Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Shipping magnate Commodore Winthrop is threatening the leader of the Silver Death’s-Heads criminal gang with exposure when an explosion destroys his office. Monk, who rents the penthouse in the same building goes to investigate, with Ham and Long Tom, who were visiting. As they question a witness the man is killed by a Silver Death’s-Head. The aides pursue but lose him, so they phone Doc Savage. While on the line, an armored car manned by the Silver Death’s-Heads smashes through the wall and Doc’s aides are taken prisoner. Doc heads to the scene of the crimes where he determines than the fatal explosion was caused by a missile fired from a boat on the East River. Doc goes to Commodore Winthrop’s boat works where he meets the Commodore’s secretary, Lorna Zane, and efficiency expert, “Rapid” Pace. They interrupt the theft of a set of blueprints by Ull, leader of the Silver Death’s-Heads and his men; Doc fakes being overpowered so he can listen in on their conversation. Lorna later explains what he heard: the blueprints are to a mysterious construction project at the boatyard and the crooks referred to the Commodore’s rival Bedford Burgess Gardner. Dropping Lorna off at Pat Savage’s salon, Doc and Pace head to Gardner’s house only to see the butler shot down on the front step. Doc is greeted by a hostile Gardner and an attack by the Silver Death’s-Heads. Doc frees a prisoner, Gardner’s financial adviser Hugh McCoy, who tells him that Gardner is the mastermind behind the Silver Death’s-Heads. A captured crook takes a poison pill but before he dies, gives Doc a clue to his men’s location: Indian’s Head.