Bulletman #9 (1942)

Early one morning a "business man," in a tuxedo with a walking stick and top hat, is headed to his "exclusive club" to relax at the end of a busy night. He's actually a burglar, and the club is the Crime Exchange, concealed in a closed-down toy factory. He chats with the staff and pays up his dues: ten pearls out of the hundred that he stole that night. Farther inside is a lavish nightclub, packed with well-dressed gangsters, all boasting about their successful crimes. And in his private offices, the Crime Broker, and his cigarette holder, spend some time arranging murders for hire and checking the ticker-tape for crime statistics, then gloating about how well his business is going. That evening at PDHQ Sgt. Kent complains that his department is being run ragged by this gigantic criminal organization. This week alone there have been five murders, ten robberies, twelve swindles, and twenty-five other crimes. Jim Barr and Susan Kent withdraw to Barr's office, change clothes, and fly out on patrol. In rapid succession, Bulletman and Bulletgirl encounter, and foil, three separate crimes: a mugging, a bombing, and a box-office robbery, with the perps getting away each time. Soon, in the secret citadel of crime, the Crime Broker hears from three returning crime teams, of their individual failures, and kicks them out of his office, bodily! "Fools! Get out! Just for that you can't go on the Crime Exchange picnic next Sunday!" Patrons of the Crime Exchange gossip and grumble among themselves; they have a common beef: Bulletman is ruining their lives! One bright spark recommends that they petition the Crime Broker to get rid of Bulletman, which he'll be happy to do … for one million dollars! The crooks gladly pitch in gems and cash. The Crime Broker gets started on his big plan, first calling together all of his muscle men, and loading them up with assorted deadly weapons. The next day at police HQ, Sgt. Kent alerts his cops to a big shipment of silver being trucked into town from the west. Jim and Susan both hear this, and they change outfits and fly out into the country to observe the shipment. They land in an old mill and watch as the armor-plated truck rolls by. The Crime Broker also watches as it goes; he's here for bigger game, and he's brought a large number of henchmen, and he saw where the Flying Detectives have landed. The Crime Broker orders his platoon of gangsters to surround the old mill. They lay down so much fire that it's not feasible for BM & BG to try to fly through the barrage. So they wait for the hoods to attack. After a very short siege and about a three-round melee, the (15 or more) gunmen are strewn about the landscape, while nearby, the Crime Broker, in his tuxedo and opera cape and top hat, sprints away from the fight and makes it to his motorcycle, and speeds away to the city, pursued by the Flying Detectives. They find his bike dumped outside the door of the closed-down toy factory, draw the correct conclusion, and Bulletman sends Bulletgirl to the PD to get some cops, then charges in. He gets caught in a big cage, which is soon hanging from the club room ceiling. The Crime Broker and three henchmen pull out submachine guns and bring them to bear on Bulletman, but just then Bulletgirl flies into the room and knocks them all down. The Crime Broker flees the club room. Police also arrive and start rounding up the gang while Bulletgirl frees Bulletman from the cage. Bulletman and Bulletgirl storm into the Crime Broker's private office, where a vault door stands open and gold coins are covering its floor and spilling out into the main room. Bulletman pretends to make a deal with him, and helps him load a large sack with gold coins, and watches as he collapses under the weight of the sack. Then the police arrive, and the Flying Detectives fly away.