford to be white-livered and squeamish.”

Senator Cobb entered the discussion now. A round-faced little man, immaculately dressed, he stabbed a shaking finger at Senator Rathborne.

“Remember, sir,” he said hoarsely, “that civilian populations will suffer, too. Yon can’t prevent it. Do you care to contemplate women and aged non-combatants becoming paralytics? Do you care to picture thousands of innocent children made hopeless cripples for life?”

Rathborne instantly gave answer, his whole lean body trembling with fanatical zest.

“I’ve never sought popularity, Cobb,” he snarled. “I’m not a vote-snatching, favor-currying politician like some gentlemen I could name. I’m a man who speaks his mind. I advocate retaining and developing the Browning ray machine into an efficient weapon of war. In the next world conflict, the nation which inspires the greatest terror will win—the nation that breaks its opponent’s morale.”

Cobb stood speechless, confused. It was Blackwell who addressed the meeting for the third time. His face looked apoplectic. He struck the table, threw his shoulders back, and spoke in a voice that made the walls ring.

“Rubbish, Rathborne—utter rubbish!” he shouted. “It was Germany’s terroristic tactics—her submarines, her Zeppelins, her poison gas—that made the nations of the earth rise up to crush her in the World War! Countries will always combine to defeat a common enemy. Even if this were not so, the proud history of these United States wouldn’t allow us to stoop to the use of such a weapon. I move, gentlemen, that the Browning ray mechanism be destroyed for all time.”

Senators Dashman, Foulette, and Cobb leaped to their feet, cheering Blackwell. The cabinet man joined them. Captain Nelson, looking relieved, nodded his approval.

Only Senator Rathborne remained silent. His face wore the obstinate, sullen expression of a man who cannot accept defeat gracefully. But the motion was carried over his head. It was agreed by the senatorial committee that Doctor Browning’s hideous ray mechanism be destroyed.

Excerpt From: Brant House. “The Ambassador of Doom”