Wading Into War: A Benjamin Wade Mystery Read Online Free Page A

not only knew my name
but also where I was located. Was I being followed? Now, they wanted me to get
into their car? Alarm bells clanged in my head.
    “Now, Mr. Wade.” This time, he motioned with his hand.
    Pulling Lillian with me, I started for the car.
    “Not her, Mr. Wade,” the Army man said. “I think it best if she goes with
Lieutenant Small.”
    She and I looked at each other. The fear that had erupted in her eyes
from the upstairs fight was still present, but fading. “It’ll be okay,” I said.
    “How do you know?”
    Well, I didn’t, but that’s what you say when you have no choice, right?
    “Don’t worry, Mr. Wade. We’ll meet at a new location, one that can’t be
traced.”
    We parted and she was whisked away to one of the other cars. I climbed
into the sedan and the man settled beside me. I glanced at the man’s name tag:
Donnelly. The driver gave one glance at the traffic and then pulled out.
    He turned, taking the car onto Main. The evening lights were flickering
on and I saw a few couples already in their evening wear. The symphony was
playing at the Music Hall. The Metropolitan Movie Theater, with its
stories-tall vertical sign illuminating the street, already had lines.
    Donnelly extended a hand. “Sorry for all the cloak and dagger stuff, Mr.
Wade. I’m Captain Ernest Donnelly.”
    I shook the hand but didn’t say anything. It was Donnelly’s show and he
was in charge.
    “I guess you’re wondering what’s going on.”
    “Understatement of the year,” I muttered. I massaged my left hand still
smarting from the blow I had landed on the Nazi.
    “I’ll tell you,” Donnelly said, “but first let me ask you a question:
what were you hired to do?”
    I kept my lips tight thinking over my response. Donnelly seemed to know
quite a lot, but maybe not everything. “What do you think I was doing?”
    Donnelly smirked. “I think you were hired by Miss Lillian Saxton to
locate the reporter Wendell Rosenblatt, recently returned from Europe. I
believe she said her brother was missing in the war zone and she needed
Rosenblatt’s help to find him. Having located the brother, Samuel, Rosenblatt
was making his way back to Houston to give Miss Saxton a report. Soon after
disembarking in Galveston on an unannounced stop by his liner, Rosenblatt went
missing.” He paused, glancing over at me. “That about it?”
    I was mute. He had just nailed everything I knew. “How’d you know?”
    “Because that was the story we invented in case anything went south and
certain operatives were captured.”
    I knew my mouth was hanging open. I took a deep breath and the air slid
over my dry lips. I reached into my suit pocket and pulled out my cigarettes. I
lit one and offered the pack to Donnelly, who took one. I didn’t offer one to
either the driver or the man riding shotgun.
    I used the time to mull things over. Everyone in my case, the last week
of my professional life, was a lie. Well, not entirely. Burman was his usual
self. Maybe Lillian wasn’t who she said she was, but she still wanted whatever
documents Rosenblatt had brought back from Europe. And the Army seemed to be in
on it, too. Still, no matter their precautions, it seemed the Nazis also knew
about it and had followed Rosenblatt all the way from Spain.
    Either that or they had radioed ahead to operatives here in the States.
The thought chilled my blood. We weren’t in the war, but was the war coming to
us?
    Finally, I said, “I see. So is Rosenblatt an Army officer?”
    “No. He’s a private citizen, doing work for his country.”
    “Did you send him there or did Miss Saxton?”
    Before Donnelly could respond, the driver said, “Sir, I think we’re being
followed.”
    “Blast it.” Donnelly turned around to look out the rear window. “That was
fast.”
    I craned my neck to see what Donnelly saw. Dozens of headlights burned
into my eyes. “How can you be sure?”
    Donnelly gave me a scornful look. “Mr. Wade, we’re the United