by Frank Perry
thing, Luca would never. He wasn’t involved, it was some drug criminals!”
Hunter cut her off. “Cut it! The whole kidnapping thing was to get me to do his bidding.”
“Hunter, I’m not following you. Luca is a fine, decent, business man.”
“Tell me you didn’t stage the whole kidnapping.”
She looked away. “He has some friends, they needed his help. He only asked me to be part of a little white lie.”
He could tell she was in denial. Worse, she was in danger by even associating with Peña, the mobster.
She had a pleading look, sitting in a stupor across from him. He couldn’t risk telling her about Peña killing José. Her reaction could put her in mortal danger. She was starting to whimper. “Look, Sue Ann. I know you would never deliberately try to hurt anyone in the family, but you need to understand that you’re dealing with one of the most dangerous people in the state, maybe the country.
She shook her head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Hunter. Luca is wonderful. He’s important to the city. He’s a friend of the Mayor for God’s sake.”
He looked down momentarily in bewilderment. Could she really be this stupid? “He’s also the largest drug smuggler on the west coast.”
“You’re crazy. He’s a successful businessman.”
“You mean the fishing boats?”
She just stared at him, so he continued. “Sue Ann, he brings drugs up from Central America in those ships.”
She had tears in her eyes. “That’s impossible, Hunter. The Coast Guard searches all the ships. He would never be involved in something like that. He doesn’t need to be.”
“Sue Ann, I want you to think about this for a few days. For your safety, you need to act perfectly normal and not let Peña know that I talked to you. But most of all, you can’t tell him anything more about the family. If he asks, I want you to tell me.”
She just stared blankly, so he admonished more firmly, “Do you understand me?”
“What am I going to do, Hunter?”
“You’ve got to play along with this for a few days, Sue Ann. I’ll try to work something out.”
He walked past her, out the front door without looking at her or speaking. He didn’t know whether to hug her in sympathy, or slug her. He did neither.
The drive to San Francisco Bay was filled with emotion. What if Sue Ann was a knowing partner in Peña’s drug empire? Could she really throw away her family for whatever Peña gave her? Talking to her hadn’t cleared up anything and might have blown the whole thing up in their faces. Peña might be on his way out of the country right now! It was probably just sleep deprivation, but he felt unsure about what to do next with her. His head ached and he wasn’t close to being done. There was a long night ahead.
Covert Information
It was almost four o’clock in the morning when he arrived at the Embarcadero on the waterfront. He wouldn’t be able to do everything he planned. There wasn’t enough time. He would return. His main mission for the night was to check the ships. There had to be some clue about how Peña eluded capture smuggling dope. He had an idea, but needed to do some under water work to prove it.
It was impossible to avoid attention of the police or other security people along the wharf until he got near the commercial fishing docks where the boats were preparing to ship out before dawn. He knew the basic layout of the docks from Google Earth aerial shots and the relative location of Peña’s three ships according to their assigned berths. Since the ships were different lengths, they had specific locations along the docks to fit with other ships. He drove down the dock, weaving around pallets of supplies that were being winched aboard some of the boats. Near the end of the dock, in the dark shadows near the Oakland Bay Bridge He saw Sea Fury in her berth. Ocean Queen was next to it. Ocean Wanderer was in the last slip at the end of the wharf. Both the Fury and Wanderer had lighted decks. All the commercial boats tied up along the dock had lights to discourage trespassers. These ships didn’t contain much that common burglars could carry away, but the electronics aboard were worth thousands of dollars. On most of the ships, there was at least one crewman sleeping aboard as a security measure, unless the whole crew was preparing to get underway. He assumed both of Peña’s ships had guards. John Richards’ words played over and over in his mind. Peña must not get spooked. He already had concerns about Sue Ann, and he needed to avoid causing more damage exploring the ships
Minutes later, he had parked beside a darkened warehouse, leading out into the bay, a quarter mile south of Peña’s boats. He was nearly invisible entering the water with every inch of his body and equipment colored black. He maintained his equipment in perfect working order since leaving the Navy SEALS. The outgoing surge took hold of him on the surface as he drifted within a hundred feet of Ocean Wanderer before silently lowering his head below the surface, exhaling to drop, rather than doing a classic jackknife to sink. SEALS are trained for harbor recon at night without creating even a ripple in the water. Anyone who knew where to look would never have seen Hunter approach, then submerge. Once sufficiently deep, he used his depth gauge to level at fifteen feet. There was no light in the water, so he could only use his phosphorescent gauges to navigate. He had timed the current speed, and used his watch to estimate when he was opposite the Wanderer. He slowly surfaced to verify his location and found himself directly behind the ship. He submerged again and used his swim fins to neutralize the current drift while moving under the hull. He carried glow sticks for illumination, but would not risk being seen from the surface. His CCUBA" (Closed Circuit Underwater Breathing Apparatus) gear concealed all of his exhausted air, replenishing it with oxygen. There was no evidence of his presence from the surface.