The Chase

by Clive Cussler

“Can you drive it on the street?” asked Curtis.

  Bell nodded. “I had fenders and headlamps installed and the transmission modified for street traffic.”

  “You’ve got to give me a ride in it,” said Bronson.

  Bell laughed. “I think it can be arranged.”

  Bronson turned his interest back to the photos of the Cromwells. “Any thoughts on what the bandit will do next?”

  “After Telluride,” said Curtis, “I would bet his days of robbery and murder have ended.”

  “Sounds logical if he knows we’re onto him,” agreed Bronson.

  “We can’t be sure of that if he thinks all witnesses to the fiasco in Telluride are dead, including me,” said Bell. “He is a crazy man, driven to rob and kill. I don’t believe he can ever stop cold. Cromwell believes his criminal acts can never be traced. He simply does not fit the mold of Black Bart, the James Gang, the Daltons, or Butch Cassidy. Compared to Cromwell, they were crude, backwoods amateurs.”

  One of the agents stared with growing admiration at Bell. “So you think he will strike again.”

  “I do.”

  “You may have suckered him with your story about Telluride,” said Bronson. “But if he is as smart as you say he is, Cromwell won’t make the same mistake twice and step into another trap.”

  Bell shook his head. “There is little hope of that, I’m afraid. For the moment, all we can do is try to outguess him, and, failing that, we keep gathering evidence until we can convict him.”

  “At least we know he isn’t infallible.”

  Bronson grunted. “He’s about as close as you can come.”

  Bell poured himself a cup of coffee from a pot sitting on the conference table. “Our edge is that he doesn’t know his every move is being watched. You will have to be very careful and not make him or his sister wary. If we can stay on his tail the next time he leaves town for a robbery, we have a chance of bringing his crime wave to a halt.”

  Bronson looked around the table at his agents. “It looks like we have our job cut out for us, gentlemen. I’ll let you work out your surveillance shifts among yourselves. I received a telegram from Mr. Van Dorn. He said to pull out all the stops. He wants the Butcher Bandit caught, whatever the cost, whatever the effort.”

  Bell said to Bronson, “I wonder if you could do me a favor.”

  “You have but to name it.”

  “Call Cromwell’s office and ask for Marion Morgan. Tell her you’re calling in the strictest confidence and she is to say nothing to no one, including her boss. Tell her to meet you at the northeast corner of Montgomery and Sutter Streets, a block from the Cromwell Bank, during her lunch hour.”

  “And if she asks me the purpose?”

  Bell made a crooked smile. “Just be vague and tell her it’s urgent.”

  Bronson laughed. “I’ll do my best to sound official.”

  AFTER THE CONFERENCE, Bell and Carter took a cab to the Southern Pacific freight warehouse. They checked in with the superintendent, looked over the car for damage, and, finding none, signed off the necessary transport paperwork.

  “She’s a beauty,” Curtis said admiringly, gazing at the bright red–painted automobile with its gleaming brass radiator topped by a custom-sculpted bronze eagle with wings outspread and a temperature gauge in its chest. Behind the radiator was a barn-roof-cut hood. A big cylindrical gas tank sat mounted behind the two seats. The narrow tires were moored to huge wooden spoked wheels that had sped over the twisting roads of Long Island during the Vanderbilt Cup race.

  Bell climbed into the seat behind the big steering wheel, mounted on its long shaft, turned the ignition switch on the wooden dashboard, set the throttle lever on the steering wheel, and moved the spark lever to retard. Next, he took a hand pump and pressurized the fuel tank, forcing gas to the carburetor. Only then did he walk to the front of the car, grip the big crank with his right hand, and heave vigorously. The engine coughed and kicked over on the second try, with a thunderous roar from the exhaust pipe.

  Then Bell, joined by Carter, sat in the red leather driver’s seat and advanced the spark as he eased the throttle to an idle position. After releasing the brass hand brake, he pushed in the clutch and pulled the shift lever into first gear. Next, he moved the throttle lever and released the clutch, having attracted a crowd of warehouse workers who cheered as the rakish car rolled forward.

  As soon as the Locomobile was speeding down a road alongside the railroad tracks, Carter asked loudly, “Are we headed back to the office?”

  Bell shook his head. “Show me the way to the warehouse where the O’Brian Furniture boxcar was parked.”

  “Then turn left at the next crossing over the tracks,” directed Carter.

  A few minutes later, Bell parked the Locomobile behind the empty warehouse and turned off the big engine. With Carter leading the way, they walked up a ramp to the loading dock. A single freight car sat on the siding.

  “Is this where you found Cromwell’s phony furniture freight car?” asked Bell.

  “According to the Southern Pacific’s freight-movement schedule,” said Curtis. “I ran a check of company freight car movements. Car 16173 is no longer listed on Southern Pacific freight records. No one knows what happened to it. It’s as if it vanished overnight.”

  Bell studied the sides of the car parked alongside the loading dock. “It could have been repainted and given a new serial number.”

  “It’s entirely possible.” Curtis stared at the number and then nodded. “Car 16455. I’ll check it out.”

  “This car has had a new paint job recently,” said Bell slowly. “There isn’t a scratch on it.”

  “You’re right,” Curtis murmured thoughtfully. “It’s as clean as the day it came out of the factory.”

  Bell walked up to the boxcar’s loading door and placed his fingers around a bronze lock that sealed the interior from entry. “Why would an empty car on a siding be locked up?”

  “Maybe it’s been loaded with cargo and is waiting to be coupled to a train.”

  “I wish I knew what was inside,” Bell mused.

  “Shall we break it open?” Curtis inquired with a growing sense of anticipation.

  Bell made a slight shake of his head. “Better we leave well enough alone for the time being. Until we check out the serial number, we won’t know the history of this car. And should it belong to Cromwell, he’ll know if we tampered with the lock.”

  “If we proved this is the freight car he used to escape his criminal acts, we can arrest him.”

  “Nothing is that simple. It might simply be an empty car that was shunted to this siding temporarily. Cromwell’s no fool. He wouldn’t leave evidence lying around just waiting to be found. Chances are, there is nothing incriminating inside, certainly not enough to stand him under the hangman’s noose.”

  Curtis shrugged in understanding. “We’ll keep a sharp eye on it, but I doubt if he’ll be using it anytime soon, if ever again, considering how he came within a hair of being caught in Telluride.”

  “And, sooner or later, he’ll learn I’m still alive and know I identified him,” Bell said with a wide grin. “Then he’ll really make things interesting.”

  MARION PUT down the phone and looked toward the doorway leading to Cromwell’s office. As usual, it was closed. He almost always worked in private, handling his day-to-day business over the telephone or a speaker system he had installed around the bank.

  She glanced up at a big Seth Thomas Regulator wall clock, with its enclosed pendulum swinging back and forth. The hands were pointing at Arabic numerals that read three minutes to twelve. When she put down the phone after listening to Bronson’s instructions, she was torn between her loyalty to Cromwell—and whether she should tell him about the call—and the building sense of excitement that coursed through her body at the thought of performing an act of secrecy. Because a distinct rift had built between her and Cromwell over the past year, especially since that night in the Barbary Coast when he and Mar
garet had acted so strangely, she felt less loyalty and respect toward him. He was not the same man she had come to trust for so many years. He had become distant and aloof, cold and rude toward her much of the time.

  The minute hand clicked over the hour hand, both pointing to twelve, when she took her purse, put on her hat, and stepped out of the office, all the while keeping an eye on the closed doorway to Cromwell’s office. She bypassed the elevator and flew down the stairway to the lobby. Passing through the big entrance doors, she turned and hurried down Sutter Street to Montgomery. The streets and side-walks were busy during the lunch hour and it took her a good ten minutes to skirt the crowds. Reaching the corner, she stood there, looking around, but found no one looking in her direction or coming toward her. She had never met Bronson and had no idea what he looked like.

  After a minute, her attention, and that of many people passing along the street, was drawn to a big red car that moved effortlessly through traffic. There was a brute strength about its appearance that made it look as if it were hurtling over the pavement, even though it was moving no more than twenty miles an hour. Its bright red paint had been hand rubbed to a glistening finish. Everything about it portrayed a powerful elegance.

  With her attention focused on the car, she did not notice the man behind the wheel until it came to a stop in front of her and he said, “Please climb in, Marion.”

  She paled, one hand flying up and holding her throat, startled to find herself gazing into the violet eyes of Isaac Bell that seemed to draw her into his soul. “Isaac,” she murmured in shock. “Jacob told me you were dead.”

  He held out his hand, grasped hers, and pulled her up onto the leather passenger seat with an ease and strength that stunned her. “It just goes to show, you can’t believe all you hear.”

  Oblivious to the crowd that had gathered around the car, Bell circled his arm around Marion’s waist. Then he took her in his arms and kissed her.

  “Isaac!” she gasped when he released her. Her protest was one more of enjoyment than embarrassment. “Not in front of all these people.”

  By now, the crowd that had assembled to stare at the car found themselves being entertained by the man and woman in the front seats. They began to applaud and cheer them on.

  Bell pulled back and smiled wickedly. “I was never able to resist a beautiful lady.”

  Marion was almost swept away by the moment—almost but not quite. “Can we please move away?” she insisted.

  Bell laughed, tipped his hat to the people cheering him on, and shifted the Locomobile into first gear. He stepped lightly on the gas pedal and moved into the street amid the flow of traffic. He drove north on Montgomery before turning left into Chinatown. He swung into an alley and came to a stop behind a large Mandarin-style restaurant, painted red and gold and with a pagoda roof. An attendant waiting there bowed.

  “I will watch your car, sir.”

  Bell gave him a tip that made the attendant’s eyes pop. “I’m counting on you.” Then he helped Marion from her seat to the ground.

  “The Empress of Shanghai,” she said, staring at the ornate entrance. “I’ve always wanted to eat here.”

  “It came highly recommended.”

  “I wondered how you knew about the rear parking.”

  After they entered a long hallway, they were greeted by a beautiful woman with long shiny black hair wearing a Chinese sheath silk dress slit high on the sides. She led them upstairs to a small private dining room and seated them. While they were studying the menu, a pot of tea arrived and was poured.

  “You were limping,” she said.

  “A little memento of Telluride, Colorado.”

  For the first time, she noticed the bandage on his head as he removed his hat. She frowned and raised her eyebrows. “Another memento?”

  He nodded and smiled gamely.

  Marion looked into Bell’s eyes and her own eyes became misty. “You don’t know how happy I am that you weren’t killed.”

  “Your boss certainly tried.”

  “Mr. Cromwell!” she exclaimed as her mood altered from compassion to alarm. “I don’t understand.”

  “He’s the man who shot me and killed a Van Dorn agent who was my friend.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “Like it or not, Jacob Cromwell is the Butcher Bandit who has held up over twenty banks in the past twelve years and killed nearly forty innocent people.”

  “That’s crazy!” Marion bit her lower lip. She looked as if she was lost and had nowhere to turn. “He couldn’t have done what you say.”

  “What I said is true,” Bell said with a sudden gentleness. “We have evidence. Maybe not enough to convict, but it falls at Cromwell’s doorstep.”

  “But he’s helped so many people in need,” she protested.

  “A front,” said Bell icily. “He’s built a wall around his empire, guarded by an army of good citizens who believe he and Margaret are generous people who want to help the poor out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s an act. Cromwell could care less about those who are destitute. He uses them to promote his own purposes. In the eyes of the city’s crooked politicians, he can do no wrong so long as he supports them with secret donations.”

  Confused, Marion sipped at her tea, her hand noticeably trembling. “I simply refuse to believe it,” she murmured.

  Bell reached across the table and took both her hands in his. “Believe me, Marion, it’s true. I looked into his eyes and recognized him the instant he shot me at the bank in Telluride.”

  She pulled her hands back and clasped them together tightly. “Oh, Isaac, it’s all too fantastic. Why would Jacob rob banks when he already owns the second-largest bank in San Francisco? The thought is too absurd to be real.”

  “I can’t give you an answer, Marion. In the beginning, he took the money to build his own bank. But when he became rich, the robbery and killings became an obsession. I’ve seen many cases like Cromwell’s. The robberies and the murders are like a narcotic for him. He can’t help himself, and will go on killing until I stop him.”

  She looked up into his sensitive violet eyes across the table. They had turned dark and cold. “You, Isaac? Does it have to be you?”

  “I can’t let him go on murdering people.” Bell spoke the words in a monotone, as if he were reading an accusation in a courtroom. “I am not going to let him thumb his nose at the law and continue to run around free, living the life of a wealthy Santa Claus.” Then he added, “And that goes for his sister, Margaret. She’s buried in his evil operations up to her pretty neck.”

  Marion dipped her head in utter confusion as her hat covered her eyes. “I’ve known Jacob and Margaret for years and yet I didn’t know them.”

  “It’s hard,” Bell said softly, “but you’ll have to accept it.”

  She tilted her head back and the forward brim of her wide flowered hat rose until he could look directly into her coral–sea green eyes. “What can I do?” she asked softly.

  “For one thing, you must go on as if you know nothing. Continue your duties as his loyal secretary. Our agents will have both brother and sister under constant surveillance. All you have to do is report anything suspicious or unusual regarding Jacob’s actions.”

  “You mean, of course, report to you.”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  She suddenly had the feeling she was being used, that Bell’s interest in her was purely as an informer. She turned away so he couldn’t see the tears welling up in her eyes.

  Bell immediately sensed what was whirling in her mind. He moved his chair around the table until he was sitting close enough to put his arm around her shoulders. “I know what you’re thinking, Marion, and it’s not true. I know I am asking you to commit a devious act, but lives hang in the balance. Yet there is much more. It goes far beyond a request for your help.” He paused to build up his courage. “I’m in love with you, Marion. I can’t explain why it happened so suddenly, but it did. You must believe me.”
/>   Marion looked into his face and saw only affection and fondness. Her fears vanished in an instant as she leaned forward and kissed him solidly on the lips. When she pulled back, she smiled wickedly. “You must think I’m a brazen hussy.”

  He laughed at seeing her blush. “Not at all. I enjoyed it.”

  Then her eyes turned soft. “I have to admit I felt something when I looked up and saw you standing there in the office.”

  This time, he kissed her.

  After a long moment, he pulled back and grinned. “Perhaps we should order before they ask us to leave for disorderly conduct.”

  30

  AS SOON AS MARION RETURNED FROM HER LUNCH WITH Bell and was in the midst of typing a letter, Cromwell called her into his office. She concealed her nervousness by not looking him in the face as he spoke. “Marion, I’m going to attend the National Conference for Community Banks. It is being held in Los Angeles this year on March twenty-eighth to March thirtieth. Could you please make the necessary travel arrangements, and book me a room at the Fremont Hotel downtown?”

  “To be in Los Angeles by the twenty-eighth, you’d have to leave tomorrow,” said Marion. “That’s awfully short notice.”

  “I know,” Cromwell said with an offhand shrug. “I wasn’t going to attend, but I changed my mind.”

  “Will you wish to charter a private car?”

  “No. I’ll leave private cars to the presidents of the Crocker and Wells Fargo banks. When I go on bank business, I’ll travel as a simple passenger so my depositors will know I have their best interest at heart and am not squandering their money.”

  Marion rose to her feet with a rustle of her skirts. “I’ll see to it.”

  As soon as she returned to her desk, she picked up her telephone and in a low voice, nearly that of a whisper, asked the operator for the Van Dorn Detective Agency. When Marion gave the receptionist her name, she was immediately put through to Bell.

  “Isaac?”

  “Marion? I was just going to call and ask you out for dinner and a play.”

  She felt pleased that he was happy to hear her voice. “I have some information for you,” she said seriously. “Jacob is going out of town.”