by Josh Karnes
Chapter 26
Isla de Vieques, Puerto Rico
Yesterday afternoon, after sending the Grady family on their way, Ray Ortiz began looking into Isla Roca while Special Agent Morales worked with Lieutenant Ramos to ramp up the search effort, coordinating with other police departments in the area. While Ortiz had the distinct impression that James Grady was hiding something, he didn't truly think he had anything to do with his son's disappearance. On the other hand, the boy possibly disappearing just off the coast of an island owned by the U.S. Government was too perfect a coincidence to ignore.
Puerto Rico had a long history of conflict with the U.S. Government with regard to their ownership and operations on the small islands in the area. Vieques, in fact, had only less than two decades earlier experienced an incident where a civilian was killed in a Navy operation near the live fire range that once was operated there. This event had sparked major protests and eventually the Navy moved their operation off of Vieques. All of Culebra had been taken over by the U.S. Military during half of the 20th century, used for exercises and live fire. Reports of materiel and equipment left from these old days abound, including unexploded bombs and rumors of experimental weapons. Toxins such as heavy metals are reported to pollute the land and plant life since the U.S. Military have left, and many blame them for it. There remains a great mistrust of the U.S. Government operations, particularly the military, in much of Puerto Rico.
Ortiz grew up in Puerto Rico and could not escape learning this same suspicion as a way of life. The irony that he now worked as an agent for the very same U.S. Government that engendered so much mistrust did not escape him. Ray Ortiz was a patriot and a true believer in his cause as an agent of the FBI. But he knew all too well that corruption and deception were not absent from his employer. Physical evidence of such abounds in Puerto Rico.
Ortiz discovered that Isla Roca as it was now known, formerly Cayo Oeste, is a very small island just northwest of Culebra and closest to El Pliegue. The island has a fresh water supply but is otherwise too small to support significant habitation and has never had supporting infrastructure or agriculture. Just as James Grady had reported, the island is owned by the U.S. Government, although it was twelve years into a thirty-year lease to a defense contractor from Virginia, Thermion. What had been built there seemed to be veiled in secrecy. Even with the FBI's resources, Ortiz had not been able to find the answers.
Satellite photos indicated a sizable compound had been built on the island, as well as what looked like evidence of serious excavation. Nearly the entire coast of the island is rock, with only a very small beach area and one pier where small craft are docked. There was no indication that shuttle service was provided on the island to get personnel from an inhabited area such as Culebra to and from the island, so Ortiz assumed that the personnel must live on the island in some barracks. The compound was certainly large enough to support this.
Ortiz found records of a weekly supply delivery by boat to Isla Roca, which included not only food and other human necessities but also unspecified equipment and so-called “scientific materials”.
All of this information, as incomplete as it was, only served to make Ray Ortiz even more curious, almost suspicious, of what was happening at Isla Roca. Popping in for an unannounced visit was definitely on his agenda.
“After they left yesterday, I show all three of them huddled around the marina area. No specific detail on movement. They exchanged a few text messages with each other, I presume coordinating whatever they were doing or meeting up. Looks like mom and Eli were moving around more than Mark and James. They were in the area until evening, went back to their hotel, didn't move after that,” Special Agent Morales reported.
“Probably figured maybe they would catch wind of Joey, looked around for clues, had dinner at a waterside restaurant, called it a night,” Ortiz speculated. “No calls?”
“No calls. I pulled their logs starting when they arrived at San Juan. It all squares exactly with the story they told us. Only calls were to one another. Only thing that's mildly out of the ordinary is that it looks like after Melissa called James yesterday from the police station to tell him to come back, James and the boys kept on moving out towards El Pliegue. They parked there for about ten minutes then made a beeline back.” Is that interesting? Ortiz thought. He decided it wasn't. The smallest of mutinies. They were already en route when James got the call, so they just finished their mission before returning. After all, what good investigation didn't start where the missing person was last seen?
“Anything else interesting?” Ortiz probed, halfheartedly. Allison Morales was a crack investigator. An excellent agent. He knew she would get everything right and make the right decisions about what information to share and what was irrelevant. But Ortiz was in charge of this investigation, so he had to ask.
“Not from the data record. Fajardo region were already spinning up by the time we got here yesterday, they are combing through right now. They should be in the bird by now too,” Morales said, referring to a search effort the local police were engaging with a helicopter over the beaches and open water. “Ramos is itching about whether to call in DEA, BATF, or even the Coast Guard. I told him to hold off for now, but if we still have nothing by tomorrow, I think we have to bring them all in.”
Ortiz knew she was right, and also that Ramos was right to be thinking about this. He, himself had considered the drug angle, because on these islands off the edge of Puerto Rico, missing people and drug money go hand in hand. But the Gradys sure didn't seem to be the type. Guns? It's possible. They were from Texas after all. But kind of far fetched. Bringing in DEA and BATF would only muddy the waters now. Ortiz hunch was that it wasn't drugs or guns. The Coast Guard, on the other hand, was an intriguing idea. If the kid was lost in the water, they had the best chance of finding him. But to call in the Coast Guard would require bringing in the rest of the Feds first, and Ortiz was not quite ready to that. Between the San Juan FBI office and the Fajardo region police, they had plenty of boats and choppers. They'd manage for another sixteen hours without bringing in the big guns. Right now it was best to keep a lid on it.
Plus, Ortiz considered, he needed to see what was happening with the guys on Isla Roca before Uncle heard the alarm. That's a defense contractor operating out there, and Homeland would almost definitely shut them out of investigating Thermion's connection with this as soon as they caught wind of it. Right now, that information was under his control. Once DEA, BATF and the Coast Guard were called in, definitely some Senate committee honchos, the DIA, DHS and everyone from the national security advisor on down would know that the little San Juan FBI was poking around where they didn't belong. If there were answers on Isla Roca, Ortiz had to get them before word got out. He had a day, max.
“You okay keeping the hunt going with Ramos? There's one angle I want to run down myself,” Ortiz said.
“I think I can handle it. Ramos is a good cop and he's doing most of the legwork with the rest of the Fajardo region guys. I'll keep an eye on the family. It's the island, right?” Morales guessed.
“Look, let's keep a tight lid on this for now. It's probably just a coincidence that the kid went missing near a U.S. Government property, but I want to rule it out before this goes up the chain and they close down that angle,” Ortiz explained.
“Homeland,” Morales said with a knowing look. Ortiz nodded. “Okay, Ray. I'll hold down the fort here, you go check out the rock. I'll make something up if Ramos asks where you are.”
“Thanks,” Ray Ortiz said as he got up from his chair and headed for the door.
Special Agent Morales did continue coordinating the ground and sea search for Joseph Grady. The Fajardo region police were fully engaged roughly under Lieutenant Ramos' direction. They canvassed every neighborhood, showing pictures of Joseph Grady and chasing down the extremely slim quantity of leads that turned up. They raked the coastlines of Culebra, Vieques and Fajardo. They made a conspicuous show of lookin
g hard for the lost teenager.
Ray Ortiz made a quick call to arrange his ride, and then hopped in the FBI chopper. He would not be able to keep this off of the radar for long, and certainly the Thermion guys out on Isla Roca were going to see him coming literally a mile away. There was no way around it. This was as close as he could get to surprising them. He hoped it was close enough that they wouldn't be able to cover everything up or call in the other Feds before he got some answers.