They watched the sailboat sink in less than a minute.
“We did that job right.”
“Hooyah, Wolf.” Sam brought the captain’s logbook from his inside pocket and dropped it into the water. “Rest in peace, Kendra.”
AUGUST 7
Wednesday, 8:12 a.m.
Pierre Hotel / Nassau, New Providence Island, Bahamas
Darcy leaned over to the small table in the command center suite and picked up the remote. She turned up the volume on the TV. “The search is now fully underway for the missing sailors off Razor Reef Island.”
“A boat sinking off the island where his explosive shipment is stored,” Gabriel said, passing her a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. “Luther must be pacing right now at the ill-timed hand fate has dealt him.”
Sam and Wolf had done a good job with the demolition; the first pictures from the sunken sailboat had been broadcast today from divers going down to see if the ship had become the grave for the two missing sailors. “I wonder what his buyers will think if they’re thwarted from collecting the shipment when originally planned.”
“I hope they give Luther sleepless nights. What is Renee doing?”
Darcy looked at the second monitor. “She hasn’t been seen yet, and no breakfast has gone up. I somehow doubt she will sleep this late once Luther arrives; he’s a morning person.” They were falling into a routine for this surveillance. She took the early morning hours, Gabriel took the day, and over breakfast they relayed any observations with the night crew.
Gabe wheeled back to the window and picked up binoculars to look at the cafe at the end of the block. “Sergey is just sitting out there, drinking his coffee.” The note passed to the Russian embassy had brought him to the scene.
“You know word has filtered back to Luther that Sergey is here. He’s daring Luther to send Vladimir or Jerry after him,” Darcy said.
“You have to admire Sergey’s cool nerves. If Luther wants to give Renee her wish to stay here with some friends in the penthouse, he can’t have the police investigating a sniper murder right outside the hotel. So Sergey sits there and makes a statement. And while he does, they aren’t paying as much attention as they should to who else is around watching them.”
“Sergey knows the British Virgin Islands; he knows the Bahamas. You notice he showed up twenty-four hours after we passed the note to his embassy. He was probably already in the area.” Darcy got up. “You want to watch the place for a while? I think I’ll pay a visit to an old friend.”
“Darcy, you promised Sam not to do another solo.”
“Sergey is no threat to me; he’s after Luther. We need to know what he has found out. One last time before I end this career.”
“I agree with your assessment on Sergey. You still determined to retire again when this is over?”
“Absolutely.” She walked over to her case. “Should I become old or young?”
Gabriel considered the question. “Keep with the setting—go young.”
* * *
Darcy took a seat at the table across from Sergey, setting down her second bagel and coffee. The book she was determined to eventually finish if it took this entire war to do so she placed on the table. “Thanks for coming.”
“My pleasure, Darcy.”
She accepted the section of the paper he offered. It was in Russian, but with a little reading the words came back with ease. She turned to the international news. “Do we need to talk about what’s coming?”
“I’ve already planned the ending.”
“So have I,” she said softly. “Probably a different one than you.”
He smiled at her. “Read your paper, my friend.”
“Are you sure, Sergey?”
“It is time to have this end. I agree with your note, ‘What is the enemy of my enemy, but my friend?’ I brought some of my own friends along this time. Friends with debts to settle.” He looked over. “We’re on the same side in this. No matter what happens.”
“Sergey—” She didn’t know what to say at the intense focus she could see in his eyes, his expression. “It would be best not to get in our way.”
“My family were not the only ones killed; I was not the only one pressured. A few others also want to see Vladimir and Luther dealt with. Luther is coming in on his boat Friday, Darcy. Sunset.”
She absorbed the news he offered so matter-of-factly. “You’re not going to let him arrive.”
“Not if I can help it.”
There were times she knew things that were hard to bear. The weight of this one . . . “Be careful, Sergey.”
He set down his orange juice glass. “Please tell Gabriel I appreciate the note.”
“I will.”
He got to his feet and picked up the cane he was using. “Why, Darcy? You didn’t owe it to me.”
She didn’t understand Gabriel’s reasons, but she was honest enough to admit her own. “I’d like Sam to live to see retirement.”
His expression softened. “Yes. I thought there might be such a reason.” He touched his hat. “Until Friday.”
She nodded and watched Sergey walk away.
One of us will find Luther in the coming weeks: Sergey, Gabriel, Sam, myself. Lord, I pray for strength to get us through the next days, for safety. Don’t let me shirk from completing this task.
There was a time in every investigation when the work was essentially done and the waiting began, for the pieces to fall into place and the ending to play out. This one was playing out on its own momentum now.
Lord, I’ve never felt less ready for the end game. Please don’t let me make a mistake that costs us capturing Luther.
Twenty-Seven
* * *
AUGUST 9
Friday, 5:15 p.m.
Nassau, New Providence Island, Bahamas
Darcy took a seat on the bench overlooking the marina. The day had been a scorcher and it was ending humid. She raised binoculars to look around the crowded piers, searching for Luther, praying and hoping to see Sergey. Only one of them would likely show up here tonight.
Gabriel set down his phone beside her. Four men were watching the hotel. Renee had been busy today: a haircut, a stop to have her makeup done, multiple calls to the hotel caterer bringing a special dinner for the night. Renee expected Luther to arrive tonight. Vladimir was with Renee at the Pierre Hotel; Jerry was probably with Luther. “Do you think we’ll be able to get Jerry too?”
“Maybe. Luther is at the top of the list, then the explosives shipment, and then I’d call it a tie between getting Vladimir or Jerry,” Gabe replied. “I know Defense really wants him.”
Darcy straightened on the bench. “There’s Luther.” It was earlier than she had expected; they still had an hour till sunset. Visibility was good.
“Where?”
“The boat just clearing the buoys.” She felt a sinking sensation in her chest as she watched the man steering the boat into the marina.
Gabriel studied the man. “I agree.”
“What happened to Sergey?” She was afraid just to voice the question. Luther was here; Sergey was not . . . It wasn’t what she had come down to the marina expecting to find.
“I don’t know, Dar.” Gabe searched the other boats preparing to enter the marina. “Sergey is nowhere to be seen.”
Sergey was dead. She didn’t want to accept that, but the evidence before her was stark. Sergey had failed to stop Luther. So many friends had died in this war, now an enemy she had respected, maybe even cared about. “Can we quietly inquire with his embassy? a mutual friend?”
Gabe nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out.”
Darcy focused back on Luther. The man was confidently standing at the controls of the large motorboat. “Jerry isn’t with Luther.”
“He was hired to take care of Sergey,” Gabe noted.
“So did Jerry do it, or did Sergey at least manage to kill him before he went down?” Darcy hoped Jerry was out of this. “Sergey said he brought frien
ds with him this time. Maybe one of them will get in touch and tell us what happened.”
“If they’re still alive, I bet they’ll try to complete what Sergey started, go after Luther again.”
They watched the boat approach a free slip. Gabriel sighed. “We adjust to this, Darcy. We have no choice. Sergey’s dead, possibly Jerry too. What’s Luther going to do now?”
She struggled to shift her thinking to this reality. “Luther will join Renee; he’ll make arrangements to move the explosives. As long as we don’t attract attention, he’s going to relax now that he thinks Sergey has been dealt with. He’s going to get expansive, maybe take a few risks he wouldn’t normally take.”
“Luther’s on borrowed time. All he has to do is walk through the doors of that hotel, and we’ll have him bottled up. Just as soon as he’s at the hotel, the SEALs can grab the shipment.”
AUGUST 9
Friday, 5:20 p.m.
Razor Reef Island
Members of SEAL Team Nine slipped onto the island under cover of the search for the missing sailors. With a number of helicopters doing an aerial search and several search boats roaring through the area, they were able to have a helo drop them off on the slim strip of beach without drawing undue attention. The search for the sailors was to end today in the solemn words to the news media that there had been no survivors. The ruse had served their purposes well.
In two-man teams, the SEALs spread out to search the inlet for the stash of explosives.
Sam was grateful for the Nomex gloves. The terrain was as much up and down as level, and under the tropical foliage was black volcanic rock, still rough and ragged, not yet smoothed by time and weather. Sam deposited a piece of rock in his pocket to add to his collection, then struggled up the incline. This island was pocketed with caves, some no bigger than a tree and some as vast as caverns. Sometimes the lava had flowed around obstacles and hardened, while at others it had burned up what it swallowed. The number of holes a man could step in where there had once been trees was numerous.
“Cougar, this is not fun.”
Sam stopped his partner’s slide down the bank by grabbing his shirt. “I seem to remember in BUD/S training they promised us days of this exact kind of ‘fun.’ Try walking with this island’s terrain and not attacking it. The more you hurry, the slower you actually go.”
“You really think someone hid explosives on this side of the inlet?”
“Not hardly. They followed the sand and used the first concealed cave they came to.”
“But we’re looking here anyway, just in case.”
“We were due to draw the hard assignment eventually.” Sam looked around the area. “Besides, this view is worth it.”
“I prefer to see my flowers in a vase.”
Sam laughed.
Bear’s call interrupted their discussion. The explosive cache had been found.
By the time he and Wolf worked their way back to the inlet and around to the other side where the team was gathering, the initial inspection work was already completed.
Bear briefed the team. “The cave is halfway back that path on the south side of the bank. It’s deep and the opening is shrouded with netting and foliage. We checked it with a pole and mirror and saw all twenty boxes stacked along the far wall. What looks like a couple different types of trip wires are set up, with one actually tied to the netting. Move it aside without thinking and a grenade goes off in your face. Pretty effective security. There’s a satellite transmitter farther up the hillside where there’s good line of sight.”
The shadows were beginning to stretch across the island as sunset came. “Once Luther arrives at the hotel and is securely on the penthouse level, we’ll get a green light to take anyone coming here to pick up the explosives. We take them before they can get to the cave, here along the trail where they will be naturally squeezed into walking single file. I want six men here; I want another six men ready to take those remaining on the boat. Your task is to make sure the boat does not leave the inlet.
“Wolf, Cougar, find somewhere you can see any approaching boats. I want at least two minutes’ warning of any craft trying to come into the cove. While they may come at night, the critical hours are now while there’s still twilight to guide them or at dawn. If for some reason the men arrive before Luther is contained in Nassau, I want everyone to just keep out of sight. We’ll take pictures and call in air assets to track the boat, but we let them go. Questions?” Bear looked around at the men. “Let’s get to it.”
The men dispersed to find their new homes for the night. Sam looked at Wolf. “Back to that crest where we were a few minutes ago?”
Wolf winced. “Yes. It’s got the view. The mattress is just going to be a bit rough.”
Sam knew what he meant. “You can take the first shift if you want. When you’re tired, you don’t notice the rocks as much.”
“Two-hour watches?”
“Sounds good to me.” Sam led them back the way they had come. It was worth the effort to get the right spot for the lookout perch.
Twenty minutes later he and Wolf had settled in for the night. A huge pile of leaves created a cushion against the rocky surface. Sam began scanning the water with night-vision goggles to get a fix on what was out there.
Wolf answered Bear’s half-hour check-in call.
They searched for an hour, as the sun lowered to the horizon.
Sam queued his microphone. “Heads up, guys. We’ve got company.”
The small craft was heading straight into the cove. Coming in at sunset was risky. It would take them longer than expected to load the explosives, and the boat would have a tough time getting past the reef in the dark of night.
“I don’t have clearance yet that Nassau is ready. Everyone hold. Acknowledge that.”
SEALs acknowledged by number.
“Cougar, I need a count.”
“Stand by.”
Wolf was already working on it. “Two at navigation, one on the bow, one at the stern. The boat could carry eight. You think anyone is below deck while they’re trying to cross that razor reef?”
“Everyone is on deck watching for trouble and backseat driving for the skipper,” Sam guessed. “Call it four, plus a possible fifth.”
Wolf called the news into the team. Sam started searching the boat for signs of what type of weapons the men were carrying.
The boat made it across the reef with a lot of shouting between the men on deck. SEALs stationed around the cove began talking among themselves, assigning team members to specific individuals aboard the boat so that every man would be taken down in the opening assault.
Bear’s voice broke in. “We hold. Repeat, we hold. Luther hasn’t made it to the hotel, and they can’t risk moving against him at the marina. Let them come ashore and move the cases. Luther is moving, so stay sharp. Status could change any minute to a takedown.”
Wolf and Cougar kept the boat in view until it entered the back of the cove. They listened to the action in the cove reported by other SEALs while they continued to scan the horizon for any signs of a second boat. The first of several trips to the cave and back to the boat began.
All the SEALs waited for Bear’s word they had clearance to act.
It never came.
Forty minutes after it arrived, the boat made the dangerous journey back across the reef and out to open waters.
Bear broke the silence. “Surveillance aircraft has them. The weather is clear; the boat is being tracked. We’ll get another opportunity, gentlemen. Reassemble on the beach and let’s call in a ride home. We’ll see what the holdup is in Nassau.”
Twenty-Eight
* * *
AUGUST 11
Sunday, 6:49 p.m.
USS HAILEY / Caribbean Sea
Sam studied the weather maps for the upcoming seventy-two hours. They had to let the shipment go. All that coordination and the plan had come apart on the smallest of problems.
Bear joined him and handed him a coffee mug
. “Where is the boat?”
Sam located the coordinates for his boss. “It’s making steady progress north into the Bahamas.”
“A direction that suits us. It was simply bad luck that Luther lingered at the harbor rather than reach the hotel in time for us to act Friday night. This is a delay, not an unrecoverable setback.”
“For us, but what about Nassau? They were set up to act, and a glitch stopped them from taking Luther. The next time they’ll be that much more eager to go even under a less than optimal setting. Someone usually gets hurt in situations like that.”
“Right now they have no choice but to wait. I hear Renee’s birthday guests have begun to arrive. It complicates the planning. The plan now is to move in after the guests go home, tentatively the nineteenth. That should put this boat of explosives about . . . here, nearing Florida,” Joe judged. “It’s workable from our end. If weather looks like it’s going to change, we move in sooner. It is not critical that the two actions be coordinated so tightly now that Luther thinks his part of the explosives transfer is done.”
“Bear, you won’t need all of us to stop that boat. It’s a small craft, and even with a full backup team, there will be a few in the platoon just watching from the sidelines. I’d like to join the operation in Nassau.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll talk to DIA for you,” Bear agreed. “And I volunteer Wolf to go along to watch your back.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I can understand your desire to be there.”
AUGUST 14
Wednesday, 10:12 a.m.
Nassau, New Providence Island, Bahamas
Sam took his duffel bag off the helicopter and nodded his thanks to the pilot. Wolf stepped out beside him and slid on his sunglasses. “Where to first, Chief?”
“Find the assault team, get us a slot solving this mess, then the reason we’re here—Darcy.”
Wolf smiled. “You protect her back; I’ll protect yours.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me.”
“Who knows we’re coming?”
Sam pointed to the car just pulling in the lot. “DIA. There’s our ride.”
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