Down to the Wire

by Lyn Stone

  “All right, question,” Martine said, jumping right in before he had a chance to assume the lead. “Is Linda breast-feeding the baby?”

  Mrs. Corda nodded, her brow wrinkled with confusion. “Yes. She expresses her milk for the daytime feedings while she is at work, but she is still nursing.”

  “Okay, so the baby will get fed and they won’t need to shop for milk,” Martine said with a nod. “But they left the diaper bag, which was stupid. After one stinky one, they’ll realize they need diapers. So, Mr. and Mrs. Corda, you’ll need to begin at one end of the strip and go to the other, questioning every cashier that might have checked out a man buying a generous supply today.”

  “Good thinking,” Joe said. “They probably went for one of the convenience stores. Fewer customers and less time looking for what they wanted. What we’re after is the make and model of the vehicle they’re in. We can be pretty sure they will have ditched Linda’s by this time.”

  Martine nodded. “Call Mercier back, Joe, and see what he has for us so far.”

  “I called him on the way back from Linda’s. It will be morning before he can get everything to us. He’s waiting for a source to get him the photo of Humberto and will then forward it. I gave him the e-mail address here.”

  “What can I do?” Delores asked, shoving the plate of sandwiches at her father and giving him a pointed but silent order to eat.

  Martine knew Delores wasn’t going to like the next suggestion. “You’ll take Nita and get out of town. Humberto might just decide to up the stakes.”

  Delores shook her head. “I’ll take Nita to her other grandparents right now, but I’m coming back here. I can help and so can my husband.”

  Joe answered. “Good. You two will man the phone and computer here, collect whatever Mercier sends, and call us in when you get something new. Martine and I will meet with the realtors and start checking out rental properties and get some leads on vacant buildings.”

  Martine’s phone rang. She looked at the display, then quickly answered, “Matt? Did he call again?”

  Martine watched Joe’s face change from agent-in-charge to brother-in-pain. Delores was already standing, gripping the back of her chair with white-knuckled fingers. Mrs. Corda had paled even further, her breathing shallow, her color not good at all. Mr. Corda held his sandwich at half mast, the bite he’d just taken still un-chewed. Everyone around the table was totally focused on her, waiting.

  “Humberto called,” Matt affirmed. “He seemed nervous this time. I told him I had just located you. He said you and Joe have until tomorrow afternoon to get to Port St. Joe and be ready to make the switch. If you don’t do what he says, he told me the hostages will be sleeping with the fishes by midnight tomorrow. Can you believe he actually said that? Guy’s been watching too much American TV. We traced the number and it was a ship-to-shore phone. He’s on a boat.”

  “Name?”

  “The Paper Moon. You can thank Mercier for getting with the Coastal authorities to obtain the ID. It’s a forty-two-foot Flybridge, usually slipped at the Portaway Marina at Mako Beach. Captain is Harley Banks. He’s a live-aboard and only hires crew when he takes her out. See if you can get a location on the boat but do it on the Q.T. The Coast Guard would go roaring in with foghorns and automatics. I wouldn’t advise that. Humberto even warned me to stay where I am. Fat chance of that.”

  “You’ll stay, Matt. Come down here and I’ll break your other leg. Any background noises on the phone?” Martine asked, hoping for some kind of clue as to whether the boat was very far off shore. “The motor running? Gulls or anything?”

  “Too quiet except for a baby crying. Not screaming, just fussing. It was close up, so he intended me to hear it. Could have been a recording, though.”

  “Let’s hope not.”

  “Yeah, let’s. I gave Humberto your cell number so he’ll be phoning you and Joe with directions for the swap.” He paused for a second. “But don’t you go for it, Marti. He’ll kill you. He said again that he wouldn’t, that he just wants Corda, but that was just to get me to cooperate and get you down there. I’m coming anyway as soon as I can get a flight.”

  “No, Matt. I mean it. I have a feeling he’ll be checking periodically just to make sure you stay in Atlanta. There’s no doubt he knows exactly what it is you do for a living and he’ll see you as his biggest threat. Please, be sensible and stay where you are.”

  “Only if you promise me you won’t consider the exchange. Find another way.”

  Martine agreed they would, but she wasn’t so sure there was another way. She said a quick goodbye, rang off and put the phone down. It had been so deathly quiet in the room and her reception so good on the cell phone, she knew everyone had heard the entire conversation.

  “We need to move tonight before Humberto realizes we’re already here,” Joe said. “Mercier’s going to have to get us a location.”

  “Satellite?” Martine asked. “You think he has the authority for that?”

  Joe sighed. “We’re about to find out. If not, he can buy the information. Anyone with enough money can. Papa, forget the convenience stores. You and Mama drive down to the marina. See what you can find out about the Paper Moon and how long ago she pulled out, how much her tanks hold and when she refueled. Call back here on the land line soon as you get the info. Delores, get Nita over to Terry’s folks and set back here. Martine, scare up a map of the area. There should be an atlas on the bookshelf. Meanwhile, I’ll call Mercier about the satellite.”

  Delores went to collect Nita and her toys. Joe had barely finished giving Mercier the pertinent information about the boat and requesting his help when his sister returned to the dining room.

  “Joe, a little beach bunny just appeared on the back porch insisting she’s a friend of yours. I told her you were too busy but—”

  “Don’t mind the disguise, Joey,” said a sultry voice from the doorway. “I didn’t know whether anybody might be watching the place or what I’d find going on, so I played the local and walked up the beach from the hotel. Y’all ready for some help around here?”

  “Holly?” Joe was too stunned to stand up. The woman was barefoot and wearing a string bikini. She had a beach towel slung over one shoulder, probably concealing her weapon. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  She rolled her eyes and grinned at Delores. “Tell me, girl, has he always been this slow?” Then she held out her hand. “Name’s Holly Amberson.”

  Delores hesitated, then shook her hand. “Delores Trimble, his sister.” She shot Joe the same look she always had when he’d gotten himself in hot water with his girlfriends. An expression that read, “How are you going to manage two at a time, bro?” Then she glanced toward the other side of the living room where Martine stood with the atlas in her hands.

  It was obvious Delores thought Holly and Martine shared an interest in him that had nothing to do with the kidnapping. It was also clear that she was not at all happy about the probable distraction a triangle would cause right now.

  “How’d you get here so fast?” Joe asked.

  Holly grinned and did a little flourish with her well-manicured hand. “Magic. We caught a hop down to Tyndal Air Force Base.”

  “We?”

  “Will and Eric came, too. Matt Duquesne called Jack about the trace and I just talked with him. He’s pretty sure your boy’s on a boat, but the guys are casing other possibilities. It can’t hurt to be thorough. As for me, I’m all yours!”

  Not the best declaration to make with Delores eyeing them that way. “Holly works with me. Come on in and sit down, Holly,” Joe said. “Delores, scram and do what you gotta do. Martine?” he called. “Bring the map.”

  It took less than five minutes for him to realize that Martine might have the same idea about Holly that Delores had, despite his explanation of the job situation.

  Though she was polite to Holly, Joe sensed an undercurrent of wariness that could possibly be jealousy. He wondered if it was personal or professi
onal. It would be nice if he had time to explore that a little, but he didn’t.

  Holly had never shown any indication of interest in him as anything other than a member of the team. He certainly had none in her, though he had not missed the fact that she was beautiful. Who wouldn’t notice?

  Her conduct right now was all business, but she sure was radiating sexuality in that bikini. Her skin—and she was displaying a lot of it—was pale caramel, only a shade darker than his. The catlike eyes were made for concealing secrets and taunting people with them. Her short cap of hair glistened like black watered silk.

  Unfortunately, it was impossible not to notice her remarkable breasts straining against the triangles of electric-blue spandex, but Joe staunchly ignored them after one or two furtive glances. Martine was not quite so dismissive of Holly’s most prominent features. She glared.

  Joe attempted to drown the tension with a spate of information, hoping to direct their attention back to the main reason they were here. Once Holly was up to speed on everything, he turned to Martine. “Did I tell you? Holly used to be with the FBI.”

  Martine looked unimpressed. “I’m sure her credentials are… impeccable.”

  Holly just smiled, the picture of innocence. Joe knew she had a wicked sense of humor because he’d seen her ply it with the guys back in McLean. She knew exactly what she was doing. He felt like shaking her right now for putting him on the spot with Martine.

  “Okay, here’s the deal, you two,” Holly said suddenly, shutting off the sensual glow around her like a light switch. “Jack will be getting with the National Reconnaissance Office tonight. Hopefully, he’ll be able to see the pictures from one of the satellites over the Gulf and try to pinpoint any forty-two-footers hanging around out there and get us some coordinates to work with.”

  “There are bound to be quite a few, but I think we can be pretty sure he’ll stay close. That should narrow it down a little,” Joe said, thinking out loud.

  “Timing might be a problem,” Martine declared. “If the pictures are even an hour or so old, the boat might not have remained stationary.”

  Holly agreed. “Yes, right. He’ll compare from two sources passing over at different times if possible. The sightings that are the correct size and fairly stationary will be the suspect vehicles. The satellite views will probably be more or less straight down and boat names won’t be visible.”

  Joe had an idea. “We could do a flyby early in the morning with one of the sightseeing helicopters that sell rides. They will have been flying at intervals today, so that shouldn’t send up any alert that we’re using them for a search.”

  “We can also question other boat owners who have been out, see if they’ve noticed the Paper Moon,” Martine suggested.

  “Yeah, but even if we identify the boat right away, the earliest I can get aboard is tomorrow night,” Joe said. “That could be too late.”

  Holly raised an eyebrow. “You’re to talk to Humberto by phone before then. Stall him. Then after dark, we do the insertion, Joe. I didn’t fly all the way down here just to darken my tan.”

  “I’m going, too,” Martine said emphatically.

  “We’ll see,” Holly said calmly. “Right now, if you would please get on the horn and hire us a little whirlybird for the morning. Promise to double their rate if they’ll have us up there first thing.”

  To her credit, Martine didn’t argue. Joe imagined she would make up for lost time when she found out she definitely wasn’t going on the boat raid, but he would deal with that when they came to it.

  “I’ll call around and get us some SEAL gear and an inflatable Zodiac. Joe, you’ll scare us up some weapons. Get with ATF or DEA for some confiscated automatics and magazines. Throw your new weight around if you need to. Big Boss has authorized us cooperation from the top on down on every case we run. Let’s see how well it works.”

  “Done,” he assured her, already compiling a mental list of what they would need.

  As it happened, his mention of Sextant worked really well. Bill Cole, an old associate working with the local DEA, promised to fix them up with a virtual arsenal.

  Civilian companies obviously weren’t required to cooperate quite as fully, Joe discovered. Martine hit a stumbling block.

  “FlyRight wants a cash deposit up-front and an explanation of what’s going on,” she said. “One of us needs to go to Panama City and make the arrangements tonight if we want the helicopter tomorrow.”

  As soon as Delores returned from taking Nita to the in-laws an hour later, she and Martine headed out to take care of it, which meant a forty-mile drive. Martine didn’t look all that happy about leaving him there alone with Holly.

  Joe decided he didn’t mind Martine’s little pique all that much. Payback for her deviling him about Jack Merrier and what a great guy he was. Still, he was too worried about Linda and the baby to give it much more than a passing thought.

  Even so, he followed her out to Delores’s car. When Martine turned, her hand on the car door, to see what he wanted, he showed her exactly what that was with a kiss.

  It was over too quickly and her surprise too great for her to give much of a response. Joe had to be satisfied with her ghost of a smile and that smug little glance toward the door of the house where Holly stood observing them.

  He sighed when Delores backed out of the driveway and took off. He used to be a lot more adept at managing women. But he suspected most women were a lot more manageable than Martine would ever be.

  Time crawled by as the night wore on. “I can’t understand why they’re not back yet,” Joe said, checking his watch again, then glancing at the kitchen clock to make certain the two jibed. How many times had he done that already? “It’s been four hours. The cell phone is off and that worries me,” he added. Surely she wouldn’t have turned it off. He had swapped his for hers since Matt had given Humberto her number. Maybe his was just out of juice. He couldn’t remember when he’d last charged it.

  Holly poured them another cup of coffee and nodded at one of the chairs in a silent effort to get him to sit down. He couldn’t seem to be still no matter how hard he tried.

  “Your parents got some good info at the marina,” Holly said. “We know at least two of them are out there on the boat. We should be able to find it easily enough with the chopper once Jack gets us the coordinates from the satellite pictures. How much do you figure Humberto knows about boats?”

  “Not a lot, I guess, but we can’t count on that,” Joe warned. “He’s smart. What he doesn’t know, he’ll find out or at least make sure he has someone around who’s an expert. When I knew him, he left very little to chance. In which case, the captain might still be alive.” Joe surely hoped that was so.

  His parents, exhausted by worry and their trip to the marina, had gone to bed an hour before. It was after midnight already. Joe was so wired, he didn’t figure he’d sleep at all tonight. Not that he’d even consider it until Martine and Delores returned and he knew everything was set for the search in the morning.

  Holly looked as bright-eyed as ever. She wore one of his mother’s robes over her bikini, so she wasn’t quite as distracting now. He felt a little jolt of satisfaction every time he thought about Martine’s reaction to Holly. He sipped his coffee and put it down again to resume pacing.

  “Will you please sit?” Holly snapped, clicking one long red nail on the Formica tabletop. “You make me nervous.” She shook her head and chuckled. “That girl’s got you so wound up, I swear.”

  Joe dragged out a chair and sat. “Yeah, she does.” He blew out a sigh. “You ever been nuts about somebody, Amberson?”

  She nodded thoughtfully, playing with her cup, turning it around and around. “Time or two.”

  “How about now?” he asked, grinning at her. “I thought I saw you looking a little cow-eyed at Will Griffin back at the office.”

  She shrugged, refusing to meet his eyes. “The boy’s eye candy, what can I say?” Then she laughed at herself, shaking her hea
d. “He’s got a twin. Did you know that? Looks exactly like him. He’s still with Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Double trouble, those two.”

  “So you got two shots at the gold ring?”

  Again she laughed, this time more softly. “No. No rings for me. Best I’d get out of the deal with Will would be a roll in the hay and that’s not an option. Not with a co-worker. Or his brother,” she added for good measure. “Besides, Will’s not—”

  Joe jumped up as a car turned in the drive, shell gravel crunching beneath the tires. “It’s about damn time.”

  He jerked open the side door and stepped out. Delores was already out of the car and running toward him, stumbling in her haste. “He’s got her, Joe!”

  He caught her arms to steady her. “Humberto?”

  She nodded, catching back a sob. “He must have been watching the house. I thought we were being followed and started to turn around. He blocked me and held a gun on us. I thought…he was going to shoot.”

  “Take it easy,” Joe told her. She was nearly hysterical. He needed a clear picture of what had happened. “Come inside and sit down.” He led her in, plopped her in the nearest chair and signaled Holly to get her something to drink. “Now, step by step, sis. What happened?”

  She sucked in a deep breath and plowed her hands through her hair, leaving them there as she rested her elbows on the table. “Okay. Okay. These lights were right behind us, tailgating. I pulled over to let him pass. Before I knew what happened, he was just…there! We were blocked. He had this huge gun pointed right at Martine and ordered us out of the car. Then he hit her with it, Joe.” She shrank into herself just thinking about it. Delores had never been subjected to violence of any kind before this, he knew.

  “How hard? Did he knock her out?”

  She nodded frantically and sobbed again. “Then he tied my hands with a cord of some kind and pushed me into the back seat of the car. It took me…forever to…get loose!” She rubbed her wrists which were red and raw in places.