By the time Captain Young was done directing his soldiers, he turned around to see that Robert had already jumped off the airship with his rifle and a RK-1 knapsack parachute.
* * *
The president glared at J. P. Morgan while his agents were robbed of their pistols. “Where’s Benjamin Guggenheim?” Taft asked Leopold.
“Packed neatly in four cases floating in the Atlantic,” the former king smiled.
Taft turned to J. P. Morgan in disgust. “Conspiring against your own conspirators? I should have expected as much from you.”
Morgan did not respond.
“Speak, damn you!”
“Rest assured, Mr. President, your Americans did not knowingly break any laws. They thought we were trying to monopolize a special type of uranium found only in Alaska and Congo. We told them it could be used to make a new type of weapon. We just never explained that this weapon would be used against their country.”
“So that’s what you and Zaharoff were smuggling all over the world.”
“Yes,” replied Leopold. “The material is extremely dangerous. Fortunately, we had no shortage of servants.”
Taft’s mind turned to the bones surrounding Leon Rom’s garden. “How could you do this?” he growled at J. P. Morgan, staring straight into his soulless eyes. “How could you sell out America for this madman? Why?” He looked back at King Leopold. “Why!”
“Because crowns and thrones no longer carry the same weight,” boomed the baritone Leopold. “Not in this century. There is nothing left for us kings except money. Fortunately, Mr. Zaharoff is so resourceful that he found a way to monopolize what will be the twentieth century’s greatest commodity: war. When we arrive in New York, I will return to the Congo on a boat hours later. It will be the last you or anyone sees of your country. The Titanic will remain in New York Harbor, converting seawater into a lethal gas that will pollute your lands indefinitely. It cannot be shut off. It will not be shut off. New York will be destroyed, and then Philadelphia, and then Washington. In a matter of time, your entire east coast will be as dead as the moon.”
The officers and agents huddled around President Taft shared his horror. “Why us?” Taft gasped breathlessly. “Why America?”
Leopold scowled and took a step forward. “Because your nation ruined my whole operation in Congo. I had the blessings of the world’s governments, including yours, until an American soldier named George Washington Williams trespassed into my lands and exposed everything. After him came the British, and then the backstabber Kowalsky, and then Twain, all your newspapers … No more! You will pay for this offence with the lives of your citizens. With the United States crippled, the world will plunge into war. It is a powder keg that has been building for centuries. America will be the spark. Once all the monarchies that deserted me destroy themselves in the fighting, Mr. Zaharoff and I will approach the world as the sole vendors of the most powerful material ever discovered. We will be the true powers of this planet for the rest of the century. And when I die, my young wife and our offspring shall inherit the world.”
“Your wife,” said Wilkie from the floor, “is a harlot!”
Leopold raised his eyebrows. “And the president’s wife is an invalid.” He smiled at Taft.
The president had to be restrained by his agents, much to Leopold’s amusement.
But then, a great searchlight flooded the bridge. Agents Sloan, Wheeler, and Jervis pulled the president to the floor while the whole room erupted with gunfire. Airship One’s sharpshooters gunned down Leopold’s men through the windows. Wilkie took out his puukko knife and stabbed one of his captors in the leg. First Officer Murdoch drew his officer’s pistol and fired at Leopold, killing two of his bodyguards and blasting one of the king’s ears off. For his heroism, the young officer was shot to death.
Horrified by his injury, Leopold abandoned the bridge with his men and fled into the steel maze that was the RMS Titanic. A maddened Taft charged after him while Secret Service agents picked up their guns and joined in the chase.
As the fighting spread rapidly throughout the steamship, Wilkie propped himself up in the bridge to examine the leaking bullet hole in his chest.
Chapter XXXVIII
“Bob…”
… The Secret Service chief coughed.
“John!” Robert set down his rifle and helped the stricken Chief Wilkie to his feet. “Are you hurt?”
“Nah, it’s all right.” Wilkie plucked a lead slug from his battle-damaged flask, causing the last of his whiskey to leak out like a wound. “I can’t believe those Prohibitionists say this stuff’ll kill you. It’s saved my life twice!”
“You may not be so lucky next time.” There was a war brewing outside for control of the Titanic. “John, where’s the president?”
“Through there.” Wilkie pointed his bloodied knife to the starboard-side door. “I think they’re inside the ship. I’ve got to go after him. Would you mind watching that ugly fella for me?” he asked, motioning toward J. P. Morgan.
Robert was speechless. As was Mr. Morgan.
“Bob?”
The chief looked to Morgan, whose hideous nose had been shot off during the gunfight. He was neither bleeding nor breathing. The bone under his flesh appeared as brass as the bridge telegraph beside him.
Wilkie picked up his pistol and fired two shots at Morgan. The bullets bounced harmlessly off his skull.
The automaton took a heavy step forward, crushing the rifle of a fallen soldier as if it were paper.
* * *
“LEOPOLD!” bellowed Taft through the crowded Titanic. The maddened president chased the king like a bloodhound through the ship’s chaotic First Class corridors.
Thomas Andrews, the ship’s designer, hurried out of his cabin. “What is this?” he asked. King Leopold’s agents shot him dead, splattering his insides against the white hallway. Panic gripped every passenger in the corridor.
“Sir, we can’t open fire without hitting the passengers!” Sloan shouted. With so few White Star Line employees alive to manage the crisis, every hall in the vast ship had plunged into anarchy.
“I know! Stand back, men! Let me after him!” Taft tried to shove his way through the mob, but to no avail.
“Unhand me, fat person!” shouted J. Bruce Ismay.
Taft floored the man with one punch. “Arrest him for questioning!”
“Yes, Mr. President.” Agent Bowen holstered his pistol and quit the chase.
“Mr. President, he’s getting away!” shouted Jervis.
“I know!” Leopold disappeared down the hallway, which was now thickly congested with panicking people. As Taft surveyed the scene, he realized the hopelessness of the situation. “We have to get every woman and child off this boat. Make it happen! And offer sidearms to anyone willing to fight.”
“Yes, Mr. President.” Agent Sloan holstered his weapon and rushed into the first cabin he saw. “Excuse me, ma’am?”
“I heard him!” shouted Mrs. Margaret “Molly” Brown. She was searching for the pepperbox pistol she had packed in her hatbox.
She was the first of many passengers to join the fight for the Titanic.
* * *
Meanwhile, along the port side of the boat deck, a thick wave of passengers was running away from the bridge of the ship.
“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” shouted Chief Wilkie, with Robert Todd Lincoln racing closely behind him.
The J. P. Morgan automaton was plowing a path of destruction through the ship, knocking through wall after wall of the officers’ quarters.
“Why the hell is it after me?” cried Robert.
“I don’t know! It wasn’t doing anything until you showed up! Hey, wait a second.…”
Wilkie leaned over the edge of the First Class promenade and looked back toward the bow. U.S. soldiers were hurriedly loading passengers onto lifeboats while simultaneously fighting a fierce battle against Leopold’s forces. Although there were not nearly enough lifeboats on the Titanic for its thi
rteen hundred passengers, the cunning officers aboard Airship One were able to improvise a solution. Shortly into the battle, Captain Young spotted an iceberg nearby. Major Butt was directing lifeboats there via searchlight so they could unload passengers and then return for more from the steamship.
It was a completely ad hoc and unorthodox maneuver, but for the time being, it worked.
“Looks like Archie is doing all right!” observed Wilkie, completely unaware of the Maxim machine guns being brought out beneath him.
“John!” Robert grabbed the Secret Service chief and pulled him backward. The two ran across the deck from the automaton and into the Titanic. “Move! Move!” the duo shouted to the ship’s first-class passengers as they raced across a white tiled floor to the ship’s grand staircase. As they hurried down the majestic oak centerpiece of the ship, Robert glanced at the great clock engraved on its wall: “Honour and Glory crowning Time.” It was well after midnight.
“This is taking too long,” said Robert. “John, find the president and get him off the ship. I’ll take care of the superweapon.”
“You can’t!” shouted Wilkie. “King Leopold is alive and onboard. He said the weapon cannot be shut off.”
“Leopold?” Robert gasped.
“Yes. Back from the dead. He was behind everything this whole time!”
Robert’s eyes gaped and his mind wandered inward. “He may not be relying on time-dissolving capsules this time. John, I need to go downstairs and shut off all power on the ship.”
“Mr. Lincoln,” Wilkie said sternly, “if I leave you alone against this nightmare, you will die.”
Robert, aware that he was standing on a vessel floating toward a vast, unknown shore at fantastic speed, responded, “Then it was meant to be.”
Just above them, Robert and Wilkie could hear several passengers screaming. The two looked up to see the J. P. Morgan automaton walk off the overhead deck and land atop a tuxedoed passenger, killing him. Oddly enough, the man appeared to have been chasing two other passengers with a gun.
Robert and Wilkie raced their separate ways while Leopold’s agents hastily assembled their Maxim machine guns.
Once the deadly weapons were loaded, the villains turned them against Airship One.
Chapter XXXIX
“Major Butt!”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Sir, they’re bringing out heavy weapons!”
The major looked through his binoculars and saw machine guns being assembled from crates.
“Kill their crews!” he ordered. “Before they use those guns on the passengers!”
“Yes, sir!”
The sharpshooters opened fire while Major Butt hurried back to the airship’s bridge. “Everybody take cover!” he ordered.
The zeppelin crew hid behind their equipment while Major Butt continued to observe through his field glasses. Captain Young’s sharpshooters took out two machine gunners before their belts were assembled. Dozens of relieved passengers witnessed this and cheered the zeppelin. They then rushed at their fallen enemies and seized their weapons, which included entire crates full of firearms, so they could join the fight for the Titanic.
Through the major’s binoculars, the tide appeared to be turning against Leopold’s forces. He smiled, but then spotted another machine gun.
Major Butt ducked as the weapon tore a mighty wound through Airship One. Bullets and broken glass raked through the bridge until Captain Young personally fired the rifle that put the enemy gunner out of commission.
“Damage report!” called the major as he returned to his feet.
“Sir, we need to gain altitude!” shouted a crewman.
“No, we don’t!” ordered Butt as he helped an injured man to his feet. “The more fire we draw, the less damage will be dealt to the passengers and our men on the deck.”
“Sir, we’re losing altitude!”
The major’s eyes widened as he saw the airship slowly descending. “We need to lose weight. Drop all our bombs! Keep us in the air! And make sure we don’t hit any lifeboats!”
“Yes, sir!”
At the major’s order, a sinking Airship One repositioned itself and dropped all sixteen of its bombs off the Titanic’s starboard bow. Seconds later, the bombs detonated, causing a tremendous explosion that shook the whole ship. The Titanic careened portside on its keel, nearly capsizing. For one terrifying moment, everyone on the enormous steamship had to hold on for their lives.
Airship One shot back up into the air while Major Butt looked below. Not a single soldier or passenger had been thrown overboard, but all three of Leopold’s machine guns slid into the ocean.
The major breathed with relief. The crisis was averted.
Until …
* * *
Less than four miles away aboard the Californian, a white flash filled Nellie’s binoculars.
“Did you see that?” she asked Attorney General Wickersham. Every man and woman on deck was observing the spectacle. A bright light lingered over the Titanic like a firework.
And then another.
“Madam President!” shouted Arthur Brooks from the bridge. “The Titanic is using its signal flares!”
“But why?” she asked.
A tremendous explosion illuminated the southern horizon, flooding half of the Californian with light. Nellie Taft and her entourage watched in horror as a fireball nearly a thousand feet wide came crashing down on the Titanic.
“Archie…” she whispered with tears running down her face.
* * *
“ABANDON SHIP!” screamed Captain Young. Once the stricken airship was level, all its soldiers were scattered like playing cards across the main dining hall. “Everyone to the windows! Leap once we hit the deck, then start running! Leave no man behind! Everyone—Major!” A bruised Major Butt struggled to stand using his broken sword. Captain Young rushed to his aid, but the fallen skipper shooed him away.
“Don’t you dare rescue me, captain! Save yourself! That’s an order!”
“Sir, we’re getting you out of here!”
“I’ll be fine! I’m a good swimmer!”
“Sir, you’re coming with me!” Captain Young forced Major Butt to his feet.
As the two officers raced to the ship’s shattered windows, Major Butt turned his head for one last look at the spectacular zeppelin. His eyes fell on the great outstretched eagle he saw Robert Todd Lincoln reflecting on earlier. In the fires, the towering bird more closely resembled a phoenix.
The burning airship hit the bow of RMS Titanic. All of Nikola Tesla’s inventions in the wireless room were destroyed. The Surprise cabinet was crushed and its contents exploded. The recording of Nora Bayes singing “Hail to the Chief” was shattered. The celluloid in the viewing machine Robert Todd Lincoln built for the Tafts ignited. The ship’s mighty horn sounded one more time before it was silenced forever. And beneath the great eagle that Major Butt and Captain Young rushed past, the words Una natio fatum unum glowed brightly in gold letters until they were swallowed by flame.
Airship One, Earth’s most awesome machine, was no more.
Chapter XL
Wilkie
Secret Service Chief John E. Wilkie shoved, shouted, and occasionally shot his way through the bustling halls of the Titanic only to have his search for the president interrupted by too many good deeds. First there was a young lady. And then a baby. And then a young lady with a baby. And then several strapping young men in steerage the chief simply had to recruit to join the fighting upstairs. In total, Wilkie managed to kill precisely twenty-six enemy soldiers, personally rescued more than twice as many passengers, enlisted enough auxiliary forces to fill a platoon, and ran nearly two miles through the eight-hundred-eighty-three-foot ship in under half an hour. However, before he was eventually drawn to the sound of Robert Todd Lincoln’s screams, it is worth mentioning that one of the above incidents involved an encounter with Miss Knox.
* * *
“This way, Mrs. Brown.”
&nbs
p; “Just a second.” The unsinkable Molly Brown emptied her revolver at a cluster of Leopold’s agents swimming toward an overturned lifeboat. Once the villains were floating dead in the water, she turned back to Miss Knox. “Thanks, darlin’.” Out of all the passengers to join the fighting, Molly Brown seemed to be enjoying herself the most.
The incognito Secret Service agent smiled and then ran to assist another lifeboat that was returning for more passengers to unload. The rescue operation had been chaotic and many lives had been lost, but not a single soldier or passenger who fell in the fighting died in vain. Thanks to their selfless efforts, more than a thousand passengers had already been saved. However, as Miss Knox led the last of the passengers to their lifeboats, her life was nearly cut short by a team of pirates sneaking up behind her.
The crisis started when one of the fiends grabbed Miss Knox by her hair. She immediately grabbed his wrist and snapped it, spinning around in the process. A gang of ten thugs stood against her: far too many than she could handle alone. And to make matters worse, every one of them was brandishing weapons. Miss Knox’s situation appeared hopeless until the heroic band on the Titanic interrupted their music and rushed at the villains, carrying their instruments as cudgels. Tragically, these men were minstrels, not pirates, and their rescue attempt was an act of self-sacrifice. Nevertheless, their ambush was enough for Miss Knox to leap into the fray with her razor-sharp hairpin and her Apache revolver. When the battle was over, Miss Knox emerged as the only person left alive, having stabbed the last villain through the heart with the tail spike of a cello.
It was in this quiet state of post-battle exhaustion that Chief Wilkie found his greatest agent standing alongside a lifeboat. He ran right up to her, thrust a bundled baby into her arms, and rushed back inside the Titanic without saying a word.
The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy: A Novel Page 27
