Bluewater Vengeance: Mystery and Adventure in the Caribbean (Bluewater Thrillers Book 2)

by Charles Dougherty

  Epstein left with no further words being exchanged, and Mario came out of the back room to join his son.

  "You heard, Papa?"

  "Yes. Too bad that Camacho is in for a surprise. He has tried very hard, but he's evil."

  Chapter 39

  Midnight Thunder shadowed Yellow Hooker, staying just over the horizon. At sunset, Phillip eased the throttles forward, picking up speed until he calculated that they would close on the other boat within half an hour. They had an hour and a half until moonrise, and they planned to attack well before then, making the most of the darkness.

  "When we have him in sight, you take the helm, Paul. Bring us up even with him, about 50 feet off his port side. I'll have an AK-47 with a night vision scope on it; I'm going to put a burst through the flying bridge. When I do, Sharktooth, you hit 'em with the spot light. Dani, I want you on the loudhailer. Tell the helmsman to throttle back and take it out of gear, or the next burst will take his head off. Once he's stopped, I want everybody on deck, hands on their heads. Paul, you'll bring us alongside. We'll have the inflatable fenders rigged, and you use the thrusters to hold us hard against his port side. I'll keep the flying bridge covered while Sharktooth and Dani go aboard and clear the boat below decks. Then I'll go aboard, and you can stand off a few feet. Questions?"

  "What if we meet resistance below?" Dani asked.

  "Right. Thanks for asking, Dani. I had it all worked out, but I forgot to tell you. I'm out of practice giving ops orders. Once they say everyone's on the bridge, I'll take the loudhailer microphone, and I'll tell them we're coming aboard, and anyone found below deck will be shot on sight. I'll also tell 'em if there's any resistance, the people on deck will be shot immediately, as well. We'll give them 30 seconds to come topside, and then you and Sharktooth go aboard with gas masks on. Toss a teargas grenade into the main cabin before you go in, and clear the boat. Better?"

  Dani and Sharktooth nodded their understanding.

  "We've got ten minutes before we're alongside," Paul said. "Better get your gear."

  ****

  The two men in command of Yellow Hooker were watching a pornographic video on the flying bridge, allowing the autopilot to steer. They had a two-mile guard band set on the radar, and were scanning the horizon for nav lights every few minutes. They paused the video, and one man took a careful look at the radar while the other swept the horizon with binoculars.

  "That's strange," the man with the binoculars said.

  "What?" his companion asked.

  "There's some disturbance in the water not too far off the port quarter -- like something dragging in our wake." He handed the binoculars to the other man, who looked behind them.

  "I don't see it. Maybe it was a school of porpoises playing in the wake."

  As he put the binoculars on the console in front of him, there was the ripping sound of an AK-47 on full automatic. The windscreen in front of them shattered, showering both men with fragments of safety glass. Before they could react, an amplified woman's voice cut through the drone of the engines.

  "Throttle back! All stop, right now or the next burst will kill both of you."

  As the panicked helmsman complied, the flying bridge was bathed in blinding white light.

  "Hands on your heads. Anyone below has 30 seconds to get on the bridge with you. We're coming aboard, and we'll kill anyone who's not standing up on the flying bridge."

  Both men were jolted, staggering as something began to push Yellow Hooker sideways to the starboard.

  Within two minutes, Phillip was on the bridge. He held the two men at gunpoint while Sharktooth put cable ties on their wrists and ankles. Dani had Liz in the fresh air of the cockpit, helping her to overcome the residual effects of the teargas.

  Once the crewmen were secured, Sharktooth went below and brought Ozzie out into the fresh air. Leaving him bound and gagged, he lifted him over a shoulder and climbed to the flying bridge, dropping him next to the other two captives.

  "Who sent you after Ozzie?" Phillip asked the two men. Both stared back, stony expressions on their faces. "Guess they didn't understand. You ask, Sharktooth."

  Sharktooth responded by putting one of his big hands palm down on top of the nearest man's head. He curled his fingers, the tendons in the back of his hand popping out. As he gradually increased the pressure, the veins in his forearm bulged. The man began to scream. Sharktooth lifted him from the floor by his head and slammed him into the deck. The other man watched with rapt attention as Sharktooth drew his filet knife and approached the dazed man.

  "Mebbe clean he ear," Sharktooth cackled and licked the blade as he crouched beside his victim. "Mebbe you know," he said, turning to the observer. "I let yo' frien' think about it an' clean yo' ear." He cackled again, reaching for the man, who scooted himself backward, leaving a trail of urine.

  "Juan Camacho," he yelled.

  Sharktooth looked at Phillip, a question on his face.

  "I think Paul needs to hear this. Tell him to rig a painter off the bow of Midnight Thunder and join us, please."

  Sharktooth disappeared down the ladder, and in a moment, Liz and Dani came up to join the group. Two minutes later, Paul and Sharktooth came up.

  Phillip told Paul what the man had said.

  "Interesting," Paul said, a hand rubbing the back of his head. "Not sure where that leaves us, though."

  "You want to arrest these guys, take 'em back to Miami?" Phillip asked.

  Paul shook his head. "Nah. I don't have a warrant. My warrant was for Rodriguez. No jurisdiction. Why bother? Let's just shoot 'em and be done with it."

  Ozzie, who had recovered from the effects of the tear gas while Sharktooth was performing, wriggled and smacked his heels into the deck.

  "You want something?" Phillip asked, looking his way.

  Ozzie nodded vigorously.

  Phillip motioned to Sharktooth, who cut the tape away from Ozzie's mouth with his filet knife.

  "I'll testify against Camacho. He had these men kidnap me and Danielle. I can implicate him in the drug trade and human trafficking, both. I'd like to be taken into protective custody. I'm surrendering. Don't shoot me. I'll help. I made sure that Danielle was treated well, too," Ozzie stammered.

  "So you're the stupid bastard that kidnapped the wrong girl, then," Dani said, her face flushing as she moved aggressively toward the bound, helpless Ozzie.

  Phillip stepped in front of her. "Not now, Dani," he said. "Let's hear what he has to say first. You can work on him later, if need be." He patted her on the shoulder and walked her back to the corner where she had been comforting Liz.

  Ozzie looked from Dani to Liz, confusion plain on his face. "All this for the wrong girl," he mumbled. "Damn Rodriguez."

  Paul looked at Phillip for a long time. "Well, I guess we can always shoot 'em in a few minutes. Let me make a few phone calls." He went back down the ladder.

  While he was gone, Dani and Liz were speaking softly in the corner as Sharktooth grinned at the prisoners, cleaning his fingernails with the filet knife.

  Phillip walked over to Liz and Dani. When they paused and looked at him, he asked, "You doing okay, Liz?"

  "Yes, thanks. It'll be a few days before I get all of the cramps out of my muscles, but I'm fine. What took you guys so long?"

  Paul's head and shoulders appeared at the top of the ladder, and everyone turned to look at him.

  "Some folks from the DEA would like to talk to these people. Since we're in international waters, the Coast Guard will take over as soon as they can get here. They're figuring about three hours to fly a crew out from Puerto Rico, and then we can go home."

  Chapter 40

  Three months later….

  "What a nice wedding that was," Anne Berger said. She and J.-P. were drinking coffee with Dani and Liz, seated at the dining table in the saloon of Vengeance. They were at anchor in the Tobago Cays, and Liz had just cleared away the breakfast dishes.

  "It really was, wasn't it," Liz agreed. "But I'm su
rprised that Sandrine agreed to a honeymoon aboard Kayak Spirit."

  "Well, Phillip doesn't know it, but once they sail her back to Martinique from Antigua, they're going straight to the airport. Sandrine has tickets to Paris. That girl has him figured out, I think," Dani said, smiling.

  "The best part was having everyone together in one place for a few days," J.-P. said. "I cannot remember the last time we've all seen one another."

  "It was great fun," Liz said, "and I felt like part of the family. So did Paul. We were both worried at first, being the newcomers."

  "Nonsense," Dani said. "Speaking of Paul, that was interesting news about Camacho, wasn't it?"

  "Which part, Dani?" J.-P. asked.

  "That he walked into the trap they set for him in that warehouse, when he thought he was going to confront Johnston. I can't believe he wasn't more cautious."

  "Pure arrogance," J.-P. said. "There's a lesson there for us all. They would have never been able to convict him of anything if he had been less sure of himself, but when he showed up there, it was over for him. Paul says his lawyers are trying to negotiate some concessions in exchange for his pleading guilty to some less serious charges, but the government will have none of it. That is as it should be."

  "Enough," Dani said. "This is your holiday. Liz is going to take Anne snorkeling over her favorite patch reef. Let's enjoy this beautiful place and forget that those criminals were ever part of our lives. And isn't Vengeance grand, Papa?"

  ****

  Read a preview of Bluewater Voodoo, the next book in the series

  Chapter 1

  Dani had a distant look on her face as Liz joined her in Vengeance’s cockpit. She took in Liz’s raised eyebrows and said, "When he undressed me with his eyes at the airport, I could feel that rush again. It’s going to be hard to behave, living in such a small space with him for the whole summer." She took a careful taste of coffee, holding the mug in both hands to still her anxious tremor.

  Liz suppressed a smile as she took a sip of her café au lait. She set her cup on the cockpit table and gazed around the anchorage, giving Dani time to collect herself. She watched the seagull that was circling as it looked for the glint of bait fish in the early morning light. "I didn’t think he was your type. Besides, he’s taken."

  "What?" Dani frowned. "Taken? What are you talking about?"

  "Lilly – his graduate assistant. I think they’re a couple."

  "Yeah, no doubt there. Miss Anthropology, in her string bikini. If she’s his graduate assistant, I’m Mother Teresa," Dani muttered. "And if she steps on my teak deck again with those sling-back heels, I’ll break her knees."

  "I don’t think she’ll make that mistake again after your reaction yesterday." Liz paused, taking another sip of coffee and watching the seagull plummet into the water and emerge with a fish in its beak. Suddenly, there was a flock of the screeching birds, fighting over the fish. "I’m surprised that you find him so attractive."

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "Your ‘rush’ that you felt when he looked at you."

  There was a long silence as Dani stared at Liz, a frown on her face. Then a flush spread over her cheeks as she grasped what Liz was thinking.

  "Not that kind of rush! I meant the kind of rush I get right before the first punch. I just about kicked his ass before he ever got aboard."

  A worried look crossed Liz’s face. She picked up the carafe and poured more coffee into her cup. "Get a grip, Dani. Beating up our charter guests would be bad for business."

  "Yeah, but then handing me his suitcase and saying, ‘Here, hon, stow this, like a good girl…’ Grrr! Like we’re his hired help!"

  "But we are, Dani. He’s chartered Vengeance for the whole summer, and you thought it was a great deal."

  "I was excited to have the business in the off-season, but I didn’t know we were going to have to humor such a shithead."

  Their discussion was interrupted when the ‘shithead’ came out of the companionway to join them in the cockpit.

  "Morning, girls! How are the two hottest sailors in the Caribbean this morning?"

  "Fine, thanks, Dr. Johnson," Liz said, rising quickly to her feet and stepping between Dani and their guest. "What would you and Lilly like for breakfast?" She sensed a sudden movement behind her and stepped down hard on Dani’s foot.

  "Ow!" Dani shrieked, giving Liz a hard shove and standing up. "Watch it!"

  "Sorry, skipper! You need a hand with the anchor before I start breakfast?"

  "I...," Dani said, before their guest cut her off.

  "It’s a pretty morning, and Lilly’s sleeping in. I’ll just have some coffee with you girls and enjoy the view – we don’t really need to leave this morning. Lilly saw an ad for an art gallery in St. Georges that she wants to check out. You know women and their shopping." He smirked as he sat on one of the cockpit cushions, offering Dani an exaggerated wink.

  "Do you still want to leave Grenada today, then?" Dani bit off the words through clenched teeth.

  "No, I don’t think so. What difference does it make, babe?" He asked, with a toothy grin.

  "Well, based on your last email, I cleared us with customs for an early departure this morning. If we’re not leaving in the next 12 hours, I need to go ashore and revise that. No big problem. Just let me know."

  He nodded, gazing at Dani, his eyes crawling over her lithe figure. After a moment, he said, "That’s a pain in the ass, isn’t it? Sorry – I’ve been back in the States too long, I guess. I forgot how self-important the guys with epaulettes can be. I’ll try to do better, if you can fix it this time, Dani. Let’s figure on leaving tomorrow morning. Poor Lilly is beat from the trip."

  Liz glared at Dani in an unspoken warning and shook her head slightly.

  Dani pulled her lips into a smile that stopped below her eyes. "No problem. You’re the boss. You just let me worry about the guys with epaulettes, Dr. Johnson."

  "Great! I like your, uh, attitude, babe. It’s gonna be a long summer and we’re living in close quarters. Might as well dispense with the formality. Why don’t you and Liz just call me ‘Professor,’ like the other kids do?"

  "You got it, Professor," Liz said, pouring his coffee while continuing to hold Dani’s eye, shaking her head again.

  ****

  The unkempt white man was propped in the corner of the room like a discarded marionette. Several weeks’ worth of scraggly beard covered the lower part of his face, and his long, greasy hair was matted and tangled. His sunken, glazed eyes were open, but he stared blankly, seeing nothing of his surroundings. Every few seconds, an involuntary tremor passed through his body, occasionally accompanied by the chattering of his teeth as he writhed against the walls. He was oblivious to his surroundings, aware only of a sense of inner turmoil. Visions flickered through his mind; visions like those accompanying a high fever took the place of conscious thought. The images were fleeting, disconnected. He couldn’t focus on any particular one long enough to react to it, but the overall impact was an overpowering sense of doom and nothingness. He saw bamboo and the open sea, tormented animals and beautiful women, yachts under sail and seascapes, beaches. All flashed through his mind in no particular order and without evoking any individual response. None of the images meant anything to him, yet they were his entire reality; there was nothing else.

  The other two men in the room sat at a rough table, jelly glasses of neat rum in front of them. A kerosene lantern in the middle of the table provided soft, yellow light that seemed to enhance the shadows rather than providing illumination. The wick was imperfectly trimmed, and wisps of oily smoke spiraled from the chimney, lending a tangy, greasy flavor to the otherwise fetid air in the room. One man drained his glass, suppressing a belch, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He watched a large moth fluttering around the lantern for a moment, then struck with the agility of a viper, catching the moth between thumb and forefinger of his right hand. He studied the struggling, inch-and-a -half long creature whil
e his companion finished his drink and set his glass on the table with a thump.

  "Come," the man with the moth said, in a tone slightly louder than normal speech.

  The white man in the corner shrugged, shaking his head and attaining some semblance of awareness. He shuffled awkwardly over to the table, standing loose-limbed, waiting.

  "Eat," said the man with the moth, in the same unnatural tone.

  The white man opened his mouth, pulling his lips away from rotten, crooked, yellow teeth. He extended his tongue. The man placed the crippled moth firmly on the white man’s tongue and nodded. The white man drew his tongue back into his mouth, drooling as he made clumsy chewing motions. Finished chewing, he swallowed with some difficulty and stood gazing blankly at the flickering lantern.

  "Rum," said the man. The white man shuffled over to a shelf in the part of the room that served as a kitchen. He stood for a moment, waiting for another tremor to pass, and then he picked up an unlabeled bottle of clear liquid. He turned and shuffled back to the table, carrying the bottle carefully with both hands. Without further instructions, he poured two fingers of liquid into each man’s glass. Resuming his two-handed grip on the bottle, he stood back slightly.

  "Put the rum back," his master ordered, and he shuffled away. He returned the bottle to the precise spot on the counter where he had found it, and then stood, motionless except for the occasional tremor, staring fixedly at the bottle.

  "Amazing," the heretofore silent man said, shaking his head with admiration. "I thought they were supposed to smell bad, like a rotten corpse, or something."

  The houngan smiled briefly. "That had a purpose, in the old days. Now, it would do nothing but attract attention. American television and movies -- harrumph! They know nothing."

  "Where did he come from?"

  "You mean, before?" the houngan asked.

  "Yes, before."