The Mountain: An Event Group Thriller (71 page)

It came on like an aged locomotive spewing its blackened anger across the blue morning sky.

*   *   *

Renaud joined the captain of the
Osiris
on the quarterdeck of the frigate. He smiled when he saw the two smoldering American vessels in the near distance as the signal for surrender was sent.

“Ship ahoy!” came the call from
Osiris
’s crow’s nest.

“Where away?” called the French captain. Renaud turned in a circle to see if the newcomer was a threat. He saw the thin trace of smoke on the horizon and then as he watched the
Argo
came into view.

“It’s only the cargo barge,
Argo
. She poses no threat, Captain, I can assure you.”

The captain looked from his binoculars to the French spy. “I’ve seen a lot of barges before, my good man, but I have never seen one under coal power.”

“What?” Renaud asked as he took the binoculars from the captain and then sighted the line of smoke and the large barge producing it.

“Now, sir, explain this.”

“The barge is in no way a threat. I’ve seen it. I’ve also seen her cargo of rail ties, track, and a locomotive.”

“Well, it seems she has a brave crew, because they are coming on as if attacking!” The last few words to the spy were yelled by the French captain.

“Starboard batteries, stop that ship!”

“Starboard batteries, open fire, fire as your guns come to bear!”

As the
Especial
and the other two frigates turned toward the approaching threat, the eruption of gunfire shook the
Osiris
as she let fly all twenty-three guns of her starboard gun crews.

*   *   *

John Henry, Taylor, Jackson, Claire, and Gray Dog watched in the distance as twenty-three exploding rounds impacted the sea around
Argo
. They saw the water geyser up and over the slim platform and still the
Argo
kept steaming toward them. Claire saw both Thomas and Jackson saying the same words. “Wait for it, wait for it.”

A second burst of rifled cannon flamed their charges toward the approaching
Argo
. This time several warheads detonated on her massive wooden decks. The topmost portion of the barge seemed to go up in flaming wreckage as the crew on
Osiris
cheered loudly.

Claire gasped as she realized that their savior had lasted only moments into the engagement. Jessy felt the heat from the flaming wreckage as it cascaded into the Black Sea.

As they watched, only John Henry and Captain Jackson knew what would emerge from the smoke and flames.

“My God!” Claire yelled as she grabbed Gray Dog by the shoulder and shook the small Comanche.

The
Argo
came free of the churned water and smoke. The black soot still rose from her flaming superstructure but it looked as if the barge were still intact. Her decks were smashed and her crew was nowhere to be seen on the deck that was now awash in flames.

“Why does she keep coming?” Taylor asked just as the four French vessels turned in full force to meet this strange but seemingly inept threat by the Americans.
Argo
maneuvered herself in between the heavily damaged
Carpenter
and the flaming
Chesapeake
. She slowly turned to face the enemy.

“She’s doing what she has been designed to do,” Jackson said proudly as he watched the smoking ruin of the
Argo
wedge itself between them and a cruel fate. Just as the lead warship,
Osiris,
fired her front gun mount, Jackson jumped and shook a fist and then just before the shell struck the barge the young and enthusiastic captain turned and faced Taylor and Claire. “Finally, Miss Anderson, Colonel Taylor, I give you the real U.S.S.
Argo
!”

*   *   *

The captain of
Osiris
watched as the strange vessel ignored her battle damage and still managed to maneuver inside their blockade of the two American warships. He raised his field glasses and watched as the large barge swung around and faced the oncoming threat.

“Foolish people, will they never learn?” he said as he handed the glasses to Renaud, who was amazed at the American audacity. It was the most shockingly brave act he had ever seen, but as the captain said, very foolish. “Forward number one mount, fire!”

Renaud instinctually ducked his head as the twenty-five-pounder cut loose her shot. They actually saw the abbreviated arc of the warhead as it traveled the quarter mile to its intended target—
Argo
.

The warhead detonated on the forecastle of the barge. The explosion sent debris flying high and the crews of the four French vessels cheered as if they had just seen a marvelous sporting event. It was all in good sport, as the Europeans would say.

They were about to learn it was no longer a European century, though.

The captain took the glasses from a very happy Renaud and scanned the seas ahead, expecting to see the bow of the
Argo
shot away and possibly sinking. As the smoke cleared and the seas settled, the crews cheered once more as they saw the
Argo
was splitting into two distinct pieces. The starboard side exploded outward and then that was followed by her port side from the railing to the keel, both halves slowly sliding away. As the two halves parted and split, the French sailors were amazed to see the railroad equipment that had been loaded into
Argo
’s hull start to fall into the Black Sea. Another cheer erupted as the prized locomotive, the supposed gift to the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, slowly rolled over and fell into the sea. Water cascaded into the air as the heavy locomotive, actually a refurbished and very much retired coal burner from Chicago, sent a large wave over the wreckage.

“That was not a well-thought-out tactic by the Americans. I don’t see what all the fuss over American ability is about. All we needed was—”

The explosion struck so close to the
Osiris
that the cascading water threw Renaud from his feet just as another explosion rocked the nearby
Especial
. The captain raised his glass once again and saw a sight that froze the blood in his veins. There, driving through the smoke and flames and shedding the last of her camouflaged hull, was the U.S.S.
Argo,
the latest creation of that Swedish madman and engineer, John Ericsson, the man who made the Battle of Hampton Roads the turning point in naval warfare in the recent history of the world. That night when Ericsson’s folly, the U.S.S.
Monitor
, battled the Confederate ironclad,
Merrimack,
the navies of the world had instantaneously become obsolete overnight.

The ironclad broke free of her own debris and the captain of
Osiris
gasped at the low-slung, black smoke–spewing Monitor-class warship as she started belching fire from her main battery, the revolving turret housing the fifty-five-pound Columbiad cannon.

The shells started firing in rapid succession as the French captains opened fire on the amazing ship and its hearty crew. The
Argo
started to return fire just as the first of the French shells exploded against her iron decking and turret. The tall smokestack took a direct hit and bent somewhat, but still the
Argo
came on, the American flag waving proudly at her indestructible stern. Everyone could see her as her crew braved the exploding rounds striking the thick armor plate as they cut away the last of the flotation balloons that had kept her afloat during her long and arduous voyage.

The detonations of her armored shells started to smash into the wooden hulls of the French frigates. It didn’t matter where they were in line; large pieces of wood, flame, and men arched into the sky from the seemingly invulnerable American warship.

Renaud screamed in anger at the obvious American deception. He stood only to be knocked down again by the explosions sent their way by the
Argo
, which continued to fire round after exploding round into the French squadron.

Acting as a shield,
Argo
fronted the two damaged American frigates and kept the wolves at bay.

A cheer erupted on the decks of the
Chesapeake
and the
Carpenter
so loud that the French sailors could hear the joy of the Americans even over the shelling and the orders for them to turn about.

“We must not run. We have what we want right there!” Renaud shook a shaking finger toward the two disabled ships in front of them.

“Are you mad?” the captain said as he angrily pushed the French spy’s hand down. “That is French war shot bouncing harmlessly into the air! We cannot sustain an attack against this … this … pestilence of the sea!”

The mighty warship started to swing about as did the other three. The
Especial
looked as if she wouldn’t last the day and the
Osiris
was listing heavily to port as she made her turn to the east, away from the trap set by the cursed Americans.

*   *   *

“That did it!” Jackson called out as he spied the French retreat. “They’re making a run back to Trabzon to lick their wounds!” The crew of
Carpenter
erupted again as most stopped for the briefest of moments of battling her flaming decks and rigging to witness the most inglorious end to French dominance in the Black Sea.

John Henry watched as the gift from President Lincoln sat between them and the retreating squadron of heavily damaged warships. Jackson joined Thomas and a stunned-to-silence Taylor and a mortified Claire. Gray Dog could only smile at the audaciousness of the plan. Thomas nodded at Jackson, the wunderkind of the U.S. Navy and a favorite of John Ericsson, the inventor of the new ironclad warship, the U.S.S.
Argo.

“Signal
Argo
, and say to Captains Ferguson and Faraday, well done indeed,” Jackson said proudly.

The flashes of light from the now-visible crew on the top deck of the ironclad answered
Carpenter
’s praise.

“Captain Ferguson signals, sorry he was late; had a little problem asking directions from the locals. The Russians found them adrift and were most helpful in towing them here.”

John Henry and Jackson laughed. Claire and Taylor on the other hand did not.

“Ah, you can always count on our friend the czar. He likes no one. He interfered just enough to embarrass the French and English!” Jackson said as he replaced the hat upon his head and then straightened his filthy tunic.

“When were you going to let us in on the big ruse?” Taylor asked as his brows and hackles rose.

“I figured the great Confederate tactician would have figured it out,” John Henry said as he also turned to Claire. “And as for the master spy of Mr. Pinkerton, are you saying all of this construction and deception took place right under your nose? Imagine that!”

“Can you imagine my thoughts at this very moment, Colonel Thomas?” Claire said as she nonchalantly brushed grime from her dress.

“About the same as mine,” Taylor said as he watched the two smug men before them.

“Captain, the
Argo
is flashing,” said the wounded first officer standing at the damaged helm. “She’s asking if we need a tow into Constantinople.”

“Signal Captain Ferguson, not at this time. We will sail with full colors into the capital.”

“The capital?” Claire asked, astounded at the bold statement. “With every Turkish officer in the country looking for us, you wish to go to the capital? Have you lost your minds?”

Thomas and Jackson exchanged looks and then looked back to Claire and Taylor.

“Yes,” they both said simultaneously.

30

CONSTANTINOPLE, CAPITAL OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

As the three American warships tied up at the docks on the western side of the strait, the British battle cruiser
Westfield
sat anchored in the middle of the Bosphorus. All eyes were on the long procession of carriages as the Americans were greeted. They watched as the sultan himself was escorted to the dock as John Henry, Captain Jackson, and Colonel Taylor walked calmly down the boarding ramp to greet the sultan. Captains Ferguson and Faraday came over from the ironclad,
Argo
, to meet the three men face-to-face for the first time. Hearty handshakes and slaps on the back were made as the sultan was cheered heavily by the capital’s faithful. He raised a hand in greeting to his subjects as he confronted the four Americans. Claire and Gray Dog watched with the rest of the three crews who lined the railings of all three ships.

It was Claire who noticed the crew of the
Argo
was leaving the ironclad with their seabags slung over their shoulders, saluting the naval ensign at the stern of
Argo
as they stepped onto the dock. Her brows rose as she thought about what was really taking place below on the dock.

The sultan greeted Thomas with a bear hug just as John Henry bent low at the waist in greeting the monarch. The burly man in his splendid green uniform with the bright red fez reached for Thomas and hugged him like a large bear.

“It was reported to me that you faced serious threats to our planned activities upon the mountain. Is this true?”

“We encountered”—John Henry looked at Jessy and a ramrod-straight Ferguson and Jackson—“some resistance from not very imaginative officials of your government, sir.”

“Yes,” the sultan laughed heartily. “The idiots only think of me as the jovial fool that sits upon the throne of all Islam, but we know the truth, do we not, Colonel Thomas?”

“Yes, sir, we do.”

“Good.” He gestured to the rear of his procession and snapped his fingers. A man was led forward in chains. It was the commanding general of the Seventh Guards Regiment who was looking none too pleased with his current situation. “Because several of my trusted advisors seem to have been listening to the rumors of my early abdication.” He turned and faced the rotund general and then used his manicured fingers to send him away to a fate awaiting him that John Henry wished upon no man.