Spy in a Little Black Dress - By Maxine Kenneth Page 0,21

levee and joined the rest of the tourists as they boarded the boat. She went from deck to deck, looking for someplace to hide, and was lucky to find a ladies’ room, which she entered and locked behind her, not planning on coming out until enough time had passed to feel safe.

A short while later, she heard the sound of twin steam whistles and guessed this was the signal telling the visitors to the attraction that it was time to disembark. This, however, was followed by a jolting movement that threw Jackie forward. Then came a powerful vibration from below, and Jackie knew that this came from the steamboat’s twin paddlewheels slowly beginning to turn. To her chagrin, she realized that this was no stationary tourist attraction. This was a working steamboat taking tourists on a cruise up and down the Mighty Mississip.

Opening the door slowly, Jackie cautiously peeked her head out and saw the levee, Jackson Square, and the St. Louis Cathedral gliding slowly past them. She also saw, standing among the passengers who thronged the railings to look out, the Three Stooges. Before she could duck back into the relative safety of the ladies’ room, she was spotted by Curly, who pointed her out to his fellow Stooges.

Without thinking, Jackie went up the nearest stairway until she arrived at the top deck, right abaft of the wheelhouse and the twin smokestacks. The companionway leading to the rear deck was blocked by a roped-off sign that read NO ADMITTANCE / CONSTRUCTION UNDER WAY / DANGER. Jackie ignored the sign, hopped over the rope, and found herself entirely alone on the top deck of the steamboat.

She heard three sets of footsteps from the stairway and knew, with a sinking feeling, that the three East German spies were on their way. And now here they were, clambering over the rope one at a time and heading right for her. They walked slowly as though not to spook their prey, and they had all the time in the world to deal with her. Jackie backpedaled as far as she could and found herself up against the boat’s stern railing, with something pushing against her back—a life preserver. She looked briefly over her shoulder and saw a tugboat trailing the Natchez in the distance. As the men continued their inexorable approach, she knew what she had to do.

“Don’t come any closer,” she shouted to the Three Stooges, her voice quavering with fright. “Stay right there or I’ll jump.”

But the three East German spies just kept on coming. They either didn’t believe Jackie or didn’t speak English well enough to understand what she was saying.

“I mean it. I’m going to jump,” Jackie warned them in a voice that rang out with fear.

Just in case they didn’t understand English, Jackie hiked up her skirt and put one leg over the railing.

Unfortunately, that did nothing to dissuade the implacable men, who moved slowly, inexorably forward.

Jackie knew that she had no choice. Planting one foot on the outermost part of the deck, she then eased her other leg over the railing so that she was now perched with nothing standing between her and the river below. She looked down and saw the steamboat’s white, boiling wake. Before the sight of it could turn her nauseous, Jackie raised her eyes and looked at the Three Stooges as they approached. Their faces telegraphed their desire to do her grave harm.

And so, with a deep gulp of breath and praying for the best possible outcome, Jackie grabbed the life preserver and leaped off the boat, down into the roiling, dark waters of the Mississippi.

V

Havana, Cuba, March 1952

Buenas noches,” Miguel greeted Gabriela Ortiz in a voice that sounded like truck tires crunching thick gravel. The owner of La Europa had a prizefighter’s barrel chest and hands like boxing gloves, and the jacket of his expensive-looking linen suit was open enough for Gabriela to see a gun tucked in the waistband.

Gabriela’s hands shook like maracas while she told Miguel how pleased she was to meet him. When he asked her to dance for him, she performed a few well-practiced ballet steps, and he cut her off quickly with a wave of his hand.

“Basta,” Miguel said, “you’ll do fine for the chorus.” He told her the pay, and Gabriela couldn’t conceal her disappointment at how low it was.

“If you want to make more money,” Miguel said, “you can give private dances to customers. And to make a lot more money, there are rooms