"Yes. We'll draw him out on it, okay? Maybe he saw something I missed. Before we do that, I've got some things that you and I need to talk over with Phillip."
"I can hardly stand this. I'm dying to know what happened."
"And I'm dying to tell you, but like I said, there's a lot that I can't quite make sense of. I need your perspective, and Phillip's. Unless he's involved in something really bizarre, Blaine's not going to be able to add much, and I don't trust him to keep it all to himself."
"I'm really confused, Dani."
"I know. I'm sorry, Liz. I'll make it right with you, but I need you to just play along with me for now. Believe me, Blaine's going to have way more questions than I'm willing to answer right now, and that'll drive you even crazier, but I'm not going to give him anything more than he has."
"Damn it, Dani! Give me a short version, or you can just swim back to the boat."
"Okay, okay. Settle down. When I got here, Strong had left a message for me that he was delayed for a few minutes. No big deal, right?"
"Right. Then what?"
"I was sitting at the table, giving Blaine a chance to get his shots framed like we talked about. I didn't hear from him, so I guess that went okay. Then this guy came through the door and attacked me. I — "
"Attacked you? What — "
"Questions later, or we'll be on the phone all afternoon, okay? Let me finish."
"Sorry."
"I understand, Liz. Anyway, I flattened the guy, and just as he collapsed, Strong showed up, looking really confused. He'd apparently seen the scuffle, or at least part of it. Before he could say much, two cops showed up, said they'd been after the guy, that he was a mugger and a thief, and they were sorry they didn't get him before he attacked me. They dragged him out, and that was the end of that."
"But — "
"Liz!"
"Sorry, go ahead."
"That's actually about it. Strong and I obviously talked about the attack, but I managed to work him around to the movie pretty quickly, and he got right to work trying to seduce me. I think I did well; you'll be proud. He wants to make me a star."
"What a cliché," Liz said.
"Indeed. I'm not sure how much of that part I want to tell Blaine and Mindy just yet. You and I need to work through the other thing. There's too much about it that doesn't add up, okay?"
"Okay. Thanks, I guess."
"Can you wait until they go to sleep, or something?"
"It seems I don't have much choice. I'd better get the dinghy going, or Blaine's going to wonder what's up."
"Yes. I'm sure he's full of questions already. Why don't you see if Mindy wants to come along to pick us up. She might be enough of a distraction to help me dodge his questions."
"Good idea. I'll be there in a few minutes."
Chapter 15
"No, Greg, I never touched him."
"I don't understand, Kev. His instructions were to wait until you arrived before he approached the woman. What happened?"
"When I was settling up with the taxi driver, I saw him — "
"Him? You mean Chernov?" Greg interrupted.
"Yeah, I guess. Big, rough looking guy?"
Greg nodded. "Sorry. I just want to be sure I'm following you. Go ahead."
"Anyway," Strong said, "I saw him leave the indoor dining room. I thought he was probably going out to the patio, or whatever, where she was waiting. I couldn't have been more than 30 seconds behind him when I went out the same door."
"Okay," Greg said. "And?"
"He was leaning on her table, giving her some shit. It all happened so fast ... " He shook his head. "She did something and he went crashing across the table. He whirled around and hit her — knocked her across the patio. She landed against the railing and looked like she was stunned. I started toward him, but he charged her and grabbed her by the hair, yanked her to her feet. I couldn't see what she did; he was in the way. He screamed, and it was cut off by something else she did. She stepped back, and he charged her again. That time, she hit him with a wine bottle and he collapsed. Then the cops came."
"A full wine bottle?" Greg asked.
"Yeah; it was unopened. After the cops took him away, she told me to order another bottle while she went to the ladies' room and freshened up." He shook his head and continued. "I remember thinking her reaction was strange. Mostly, she seemed pissed off because it was her favorite Pinot Grigio, and now she didn't want it opened before it had time to settle."
"Was she hurt? Shaken up at all?"
"She didn't seem to be, other than a little blood on her face and upper chest."
"Blood? She was bleeding?"
"It was his, I guess. I didn't see any sign of her being injured, other than maybe a bruise that was starting to form on her forehead."
"Was he bleeding?"
"Yeah. Nose, mouth. Quite a bit. The cops asked what happened."
"What did you tell them?"
"I didn't get a chance. She told them he'd approached her table and fallen — said he must have had some kind of seizure. They asked about all the blood. She said maybe he bit his tongue or something."
Greg Baklanov shook his head and chuckled. "She sounds like a piece of work. You sure you want to get mixed up with her?"
"She's perfect, Greg. For the role, I mean."
"Uh-huh. She just happened to kill our number-one enforcer."
"K-kill?" Strong stammered. "He's d-d-dead?"
Greg nodded. "A two-hundred-pound, highly trained and experienced assassin. Now tell me what really happened."
"I told you. I — "
"It's okay, Kev. I know you two didn't mean to kill him, but don't expect us to believe this 25-year-old slip of a girl did it all by herself."
"Us?"
"Me. And Andrei. Chernov's been with us for 20 years. I have to brief Andrei in the morning"
"Oh, shit. I'm, uh ... sorry." Strong shook his head, a worried frown on his face. "I didn't ... "
"It's okay, Kev. We're all big boys here. Andrei and I both know Chernov wasn't all there. That's what made him so good at what he did. He wasn't destined to die of old age, but don't try to tell us Berger killed him by herself. What happened? We need a credible story, here. I don't want Andrei to think you're trying to bullshit us to cover your ass. You and Berger killed him. I'm okay with that. Andrei will be okay with it, too. But we need the truth."
Strong took a deep breath and let it out. He nodded his head and rubbed his hands together as if he were washing them. "Okay, then. Here's how it went down ... "
****
"I got the whole thing on video," Blaine said. "Not great video, because I had to shoot it with my still camera, but you can see most of what's going on."
Liz, her hand on the tiller of the dinghy's outboard, saw Dani clench her jaw, the muscles bulging. She caught Dani's eye and shook her head. Before Dani could speak, Liz said, "Let's wait until we're back to Vengeance. It's too hard to carry on a conversation over the noise from the outboard. Then you can show us the video and Dani can tell us all what happened."
"Good suggestion," Mindy said. "Did you get some usable candids, Blaine?"
"Oh yeah," he said. "A bunch. And don't worry, Dani. Your face isn't in any of them, so it'll just be Kev Strong and the 'mystery woman.'"
"That's good," Dani said, twisting to grab Vengeance's toe rail as Liz brought the dinghy to a stop. She stood up as Liz killed the outboard. "You and Mindy go on up," Dani said. "Liz and I will secure the dinghy."
"We'll go copy the video to our PC so we can watch it together," Blaine said. "It'll take us a few minutes."
"Good," Dani said. "That'll give me a chance to put on normal clothes." She and Liz walked the dinghy forward and hooked up the lifting harness. "May as well hoist it for the night," she said.
Liz nodded. "Yes. I think I tired Mindy out, snorkeling the reefs around us, and Blaine looks too beat to want to go anywhere."
They scrambled aboard Vengeance and used the main halya
rd winch to raise the dinghy clear of the water so that no marine organisms would foul its bottom while it was idle.
"Why don't you go ahead and change? I'll get a tray of cheese and crackers put together and open a bottle of wine," Liz said.
"Sounds good, Liz. Thanks, by the way."
"For?" Liz asked, a puzzled frown on her face.
"Buying me a little time. I really didn't want to deal with all of this in the dinghy, and I could tell that Blaine was bursting with curiosity."
"He's not the only one," Liz said, and followed Dani below deck. As she worked in the galley, she could hear murmured conversation from the aft stateroom, where Mindy and Blaine were working. She stifled the urge to eavesdrop and got their refreshments ready. By the time she was finished, Dani, dressed in her normal shorts and polo shirt, joined her.
"Go ahead up. I'll pass this to you," Liz said.
Dani nodded and climbed the companionway ladder, turning to reach back for the tray. By the time they were seated, Blaine and Mindy joined them. Blaine set a laptop computer with a 15-inch screen on the cockpit table.
"We should be able to see it okay in the shade from the awning," he said, opening the laptop.
He tapped the touchpad a couple of times and the screen filled with an image of a burly man, leering as he approached a table set for two. The man leaned on the table with both hands and bent toward Dani, who was seated with her back to the camera.
There were a few seconds of blurred motion, and then the burly man was on the floor, convulsing. The camera left him, swinging to show Kevin Strong talking with Dani, who was on her feet and in profile.
A few seconds later, two cops in immaculate uniforms appeared, spoke briefly with Strong and Dani, and dragged the man away. The camera zoomed in on his blood-covered face and chest as they disappeared through the door into the inside dining room.
"And that's the video," Blaine said, shutting down the laptop. "What happened, Dani?"
Dani stared off into space for a few seconds, and then she cleared her throat and began to speak. "He said something inane, like 'What's a girl like you doing here? Waiting for a man? We're gonna have some fun while you wait.’” She paused. "I made some smart remark and asked if he wanted money. He said he did, but first, he wanted me. He told me to take my dress off, and that's when I knocked his arms out from under him. Only a moron would set himself up like that." She shook her head, pausing to collect her thoughts.
While she was thinking, Mindy said, "I couldn't really tell what happened after that, until he collapsed. It went by too fast."
"I saw it all, and I still don't know what you did, Dani," Blaine added. "He knocked you across the patio and then grabbed you by the hair, and after that it was just a blur."
"That's about right," Dani said. "When he grabbed me by the hair and drew back to hit me, I dislocated his knee and broke his nose. While he was still dazed, I brained him with a wine bottle. Then Strong and the cops showed up. That's about all I know."
"Who was he?" Blaine asked. "Did Strong know him?"
Dani shrugged. "Strong asked who he was and where he came from."
"Who called the cops?" Mindy asked. "Strong?"
"I don't think he had time. They said they'd been following the guy, trying to catch him. That he was a mugger and a thief."
"He looked big," Blaine said. "I thought you were a goner."
"Yeah. Where'd you get the guts to fight him like that?" Mindy asked.
"I come from a tough neighborhood," Dani said.
"But he was huge and rough-looking," Blaine said.
"Yes," Dani agreed. "But he was just a bully; guys like that are all over the place. He was overconfident. They never expect a woman to take the offensive."
"So what happens next?" Mindy asked.
"Next?" Dani asked.
"Do you have to, like, go to court? Or make a statement or anything?"
Dani shrugged. "I guess not. The cops didn't say anything about it, and they didn't even ask for my name."
"That seems odd," Blaine said.
"Not if they'd been chasing him," Liz said. "The authorities down here are super quick to cover up this kind of thing when visitors are involved, anyway. They don't want any bad press; it's not good for tourism. I'm sure they saw that neither Dani nor Strong was hurt. They're probably hoping nobody ever hears any more about it."
Dani nodded. "That's my take, too. As far as the cops are concerned, nothing happened. They got their man."
"What will they do with him?" Blaine asked.
"Good question," Dani said. "But I don't know, and I really don't care. He won't bother me again; I'm sure of that. I wasn't as much fun as he thought I'd be. Can you show us the stills, Blaine?"
"Uh, later? I want to go through them and cull them, plus I shot 'em in raw format, and they'll need a little processing before they're fit to look at. How about tomorrow?"
"Sure," Dani said. "That's fine. Do you think you got some of Strong that you can use?"
"I'm sure. Now, whether I'll be able to sell any? That's a whole different question. Depends on whether anybody still thinks Kev Strong is newsworthy."
"I see," Dani said. "That reminds me." She reached into the pocket of her shorts and drew out a folded, starched linen napkin. "He sent this to you two."
"What?" Blaine asked, alarm in his voice.
Mindy frowned, shaking her head. "To us?"
Dani explained that she had told Strong that her guests were big fans of his and had been star-struck when they learned she was meeting him for lunch. "He knew I didn't know who he was the other night in the bar when he hit on me. The egotistical bastard thought I'd gone to the trouble to look him up when he discovered I had learned a little about him in the meantime."
Blaine nodded. "I see. I couldn't figure out how he'd have known who the hell we were. I mean, some of those guys know the paparazzi, but ... " He shrugged. "I try to stay below their radar — makes my job easier."
"I didn't tell him any more than your first names, for the autograph." Dani passed him the napkin with Strong's scrawled greeting on it. "And," she said, "I found out where Platinum Odyssey is."
Blaine and Mindy traded glances. "Where?" Mindy asked.
"They're hove to about 20 miles to the west, out of sight of land. Apparently, his host likes his privacy," Dani said.
"Could we get within, say, a mile of them without being seen?" Mindy asked.
"No way," Dani said. "Not unless it was at night."
"Night wouldn't work," Blaine said. "I'd want photographs."
"From a mile away?" Liz asked.
"We've got a drone with a video and still camera," Mindy said. "It's small and unobtrusive, but it's only got a working range of a little over a mile. We use it for bird's-eye-view shots in our documentaries."
"Or for serious candids," Blaine added.
"I don't see the problem," Liz said. "We could sail by within a mile without making a big deal of it."
"Yeah," Blaine said. "But we'd be the only other boat out there with them, right?"
"Probably," Liz agreed. "So what?"
"If they happened to notice the drone, they'd know it had to come from Vengeance," Mindy said.
"Or, even if they just saw the video online later and were able to connect it to a certain day and time based on what it showed, they'd know it had to be from Vengeance, if it was the only boat in the vicinity. And if they tracked it to you, that might lead to us," Mindy said. "People like that can be litigious, or vindictive."
"Vengeance is too easily spotted and too recognizable," Liz said. "Is that what you're saying?"
"Yes, basically," Mindy said.
"You could charter a small sport-fishing boat for a few hours," Liz said. "They're generic and ubiquitous. Even if they saw the drone and tracked it back to the boat, they'd never figure out who it was."
"Besides," Dani said, "with a boat like that, you could be out there and back in a few hours in the morning. It would take us the be
tter part of a day on Vengeance."
"Could you help us arrange something like that?" Mindy asked.
"Sure," Liz said. "Want me to make a few calls?"
"Yes, please," Blaine said. "If we could get out there by mid-morning, that would be best from a light perspective, I think."
"Who are you going to call?" Dani asked.
"Simon," Liz said.
Dani nodded.
"Who's Simon?" Blaine asked. "He's got a boat like that?"
"Maybe," Liz said. "But if he can't get his hands on one personally, he knows everybody on the water around Antigua. He's a friend of ours. He'll line something up. Do you want to be picked up here, at say, seven a.m.? That should put you out there around nine o'clock."
"That would be great," Mindy said. "Thanks, Liz."
"You're welcome. I'll go make the call and get it set up. Then I need to start the prep for dinner. Anybody want anything else in the way of refreshments before I go to work?"
Blaine and Mindy shook their heads as Dani topped off their wine glasses.
****
Kev Strong helped himself to two fingers of St. James Reserve rum from the bar in his stateroom. He took a healthy belt, making his eyes water, before he even sat down at the little desk. He had seen the tough side of Greg Baklanov this afternoon; the man's eyes had seemed to change color when he challenged Kev's story. Kev had the sense that there was someone else inside Greg's head. His urbane manner hadn't changed, and he hadn't uttered a threat, but Kev had felt a chill run down his spine just the same.
Now he had to call the man in Vegas, whoever he was. Kev knew Johnny wasn't his real name; it was a code word he'd been given. It was a signal to the man on the other end that it was Strong calling, in case a different person, someone who didn't know Strong's voice, answered.
Strong considered what to tell the man. He saw no downside to giving an accurate account, except that someone aboard Platinum Odyssey was surely monitoring his calls. He had to tell the people in Vegas that he was making progress, but he sensed that it would be better not to describe the attack or its aftermath. He'd already given Greg two conflicting stories; he wasn't sure he could stay consistent with either one, and besides, he was supposedly talking to a talent agent. It would be best to stick to his progress toward recruiting Dani Berger and leave out the rest.
Bluewater Drone: The Eleventh Novel in the Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series (Bluewater Thrillers Book 11) Page 10