by Matt Lincoln
I followed Holm out of the room and closed the door softly behind us. We were halfway down the hall toward the elevator when he gave me a bemused look.
“I saw that, you know,” he said.
“Saw what?”
“Those morning-after eyes you two were making at each other.”
I refrained admirably from punching him. “Got a problem with that?”
“Nope, not me.” He laughed before his expression sobered. “You look wiped out, though, and I know why. I should’ve been there with you last night.”
I knew that he was talking about the surprise alley shootout and that he felt guilty because he’d been the one to contact the informant. “Robbie, there was nothing you could’ve done,” I told him. “You’d have just given them another target. Besides, we didn’t lose any of the good guys.”
“Yeah, but Dollar got shot.” Anger flashed in his eyes as we stopped at the elevator and he jabbed the down button. “I’m the one who sent him out.”
Knowing my partner as well as I did, I understood that nothing I said right now would make him feel any better. He’d work through it, eventually.
“How’s he doing?” I asked, aware that Holm would’ve checked on him at the hospital at least twice by now.
“He’ll live. It was a through-and-through, and they’re discharging him sometime today. After he has a good, long shower,” he added with a smirk. “Man, he was seriously rank last night.”
“Don’t remind me,” I half-groaned. The ghost of that stench still resided in my nostrils despite the long shower I’d taken myself.
The elevator opened, and we stepped inside and headed for the basement.
“We need to get this bastard, Ethan,” Holm said once the doors closed. “He’s a goddamned force of nature.”
“No, he’s a man,” I said firmly. “That means we can stop him, and we will.”
He gave a grim nod. I’d told him everything I learned from Dollar Store last night while I was still at the crime scene, including the last piece of the puzzle we needed to carry out the sting.
“You think Bonnie and Clyde can pinpoint that downed boat?” he asked.
“They’d better,” I said firmly. “We’re out of options.”
As usual, the techs had beaten everyone to work that morning, and they were both bustling with energy already. We gathered around the main table in the front room of the lab, and I gave them the bullet point version of what happened the night before, along with all the information we had at this point.
“So basically, I need you to find a small, submerged boat in a very large sea,” I concluded. “Think you’re up for it?”
“Hell, yes, we are!” Bonnie cheered. Clyde looked less than convinced until she elbowed him and pointed to the terminal. “We got clearance to access NASA’s satellites last month, remember? Those images are super-high resolution. We should be able to magnify it enough to spot anomalies, and I can draw up an analysis that would let us match a submerged boat.”
Clyde only brightened a little. “I mean, you’re right. That’ll work, but there’s a whole lot of ocean to cover, and we’ve only got… what, fifteen hours or so to do it?”
“There’s not as much ocean to cover as you think,” I said thoughtfully. “You’re looking for a course from Nassau to the landing zone. He would’ve planned a route that avoided Coast Guard patrols, so factor that in. Plus, the wreck can’t be more than a mile or two out from the coast, tops, because he swam to shore after the boat went down.”
“Yes!” Clyde shouted, at once as enthused as his partner. “I can work with that. C’mon, Bonnie, let’s do this.”
As he rushed over to the terminal, Bonnie grinned at Holm and me. “We’ll call you the second we have something,” she said. “You guys go do your agent thing and let the lab rats work.”
“Will do,” I said.
We left the lab, and Holm cleared his throat on the way back to the elevator. “Aren’t we out of agent things to do until they come up with a location?”
“Not even close,” I told him. “Whether they find it or not, we’re going to be out there tonight, and I want as many eyes on that water as possible.”
Understanding lit his features. “So we’re putting a team together?”
“Exactly.”
“Sweet,” he crowed.
Birn and Griezmann were at their desks in the squad room when we came in, and Holm made a beeline for Birn, perching on the edge of his desk. “Sorry you had to miss church yesterday, big guy. How’d you like to make up for it with a little midnight sting operation?”
He grunted. “It’s too early for that much enthusiasm, Holm.”
“I thought people who went to church enjoyed getting up at the crack of dawn.”
“Only on Easter Sunday,” Birn muttered.
“Buck up, partner,” Griezmann said. “It’ll be fun. We don’t get to work with these clowns very often.”
“Yeah, welcome to the circus,” I said as I pulled a chair around from an empty desk and sat next to Griezmann. “Let me brief you guys real quick.”
I explained the puzzle we’d assembled around the night Sweeting was murdered, how we’d learned about the heroin and the salvage operation, and then I got to the last missing piece.
“Bonnie and Clyde are trying to locate the wreck site, but it’s not a guarantee they’ll be able to,” I told them. “We need eyes out there, and we’ll need the firepower too. I don’t know how many men Cobra Jon is planning to bring for the recovery.”
“Holy shit, I can’t believe we’re actually going to bring down Cobra Jon,” Greizmann said after a beat. “We are so in on this.”
“Speak for yourself,” Birn said with a crooked smile, and then added, “Hell, who am I kidding? Let’s take that cop-killing bastard down.”
I nodded and stood. “Knew I could count on you guys,” I said as I returned the chair I’d been using to its appointed desk. “We’ll keep you updated on the progress. Prep for the op starts at eight tonight, and I want us en route to the coast by ten. Our best chance is to beat him there and be ready when he comes.”
With that, Holm and I headed for our own stations to make further arrangements. My first call was to CGIS, and when their central operator picked up, I asked to be connected to Special Agent Parker.
He answered after three rings. “Yeah, this is Parker,” he said crankily.
“Hey, Will. It’s Marston from MBLIS,” I said. “Did I interrupt your beauty sleep?”
“Damn coffee machine’s busted again. I’m waiting on Bell to get here with caffeine,” he grumped. “So, with that in mind, what can I do for you at pre-caffeine o’clock?”
I held back a laugh. “Nothing as newsworthy as a busted coffee maker. You remember that body in the cave you guys turned over to us this weekend?”
“How could I forget?”
“Turns out the murder’s connected to Cobra Jon, but I’m betting you already knew that.”
“Yeah, I had that pegged for a gang hit,” he said, a note of interest in his voice. “The vic was one of Cobra Jon’s boys, though, right? So it must be connected to the Congo Kings.”
“Nope. Sniper Benta actually took him out,” I informed him, “and that’s not even the most interesting part. Turns out our dead gang member’s the start of a path that’s leading straight to the big guy, and we have an opportunity to take Cobra Jon off the board permanently.”
I heard him shuffle around, probably sitting up straighter. “I’m listening,” he said, suddenly a lot more alert.
It didn’t take long to secure Parker and Bell for the op. Once I hung up with the CGIS agent, I placed a call to Area 7 and spoke to the Coast Guard, asking them to divert patrols away from the area tonight so my target wouldn’t get spooked. They agreed after I explained the situation.
I’d just replace the receiver when one of my interior lines flashed with an incoming call from the lab. I snatched it back up.
“Bonnie,” I said
into the phone, knowing it was her. She was always the one who called. “Tell me you have something.”
“I have coordinates for you,” she announced excitedly. “Sent you an email with the numbers and a satellite image. It’s definitely a submerged, recent wreck, the right size for your victim’s boat, and it’s about a mile offshore.”
A grin split my face. “Thank you, Bonnie. You’re the best.”
“I know,” she said, a smile in her voice. “Clyde and I expect donuts.”
“I’ll buy you guys the whole damn bakery.”
When I hung up with her, Holm was watching me from his desk across the aisle. “Best news ever?”
“Damn right,” I said. “We’ve got the bastard.”
Now we just had to get through a midnight firefight and capture mission on open waters, and this case would finally be closed.
Chapter 29
It was a different kind of long day, the type that dragged itself out around mundane but necessary activities while I wanted to do anything but make phone calls and requisition equipment. I was itching to go after Cobra Jon in the worst way, but I knew this had to be handled step by step.
I’d spent most of the morning working my Navy contacts to secure a ship. Most of the MBLIS fleet, such as it was, consisted of Defender Class response boats and SURC patrol boats, built for speed but not so much for stealth. We also had a single guided-missile destroyer which of course the Mambas would spot from miles away. The smaller power boats could be easily hidden, but I wanted to be invisible.
By noon, I had a good lead on a ship and was just waiting for confirmation. Holm and I spent our lunch hour with Griezmann and Birn, mapping out a tactical plan for the op. Then it was back to desk duty and the slow agony of waiting for the right time, though I took several breaks to check in on Tessa. At least time went faster with her.
We’d brought her to dinner at a nearby restaurant with the four of us. It was a good time, a welcome distraction from the tension, but I could think of a few better stress-relieving activities. Unfortunately, they required a little less company than I currently had.
Back at the office, just before eight when Parker and Bell were due to arrive, I headed up to the conference room. I had no idea how long we’d be out tonight, but I knew it’d be late and I didn’t want to send Tessa off to some secure location to wait alone. So I’d had a little talk with the director, and she’d agreed to pseudo-protection detail.
Diane Ramsey had decided to stop being pissed at me about the unauthorized arrest attempt when she realized we had a real shot at breaking the Black Mambas. She and Tessa were going to hang out in the conference room and watch movies until our team got back.
When I entered the room, Tessa was standing at the far end, staring out the window above the counter. I cleared my throat, and she flinched slightly and ducked her head before she turned around.
“Ethan,” she said, a faint rasp in her tone. “I was just…”
She’d tried to hide it, but her eyes were damp and her nose was tinged with red. She’d been crying.
“What’s wrong?” I asked with a jolt of concern as I started across the room toward her. I’d only left her up here less than half an hour ago, when we all got back from dinner, so nothing should’ve happened between then and now. Maybe she’d gotten a phone call, problems at home or something.
I took her hand, and she gave me a trembling smile. “It’s nothing,” she said. “I guess I’m just worried.”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” I told her. “We still have agents on the clock, and the director’s going to be right here with you. No one is getting in this building.”
She tilted her head. “I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about you.” Her smile grew bemused. “You know, the whole bad guys with guns thing?”
“Oh. That.” I laughed. “This is far from my first time facing bad guys with guns, and I’ve survived so far. I’ll be fine.”
She didn’t look especially convinced. “What if you’re not?”
“I will be. Promise.” It was a promise I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I could keep, but I’d damned well do my best… and so far, my best had always proven good enough. The risks that came with the job weren’t ever going to go away, but I knew that. It was something I’d lived with every day since I enlisted.
I’d always be willing to take those risks if it meant making the world safer from people like Cobra Jon.
“Well, okay. If you promise,” she said, finally relaxing a little. “I don’t suppose you have any idea when you’ll be back?”
I shrugged. “Late o’clock?”
“I’ll hold you to that,” she said with a laugh. “In the meantime, take this with you.”
She pulled me in for a kiss, and I was happy to return it.
Just as we separated, something thudded into the door outside the conference room, and a woman’s voice muttered, “Oh, crap.”
I headed back across the room. “Everything okay out there?”
“Marston, can you please open the damned door?” came the reply.
It was Director Ramsey. I smirked and picked up the pace, pulling the door open to find her standing on the other side of a TV cart, looking flustered.
“Hey, Diane,” I said. “Technical difficulties?”
“Something like that.” She rolled her eyes, and I stepped back to hold the door open while she wheeled the cart through. “Okay, I’ve got popcorn, chocolate, and chick flicks,” she announced as she steered toward the back of the room. “Hope I didn’t forget anything.”
Tessa watched her with a smile. “I don’t think so. We could probably hole up in here for days with that.”
“Exactly. My agents are going to make sure we don’t have to, though,” the director said as she positioned the cart with the television facing the conference table. There were a DVD player and a dozen or so movies on the shelf beneath the TV, and heaps of bagged popcorn and candy on the bottom shelf. “Isn’t that right, Agent Marston?”
“Couple of hours, tops,” I confirmed. “We’ll be back before the hero gets the girl.”
Director Ramsey gave me a nod. “You’d better be. Now go on, get out of here. CGIS is waiting in the squad room.”
“Okay, I’m gone. Have fun, ladies… just not too much fun.”
Diane shooed me out, and I jogged down the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator to go one floor down. Everyone had congregated around Holm’s desk, including Will Parker and Yvonne Bell, who’d dressed in casual black as requested. Bell, the California agent who was filling in for Parker’s very pregnant partner, regarded me with the same cool detachment she’d shown at the original crime scene.
“Your partner claims you have a ship lined up for the mission,” she said. “You know, Parker and I could’ve requed a stealth boat from the Coast Guard. We still can.”
“I’m sure you could have,” I said with a smile, “but I got us a Ghost.”
Parker gave a low whistle, and Holm gaped at me. I hadn’t even told my partner that until now since I’d just received confirmation on the way back to the office from dinner.
“You’re shitting me,” Holm said, grinning. “How’d you pull that off?”
“Lieutenant Anderson owed me a favor,” I told him. “He just got bumped up to commander, and he’s stationed at Area 7.”
Birn and Griezmann were just as excited, but Bell remained unimpressed. “What’s a Ghost?” she asked.
“Only the baddest watercraft in the Navy,” Birn told her. “It’s a super-cavitating stealth ship, whisper-quiet at up to thirty knots, and almost completely radar-proof. Totally invisible at night.”
“I had to promise not to damage her, though,” I added with a grin. “Apparently, this ship is Anderson’s baby. He’ll have it waiting for us, kitted out with dive suits, scuba gear, and AAIs.”
“Underwater revolvers,” Parker explained at Bell’s questioning look when I mentioned the acronym. “Uses flechettes instead of
bullets.”
Agent Bell stepped back and raised both hands, snorting a laugh. “You know what? I’ll leave y’all to the technical stuff. You just tell me where to point and shoot.”
“Copy that.” Parker grinned.
I pulled up the strategies we’d worked out earlier and walked Parker and Bell through them, stressing the need to maintain stealth for as long as possible. We didn’t have a numbers estimate for Cobra Jon’s recovery crew, so we might be facing three guys or three dozen.
It took an hour to brief everyone and gear up, and another hour of drive time and clearance checks at the Navy yard. We boarded the Ghost a little after ten p.m. and spent thirty minutes on systems and equipment checks, then I programmed the coordinates into the nav unit and we were off.
Even Agent Bell was impressed with the Ghost. In addition to its formidable capabilities, it was probably the most futuristic-looking vessel in the Navy’s fleet. The super-cavitating ship looked like an all-black enclosed hovercraft without any obvious pontoons, except the lines of this thing were a lot sleeker and sexier than any hovercraft. Inside, the aircraft-style cockpit with blackout windows continued the theme, making it feel more spaceship than watercraft.
Too bad we didn’t have much of a need for speed on this mission. When the wing-like hull struts were descended into the water, lifting the main hull off the surface to decrease drag and achieve super-speeds, the Ghost basically looked like a Star Wars Imperial shuttle without the top fin.
Even without pushing the ship to max speed, we made good time reaching our destination. According to the satellite images Bonnie had provided, there was a sizeable coral reef near the wreck site with several protrusions that formed a partial atoll. At least a few of the rocky ledges rising above the surface of the ocean were tall and wide enough to further block our ship from view of anything coming out of the Bahamas.
We had the Ghost positioned on the west side of an uneven coral ridge that left a few spots open for line-of-sight toward the islands by eleven. Then, there was nothing to do but wait.