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

by Charles Dougherty

  "That is good. I do not know about dinner ashore. I think we must see how tired everyone is when we arrive, yes?"

  "Sure," Dani said. "I only meant that we should be settled in our slip by late afternoon. We can do whatever you want."

  Marie nodded, staring off at the horizon for several seconds.

  "What's on your mind?" Dani asked.

  "How well do you know this cousin of Connie's?" Marie turned to look at Dani.

  "I only know what she and Paul have shared with us. Why?"

  "You have not met him, then? This Leon Contreras?"

  "No. Even Connie hasn't met him. Why do you ask?"

  "Do not take this wrong," Marie said, "but this worries me. He knows about our plan, yes? Connie has told him what we are doing?"

  "I don't know. I doubt it. Why?"

  "I am always thinking about plans and what could go wrong. This man works for the DEA?"

  "As best Connie and Paul know, he runs a small, off-the-books, super-secret group. He reports to someone at a high level in the government. They don't know where his group fits in, but it might not even be the DEA. It was set up to begin with because there were leaks that compromised critical investigations, they think. Don't worry; he's legitimate.

  "Leon's proven himself with them several times. He has access to information and resources that Paul's old contacts on the Joint Terrorism Task Force can only dream about. Relax; he's okay.

  "Your secret's safe, even if Connie's told him. And I doubt she has. Ask her, if you'd like. She should be calling soon."

  Marie nodded and turned to take the tray of salads that Liz passed up through the companionway. She and Liz finished setting the table, and Dani engaged the autopilot.

  As they sat down to eat, Liz asked, "Where's the frown coming from, Marie?"

  Marie turned toward her, giving her a forced smile. "I am worrying about all the things that must not go wrong. It is the way I work on missions like this one. I was asking Dani about Connie's cousin, and how much we can trust him."

  "He has a perfect track record with us," Liz said.

  "This is what Dani was telling me. I have no reason for my worry. But I must always test these things, you see."

  "I understand. You should talk with Connie about it when she calls if that would ease your mind."

  "I will do this. Now, we will enjoy your wonderful salad. Do not be worried by me. This is my way to be sure I have thought of everything, yes?"

  "I don't blame you," Dani said. "We're in this with you. Please, be as cautious as you know how to be."

  "Yes, I will. Everything, it will be okay. I will ask Connie, though, if you think it will not upset her."

  "I'm sure it won't," Liz said. "She'll under — "

  The ringing of the satellite phone interrupted her. She picked it up, glanced at the caller ID, and accepted Connie's call. "I swear you're psychic, Connie. This is twice now that you've called when we were talking about you."

  "I'm not psychic. It's just that you're predictable. I've cracked the secret to your watch schedule. You rotate four-on, four-off, and stagger it so you have lunch and dinner together. And you knew I would be calling about now, so it's not surprising that you might be talking about me. What's for lunch today, anyway?"

  "Warm seafood salad," Marie said.

  "Yum! Wish I were there," Paul said.

  "That would be nice, if you both were with us," Marie said. "I have wanted to ask you something, Connie. I hope you will not take offense, but I must ask."

  "Go ahead," Connie said. "We won't be upset. What's on your mind?"

  "About your cousin," Marie said. "How much have you told him about our mission?"

  "That's a fair question," Connie said. "You have every right to ask that. And to answer you, we haven't told him anything."

  "But he knew about this lawyer, Lucas, yes?"

  "He knew about Lucas independently from us. He mentioned that the same SpecCorp people who were asking about me and Dani and Liz were asking about a lawyer in Miami named Lucas. I told you that the last time we spoke, didn't I?"

  "Ah, yes. You are right. I get myself confused, sometimes. Thank you for being patient."

  "It's all right. There's a lot happening. Is that what you wanted to ask?"

  "Yes, I was worried that too many people might know. So this is why I asked if you discussed my mission with your cousin."

  "Well, we haven't told him," Connie said. "But Paul and I have been talking about that. We know that he was aware that someone in the U.S. government gave the order to eliminate Montalba."

  "He told you this?" Marie asked, the inflection of her voice rising.

  "Not in so many words," Paul said. "But it was clear from his reaction to Montalba's death. He knew it would happen, and he knew Montalba had been captured and interrogated without our telling him."

  "Now, keep this just among ourselves," Connie said. "Paul and I wondered if my cousin was part of that decision. We're not about to ask, and I wouldn't mention it even to you three, except for your question."

  "I don't understand why Marie's question prompted you to tell us that, Connie," Liz said.

  "Because we think Leon may know already."

  "Know?" Dani asked, watching the expressions flickering across Marie's face as she tried to parse what she was hearing.

  "About this current mission," Connie said. "We've picked up enough odd little references in our dealings with him to wonder if he might even be in a position to give orders like that."

  "Whoa!" Dani said. "I didn't see that one coming. You really think so?"

  "We don't know," Paul said. "But somebody in his chain of command makes those decisions. If he's not the one, he probably reports to the one who does."

  "Back to your question, Marie," Connie said. "We haven't told him, and he wouldn't ask. But if he did, we wouldn't answer. I brought this up in case it comes out that he does know about what you're doing. You understand?"

  "Yes. I think I do not wish to know more. I am satisfied, and I do not like to guess about things like this. It is not good. Thank you again for helping me with my pointless worry."

  "It's not pointless," Paul said. "Ask us whatever you wish."

  "Thank you," Marie said, again.

  "Okay," Connie said. "Speaking of my cousin, we do have more information from him. We told you his people had tapped into SpecCorp's surveillance on Walter Lucas, but we didn't know they were also monitoring the SpecCorp people. Or at least their communications back to their boss."

  "And what have they learned?" Marie asked.

  "First, Lucas — don't be alarmed by this, Marie — there's more to come, okay?"

  "Okay, I am ready."

  "Lucas went to see Delaney to warn him that someone put out a contract on him. Afterward, Lucas was recorded leaving a message in a one-time-use voicemail drop. It was a report, apparently to the person who hired him to go to Delaney. From the recording, it appears that he was told to make Delaney think the message was coming from O'Toole. Remember him?"

  "Yes," Liz said. "We were talking about him a little while ago."

  "Now, this is strange," Connie said, "but at the same time he implicated O'Toole, Lucas denied that he was working for him. This doesn't make sense to us. And there was a hint that a woman sent the message, although Lucas wasn't sure Delaney caught that reference. Lucas said something about how he may need to reinforce that, if Delaney missed it."

  "Is there a way we can hear the whole message?" Marie asked.

  "Sure. We'll email the audio file to you. My cousin asked us to do that, and he'd like to hear any reactions you have."

  "I understand," Marie said. "You have more?"

  "We told you that my cousin suspects that Lucas has a source within the DEA? And the DEA higher-ups think there may be leaks?"

  "Yes. Are you saying this is how Lucas learned about the contract?" Dani asked.

  "No. But it's possible that a rival wants Delaney dead. There are rumors to that effect i
n the DEA. That could be who Lucas is working with — the rival. Or, he could have picked up the rumor from his DEA contact and then decided to use it to benefit whoever he's working for. My cousin's view is that Lucas's client may not be behind the other contract."

  "That's one more reason we think her cousin is involved with the people who make those decisions," Paul said. "The other thing we wanted to let you know is that I heard back from my old partner at MPD about Lucas."

  "Luke Pantene," Marie said. "And what did he say?"

  "Lucas is dirty, but he's a small-time operator. Pantene said he's an errand boy for several hotshot drug lawyers. And he confirmed that Lucas is rumored to have an inside track at DEA, which accounts for his value to the bad guys."

  "Okay. Anything else we should know?" Dani asked.

  "That's it for now," Connie said. "You still think you'll be in Annapolis tomorrow night?"

  "Late afternoon, if the wind holds," Dani said. "But we'll probably have to motor up the Bay anyway, so we should be there well before the cocktail hour."

  "Good for you," Paul said. "Stay safe."

  "Will do. Thanks for the update, and we'll talk tomorrow," Liz said, disconnecting the call.

  "What do you have for me, Larry?" Delaney was on the telephone with Larry Thompson, his intelligence officer.

  "Feedback from Andrew Kilpatrick," Thompson said.

  "Who the hell's Andrew Kilpatrick?"

  "Sorry. He's the lawyer we hired to sneak messages to and from O'Toole. Thought I told you his name."

  "I don't know. Maybe I didn't catch it. He went to see O'Toole yesterday?"

  "Yes. He'll email the details to us, but I figured you'd want a preliminary report."

  "Damn right. What did he get?"

  "He thinks O'Toole's playing straight, for the moment."

  "For the moment?"

  "Yeah. O'Toole wants something, so Kilpatrick figures he'll level with us as long as he thinks there's a payoff."

  "What's O'Toole want?"

  "Kilpatrick's reading between the lines, here, you understand? He's missing a lot of background."

  "Okay. You trying to tell me he doesn't know what O'Toole wants?"

  "Yeah. He doesn't know, so he's doing his best to interpret O'Toole's comments, but he's not really equipped. That's by design, on our part. We haven't told him much. Apparently, O'Toole was cagey, too."

  "You're trying my patience, Larry. Spit it out. What happened? What did O'Toole say?"

  "Something about a favor that somebody did for mutual friends of yours and O'Toole's, a man and a woman. Kilpatrick was clueless about what O'Toole was talking about, but he said O'Toole put a lot of emphasis on it, going over the same ground in different words a couple or three times. And O'Toole said it looked like the favor backfired on the recipients, which he thought was shitty."

  "He must have been talking about how we sprung the Montalbas."

  "Yeah, that's where I come out, too."

  "But I don't get the backfired part," Delaney said.

  "He's gotta be referring to their deaths."

  "I guess so, but I don't get the significance of the comment about it being shitty." Delaney shrugged. "Anyway, do you think he's fishing for us to bust him out of the pen?"

  "That crossed my mind," Thompson said.

  "I halfway expected that."

  "Yeah, me too, Clayton."

  "That's a whole different ballgame from freeing the Montalbas," Delaney said.

  "No shit," Thompson said. "Ambushing a couple of vehicles transporting prisoners is one thing. Breaking somebody out of a maximum-security prison is on a different scale entirely."

  "O'Toole's got to be desperate," Delaney said. "But Montalba lived his whole life on the run, in hiding. Once he was loose, he knew what to do. Even if we could get O'Toole out, where would he go?"

  "He might cope," Thompson said. "Bastard must have more money than God, with all the schemes he had going. He'd been at it for what, 30, 40 years?"

  "Yeah. Money wouldn't be his problem. I don't think he could stay out of the limelight. Too much of a showman. He's not wired for a life in the shadows like Montalba was. O'Toole has to be center stage. But it wouldn't surprise me if he wants us to bust him out. Did Kilpatrick get anything else out of him?"

  "Yeah, more on that same subject. O'Toole let on like he thought whoever did the favor for the mutual friends double-crossed them."

  "He what?!"

  "You heard me right. I had the same reaction, Clayton."

  "You think maybe Kilpatrick misunderstood something?"

  "No. That could be, but I think O'Toole was sending a signal that he thinks we killed the Montalbas. That fits all the bullshit he fed Kilpatrick. And it explains why he said the way the favor backfired on the Montalbas was shitty."

  "Why would he think we killed them?"

  "He said the mutual friends may have known too much for their own good."

  "They knew too much about O'Toole. That's for sure," Delaney said.

  "And he admitted that to Kilpatrick. He said he understood why what happened had to happen."

  "Jesus, Larry. All this cryptic shit's giving me a headache. Can you put it in plain English for me?"

  "Yeah. I might not have it exactly right, but I'll give it a try. Before I do, though, there's one more thing. O'Toole said that unlike the people who got double-crossed, his interest exactly matched the interests of the mutual friend who did the double-cross."

  Delaney cradled his head in his hands, his elbows on his desk. He peered through his fingers at Thompson. "Plain English, Larry."

  "Okay, here goes. O'Toole is trying to send you a message. He thinks you had the Montalbas sprung and then killed them to keep them quiet. He thinks it was shitty, but he's okay with it because they could have done him as much damage as they could have done to you. With me so far?"

  "Yeah, that would even make sense, if it were true. What's the rest of it mean?"

  "O'Toole wants out. He's telling you he knows as much about you as Montalba did, and if you set him free, he'll keep quiet."

  "How the hell did you dig that out of the pile of crap you got from the lawyer?"

  "I asked the lawyer a lot of questions about O'Toole's body language, his tone of voice, what the lawyer thought he was trying to say. And I've had more time to work my way through it all. Plus, this is what I do. It's intel integration. You take all the little bits and pieces and see how they fit into a bunch of different scenarios. The scenario that best accommodates the most pieces is the most likely one. It's more art than science."

  "How sure are you of this?" Delaney asked.

  Thompson shrugged. "It's the best fit with what we know. And if I were O'Toole, I'd figure it was my best shot."

  "So you think he's threatening to spill his guts about SpecCorp if we don't bust him out of the pen?"

  "Yeah, pretty much."

  "But if he talks, that'll make him look as bad as it makes me look, Larry."

  Thompson nodded. "Yep. But he's already as badly screwed as he can get. He's got nothing to lose and everything to gain by playing that hand."

  "Montalba was right; O'Toole needs to die," Delaney said.

  "Maybe," Thompson said.

  "Maybe? Why maybe?"

  "He told Kilpatrick he had life insurance, so he was worth more to you alive than dead."

  "And that means?" Delaney asked.

  "He's probably got a bunch of records in the hands of somebody he trusts to release them if anything suspicious happens to him."

  "Shit," Delaney said.

  "Yeah, I hear you, Clayton."

  "This is your kind of game, Larry. What should I do next?"

  "We need to take a little while to digest this. O'Toole's not going anywhere. Then we can send Kilpatrick back in. He thinks he can work with O'Toole."

  "You think we can trust Kilpatrick?"

  "Not a hundred percent, but I think he's usable. My first idea is that we should have him tell O'Toole the
word on the street is that somebody's put out a contract on you. We'll see how O'Toole reacts. If nothing else, it'll sandbag him, keep him quiet while he thinks that over. Maybe we even ask him to see if he can find out who's behind it."

  "But he's cut off. I thought he had no communications with anybody outside."

  "So we heard. This is a way to see if that's true. Or, now that we've got our hands around things, it might show who else O'Toole is whispering with. What do you think?"

  "Do it," Delaney said. "Any word on who that woman is?"

  "We're working on it. The team that stole the yacht and wired it is deployed in Syria, so it's a little tough to talk with them."

  "Bring 'em back, if you need to."

  "That's my last choice, for several reasons. Besides, I think we'll have something in the next 24 hours. We've asked them the question. We just need to wait for their next uplink. I should go give Kilpatrick his marching orders."

  "Yeah, okay. Thanks, Larry."

  16

  "At least we got to sail part of the way up the Bay," Liz said. She and Dani and Marie were lounging on Vengeance's foredeck.

  When they passed the mouth of the Potomac, they lost the wind. Forced to use the engine, they turned on the autopilot and moved to the foredeck to escape the droning of the diesel.

  "Well, at least we've got a favorable current to help us up the Bay," Dani said. "We'll be in Annapolis in another couple of hours. Want dinner ashore? I've got a craving for soft-shell crabs."

  "Sure," Marie said. "But I don't know this crab. It has a soft shell?"

  "They're blue crabs, common along this coast," Dani said. "When the watermen are emptying their pots, they set aside the crabs that are about to molt. They put them in a special tank. When the crabs lose their old shells, there's a period of several hours before the new one forms and hardens. They ice down the crab as soon as they spot that it's lost the old shell. Then they ship it to market."

  "I've been reading about them," Liz said. "And Connie and Paul mentioned them. They're a local delicacy. I'm up for dinner out. How about you, Marie?"

  "I will be happy to go with you. I am not sure about this crab, though. I will see. About Connie and Paul, I am curious that they have not called today."