LAMONT TUCKED MADDY’S legs under a blanket and put a pillow under her head. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t come to until morning. Bando sniffed around the room. He looked at Maddy, and then at Lamont. He whimpered and pawed the floor.
“Okay, pal,” said Lamont, “I guess I could use another walk.”
The night air had gotten cooler. Within a block, Lamont was wishing he’d brought a jacket. But then he remembered that the only jacket he owned was the top half of a tuxedo. Come to think of it, a leather coat might be nice. And a stylish scarf.
Lamont looked around to make sure he was alone. He cleared his throat. Then he spoke out in his best imitation of a radio announcer voice.
“The Shadow knows!”
He tried it at different speeds and volumes. “The…Shadow…knows!” “THE SHADOW KNOWS!”
Then he tried it with the laugh. He felt ridiculous.
Luckily, only the dog was around to hear it.
As they walked, Bando roamed from garbage pile to garbage pile, sniffing at the trash and gnawing at the occasional discarded bone. At the bottom of a utility pole, Bando lifted his leg and released a thin stream. Lamont heard a man’s voice, muffled, coming from the other side.
“…and let us all remember that the marks of a superior society are safe streets, clear rules, and mutual consideration…”
Lamont walked around to see a small screen—the same kind he’d seen in midtown. And now he was getting his first close-up look at the man who was speaking. World President Gismonde. His face filled the frame.
“Surely we can agree that the comfort of all depends on the efforts of all. When times are hard, it is the small gestures that lift us up…”
Suddenly Lamont felt a bright flash in his brain, stunning and painful. He saw Gismonde’s image replaced by the face of a fawning maître d’.
“Everything to your liking, Mr. Cranston?”
His mind reeled back a hundred and fifty years. And in that instant, it came to him. He’d seen Gismonde before. A long time ago.
Gismonde…was Khan!
Lamont stooped over, holding his throbbing head. Was it possible? There was a time, more than a century ago, that Lamont thought he had eliminated this evil creature, and now here he was again, staring him right in the face.
Just then, Bando starting yipping. Somebody was coming.