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“Guilty,” Falconer admitted with a practiced smile “Do you suppose Joe Van Dorn would allow you to take the job?”

Isaac Bell fixed his gaze on the bones of Hull 44 rising on the ways As he did, a yard whistle started the workday with a deepthroated bellow Steam cranes chanted full-throttle Hundreds, then thousands, ofship Withinlike fireflies between “passer boys” and “holders-on,” and soon she echoed the din of hahts and sounds thrust Bell’shis dead friend, Chad Gordon “Horrible Six lads roasted alive-Chad and all the hands working beside him”

As if a shooting star had swept the last strands of darkness froht for what she could be-a lofty vision of living men and a monument to the innocent dead

“I would be amazed if Joe Van Dorn didn’t order me to take the job And if he doesn’t, I’ll do it myself”

ARMORED COFFINS

15

APRIL 21, 1908

NEW YORK CITY

THE SPY SUMMONED THE GERMAN HANS TO NEW YORK, to a cellar under a Biergarten restaurant at Second Avenue and 50th Street Barrels of Rhine ere half subh the cellar The stone walls echoed thewater They sat face-to-face over a round wooden table illuhtbulb

“We plot the future beside a buried re Hans’s response

The German, who appeared to have put a dent in the Rhine wine supply, seemed moodier than ever The question was, had Hans’s brain becoested by wine and remorse to make him useful?

“Mein Freund!” The spy fixed Hans with a coaze “Will you continue to serve the Fatherland?”

The Gerhtened visibly “Of course!”

The spy concealed a relieved smile Listen closely, and you could still hear Hans’s heels click like ain a shipyard?”

“Neptun Schiffswerft und Maschinenfabrik,” Hans answered proudly, obviously flattered that the spy remembered “In Rostock A most modern yard”