Bell sat down, laid his big hands on the table, one palm down, one up, and scrutinized a face that gave away nothing.
How far do you think you will get if you shoot me in a crowded hotel?
Considering how far I have gotten from a dozen professional detectives for the past two weeks, pursuit by ordinary citizens drinking in a hotel bar holds few terrors for me. But surely you can guess that I did not lure you here to shoot you, which I could have done late last night as you walked home from this hotel to your club on 44th Street.
Bell returned a grim smile. My congratulations to the Black Ocean Society for teaching their spies the art of invisibility.
I accept the compliment, Yamamoto smiled back. In the name of the Empire of Japan.
Why does a patriot of the Empire of Japan become the instrument of an English spy's revenge?
Don't be put out with Abbington-Westlake. You hurt his pride, which is a dangerous thing to do to an Englishman.
Next time I see him, I won't hurt his pride.
Yamamoto smiled again. That is between you and him. Let us remember that you and I are not enemies.
You murdered Arthur Langner in the Gun Factory, Bell shot back coldly. That makes us enemies.
I did not kill Arthur Langner. Someone else did. An overzealous subordinate. I've taken appropriate measures with him.
Bell nodded. He saw no profit in challenging that cold-eyed lie until he learned Yamamoto's intention. If you didn't murder Langner and we are not enemies, why are you pointing a gun under the table at my belly?
To hold your attention while I explain what is going on and what I can do to help you.
Why would you want to help me?
Because you can help me.
You are offering to deal.
I am offering to trade.
Trade what?
The spy who arranged Langner's murder and the murder of Lakewood, the fire-control expert, and the murder of the turbine expert, MacDonald, and the murder of Gordon, the armorer in Bethlehem, and the attempt to sabotage the launch of the Michigan, which you so ably thwarted.
Trade for what?
Time for me to disappear.
Isaac Bell shook his head emphatically. That makes no sense. You've demonstrated that you could disappear already.
It is more complicated than simply disappearing. I have my own responsibilities-responsibilities to my country-which have nothing to do with you because we are not enemies. I need to get clean away and leave no tracks to haunt me or embarrass my country.
Bell thought hard. Yamamoto was confirming what he had suspected-that a spy other than he was the mastermind who had recruited not only the Japanese murderer but the German saboteur and who knew how many others.
Yamamoto spoke urgently. Discretion is survival. Defeats, and victories, should be observed quietly, after the fact, at a distance.
To save his own skin-and who knew for what other motives-Yamamoto would betray the mastermind. As the treacherous Abbington-Westlake had put it so cynically at this same table, Welcome to the world of espionage, Mr. Bell.
How can I trust you?
I will explain two reasons why you should trust me. First, I have not killed you, and I could have. Agreed?
You could have tried.
Second, here is my pistol. I am passing it to you under the table. Do what you will.
He handed Bell the pistol, butt first.
Is the safety on? asked Bell.
It is now that it's pointed at me, replied Yamamoto. Now I will stand up. With your permission.
Bell nodded.
Yamamoto stood up. Bell said, I will trust you more after you hand me that second pistol hidden in your side pocket.
Yamamoto smiled faintly. Sharp eyes, Mr. Bell. But in order to deliver the goods, I may need it.
In that case, said Bell, take this one, too.
Thank you.
Good hunting.
LATE THAT NIGHT, Yamamoto Kenta confronted the spy in his Alexandria, Virginia, waterfront warehouse. Your plan to attack the Great White Fleet at Mare Island, he began in the formal, measured phrases of a diplomat, is not in the interest of my government.
It had been raining for two days, and the Potomac River was rising, swelled by the vast watershed that drained thousands of square miles of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. The powerful current made the floor tremble. The rain drummed on the ancient roof. Leaks dripped into a helmet turned upside down on the spy's desk, splashed on the old searchlight behind him and streamed down its lens.
The spy could not hide his astonishment. How did you find out?
Yamamoto smiled thinly. Perhaps it is my natural aptitude for spying, and a cunning and self-control not found in the West.' His smile froze in a hard line, his lips so tight that the spy could see his teeth outlined against them.
I will not permit this, the Japanese continued. You will drive a wedge between Japan and the United States at precisely the wrong time.
The wedge is already in motion, the spy said mildly.
What good would come of it?
Depends on your point of view. From the German point of view, embroiling Japan and the United States in conflict would open up opportunities in the Pacific. Nor will Great Britain mourn if the U.S. Navy is forced to concentrate its battleships on its West Coast. They might even seize the opportunity to reoccupy the West Indies.
It does nothing for Japan.
I have German and British friends willing to pay me for their opportunities.
You are even worse than I thought.
The spy laughed. Don't you understand? The international dreadnought race presents splendiferous opportunities to a man with the intestinal fortitude to seize them. The rival nations will pay anything to stop each other. I'm a salesman in a seller's market.
You are playing both ends against the middle.
The spy laughed louder. You underestimate me, Yamamoto. I am playing every end against the middle. I am building a fortune. What will it cost me to keep you out of my game?
I am not a mercenary.
Oh, I forgot. You're a patriot. Idly, he picked up a thick black towel that had been draped over the arm of his chair. A gentleman spy with high morals. But a gentleman spy is like a pistol that shoots blanks-good for starting bicycle races, but little else.
Yamamoto was coldly sure of his position. I am not a gentleman spy. I am a patriot like your father, who served his Kaiser as I serve my Emperor. Neither of us would sell out our country.
Will you leave my poor dead father out of this? the spy asked wearily.
Your father would understand why I must stop you. Yamamoto drew from his coat his Nambu semiautomatic pistol, deftly pulled the cocking knob, and pointed the short barrel at the spy's head.
The spy looked at him with a thin smile. Are you serious, Kenta? What are you going to do, turn me in to the U.S. Navy? They may have questions for you, too.
I am sure they would. Which is why I'm going to turn you over to the Van Dorn Detective Agency.
What for?
The Van Dorns will hold you until I am safely out of the country. They will turn you over to the U.S. Navy.
The spy shut his eyes. You're forgetting one thing. I don't have a country.
But I know where you came from, Eyes O'Shay. Mr. Brian Eyes' O'Shay.
The spy's eyes popped open. He stared at the towel that he had been raising to his face. It lay in his hands like an offering.
Yamamoto gloated. Surprised?
I am very surprised, the spy admitted. Brian O'Shay has not been my name for a very long time.
I told you, I was playing this game before you were born. Put your hands where I can see them or I'll give the Van Dorns your corpse instead.
The spy squeezed his eyes shut again. You frighten me, Kenta. I am merely trying to mop the perspiration from my face. He dabbed his forehead, then pressed the black towel as tightly as he could to his eyes. Hidden at his feet was
a thick electrical cable that connected the public-utility main to a knife switch in the open position. The switch's hinged metal lever was poised inches above its jaw. He stomped down on the lever's insulated handle, closing the circuit. A fat blue spark cracked like a pistol shot.
From behind him, the 200,000,000-candlepower searchlight capable of illuminating enemy ships at six miles shot a beam like white fire into Yamamoto's eyes. It was so bright that the spy could see the bones in his hands through his eyelids, the thick towel, and his skin and flesh. It seared Yamamoto's retinas, blinding him. The Japanese spy fell backward, screaming.
The spy kicked the switch open again and waited for the light to fade before he dropped the towel and stood up, blinking at the pink circles spinning before his eyes.
Navy captains tell me that searchlights fend off destroyers better than guns, he said conversationally. I can report that they work just as well on traitors.
From his desk drawer, he took a folded copy of the Washington Post and removed from it a twelve-inch length of lead pipe. He circled the desk and stepped around the fallen chair. He was only a few inches taller than the tiny Yamamoto, who was writhing on the floor. But he was as strong as three men and he moved with the concentrated purpose of a torpedo.
He raised the lead pipe high and slammed it down on Yamamoto's skull.
One blow was more than enough.
He felt inside Yamamoto's pockets to make sure he carried identification and found in his wallet a letter of introduction to the Smithsonian Institution from a Japanese museum. Perfect. He rummaged about the warehouse until he found a cork lifesaving jacket. He made sure its canvas was still strong, then he worked Yamamoto's arms into it and tied it securely.
He dragged the body to the dock side of the warehouse where the building cantilevered over the Potomac. A wooden lever that stood tall as his shoulders released the trap in the floor. It dropped with a loud bang. The body splashed. On a rain-lashed night like this, the river would sweep it miles away.
He was done here. It was time to leave Washington. He circled the dusty warehouse, tipping over kerosene hurricane lamps that he had placed there for his departure. He circled again, lighting matches and tossing them on the spilled kerosene, and when all was blazing bright orange flames he walked out the door and into the rain.
Chapter 33
BELL WAITED ALL THE NEXT DAY FOR WORD FROM Yamamoto. Every time a telephone rang or a telegraph key clattered, he startled at his desk only to sit back disappointed. Something must have gone wrong. It made no sense that the Japanese spy would betray him. He had appeared voluntarily. He had suggested the trade. As the afternoon wore on, the phones kept ringing and ringing.
Suddenly the agent manning them signaled, and Bell raced across the room.
Operator just called. Message from Scully.
What?
All he said was, Grand Central, three-thirty p.m.'
Bell grabbed his hat. Enigmatic even by Scully's standards, it meant either that Scully turned up something of vital importance or he was in danger. Keep listening for Yamamoto. I'll telephone from Grand Central if I can. But soon as Yamamoto reports, send a courier to come looking for me.
JOHN SCULLY HAD DECIDED it was time to bring in Isaac Bell. Truth be told, he admitted to himself as he hunted the public telephone pay station in Grand Central, it was past time. He couldn't find the damned thing. The old railroad station was being torn down and replaced by a vast new terminal, and they kept moving the telephones. Where the telephones had been the last time he used them was a gaping pit that offered a view of track levels descending sixty feet into the ground. When he finally found the telephones, losing ten minutes in the process, he told the operator, Van Dorn Detective Agency. Knickerbocker. A uniformed attendant showed him into one of the wood-paneled booths.
Good afternoon, came the dulcet tones of an operator chosen for her beautiful voice and clear head. You have reached the Van Dorn Detective Agency. To whom do you wish to speak?
Message for Isaac Bell. Tell him Scully said, Grand Central, three-thirty p.m.' Got that? Grand Central, three-thirty p.m.'
Yes, Mr. Scully.
He paid the attendant and hurried toward the track designated for the 20th Century Limited. The terminal was in chaos. Workmen were everywhere, swarming over scaffolds and banging hammers on stone, steel, and marble. Laborers cluttered the hall, wheeling carts and barrows. But at the Limited's temporary gate, beside which a blackboard said CHICAGO, company employees were respectfully checking tickets, and her famous red carpet was already in place leading out onto the platform. It looked like once a passenger got this close to the fabled Chicago express, his troubles were over.
Jasper! Jasper Smith!
Little Miss Knockout Drops from the opera house opium den was rushing toward him in an elegant traveling outfit capped by a broad-brimmed Merry Widow hat. What a wonderful coincidence. Thank God, I found you!
How did you know I was here?
I didn't. I just saw you. Oh, Jasper, I didn't know if I would ever see you again. You left in such a hurry last night.
Something was way out of whack. He looked around. Where was her Hip Sing boyfriend? Already on the train? Then he saw cutting through the crowds of hurrying passengers a cigar-delivery cart wheeled by a Chinese. And there were three wagonloads of construction debris hauled by Irish laborers. The cart and wagons were converging on them like wagons circling to fend off the Indians.
What are you doing here? he asked her.
Meeting a train, she said.
I stood outside that opera house like a sitting duck, thought Scully. Long enough for the Hip Sing to get a line on me.
The Irishmen pulling the wagon were staring at him. Gophers? Or were they watching the pretty girl who was smiling up at him like she meant it?
Or did they tip to me and Harry Warren, recognizing each other inside? The Chinaman wheeling cigars looked his way, expression blank. Tong hatchet man?
The train ticket! She let me find the train ticket. She set me up to be here. Scully reached back for his Vest Pocket pistol. Even the police raid was a phony. Paid the cops to raid so he would run with the girl.
Something whacked him in the head.
A football bounced at his feet, and a big, grinning college boy in coat and tie loped up. Sorry, sir, we didn't mean it, just horsing around.
Saved! Saved by a piece of luck he didn't deserve.
Six strapping, privileged young men skylarking with a ball as they ran to catch a train had scared off the tong and the Gophers. They trooped over, apologizing and offering to shake his hand, and suddenly he and Katy were surrounded inside a scrum. But only when three of the college boys held his arms and little Katy whipped a ten-inch steel hatpin from the Merry Widow did Scully realize that little Miss Knockout Drops had completely outfoxed him.
ISSAC BELL RUSHED THROUGH the crowded construction site. He spotted a mob of people milling around the gate to the 20th Century Limited. A cop was shouting, Stand back! Stand back!, and pleading for a doctor. With an awful feeling he was too late, Bell shoved into the center of the crowd.
The cop tried to stop him.
Van Dorn! Bell shouted. Is that one of my men?
Take a look.
John Scully lay on his back, his eyes staring wide open, his hands folded over his chest.
Looks like a heart attack, said the cop. He yours?
Bell knelt beside him. Yes.
Sorry, mister. Least he went peaceful. Probably never knew what hit him.
Isaac Bell spread his hand over Scully's face and gently closed his eyes. Sleep tight, my friend.
A whistle blew. All aboard! Conductors shouted. 20th Century Limited to Chicago. Allllllll aboooooard.
Scully's hat had fallen under his head. Bell reached for it to cover his face. His hand came away sticky with warm blood.
Mother of God, breathed the cop leaning over his shoulder.
Bell turned Scully's head and saw the shiny brass head
of a hatpin sticking out of the soft flesh in the nape of his neck.
All aboard! All aboard! 20th Century Limited for Chicago. Allllllll aboooooard!
Bell searched Scully's pockets. Tucked inside his coat was an envelope with his name on it. Bell stood up and tore it open. Printed in block letters was a note from the killer:
EYE FOR AN EYE, BELL.
YOU EARNED WEEKS SO WE WON'T COUNT HIM.
BUT YOU OWE ME FOR THE GERMAN.
Mr. Bell! Mr. Bell! A Van Dorn apprentice raced up, breathless.
Wire from Mr. Van Dorn.
Bell read it in a glance.
Yamamoto Kenta had been found floating in the Potomac.
All was lost.
The tall detective knelt beside his friend again and resumed methodically searching his pockets. In Scully's vest he found a train ticket for the 20th Century Limited with through connections to San Francisco.
Boarrrrd! All aboa--
The conductor's final warning was drowned out by the engineer signaling Ahead with a majestic double blast on his whistle. Isaac Bell stood up, thinking furiously. John Scully must have been following a suspected spy or saboteur who was headed to San Francisco, where the Great White Fleet would replenish before crossing the Pacific Ocean.
He spoke sharply to the Van Dorn apprentice, who was staring with wide-open eyes at the fallen detective. Look at me, son.
The boy tore his gaze from Scully.
There's a lot to be done, and you're the only Van Dorn here who can do it. Round up every witness. Those workmen there, those Chinese fellows with the cart, and these folks hanging about. Someone saw something. This officer will help you, won't you?
I'll do what I can, said the cop dubiously.
Bell pressed money into his hand. Hold them here while this young gentleman telephones Van Dorn headquarters for every available agent. On the jump, son! Then straight back here and get to work. Remember, people are glad to talk if you give them the chance.
The floor shook. The 20th Century Limited was rolling toward Chicago.
Isaac Bell bolted onto the platform, ran the length of the express train's red carpet, and jumped.
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