Agent Clark by Hadley Benton

Author:Hadley Benton [Benton, Hadley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2021-01-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

We are doing our best for you but cannot be expected to infringe on the prerogatives of our own people to help you enforce one of your fool laws.

—U.S. Counsel in Nassau

Wilbur Moore’s latest deal with Vincenzo Genna had financed two very fast boats he affectionately named Scylla and Charybdis. They were long and sleek, at least forty feet in length, each powered by twin Liberty aircraft engines. They were capable of top speeds approaching fifty knots, and even the Coast Guard had trouble chasing them down. They were inconspicuous when moored with other boats of similar size, but when those motors were running, they became an entirely different animal—like a pair of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Those Liberty engines had a distinctive sound, and as soon as they fired up, anyone could tell there was something different about those boats.

Moore’s men had made the run from Bimini to Florida many times, and everyone knew the dangers. First they had to make it out of Bahamian waters without encountering any pirates. That alone made it a very risky business indeed. Speed was their friend until they made it to the Gulf Stream. The waters could be treacherous, occasionally reaching heights of fifty feet, and the distance alone made it a sort of endurance race as man and machine got beaten incessantly by the sea. The added risk of being stopped by the Coast Guard inside the international limit —sometimes with the shoreline in sight—added to the risk.

The new boats gave everyone a sense of invincibility against the usual dangers of long-distance rumrunning, but they still had to respect the seas, the weather, their rivals, and the radio. Even the fastest of boats couldn’t outrun the simple click of a button on a marine radio to signal the next boat ahead of you.

Bimini was only about fifty miles due east of Miami, but rumrunners had to be prepared to travel just about anywhere along the coast of Florida to avoid the Coast Guard. Moore had assembled two crews of his best men for this inaugural run in his new boats. Not only was his investment in the hardware significant, each boat carried two thousand gallons of rum. He couldn’t afford to take chances. In addition to the two crews leaving Bimini, he also had two more crews in U.S. waters on smaller boats ready to run interference for the runners. They could monitor radio traffic as well as intervene if a rival tried to get in the way. In this business he also had to consider the double-cross. His relationship with Genna was new, and although his reputation was solid, he never knew what to expect.

They timed their departure to arrive in Palm Beach County waters about 3:00 a.m. still under the cover of darkness. The usual drop points along the shores of Palm Beach were compromised, as the Coast Guard and revenue agents kept watch over most of them, so the regular runners rarely used the same drop twice.

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