"What did happen to him?" Phillip asked.
"He fell out of the canoe beside the boats and a big gator snatched him and swam away. You know how they hide their prey and let it ripen; he's probably somewhere out there, under a sunken log, I guess."
"How did you come to have his satellite phone," Connie asked.
"Like I told Phillip, I guess it came out of his pocket in the canoe."
"Maldonado told them that you shot him twice after he surrendered," Paul said. "That's what Luke told me. Luke said he'd been kneecapped."
"Really?" Dani asked. "He probably had it coming, but they didn't ask me about him. Where would I have gotten a pistol, anyway? I was a prisoner, remember?" She grinned.
"He was a mile and a half from the action when they picked him up," Phillip said. "They found him about where you said he was when you called me."
"The way Liz and Sharktooth were blazing away with the M249s, he probably caught a couple of stray rounds. Those 5.56 mm slugs carry for quite a distance."
"Four rounds, Luke told me" Paul said. "Two through the kayak, one through his shoulder, and one through his knee. They didn't recover the bullets."
"I'm not surprised. I was worried myself when you two cut loose with the machine guns. He probably saw me behind him and just assumed I shot him. What's going to happen to him and Cruz, anyway? You said Martínez bought it when his boat blew up."
"That's right," Paul said. "Here's what I've heard from Luke, so far. They're still working out everything they're going to charge them with. For the moment, they're looking at murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and a whole list of human trafficking offenses."
"Murder?" Liz asked.
"Olsen, and the other spook that you had your first meeting with, Phillip," Paul said. "And the State Department's involved, dealing with the Cuban government. The Cubans are making noise about extradition; it seems they bought the story about a coup, especially after their representative was shown the suitcase nuke."
"Can they actually be extradited?" J.-P. asked.
"Nobody's sure, but Luke said the threat of it got the two of them singing like canaries. Neither one of them wants to go back to Cuba," Paul said.
"But they must be looking at spending forever in prison," Connie said.
"Yes, but in a U.S. prison. They'd rather serve time here; they'd almost surely be executed if they were sent back."
"Executed? Would they not have been celebrated as heroes of the Revolution?" J.-P. asked.
"That's not an option for the Cuban government at this point. Since we busted them, the Cubans are forced to treat the two of them as traitors, or admit to plotting a bogus invasion for propaganda reasons," Paul said. "Or so the story goes, anyway."
"I got a question, Dani," Sharktooth said.
"What's that?"
"What made that boat blow up? I was bettin' Phillip it was cookin' gas, but he say ask you."
"Gasoline in the bilge. The tanks were full, so I had to drain out several gallons to make room for the water I added. I wanted to be sure they couldn't get too far, because I didn't know how you planned to stop them."
"The explosion was an accident then?" Liz asked.
"Not entirely," Dani said. "I found a flare pistol in their ditch bag, and I fastened it in the engine compartment. Then I ran a piece of fishing line from the trigger to the engine cover."
"So the only accident was that Martínez was unlucky enough to choose the wrong boat," Liz said.
"No," Dani said. "The accident was that nobody opened the engine compartments on the others."
Sharktooth said, "Cookin' gas work better, Dani. I tol' you that."
"I didn't have a wrench that fit the propane line. You always taught me to improvise, so I used gasoline."
Sharktooth's laugh rumbled like an approaching thunderstorm. "Good job," he said. "Gasoline ver' dangerous stuff."
"What about the Haitian trafficking victims?" Connie asked.
"ICE is handling that as routine business. Probably most of them will end up staying here, one way or another. But who knows what may happen with politics the way they are," Paul said.
"Speaking of ICE, what's new with you and David Ortiz, Dani?" J.-P. asked. "He seemed relieved to see you when you came in the other night."
Dani shrugged. "I was in no mood to talk to him then. He invited me to lunch at the club yesterday."
"And did you go?" J.-P. prompted. Then he looked around at the others and asked, "Or would you rather talk to your Papa in private."
Dani grinned ruefully and shook her head. "No, I ditched him, Papa. He's a mess. That boy's so confused."
"Will you see him again?" Liz asked.
"No."
"You seem subdued. Are you disappointed?"
"A little, I guess."
"Don't worry. You'll find somebody, soon."
Dani laughed. "That's not why I'm disappointed. I was geared up for a revolution, and all I got to do was blow up one lousy boat."
****
A Note to the Reader
Thank you for reading Bluewater Revolution. I hope you enjoyed it. If so, please leave a brief review on Amazon. Reviews are of great benefit to independent authors like me; they help me more than you can imagine. They are a primary means to help new readers find my work. A few words from you can help others find the pleasure that I hope you found in this book, as well as keeping my spirits up as I work on the next one. If you would like to be notified by email when I release a new book or have a sale or giveaway, please click here to subscribe to my email list. I promise not to use the list for anything else; I dislike spam as much as you do.
If you haven't read the other Bluewater Thrillers, please take a look at them. If you enjoyed this book, you'll enjoy them as well. The Connie Barrera Thrillers are a spin-off from the Bluewater Thrillers, and share some of the same characters. Dani and Liz taught Connie to sail, and they introduced her to Paul Russo, her first mate and husband.
I released Sails Job, the sixth Connie Barrera Thriller, in September, 2016. Now that I've finished Bluewater Revolution, I'll begin working on Connie's seventh adventure. You'll find progress reports and more information on my web page at www.clrdougherty.com. Be sure to click on the link to my blog posts; it's in the column on the right side of the web page. Dani and Liz and Connie are keeping the blog alive while I work on the next book, so you can see what they're up to while I'm writing.
A list of my other books is on the last page; just click on a title or go to my website for more information. If you’d like to know when my next book is released, visit my author’s page on Amazon and click the "Stay Up to Date" link near the upper left-hand corner. I welcome email correspondence about books, boats and sailing. My address is [email protected]. If you'd like personal updates, drop me a line at that address and let me know. Thanks again for your support.
About C.L.R. Dougherty
Charles Dougherty wrote quite a bit of fiction before publishing Deception in Savannah, his first novel. Most of his earlier fiction works took the form of business plans, written to secure funding for projects and startup ventures during his corporate and consulting work, but he put all that behind him when he wrote Deception in Savannah, a tongue-in-cheek crime novel.
Since Deception in Savannah was published, he has written a number of other books. The Bluewater Thrillers are set in the yachting world of the Caribbean and chronicle the adventures of two young women running a luxury charter yacht in a rough-and-tumble environment. The Connie Barrera Thrillers are also set in the Caribbean and feature some of the same characters from a slightly more romantic perspective. Besides the Bluewater Thrillers and the Connie Barrera Thrillers, he wrote The Redemption of Becky Jones, a psycho-thriller, and The Lost Tourist Franchise, a short story about one of the characters from Deception in Savannah.
He has also written two non-fiction books. Life's a Ditch is the story of how he and his wife moved aboard their sailboat, Play Actor, and their adventures travelli
ng the Intracoastal Waterway along the east coast of the U.S. Dungda de Islan' relates their experiences while cruising the Caribbean.
He resides with his wife aboard Play Actor, sailing wherever their fancy and the trade winds take them.
Other Books by C.L.R. Dougherty
Fiction:
Bluewater Killer
Bluewater Vengeance
Bluewater Voodoo
Bluewater Ice
Bluewater Betrayal
Bluewater Stalker
Bluewater Bullion
Bluewater Rendezvous
Bluewater Ganja
Bluewater Jailbird
Bluewater Drone
Bluewater Revolution
Bluewater Thrillers Boxed Set; Books 1-3
Love for Sail - a Connie Barrera Thriller
Sailor's Delight – a Connie Barrera Thriller
A Blast to Sail – a Connie Barrera Thriller
Storm Sail - a Connie Barrera Thriller
Running Under Sail - a Connie Barrera Thriller
Sails Job - a Connie Barrera Thriller
From Deception to Betrayal - an Introduction to Connie Barrera: a boxed set
Deception in Savannah
The Redemption of Becky Jones
Short Story:
The Lost Tourist Franchise
Non-fiction:
Dungda de Islan'
Life’s a Ditch
For more information, please visit:
http://www.clrdougherty.com/
or
http://amazon.com/author/clrdougherty
Table of Contents
Bluewater Revolution
Florida, Cuba, The Bahamas
South Florida
The Everglades, Whitewater Bay
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Epilogue
A Note to the Reader
About C.L.R. Dougherty
Other Books by C.L.R. Dougherty
Bluewater Revolution: The Twelfth Novel in the Bluewater Thriller Series - Mystery and Adventure in Florida, Cuba, and the Caribbean (Bluewater Thrillers Book 12) Page 26