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“He askedClyde’s body because Clyde told me as he died that he had kept the real plans Doesn’t ‘Looking for so?’ sound like Christian Semmler already found them?”
Marion sat up “And since he asked when he saw you searching Clyde, that ”
“Meaning he can carry the”
Bell dressed hastily He filled his pockets, holstered his spare Browning in his coat and a fresh throwing knife in his boot, and reloaded the eed to pal
“Froood-sized bandage In fact, I’ he needed stitches Lots of them”
“But how do you know he’s going to New York?”
“I don’t for sure, but it’s a good bet If Clyde’s plans were on his person, then Seht, the fastest way home to Germany is a train across the continent and a boat from New York”
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Joseph Van Dorn welcomed Isaac Bell to the New York headquarters ords that Bell could have construed as compliments were it not for the thunderclouds on the boss’s face
“Excellent reasoning,” said Van Dorn “Downright intriguing, even: traveling light, swathed in bandages, a ents races fleet-footedly across the continent, having stolen the plans to a revolutionary machine in which I have invested heavily, and boards a steaency pulls out all stops; we cover every Lieles and New York; we pull every e have in the governer manifests from eastbound German and French liners; we shake hands with the devil — currently ence officer — to obtain the passenger lists of British ships; we can
vas shipping clerks to watch for a e to Europe; we pay enormous sums of money to policemen and customs officers to help watch those ships when our forces are stretched to the breaking point And who do we find?”
“No one, yet,” answered Bell
“Did it ever occur to you that he one the other way and boarded a ship in San Pedro, in which case he is now stea hell-for-leather toward the Panama Canal?”
“A Talking Picturesjust that,” replied Isaac Bell, “aboard a Gerhter, which will reach the canal in ten days After they traverse it they will likely load the machine onto a warship The Imperial German Navy has a squadron stationed off Venezuela”
“What?” exploded Van Dorn “He has the machine? How do you know that?”