Page 77 of Clive Cussler The Iron Storm
“Helen Mills’s fiancé?”
“I thought you said you didn’t talk to the others.”
“Not about work, but gossip is always fair game.”
Bell rolled his eyes. “Tell Joe I need him here. Tell him to go AWOL if he has to. It’s that important.”
“On it.”
Marchetti was a young Navy officer who’d been invaluable on a case the year before involving German spies operating in and aroundNew York. He was smart, kind, and to everyone in the office’s delight, he’d caught the eye of Helen Mills, one of the few female agents currently on staff in Manhattan. They’d announced their engagement at last year’s Christmas party.
Bell leaned back in his chair, his fingers laced behind his head. He looked calm, relaxed even, but his mind was a kaleidoscope of ideas forming, changing, and vanishing only to pop up again in a slightly altered form. He was of the mind to break down complex problems into manageable parts, solve them individually, and then fit it all back together again to formulate a master plan. It wasn’t really a revolutionary technique, but it had given him the edge over countless criminals in his storied career and he approached a plan to deal with the Rath brothers and their threat to the city in the exact fashion.
“You asleep?” Archie Abbott asked, his broad shoulder leaning against Bell’s office doorframe.
Bell didn’t open his eyes. “Didn’t it bother you that Roosevelt never responded to my cable containing a warning?”
“Not even for a second. The Navy is under no obligation to inform a civilian firm of their intentions even if said firm provided them the warning.”
“I still think it’s odd he didn’t leave even a simple message of receipt.”
“Mr. Bell,” Betsy called from the outer office again. “Joe Marchetti would like to talk to you before he agrees to go AWOL.”
“Patch him through.” Bell picked up his phone. “Joe, are you guys under any kind of alert right now?”
“Not that I should divulge Navy secrets, but no we’re not. Why?”
“Any idea where Franklin Roosevelt is?”
“I believe he’s with Navy Secretary Daniels. It’s a big inspectiontour of the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, before they plan to expand it.”
“In Roosevelt’s absence, who responds to his communications, things like telegrams?”
“I’m sure he has a secretary of his own, but I have no idea who, a confidant no doubt. Why? What’s this all about?”
Marchetti was a no-nonsense type of guy and so Bell laid out his case as plainly as he could.
When Bell finished and Joe had a taken a few seconds to process the information, he said, “If Roosevelt had gotten your cable on time and convinced Daniels of its veracity, they might have been able to get some assets to New York to counter a ship like you’ve described. But right now all we have here at the Yard are a couple of twenty-year-old destroyers that are about as toothless as a day-old infant and a battleship that’s only halfway through construction.”
“Then it’s up to us,” Bell said, already including the lieutenant in his plans.
“What are you thinking?”
“Since there’s nothing we’ve got that would penetrate theSaarland’s protective armor, we sneak aboard and blow her up from the inside.”
“Is that even possible?” Archie asked, having overheard Bell’s side of the conversation.
“How about it, Joe?” Bell said into the handset. “Is it possible?”
“A bomb placed anywhere near the powder magazine would open her up like a tin can,” Marchetti replied with confidence. “The problem is getting away. That means a long timer, which increases the chance of the bomb being discovered. Also if we’re spotted, even if we get away, they will know what we were up to and find our bomb.”
“So we give them exactly what they expect to see,” Bell said cryptically. He then said, “Listen, Joe, I don’t need you on this mission, but you’ve got more explosives training than any of my people. We’ve got all the gear, but I would appreciate if you assembled the bombs.”
“Do you know your way around a modern battleship?” Marchetti asked a little hotly.
“I don’t even know my way around an old battleship,” Bell admitted.
“That settles it. I’m coming with you. No argument. This is my decision, so not another word.”
