Page 10 (2/2)

“But you say Wish had already drawn his gun”

“That’s right So how did the Wrecker get him with a knife?”

“Threw it?” Van Dorn asked dubiously

Bell’s hand flickered toward his boot and came up

with his throwing knife He juggled the sliver of steel in his fingers, weighing it “He’d need a catapult to drive a throwing knife co man’s neck”

“Of course … Watch your step, Isaac As you say, this Wrecker et the drop on Wish Clarke Even drunk”

“He will have the opportunity,” vowed Isaac Bell, “to show me how quick”

4

THE ELECTRIC LIGHTS OF SANTA MONICA’S VENICE PIER illu of a three-side it and the rooflines of a large pavilion A brass band was playing John Philip Sousa’s “Gladiator March” in quick time

The beachcomber turned his back to the bittersweet hts shimmered across the waves and cast a frothy shadow ahead of hied clothes It was low tide, and he was hunting for an anchor he could steal

He skirted a village of shacks The Japanese fishered their boats up on the beach, close to their shacks, to keep an eye on the for, one of the seagoing dories scattered along the beach by the United States Lifeboat Society to rescue shipwrecked sailors and drowning tourists The boats were fully equipped for launching in an instant by volunteer crews He pulled open the canvas and pawed in the dark, feeling oars, floats, tin bailers, and finally the cold metal of an anchor

He carried the anchor toward the pier Before he reached the edge of the light fall, he plodded up the sloping deep sand and into the town The streets were quiet, the houses dark He dodged a night watched, to a stable, which likeconverted to acco repair were parked helter-skelter aasoline led with that of hay and manure

It was a lively place by day, frequented by hostlers, hack and spinning yarns But the only one up tonight was the blacks him a whole dollar for the anchor He had only pro and was one of those enerous

The blackser to transform the anchor before anyone noticed it had been stolen He started by cutting off one of the two cast-iron flukes, battering it repeatedly with hammer and cold chisel until it snapped away He filed burrs to sht, as left of it looked like a hook

Sweating even in the cool of the night, he drank a bottle of beer and sed a deep pull fro to drill the hole in the shank that the custo to catch his breath, he drank another beer He finished at last, vaguely aware that one ’s and he would drill a hole in his hand instead of the hook