by Fred Galvin
“Gillian, give me the gun, please.”
Gillian raised it again, but not in a threatening manner. Instead he used it to point downstairs toward the cabin. “What about him? I think I should hold on to it. I may need it. He won’t just let us give up. He’s one of T-Bone’s men and his job is to see this through. He won’t listen to you. He’ll probably shoot it out for T-Bone.”
Reluctantly, Roje thought Gillian was most likely right. Rico appeared to be like a large robot programmed to make sure the guns were delivered. He didn’t seem like the kind of person who could think for himself and certainly not listen to reason and logic.
Then, as if on cue, the cabin door opened and Rico lumbered out staggering toward the rail to assume the classic position of millions of seasick boat passengers over the centuries, arms on the rail, head over the side, retching miserably.
Without a moment’s hesitation Gillian left the bridge and moved quickly toward Rico following him toward the rail. Rico was oblivious, concentrating on getting to the rail. For a second Roje thought Gillian was going to help the big lunk through his misery. Instead, just as Rico got to the side and began to bend over it, he watched in shock as Gillian used Rico’s own momentum to hoist him over the rail and down into the black sea. It was done in an instant. Rico, then no Rico.
Roje was horrified. He had figured Rico was going to be a problem but he had never considered something like that. He immediately swung the helm to turn the boat 180 degrees, all the while suspecting it would be pointless. The sea was too rough and too dark to have any chance to find Rico.
Suddenly Roje felt the unmistakable sensation of a gun pressing into his back. Gillian’s voice was cold. “Leave him. He told me he hates the sea because he can’t swim.”
Roje ignored Gillian and turned on the boat’s spotlight. He knew immediately it was useless. The wind and the waves made visibility very low. There was no trace of Rico in sight.
The gun pressed harder into Roje’s ribs. “Stop the boat, NOW! Stop it.” Roje pulled back the throttles to full idle and the Sea Nymph came to a dead stop, bobbing with the waves. “Let’s go below. Get out a map of Jamaica.” Roje hesitated. “Roje, I’m not fucking around. As you said, I don’t have much to lose now. Get out the map.”
Roje spread the map on the table, the boat rolling with the waves. He guessed Gillian must be all puked out because he showed no further signs of distress. Probably the adrenalin coursing through his veins had something to do with that.
“Show me where we are now and Rio Bueno.”
Roje looked at his sat phone and pinpointed their position on the map. “We’re here and Rio Bueno’s here.”
Gillian ran his finger along the Jamaican coast eastward from Rio Bueno and stopped. “Here, this place. What’s this place, Runaway Bay? This part looks pretty deserted. What’s there?” He pointed the gun again at Roje’s gut. “And don’t jerk me around. Tell me exactly what’s there.”
“Runaway Bay is a resort area with a hotel and condos for tourists.”
“Yeah, but what about this spot? Doesn’t look like much is going on there.”
Roje looked closer to where Gillian was pointing. Reluctantly, Roje agreed. “It’s just deserted undeveloped beach now, rather desolate. I’ve dropped off clients there for a day away from tourists.”
“How close to the beach can you get the boat?”
“Maybe fifty yards, depending on the tide.”
Gillian waited. Then, impatiently, “Well, what’s the tide going to be when we get there?”
“When we get there? Is that now where we’re going? Not Rio Bueno?”
“Just answer my question. The tide?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know about the tide? Who do I look like, Neptune?”
“Neptune? Who the hell is Neptune? I thought Neptune was a planet.”
Right and Pluto is a dog and Mickey is a mouse. Don’t even ask about Goofy.
Roje just shook his head and went to get the tide charts out of a drawer. After some quick calculations, “The tide should be coming in when we get there.”
“Then that’s where we’re going. Change your course.”
There was no real need to change his course. They would just continue past Rio Bueno to Runaway Bay about another seven miles farther east.
“What about the guns drop? Your money?”
“I’ll worry about that later. Right now I have to avoid Rio Bueno. Come on. I want you to crank up the engines and push them full.”
“Won’t you be sick?”
“I’ve got nothing left to puke up.”
They left the cabin and went to the bridge together. Roje thought that perhaps Gillian, being so distracted, may have forgotten about the sat phone.
“And give me the phone. I don’t want you alerting anyone.”
“But I’ll need it for navigating.” What a load of BS, but he had to try.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be right next to you the rest of the trip. Just let me know when you need it.”
Roje handed it over. At least he’ll leave it turned on and the location sharing function with it.
Chapter 35: All we could do was wait
The text that arrived from Roje read:
OK HERE. G NERVOUS W/O CONTACT W/V. +1 = RICO FROM CAYMAN. BOTH SEASICK. BOTH ARMED. CAREFUL PHONE MAY NOT REMAIN SECURE -R
I showed it to Delyse, Ronnie, and Captain Antony who asked, “Your analysis?”
“Well, I believe he’s saying Gillian is not reacting well to his inability to contact Vernon. Roje has kept the boat far enough from shore to ensure no cell service out there so Gillian doesn’t know Vernon’s status with Ronnie.”
“Who is Ronnie?”
“Oh, sorry… Ms. Deveaux.” I continued with a grin, “Ronnie was my pet name for her in New York.”
She promptly hit me a good rap on the shoulder. “I am no one’s pet.” But I knew she still loved me.
“Go on, Detective.” Antony was one of those no-nonsense cops. When this was all done we’d have to loosen him up a bit.
“The extra man on board is named Rico and most likely is associated with this mysterious T-Bone who’s behind the guns run from Cayman to Jamaica. T-Bone probably put him on the ride to ensure all went according to plan. From our experience, I’d guess he’s probably large and a bit lacking in the wits department. Agreed, Ronnie, er, I mean Detective Deveaux?”
Ronnie gave me a I’ll deal with you later look and nodded. “That sounds about right. According to the text, both Gillian and Rico have weapons.”
“And Roje’s warning us that he may no longer be able to keep his sat phone from being discovered and we need to be careful. If we send any further texts, which I suggest we don’t, they have to be cryptic in nature. We need to assume at least Gillian may see them. I’m not sure this Rico character can even read.”
“In a way, I hope Gillian finds out about the phone so Roje can show him my one-finger greeting.”
Delyse chimed in on that. “Oh, don’t worry. Knowing your brother, given the first opportunity he’ll stick that right in Gillian Whyte’s face.”
As I was monitoring the Sea Nymph’s progress on Delyse’s phone, I noticed something peculiar. I got Ronnie’s attention. “Here, look at this. It looks like he just turned around 180 degrees and seems to have slowed.” After a couple of minutes, the boat stopped completely, dead in the water about fifteen miles offshore. “Now he’s stopped. What do you make of that? Out of fuel?”
“No way Roje would have left Cayman without enough fuel and a reserve. Why the circling? Perhaps something has happened on board.”
“I don’t think there’s any ‘perhaps’ about it.” We watched tensely until the boat’s image began moving again, this time east-southeast. “Captain Antony, may I see the map of the island’s north shore?”
We spread it out on the hood of a police cruiser using Antony’s flashlight, careful to shield the light from escaping in case T-Bone’s men arrived early
. After charting the new course onto the map, it appeared he was back on track for Rio Bueno, probably no more than an hour out. All we could do was wait.
~~~
Antony left to check on Monro and Gabi. Delyse was with Ronnie and me. “So, do you have any problem talking about your experience as a kidnapped hostage?”
“Not at all. Actually Vernon was as gracious as you could expect a kidnapper to be. He went out of his way to make me as comfortable as he could, given the circumstances.”
“How did you discover you were being kept at the Day-O?”
“I was kept in a dirty storeroom with a disgraceful toilet nearby. Don’t ask me why a toilet was there but it was. I tell you, I’d rather pee in the mangos with the snakes than that. Anyway, there was junk strewn in the storeroom and I saw an old Day-O menu half covered up on a table. I thought back to the sensations I felt and heard on the ride there from my place and it came together. The gravel parking lot convinced me.”
“The coded message with the Day-O song hints was brilliant.”
“You liked that? I figured Roje would insist on proof that I was alive and okay so why not give it a shot? My only worry was that Vernon would get it at my first mention of rum and bananas and shut down the call immediately. But he was clueless as was Gillian, I guess. I had to keep from laughing when Vernon kept getting me bananas to keep my potassium levels up.”
“I loved the tarantula reference to allude to the song’s lyric.” I broke into song. “A beautiful bunch of bright banana. Hide the deadly black tarantula.”
Ronnie covered her ears. “PLEASE stop singing.”
Delyse held up her hand. “I have to chime in here. First, I agree with my daughter’s plea. Dan, if that’s how you really sing, well, then I may have to reconsider my attraction to you.” That was accompanied by a wink so I knew I was okay. “Secondly, the irony is that there are no tarantulas in Jamaica. Mongooses have seen to that.”
I wondered, is it mongooses or mongeese?
“Really? I didn’t know that. That’s actually funny, in hindsight. If Vernon or Gillian knew that, my coded message would have blown up.”
~~~
After about thirty minutes I noticed something. “Ronnie, take a look. Has his speed increased? According to the last half hour of progress he should be here in about twenty minutes.”
“You’re right. I’ll inform Captain Antony.”
Antony was with Gabi who had reported two men pulling up to the dock in a large dark pickup truck, the kind with double wheels in the back, and just sitting there smoking. She ran the license plate and discovered the truck was registered to a local thug who was constantly on the MBPD radar as a “usual suspect” whenever a crime was committed and an obvious perpetrator had not been apprehended.
“These are probably the men here to meet the guns shipment.”
Gabi was a little surprised at Captain Antony’s statement of the obvious. “I agree, sir. Not much doubt about it. What are your instructions?”
“We can’t do anything now except keep an eye on them. They haven’t done anything worthy of detaining them. Just because they’re waiting for a shipment of illegal arms isn’t enough. They’d just deny it even though there’s no good reason for them to be here at this hour. When they actually take delivery, then we’ll arrest them. You keep them under surveillance.” He checked with Monro via cell phone who also had the two in his sights if it was necessary. Grizzly sharp shooter.
Gabi double checked her weapon and pushed down an urge to pee. This always seemed to happen to her when she was in a stressful situation. She made a mental note to check with Ronika Deveaux about how to handle such a problem after all this was over.
Antony’s phone buzzed with Ronnie’s call. “Yes, Detective? I see. Interesting, because we have two visitors just arrived. I’ll be right there.”
~~~
Antony looked at our plots of Roje’s progress and agreed he had increased his pace toward Rio Bueno. “I estimate ten to fifteen minutes.” He focused his binoculars to the west toward the sea.
Ronnie and I looked at each other both thinking the same thing. Roje surely would be running dark. We most likely would hear the boat before we’d see it. “Nothing. He’s probably cruising without running lights. We will have very little warning aside from any sounds the boat may make coming in and those will probably be minimal.”
Again Ronnie and I traded glances. “I agree, Captain. What are your instructions?”
“Keep monitoring his location and call me when he’s within a half mile. Then make your way down toward the dock. Our two visitors are in a dark pickup truck parked at the head of the dock. As soon as the guns have been offloaded, we’ll move in with weapons drawn. Officer Monro has instructions to sight Gillian Whyte and that Rico, Officer Dixon and I will be on the two in the truck. You and Detective Deveaux will provide cover for us. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Yes, sir.”
Antony nodded and left to join Gabi and Monro. I had to admit his plan was sound and should result in four arrests and no bloodshed.
It should, but plans seldom go exactly as planned.
Chapter 36: “And I don’t mean Columbus Circle …”
Land was now in sight from the bridge of the Sea Nymph. Gillian was still standing next to Roje but with space enough so that Roje could not make a grab for the gun. Seeing that he finally had a weak cell signal, Gillian tried to call Vernon, all the while knowing it was fruitless.
Roje just shook his head. “I told you it’s over. I showed you the picture. Do you really expect him to answer your call?”
“Shut up.”
Roje, feeling impatient with Gillian’s denial and ignorance of the situation, turned to face him. “Look, Gillian. You have to face reality. To do otherwise could turn out very bad for you. What do you plan to do?” Roje really didn’t care about Gillian’s welfare but having some idea of his plans could be helpful when things started happening.
Gillian was just staring ahead at the brightening shoreline. “I don’t know. I’m sorry for all this. I’m sorry we had to grab your sister. I just really needed the money. I don’t want you to get hurt. Just drop me off at the shoreline and I’ll be gone.”
“What about the guns?”
“Keep them. What do I care?”
Roje was dumbfounded. He thought, Does he think this cargo is just a load of counterfeit watches and fake jewelry he was going to sell on the streets of Montego Bay? Stuff no one really cares about? Did he think I’d keep the guns and sell them myself on the black market? There was no logical answer so he said nothing.
Gillian just kept staring outward.
“Rio Bueno’s ahead. You still want to go to Runaway Bay?”
Detached, Gillian answered robotically. “Yeah. Runaway Bay. Drop me there and I’ll be off your hands. You’ll never see me again.”
Roje doubted that but again said nothing. He stared at the sat phone on the shelf next to Gillian. It was still sharing its location with his mother’s phone. He knew Dan and Ronika were shadowing his movements.
He angled the boat eastward to parallel the coast. Runaway Bay was about seven miles. The seas were calming down. He kept the throttles full ahead and they picked up speed.
For a moment he had a thought of Rico being “helped” over the side by Gillian and flashed back to Frankie Finacci’s head bobbing up from the waves, his dead eyes staring at him and Ronika, before going under. He wondered if the waves would ever bring Rico’s body ashore. He realized he now understood the full meaning of déjà vu.
~~~
At Rio Bueno, Dan was monitoring Roje’s position closely on Delyse’s phone. It had shown the boat angling toward the shore from the northwest as if coming to land. Then, just as it was about directly opposite, the Sea Nymph began to turn due east and run parallel to the shore. He was moving at a quick clip and soon it was evident he wasn’t coming to Rio Bueno.
Ronnie was thinking the same
thing. “He’s heading due east. Call Antony and tell him we’re on our way to his location.”
I was hoping for a text from Roje but doubted we’d get one.
Captain Antony, Ronnie, Gabi, Delyse, and I were all staring at Delyse’s phone. Monro remained at his position sighting the two men in the pickup truck. Antony opened his map. I asked, “What’s due east from here on the coast?”
Ronnie traced the coast with her finger on the map. “Discovery Bay, Runaway Bay, Salem. He must know we’re here waiting for him at Rio Bueno and he’s heading for another landing, probably on a deserted beach or some dock.”
Antony spoke up. “Officer Dixon, are you familiar with that stretch of coast?”
“Yes, sir, as far as Runaway Bay. We had a case last year in which we tailed a suspect in a kidnapping out there. Discovery Bay is quite commercial and touristy. Runaway Bay, however, has several secluded beaches and a couple have old docks that reach into the sea. Our suspect tried to escape on a boat docked at one.” Then she proudly added, “We nabbed him!”
Antony, to his credit smiled and added, “Yes, I remember that one. Kirkland I believe was his name. Rondo Kirkland. You were lead officer on that case, correct?”
“Yes, sir. I was.” Gabi was beaming. She made eye contact with me. I winked and mouthed, Good job.
Ronnie touched my shoulder. “Dan, you may be interested in knowing that it is believed Discovery Bay was where Columbus landed in 1494.”
“Well, aren’t you a font of information!”
“Why, thank you. Have you ever heard of Columbus? And I don’t mean Columbus Circle in Manhattan.”
I stuck my tongue out at her. “Very funny.”
Gabi was looking at the two of us probably thinking, Maybe I don’t want to be a detective.
Antony brought order to the kindergarten class. “Enough. We have to focus here.” He paused for a moment, obviously planning out our next moves. “We have to parallel the boat’s progress along the coast until it starts to turn south toward the shore. Detectives Deckler, Deveaux, Officer Monro, and I will shadow the boat. Mrs. Deveaux, you may come along but I must insist you remain in the car when we deploy.”