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Back Blood in the Water Save as PDF
Chapters (82)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. Praise for Blood in the Water
  81. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  82. Newsletter Sign-up

Cormack stood at the large window of his union office, looking out at Boston Harbor. The office was on the corner on the second floor of a warehouse at the end of North Jetty, just off Fid Kennedy Avenue in South Boston. The warehouse jutted out at the tip of the shore, looking across an inlet at fifty acres of landfill piled high with shipping containers from all over the world. To the northeast, he could see the Boston skyline in the distance, separated from him by the revitalization of Southie’s Waterfront District, with its brand-new skyscrapers and trendy restaurants. To the northeast, across the harbor, he could see Logan Airport and East Boston, just beginning the painful process of gentrification that would inevitably drive the immigrant population from one of its last strongholds within Boston’s city limits. To the southeast, he could see Fort Independence, an enormous pentagonal military installation constructed of stone and earthwork rebuilt just before the Civil War. The original military fortification on that site had been built in 1634, and it had guarded the mouth of the harbor for the better part of four centuries.

That’s how Cormack often thought of himself: the defender of the harbor. For all the graft he took from it, and all the illicit activity he sheltered, he gave back much more. He ran the place and maintained the delicate balance necessary to keep war from breaking out between the various underworld factions. He allowed the underground economy to exist, but he kept it in check. And at the same time, he protected the harbor and the city it fed from external threats. He was the first wall in a war that was being waged across the world on multiple fronts. He kept the schedules and made sure that ships were shepherded and docked and unloaded; he provided security when needed; he made sure that every boat in the harbor, from the smallest skiffs to the largest tankers, obeyed the rules and that commerce was served.

Even now, as he looked out at the harbor, he could see his hand in everything moving on the water. Near the city, a heavy tug pushed a barge full of scrap metal up toward the Mystic River for processing, its three-story pilothouse looking over its charge. A high-speed catamaran from Hingham was pulling into Rowes Wharf, serving the commuters who helped to drive the city’s economy. Entering the harbor was a gigantic LNG tanker, over nine hundred feet long and ten stories tall, carrying more than thirty million gallons of liquefied natural gas up to a processing plant in Everett. An armada of police and Coast Guard attack boats surrounded the tanker.