The Quest for the Fuji Cipher (A Richard Halliburton Adventure Book 4)

by Garrett Drake

  The crowd of drinkers nearby had been joining the back-and-forth conversation, drawing “oohs” with every biting comment.

  “She might have a point, sir,” Richard said. “I didn’t have any issues when we were partners.”

  Christopher rolled his eyes and waved dismissively at Richard. “Look everybody, the white knight has arrived, here to save the damsel in distress.”

  Richard was about to lecture the man on how to treat a lady when Mabel put her index finger to his lips with one hand and pulled him aside with the other.

  “It’s not worth it,” she said. “Just leave him alone.”

  Richard glanced over his shoulder at Christopher, giving him a knowing look. She saw Richard staring back at the bar before gently turning his jaw so he was facing her.

  “Look here,” she said. “Forget about him.”

  “Nobody should treat a lady like that.”

  “No gentleman should treat anyone like that,” she corrected. “But like all of us, he has his moments where he forgets who he is.”

  “I suppose,” Richard admitted.

  “So, what are you doing in San Francisco? I’m still in shock that you’re here.”

  “Just wanted to make a few stops while I was out west before returning home to Memphis. I’ve got to start writing my book.”

  “Of course you do,” she said. “Seems to me that you’d rather just travel around.”

  “That sounds simply sublime. But since I’m not independently wealthy, I’m required to actually do some work.”

  “So is tonight work or pleasure?”

  “A mixture of both.”

  She placed her drink on a nearby table and encouraged him to do the same. “Why don’t we engage in a little bit of pleasure? I just heard the band leader announce that a fox trot is coming up next.”

  “Why not,” Richard said with a warm smile.

  Moments later, they were on the dance floor, moving back and forth to the rhythms of the smooth melody. When the song was finished, a waltz followed. She drew Richard close and gazed into his eyes.

  “Tell me why you’re really here, Richard,” she said. “And please tell me what I want to hear.”

  “I’m not sure what you want to hear,” he said.

  “Oh, I think you do. That night on the President Madison when that Japanese spy attacked me—you can’t deny there wasn’t a connection.”

  “Maybe,” Richard said. “But I’m not here for any connection we made. I’m here for a connection that you make every other week here at the St. Francis Hotel.”

  She stopped dancing and pulled back. “What are you talking about?”

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about..”

  “I thought you were here to see me.”

  “I am, but not for the reason you think. As soon as I arrived in Seattle, I was briefed by Army Intelligence about the kind of operation you’re running.”

  “I haven’t the slightest idea about what you’re referring to.”

  “Passing government secrets on to Japanese spies, men like Yutaka.”

  “I never met him before in my life.”

  “Unfortunately, I’d be a fool to believe that. Now, where is the man you pass your information off to?”

  “That’s not why I come here.”

  “Don’t play games with me,” Richard said. “All we have to do is leak that you’re a suspected traitor and you’d be ruined—or maybe dead in a couple of days.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” she said as she narrowed her eyes.

  “It’s your life. Is this something you want to gamble with?”

  “How could you turn so cold?” she said as a tear trickled down her cheek. “I thought we had a connection on the ship.”

  “I thought you were in real danger. I guess we were both wrong. Now, what’s the protocol for passing off the information to your contact?”

  She set her jaw. “Just don’t.”

  “Nobody made you do this.”

  “You don’t know why I did this, do you? Do you?”

  Richard shrugged. “Your motives aren’t my concern. Keeping our country safe is.”

  “It’s my mother,” Mabel said, plowing ahead with her explanation. “She’s sick and dying. And the only way I could afford to pay the medical bills was to get another job. But the Army won’t let me do anything else other than what I’m doing. And I couldn’t just let her die.”

  “You could get a different job.”

  “Do you know how difficult it is for a woman to make ends meet on her own in this world?”

  Richard sighed. “I sympathize with your plight, but there are other ways to deal with a situation like this that don’t include becoming a traitor.”

  “I don’t want your sympathy.”

  “What do you want then?”

  “I want you to turn around and walk out of here, pretend like you never saw me. Tell whoever it is you answer to that they were wrong about me.”

  Richard shook his head. “That’s not going to happen.”

  Mabel slipped her hand into her purse and pulled out a small pistol. “Oh, it isn’t?”

  “Mabel, you’re going down the wrong path. You know you’re not going to shoot me. Put down your gun and do the right thing.”

  She glared at him. “I am doing the right thing.”

  Then she cut her eyes over at Christopher, who hopped off his stool and started walking toward Richard. She gave him a subtle head shake, but Richard noticed it.

  “He’s your contact?” Richard asked.

  “No, he’s just a friend,” she said, her voice quivering.

  “I don’t believe you. Prove me wrong.”

  “He’s not even Japanese. How could he be my contact?”

  “I’m guessing he’s a dock worker and would be the perfect liaison for you to pass your messages through. Nobody would suspect a thing. Until now.”

  “You’re wrong. That’s not him. He’s not my contact. He doesn’t even work at the docks.”

  Christopher drew nearer, his gaze bouncing between Richard and Mabel.

  “Lower your gun before somebody gets hurt,” Richard said. “Nobody needs to die tonight.”

  Christopher froze when he noticed Mabel’s gun. “Is everything all right over here?”

  “We were just talking about you,” Richard said. “How you love working on the docks and managing all your crews.”

  “I’m not sure I believe that’s what you were talking about,” Christopher said as he clenched his fists.

  “Are you looking for a fight?” Richard asked.

  “No, but maybe you are,” Christopher sneered.

  “Mabel here was just telling me that you’re the one she’s handing off all her intelligence secrets to. And I’m here to arrest you both.”

  Christopher eyed Richard and Mabel for a beat before dashing toward the exit. With the elevator unavailable, Christopher swerved and raced toward the stairwell. Richard remained right behind him, while Mabel tried to keep up.

  The temporary chaos drew gasps from the other drinkers in the speakeasy. But the noise never rose above the level of mild curiosity as no one followed them.

  Richard managed to keep pace with Christopher, remaining only five or six strides behind. When they reached street level, Christopher broke to the right, shoving his way past one hotel guest who expressed his displeasure with the rude behavior.

  They both rounded the corner, charging hard into an alley. Richard’s sides burned as he maintained the blistering speed at which Christopher was running. Meanwhile, Mabel didn’t lag too far behind.

  Christopher turned a corner only to stop in his tracks. As Richard reached the intersection, a truck was facing them, filling the narrow passageway. Christopher was trapped.

  A few seconds later, Richard turned around to see Mabel walking toward them, her gun trained in front of her.

  “Look, Mabel, you don’t have to do this,” Richard said. “If you cooperate, I’m sure the Ar
my will go easy on you.”

  “No, Mabel, they won’t,” Christopher countered. “Shoot him, and let’s get out of here. Our plan is solid. We can disappear in a matter of hours.”

  Mabel held her gun on Richard. “They won’t go easy on me,” she said. “You’re just doing whatever it takes to save yourself.”

  Then Mabel moved her aim toward Christopher and pulled the trigger. He collapsed on the ground, his chest bleeding profusely.

  “And so am I,” she said as she walked over to Christopher as he gasped for air.

  Mabel handed the gun to Richard. “Take me in. Do whatever you need to do, but this is over for me tonight, one way or another.”

  Richard pocketed the weapon and then rushed onto the street. He grabbed a passerby and asked them to call the police.

  “There’s been a shooting.”

  Chapter 28

  February 29, 1923

  Memphis, Tennessee

  RICHARD STARED OUT the window of his father’s pickup truck as they bumped along the road to his first scheduled lecture at West Tennessee State. Tales of his escapades across three continents drew so much interest that he asked the college to host him so he could go anywhere in town without getting bombarded with questions.

  “Nervous?” Wesley Halliburton asked.

  Richard shook his head.

  “You sure are quiet.”

  “Just thinking,” Richard said.

  “About what?”

  “About everything, even Wesley Jr.”

  Richard attempted to manage the emotions flooding his mind. He was excited about getting to test out his subject material, viewing his lecture as a trial run about what to put in his book and what to leave out based on the audience’s reaction. And he also experienced a deep sadness that his little brother couldn’t be here to witness the moment. But if Wesley Jr. had been still been alive, Richard wasn’t sure he would’ve ever taken the leap. He’d probably be in graduate school somewhere, piling on another boring degree as his life dwindled away in front of his eyes.

  Then there was what to make of his adventures working for Hank Foster and the U.S. Army Intelligence, absolutely enthralling stories he could never talk about publicly—or privately, for that matter. They were thrilling and monumental in some ways. Had it not been for his dogged determination to go toe to toe with Germans and the Japanese, the world he lived in might be very different.

  However, he couldn’t stop thinking about Mabel and if he did the right thing. Richard knew she was a traitor, but was she really? Or was she just a confused woman trying to help her ailing mother?

  After he told the police what happened, Richard had convinced them that Mabel was a hero. But he wasn’t sure that was the same story he wanted to tell Foster. The police allowed Mabel to go free that night, but Richard didn’t. He wanted to know the truth. Was her mother really sick?

  Mabel had taken him to St. Mary’s Hospital where her mother was fighting for her life in a hospital bed. She’d been diagnosed with a degenerative condition in her spine that incapacitated her and required constant monitoring that could only happen in a hospital. The bills mounted quickly. And Mabel did was she could, not because she hated her country but because she loved her mother.

  In the end, Mabel’s reason did matter to Richard. Convinced that she was acting only out of fear for her mother, he told Foster that Christopher, the real spy who had approached Mabel, was about to kill him, but Mabel saved Richard’s life. She gunned Christopher down as he was about to kill Richard.

  Richard convinced Foster to give Mabel a raise and to find assistance for her mother. Mabel was transferred to another office in Seattle, along with her mother. Mabel had sent a telegram to Richard, expressing her displeasure at the move. But she begrudgingly admitted that it was better than prison. She also thanked him for getting help for her mother.

  Richard remained lost in thought for a few more minutes before Wesley pulled into the main parking lot. After he turned off the truck, Richard broke his silence.

  “Does it ever get any easier, Dad?” he asked.

  “Does what get any easier?”

  “Life.”

  “Life is a beautiful tapestry of joy and pain,” Wesley said. “Without each other, we wouldn’t appreciate those shining moments where everything comes together.”

  “But what if it never does?”

  “Then we keep trying. Our lives aren’t about what we accomplish. Instead, they’re about the journeys we take when we try.”

  Richard nodded. “When did you get to be so wise?”

  Wesley chuckled. “I haven’t traveled the world like you have, son, but there are plenty of miles under this old hood.”

  Richard checked his watch and gasped. “I gotta go or else I’ll be late.”

  He jumped out of the truck and then sprinted up the steps of the building. Once inside, a couple school administrators greeted him and guided him to the area backstage.

  “Are you ready?” one of the men asked.

  “I’ve never done this before,” Richard said. “But then again, I’d never traveled the world either until I started two years ago.”

  “Well, that turned out fine, didn’t it?”

  Richard smiled. “Here's to hoping this does too.”

  * * *

  RICHARD FINISHED his lecture to thunderous applause. Albert Feakins stood waiting in the wings, sent to hear Richard live to get a feel for his stage presence.

  “That was fabulous,” Albert said. “I’m going to tell my father to send you a contract straight away.”

  A wide grin spread across Richard’s face. “Are you serious?”

  Albert nodded. “I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this. Now don’t hold me to this, but I’ll be shocked if my father can’t get Bobbs-Merrill excited about a book on this same subject. He and William Bobbs are golfing buddies.”

  “The William Bobbs?”

  Albert nodded. “They play once a month at different clubs around New York.”

  “You better not be fooling with me,” Richard said, wagging his finger.

  “One day you’re going to be a bigger name than my father or even William Bobbs,” Albert said. “That much you can bank on.”

  “You’re too kind,” Richard said.

  Albert apologized that he needed to run, but he had another meeting to get to.

  Richard shook some of the students’ hands before meandering out of the building. When he got back to his dad’s truck, Hank Foster was leaning against it.

  "Great speech, Richard,” Foster said. “I almost believed half of it.”

  “That’s because I only told half of the truth,” Richard said with a chuckle. “If I told them everything, they would call me a liar and boo me off the stage.”

  “I don’t doubt that.”

  “Where’s my dad?” Richard asked.

  “I sent him to go get a cup of coffee.”

  “Why are you here? What’s going on?”

  Foster stroked his chin. “I won’t beat around the bush. We need you, Richard.”

  “That’s flattering, but I think you just saw in there that I have my sights set on other goals.”

  “I understand—and I’m not asking you to change that. I’m just hoping you’d be willing to work for us on a more permanent basis while you continue to do whatever it is you plan to do on your world travels. President Harding has heard about you and—”

  “Wait. Did you say President Harding?”

  Foster nodded.

  “He knows who I am?”

  “Everyone in Washington is starting to talk about the boy wonder intelligence officer.”

  “That’s flattering, but I want you to understand that writing and traveling and exploring—those are my passions, not spying.”

  “I understand. Does that mean you’re saying no?”

  Richard stared off in the distance before returning his gaze to Foster. “I wouldn’t have half the adventures I’ve had without you. And let
’s be honest, looking at incredible monuments and natural scenery will probably get boring after a while.”

  Foster’s eyes brightened. “So you’ll do it?”

  “Count me in,” Richard said.

  “In that case,” Foster said as a wide smile spread across his lips, “there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

  Richard shrugged. “Of course there is. Let’s hear it.”

  EPILOGUE

  June 5, 1932

  Memphis, Tennessee

  RICHARD entered his parents’ home, the screen door clattering shut behind him. He glided through the kitchen and found a basket full of letters. Responding to letters was something he used to enjoy, but the amount of fan mail he received as his popularity grew made the task a tiresome one.

  However, as he was flipping through the letters, there was one postmarked location that caught his eye: Tokyo, Japan. He ripped open the envelope and started reading:

  Dear Richard,

  I’ve been meaning to write you but never knew how to reach you—until now. I was recently in a bookshop and saw your book, The Royal Road to Romance, translated into Japanese. It was as wonderful as I imagined. However, I must say that your summit of Mt. Fuji was quite boring compared to what actually happened.

  I also wanted to let you know that Thomas Lees and I eventually married and have had a wonderful life together. Every time I see my husband’s rugged face, I can’t help but think how you brought us together. And for that, I am forever grateful.

  Signed,

  Hisako Hoya-Lees

  P.S. I told you that you’d be famous one day.

  Richard smiled and set the letter aside. He would definitely respond to it sooner rather than later.

  THE END

  To continue reading in the Richard Halliburton series, order THE CHASE FOR THE GENERAL'S GOLD now. Or to read more novels from the Richard Halliburton series, check out the series page also available on Kindle Unlimited.

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  Acknowledgments