A Fortune in Blood: A Florida Action Adventure Novel (Scott Jarvis Private Investigator Book 7)

by Scott Cook

  Conklin and I handed out the gear and explained what it was and how to use the monoculars and earwigs.

  The overhead speakers crackled to life and McClay’s voice boomed out through the docking bay, “Hangar, we’re nearly at deployment position. Ten minutes to throttle down.”

  “Here we go,” I said. “Let’s all grab a little chow and get on board. We’ll deploy five miles from the base and then Ballard is going to high tail it out of here. Let’s get a bite, hit the head and mount up.”

  Brody entered just then and grinned at us, “Wow, you guys look like a real fire team. I’m going aboard to do the pre-launch check. There’s some food already prepped upstairs so you guys can get a bite. There’s rations aboard too, for later. And an onboard head as well.”

  “You guys go ahead and eat,” I said. “I’ve got an errand to run.”

  I headed aft and rapped loudly on the last door on the port side. When I got no answer, I opened it and flicked the light on.

  “Tumble up, tumble up! Out or down! Show a leg! Here I come with a sharp knife and a clear conscience!” I roared in the time honored boatswain’s call to rouse the watch. “Time to go for a ride, Palmer.”

  “What the hell are you talking about!?” Palmer said as he jerked upright in surprise.

  “You’re our insurance policy, Palmer,” I said. “You’re coming on this mission.”

  “I’m no soldier,” He protested.

  “No, you’re clearly a lover,” Lisa said from behind me. She didn’t sound amused, “guy who loves to get others into trouble and then take no responsibility for it.”

  “Lisa…” Palmer said weakly.

  “Shove it,” Lisa retorted with evident vehemence. ‘I suggest you put some pants on, Miles. It’s about time you faced the music.”

  Palmer’s face reddened, “Who the hell do—“

  “Now, kids,” I said with overly exaggerated forbearance. “Let’s not be icky. We’ve got an hour ride ahead of us and we don’t need to bicker. Let’s go, Palmer. Drop your cock and grab your socks!”

  Lisa and I stepped out into the corridor and I closed the hatch.

  “How could I have been so stupid…” she muttered to herself.

  I took her hand, “You’re not responsible for his actions. Don’t beat yourself up.”

  Her eyes filled with tears and she quickly turned and strode forward to the companionway. I sighed and realized that the door opposite Palmer’s had opened and Andrea stood in it. She wore a bathrobe that only went to just above her knees. Her hair was loose and wild and her smile warm.

  “Eavesdropping, Ms. Wellesley?”

  “Didn’t mean to,” She said, “but I heard the voices. You’re taking Miles?”

  I nodded, “He’s going in with my team, whether he likes it or not. I want him to see firsthand what’s at risk. I want him to experience the results of what he’s done.”

  “And me?” She asked, moving a little closer. “Don’t you think I’m also an evil mastermind?”

  I shrugged, “Given the two of you, I’d have picked you for the one who could orchestrate this. You seem much more… formidable than he does. Yet I haven’t seen any evidence of that. So I don’t know. Either way, you’re here at least until we get back.”

  “If you get back,” She said softly and came much closer now. Close enough so that her entrancing scent invaded my nostrils. I could feel the heat of her body even through the terrycloth. “I’m worried for you.”

  “It’ll be okay.”

  “Isn’t there some kind of combat doctrine about attacking an enemy who vastly outnumbers you?”

  “Yeah… be careful about it,” I chuckled. “I don’t have any choice, Andrea. My friend and a ten-year-old boy are being held against their will and that’s not acceptable. I will not… cannot… allow that.”

  She reached out and touched the side of my face lightly. It was a little exciting, although I don’t think she meant to be seductive. There was a small smile on her face as she said: “What mold did you come out of?”

  I shrugged and chuckled, “The smart ass mold, I’m sure.”

  Her smile grew, “Yeah… but a noble one, too.”

  She kissed me then. It was a warm and soft kiss, not what I expected. Her lips were full and soft and only at the last second did she gently slide her tongue out to meet mine. She pulled back and sighed, “Be careful and good hunting.”

  Palmer opened his door and came out into the corridor scowling. I considered him for a long moment. There was so much to say and yet… so little to say it seemed.

  “Let’s go,” Was all I said.

  Everybody was aboard the sub, including Palmer when I climbed up through the ventral moon pool hatch. The diving compartment was a bit cramped as well with weapons and two compact yellow parcels about the size of beanbag chairs. These were the two inflatable rafts. I was glad to see that, as I wasn’t thrilled about swimming in the river at night.

  “Will they fit through the sail?” I asked Brody, who was standing in the hatch to the forward compartment.

  “Barely,’ he said, “but they will. We ready?”

  “We’re ready,” I replied and looked into the back. I got thumbs up from my five fellow teammates and a scowl from Palmer. I turned back to Brody. “You need a hand forward?”

  “Sure,” he said.

  I took the co-pilot’s chair next to him, “So this thing has a photonics mast and radio antenna you can raise, right?”

  He nodded as he flipped several switches, “Yeah. We’re currently in twenty-five feet of water. The ship will launch us and we’ll bottom so they can move off. Then I’ll rise to periscope depth and we can raise both the mast and antenna. Once we get to where you want to deploy, I’ll wait a little downstream and stay down. Keeping shallow enough that I can monitor your comms and keep an eye on things.”

  “Good… but Jack… if things get hairy and you think the sub is in danger, get the hell out of here.”

  “And leave you guys?” he asked indignantly. “Not very goddamned likely.”

  “It’s not worth you risking the sub,” I said.

  Brody only shrugged, “Pre-launch complete. Tap that toggle there for the communications… yeah. Bridge, Fox, we’re ready to launch.”

  “Roger that, Fox. Beginning flooding,” McClay said.

  I could hear water entering the chamber outside and could see it through the hemispherical Lexan before us.

  “Adjust ballast to ten percent negative,” Jack told me.

  I examined the control surfaces and found the ballast tank controls and made the adjustment from memory. I’d practiced on the sub before, when returning from our dive to the sunken U-boat. The controls were very intuitive and specifically made to be easy to learn.

  “Opening hangar doors…” McClay said. “Releasing hoist…”

  Through the quarter sphere of Lexan that made up the upper half of the bulbous bow of the small sub, I saw the large under-slung hangar doors angle downward, yawning onto a blackness that seemed as vast and timeless as deep space. Perhaps more so, as in space there’d at least be stars.

  We sank down below the doors and Brody reported that we were free. We were now using a sonar-based short-range underwater communications system that allowed for limited voice transmission.

  “Roger clear,” McClay said. “We’re headed for the open sea. Good luck, gents.”

  “Thanks, Joe,” I replied, “you too.”

  We were committed now. As the sub gently came to rest on the sandy bottom, we felt the wash of the ship’s passage through the water above us. The slight turbulence was enough to rock us a little but it died quickly.

  Within minutes, we were alone at the bottom of a foreign river in pitch blackness. It was time. Time to attack a large number of armed rebels. Time to try and rescue Clay and Declan. Time to put my friends in grave danger all because they trusted me.

  Two hours from now, how many of them would be wounded or dead? Or, in truth, would an
y of us make it out alive… including my friend and an innocent boy?

  Chapter 31

  “Here is our objective,” I was saying as I leaned against the jamb of the hatchway into the passenger compartment. I had taped the satellite photo to the bulkhead just to starboard. “As you can see, the camp is nestled into a small hill valley above the bank of the river. There are two small boats, or were when this photo was taken. The camp consists of tents, a couple of buildings, a motor pool, parade ground and some other odds and ends.”

  “That cleared area to the north looks like it could be an LZ,” Conklin opined.

  “Yeah, it does,” I said thoughtfully, “but no aircraft in the photo, which was taken around noon… I guess we’ll see.”

  “What are those other structures to the west?” Umberto asked, “Behind the metal building?”

  “I think travel trailers and RV’s,” I said. “Probably officer’s country. I don’t know where Clay and Declan are, unfortunately.”

  “My guess would be those trailers,” Santino stated. “There are half a dozen trailers and almost as many motorhomes, including that really big one. If this Garcia character wanted Clay to train his troops, then he’d probably have made him an officer or senior enlisted man. Probably he and Declan are housed in one of the smaller trailers.”

  “Could be,” I said thoughtfully, “could be…”

  “So what’s the game plan?” Lisa asked.

  “The two teams will infiltrate from opposite sides of the camp,” I said. “Team one, the assault team, will be headed by Charles with Gregorio and Umberto. Team two is my team. Me, Lisa, Juan… and Miles.”

  “What?” Palmer bleated. “What the hell—“

  “You’re the insurance, Miles,” I said in a dangerous tone. “You’re coming with me. No matter what happens, you’re in the thick of it. Consider it the price to be paid. If all else fails, I’ll trade you to Garcia for the release of the hostages. And no, you don’t get a weapon or a comm. Oh… and Lisa will be in charge of taking care of you.”

  Palmer groaned and Lisa cocked an eyebrow at me. I went on, “I’ll be red team, and Charles is blue. Each member of the team gets a number. I’m one, Juan two, Lisa three and Palmer four. Charles?”

  “One,” he said, “Gregorio two and Umberto three.”

  I nodded, “Okay, good. When we’re talking over the coms, do not use names. Use numbers and preface your messages with who you want and then who you are. For example, I might talk to Charles by saying Blue one, Red one… proceed north one klick.”

  “You think you’re cool,” Lisa said with a grin.

  “It’s not really a matter of opinion, recruit,” I said with my own grin. “Everybody with me so far?”

  “What’s with all this code talk?” Lisa asked with a twinkle in her eye.

  “Come, come, Lieutenant, you of all people go by the book,” I stated. “Regulation forty-six-A… if transmissions are being monitored during battle…”

  “No uncoded messages on an open frequency,” Lisa concluded with a giggle.

  “This is from the Star Trek!” Umberto said with a grin. “La Ira de Kahn!”

  Everybody but Palmer laughed. Palmer just glowered.

  Good, fuck that guy…

  “Okay…” I said, getting back to business. “What I want to avoid here is an out and out gun battle. I’d like to slip in, locate our objectives and exfiltrate quickly and quietly.”

  “Yeah, sounds nice,” Juan quipped, “but something tells me that plan is going to fly out of the window.”

  “Most do,” Conklin observed.

  I sighed, “Yeah, I have a feeling you’re right, Juan. Charles, did you go over the basics of combat firing procedure?”

  He nodded. I looked at my troops.

  “Never fire straight on, always do so at an angle,” Umberto offered.

  “Never fire from the same position twice,” Lisa added.

  “Only move under cover or covering fire,” Juan said with a smile.

  “And keep count of your rounds,” Gregorio added. “We’ve only got so many to go round.”

  “That’s right,” Conklin added, “you’ve got a full mag in both your M4 and Sig. Then you’ve got four reloads for each. That’s a hundred and fifty 5.56 and fifty 9mm. Make them count, people.”

  “That’s a lot of firepower for six of us,” I stated, “but even at that, if we actually get into a pitched fire fight, we’re fucked. If Garcia can put a hundred men with automatic weapons into the field against us… well, its long odds at best. Our advantage is stealth, surprise and mobility. Two three or four person teams can move fast, much faster than four or five platoons, right Marines?”

  Santino and Conklin nodded.

  “We’ve got night vision,” I went on, “but they may also. I know they’ve got two of my own monoculars, so keep that in mind. Anything else, Marines?”

  “Watch for bright lights,” Conklin advised. “Never toss any kind of ordinance without announcing it. When a flash bang goes off, and it’s near you, close that left eye. Don’t want you blinded by the enhancement.”

  I sighed and eased myself into a sitting position on the deck, “Okay, gang… we’re almost in position. We’re gonna drop blue team off upstream so they can come toward the camp from the north and west. My team will go in from downstream.”

  “We’re close!” Brody called back.

  I got up and went forward. He waved me into the co-pilot’s seat. On a small monitor mounted on the forward edge of the control board I could see the feed from the photonics mast.

  Almost gone were the old days of submarines with a physical periscope that raised and lowered through the hull. Modern subs now used an extendable mast with a digital camera assembly. This would then feed imagery digitally into the control room. The small submersible had been designed with this feature as well.

  “I see the dock,” I said quietly, as if by the very action of my looking at our enemy they could hear me. “Two small boats… wonder if that might not be a good way to escape… Yup, looks like a path winding up the hillside to the camp. Couple of lights on up there, but can’t see much from the angle…”

  “Where should I surface?” Brody asked.

  “Go about a half mile further upstream,” I suggested. “That should give us good cover of darkness and mask any sound we make.”

  “I wish I was going with you guys,” Brody stated as he expertly piloted the little sub further up the river. “Was in the Navy for fifteen years, ya’ know. Mustered out a Chief. Saw action in the Gulf War, Kosovo, Iraq and a few other places.”

  I looked at him in surprise, “You know, I don’t think I knew that… makes sense, though. You ever serve on submarines?”

  He nodded, “A few years… okay, how’s this?”

  I checked the photonics display, using the small controls to turn the mast back the way we’d come, “Yeah, I think this’ll do. Put us on the roof, Chief.”

  I headed aft and began to open the upper hatch. There was a folding ladder inside the small trunk and I pulled it down and climbed up to open the upper hatch once Brody announced we’d surfaced.

  “I’m in ten feet now,” Brody called back, “Don’t want to get any shallower.”

  “Team one, you’re up!” I called down the hatch. “Somebody pass me the raft.”

  There was a reason I didn’t want to just swim to the bank. Well, several reasons in truth. Aside from getting ourselves and our gear wet… I was somewhat concerned about sharks.

  Lake Nicaragua which feeds the San Juan, is notorious for bull sharks. Bull sharks are one of the few species that can live just as easily in fresh as in salt water. It was probably not a huge concern, but why take the chance?

  We weren’t more than fifty yards from the bank. A short row for the team. It was fairly dark, with intermittent clouds having rolled in. That would help with cover.

  A bulbous yellow thing shoved its way up through the hatch and I pulled it all the way out and l
aid it on the narrow upper deck of the submersible. There was a nylon strap holding it together. I un-clipped it and found a bit of string which I pulled.

  The raft immediately began to inflate with an audible hiss. The tubular shape expanded, unfolded and quickly became a six-foot by four-foot rubber boat rounded at both ends. The air chambers were about sixteen inches in diameter, leaving only about a foot and a half between as a foot and cargo well. Compact but enough for four grown men. Two collapsible paddles were strapped to the raft’s floor

  Umberto came up through the hatch outfitted with his chest rig and with his rifle slung. Next was Santino and finally Conklin. It was pretty crowded on the twelve inch wide flat deck mounted to the curving upper surface of the sub.

  “You guys ready?” I asked quietly.

  “As we’ll ever be,” Santino said with a grin.

  “Okay, then load up,” I said, squatting on the deck and holding the small boat.

  Once everyone was securely in, I quietly wished them luck.

  “Blue one, comm check,” Conklin’s voice said quietly from my earwig.

  “Blue two… Blue three…” Santino and Umberto said in order. I went back down the hatch and dogged it.

  Brody immediately turned the sub downstream and back out toward deeper water. I began to don my own gear and handed each of my team members theirs one at a time. Palmer still looked angry and a little frightened.

  “I don’t get a weapon?” he asked.

  Juan emitted a derisive and rather rude noise. He hadn’t known Palmer long, but he’d heard my story up to this point. Like the rest of us, he liked Clay and was having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that this man, who was supposed to be Clay’s friend, had involved him and his family in something like this.

  “You do not,” I replied. “Nor do you get a comm. Your life and welfare is entirely in our hands, Palmer. Especially Lisa’s.”

  “Why do I have to babysit, Captain?” She asked.

  “Because if he gets out of line,” I said with a grin. “You’re the one who gets to break your boot off in his ass. Figured you might appreciate the opportunity.”