With the meeting concluded, Smith began buying arms for the ships, obtaining Protections, and tracing the mysterious Mr Jay, who had ordered the sabotage of his vessels in Baltimore. He sat at his desk in Leicester Square with a mug of coffee in front of him and Bess sitting beside a low fire.
“You might have to return to Baltimore to trace this Mr Jay, who gave Havering his orders,” Bess said.
“I imagine so,” Smith said. “This war will make crossing the Atlantic more difficult. I feel like we’ve plugged one leak, but the entire sea is waiting to burst through.”
“Do you think Mr Jay is a Colonial with a grudge against British merchants?”
Smith shook his head. “I thought about that, Bess, and decided not. A colonial would have targeted other ship owners, not just me. Anyway, we chartere
