The Bootlegger

  Fern Hawley flushed. She took a deep breath. “Do you remember I told you he’s an optimist? That’s the least of it. He is a brilliant, natural-born liar. That dirty son of a—”

  “I was hoping you would say that,” said Isaac Bell.

  37

  WITH HIS MUTED ENGINES turning just enough revolutions to make headway through the deepening chop, Marat Zolner kept Maya between him and the town as he eased Black Bird alongside the big yacht in the dead of the night. He tossed a canvas-wrapped grappling hook over the teak rail, pulled himself up, and went to Fern’s cabin.

  She was rubbing her beautiful face with a night cream and saw him in the mirror.

  “Look what the cat dragged in.”

  “Sadly, the cat has only a moment. What did you tell Isaac Bell?”

  “No more than I had to to make him go away.”

  “What did he ask?”

  “He asked about the tanker. He knew the Comintern bought it. I confirmed that to keep him from asking more questions.”

  “Did you tell him where it is?”

  “No. That was the point of answering his previous question.”

  “You’re good at this.”

  “I was taught by a master . . . What are you doing here, Marat?”

  Zolner gave her a strange smile. For as long as she had known him, she could rarely tell what he was really thinking. He looked sad, but she couldn’t swear to it, even when he asked, “Is the bank open tonight?”

  Fern Hawley hoped that she was not a fool to wish that somehow what Isaac Bell had told her was not true. She opened her arms, saying, “All night.”

  • • •

  IT TURNED OUT to be a short night, and, afterward, he looked even sadder, she thought.

  “What is it?”

  “Isaac Bell has beaten me.”

  “How?”

  “Detroit’s exploded. They’re killing each other like rats in a sewer. And I can’t control New York without being on top of it. And now, thanks to Isaac Bell, I can’t get money from Storms. But I will tell you this: Isaac Bell will wish he had died when I go home a hero.”

  “Russia?”

  “You will come with me.”

  “Do you really want me, Marat?”

  “Of course I want you. Now I need your help. Bell has put out a general alarm for my arrest.”

  “How can he do that?”

  “The Van Dorns have the ear of the Department of Justice and every police chief on the East Coast. I can’t take a train. I can’t land in a flying boat. I can’t board a liner.”

  “What will you do?”

  “I’m going to New York.”

  “You just said there’s nothing for you in New York.”

  “Comrades will hide me on a ship.”

  “How will you get there?”

  “Black Bird.”

  “It’s over a thousand miles.”

  “Twelve hundred.”

  “But you could find a ship in Havana. Or San Juan. Or Port-au-Prince.”

  “I have business to finish in New York.”

  “What business?”

  “You don’t need to know.”

  “Marat, how can I trust you if you won’t trust me?”

  “It’s something Yuri and I were doing.”

  “Shall I meet you there?”

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  “It is something you would not understand. Meet me in Rotterdam. We’ll go home heroes.”

  38

  AT BREAKFAST IN THE HOTEL LUCERNE, nervous guests were discussing the storm. Gale warnings were flying from the stone fort that overlooked the harbor, and the morning newspaper quoted radio transmissions from Havana: Hurricane winds were sweeping Cuba, fashionable resorts were flooded.

  “Brace yourself, Isaac,” Pauline whispered. “She’s back.”

  Fern Hawley rushed in, wild-eyed and windblown. She looked like she had not slept.

  A brisk nod from Bell caused Ed Tobin and Asa Somers to excuse themselves from the table. Fern sat across from him and Pauline. “Marat came to me last night.”

  “Where is he?”

  “He’s on his way to Russia. He wants me to come with him.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “He left in the night. For New York. To meet a ship that will smuggle him back to Europe.”

  “He’ll never make it. I’ve got trains and ports covered.”

  “He’s going on Black Bird.”

  “By motorboat? It’s twelve hundred miles.”

  “That’s what I said. It doesn’t make sense. He could escape faster and more easily by running to Havana, or Port-au-Prince, or San Juan. Even Bermuda’s closer than New York. But he told me he’s finishing something he started with Yuri. But I think it’s something else. He could have a lot of cash hidden.”

  “Then to Russia?” asked Pauline.

  “That’s what he said. Through Rotterdam. He said that you’d be sorry, Isaac, when he went home a hero.”

  “A hero of the revolution?” said Bell.

  “He said you’ll wish you were dead.”

  Pauline asked, “Why are you telling us this now?”

  “Because I think he’s up to something terrible.”

  Bell said, “You told me earlier that you didn’t know where the alcohol tanker is. Do you?”

  “Yes. It’s anchored off Eleuthera. We stopped there on the way down. My captain will have the exact position in his log.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I gave you everything, Isaac. I wanted to keep something for myself.”

  Before Bell could answer, he felt Pauline’s knee firmly against his, warning Don’t speak, let Fern do it. And, indeed, Fern did speak. “I thought he kept the tanker at Eleuthera to do a stretching operation. But he could stretch in Nassau. Or up on Rum Row. So I wondered, was he hiding it for some reason?” She shrugged. “Maybe he was waiting for the price to rise.”

  Bell exchanged glances with Pauline. Why sail a shipload of pure alcohol all the way from Bremerhaven, then abandon it on a remote island? Pauline ventured, “Marat could sail it home to Russia. Or trade the cargo for another ship.”

  “He kept saying he’s got business in New York.”

  “Or perhaps sail it to Rum Row and ‘taxi’ himself to the ship he’s leaving on.”

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” said Fern. “Except he kept saying he has business in New York.”

  James Dashwood walked in. He was pale and his hands were shaking. Bell had heard him coughing all night.

  “Dash,” said Bell. “Find a sawbones and hunker down here.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “That tanker makes me nervous. Pauline, you and I and Ed and Asa are going to Eleuthera.” He waved for Tobin to come back. “How are we on gas, Ed?”

  “Full tanks.”

  “Can we handle this weather?”

  “Seventy feet long, four props, and eighteen hundred horsepower? I should think so.”

  “Better rig the cockpit tarpaulin and the motor shrouds.”

  “Already done.”

  “We’ll need food and water in case we have to hole up for a few days.”

  Fern said, “There’s a run on the shops. Come out to my yacht. I’ll give you food and water.”

  • • •

  “WOMEN,” Ed Tobin growled, helping Pauline with a heavy canvas bag. “Why can’t they travel light?”

  “Because we pack things men forget.”

  “Hope you don’t get seasick. It’s going to be a mess out there.”

  “I’ve never been seasick on the Aquitania.”

  They headed across the windswept harbor on one engine.

  Fern’s captain had steam up. Maya’s decks were cleared, the awnings stowed. Stewards and deckhands formed a human chain to pass food and water out their pilot door, across their tender, and into the Van Dorn cruiser rafted alongside.

  Bell went up to the mahogany wheelhouse while
Tobin and Asa lashed canvas over two of the idle engines to keep spray out of the straight pipes. Fern’s captain was an affable Connecticut Yankee. He showed Bell on his chart where he had seen the Sandra T. Congdon four days ago. Tiny Harbour Island was on the windward side of Eleuthera, the big island along the east side of Grand Bahama Bank.

  “The tanker’s heavily laden, drawing too much to enter the lagoon. She anchored on the windward side, inside the Harbour Island reef.”

  “Will she move for the storm?”

  “She’ll put to sea if it swings east.” The captain glanced up at Fort Fincastle, where triangular red pennants flew. “But still only a gale warning. I just heard from a captain on the radiotelegraph that the storm is veering west across Cuba, while you’ll be heading east.” He nodded approvingly at Marion’s long, sleek hull. “It’ll be rough, but it’s only sixty miles, and your boat’s got a seakindly bow and plenty of power. If the storm changes course, you’ll have to hole up in Dunmore Town or Governor’s Harbour. Of course, the truly prudent thing would be to ride it out right here in Nassau.”

  “Where are you going, Captain?”

  “Bermuda.”

  • • •

  FERN INTERCEPTED BELL as he was about to go down the gangway.

  “Can I come with you?”

  “Sorry. Van Dorn policy: We don’t bring friends to gunfights.”

  Fern smiled. “Does that mean I’m a friend?”

  “Only as long as you behave yourself.”

  “Isaac, what am I going to do? You’ve destroyed everything I believed in. Not you. He. I suspected, but you gave me proof, and it is terrible.”

  Bell was anxious to clear the harbor. With any luck, he would trap Zolner on his tanker in two or three hours. “If you want to believe in something, try this: Prohibition is killing the country. Why don’t you join up with the society women trying to repeal it? Joe Van Dorn’s wife is leading them.”

  “I have an aunt who’s formed a committee. But I’m not ready to hang out with a bunch of frumpy old ladies.”

  Tobin started another engine. Bell raised his voice to be heard.

  “If you were to ‘hang out’ with Dorothy Van Dorn, you would have to get used to men looking over your shoulder to catch a glimpse of her. She’s only a few years older than you are, stylish as Paris, and a dazzling beauty.”

  “Sounds like you’ve fallen for her, Isaac.”

  “Dorothy could make a good friend. I’ll introduce you.”

  “I’ll give you a piece of information in return.” She stepped close to whisper in his ear. “Your ‘colleague’ is in love with you. Pauline never mentioned your name when we talked, of course, but now it’s clear.”

  “I’m working on that,” said Bell.

  “Ready, Mr. Bell?” called Tobin.

  “One second . . . Fern, you told me that Zolner did not want to bomb Wall Street. But you also told me that you didn’t know about the plan in time to stop it.”

  “I didn’t. Marat told me afterward, after Yuri died.”

  “Why didn’t he want to bomb Wall Street?”

  “He had bigger plans. Bombs would distract from the bootlegging plan.”

  “Good luck, Fern. Safe passage to Bermuda.” Bell shook her hand, dodged her kiss, and ran down the gangway.

  “Cast off.”

  • • •

  THE VAN DORN EXPRESS CRUISER Marion was ten miles up the Northeast Providence Channel, with Nassau and New Providence Island twenty minutes in her wake, when James Dashwood saw the gale-warning flag lowered from Fort Fincastle. A red flag with a black square in its center took its place.

  Dashwood hurried to the cable office to warn Isaac Bell that a hurricane was approaching The Bahamas. But, as he had feared, remote Harbour Island had neither cable nor radiotelegraph. His friends might as well have been on the far side of the moon.

  39

  “BOSS MAN, HE GO TO RUM ROW.”

  The Harbour Islanders who had been rolling gasoline barrels off a sailboat onto the Dunmore Town dock had stopped work to catch Marion’s mooring lines when the big cruiser rumbled into the harbor.

  The tiny town occupied a low, narrow spit of land between the lagoon and ocean. Offshore, Atlantic combers pounded the fringing reef. But the sheltered waters inside the reef, where Bell had hoped to see the tanker looming above the shingled cottages, held not a single ship.

  Marat Zolner had chosen well. The tiny shipbuilding harbor was both remote and cut off from the world. A four-masted schooner was under construction on shipyard ways, and the British Union Jack flew above a modest wood-frame government building, next to which ground had been broken to build another. But there was no radio tower, which made Dunmore Town not only remote but as cut off from the world as it had been in pirate times.

  The Sandra T. Congdon had weighed anchor two days earlier, the islanders said.

  Bell looked at Tobin and shook his head. “Making twelve knots, he’s halfway to New York.”

  The sky was heavily clouded. They’d left the rain behind, and the forecast of the hurricane moving west over Cuba seemed to hold. But, Ed Tobin grumbled, wind gusts were swinging south of east, and the Dunmore Town residents had pulled small boats out of the water.

  “Did you see a big black speedboat about the size of this one?”

  “No, mon.”

  “The tanker could have hoisted it on deck,” said Tobin.

  “No, he’d have to catch up at sea,” said Bell, “if the tanker left two days ago.”

  “Black boat last week,” an islander ventured.

  Made sense, thought Bell. Even in wind and roiled seas, Marion had covered the sixty miles from Nassau in less than three hours. Zolner would have found this an ideal place to hide Black Bird, too. He could have zipped in and out with the boat.

  He shook his head again. “Last time we almost caught the black boat, Zolner blew up his boathouse.”

  “Maybe we’re lucky he moved the ship. If he left it, he would blow it up like his boathouse.”

  “Going home a hero of the revolution,” said Pauline.

  “But first finish Yuri’s job? What job?”

  Bell smelled tobacco burning. The dockworkers had hunkered down behind the gasoline barrels to share a smoke.

  “Douse that cigarette! You’ll blow my boat to kingdom come!”

  The smoker took a last drag, passed it to his friend, who inhaled another. A third man grabbed a quick puff and flicked the butt in the water.

  The man Bell was talking to chuckled. “Just like de boss man. Every day he always say, ‘No smoke by ship. Big explosion.’”

  Isaac Bell plunged his hand in his pocket and pulled out his bankroll. Twelve tons of pure alcohol would make a very big explosion. “I want that gasoline.”

  Tobin said, “We’ve got plenty in the tanks, Mr. Bell. It’ll only weigh us down.”

  “We’ll burn it soon enough. It’s twelve hundred miles to New York.”

  • • •

  THEY HAD STOWED the last barrel they could fit, and Bell had tipped the dockworkers lavishly, when a church bell began to toll. The islanders’ smiles faded at the urgent clamor. Their eyes shot to the government building. The Union Jack was descending the flagpole. A red flag with yellow stripes jumped up in its place.

  “What’s that?” asked Bell.

  “Red flag with black square say hurricane.”

  “I know that. What do those yellow stripes mean?”

  “Hurricane come straight here.”

  • • •

  MARION thundered through South Bar Passage. The tide was strong, the ocean swell steep and destructive in the narrow cut and breaking on the sandbar. Bell aimed at what looked deepest and drove her through in a welter of foam and headed for the open sea.

  Beyond the reef, the seas were big but orderly. He set a course north and was glad to see that Marion could maintain forty knots without straining. His crew, he could see, were apprehensive, and he tried to raise their spirit
s.

  “Between a cashiered Coastie, a Staten Island pirate, and a yachtsman, we ought to be able to find Cape Hatteras Light. From there, it’ll be an easy run up the coast.”

  “How far is Cape Hatteras?” asked Pauline.

  Bell shrugged. “Less than eight hundred miles.” He showed her the chart. “We’ll steer a course just west of north.”

  Pauline’s brow furrowed as she studied the chart in the murky light that penetrated the windshield and the isinglass side curtains. “It appears we have to get around Abaco, first.”

  “We should see Hope Town Light in a couple of hours,” said Bell.

  “If we can make forty knots in these seas, we’ll take a full day and night to Cape Hatteras.”

  “We’re burning a lot of gas at forty,” said Tobin.

  “There’s a hurricane chasing behind,” said Bell. “I want room between it and us.”

  Spray drummed on the cockpit tarp. The seas continued to mount and the wind rose. Every few minutes, the boat plowed into a wave markedly bigger than the rest and slowed dramatically.

  Bell ordered a watch schedule in which each would steer for two hours, the limit before they lost focus and concentration. Asa brewed coffee in the galley tucked under the foredeck, then helped Pauline steer when it was her turn. Tobin passed around sandwiches of foie gras that Fern’s chef had contributed. In the dark, the compass cast a red glow on faces growing weary of the constant motion and the ceaseless thunder of the Libertys.

  Bell caught catnaps, sitting near the helm, but only when Tobin was steering.

  He awakened with cold water dripping on his face. The tarpaulin was soaked and it was beginning to leak. He rescued the chart, which was getting wet. The boat was laboring. Reluctantly, Bell cut their speed to thirty-five knots—still a phenomenal pace for any vessel in any seas—and reduced it again in a few hours to thirty knots as the waves grew taller and chaotic.

  He decided that, at that rate, they could stop the forward Liberty to conserve it. Asa wrestled on canvas as soon as the pipes cooled. Soon after, they stopped the sternmost motor, as the boat would make her speed on two having burned off the weight of the extra gasoline.

  The wind, which had blown from the south and then gradually east, backed suddenly north. Bell pictured the storm whirling, its counterclockwise winds moving sharply to the east as if it had crossed their wake and was heading toward Bermuda.