“Next advisory should tell you,” the trooper said. “You just come down?”
“Yep, from Miami.”
“How’s it up that way?”
“Well, pretty windy this morning.”
“That’s all them Jews yakking it up there on the beach,” the trooper said, and laughed. “That’s what causes the wind.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Prager said, and laughed with him.
“Well, I’ll see you, Bobby,” the trooper said, and went to the door. At the door he paused and turned. “Diner’s closed, you know,” he said.
“Is it?”
“Yeah. Lester sick or something?”
“Not that I know of,” Bobby said.
“Must be taking the day off, then.”
“Maybe.”
“Mmm,” the trooper said. “Do you smell smoke, or is it just me?”
“We had a little fire over in the paint shop,” Bobby said.
“Oh, no wonder.”
“Firemen just left a little while ago.”
“Oh. Anybody hurt?”
“No, they put it out all right.”
“Oh. Well, good. Good.” The trooper put his hand on the doorknob. “Tell Luke I was by,” he said.
“See you,” Benny Prager said.
“Right,” the trooper answered. He opened the door and stepped outside. The door closed behind him. Bobby Colmore and Benny Prager sat behind the desk motionless. Outside, they heard the patrol car starting. They heard tires pulling at the road. The sound of the car’s engine moved into the distance. They listened until it was out of earshot.
“That was very good, Mr. Colmore,” Benny said, and he pulled the gun from beneath the jacket on his lap. He rose swiftly and walked to the door at the rear of the office. He knocked on the door three times. The door opened.
“Are they gone?” Jason asked.
“They’re gone,” Benny said. “Good thing Johnny called from the diner.”
“Bring the wino back here with Tannenbaum and the others,” Jason said.
At four forty-five, Harry Barnes went to the marina office and discovered that neither Luke Costigan nor Samantha Watts was among the prisoners in the back room. He told Jason that they had both run out of the paint shop during the fire, and that he had automatically assumed they had been recaptured. Jason said he was a fool for automatically assuming anything, and Harry apologized and said he’d had his hands full with the fire, you know, and the volunteer firemen from Big Pine, and Jason said, All right, all right, let’s search the town.
In the room behind Bobby Colmore’s shop they found Willy in bed with a woman. Both Willy and the woman were naked and unconscious, and the room stank of alcohol. Jason posted a guard outside the door with instructions to shoot them if they tried to get out. They searched the town from end to end, house to house, from mangrove jungle to beachfront. They went aboard every boat at the pier, including the white Chris-Craft. Alex Witten and Clay Prentiss were sitting below in the dinette booth, quietly talking.
“Anyone come aboard here?” Jason asked.
“Nope,” Clay answered.
“Okay,” Jason said, and he and Benny went ashore again.
“What do you think?” Benny asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Were they in town when that patrol car was here?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then they got away,” Benny said. “They’re outside, they’re—”
“Probably,” Jason said. “Most likely.”
“Jase, they’ll call the police.”
“They haven’t yet.”
“How do you know?”
“Do you see the police here?”
“No, but...”
“If Costigan called them, they’d have been back by now.”
“Maybe he hasn’t gotten to a phone yet.”
“Big Pine’s only a few miles away.”
“Still...”
“I’m not worried. I can’t worry about it.”
“Jason, if he gets to the police—”
“I can’t worry about it.”
“Jason, you have to.”
“This country is going to declare war against Cuba,” Jason said. His voice was very low, his eyes serious. “We are going to declare war as soon as the full impact of what happens out there in the Caribbean” — he pointed out over the water — “has had a chance to register.”
“Jason, what’s that got to do—”
“I can’t worry about Costigan. I can’t worry about a cripple roaming the highway. What do you think’ll happen if the police do get here, Benny? Tell me that.”
“Well, Jase, they’ll—”
“Benny, the men who stay behind here have orders to kill everyone in this town before they leave. They’ll do it. They’ll do it unless they know for certain we’ve failed out there, unless they know the plan has gone wrong. In that case, they’ll clear out fast. It’s as simple as that. Do you understand me, Benny?”
“Yes, but—”
“But, Benny, they are ready to kill everyone in this town. They are expecting to kill everyone in this town.”
“I know.” He looked at Jason curiously. “I know, Jase.”
“If anything happens here after we’re under way, they’ll do it sooner, that’s all. They won’t risk the plan, Benny.”
Benny shook his head. He still seemed troubled.
“Don’t worry,” Jason said. “The only thing that can possibly stop us is Flora.” He looked at his watch. “We’ll know what she’s going to do in ten minutes’ time.”
“Well,” Benny said dubiously, and then nodded and began nibbling at the inside of his mouth.
At five minutes to five, the radioman Peters went out to talk to Mr. Bordigian, the lieutenant j.g. who was the watch officer. He handed him the afternoon message from the Mercury and said, “What do you make of this, sir?”
Bordigian read the message, and then looked up at Peters. “What do I make of what?” he asked.
“The ZUG, sir.”
“The ZUG?” Bordigian looked at the message again. “Oh,” he said. “Yeah.”
“Kind of funny, isn’t it, sir?”
“Mmm,” Bordigian said. “Yeah.”
“What do you think we ought to do, sir?”
“Do?” Bordigian said. He scratched his head, looked at the message again, and then said, “File it, Peters. Somebody goofed, that’s all.”
MIAMI WEATHER BUREAU ADVISORY NUMBER 33 HURRICANE FLORA 5 PM EST SUNDAY OCTOBER 6.
RESIDENTS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN BAHAMAS SHOULD TAKE ALL POSSIBLE EMERGENCY PRECAUTIONS IMMEDIATELY AGAINST HURRICANE WINDS HIGH TIDES AND ROUGH SEAS.
AT 5 PM EST... 2200 ZULU.. THE CENTER OF HURRICANE FLORA WAS ESTIMATED TO BE NEAR LATITUDE 21.1 NORTH LONGITUDE 75.7 WEST AND PASSING INTO THE ATLANTIC NEAR CAPE LUCRECIA. THIS POSITION IS ABOUT 80 STATUTE MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF GUANTANAMO BAY AND 440 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MIAMI.
FLORA IS FORECAST TO MOVE IN A GENERAL NORTHEASTERLY DIRECTION AT AROUND 10 MPH DURING THE NEXT TWELVE HOURS. SHE WOULD APPEAR TO OFFER NO FURTHER THREAT TO EXTREME WESTERN CUBA CENTRAL AMERICA AND FLORIDA AND NO FURTHER THREAT TO THE REMAINDER OF THE EAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES AS WELL.
15
Dusk was a long time coming.
The sky stretched from horizon to horizon and there was nothing to hide the sun in its slow descent toward the rim of water. There was a stillness to the earth as the spreading stain of sunset covered the sky, touched the sea, tipped the scattered clouds in glowing color. Close to shore the ocean was calm, unrippled, reflecting the dying sun like a mirror of molten gold.
Jason stood on the shore, a black shadow against the burning sky, and watched the end of day.
A warm breeze touched his face like a maiden’s kiss.