Honor Bound

by Robert N. Macomber

  Randall raised his glass in salute. “So the bugger saw through my bluff. Oh, well, no more clergy roles for me. But say, old man, you didn’t get me my information before you departed. I wanted to know his name and mission and destination. We had an agreement. Remember?”

  There was no reason to play coy, or withhold all that I knew from these men. I handed over my part of the bargain, but only what they needed to know. “Yes, we did. But I didn’t find out the information until after Great Inagua. So here it is: Roche’s real name is Major Pyotr Kovinski, of the Russian Okhrana, based in Paris. He was searching for a Russian émigré in Haiti who had formed a group and was plotting a revolutionary attack against the Russian imperial government. The schooner Condor was thought by Kovinski to be part of that, which is why he was in the Bahamas asking about her. The subject Kovinski was searching for was named Sergei Alexandrovich Sokolov. He and his group have ceased to exist as a problem for anyone.”

  “Ceased to exist? So they’re dead?”

  “Yes.”

  “A Russian with the Okhrana, eh? Hmm . . . And the subject’s name was Sokolov,” said Randall as he glanced with surprise at Teignholder, then turned back toward me.

  “I hear by the rumors in town that you made it to Haiti, where Delilah wrecked. I presume you were there when this Sokolov and his gang ceased to exist as a problem?”

  “Yes, I was. It was a Russian problem, not an American or British problem.”

  “And Condor?”

  “Disappeared. Her captain—Kingston’s his name—is on the run. I think he’s probably in the other end of the Caribbean, with a new name and paint for his ship.”

  “And I hear that the boy you were searching for is dead.”

  “Yes. Died in Haiti. The mother is distraught and heading home to grieve. Some of my other passengers died as well. Very sad. Everyone is going home.”

  “Our sincerest condolences, Commander. My superiors will be relieved, however, that Kovinski, alias Roche, isn’t up to something against us. Is there anything else about these people that we need to know, especially the Russian, Sokolov? No unusual acquaintances or alliances or logistics?”

  In intelligence work one sometimes gives nothing, frequently gives a little, but never gives everything. Knowledge is strength. Strength gets more knowledge. The Brits had just gotten all they would from me. The extent of Sokolov’s efforts, and of Kovinski’s counter-efforts, weren’t part of the equation. If our cousins across the ocean were to be made privy, that would be a decision for my superiors, no doubt in a quid pro quo of their own. I’ve found that it is always useful to be able to present one’s own commander with that type of leverage.

  “Not that I can think of right now, Captain Randall. Kovinski isn’t interested in Britain or America. Or Fenians, if that’s what you are concerned about. He’s headed back to Paris. The Russians have more than enough to occupy them there with the émigré revolutionary groups.”

  I turned to the major. “And now, gentlemen, I believe a quid pro quo is in order, as a result of our earlier agreement on this very spot. I did my part in taking the Russian on board my vessel and getting you the answers you sought. I presume both the complaint of the Delilah’s cook, and the negative telegram from the Delilah’s owner to the Bahamian government, have been unfortunately lost—am I correct?”

  Major Teignholder shook his head and sighed. “Commander Wake, I told you the colonial mail system is frightfully inefficient. I’m afraid no one knows what you are talking about. What complaint? What telegram?”

  “Very good, gentlemen. I’ll be leaving for Key West on the first steamer, with my fellow Americans. Oh, one more thing, I really hope those messages are never found, for if they are, an unfortunate result would be the exposure of how British army military intelligence failed to identify Russian spies roaming the Crown Colony of the Bahamas and hobnobbing with the Her Majesty’s governor, even when the queen’s vaunted army intelligence agents followed them all the way from London. That would be red meat for the press boys of Fleet Street, wouldn’t it? Especially given the domestic political climate in parliament . . .”

  I let that simmer for a moment, then added the crucial component.

  “And for my peace of mind, I think that a report should be issued by you, as commander of Her Majesty’s forces in this colony, to the Colonial Office, regarding a confidential informant’s report you received that detailed the unfortunate sinking of a schooner named Delilah, with all hands aboard lost, south of the island of Great Inagua. That way, the owner of said vessel will be pleased to accept the insurance money for his loss and have no living target for legal suit.

  “Ah, yes, and one last thing—really, this is the last—a certified copy of that report should be in my hands aboard the Ward Line steamer no later than eight o’clock in the morning, for we steam at nine.”

  Teignholder’s brow furrowed. “Why, Commander Wake, I do believe that you don’t trust us. That sounds frightfully like bloody blackmail.”

  I smiled. “Trust you? Not a bit, Major.”

  I could hear him exhale quietly. “Cover your tracks well, don’t you, Commander?”

  “One has to try, Major. An occupational necessity.”

  It was time to change the tone, which had become rather tense.

  “Now, gentlemen, why don’t we soldier on to more pleasant topics, shall we? How about another glass of that Jamaican rum? You’re quite right in your assessment—it is sweeter than Barbados rum.”

  41

  Bridges

  Jefferson Hotel, Duval Street

  Key West, Florida

  Tuesday, 11 September 1888

  My daughter Useppa was nowhere to be found when we arrived at Key West. It will be recalled that two months prior she had angrily departed my boat at Pinder’s dock after observing her father in a somewhat delicate, and religiously immoral, situation with Cynda.

  On the steamer from Nassau to Key West, I thought about that last confrontation and decided that I should try again to explain my behavior to Useppa, in an effort to return harmony to my paternal relationship. Upon inquiring at the Frederick Douglass School on Thomas Street, where she worked, I was informed that she was presently in Saint Augustine at a conference of Methodist missionaries. Ironically, Useppa was at the same church where I and Cynda reunited.

  Useppa wasn’t returning to Key West for another week. Well, that presented no problem, thought I. Saint Augustine was but a short deviation from my rail route north to Washington.

  Meanwhile, my weary friends settled into the Jefferson Hotel, a three-story inn on Duval Street just down from Front Street. After my longtime favorite, the Russell House, had been consumed in the 1886 fire, the Jefferson became my lodging when on the island. Woodgerd, Kovinski, Corny, and Cynda obtained nice individual rooms on the front of the second story. Rork and I shared one in the back on the third floor, a cramped little place with two cot-like beds that reminded me of accommodations aboard ship, except for the exorbitant price.

  Cynda’s health was still a concern for me. The improvement in lifestyle had not produced a concurrent change for the better in her appearance. Quiet and withdrawn, she was still thin and pale, subject to frequent bouts of indigestion, and consistently fatigued. There are many diseases endemic to the tropics and I feared she had contracted one of the more vicious, like bone-break or dengue; or perhaps she had become infected with consumption, which is spread widely in the West Indies.

  Disregarding my worry, she suggested that her general malaise and debilitation was no doubt a product of the recent good food and drink, which was at odds with the stuff she’d ingested during our time in Haiti. Cynda said her body merely needed to balance itself and assured me she would be her usual gay self in a week or two.

  Kovinski was set to re-embark aboard the Ward Line steamer early the next day, Wednesday, the twelfth of September, and he
ad to Havana. The six of us were to dine together in the evening, but we were at leisure during the day, so I determined to assist Cynda’s recovery by arranging some exercise and special medicine. She hesitatingly acquiesced and retired to her room to set about her feminine preparations.

  Accordingly, we set off in the late morning, before the sun had reached its broiling zenith, to stroll along the lanes to Alicia Carey’s Ice Cream Parlour on Rawson Street. As we ambulated along, I was heartened to see my little plan working. The lady seemed invigorated by the activity, her eyes lighting up for the first time since that awful last night in Haiti. Chatting away about the flowers we passed along our route, she was the Cynda I’d become entranced by, the woman who had penetrated the barriers of my heart. A taste of ice cream would be the perfect prelude for the serious conversation I wanted to have with her, for I had done a lot of contemplation of late. Her future and mine were at a nexus of space and time, and a decision needed to be made.

  She chose lime. I chose chocolate. We sat under the awning by a tamarind tree, where a ghost of a breeze brought the earthy tropical scents of salt flats and periwinkle flowers. Cynda held my hand and smiled. The time had come for me to press my case.

  “Cynda, I think we need to talk about us, and our future. I know that Patricio Island is a bit difficult in the summer, what with the bugs and storms, but it’s a very nice place in the late fall, winter, and spring. And there are some things that can be done to make it even more pleasant, of course.”

  “I thought it was very charming,” she said gently, flashing that demure look at me, making my heart skip.

  I took a breath and started again. “Yes, well, as I was saying, dear, my island home is rudimentary compared to what you’ve been used to at the plantation in Puerto Rico, but I have plans to add to its conveniences. Things that a lady would need, to be comfortable there. You see, I have a little money saved up and . . .”

  She stopped me with a caress of my cheek. “Peter, if you are about to ask me to marry you, please wait until I have my say. All right?”

  That took the wind from my sails. She didn’t wait for an answer.

  “Peter, my darling, I know that you love me. You’ve proven that beyond any doubt, proven it more than any man ever has or ever could. And I think you know that I have a love for you, a love that will never end. Our tender moments, in the midst of the troubles and tragedies of these past months, have been the most loving I’ve ever known.”

  She stopped. I supplied the word that came next. “But?”

  “Yes, there is a ‘but’ in this. Peter, we are not youngsters anymore, madly romantic and naïve. We have lived through too much life to think that love conquers all. We know better.”

  “But we do love each other, and I can take care of you, Cynda. I can give you what you need—”

  “Stop. No, you can’t. I was married to a seaman, Peter, remember? Jonathan was a good man who loved me and left the sea to make me happy. But in the end, he withered in a life for which he wasn’t made, a life ashore as a farmer. I was miserable, knowing that I was responsible for that, but unable to change it. I’ll not live that way again, forcing a man to be something he’s not, and I’ll not live a life of waiting at home for a man who has to roam to seas. It’s not your fault. I love you for who, and what, you are. But not enough to marry you and change who I am, or make you change.”

  I couldn’t believe she had reduced our relationship, and our future, to those terms. I tried to get her to see my point from a different view.

  “Look here, now, each of us has had heartbreak in our lives, Cynda. Our bond goes back to the war, has returned with this journey and became stronger. There are better days ahead. Right now we’re at a bridge. I’m lonely, I love you, I need you, and I want to cross this next bridge with you beside me, and live those better days. Please don’t make me beg, Cynda, because I will.”

  Cynda’s voice quivered with emotion as she held both my hands in hers, those gorgeous eyes locked on mine. “You want me to cross a bridge now, for better days ahead? Peter, listen to me. It would not work out well. We are too deeply set in our own ways, and to try to change them would kill our souls. I will not do that to you, and I don’t want you to do that to me.”

  “I don’t understand why you are suddenly talking like this.”

  I saw her eyes lose their softness. She withdrew her hands. Her tone hardened. “Then understand this, Peter. You are right—we are at a bridge. There are some bridges you cross, and some bridges you burn. I’m one of the ones you burn.”

  I reached for her, but she was already standing.

  “I’m not heading north with you to your island, or anywhere else with you. I’m not going to the dinner tonight. I’ve written notes of appreciation to everyone for what they did for me. In the morning I’ll be on the Ward Line steamer for Havana. From there, I’ll return to Puerto Rico. Do not follow me.”

  Stunned at her change, I sat there utterly incapacitated as she leaned down and kissed my forehead. “I love you, Peter Wake, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you, and the others, did for me. Know that, and know it well for the rest of your life, Peter. Live that life the way you should, as a man of the sea, a servant of your country.”

  Cynda backed away a step, her final words emerging as a command.

  “I am returning to my room at the hotel now—alone. Please allow me my privacy and dignity.”

  And with that, Cynda Saunders walked out of my life.

  Fifteen minutes later, by an obviously over-optimistic prearrangement on my part, Rork showed up to celebrate the announcement of my engagement with Cynda. Right away he knew something was wrong and said, “An’ where’s the lovely lady? Did she melt away like that ice cream all over your hand, me friend?”

  I looked down and noticed he was right. “I’m an idiot, Sean.”

  He seated himself in her place. “Aye, well, we’ve known that for a long time, now haven’t we? But methinks there’s something afoot, an’ yer plans’re asunder.”

  “She said no and walked away.”

  He sighed. “All right then, stow yer oars an’ tell me what happened, me ol’ friend.”

  ***

  One incident provided a moment of comedy in Key West. Actually, it turned into far longer than a moment. As is a tradition with sailors, my melancholia at the ice cream shop produced a desire for rum, which Rork suggested we quench at E.H. Stillman’s saloon, at Duval and Front streets.

  Entering the place we found some old friends, none other than that band of troublemaking troubadours known as the Yard Dogs. Former Union soldiers who stayed on in Florida, they play their music at taverns from Tampa to Key West, and occasionally while residing in various jails. For over twenty years they’d been friends and drinking comrades.

  The three of them sat at the bar, nursing beers, but they brightened when Rork roared out upon our entering, “Well, methinks the day’s gettin’ better, Peter—’tis me ol’ friends Kip, Brian, an’ Charlie, an’ they’re lookin’ in a rum-drinkin’ mood if ever there was one. A round for all these idlers an’ ne’er-do-wells, Mr. Stillman, for liberty ashore has just begun!”

  Now, when Rork orders a round for all hands, one would think he’s paying for it. But one would be wrong. Rork never pays for it. He expects me to pay for it. And not the cheap swill either. Oh, no, he expects the good stuff.

  Since Vicente Ybor introduced me to it back in eighty-six, we’ve been partial to Matusalem rum from Cuba. It’s some of the very best sipping rum around, so naturally, he ordered that.

  Years ago, Rork explained his theory of payment within taverns to me: “Aye, now listen carefully. Yer the officer, Peter Wake, commissioned by the high an’ mighty Congress o’ the United States, an’ yer expected to provision yer men with the very best, so they can do their very best, for our sainted country. Me knows this a serious naval duty, an’
a matter o’ great pride for an officer. An’ I’ll not dissuade ye from yer duty, nor will I diminish yer pride—no sir, not one little bit. So let’s mind the good liquor, an’ cast off that rotgut lot.”

  The rum arrived. When asked why the boys had downcast looks, Stillman the publican, told Rork and me, “Kip just found out his campaign for Monroe County sheriff has sunk. He’s not on the ballot—couldn’t qualify because he didn’t get the required signatures from real voters. All he had was twenty-two former jailhouse prisoners who can’t even vote.”

  “Yep,” said Kip, the nominal leader of the trio. “And I found that out after I had the posters made up.” He pointed to the wall, where a crude likeness had been drawn on a sheet of packing paper. Below his face was written VOTE FOR CHANGE. “Got three of them up around town.”

  “In the finest bar establishments,” added Brian, the rhumba box player.

  “Damned shame,” said Charlie, the accordion man. “I was gonna be the chief deputy.”

  I raised my glass in salute to them. “Shame indeed, men. Here’s to a short political career, but a long life.”

  They tossed the sipping rum down their throats, slammed the glasses, and ordered another round. It was going to be an expensive afternoon.

  Kip stood uncertainly—I think they’d been there quite awhile—and raised his finger to emphasize his next statement.

  “Thanks for the drinks today, Peter. But you should know that my political career is far from over. Nope, it’s just refined.”

  “Refined?” I asked.

  “Yes, refined. I’ve discovered I can’t win fame through democracy, so we’re gonna have a revolution, like the Cubans here in Key West. By God, we’re gonna secede!”

  “From what?”

  “Lee County.”

  “Kip, you’re a bit late. Fort Myers and Lee County already seceded from Monroe County last year.”