Steam City Pirates (10 page)

“The memory’s a strange thing, me boy-o. The more a man wants to hide somethin’, the more he needs to get his memory jogged a wee bit,” McKenzie laughed.

“We must remember that we have to find out information soon. In order to prevent these pirates from attacking our city and sinking the ships in the harbor, we will need to first discover what technology they’ll be using. In order to do that we need to find out where they hide out. We should all meet back here at sundown. We can then compare our notes and decide what we can do tomorrow,” I said, walking toward the door.

Walter McKenzie followed me. “Maguire, you go out into Central Park and see if you can spot that wee mechanical lad,” he said.

“You want me to wind him up and send him back to you, Boss?” Maguire smiled.

“No, just see if you can find out where he goes to meet his mates. We can then figure out how to pay ‘em all a visit,” said McKenzie.

“Now you have the right idea,” I said. “We must get our defenses ready before we go on the offensive. Preparation is the key, and the best offense is a good defense,” I added.

* * *

It was after five when we arrived at Superintendent Kennedy’s mansion on Fifth Avenue. He was about two blocks from Missus Mergenthaler’s mansion, so he had certainly made a lot of money from his investments, including the Taijitu Corporation’s endeavors. I must admit, he had me completely fooled until I saw that he owned one of those Taijitu symbol business cards. This clue led to me uncovering the entire conspiracy going on in New York City that involved Jane the Grabber, John Allen and Lord knew how many more business “investors” who had no idea what evil was being perpetrated with their money.

This Kennedy had information that was very relevant to solving that case, and that’s why he pretended to want to help us when I initially approached him about it in his office downtown. He did not want us to suspect he knew anything. This visit today, however, was going to be highly personal in nature. I had a strong feeling that he could point us in a direction we needed to go in order to find Jane the Grabber. If we were able to locate the time-traveling Madame who had been the major criminal behind the Taijitu Orphanage conspiracy, then we should also be able to find these pirates.

“These folks have stepped up in the world,” said McKenzie, huffing and puffing his way up the 20 marble steps leading to Kennedy’s front door. “Me? I prefer living on the flat land,” he added.

I took hold of the brass knocker on the door and slammed it down on the backing. Once, twice, three times, the metallic sound rang out through the house. I could hear footsteps, and then the white door swung open. A butler answered who appeared to be the shortest servant I had ever seen. He was a midget, such as General Tom Thumb from the Barnum Museum, and he took our coats and hats. He was almost completely covered by them, especially by Walter’s, and yet he managed to grunt and groan his way into the parlor where he handed them to a Negro maid who hung them inside the closet.

He then turned to us, and his pinched face beamed up at us in welcome. “I will announce you to Mister Kennedy. He is practicing down in the shooting range,” he said in a high-pitched voice.

I should have noticed when this midget closed the door because it was a strange type of closure. It did not close from gravity but from a steam pump of some kind on the hinges. As we stepped into the drawing room, I noticed that all the inside windows were barred shut. I recalled the home of the eccentric tobacco millionaire, John Anderson, in the Edgar Allan Poe murder case. Anderson was insane. What had happened to John Kennedy to cause such a change in his home security? The rest of the room had oil paintings, sofas and armoires, which were fairly conventional, but then I noticed there were gun racks on every wall as well. He had enough weaponry in that single room to hold off an attack by my General Billy Sherman.

When Kennedy finally came into the room, I was ready for anything. I kept mentally planning the steps I needed to take to make a fast escape, but I was not very optimistic about the outcome. I kept picturing hundreds of mechanical men, pouring out of the walls, seizing the weapons to gun us down.

“Gentlemen! I’m so happy to see you again. I see Bancroft has left you inside my cozy little gun den. He enjoys the looks of shock on the guests’ faces. I hired the little man after the Barnum Museum burned down for the second time, and they closed it forever. Poor little lad had no job, no family, and I thought I would give him both. He is a trusted servant, although his manners are a bit on the dark side. I suppose you might say he has a Napoleonic complex.

“Yes, I often feel that way when I am with my friend Walter here. You remember McKenzie? He was with us on the Hester Jane Haskins case. In fact, this is the reason I am here, Superintendent. I wanted to ask you about your knowledge of Madame Haskins. When did you first meet her, and do you know where she might be today?” I shuffled my feet on the Persian rug, and I watched Kennedy’s eyes. His was nonplussed. His eyes began to roam quickly about the room as if he were the one looking for an escape.

“Don’t be afraid, John. We already know about the pirates. What we don’t know is why they’re here and what they will do next. I was hoping you could help us determine their motivation and perhaps give us a clue as to where they might be located.” I hoped my additional prodding would bring it out of him.

Kennedy let out a sigh. He appeared to be a man resigned to some dark secret that was eating at him. I still did not trust this man because of his involvement with Haskins and her group, but Kennedy was the closest person to this time traveler Haskins and what she might be doing now. The superintendent of police walked over to the divan and sat down. He put his head into his hands, shook his crop of auburn hair once, twice, and then looked up at us.

“I do not know where they are located. Yes, I was involved with the organization, and I also know what their ultimate goals are because I was promised certain benefits once they are in power throughout New York City. However, despite what you may believe, I never knew about that horrible machine they were using in the Palace Theater to kill orphans! I am telling you this now because I want somebody to know other than me and the Society.” Kennedy’s voice was profound and despondent.

“Simply tell us what you know. Right now we need to have information,” I said. I also knew that his use of the word “society” gave me an important clue. This word was one of the words on the side of the huge airship I saw when I traveled into the future. What it said on that balloon was:
World Scientific Advancement Society for Progress
.

“The Society has informed me that Hester Haskins has been demoted. She is no longer in charge of business operations in our city. Instead, there is a new leader who was appointed by the Supreme Command. Don’t ask me about this command because I do not know who they are or where they are. I do know that the main objective of the Society is to create a steam-powered city here in New York. In addition, they plan to take over the corrupt Tammany Hall officials and replace them with their own officials. They promised me that I would be appointed as the new Steam City Police Commissioner.” Kennedy rubbed his hands together as if he were picturing his appointment and a parade down Wall Street.

“I can see why you might like these goals,” I said, keeping any trace of sarcasm out of my tone.

Kennedy waved his hand around the room. “That’s why I keep so many weapons. I am not naïve enough to believe Tammany Hall will go down quietly. If they come for me, I will be ready. I am quite enthusiastic about the prospect of a steam city, however. The benefits and the profits should be quite lucrative.”

“The Taijitu Corporation was also quite profitable,” I reminded him. “But in the end, children were being prostituted and murdered to create that largesse.”

“I realize that fact. I also wanted to be certain this larger group was not going to do something similar. They explained to me how they would turn our city into a place where the people could actually benefit from their inventions and their steam-powered systems all over our metropolitan area.”

I was not impressed by his words, as I had seen for myself what these pirates were doing in the future. I wanted to keep him talking, however, as he was the first real contact with this group that I had enjoyed. “Tell me more about this steam city. How does stealing equate to a profitable and socially beneficial city infrastructure?”

“What do you think our present government is doing? Tammany Hall is stealing this city blind! The Society has explained to me how they plan to first take from the rich by using steam-powered submarines and airships. With the profits, they are going to invest in miraculous heating and power systems all over our great city. For example, steam piping provides five times the heat temperature of water. In addition, there can be smaller pipes installed, which save on cost, and since steam responds immediately to a pressure drop along the lines of distribution, the system no longer needs to have costly and large circulating pumps. The entire city could be heated through an underground system! The Society believes this economical heating system should save many lives during our harsh winters.” Kennedy sat up on the cushion to straighten his military bearing. “I, for one, would be proud to keep the peace is such an innovative and humanitarian society!”

“I see. But why does this Society have to resort to illegal means to get the money they need for all these magnanimous plans?” I wanted to probe a bit more deeply into Kennedy’s logic.

“You know as well as I do that Tammany Hall will not give up their power without a fight. This is why the Society must work in absolute secrecy and stealth. Once they are able to acquire enough capital, they have assured me they will be turning that capital into investments to transform this city into a wonder for the ages. I simply wanted you to see what they have planned so that if Tammany Hall comes to get me, you will understand why. I honestly believe you are on the wrong track, O’Malley. These people are scientists, inventors and engineers. They can be trusted.” Kennedy stood up. “If you have no further questions, I must meet someone for dinner. I hope you will keep the information I have related to you secret. Even if you did tell someone, I doubt they would believe you,” he added, walking toward the hallway.

“What if we wanted in on this little scheme? Who does one pay to get a slice ‘a yer pie?” Walter McKenzie spoke for the first time. I thought his question was quite good considering the situation we were in. If word got back to the “Society” that we were interested in becoming investors, then we might be able to follow our case with less fear of being pursued.

“I am afraid I have no influence on the Society. They choose whomever they believe will benefit their cause. I chose to tell you about this because I needed some kind of insurance because of Tammany Hall. I have no others I can trust with my knowledge, but I am thankful to you for this. How did you find out about the Society?” Kennedy turned around to face me.

“They paid me an unfriendly visit. This is why I was concerned about them. However, you have cleared things up for me, and I am thankful to you for that. We will advise you of future concerns, if you would do the same for us,” I said, listening to the steam escape when Kennedy opened the door.

“They want to know who they can trust, O’Malley. Once they approve, you will not be subjected to any more interrogations. You can trust me on that,” Kennedy said, closing the door.

When we got down to the bottom of the marble steps, I said, “We now have one idea of what this organization is doing. Of course, if they need people as well as money, then Kennedy should have no problem. I believe we have a race against time on our hands. We know for certain that these pirates will begin attacking and sinking ships sometime between today and two years from now. The first mystery to be solved is how we can determine the means they will be using when they first attempt their piracy of ships in New York Harbor. In order to do this, we probably need to discover where they are located. We already know they will use some kind of torpedo shot out of a submersible craft. They will also steal cargo from the ships using the giant airship I saw when I journeyed in our time machine. There are thousands of little steps that are needed to bring these pirates to the end result. What I saw that day two years from now was a group that was given free reign over New York City. They were able to steal and loot with full permission of the government. This must also mean that the state and federal governments were aware of their presence and activities as well.”

“You mean these blackguards will have some kind of grip on the United States?” McKenzie asked.

“Quite right, Walter. If we can find out what that power is that they possess, then we shall have discovered the key to stopping them. With our time travel, our sleuthing and our luck, we can attempt to reverse-engineer our way out of this prophecy of doom.” I stepped around another pig that was rooting through some garbage on the side of the street on Fifth Avenue, of all places.

“You think them pirates will steam clean these pigs?” McKenzie laughed, kicking the big porker in his ham until he squealed and ran off.

* * *

When we returned to the temple, everybody was there as planned except for Bill Maguire. Becky told us her girls would be on the alert for any strange customers, and they also knew they would be listening for any discussions about balloons and submersibles. Doctor Adler and Seth had worked on the time machine to adjust the gauges and to re-supply the polarized neutrons.

“Our visit to Superintendent Kennedy was quite illuminating,” I said, seated in my chair with all the others standing around me. “He is under the impression that this group is working for the good of city. He had no information about the location of the World Scientific Advancement Society for Progress, better known by us as the Steam City Pirates, but he says he is part of their organization.”

“Oh, I see,” said Bessie, frowning, “the same way he was involved in the Taijitu Corporation’s orphanage.”