Mourners gather for the funeral of James Bannister. Among them is his son Dave Bannister. A police car pulls up and Scanlon and Detective Olson spots Dave in the crowd. They're there to meet with Dave after the funeral. Joe Renner secretly pulls out a gun and aims it at Dave, and pulls the trigger. There's no sound, and Dave collapses. Scanlon and Olson run over and confirm that Dave has been shot dead.
Later at the Sentinel, Casey brings in the latest release of the paper to Britt. Dave's death is first page, and Britt says that none of the witnesses heard a shot or saw a gun. Scanlon calls and tells Britt that he needs to see him about the Bannister case. The coroner took a seventeen caliber slug out of Dave's body, but no known gun uses seventeen caliber. They agree to meet in thirty minutes.
Mike comes in and tells Britt that Dave's girlfriend Jackie Cameron has called and knows who killed Dave. She's afraid the killer will come after her next, and wants $2,000 to tell her story. They take the call and Mike has Jackie come to the office to meet them at 11 that night.
Britt drives to his penthouse via a secret garage, and he and his valet Kato meet Scanlon when he comes in via a hidden entrance. Scanlon says that during World War II, the OSS had a similar gun invented. They were all .22 and accounted for, and James was a retired gunsmith. Britt tells him that Jackie is ready to talk. Casey calls and tells Britt that the gun was used to kill a messenger for a brokerage house carrying $5,000. He was killed in an elevator in front of witnesses and no one saw anything.
Britt and Kato hit the streets as Green Hornet and Kato.
That night at the Sentinel, Mike meets Jackie after hours. As he shows her the money, Hornet and Kato arrive and Hornet gases Mike unconscious. They grab Jackie and offer her $4,000 for the information on Dave's killer. Hornet guarantees her safety, and Jackie tells him that Joe Renner killed Dave. Joe works for Al Trump, who fixes fights. She wanted $2,000 in the bank before they married, so Dave tried to make it grow in one of Al's floating crap games. He lost their savings and tried to get it back, and Dave offered Al the silent gun that his father invented in return for his IOUs. Dave stole the gun and gave it to Al, and Jack threatened to tell the police so Al had him killed. Dave thought it was an accident, and Al had Joe kill him to keep him from going to the police.
Hornet and Kato go to the address Jackie gives them for Joe. There are two men there, but they work for mobster Dan Carley. The heroes break in and discover that Carley's men have torn the place up searching. Joe is dead on the floor, and they figure that Dan knows about the gun. Al and his men arrive and figure that Hornet killed Joe. One of his men starts to call the police, and Kato flips a cigar box at them to distract them long enough that he and Hornet can take them out. Hornet tells Al that Dan's men were there first, and explains that he knows about the gun. Al says that he has the gun stashed, and Hornet warns him that Dan won't stop killing until he has the gun. He advises Al to let him negotiate with Dan for him and demands half as his "fee". Al has no choice but to agree.
Dan is at his manor coordinating his syndicate's efforts. Hornet and Kato break in and disarm Dan and his men. Dan says that he's a reasonable man and says that he knows Al has the gun, and Hornet says that he has Al. He offers to set up a demonstration of the gun with him, Dan, and Al. As they talk, Kato secretly attached a bug to the underside of Dan's desk. Once Hornet and Kato leave, Dan calls Al. In Black Beauty, Hornet listens in as Dan tells Al that he wants to do business but without Hornet. Back at the penthouse, they play a recording of the conversation for Scanlon. Dan says that they'll set up the demo at one of Al's warehouses but they'll kill Hornet. Britt tells Scanlon that he'll have to go through with it to get the gun out in the open.
Later, Hornet drives with Dan and Al to the warehouse. Kato follows them and two police officers spot Black Beauty. They follow it and call ahead to set up roadblocks. Kato pulls into an alley and douses the light, and the policemen lose him in the darkness.
Al drives Hornet and Dan to the warehouse office, and Al shows Dan the unloaded gun. He then loads it and invites Dan to shoot at the wall. When Dan turns the gun on Hornet, he blocks the shot with a cabinet door, runs out into the warehouse, and sabotages the lights. The doors are locked, and Dan and Al search among the cars parked there.
Kato gets Hornet's distress signal.
Hornet tosses wrenches to get Al and Dan to shoot in his direction, and then sprays oil into Al's face and punches him unconscious. Dan runs over and corners Hornet, and admits that it's a pity to kill him. Kato blasts into the warehouse and Hornet ducks away. Dan shoots a hot oil pipe and the oil sprays into his face. Kato confirms that Hornet is all right, and they call Scanlon.
The next day, Britt congratulates Mike on his story. Mike says that Scanlon wouldn't tell him what happened to the gun. Mike worries what would happen if the gun fell into Hornet's hands, and Britt and Casey admit that it's a chilling thought.
Written by Gadfly on Sep 10, 2017