by Tony Lavely
Bon Secours Cay: 7000’ x 2000’, avg. ele., 15’; max. ele., 40’ mhw. The name denotes the home of the team’s hospital. The camp’s administration and security offices are adjacent to the hospital. Homes occupy most of the other area.
Nord Cay: 4100’ x 1940’; avg. ele., 15’; max. ele., 25’ mhw. Northernmost island. Team member homes.
Sud Cay: 2000’ x 3000’; avg. ele., 18’; max. ele., 40’ mhw. Southernmost occupied island. Sud Cay has the only deep draft dock on its eastern shore. More homes and storage facilities.
Home Cay: 3200’ x 1580’; avg. ele., 13’; max. ele., 20’ mhw. First island settled; Ian Jamse and Kevin deVeel’s homes are there.
Cottage Cay: 2600’ x 1200’; avg. ele., 10’; max. ele., 30’ mhw. A community of cottages for single or unattached team members. The southwest shore has a protected lagoon; the team’s small boat anchorage is there.
Tiny Cay: 2000’ x 1000’; avg. ele., 8’; max. ele., 10’ mhw. Uninhabited with only brush, Tiny Cay lies about two miles south and slightly west of Sud Cay. It is used for training.
All islands except Tiny Cay have a dock with boats capable of navigating between islands. Bon Secours has three of them due to its relatively central location.
Cell phone and WiFi service are provided, with a connection to BTC. Security monitors all coastlines for intrusions as well as passing traffic.
The team’s aircraft are leased, including two Gulfstream g150’s, a B737-700C and a Piper Mirage. The team owns outright a Lockheed C130 retired from US Air Force service. The hangar is capable of protecting these as well as a Eurocopter EC-135.
Cast
IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
PIERO Salvadore
Sub-Minister of Interior, under Huamán. Later Minister, running for President
Mateo Huamán
Minister of Interior, Salvadore’s superior
Donato Talos (Donny)
New York crime boss with wide interests
León
One of Talos’ men - Talos’ third-in-command
Camila
One of Talos’ women; Piero’s mistress
Jolene Abigail Rochambeau (Abby, Jo)
Columbia student, later one of Jamse’s team, infatuated with Amy Ardan
Detective O’Keefe
New York police detective
Frankie Pella
One of Talos’ men - Talos’ second-in-command - boat driver
Samuel Goldfarb (Sam)
Donato Talos’ lawyer
Sara Salvadore
Piero’s wife
Colleen
Goldfarb’s assistant
Rebecca Sverdupe (Beckie)
Ian Jamse’s fiancée and apprentice teammate
Go Shen
One of Jamse’s team, handles security for the Nest; Rou’s husband
Millie Ardan
Jamse’s Chief Doctor, Amy’s mother
Ian Jamse
Beckie’s fiancé, the team’s leader and her mentor
Jean-Luc Fereré
Pilot, one of Jamse’s team
Kevin deVeel
Jamse’s co-leader, Shalin’s husband
Barbara Saunders
One of Jamse’s team; working in Peru with Nayra Mamani
Maurice Boynton
Jamse’s factotum, team member
Derek Hamilton
One of Jamse’s team, married to Emily
Elena Rios (Lena)
One of Jamse’s team, trainer; Pieter Nijs’ wife
Sandy Daniels
Beckie’s roommate at Univ. of Miami, Greg’s sister
Greg Daniels
Beckie’s roommate at Miami, Sandy’s brother, Marla’s lover
Marla Suarez
Beckie’s roommate at Miami, Greg’s lover
Amy Rose Ardan
Millie’s 15 YO daughter, infatuated with Abby Rochambeau
Eilís O’Bannon
Abby’s attorney, friend and former lover
Go Rou
One of Jamse’s team, Shen’s wife, handles finances and legal issues for the team
Else Meyer
One of Jamse’s team, a boffin in IT and intelligence; Jannike’s partner
Philip Gomez
Mamani’s Campaign Manager
Nayra Mamani
Peruvian politician, running for President, contracting with the team
Jannike Meyer
One of Jamse’s team, airside manager; Else’s partner
Rich Quinn
One of Jamse’s team; Sue Jinet’s significant other
Mathilde Moreau
One of Jamse’s team, a pilot
Sue Jinet
One of Jamse’s team, Rich Quinn’s significant other
Willie Llorens
One of Jamse’s team
Jaime Lobera
One of Mamani’s group, arrested after recording their meetings
Dean of Students
Beckie’s school contact
Dan Wu
One of Jamse’s team
Bethany Stadd (Beth)
One of Jamse’s team
Shalin deVeel
Kevin deVeel’s wife, Beckie’s friend
Silvio Flores (Goldfarb Junior)
Talos’ youngest son
Paulo Estevez
Talos’ man, working for Shen in the Nest’s security
Dylan Rees
Resident of Chatham, becomes Amy’s boyfriend
Rosa Simmons
Real estate broker in Brewster, NY
Three bad guys
In the SUV in Brewster; all Talos’ men
Emidio Talos
Donato’s brother
Judith Weston
Police officer on outer Cape
Mrs. Rees
Dylan’s Mom
Emil Gonzales
Piero’s campaign manager
Fernando (Nando)
Piero’s assistant
Carmen Salvadore
Piero’s thirteen-year-old daughter
Three bad guys
On Port Cay; attacking the Nest
Melissa Durst (Lissa)
Beckie’s friend, Mike’s girlfriend
Michael Sverdupe (Mike)
Beckie’s brother, Lissa’s boyfriend
Pieter Nijs
One of Jamse’s team, armorer and chief mechanic; Elena Rios’ husband
Shakti Krishna
One of Jamse’s team; trauma surgeon
Josie
One of Millie’s nurses
Karen Wilson
One of Jamse’s team, a pilot
Two Guardia
In the hotel in Arequipa
[woman]
Fernando’s girl-friend
Tomás
Cab driver in Arequipa
Janice
One of Jamse’s team, Mathilde’s co-pilot
—
Trillian
Jamse’s Ocelot
Acknowledgments
Great thanks to my wife and family for their support!
Thanks to Amy Rose Davis, one of the Twelve Worlds contributors, who graciously lent her name to Amy Rose Ardan. I hope she’s not dismayed with the way her namesake character turned out. Find her excellent work at http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Rose-Davis/e/B004GG38AI/
Also, to Critters.org and the several critters who provided suggestions and comments to improve my work. Among them are Martin, Peter, willisouth and especially Andrea, Carol, Charles and Phil. Without their efforts, I can’t imagine the problems this story would have.
In Chapter 18, Beckie misremembers the title of “Cancun” by John Forster, from which she does remember the last line of the chorus.
Like all budget constrained authors, I draw heavily on Google Earth for scenes set in lands not local to me. Any discrepancies in fictionalization are my failure, not Google’s.
About the Author
Tony Lavely lives with his lovely, compassionate wife in Massachusetts, in r
easonable proximity to their children and grandchildren. Retirement has provided ample time for him to pursue writing as well as other mundane pleasures. Connections is his third novel. One of the Mercenaries stories, it is a thriller in an approximation to the real world.
He was privileged to be a part of the Twelve Worlds Anthology for Charity, still available at on-line outlets. This collection of short stories benefits Reading Is Fundamental, and meeting (in an on-linely way) the other authors was great fun and excellent experience. Those guys are great! (‘Guys’ used in the best The Electric Company tradition: “Hey, you guys!”)
He reads fantasy and adventure, confidently believes that The Muppet Movie is one of the best movies ever made, and his iPod playlist includes works from Beethoven to Twisted Sister.
He blogs at http://tonylavely.com/
On Twitter: twitter.com/tlavely
Email: atl.for.writing at gmail.com.
At this writing, the Mercenaries stories include (and are best read in the following order):
Sandfall
Allure
Freedom Does Matter
Connections
Coda?
Coming early in 2016:
Discoveries
In process:
Princess (working title)
Ralf and Catrin (working title)
The links will take you to Amazon, where you may peruse more information on these, and of course, purchase one or more.
If you find a typo in this book and report it with this number (CS151225.3), you can score a coupon for Coda? as well as Tony’s thanks.
Excerpt From Coda?
This story follows Connections by a year and a half. Beckie and Ian have settled most of their troubles; their marriage took place in Stonehenge, just as Beckie wished. This excerpt is from the draft; minor changes occurred when the text was finalized.
Chapter One
The Error
Testing Amy
LOUNGING ON THE LANAI AT her home on the Nest, Beckie Jamse had her feet up, contemplating the blue sky and water, and sipping an iced coffee.
She started when Elena’s ring tone blared from her phone, and again when Sam Dabron greeted her, “Morning, Beckie. Are you—”
“Sam? What’s going on? Is Elena—”
“Nothing, Mrs. Jamse. Lena’s fine. I left my phone and she offered me hers. Now…”
His pause allowed her to respond, but she mumbled something unintelligible.
She heard the amusement as he continued, “We were about to have a work-out session with Amy Ardan, until she reminded us you were her mentor.”
Beckie took the phone from her ear and stared at it. Could Amy be pulling that to avoid Sam and Elena’s training? Not likely. So why… Chattering from the phone drew her attention; she put it to her ear and listened.
“You there, Mrs. Jamse? Hello—”
“Yeah, Sam, I’m here.”
“With an invitation like that, we’ll pick you up at the dock in… in ten minutes, Lena says.” Beckie heard someone mumble in the background before Sam laughed. “Unless you want to call it off?”
“See you in ten.” She smiled at her husband’s factotum, Maurice Boynton, as he placed fresh coffee on the table. “Thanks, Maurice, but I’ve just been summoned to save Amy from a whupping. Sam’s on the way.”
He smiled and wished her well.
She hurried to the dock to wait. The sun had been up almost two hours; the water surrounding Home Cay where she and Ian lived—when they were not off being soldiers of fortune or skilled bodyguards or even thieves—was blue and calm.
The boat hove into view around the west end of Port Cay, which housed the team’s airstrip. She could see three figures in the boat; Sam, the tall black man, was lounging on the far side rail, allowing Amy to drive. Must have picked up Elena at Nord, Beckie thought.
Beckie greeted the others, then leaned against the rail opposite Sam. The skiff needed a half-hour to run south to Tiny Cay.
On the almost twenty-five acres of sand and brush they called Tiny, the hand-to-hand with Amy was too amiable, Beckie thought, though not sloppy! Neither Sam nor Elena would have permitted that. Beckie’s irritation finally took control: she ripped Amy’s shirt and screamed in her face, “This is how you fight!” while picking her up and throwing her down. She almost missed the practice area, but Elena, laughing almost too hard to help, hip-checked Amy’s torso to land safely.
Beckie sat on Amy’s belly as hard as her hundred pounds would and yanked her face up. “It isn’t a useful practice if you don’t go full-bore! You won’t get what you need from this if you keep pulling punches and don’t use all your assets.” She looked at the girl’s stricken expression and sat back, pulling her into an embrace made slightly more awkward by Amy’s missing shirt and both Elena and Sam’s amusement at her ‘attack.’
As Beckie considered Sam’s motivation in inviting her, Amy grabbed the remnants of her shirt and flipped it up and over Beckie’s head, around her neck. Further consolidating her position, she flipped Beckie to her back and dropped flat against Beckie’s chest, driving the wind from her lungs. Before she could catch her breath, Amy had turned her face down and made the shirt into a garrote. Not wire thin, to be sure, Beckie thought as she gasped, but that only means it’ll hurt more!
She heard the slap and guessed that Sam had smacked Amy’s butt, since the pressure at her throat relaxed and the girl rolled away. It took a few seconds for her breath to steady; seconds while she and Amy glared at each other.
When she could, Beckie rose and reached a hand to her partner. She helped her up and into a friendly hug. “That’s what I mean, girl! Well done!” She let go the hug and draped the shirt around Amy’s neck, almost covering her. “What’s your rating?” she said to Sam and then Elena.
“I wondered just what you were playing at,” Sam said. “She was doing ok, I thought, when you grabbed her. But you’re right, she brought a whole other thing to it when she fought back.”
“You thought she wasn’t going too easy before?”
“Not really.”
“We try not to kill sparring partners,” Elena added with a laugh. “Too hard to get new ones.”
Beckie felt her flush brighten. She pulled Amy close again and pressed their cheeks together. “Sorry.”
“Not a problem. Dylan will enjoy the story.”
“Unfair!” She took her turn smacking Amy’s camo covered butt. “Are we done, then?”
“Yeah,” Sam said. “For now. This afternoon, I want you three and Beth over to Port, to do some shooting. Tomorrow, you and Amy will do this again, but you’ll take me on, since you both seem to have hidden reserves. I want you to learn how to bring them out before you’re at death’s door. You available, Lena?”
“Wouldn’t miss it!”
On the boat ride back to Home, Amy said, “Sam, thanks for that.” But Beckie popped her eyes open when Amy continued, “What is it you do?”
Sam chuckled. “I’m not sure what the bosses want me to say to that. Mrs. Jamse, can you enlighten… your protégée, I guess would be right?”
“We’ve been saying apprentice, but you’re right, too. As for the other, Ian or Kevin would be better, I think, but…” She thought a moment. “Sam… Well, right now, he’s assisting Elena in training, making sure that she puts everyone through the right wringer. But his primary job is soldier. Mercenary. He’s heading a team of eight protecting… Protecting an asset in Syria that our customer didn’t want to see damaged.” She leaned back and looked up at the blue sky, a frown wrinkling her forehead. “At least, that was the motivation a couple years ago when we took the job. About a year ago, the customer raised the ante by asking us to sometimes join rebel forces fighting both the Assad regime and the Islamic State.”
“Whatever for?”
“When Ian came back from the negotiations, he said their goal was to continue protecting the… asset, and bring a secular government into power.”
“They�
�ve been trying that for years! I know Sam’s good, but—”
“I told you she was bright, Sam.” Elena was doing her best not to laugh aloud.
“Right you are, Amy,” he said. “That’s why they put the protection above the rebellion. There will be a political solution, eventually, and whether Assad or the rebels or the IS survive, they’ll need the infrastructure.” He glanced at Beckie. “Does Ian really feel that we should protect the… identity?”
“No. That was me, being too coy by half.” She turned her head to Amy and gave her a wry smile. “They’re protecting a thirty-six inch natural gas pipeline running from Deir Ali to Al Rayyan. Roughly Damascus to Homs. We, Ian and I, think the customer is supplying gas and wants to keep it flowing.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. And no matter who wins, they’ll need energy, like you said.”
They’d reached the dock at Home Cay. With a promise to return in an hour or so, Amy left on her way to Cottage Cay, where she and Dylan were staying.
Kevin
Beckie had showered and warned Boynton that Amy and Dylan would probably appear for lunch; now, as she relaxed in the warmth of the Bahamian August, her eyes drifted shut.