She sighed and turned to the next page in the newspaper. The wordCubaleapt out from one of the headlines. It seemed the rebellion was heating up again. There had been a bombing north of Havana, and a newly reconstructed road and a bridge to the city had been destroyed.
The road to a city of columns is in danger.
The breath left her in a rush. Luke had known this attack was coming. He’d tried to warn her.
Then a worse thought descended. Did he have a hand in this? If so, why would he have told her? A chill descended, and her hands shook. What was she supposed to do now?
It was impossible to know what to think anymore, but one thing was certain. Luke’s latest letter had another passage in Hebrew, and she needed to find someone to translate it for her as soon as possible.
Twenty-Seven
The World’s Fair had been open all summer, but this was the first time the president had been able to visit, and Nathaniel dreaded the security nightmare it represented. The fairgrounds consisted of 350 acres of open parks and towering buildings. A man-made lake and waterways that simulated the canals of Venice meandered through the grounds, making a quick exit a challenge.
Nathaniel gaped at the crowd filling the Esplanade in the center of the fairgrounds. As far as his eyes could see, there were people everywhere. Ticket receipts indicated that 116,000 people had arrived in the park today, and the local police chief estimated that more than half had come to the Esplanade for the president’s speech.Sixty thousand people. How to manage them? It boggled his mind, and he could only pray to God as the president stepped up to the podium.
Please, he silently implored.Please be with us today and let this be safe.
American flags framed the podium. Behind the stage were bleachers filled with invited guests wearing formal clothes despite the heat. Four tables at the base of the stage held the journalists, busily scribbling on their pads.
How to scan a crowd of sixty thousand? The people at the back looked as tiny as ants. Nathaniel tried to comfort himself with the thought that to those distant throngs of people, the president looked just as tiny. No sharpshooter, no matter how skilled, could accurately shoot that far. He kept his eyes trained on those closer to the stage. Almost everyone looked hot but excited as the president began his speech.
“Expositions are the timekeepers of progress,” the president declared. “They record the world’s advancements. They stimulate the energy, enterprise, and intellect of the people, and quicken human genius.”
Nathaniel loved that phrase,quicken human genius,for it was exactly how he felt. He felt on the cusp, as though his life was destined to morph into something new and exhilarating soon. Was it because this assignment would be over in nine more days? He was so eager to begin the rest of his life. He wanted to be free again.
He continued scanning the crowd with hope filling his spirit. A new day was coming, and evidence of the future was all around him. The fair was filled with inventions, blazing light, and promise for the days ahead. This afternoon he would stand guard over the president at a reception, but tonight he would watch the fireworks alongside Caroline.
And in nine days it would be September 15th, when his future could truly begin.
Ida’s sister, Pina, rejoined the presidential party in Buffalo, giving Caroline the opportunity for a free day at the World’s Fair. While most of the fairgoers crowded the Esplanade to hear the president speak, Caroline was on a desperate quest to find someone who could translate the single Hebrew line from Luke’s latest missive. These letters were far more important than she’d realized. Lukeknewabout the bombing of theroad to Havana, and she hadn’t spotted his warning in time. She would do better in the future. His latest letter told her to cut the link to theFlying Dutchmanin Key West. But what did that mean?
The fairgrounds were huge, with ninety buildings and half a dozen parks. There was a Machinery & Transportation Building, the Electricity Showcase, and a Temple of Music. Caroline was most eager to see the Liberal Arts Building, for the program noted that it included an exhibit on the Wonders of the Ancient World. It was the most likely place to find someone who could read Hebrew.
Thankfully the president’s speech meant crowds were thin, letting her scurry down the center aisle of the Liberal Arts Building, scanning both sides in search of the Wonders of the Ancient World. She passed exhibits on Shakespeare, a display of Renaissance tapestries, and one on advances in modern cookery. She finally spotted two massive reproductions of Egyptian columns framing the ancient-world exhibit. A tweedy-looking man with bushy sideburns looked eager for someone to talk to.
“Are you here to see the mummy?” he asked. “We open the sarcophagus twice a day, and the next opening will be as soon as the president’s speech is over.”
“No, thank you,” Caroline said. “Do you perhaps read Hebrew?”
The question took the tweedy man aback, but he gamely introduced himself as Professor Mayfield and offered to help her find someone who could. “I only have middling abilities in Hebrew,” he said. “My colleague from Princeton is completely fluent and will be manning the exhibit tomorrow, if you’d like to return.”
The president’s train returned to Washington tomorrow, and besides, the unsettling need to know what Luke had written clawed at her. She presented the letter to the professor.
“You can see there is only a single line at the bottom,” she said. “Can you make any sense of it? Please?”
Professor Mayfield took the note from her, frowning as his eyes scanned the text for several moments.
“This is very odd,” he finally said. “It must be my poor understanding of Hebrew, because this line doesn’t make sense.”
“What does it say?” Caroline asked, her mouth suddenly dry and heart thumping.
“It says, ‘Stop talking to Holland. He is dangerous.’” Professor Mayfield handed her the letter. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Holland is a country, not a person, but the writer calls it a ‘he.’”
Caroline’s blood ran cold. Captain Holland. Luke had somehow figured out she had been talking to Captain Holland, and she shouldn’t have been. Realizations came cascading in. Luke had told her to beware of the Dutch. He warned her of the Flying Dutchman and its corrupt captain. All of it was veiled warnings about Captain Holland, but she’d been too blind to see it.
She still didn’t know how to cut the link in Key West, but perhaps Nathaniel or Gray could help.
“I have to run,” she gasped, snatching the letter back.
