Bluewater Revolution: The Twelfth Novel in the Bluewater Thriller Series - Mystery and Adventure in Florida, Cuba, and the Caribbean (Bluewater Thrillers Book 12)

by Charles Dougherty

  She watched for a minute, seeing a pair of eyes that looked to be a foot apart break the surface a few meters away. She spotted the alligator's nostrils as it began to glide toward the inert Santos. She was awestruck at the speed with which the gaping jaws opened and closed. With a sound that was eerily like the flushing of a toilet, Santos and the alligator disappeared. The huge creature left barely a ripple on the surface as it swam away to conceal its prize.

  ****

  Chapter 30

  Phillip woke up at dawn. He was tired, but his mind was racing. He splashed some cold water on his face, deciding to treat himself to coffee before shaving. As he walked into the kitchen, his cellphone rang. He looked at the screen but didn't recognize the number. With a shrug, he answered.

  "Yes?"

  "Phillip?"

  "Dani?"

  "Yes. I -- "

  "Where are you?"

  "I'm at the delivery location. A guy named Santos knocked David out and made me drive him out here. From what he said, they wanted to use me as a hostage."

  "What number is this you're calling from?"

  "A sat phone that Santos had. Why?"

  "I wondered if it was being monitored. He let you use it?"

  "He's not in a position to stop me; I don't know if it's secure. I wanted to let everybody know I'm okay."

  "Where is Santos?"

  "He's gone to feed the alligators. He's fascinated by them, I think. He's not going to catch me, if that's what you're worried about."

  "Hmm. I see. Think he'll be back soon?"

  "I doubt it; he didn't give that impression when he left."

  "What did he tell you?"

  "Not much worth repeating. He said they'd turn me over to you when the transfer was made at midnight tonight, that they had no intention of harming me. I asked to call you or Papa, and he checked with somebody, but they told him you'd already been informed, and not to let me make any calls."

  "How did you get his phone, then?"

  "It fell out of his pocket before he left."

  "Where did he leave you?"

  "I'm on the boats; there are four big go-fast boats tucked back in the mangroves off the north side of Whitewater Bay. Fifty footers, I'd say. I'm in the forward cabin of one of them."

  "Are you locked in, or can you get out?"

  "Maybe. I don't know how long I have."

  "Can you hold on a second? Somebody just came into the kitchen."

  "Call me back," Dani said. "I want to look around this boat a little bit."

  "You think it'll be okay for me to call back?"

  "Yes, if you're quick. But if a man answers, hang up. 'Bye."

  Phillip put the phone down. "Good morning, Mary."

  "Hi. Who were you talking to?"

  "Dani. She got her hands on a sat phone that Santos had."

  "She okay?"

  "Yes, she's fine. She's at the delivery site, on one of their four boats."

  "Santos let her call?"

  "I don't think so. I was worried that the phone might not be secure, so our conversation was guarded. My guess is that Santos is dead."

  "How? He's a ruthless bastard, and damned careful."

  "Dani's an easy person to underestimate," Phillip said. "She grew up doing this kind of thing. She said Santos had gone to feed the alligators and that she didn't expect him back soon."

  "Gone to feed the alligators? What the hell?"

  "She probably whacked him and sunk his body in the swamp," Phillip said.

  "So why doesn't she make a run for it?"

  "That's not her style. She wanted to check out the boat she's on, but she didn't sound rushed at all. That's another reason I suspect Santos is dead. She was calling from the forward cabin of one of the boats, and she was evasive when I asked if she was locked in. Knowing Dani, that means she's free and exploring."

  "What did she mean by 'check out' the boat?" Mary Weatherby asked.

  "I don't know. She said she didn't know how long she had; I took that as a question. I'm sure she wants to know when the others will be arriving, but I don't know what to tell her."

  "I just heard from the surveillance team in Little Haiti, speaking of that. Martínez and Cruz showed up a couple of hours ago and rousted the troops. They had another man with them. They loaded everybody into three vans and drove off into the Everglades."

  "Any idea where they were going?"

  "Yeah. They were tailed. They're in an abandoned training camp that used to belong to Alpha-66, not far from Flamingo."

  "That's close to the delivery site," Phillip said.

  "Right. I'm guessing he's staging them there. The tail said it looked like they had food and some boxes of uniforms. Maybe web gear: packs, canteens, that kind of stuff. Probably didn't want to move them in broad daylight."

  "Or have them hanging around where the boats are hidden, either. People fish down in there," Phillip said. "Not many, but still, if I were Martínez, I'd wait until dark to move the troops to the boats."

  "Good morning, Mary, Phillip," Luke Pantene said. "I smell coffee."

  Phillip opened a cabinet and handed Luke a mug. "Help yourself. Sleep well?"

  "I slept some. Not long after we turned in, I got a call from the team watching the house in Coral Gables. Martínez and a couple of other men left the house and headed over to Little Haiti, to that building where the 30 men from the D.R. were. My guys handed off to Mary's people once they saw where they went."

  "Probably Maldonado and Cruz," Phillip said.

  "Not Maldonado," Luke said. "He came outside with them, but they got in three vans and drove away. He went back in the house. He's still there."

  "We got a positive i.d. on Cruz at the pickup," Mary said. "And the other man's a driver who works for Cruz; we've seen him around, but we don't have a name for him."

  "I'd better call Dani back," Phillip said.

  "What?" Luke asked, surprise in his voice.

  "Tell him, Mary," Phillip said, walking outside with his coffee and his phone.

  ****

  "More eggs, anyone?" Liz asked, as she and Paul passed steaming platters around the breakfast table. When everyone declined, she said, "Now tell us what we missed while we were in the kitchen."

  "I think everybody could do with updates," Phillip said. "I was on the phone with Dani while you and Paul were cooking, and I left Luke and Mary following up with their people."

  "You talked with Dani?" Liz asked, surprised.

  "Twice," Phillip said. "We've been hampered, because we aren't sure the phone she's using is safe, so a lot of this is guesswork on my part, based on hints she dropped."

  "Is she all right?" David Ortiz asked.

  "Of course she is," J.-P. said. "The only question is how much damage she's done to the other side."

  "That's a good summary," Phillip said. "As best I can tell, it was Santos that kidnapped her."

  "That makes sense," Ortiz said. "She should be very careful with him; he's violent and unpredictable. I'm surprised he let her use her phone."

  Phillip nodded. "Her cell phone won't get a signal; she's using a satellite phone that she got from Santos." He held up a hand to silence Ortiz. "Let me tell you what I think, then we can talk about it."

  Ortiz nodded, and Phillip continued. "As best I can tell, she disabled or killed Santos and took his phone. I think she's been searching the four boats."

  "What has she found?" J.-P. asked.

  "The only comment she made was that the bilge was contaminated," Phillip said. "I can't think what she was trying to tell us. She described where they're hidden. She hasn't said much else. My guess is, she's not going to be there when Martínez and company show up. She did say something about hiding a canoe, so I expect she'll be watching from close by, hidden in the canoe. Once the action starts, she'll probably call and give us a blow-by-blow description. By then they will have discovered that she and Santos are missing, so it won't matter if they know she's got the phone. I'm guessing she and Santos t
ook a canoe from where they left the car. I did a little map reconnaissance. The closest you can get with a car is about five miles from where I think the boats are."

  "Where the boats, you t'ink?" Sharktooth asked, producing a battered topographical map of the area around Flamingo. He spread it on the table where they could all see it.

  "Here." Phillip put a finger on a patch of mangrove swamp in the northeast part of Whitewater Bay. "It matches with what she's said, and there's three or four feet of water leading up in there from the open part of Whitewater Bay, where we'll make the rendezvous. You can see where State Road 9336 passes close to Coot Bay Pond." He moved his finger to illustrate. "That's where I'm guessing they started the canoe trip."

  "Won't Martínez need that canoe to get to the boats?" Connie asked.

  "She did say there were a couple of kayaks stashed where they got the canoe," Phillip said. "If I were Martínez, I'd bring my big boats into Coot Bay to pick up the troops. There's not enough water in that little Coot Bay Pond, according to the charts in my iPad, but it's only a few hundred yards from the road to Coot Bay proper, which has three to four feet, bank to bank. He'll probably march them through the swamp for that little distance. That's about what I know. Any questions? Comments?"

  After a few seconds of silence, Mary Weatherby spoke. "Okay, Luke and I talked with the Coast Guard while Phillip was on the phone with Dani. They're all set; they'll move into a position a couple of miles off the Shark River entrance sometime between nine p.m. and eleven p.m. Someone from my shop will bring a couple of radios by here so we can communicate with them."

  "What about ground forces?" Phillip asked.

  "We have a team on standby to close off the area if necessary," Luke said. "We're holding them back for now. There's too much chance of them being noticed, given that Martínez already has his troops in the vicinity. They'll have choppers, and we'll only need about five minutes to have 50 people on the ground."

  "Sounds good," Phillip said. "I figured Sharktooth, Paul, Connie, Liz, and I would be the delivery crew. J.-P. will stay here, reachable by phone, Where will you and Mary be?"

  "Is there room on the boat? La Paloma?" Mary asked.

  "Sure, if that's what you want," Phillip said.

  "We couldn't think of a better way to have a front-row seat," Luke said.

  "We've got around a three-hour drive to get to La Paloma, not allowing for traffic. Then we'll spend another three hours or so on the run up to Whitewater Bay. How long will we need to cut the weapons out of their hiding places, Sharktooth?"

  "No more than half an hour, I t'ink. I lef' a big angle grinder on board to cut the fiberglass bins open. We probably do that offshore, yeah?"

  "Yes. I think we should leave here late this afternoon to beat the traffic headed for the Keys. We can give La Paloma a good going over, make sure she's still fit for sea, and then go have dinner somewhere in Marathon, if that suits everybody. We should get out of there around eight, to be safe. There's no harm in getting to Whitewater Bay a little early. Questions? Comments?"

  When there was no response, Phillip continued. "There is one thing that bothers me. We need to find a way for the Cubans to come through this without losing face. If we go through with the deal, it looks like the U.S. is harboring terrorists. On the other hand, if we just arrest everybody and tell the world that Cuba was trying to make the U.S. look bad, it'll scuttle all the recent improvements in our relationship. Either way, Cuba loses, and so do we.

  "Yes," Liz said. "That's been worrying me, too."

  "You've got my attention," Luke said. "Mary and I are already taking heat about that. Right, Mary?"

  "Right. The suits are stressed out over that very thing. You might imagine that the State Department and the President are somewhat alarmed. Does anybody have any ideas? We're closest to what's happening, here. I'm sure the people up the line would at least listen to our thoughts."

  Liz said, "I've been talking with Connie and Paul about this. They had the same worry. Connie's the smoothest con artist I've ever run across – no offense, Connie. She's got a great idea, but Paul and I couldn't get her to propose it. How about it, Connie?"

  Connie nodded. "Okay, but it's just a standard scam. I'm not sure we can make it work here. That's why I didn't want to say anything."

  "It's worth a shot, Connie," Paul said. "Tell them."

  "Okay, here goes. In the game, it was referred to as the 'some other dude did it' dodge. Let's say you want to make the mark think you're innocent after you've ripped him off. You act sympathetic and lay the blame on somebody else. There's nothing magic about it; it's all in the presentation, kind of like sleight of hand."

  "So how would that work here?" Luke asked.

  Connie smiled, warming to her role as con artist extraordinaire. "We've got a couple of ready-made scapegoats in Maldonado and Martínez. The idea we could plant with the Cuban government is that those two have gone rogue."

  "Gone rogue?" Weatherby asked, looking interested. "What do you mean? Can you elaborate on that?"

  "Yes. Our story could be that those two saw this as an opportunity to stage a coup," she said. "We aren't sure who they wanted to put in power, but they wanted to depose Raul Castro. They were going to somehow turn this fake invasion into the real thing. The only challenge for us is to show how they could have done it, when the Cubans are expecting them. Of course, they don't know that we know they were expecting the invasion; we can't let on that we figured it out. The big problem will be convincing them Maldonado and Martínez had the wherewithal."

  "That's great," Phillip said, grinning. "The suitcase nuke is a perfect solution to that problem."

  "What?" Luke and Mary Weatherby asked, in chorus.

  "What suitcase nuke?" Paul asked.

  "The one they were planning to use on Punto Cero," Phillip said. "It's perfect; it all fits."

  "I'm lost, now," Connie said. "What's Punto Cero? Point zero?"

  "It's the 75-acre compound outside Havana where Fidel spent his last years; it would be a perfect target for someone staging a coup," J.-P. said. "Symbolic, yes?"

  "I'm just expanding on your story a little bit, Connie," Phillip said. "We already fed them the idea that somebody was trying to buy a nuke to use against Cuba, but we didn't say who it was. If we lead them to believe it was Maldonado and Martínez and we include the nuke in the shipment, they'll draw their own conclusions."

  "What's this about a suitcase nuke, though?" Luke asked.

  "We stuck one in the shipment, on the chance that we could use it to frame them somehow," J.-P. said.

  "Don't worry, Luke, Mary. It's not armed," Phillip said.

  "I got the trigger in my duffle bag," Sharktooth said, a big grin on his face. "We not goin' to deliver any working weapons."

  "What about the rifles and machine guns?" Weatherby asked.

  "Firing pins in my bag," Sharktooth said.

  "I hope you're leaving that bag here, then," Luke said.

  "I t'ink so," Sharktooth said. "When we firs' start to do this, we don' know how everyt'ing be workin' out. Now, t'ings lookin' good, yeah?"

  ****

  Chapter 31

  Dani was awakened by the splashes of paddles breaking the surface of the water in the distance. She had been napping off and on since she finished with the boats late this morning. After making sure the canoe was well hidden in the tall marsh grass, she'd stretched out in the bottom to rest. Slipping the satellite phone from her pocket, she punched one of the keys and checked the time. It was 10:30 p.m.

  It was close enough to showtime that she could safely call Phillip on his own sat phone. She'd like to know what their final plan was. He should know about her handiwork, as well, now that they didn't have to worry about whether the phone she'd taken from Santos was secure. Even if their call were monitored, it was too late for Martínez and his people to react. Before she could place the call, she heard a man's voice. Deciding he was too close, she put the phone away and picked up the pistol.
Maybe she would get a chance to call Phillip later.

  "Not much farther now, Willy. Just through those trees."

  "Santos better be there," the other man said. Willy must be Maldonado, Dani figured.

  "He should have been waiting with the canoe, back there where the kayaks were chained," the first man said. "Something's not right."

  "Shit, he's probably screwing that damn girl, José," Maldonado said, chuckling, his voice getting louder. "I would be, if I had the chance. She's hot. I see the boats, now."

  "Any sign of the canoe?" the first man asked. He would be Martínez, Dani thought.

  Two one-man kayaks meant two men. Not having the canoe would mean an extra trip to pick up two more men to drive the big boats. She smiled at the thought of having unwittingly put a hitch in their plans.

  "I don't see it," Maldonado said. "You think he took her somewhere?"

  "I don't know, Willy. He knew not to mess with her."

  "Hey, I never figured he'd rape her, José. It's probably consensual. She looked like a fine, hot piece of ass, from those pictures Lupita took. She probably got bored waiting. You know how women -- "

  "Shut up, Willy."

  Dani heard a kayak bump into one of the big boats.

  "Santos!" Martínez called, rapping on the side of the boat with his knuckles. There was no response.

  "Now what?" Maldonado asked.

  "I'll take a boat back and pick up the two drivers. If Cruz has made it through the swamp, I'll go ahead and pick up the first load of troops, while I'm at it."

  Dani heard them board one of the boats.

  "This is going to mess up the schedule," Maldonado said.

  "We've got some extra time. Cruz will get the men through that stretch of swamp a lot faster than the time I allowed. It's only a couple of hundred meters."

  "You want me to look for Santos and the girl while you're gone?"

  "No. Forget that. Get your video camera set up. You'll have to work from one of the kayaks."

  "The canoe would be better," Maldonado said.

  "That's like looking for a needle in a haystack, Willy. I told you, forget Santos and the canoe. Focus on the mission."

  "But we have to give them the girl, José."