Chapter 3

Dammit! Still nothing in the newspapers about the Birdmen. There wasn't even a mention of the destroyed booze convoy. What did it take to get a little publicity? Helen and James tried to soothe Karl. James said, "Sir, you can be sure that the malefactors know the name 'Birdmen.' They are well aware of anything that costs them that much money."

"Yeah, James, I know that intellectually, but my gut still wants the public to know that somebody is fighting the Mob."

Helen said, "You could always write a letter to the editor. Any bets on whether or not it would ever be published?" They all laughed at that.

Karl said, "OK, I'll quit pouting. What do you guys think about paying a visit to Acme Solvents?"

Helen said, "That's fine with me."

James said, "Ah, yes. Owl would like a chance to stretch his wings."

Karl smiled and said, "OK, let's get ready and meet at Black Widow."

There had been no problem getting the address for Acme Solvents from the telephone directory. Owl drove to help him get familiar with the car's handling characteristics. Hawk was in her customary gunner's seat, and Eagle was in the back, this time.

The arrived at their destination after midnight, so they expected to find the usual watchman, but nobody else. To their surprise, 8 trucks, marked "Hancock Foods," were being loaded with drums of chemicals, presumably alcohol of one sort or another. They parked at an out-of-the-way location and climbed to the roof of the storage building the drums were coming from. Making their way to the loading dock, they found that the first truck was nearly loaded, but the others were only in the early stages of loading.

A quick conference was held to decide how to handle this unexpected situation. There were 12 men on the loading dock, two with Tommy guns. There was a driver in each truck, making a total of 20 men to be dealt with. This looked like a job for the calthrops. There was only one exit road, so putting the calthrops there would catch all the trucks. Owl raced off to place the calthrops while Eagle and Hawk looked over the situation in more detail.

A drum full of alcohol weighed around 350 pounds, so it was a heavy job to get the drums into place in the trucks. It took 5 men to manhandle the drums into place from the storage warehouse, so there were times when the two goons with the Tommy guns were alone on the loading dock. That was obviously the time to attack them.

There was a very dark strip of shadow cast by the loading dock and the two were standing close to this edge. A sharp blow to the knee by a nun-chuck would break the man's leg and paralyze him with pain long enough for him to be silenced permanently. This was a job for Hawk and Eagle because of their long familiarity with the weapon. Meanwhile, Owl would remain on the roof over the door to attack the first group of men to exit with a drum of solvent.

Owl returned with a report of the calthrops being in place, and the plan was explained to him. Owl moved into position while Eagle and Hawk made their way to the loading dock's shadow.

Everybody got into position and waited for the laborers to return for another drum. Hawk and Eagle struck as soon as the last man had entered the warehouse. They had not counted on the fairly loud cracking sound made by the breaking knees, but nobody seemed to pay any attention. The two victims dropped to the dock, deep in shock, so they did not cry out. They were quickly immobilized and gagged with tape. They were dumped into the shadow which had been used by Eagle and Hawk and temporarily forgotten in favor of more pressing subjects.

The first group of 5 laborers came out of the warehouse, and Owl dropped onto the back of the last man out. He was pushing the cart carrying the drum, and he was flattened to the loading dock. His head whipped down hard enough on the concrete to break his nose and chin and render him completely unable to fight. Hawk and Eagle swarmed up from the shadow and joined Owl in reducing the other 4 men to unconsciousness with one blow each. Owl and Eagle used their hands, but Hawk appeared to delight in using her feet. She was quick enough on her feet to take out two of the four men being attacked.

These five were taped and dumped into the shadow, and the cart with its drum were pushed off the edge of the dock. The drivers in the trucks were sleeping, so they never saw or heard any of this happen. The heroes stood to either side of the door, waiting for the other crew to bring out a drum.

This crew was also quickly knocked unconscious, taped, and dumped into the shadow. Each of the truck drivers were similarly treated, and all 20 men were loaded into the back of one of the otherwise empty trucks. Owl then drove the truck up the access road far enough to find the calthrops to puncture its tires. He drove a bit farther on flattening tires--far enough to block the entrance gate. This would slow down the emergency vehicles when they finally arrived to fight the fire the Birdmen planned to start.

Eagle and Hawk were sitting on the loading dock with their feet dangling off the edge waiting for Owl to return. Owl showed up, and Hawk handed him the Tommy gun she was holding. She said, "As the newest member of the team, you have the honor of opening some of the solvent drums the easy way. Those are lead bullets, I already checked, so you don't have to worry about sparks."

Owl grinned and nodded his head. The three went into the warehouse and Owl proceeded to shoot holes in solvent drums until his 100-bullet magazine was empty. Eagle handed him the other Tommy gun, and Owl repeated the exercise on a different set of drums. By this time, alcohols of all types were flowing onto the floor and beginning to puddle in the low spots. Eagle tossed a flare with a time-fuse into the nearest puddle, and they ran like hell!

They had barely reached Black Widow when the flare went off. It was a beautiful sight. The flames whipped out of doors and windows. Several flaming drums were propelled through the roof to land on adjacent warehouse roofs. A chain of fires was being launched all through the complex of storage warehouses. The fire department of Detroit had insisted that a suitable open space be set aside around the building complex to prevent the spread of fire to the neighboring businesses in case of accident. Therefore, there was no danger to innocent buildings.

Birdmen calling cards and placards had been generously distributed by Owl when he drove the truck to block the entrance road. They joked about whether they would finally make the newspapers, this time. They drove off as the fire department arrived.

Karl checked the newspapers the next day and found the reports of the fire which totally destroyed Acme Solvents. It was reported as arson, but for an unknown reason. No mention was made of the Birdmen.

Karl telephoned Sgt. Alexander; he just had to brag to somebody! "Good evening, Sgt. Alexander, this is Eagle... Yes, we were busy last night... Your captain is upset? My goodness, why should a captain of the Vice Squad be upset by an obvious arson case?... Oh, dear, do you really think so?... Well, do you have anything interesting for us for tonight?... Detroit Cleaning Supplies?... Very well, we'll look into it. Thank you. Good night."

He hung up the phone and turned to Helen and James. "The good sergeant thinks that we might find something interesting at Detroit Cleaning Supplies. He gave me the address. Would you like to visit them tonight?" They nodded in agreement and stood up. "OK, let's meet at Black Widow. Owl, please check our calthrop supply."

Black Widow tooled out of the special garage and was on its way inside 30 minutes. Owl was driving, Hawk was gunner, and Eagle was in the back. He was studying a city map as they rode. "Detroit Cleaning Supplies has a warehouse on the river. That would let them unload from boats from Canada directly into their warehouse. Isn't that convenient? We might even be lucky and find a boat when we get there."

They parked a block away from their target and kept to the shadows as they walked toward it. They would have to be careful about any fires in this neighborhood; the buildings were so close together that a fire in one would trigger a fire which burned buildings for blocks around.

There was a light over the main entrance, but Eagle took care of that by the simple expedient of reaching up and backhanding it. It was now comfortably dark, and Eagle opened the door with a "master" key. They slipped in and heard a noise coming from the back of the building.

Two men were talking, but they were not loud enough to be intelligible. The three heroes slipped quietly down a short hall to a doorway leading to the rear area of the building. They went through the door into a warehouse chock full of cleaning supplies. There were buckets, mops, sponges, boxes of soap, and who knows what else stacked on shelves clear to the ceiling. It was like a maze, walking among these shelves until they finally broke out into the real working area of the warehouse.

Items were still stacked from floor to ceiling, but now it was Canadian whiskey. There must be tens of thousands of dollars worth of high quality liquor stored here! They crept farther toward where the voices were coming from, and they began to understand the words. "Look, Kingpin, I don't know where we can put any more booze. You can see that the warehouse is full. Until you move some of this stuff, there ain't no place to put it. I ain't making excuses, you can see for yourself that I'm full up."