Bluewater Target: The 15th Novel in the Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series (Bluewater Thrillers)

by Charles Dougherty

  "Can you tell me what's different?"

  "I've been working on that. The best I can do so far is that I never killed anybody without some personal motivation."

  Liz nodded and took a sip of her wine. "And?"

  "Marie said there was nothing personal for her in this; it's just a job."

  "That struck me, too," Liz said. "But it's not surprising. Marie's background is different from yours and mine. Not that you and I are the same, but — "

  "No, Liz, you're right. She's different. I'd never thought about all that before."

  "But you had some of the same experiences she's had, Dani. You've told me about being in combat when you were in your teens, in Central and South America."

  "I was tagging along with Phillip and Sharktooth, Liz. I was a kid; it was a lark."

  "Even when the bullets were flying?" Liz asked.

  "Well, you know what that's like, Liz. You don't do a lot of deep thinking. You analyze what's happening in your immediate area and you react. It was exciting. I never thought much about why we were in those situations. After listening to Marie, I suspect that Phillip and Sharktooth look at all that the same way she does."

  "They're professional soldiers. Is that what you mean?"

  "Yes. I think so."

  "And how about you, Dani? You see ways that you're different from them?"

  Dani held Liz's gaze for several seconds, then shook her head. "Marie made me uncomfortable with myself. With my motivation for going after Delaney, in particular."

  "I thought I saw that in your eyes at one point. I'm not asking you to tell me, but I wondered at the time why you were uncomfortable."

  "I don't mind telling you. I trust you with my secrets. I'm not sure why I reacted the way I did. I felt a pang of guilt, though. Maybe because I was using Delaney as a way to chase an adrenalin high. Do you think I'm some kind of psycho?"

  "We all have some of those tendencies, Dani. I think the fact that you reacted the way you did is healthy. It marks you as sane. It's good to question your motives in a situation like this. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Nor does it mean that you should. It's a hard decision we're struggling with here. I think going ahead without understanding all the pros and cons could have dire consequences. Maybe it would even get us killed."

  Dani nodded. "I don't want Marie to think I'm scared to go after him. Or you, either. Or any of our friends."

  "Don't worry about that, Dani. I remember talking with Phillip once about being scared. Being scared is what keeps you alive. Doing what you have to do in the face of danger requires courage, not fearlessness. Fearless is another word for foolhardy. He told me about an old saying from his grandfather. Maybe he told you, too."

  "What old saying?"

  "There are old gunfighters, and there are bold gunfighters, but there are no old, bold gunfighters."

  Dani nodded, sipping her wine. "I get it. But he never mentioned that to me."

  "Because you never told him you were scared, probably. I've never known you to admit to fear, except when you told me about your claustrophobia in that cave at Soufrière a few months ago."

  "I've never told anyone else I was scared, Liz. Not ever. You're the only one."

  "Well, your secret is safe with me, but stay scared. I'd rather you became an old gunfighter."

  "Me, too," Dani said. "What are we going to do?"

  "About Marie and Delaney?"

  "Yes, that."

  "I don't think we need to decide right now," Liz said. "My sense is that we can sail to the Chesapeake Bay without participating directly in Marie's attack on Delaney. She hasn't asked me to be part of that. Did she ask you?"

  "Not straight out, no. We didn't talk about how she planned to carry out her mission," Dani said.

  "Well, I think we should finish our wine and go to sleep," Liz said. "We'll see how we feel after we meet with her and Phillip in the morning. At least then we'll know more about Delaney, and we can certainly ask her about her plans before we sign on to sail to the States."

  "She might not be able to tell us yet," Dani said. "If I were in her position, I'd want to do some recon, maybe even watch him for a while before I made my plans."

  "We'll have to ask her, I guess. Drink up, Dani. It's getting late, and we've still got dishes to wash."

  3

  "Delaney upgraded his security after our friends visited a few months ago," Phillip said, grinning.

  "Didn't he have armed patrols back then?" Liz asked.

  Phillip nodded. "With dogs. Our people used tranquilizer darts on the dogs and the men."

  "How has he upgraded?" Marie asked. "More people?"

  "Yes. He had a dozen men back then. He's tripled the force, but that's not all. He has all the latest sensor technology deployed on his estate."

  "Cameras?" Liz asked.

  "I'm sure," Phillip said. "That's a given. But one of my friends lives near Delaney's place. He watched the comings and goings and got curious. Delaney installed video cameras around the perimeter, but he added infrared surveillance cameras, too. He also put in motion sensors, vibration sensors, listening devices, meshes of infrared laser beams like trip wires — you name it and he's got it. And all with backup power. My friend said it would be easier to infiltrate the White House grounds. You need to catch him outside his perimeter."

  "How does he travel to and from his property?" Marie asked.

  "It depends on where he's going, I guess. He uses a chopper sometimes, but it's usually accompanied by a gunship. And they aren't always the same. Remember, this guy's in the business of renting out private armies. He has access to lots of equipment."

  "How can he get away with that? I mean the gunship escort?" Dani asked.

  Phillip shrugged. "He's a government contractor. He's got the contacts to smooth over most things. Maybe he claims that he's demonstrating his equipment to potential customers.

  "He's not the only one in that neighborhood with reason to be cautious. That sort of activity's not as remarkable in the Washington suburbs as you'd think."

  "Does he always fly?" Marie asked.

  "No. He's got a fleet of armored SUVs, just like the Secret Service uses. And he always uses at least three of them, with heavily armed troops. He usually rides in the middle of the convoy, but at least once, he's used a body double and disguised himself as one of the troops in the escort vehicles."

  "What about his wife?" Liz asked. "Surely she can't live like that."

  "You're right. She left him after our little caper a few months ago."

  "Are they still in touch?" Dani asked.

  Phillip frowned. "I don't know. Why?"

  "Just curious. I was thinking we could snatch her for leverage."

  "Oh. I wouldn't spend much time on that. They're divorced, and it was ugly. Huge alimony payments. He might even be looking to pay somebody to blow her away. From what I remember about him, she should have her own armed security. He's all alone with his money and his military toys now."

  "Maybe he does not even have money," Marie said. "When we questioned Montalba, we learned that Montalba was telling SpecCorp what to do. They were in financial trouble. Their customers are slow to pay, and their payroll is always growing to keep up with the demand for their services. Montalba was funding them and using them to launder money at the same time."

  "Cash-flow problems," Dani said, nodding. "No surprise, in that kind of business."

  Liz nodded. "And his access to Montalba's unlimited dirty money has dried up, right?"

  "Yes," Marie said. "This is so. Both of you know more about finances than I do. This makes him vulnerable, yes?"

  "Unless he has a source of working capital that Montalba didn't know about," Liz said.

  "Which may well be the case," Dani said. "He built that business over several years, didn't he, Phillip?"

  "Yes. The rumor in the Pentagon was that he was running it under the table even before he retired, and that's been five years ago."

  "Do you kn
ow how long Montalba was laundering money through SpecCorp, Marie?" Liz asked.

  "Only for some months. Maybe a year."

  "So Delaney must have other sources of working capital," Liz said.

  "Can we find out who they are?" Marie asked.

  "Maybe," Dani said. "Let me think about that."

  Liz looked at Dani and raised her eyebrows, but Dani shook her head. "I may come up with something. Or not. If he's laundering money, it won't be easy to find out whose it is, but if he's got some legitimate short-term financing arrangements, we might learn something useful. I take it SpecCorp isn't publicly traded."

  "No, it's not," Phillip said. "It's like a lot of the beltway bandits — employee owned, or just plain privately held by a few key executives. It's hard to tell. Everybody there's ex-military, for what that's worth. And not the best of the breed."

  "So, I think we must do more reconnaissance," Marie said. "Perhaps we should go to the area, and I can study the situation on the ground. Will you take me there, Liz? Dani?"

  "We'll at least take you to the Chesapeake and give you food and shelter while you scope things out," Liz said. "I'm speaking for myself, now."

  "That is all I ask, for now," Marie said. "Dani?"

  "I'm with Liz," Dani said.

  "When could we leave?" Marie asked. "It is maybe a ten-day sail, yes?"

  "Give or take a bit," Dani said. "If we get lucky with the weather, it could be a little faster. The direct route's around 1,600 miles of open ocean; the route through the islands is about 2,000 miles, but it gives us more options to hide from late winter storms. We'll have to check on the offshore forecast. Vengeance is ready for sea, but I'm not sure about provisions. Liz?"

  "We could stock up this afternoon," Liz said, "but what about U.S. visas? Don't forget, I have an E.U. passport."

  "I can handle that for you," Marie said. "But we should delay until the day after tomorrow. It will take me a little time to arrange."

  "If there's nothing else, I'll call Sandrine and we can meet her for lunch at the marina restaurant," Phillip said.

  "That would be nice," Marie said. "Thank you, my friends."

  "Dani?" Liz called, as she climbed down the companionway, one arm around a bag of groceries.

  "In the forward cabin," Dani called. "You okay?"

  "Yes. I was just surprised you weren't in sight."

  Dani came into the saloon, wiping her hands on a greasy rag.

  "I thought you were going to go over the engine and electrical system," Liz said, setting the groceries on the galley counter and mounting the ladder again to reach out into the cockpit for another bag.

  "I did. Everything's fine. I decided to exercise the seacocks. I haven't serviced them in a while."

  "Are they okay?" Liz put another bag on the counter and opened one of the food storage lockers in the galley.

  "Yes. The ones in the forward head were a little stiff. I greased them and adjusted them. The others were fine; I gave them a shot of grease for good measure, though. Did you get what you needed?"

  "Yes," Liz said. "Since we've got an extra day, though, I'll check out the fish market in the morning and see what's fresh. Did you hear from Marie or Phillip?"

  "No. Was I supposed to?"

  "I guess not. I'm a little nervous that Marie has my passport."

  "You'll be okay, Liz. She couldn't get a visa for you without it."

  "I know. It's one of those quirks of mine; that's all. How can she turn around a U.S. visa so quickly? Last time I had to apply to the U.S. embassy in Barbados."

  "I don't know. Marie and Clarence have some unusual connections. You know that. Don't worry about it; she works all kinds of magic."

  "Yes, but I've never seen her manipulate a bureaucracy like the U.S. State Department before."

  "She didn't seem to think it would be a problem. You still feel okay about doing this?"

  "Sure. The sailing will be fun. I imagine springtime on the Chesapeake Bay will be nice, too. I've always wanted to cruise the Bay. Think we'll have some free time?"

  "I hope so. I'd like that, too. We'll probably have to stay close to the western shore, though, so she can have easy access to Northern Virginia."

  "That's okay with me. Annapolis and Baltimore both sound interesting."

  "They are. There's lots to see in both places."

  "And I was reading about National Harbor, up the Potomac near Washington. Have you been there?"

  "I've spent time in the area, but that's new since I was in those parts."

  "Would we be able to get Vengeance up the river that far? I haven't looked at the charts."

  "Sure. The Potomac's navigable up to Washington. Ocean-going ships used to make it when I was around; maybe they still do. We may not have time to be tourists, though."

  "I guess that depends on Marie," Liz said. "I suppose she may want us to stay put, like on standby or something."

  "She may. We'll have to see what she comes up with."

  "Do you think she'll have other people involved? I mean, besides us?"

  "She could, depending on what plan she comes up with. Why?"

  "I was just curious, wondering if we'd have more guests aboard." Liz put the last of her groceries away. "Should I make us a cup of tea?"

  "Sure," Dani said. "I could go for that."

  Liz put the kettle on the stove and set out the cups. "I've been curious about something else, Dani."

  "What's that?"

  "You said something this morning about checking on Delaney's finances. What did you have in mind?"

  "I'm still muddling through my options," Dani said, taking a seat at the dining table in the saloon. "I was thinking of the bank."

  Dani's mother was a partner in an investment bank that had been in her family for several generations. Privately held, the bank was an almost invisible powerhouse in the world of Wall Street.

  "Have you been in touch with your mother since we were there?"

  "No, and I'm trying to figure out how to avoid that."

  Dani's mother had been grooming Dani to play a role in the family business. Her mother had almost succeeded in engineering a marriage between Dani and another bank partner's son. Dani had rebelled at that and run away to sea.

  Liz could see that there would be no mending that relationship.

  "Are you thinking somebody else at the bank might help you?" Liz asked.

  Dani shrugged. "No, I was thinking about other contacts from those days — people that weren't part of the family bank. I haven't kept in touch with anybody, though. I'd have to spend some time tracking them down. It might be worthwhile; it might not. For now, I'm just working my way through my memory. I didn't think I'd want to see those people again. They're all scum."

  Liz set a mug of tea on the table in front of Dani, and another across the table. She chuckled as she sat down. "Time hasn't tempered your feelings about investment banking, has it?"

  Dani frowned. "No. That was the worst period of my life."

  "Even worse than that time the soldiers gassed you and Phillip in that cave in Jamaica?"

  "Yes." Dani frowned. "Worse than that by a long way."

  "But you said being trapped in the cave terrified you."

  "I'll take being terrified over dealing with Wall Street slimeballs any day. You can fight back against killers, but those people are like amoebas or something. You can't even kill them. Split their skulls with an ax and you just end up with two of them trying to scam you."

  "Okay! Sounds exciting, Dani. Let's talk about something else."

  Dani nodded. "Like what?"

  "Did you get a chance to look at the weather for our trip?"

  "Just a quick look at the weather fax. It's going to be dicey for the offshore route. If Marie can handle the extra couple of days, we'd be better off going through the Bahamas and riding the Gulf Stream up the coast. If there aren't any cold fronts coming off the east coast, it might even be quicker."

  "Well, we've got tomorrow to take a
closer look," Liz said. "Marie's planning to come aboard late in the afternoon. We should have the options worked out so we can talk with her about the route."

  "Right. We'll do that. That'll get us 24 hours closer for the forecast, too."

  "Should I get started on dinner?" Liz asked. "We should turn in early, so we start out rested. I've got a feeling Marie's going to want to leave tomorrow night."

  "Sorry I forgot; Phillip called. He and Sandrine invited us to dinner. And you're right about Marie."

  "Will she be at dinner?"

  "No. Phillip said she was tying up some loose ends and asked him to let us know she'd like to leave tomorrow afternoon as soon as she gets your visa."

  4

  "We won't get any more cash infusions from him." Delaney leaned back in his swivel chair, his feet on his replica of the president's Resolute desk. He was discussing SpecCorp's cash position with his CFO, one of the few company executives who had no military background. He listened to the man for several seconds, then responded.

  "No, it won't happen. He didn't change his mind; he died, Bill." Delaney rolled his eyes and turned on the speakerphone to free his hands. Picking up a stack of papers, he sorted them while the CFO asked, "Well, what about his heirs, Clayton? Businesses with that kind of turnover don't just collapse because the boss dies."

  Delaney considered how much information he wanted to share. Bill Legrand didn't know the specific source of their recent liquidity.

  "Bill, I hear what you're saying, but this was a situation where normal rules don't apply. I don't want to go into the details. There's no entity left behind that somebody can buy out or take over. This guy was a sole proprietor working out of his hat. You can bet he never wrote things down. It's over. Have you talked to any of your financial contacts about working capital?"

  "No; I didn't want to do that without your specific okay. I have to warn you, once we start that, it's like blood in the water."

  "You mean it'll attract sharks? We're talking banks, here, right? Same thing, aren't they?"

  "Yeah, but… See, the banking community knows this beltway-bandit business pretty well. All government contractors have this kind of cash flow problem. I've been through this before in other places; you know that."