by Mac Fortner
The Coast Guard boat cut its own speed and stopped next to the intruder. With their guns aimed on the boat, the Captain again raised his megaphone and told it to identify itself.
A man in an official US Navy uniform stepped from the bridge and held his hands in the air.
“Captain Lacy, I’m Lieutenant Utley. I have orders from the White House to intercept you if you tried to capture that boat. I have the FBI on board, and we have the boat under surveillance. You may come onboard and verify our credentials.”
Captain Lacy looked at the men onboard the thirty-four-foot Navy Sea Ark. “Hold up your ID.”
Lieutenant Utley held his up. A bright light from the bow of the Coast Guard ship turned toward him and illuminated the whole boat and everyone on board.
“Turn off that damn light,” the Lieutenant yelled. “What the hell are you doing? I told you we were performing reconnaissance.”
The light died.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to …”
“Shit, I hope they didn’t see us. This is a matter of national security.”
“I should have been given a heads up then this would have never happened,” the Captain said.
“We were working on a need to know basis. Please leave the area slowly. I hope you didn’t blow our cover.”
~*~
“They stopped beside another boat,” Kasim said, looking at the radar screen.
“Now they have turned and are moving away.”
“Very good. They weren’t after us. Allah is with us.”
Chapter 58
I was up early the next morning. I made bacon and eggs for Diane and myself and decorated the breakfast table with a vase of wildflowers I’d picked from her garden.
She poked her head in the kitchen just as the coffee finished perking. “Oh, it’s you. I smelled the bacon and thought someone had broken into the house and fixed breakfast.”
“I knew you’d be hungry. We didn’t eat last night.”
“Wow,” she said, noticing the flowers. “What’s the occasion?”
“I’ve decided to not let life get me down. My boat is insured, and I think it can be fixed. I have good friends, present company included, and a chance to get my license back. What more could a man want.”
“Are you okay, Cam? This isn’t like you.”
“This is the new me. I won’t let anything get me down.”
“Whatever,” Diane said skeptically.
“Come on and eat and then we’ll go see Dave. If Jenny is the girl who was with Jack, then we are one-step closer to solving this mystery. If she isn’t, then I’m gonna’ get laid tonight. Win-win.”
“Cam, please,” Diane said, putting her hands over her ears. “Too much info.”
We attacked our breakfast voraciously, not talking until we’d finished. We lay down our forks at the same time and looked at each other.
“Was that good for you?” I said, knowing it would make her blush.
“Oh please,” she said, covering her ears again. “What’s gotten into you?”
I laughed. “Okay, I’m sorry. I’m just feeling a little slaphappy today I guess.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
We cleared the table together and washed the dishes and pans. I wiped down the table and centered the flowers. When I looked up, Diane was staring at me.
“I like the new Cam,” she said. “That is if he didn’t talk.”
I put my finger and thumb together and drew them across my mouth like a zipper.
“That’s better,” she said.
We showered and had another cup of coffee.
“Do you have the picture of Jenny?” I asked Diane.
“Right here,” she said, holding it up to reassure me of her competence.
I looked at it. Jenny was so beautiful, and I had really become quite attached to her. I hoped she was not tied to the boat jacking ring.
“Okay then, let’s go.”
We took my Mercedes and put the top down. Morning on Key West was the best time for a convertible. We rode in silence through the dock areas and into old town. The traffic was heavy, but we easily found a parking spot close to the marina.
We walked down the weathered board dock past numerous bars, and café’s toward Schooners. I was dreading showing Dave the picture. Every step I took my legs got weaker. I was starting to get a little queasy in my stomach. I realized that I must care for Jenny even more than I thought.
We stepped in Schooners and approached the bar. Sammy and Pirate were sitting at the cigar booth, reading the paper.
“Hey, Sammy,” I said, regressing again.
He looked up, and at the same time, Pirate looked up as if I had intruded in his space while he was reading the paper.
“Hey, Pirate,” I said.
“Awwk, hey,” Pirate said.
“Hiya, Cam,” Sammy said and gave Pirate some kind of a treat. “Hiya, Diane,” he said, tipping his pirate hat.
“Is Dave around? I have something I want to show him,” I said.
“Nope, I’m afraid not,” and he chuckled. “Dave’s in the hospital.”
“What’s wrong with him? Is he okay?”
“His wife attacked him in his sleep. Hit him right on the head with a frying pan.”
I remembered what Danny had told me about Dave and crazy Wanda going fishing and Dave’s wife being ready to kill him.
“Is he conscious?”
“Don’t know. I haven’t talked to him,” and Sammy laughed again. “Crazy bitch.”
“Awwk, crazy bitch.”
We left the comedy team and drove to the hospital.
The elderly lady at the reception desk directed us to the elevator and told us Dave was in room 214. We thanked her and took the steps. It’s an old habit we have of walking up one flight and down two. It’s supposed to keep you in shape, and it would if you did it more than once a month.
When we got to room 214, the door was closed. The attending nurse sat at a desk across from his room.
“May I help you?” she asked.
“Yes, I hope so. We are here to see Dave Richards,” I said.
“I’m sorry, but Dave cannot see anyone yet. Doctor’s orders. He took quite a blow to the head.”
I didn’t really see how that would make any difference with the Dave Richards I knew.
“I’ll only be a minute. It’s very important. Just one question.”
“Sorry, but Dave wouldn’t be able to answer any questions. And if he did, you couldn’t really count on it being the right answer.”
“When do you think we will be able to see him?”
“My guess would be and remember it’s only a guess, about two weeks. I’ve seen head injuries like his take longer,” she said.
I thanked her, and we left the hospital feeling a little depressed.
“I thought we’d have an answer today,” I said somberly.
“I thought you weren’t going to let anything get you down,” Diane said.
“You’re absolutely right,” and I straightened up and smiled. “Just because I don’t really know the answer doesn’t mean I can’t get laid.”
“Oh, Jesus,” she said and shook her head.
Chapter 59
It was quarter ‘til eleven, and I was supposed to meet Sheriff Buck at eleven at my boat. I dropped Diane off at her house and drove to my dock.
The camera crews had diminished significantly. Only two reporters remained, and both stuck their microphones in my face as soon as I got out of my car.
“Did you know Tom Burnikel?” one of them asked.
“Who’s Tom Burnikel?” I answered.
“The man killed in your boat,” he said.
“No, I didn’t know him.”
The other man said, “What do you think of the allegations that you might have planted the bomb yourself to collect on the insurance?”
“What? Who said that?” I snapped angrily.
“It came from the sheriff’s deputy, Billie Daryl Dunn.�
��
“Not true and no further comments,” I said, speeding my pace and looking for Sheriff Buck.
He was standing on the patio of my boat, talking to someone inside. When I approached, he turned and grinned. “Good morning, Cam,” he said.
“What the hell is this about me planting the bomb to collect on the insurance?” I said, getting in his face.
“Whoa there, son, what are you talking about?”
“The reporters wanted to know what I thought about the sheriff’s department claiming that I planted the bomb.”
“I never told them anything of the kind.”
“It was Billie Daryl,” I said.
“Sorry about that, Cam. The boy’s an idiot. I’ll have a talk with him, and the reporters,” he said, looking at the lot where they were standing.
“Now,” I yelled. “Tell them now before they print it.”
“Okay, calm down,” and he stepped off the boat and ambled toward the reporters.
“What else can go wrong?” I asked myself. So much for not letting life get me down. There were just too many forces working against me.
Sheriff Buck returned and said, “That should hold them for a while. I told them anything they’d heard so far was inconclusive, and if they printed it, they would be obstructing justice.”
“INCONCLUSIVE. WHAT THE DO YOU MEAN INCONCLUSIVE?”
“Okay, Cam. You’re going to have to quit using that tone with me. I told you I stopped them.”
“People are going to think I have something to hide. This could ruin my career.”
“Don’t let it get to you, Cam. We’ll get it straightened out.”
I couldn’t believe it. It was like the sheriff wanted people to think I might have had something to do with this.
“Now, what we do know is that the man’s name was Tom Burnikel. Pretty much a petty thief. He was probably trying to find something of value in there when the bomb went off.”
“But he had to have brought the bomb on the boat with him,” I said, trying to reason with him.
“Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe someone hired him to blow it up.”
“Well, the bomb was in the nightstand next to the bed. If he was going to blow it up, wouldn’t he just place the bomb in the middle of the living area and leave?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never blown up a boat before,” I said.
“Before what?”
I just looked at him in disbelief. I knew it was time to shut up.
“Are you charging me with anything?”
“Of course not, Cam,” he said as if I had insulted him.
“Then why do you act as if I had something to do with this?”
“I’m just trying to eliminate you as a suspect. That’s all.”
Chapter 60
Sanchez pulled the report from the fax machine and returned to his office. Agent Wootton was sitting across from him, drinking his coffee and eating a donut.
Sanchez looked at him in disgust. “If you don’t stop eating those things you’re going to explode.”
Agent Wootton, it seemed, never ate right. He couldn’t pass up a hot dog stand and always had a half-eaten donut on his desk. Still, he had the body of a twenty-year-old athlete; muscular arms, defined chest, square jaw. It wasn’t fair.
“And you’ll die of stress if you don’t quit worrying about everyone else,” he said while stuffing the rest of the donut in his mouth.
Sanchez read the report and handed it to Wootton.
When Wootton finished reading it, he laid it down on the desk.
“That is one screwed up son of a bitch,” Wootton said.
“Yeah, not only did he kill Amar’s daughter, but he convinced him that Ted did it. Then he threw in the rest of the squad so Amar would want to kill them all. Buck has been working on this for a long time. How do you suppose he got flipped to the Al-Qaeda?”
“I don’t know. The report didn’t mention him spending any time with them.”
“The Commander of his squad said Buck was a loose cannon. He was always starting fights with the rest of the men, and when they got ambushed while on a mission, Ted blamed Buck for talking to Amar’s family about where they’d be.”
“Do you think he did?”
“I do now. That’s when Buck killed her and made it look like Ted had done it.”
“Maybe we can convince Amar that Buck was the one who killed his daughter and he would call off the attack on Quantico,” Wootton said.
“No, I don’t think he would believe us. Anyway, we need to know where that bomb is and when he’s going to pick it up. Otherwise, we would have arrested him long ago. Whoever is building this bomb can do it again and has probably done it before.”
“So, Buck killed Amar’s daughter, so Amar would avenge her death. Amar was wealthy enough to get their plan rolling, but they still needed more money, and that’s when they started stealing boats,” Wootton theorized aloud.
“Looks that way. Susan Crane told us that she and Bill had a good little business going along with the help of John Trapper. Then John brought Buck in, and they started stealing boats and killing the owners,” Sanchez said. “She said they didn’t know about killing anyone until two weeks ago. That’s when they decided to get out.”
“Maybe they didn’t.”
Sanchez’s cell phone rang. He picked it up and looked at the caller ID. “It’s Utley,” he said.
“Sanchez,” he answered.
“I’m watching Amar. He cruised up the coast last night, blacked out. I think this might be it,” Utley said. “Right now, he’s anchored one mile off the coast of Miami.”
“Don’t get too close, but don’t lose him. I haven’t heard from Agent Anderson. Is Buck with Amar?”
“No, just him and Kasim.”
“Okay, let me know if he turns into port anywhere, and I’ll make sure they’re watched once on land.”
“Will do,” Utley said and hung up.
“It won’t be long now,” Sanchez said.
Chapter 61
Later that day, Diane and I were sitting at Sloppy Joe’s, having a drink and listening to a guitar player named Troy from Evansville, Indiana.
He was pretty damn good. It made you wonder how good you had to be to make it in Nashville. Most of the talent I’d heard around here sounded as good as anyone I’d heard on the radio. Watching him made me think of my good Taylor guitar laying in pieces scattered around my boat.
“Hi, Cam, Diane,” I heard Jenny say.
I turned to see her standing beside me. I rose and pulled out a chair for her, bowed and motioned for her to sit. She did.
“Well, aren’t you the gentleman,” she said, feigning that southern drawl she sometimes used.
“I wondered when I was going to see you,” I said.
“Hi, Diane,” Jenny said, ignoring my flirtation. “Do you have your hands full comforting Cam?”
“Of course. It’s like the whole world blew up instead of one rusty old boat.”
“Men,” Jenny emphasized.
“Yeah, men.”
“Wait a minute, girls. I’m not without my good points you know.”
“Name one,” Jenny said.
“I can make you laugh when we’re making love.”
“Oh yes, there is that,” Jenny said.
“Okay, I have things to do and places to go,” Diane said, getting up and pouring the rest of her drink down her throat.
“Oh don’t go,” I said, “I’ll be good.”
“No, really, I’ve got to go,” she said and hugged me and then Jenny.
“Alright, maybe I’ll see you tonight,” I said.
“Bye, Diane,” Jenny yelled as she hurried out the door.
“She doesn’t like to hear about my love life,” I said to Jenny.
“Maybe she has a crush on you.”
“No, she thinks of me as her father.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”
&n
bsp; Changing the subject, I said, “So, what have you been up to?”
“Nothing much. I didn’t buy that Tiger boat I was looking at. They wanted too much for it.”
“You’ll know when the right one comes along. What do you know about the man who had the boat for sale?” I said, prying a little and hoping to get some insight.
I still needed to know that Jenny was not entangled in the boat thefts. I needed one thing in my life to be real, and the FBI had indicated to Chad that there was a lot more to it than the theft of some luxury yachts.
“Nothing really. He’s an executive for an aircraft restoring company. It’s a company boat, and they want to sell it,” she replied.
“Have you tried making him a lower offer?”
“I tried, but we were too far apart.”
“Too bad,” I said, wanting to pry further but afraid of losing her if she did have something to hide, and afraid of getting too close to her also if she was hiding something I might not want to know.
“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight? I’ll take you to the best restaurant in town. I still have a little of my expense account left from New York,” I said, deciding I’d pried enough for now.
“I’m sorry, Cam, but I am going to be leaving for a week. I have to go back to Michigan to tie up some loose ends on my transfer of the hedge funds. I leave this evening.”
“Oh, I didn’t know. How about a drink right now then and a rain check for when you get back?”
“You’re on,” she said, but her eyes were saying goodbye.
Chapter 62
After our drink, I kissed Jenny goodbye and wandered down to the dock area, four blocks away.
I saw Sammy and Pirate coming toward me, talking to each other. There were some real quirky people in Key West.
“Hey ya, Cam,” Sammy said.
“Hey ya, Cam, awk,” Pirate copied.
“How are you guys doing?” I asked.
If Pirate had started talking first, telling me how they’d had a bad day, I wouldn’t have been surprised.