Bell fired the Browning. The man screamed and fell to his knees, clapping both hands to a bloody ear.

Chapter 41

41

NINETY-NINE,” SAID ISAAC BELL.

The mob backed away, mumbling sullenly.

A trolley glided up, clanging its bell to chase men off the tracks. Bell dragged Louis Loh onto it.

“You can’t get on here,” the operator protested. “That Jap’s all wet!”

Bell shoved the wide mouth of the double-barreled derringer in the trolley driver’s face. “No stops. Straight through to Benicia Terminal.”

Speeding past waiting passengers at the many stops along the way, they pulled up to the Southern Pacific Ferry Slip in ten minutes. Across the mile-wide strait at Port Costa, Bell saw the Solano, the largest railway ferryboat in the world, loading a locomotive and a consist of eastbound Overland Limited Pullmans. He dragged Loh to the stationmaster’s office, identified himself, purchased stateroom tickets to cross the continent, and sent telegrams. The ferry crossed in nine minutes, tied up, and locked to the tracks. The locomotive pulled the front half of the train onto the apron. A switch engine pushed the rear four cars off the boat. In ten minutes the train was whole again and steaming out of Benicia Terminal.

Bell found his stateroom and handcuffed Louis to the plumbing. As the transcontinental train sped up the Sacramento River Valley, Louis Loh finally spoke. “Where are you taking me?”

“Louis, to which tong do you belong?”

“I am not tong.”

“Why were you trying to make it look like the Japanese blew up the magazine?”

“I will not talk to you.”

“Of course you will. You will tell me everything I want to know about what you were trying to do, why, and who gave you your orders.”

“You do not understand a man like me. I will not talk. Even if you torture me.”

“ ‘That ain’t my style,’ ” Bell quoted from a popular poem.

“ ‘ “Strike One,” the umpire said,’ ” Louis Loh shot back smugly, “I read your ‘Casey at the Bat.’ ”

“You’ve told me something already,” Bell replied. “You just don’t know it.”

“What?”

The tall detective fell silent. In fact, Louis Loh had confirmed his suspicion that he was more complicated than a run-of-the-mill tong gangster. He did not believe that the Chinese was the spy himself, but there was more to Loh than today’s attempt at Mare Island had revealed.

“You give me a great advantage,” said Loh.

“How is that?”

“By admitting you are not man enough to torture me.”

“Is that the Hip Sing definition of a man?”

“What is Hip Sing?”

“You will tell me.”

“When the tables are turned,” said Louis Loh, “when you are my prisoner, I will torture you.”

Bell stretched out on the bed and closed his eyes. His head hurt, and sheep were still turning somersaults.