“Yes,” Sue said. “As much as I trust you.”
“Me too,” I added.
“I’d vouch for him,” Mike said.
“He seems to dislike Davis Lovemark,” Ivan said.
“Yeah, but he won’t tell us why,” Sue said. “There was some sort of ethical dilemma.”
“Which isn’t hard to find with Lovemark,” I added.
We turned off the promenade at the spot where we first met Paul.
This time we entered through the front door of Ang’s Fish Market and Charters.
Mrs. Ang was behind the counter, helping customers. She was a petite woman with an easy smile and personality to match. She acknowledged us and bobbed her head to the left toward her husband’s office.
Paul was hanging up the phone when we walked in. “Perfect timing.”
We filed in and took seats.
Tao was in his bed and got up to a sitting position, his thick tail thumping against the wall.
“We’re all set to go,” Paul said. “We leave tomorrow just before sunrise.”
“What can we do to help get ready?” Jorge asked.
“Miguel, my trusted second in command, is gathering supplies,” Paul said. “You can help him load. Then we’ll all spend the night aboard the boat.”
“How much do we owe you?” Jorge asked.
“Well …”
“Paul, charge us what you would a regular charter,” I said.
“We can afford to pay you,” Sue added.
Paul reached for his dated desktop calculator and began to punch in numbers. “All right, you can pay for the food, supplies, fuel, and Miguel’s salary, but I’m not charging you my fee.”
I opened my mouth to tell him to include his time and effort.
“No discussion on that.” Paul took out a receipt book and wrote out prices and what they were for, then ripped out the white page and passed it to Jorge.
Jorge nodded. “You may want to get rid of the yellow copy so there’s no record of this voyage.”
“Good point.” Paul tore the second page from the book, took the sheet he had given Jorge and placed them in the shredder next to where Tao was. The dog leaned away from the short burst of noise. “You’ll pay in cash?”
Jorge lifted the edge of his shirt and unzipped a pouch that was attached somehow to the inside of his jeans. He retrieved the appropriate amount of hundred-dollar bills and passed them over.
Paul swivelled in his chair to a cupboard behind his desk and pulled a knob, exposing a safe. He turned the dial three times to open it and deposited the money inside. “Okay, let’s go help Miguel.”
He led us to the rear processing area again, where next to the two men who were still gutting fish a slim young Latino man was loading boxes onto a pallet resting on a manual hand forklift.
“Miguel, this is our charter group,” Paul said. “They’re hands-on people and want to help us get ready. Show them what to do.”
“Hi, Miguel,” Sue said.
He blushed and pointed toward the corner of the room. “You can bring those coolers and put them on this empty pallet.” His accented Mexican voice cracked. He had brown tanned skin, curly black hair, and traces of acne scars on his face. His sharp-brown eyes avoided contact with ours.
Paul gave a broad smile. “I hope you all like to eat fish.”
After the pallets were filled, we loaded them into a trailer that was attached to a pickup truck. Jorge brought the van around to the loading bay, and we took our belongings out, adding them to the trailer. Jorge gave Paul the van keys and the name of the trusted owner that would pick it up in seven days.
It was a short distance to where the boat was docked at the marina. Jorge, Mike, and I rode in the trailer, while Sue and Ivan were in the cab of the truck with Miguel. Paul would join us later.
When Miguel opened the trailer door to let us out, we saw that he’d been able to come up right beside the boat. Actually, it was a hundred-foot, three-level yacht, with a clean, white fiberglass hull glistening against dark varnished-wood accents.
“Holy shit,” Mike said. “This ship is sweet.”
Miguel looked proud. “It has everything you need to be comfortable on open-ocean voyages.”
We formed a loading chain to place the supplies on board.
The interior featured wood-paneled walls around large windows. Wood beams ran in parallel lines across the off-white ceiling. Brown-and-white furniture sat atop plush beige carpet. The word that best described the ship’s appearance was “stately.”
“Follow me,” Miguel said. “You each get your own room.”
He led us down a level, and we each picked our own bedroom. Mine had a queen-size bed with a brown duvet, white walls, a round window a few feet above the water level, plus my own bathroom with a shower.
Half of what we brought on board went into a storage room; the other half went into a full-size galley that had clean granite counters and stainless-steel appliances.
Once everything was stored away, we settled in the living area.
“After being on the run for so long, sitting here on this awesome ship makes me think of just going out to sea and waiting everything out.” Mike placed his beer atop a coaster on the glass coffee table, leaned back, and stretched his arms above his head.
Sue sat across from Mike in a matching brown leather chair. “Nice thought, but you know after a week we’d all want to get back after the fuckers.”
“I know, I know. It’s nice to dream about escaping all of it, though.” Mike stood up. “Time for a smoke.”
“I haven’t seen you smoking much since you’ve returned,” Sue pointed out.
“I’m trying to cut back and hopefully quit.” Mike walked toward the sliding door to the rear outside deck. “Besides, I’m tired of you giving me snide remarks that I stink.”
Sue smiled. “That’s good. My comments are having the right effect, then.”
We’d offered to help Miguel prepare dinner, but he declined, telling us to enjoy the down time. No one complained.
Paul arrived at dusk. “Everyone all settled in?” He went straight for the bar fridge and grabbed a beer.
“Hey, where’s Tao?” Sue asked. “I thought he was always with you.”
“Always with me on land.” Paul twisted the cap off the bottle. “He gets seasick.”
Our meal consisted of tacos with fresh-caught flounder and pico de gallo, refried beans, and salad. The food disappeared in no time.
Ivan finished chewing. “Miguel, you are an amazing cook.”
Everyone nodded and raised their wineglass or beer bottle to him.
I was surprised at how much everyone was drinking; even Jorge had a couple. I guessed it was because we felt safe for the moment and we knew we were going on a boat trip tomorrow. I decided to stop drinking at that point—someone had to have their wits about them.
I was sitting between Sue and Paul when I thought I’d give it another try. “So, Paul, you never did tell us what your problem with Davis Lovemark was.”
“Yeah, what did he do to you?” Sue said. “You know about what he did to us.”
Paul seemed to ponder for a moment, before saying, “Remember, Nick, when Senator Lawrence gave you false information, then you wrote about it, it was published, and then he referred to it as factual?”
“How could I forget the information laundering incident; it screwed me up for a long time.”
“I practically had to talk him off the ledge,” Sue added.
“Well, it wasn’t the first time Lovemark had helped his causes and cronies by encouraging it,” Paul said.
I hadn’t known Lovemark specifically had something to do with it. Another piece fit into place.
“I was tired of the bullshit.” Paul finished the remainder of his beer. “The last straw was when I caught him and his right-hand man, Russell Norman, gaslighting.”
“What’s ‘gaslighting’?” I asked.
Mike came over to listen, bringing a fre
sh beer for Paul. “That’s an extreme bullying tactic.”
Paul welcomed the new beer. “Gaslighting is used by unscrupulous people to gain power over others. It makes the victims question their own reality. The bully tells blatant lies and then denies them, even if the victim has proof of the lies. They keep doing it until they wear their target down. Then they throw in positive reinforcement to confuse and weaken the victim. Finally, they project whatever the victim thinks the bully is doing back onto the victim. The bully tells the victim and the people around them that they are crazy. It’s a long game, takes time, and can be performed on a large scale.”
“Is that ever manipulative,” Sue said.
“Lovemark has no fucking scruples,” Mike said.
I thought of a specific dictator, and gaslighting fit with what he was doing to his people. “And you found Lovemark and Norman doing that to someone?”
“Not to someone but to everyone—multiple times and on a huge scale for oil companies, Naintosa, Pharmalin, and others.” Paul looked frustrated. “I couldn’t take what they wanted us to publish anymore. And when I had the opportunity to call him on it to his face, he said I was overexaggerating and then tried to bully me. I quit the next day. I guess I could’ve fought him, like you are, but I didn’t have it in me anymore.”
Sue patted his lap. “Now we know.”
“That’s why I want to do at least this little part for you now.”
CHAPTER 23
May 16, 2003
I was awakened by footsteps running on a wooden surface. There were loud whispers that I couldn’t understand. My stateroom was on the dock side. Sitting up, I could see out the porthole. It was still dark outside, but there was a lamppost nearby, illuminating the area. Nothing out of the ordinary was in my view.
The big boat shuddered as the engines ignited, followed by a faint, consistent vibration.
I jumped out of bed, grabbed my T-shirt and shorts off the floor, and went out into the hall. I caught a glimpse of Jorge as he climbed the stairs. Sue came out of her room at the same time but fully clothed; I was still fumbling to pull my shirt on.
“Something’s going on,” I said.
We followed to where Jorge had gone.
Sue reached the stairs first. “We were planning on leaving at five, but it’s only three thirty.”
At the top of the stairs, we went to the window of the living area and saw Jorge outside, his handgun drawn, moving starboard and out of view.
Sue and I went out the back sliding door.
Jorge was untying a thick rope. He saw us and motioned for us to do the same at the bow.
We ran the thirty feet. Sue pulled up the bumper, and I undid the knot.
There was a young Asian male standing on the dock looking from us to the shore. Is the kid with us? I followed the direction his head pointed and saw two figures running toward where we were. They had to be three hundred yards away but closing.
A whistle from above caught the boy’s attention. He loped up the gangway and then retracted it electrically.
The stern line was off, and I’d just dislodged the last part of rope around the cleat when the boat began to move. We were thrown off balance.
Jorge was running toward us and practically picked up the boy and pushed him forward. “Inside!”
We followed.
The yacht began to turn.
We were about twenty feet from the dock when the two men ran up and stopped. They both had guns in their hands.
I recognized the big guy immediately. He was the one who tried to grab us in Dallas.
“The Naintosa fuckers from the Ford,” Sue said.
They held their guns up and seemed to be searching for someone to shoot at. They scanned from starboard to bow and we made eye contact.
Sue and I immediately ducked, not wanting to give them targets.
Jorge was in-between the windows, peering around the sill, gun drawn.
“They’ve found us,” I said.
Ivan was standing at the top of the stairs, and I motioned with my hand to stay put. He nodded.
The boy, who I guessed was around thirteen years old, had obviously been standing watch. He was now cowering behind the bar.
Miguel ran up the stairs to the bridge.
The boat had completed the turn away from the dock and was now in the channel exiting the marina.
Jorge went to the other side of the room to watch the men on the pier. Sue, Ivan, and I followed. They were now just silhouettes.
“We made a mistake somewhere along the line,” Jorge said.
“Or they did follow us from Dallas,” I said.
“No, they would’ve grabbed us yesterday,” Jorge said.
Paul came down the stairs from the bridge. “Everyone all right?”
Everyone acknowledged that they were.
“Good. This means we leave ahead of schedule.” Paul looked toward the bar. “Ji, thank you for being so fast and watchful. Since you’ll be coming with us, you might as well do some work. I’ll call your mother and let her know you’re helping me on a charter.”
The short teenager, Ji, who had a slight build, stood up and followed Paul, who led him toward the galley.
“What’s going on?” Mike’s voice was hoarse. He stood at the top of the stairs that came up from the cabins.
Sue exhaled. “We just had a close encounter of the Ford kind.”
Mike’s eyes were bloodshot and the skin around them puffy. He’d gotten drunk last night and had been chain smoking, lighting one off the other.
The day was clear and the salty breeze warm. Black-backed gulls floated on the thermals, diving down to the water when they spotted meals, a few alighting on our railing for a rest. The waves were high enough to keep the boat swaying and rolling.
Sue and I sat on reclining chairs on the starboard outside deck.
“Did you notice how Mike looked this morning?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“He’s been drinking every chance he gets since he met back up with us,” Sue said. “This isn’t the time to go on a bender.”
“He’s a good guy and has flaws like the rest of us, but I’ve noticed a change since he’s returned,” I said. “Either something more happened in the last year that he hasn’t told us about or this being chased is affecting him harder.”
Sue sat up. “We should talk to him. I wouldn’t hold it against him if this is too much for him to handle.”
Mike came out the sliding glass doors.
“What’s that?” Sue asked.
“Bloody Mary.” He sat down next to us on a reclining chair. “Takes the edge off.” Mike licked the salt and pepper rim and then took a sip. “It’s really good. You should get Miguel to make you one—he has many talents.”
“I think I’ll wait.” Sue said.
It was as good a time as any to talk to him. “So, Mike …”
Sue got right to it. “We’ve noticed you haven’t been yourself since you’ve met back up with us, and that you’re drinking harder than usual.”
“Is there anything you missed telling us about?” I sat up and turned to face him. I was the last person who should criticize someone’s drinking, because I was known to drink too much. However, that was during downtime. I was always conscious about not consuming too much alcohol when we were in the thick of things and I needed my mind to be sharp.
“It’s understandable if this is too stressful for you,” Sue said.
“I told you what happened.” Mike turned stubborn. “I drink when I’m nervous, and being chased and having my life in danger makes me plenty nervous. You two can’t say that you aren’t scared too, and you’re the last ones to counsel me on drinking.”
With his guard up, this discussion wasn’t going to go anywhere. We’d have to try when he was more receptive.
“Okay, if you ever want to talk more, we’re always here to listen.” Sue looked over at me. “We should meditate.”
“Oh gawd.” Mike g
ot up and walked back inside.
“That was easy.” She smiled. “Let’s just keep an eye on him.”
“Agreed. I’m sure he’ll snap out of it.” I lowered my sunglasses and adjusted my baseball cap so it wouldn’t fly off in the wind. “And just mention the word meditation, and he gets all freaked out.”
“We haven’t meditated since we were in Burford.” Sue was also wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. “Want to?”
“Sure.” I always found a woman in a baseball cap with a ponytail sticking out the back sexy. I wasn’t sure why, but I did.
A plane with pontoons flew low overhead. We watched to see if it would turn back to us, but it didn’t. There were other boats on the water that we could see, but none seemed to be following or paying any attention to us.
“Okay, see you in twenty minutes.” I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, in and out. The sound of the wind and the wake provided a good background and the swaying back and forth lulled me, so I was able to clear my mind. I went to my inner room, sliding without effort into the gap. In my mind’s eye I was in a jungle. Sue was beside me. We were making slow progress, because of the thick underbrush. There were faces, watching us. The people had deformities and their eyes and mouths showed great sadness and fear.
“Get you anything?” said a voice with a heavy Chinese accent.
That brought me out of the gap. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. Young Ji was standing in front of us. Since we had our sunglasses on, he wouldn’t have known that our eyes were closed.
“No, thank you,” I said.
“I’m feeling a tad peckish,” Sue said. “I’ll come inside in a moment.”
“I have put out some snacks on the bar.” Ji gave a slight bow and then went back in through the sliding doors.
“Well, that was short-lived.” Sue leaned forward. “How was it? Did you see anything?”
“I did, actually.” I explained the jungle and the people.
Sue was smiling the whole time. “Cool, I love it when we’re in sync. I had almost the identical vision.”
It never ceased to excite me when we were in the flow together. It was good reinforcement that we were on the right path. “What do you think it meant?”
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