Kent Blake of the Secret Service #4

Terror Underground!

In July 1950, Mister Kruger introduces Kent Blake to Jules Beltram of the Special Records Bureau in New York City. Beltram tells Blake that the previous day his office was visited by a man named Karl Standrin who claims that due to the fact he was desperate for money and made the mistake of working with communist spies, by giving them plans to the infrastructure of New York City. He explains that this plan will be executed at the 42nd street subway station. Before Standrin could explain anything else he was shot dead. Beltram explains that should the communists succeed in their sabotage plot the city of New York would fall into complete chaos, with people committing suicide to escape the danger. Blake accepts the case and flies out to New York City.

Hopping into a cab and taken to 42nd street, Kent is alerted by the cab driver that they are being followed. When Kent gets out of the cab he notes that the sedan followed them the whole way. He gives the driver a note and orders him to call the FBI and pass along his message. The cabbie believes that the orders must be some kind of prank but decides to follow through with the orders anyway. Meanwhile, Kent goes down into the subway station with the spies following behind him. When a subway train comes through the tunnel, the spies push Blake out onto the tracks. However, Kent quickly hugs the side of the lower platform and avoids being struck by the train. While Kent goes down the subway tunnel to find the spies, the cab drive that drove him to 42nd street continues to mull over if the note he was given is a prank or not. The spies continue to pursue Kent and when they start shooting at him another subway train is passing by. Blake rushes across the tracks to safety, when the spies follow after him they are not so lucky.

As the cab driver finally makes a call to the FBI while Kent finds the pipeline that the spies have sabotaged. He follows their ignition wire into a hidden room and begins gunning down the spies, but one gets up behind him and knocks him out. When Blake comes around he finds himself tied up and one of the spies is about to pull the plunger on the device that will sabotage the New York electrical and plumbing systems. Before he can, FBI agents burst in and Kent Blake manages to knock the spy over.

Later, Blake returns to Washington with a cast on his arm and explains everything that happened while in New York. He tells them his suspicions that someone from within the Special Records Bureau as the spies knew he was coming. He points out that only Beltram knew he was going to New York and outs him as a spy. Beltram tries to shoot Kent, but Blake was only faking a broken arm and had a gun hidden in his cast and shoots Beltram dead.

Recurring Characters

• Kent Blake

Jaws of Justice

The US Coastguard with Kent Blake on board approaches a vessel out on the Florida Keys. They learn that the boat is on an expedition to locate the long lost treasure of the pirate Henry Morgan supposedly stashed in the area centuries earlier and that they have a permit to do so.

Leaving the explorers be, the Coast Guard continues to look for supplies that the Russians have dumped in the waters for their spies. Kent puts on diving gear and is given a knife to defend himself and dives down into the water. He finds a number of crates from the USSR filled with weapons. Before he can see what is in the crates he is attacked by another diver who cuts his oxygen hose. Blake struggles with the attacker, stabbing him to death then releases his diving weights so he can swim to the surface. He is recovered by the coast guard and he tells them what he found.

Blake changes out of the diving gear and then goes onto the mainland alone to try and stop the spies from shipping out of the area. Blake takes a raft to the mainland and travels through the Everglades. There he finds the spies making a deal with the local Seminole Natives to give them weapons to help overthrow the United States government and reclaim their land. Kent is caught by the spies, Blake is then tied to a tree and left to be eaten by crocodiles. However, before the gators can get him they are killed by the Seminoles who then free Kent Blake. The leader of the Seminoles explains that the Russians ignorantly believed that the Seminole's were still savages living in the wilds and attempted to trick them into assassinating the President during a meeting with the Seminoles. The Natives waited until the Russians gave them the weapons and then used them to kill the spies. The leader of the Seminoles tells Kent that they will fight for the United States as brothers.

Recurring Characters

• Kent Blake

The Limping Man

In January 1, 1951, Kent Blake is sent to Madrid, Spain to meet with US Ambassador Charles Prentiss when spies run his car off the road, causing it to crash into a nearby tree. Kent is relatively unharmed and manages to get out of the car before it explodes.

Blake walks the rest of the way to Prentiss' home wondering what sort of documents Charles wants him to bring back to the United States. When he arrives at Charles' home, he explains what happened and is introduced to General Pedro Barranza, Ernesto De Rodriquez (wheelchair bound due to injuries sustained in a bull fight) and his daughter Maria. Ernesto invites Kent Blake to his home and witness one of the bull fights he in the arena at his home, and Kent declines as he won't be in the country that long. He and Charles have a private meeting and he learns hat Charles has got a list of known Spanish communists to give back to the United States. As Charles is seeing Kent out of his home, the car that ran Kent off the road earlier pulls up and someone inside shoots Charles dead.

Kent is knocked out and taken prisoner when he comes around he finds himself prisoner of the Spanish communists. As the spies are going over the notes, they hear the footsteps of their leader the "Limping Man". Kent takes a mental note of the sound of his foot steps. Kent breaks free from his bonds and knocks out the spies but finds that the papers are gone. He then sees the Limping Man fleeing the scene.

Rushing out to the road, Kent is picked up by General Pedro Barranza and agrees to go back to the De Rodriquez home. There he stays the night and hears the unique footprints of the Limping Man coming to his door. Kent gets the drop on him and is surprised to find that the Limping Man is really Ernesto De Rodriquez, only slightly crippled by his injuries. He then is ambushed by Maria who is also a Communist agent. He also learns that neither of them have the documents that were stolen from him. Suddenly General Barranza arrives and in the exchange of gunfire, Ernesto is shot dead and Maria falls off the balcony into the bull pen and dies as well. The General explains that he stole the plans from the Communists in order to insure they got back to the United States and turns them over to Kent Blake.

Recurring Characters

• Kent Blake