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

by Charles Dougherty

  "Yeah. And my bet is she's expecting to waste me when I show up at the target ship. Remember what Lucas said? She's gotta be the woman he said was leading the hit team."

  "You think she will even be there, if it's an ambush?" Thompson asked.

  Delaney shrugged. "The stakes are high; you said it. She'll be there."

  "So how do you want to play this?" Thompson asked. "Are you really going in a chopper?"

  "Yeah, but we need a decoy to go in first, and I want people out there ASAP to check things out."

  "That's not a problem; they can pretend to be fishing," Thompson said. "Lots of people fish in the shallows around the wreck."

  "We'll need to clean up after ourselves," Delaney said. "She's not going to be alone, but I'm not interested in capturing anybody but her. Whoever's with her dies, and we can't leave bodies around."

  "Right," Thompson said. "Should I go put all that together?"

  "Yeah. Call me when you're ready to brief me."

  25

  "Who's she talking to?" Dani asked.

  "I don't know," Liz said.

  Dani and Liz were in the cockpit, drinking coffee after the call to Delaney. Marie had shut herself in the forward cabin with her cellphone.

  "We need to be working on our plan for the evening," Dani said. "Delaney's not going to just step off his helicopter and let Marie shoot him."

  "Dani, relax. This is Marie's business. We're just driving the boat, remember?"

  "Yes, but she's too casual about it; this guy's a pro, Liz."

  "So's Marie. Look. What do you think Delaney will do?"

  "He's probably got people on their way to the target ship already. They'll stake it out, be watching for us to get there," Dani said. "Even if we leave now, we're too late to set up any surprises for him."

  "But he thinks he's coming for a meeting," Liz said. "You worry that he suspects something more?"

  "Yes. If I were Delaney, I'd plan to overpower Connie and make sure I got my money back, and those recordings, too."

  "But what about future business? He's looking for a long-term partnership. He doesn't know we're planning to kill him."

  "That's why he'll want to take us alive," Dani said. "He wants to be in control; guys like him always do."

  "Are you worried that we'll end up as his hostages? Until we give him his money and turn over the recordings?"

  "That would make sense, from his point of view. He won't think we're naïve enough to bring the recordings. And he'll need us alive to transfer the money. He won't expect us to have $56 million in cash."

  "Is there more coffee?" Marie asked, stepping from the companionway into the cockpit.

  "Yes," Liz said, filling a mug and handing it to her.

  Marie sat down across the cockpit table from Dani and Liz. "Forgive me for disappearing, but I had to check on a few details."

  "We should make our plans for this evening," Dani said.

  "It is all in hand," Marie said. "We leave here in the speedboat, say after dinner?"

  "That doesn't give us much time on site to prepare," Dani said.

  "The preparation, it is done."

  "But we need flares and a trip wire on the deck," Dani said. "We'll want to light it by remote control, in case Delaney decides to rake the landing zone with automatic weapons fire or something."

  "He will not do that," Marie said. "Delaney will want Connie alive and unhurt. He expects to do business with her later."

  "What about weapons for us?"

  "Weapons were delivered. I arranged these things last night.

  "But where are they, then?" Dani asked.

  "Aboard the wreck," Marie said. "And the flares, as well. You will be happy that they are remotely controlled, even as you suggested. I will call a certain number from my cellphone, and the flares will light the foredeck of the wreck."

  "You've already done this?" Dani asked.

  "Yes. Last night. By now, it is too late. Delaney's people will be watching, yes?"

  Dani nodded. "If not now, then soon."

  "Yes. So, we will want them to report our arrival to Delaney. You told him we would find a landing zone for him, so we will get there two hours early. This will not surprise him. Three unarmed women in a small boat. He has nothing to fear, yes?"

  Dani grinned. "I like it, so far. He'll step out of the helicopter and you'll nail him from the shadows, but what about the helicopter?"

  "Yes?" Marie asked.

  "Won't they cover him from the chopper?" Dani asked.

  "Maybe so," Marie said. "If they cause a problem, we will use the Stinger. You have seen the Stinger before?"

  "Yes," Dani said. "There's a Stinger on the wreck?"

  Marie smiled and nodded. "Yes, it is there."

  "What's a Stinger?" Liz asked.

  "A shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile," Dani said. "Perfect to take out a chopper."

  "You have used the Stinger before, yes?" Marie asked.

  "Yes. Is there only one?" Dani asked. "You said he had a gunship for an escort."

  "Do not worry so, Dani. We have others. It is under control. This is what I do." Marie frowned. "Okay. Dani, you will take the Stingers. There are M4s for you and Liz, and I will use a Barrett .50 caliber sniper's rifle with a night scope. You are satisfied, now?"

  "Yes, thanks for explaining."

  "What should we do with the rest of our day?" Liz asked.

  "We should have an early lunch at the marina restaurant and then go to sleep," Marie said. "This will be a busy night."

  "Where are the weapons?" Dani asked, as soon as the three of them had entered the wreck of the American Mariner.

  "Relax, Dani," Liz said. "We have two hours before showtime."

  "They might be early," Dani said.

  "Come," Marie said, holding her smartphone and looking at the screen. "There is a tracker with the weapons. Follow me."

  After leading them through several yards of jumbled, rusted steel, Marie paused. Turning on her flashlight, she swept their surroundings.

  "There," she said, pointing at a large, watertight case with a combination padlock.

  She approached the case and bent to open the lock, positioning her light where it would illuminate the area. She opened the case and handed M4s to Dani and Liz. "We must each carry a Stinger; they are heavy. We will leave them in the shadow of the superstructure on the main deck, along with our other weapons."

  Seeing Dani's frown, she smiled. "Don't worry, Dani. We must pretend to put the flares in place; Delaney has people watching. We do not want them to see that we are armed. Once we've done that, we will go back into the shadows and wait with the weapons."

  "Okay," Dani said, "that makes sense."

  Dani stuck her right arm through the sling of the M4, shifting it to hang behind her shoulder. She took the Stinger that Marie held for her. Liz slung her weapon, and Marie handed her a Stinger, bending to pick up the last one herself.

  "Ready?" she asked.

  "You mentioned earpiece radios," Dani said.

  Marie smiled and showed Dani a small canvas bag. "I will check them and give you each one when we have cached our weapons. Let's get to the main deck."

  Marie slung the Barrett sniper's rifle over her right shoulder and cradled the Stinger in her left arm, the bag with the radios dangling from her left hand. Holding the flashlight in her right hand, she picked her way through the wreckage. After several yards, she paused and beamed the light up a twisted set of stairs that led to the main deck.

  "They look okay, but we will go one at a time to be safe," she said. When Dani and Liz nodded, Marie mounted the stairs, turning off her light and feeling her way.

  "I am clear," she called, in a few seconds.

  Liz went up, and then Dani followed when Liz announced she was on deck.

  "This is a good place," Marie said, when they joined her. "The forward deck is through that opening. Stash your weapons here."

  She waited while Dani and Liz dropped their gear. Step
ping out onto the open deck, she turned on the flashlight again, leading them to the bow. "Okay," she said, stopping a few feet from the bow rail and pointing to the flares concealed by the railing. "I'll go back and get the radios working. Liz, take the port side, Dani, the starboard. Pretend to be putting the flares in place. Take 30 seconds for each one and then meet me back at our weapons cache."

  Three minutes later, Dani and Liz went back into the superstructure and found Marie sitting on the deck, her back against a bulkhead. She was speaking softly into the throat mic attached to a tiny earpiece radio. She held two more in her hand.

  Dani and Liz sat down next to one another, across from Marie. She gave a radio to each of them, and they put them on. Exchanging calls, they verified that the radios worked.

  "We should not need them unless something goes wrong," Marie said. "Here is what I want to do, now that we are in place. First, Delaney will call on the satellite phone." She looked at Dani, who brandished the phone.

  "It's powered on," Dani said.

  "Good," Marie said. "You will take the call, so he recognizes your voice. When he tells you, I will use my phone to trigger the flares. Then I will go out to the center of the bow deck to wait for him. I have a concealed pistol, but you will stay in the shadows and cover me, okay?"

  "Wait," Dani said. "Why not just blow him away right then?"

  "I wish to capture him if it is possible."

  "But I thought you were going to kill him."

  "Yes. But first, we want to question him. Our client wishes to know which other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee may be corrupt. Delaney can answer this."

  "Will you question him here?" Liz asked.

  "No. If we are able to capture him, I will call in an extraction team to take him elsewhere."

  "How long will we have to hold him before they arrive?" Liz asked.

  "No more than five minutes."

  "You have people standing by, then?" Dani asked.

  "Yes. Do not worry about this. This is the best case, but not the most likely."

  "But if you capture him, what about the people in his helicopter?" Liz asked. "Won't they try to defend him?"

  "And you said he had a gunship escort, usually," Dani said, before Marie could answer Liz.

  Marie nodded. "This is why we have the Stingers and the earpiece radios. What will happen in the ideal situation is that the helicopter will hover and Delaney will step off. Then the helicopter will lift off a few yards and wait, covering me and Delaney with their door gun. I will say 'nice chopper.' Dani, that is your signal to shoot it down. When you do, I expect the gunship to appear, and then you will use a second Stinger. So have both ready. The third one is an extra, in case it is needed. Then, I summon the extraction team, they take Delaney, and we go home, okay?"

  "Yes, but that sounds optimistic," Dani said.

  "As I said, this would be the ideal situation. Probably it will not happen this way. Maybe Delaney will come off the helicopter with an armed escort detail, ready for trouble. In that case, Liz, you will shoot his escorts at once. Dani, you will take out the first helicopter and then help Liz. I will be trying to take Delaney alive in this case, but I will probably have to wound him. Dani will take out the gunship when it appears. Something like this is more likely what will happen. You are both okay with this? I can have people from the extraction team to take your places if you wish." She looked at her watch. "We still have time to make the switch, but not much."

  "No way," Dani said. "I'm in."

  "Liz?" Marie asked. "You have reservations?"

  "Not in a firefight, I don't. I didn't like the idea of shooting an unsuspecting man in the back, but I'm okay with this."

  Marie nodded. "Okay, then. This is good. Nothing ever goes according to plan, so listen to me on the radios, yes?"

  They both nodded their agreement.

  "We have about 35 minutes before Delaney arrives," Marie said. "I suggest we let our eyes become accustomed to the dark and relax until he calls. I may sleep, but do not worry, the phone will awaken me." She closed her eyes and was soon snoring softly, her head resting against the bulkhead.

  Liz leaned over and cupped Dani's ear. "I can't believe she can fall asleep like that," she whispered.

  Dani shrugged. "Combat veterans often do that. Phillip does. Being well rested is a big advantage in a fight. They learn to sleep when they can, even if it's only for a few minutes."

  Liz nodded, and they leaned back against the bulkhead to wait for Delaney's arrival.

  26

  "Okay, Larry. What's the latest from the target ship?" Delaney asked.

  He and Larry Thompson sat at a conference table with eight other men. They wore black utility uniforms without insignia. Two of the men were the pilot and copilot/gunner from the Viper gunship. The other six were the crew for a Blackhawk, which would carry Delaney and Thompson.

  Thompson cleared his throat. "The surveillance party reports that three women arrived at the target ship in a small boat with twin outboards at 22:07. They secured the boat on the east side of the target ship and climbed aboard. They carried no visible weapons, but they could have small arms concealed on their persons.

  "The surveillance party reports good visibility at the target ship. There's illumination from a half moon and ambient light. Seas are calm. There are no vessels nearby except our surveillance vessel and the boat the women brought.

  "The women went into a hole in the side of the wreck. Three minutes later they emerged from the superstructure and made their way to the bow. They were using flashlights and appeared to be lashing things to the railings around the bow. After five minutes, they turned off the lights and went back into the shadow of the superstructure. That's the report from the team."

  "Okay, thanks," Delaney said. "Questions?"

  The men around the table shook their heads, and Thompson spoke again. "Based on the telephone conversation you had with Barrera, I figure they were securing flares to the railing to mark a landing zone. The surveillance team concurred with that assessment."

  "Good," Delaney said. "Our mission is to capture the women alive and bring them back here for further processing. Even though surveillance didn't report weapons, you should consider the women armed and dangerous. We believe the leader is Connie Barrera, a high-ranking member — maybe the boss — of a drug cartel. She's a known killer, so be careful with her. We aren't sure who the others are, but you should assume they're as dangerous as Barrera.

  "It's critical to our survival as a business that we bring Barrera back alive and unharmed. We don't know which woman is Barrera. That means we need to capture all three. Treat them with respect, but don't drop your guard with any of them, no matter what they say or do. Do not underestimate them because they're women. Barrera is young and pretty. This is a recent picture of her, but she may have altered her appearance."

  He passed out copies of a headshot. The men studied the photos. Several let out wolf whistles.

  "Knock that off. She's a powerful, dangerous woman. She's attractive, but that just makes her more dangerous. Treat her with respect. There's a chance she may buy an interest in SpecCorp. That would make her your boss. She could be any of the three, so treat them accordingly.

  "You're familiar with the target ship, so I won't cover terrain unless you have specific questions. You heard Larry's briefing on intel.

  "Our flying time will be 30 minutes. I'll call Barrera when we're one minute out. She's agreed to illuminate our landing zone with flares. Once the flares are lit, the Viper will make a strafing run. The purpose is shock and awe — not damage to the target. Use your 20-millimeter cannon with tracers and keep the impact at or near the waterline of the target ship. Stick to the west side — one run from bow to stern. Do not damage their boat even if they have moved it to the west side.

  "I've told Barrera that you will drop me, and that she and I will have a brief meeting, after which the Blackhawk will pick me up and the women will leave in their boat. Don'
t do anything to make them think we have changed those plans.

  "I'll approach in the Blackhawk with Larry. After the Viper's strafing run, I will use the loudhailer and instruct the women to move to the landing zone and stand with their hands in the air facing us. The Viper will hover and keep a spotlight on the women while the Blackhawk lands. The door gunner in the Blackhawk will cover the women. Using the loudhailer, I will order them to approach in single file, Barrera first. The rest of the Blackhawk crew will help the women aboard and search them for weapons. We'll bring them aboard and search them one at a time. I'll warn you again, they're dangerous, and I don't want them pissed off. Be professional when you search them. We're looking for handguns or fighting knives, not contraband. This isn't a strip search. Try copping a feel and you'll be sorry, I promise. Got it?"

  Delaney locked eyes with each man, waiting for his acknowledgement before moving to the next. "Okay," he said. "Once they're aboard, we're bringing them back here.

  "I'm in command, Thompson's second. If we're disabled, the pilots know what to do. Communications will be per our usual protocol. Questions?"

  The pilot of the Viper spoke. "What about their boat? You said not to damage it, but what happens if they decide to make a run for it, somehow? Should we grease 'em?"

  "Negative," Delaney said. "Good question, but the surveillance team is on an 11-meter Rigid Hull Inflatable with a machine gun. We picked it to pass for a range patrol boat, just in case. Once we're on scene with the choppers, they'll switch roles. They have orders to detain anybody who tries to leave the target ship by any means. Okay?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Good," Delaney said. "Anything else?"

  There were no further questions, and Delaney said, "We're leaving the helipad at 23:30. Be aboard and in your places by 23:25. Dismissed."

  Larry Thompson stayed seated. After the others left, he said, "Bringing back all three women, huh? Little change of plans."

  "Yeah. I wasn't expecting two other women. I figured she'd have backup, but I was expecting men. Sexist of me, I know." Delaney shrugged and grinned. "We could have wasted men, but we can't take the risk of picking the wrong woman and killing Barrera. It's not a big deal. Once we get the recordings and confirmation of the money in our account, we'll kill the three of them and get rid of the bodies. Your surveillance team will ditch their boat, right?"