by Dan Kelly
Sylvia asks, “Why don’t we capture him in the library?”
Bill responds with, “This guy has already shown his willingness to use a gun when he committed the robbery at the Palladian Palace. If he’s carrying a gun when he meets with Jillian and things go south, a lot of people could get hurt, even killed.
“The trap has to be sprung at a location that can be easily covered by police staked out in places where they cannot be seen. The Chameleon must believe that he and Jillian are meeting secretly with no one else around. At the appropriate time during their meeting, the police will take him down. This guy is a computer guru and a miniaturization genius. He will be very cautious and on the lookout for anything suspicious, so we can’t take the chance of putting a wire on Jillian. However, we can bug the location of their secret meeting. If Jillian has earned this guy’s trust at all, I don’t think he’ll come prepared to sweep the meeting place before he says anything.
“Jillian is going to have to get this guy talking about his plan for revenge and the things he’s done to date to ruin Red. Only when we have his admissions recorded can the police move in for the capture.”
Jillian has been deep in thought about what she should say at the meeting in the library to earn his trust and urge him to meet with her again in a more secretive setting.
“I’ve been thinking about what my agenda should be at the library meeting. I think I should start out by restating my understanding of his frustration over no one listening to his demands for justice, but this time with a lot of emotion. My empathy has to be convincing.
“Then, to begin earning his trust, I can share with him everything you know about him, Red; his friendship with Sam Ferguson, his knowledge of miniaturization, his extensive knowledge of casino operations, his skill with his hands, his creative ability with disguises and his manual dexterity in quickly changing them. I can tell him that I’ve met you through my new boss Joe Amato while we were checking out the entertainment on the Floating Fantasies as part of my efforts to familiarize myself with what the competition was offering and you shared this information with Joe and me. I can also tell him that you have no idea what he looks like, but are determined to put a stop to the assaults on your reputation.
“I can tell let him that your determination led you to contacting your brother’s superior, demanding to have him reopen the arson investigation to make sure there were no improprieties, even if it led to trouble for your brother. My sharing all of this with him should go a long way in my establishing a rapport with him and earning his trust.
“I can finish up with an offer to work with him to figure out a way to bring the truth to light. I could suggest that we both make a list of things we could do to assist in the arson investigation and keep the pressure on the investigators. I’m pretty sure he’ll like the idea and, once I have his agreement, I’ll suggest that we meet again somewhere more private where we can’t be seen or overheard. This should appeal to the cautious part of his nature.”
Red has been listening closely to what Jillian has been saying and responds with, “I like your game plan. It should work if we can find the right place to hold this private meeting. Does anyone have any suggestions?”
Bill cautions, “It should be someplace inside, so we don’t have to worry about lousy weather disrupting our plan. I don’t think anything above ground floor will be to the Chameleon’s liking as he’s smart enough to realize if something goes wrong and he has to skedaddle, getting out of the building could be a problem. He’s going to be looking for a clear means of escape. He may be beginning to trust Jillian, but I’m sure there will be a limit to how far he’ll be willing to go.”
Quiet falls over the office as everyone is racking their brains trying to come up with something workable. After a couple of minutes, Sylvia comes up with the perfect location.
“How about one of the cabins at the Pompton Ski Resort? At this time of year, the place will be deserted. I know the manager there and I’m sure I can get him to give me a key for a little tryst with my “new” boyfriend so we can have some privacy.”
Bill, who’s an avid skier and visits the ski resort often in the winter, says, “That’s a great idea. It’s secluded and the woods surrounding the cabins would provide a lot of well concealed places for a police stakeout and they’re only about a hundred yards from the cabins. The Chameleon should feel comfortably safe in those surroundings.”
Red says, “It sounds good to me. Does anyone have any reason why we shouldn’t have the meeting at the resort?” Red takes the ensuing silence as confirmation of everyone’s agreement on the meeting taking place at the resort.
“All right then. The day of the meeting will be determined during the meeting in the library. Jillian can leave the date up to the Chameleon which will make him feel that he is in control and keep any doubts he might have as to his safety to a minimum. Jillian should express her desire to meet during the early afternoon because there will be plenty of daylight for them to see anyone coming before they are seen.
“Bill, you co-ordinate with Chuck regarding getting the bugs in place at the cabin the day before the meeting is to take place. Jillian, at the appropriate time you can bring up the ski resort as the place to meet because you have concerns about getting into trouble with the law if you are seen with him. If this guy gets the jitters and wants to change the meeting place at any time during your conversation in the library or at any time before you are slated to meet, it will be up to you to be firm and unrelenting, insisting that the resort meets all of your requirements for safety.”
Jillian nods her agreement and then Red ends the meeting with, “Okay the die is cast. Sylvia, let the folks at Channel 6 know that it’s a go. Let’s hope that this guy is tuned in when the “spots” are being aired. Jillian, when the Chameleon contacts you notify me both by e-mail and a call to my cell phone and I’ll see to it that everyone else is immediately alerted. This duel notification will reduce the risk of you not being able to reach me. When alerted, Sylvia, you will make yourself available to assist Jillian with any assistance she may need with dialogue. Bill, it will be your responsibility to let Chuck know where and when his men will be needed for bugging the resort cabin and stakeout. If we get this far into our game plan and everything is still a go, he shouldn’t have any qualms about getting involved gain.”
Bill adds, “Popeye, when the time is set for the meeting at the library, it would be best that you plant yourself at one of the computer stations a couple of hours before. This will make you a lot less conspicuous than if you were to come into the library at about the same time as the meeting is to take place. Remember, the Chameleon is a very cautious man and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he shows up well before the time of the meeting to case out the surroundings. If you are already in place, you are less likely to arouse his suspicion.”
Red stands up and with a wave of his hand shoos everyone out saying, “Alright, back to work everyone. We still have a casino to run. Jillian, other than going over what you plan to say in your initial meeting with the Chameleon there’s nothing else you can do right now as far as the Chameleon is concerned. The next move has got to be his, so try to relax and enjoy the Floating Fantasies.”
Chapter 23
Alone back in his office Red is thinking about all of the things that could go wrong. “It’s impossible to plan for every contingency. If this guy becomes suspicious for any reason, he could get real nervous and flee or real angry and pull out his gun. If that happens, Popeye will move into action and all hell could break loose.”
Red’s thoughts are interrupted by a sudden swaying of the Floating Fantasies. Looking out the window of his office, he could see that the sun had moved behind the clouds and the sky was getting darker by the second. As he walked over to the window, the wind began to blow harder, rain started to hit the window and “Old Miss” was starting to move faster and get rougher.
“Uh oh. It looks like Popeye’s body was right on. I guess I’m go
ing to find out if I’m subject to sea sickness. Well, one good thing. Sylvia just kicked off the gaming tournament and that should help keep the guests’ minds off the storm. I’d better check with Popeye to see what the latest weather forecast is. Ah, nuts, nuts, nuts!”
Red reached for the phone, but before he could pick it up there was a rapping on his door. It’s Popeye anticipating his concerns. “It’s going to be a beauty, Red. The kind that stories are told about long after the storm is over. It should hang around for the next three days or so. Nothing to worry about though. The Floating Fantasies can handle it with her eyes closed.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that, but I’ll feel a lot better if the man at the helm keeps his open.”
Chuckling, Popeye suggests, “It probably would be a good idea for you to get out and about in the casino, restaurants and shops and let our guests know that although the weather is going to be quite rough for a few days there’s no reason to be concerned and that they should just continue to explore and enjoy all the fun things there are to do on this amazing ship.”
“Thanks, Popeye. That should put the folks at ease and I’ll head out as soon as I call Rex and bring him up to date on our plans for the Chameleon.”
Popeye leaves, Red calls and briefs Rex and then heads for the casino.
As he enters the casino, Sylvia spots him and comes over with a big smile on her face. “This tournament idea is great. Our guests love it. I hope they like the art auction, fashion show and nine ball, shuffle board and dart competitions as well.”
“I’m sure they will, Sylvia. As usual, I’m going to be mingling with our guests, but in addition to getting their input regarding their experience in the casino I’m also going to try to put them at ease regarding the inclement weather. I’ll also be moving about in the restaurants and shops doing the same thing. With all that you’ve done to show our guests a good time, I’m sure they won’t have time to think about the weather outside.”
“Well, thank you for the vote of confidence, Red. I’d better get out there and mingle too. I don’t want to give you any reason to regret the compliment.” With a smile and a wiggle of her fingers, she turned and headed for the middle of the casino floor, soon to be lost in the sea of people moving throughout the casino.
Watching her disappear in the crowd Red’s thinking, “She is definitely going to be a key player in the long term success of the Floating Fantasies operation.”
As the day progresses, the storm gets worse, but nobody seems to notice because every one is engrossed in either the tournament or one of the many other activities to be found onboard. As nighttime settles in, however, the festive mood is shattered by whistles blowing and Claxton horns blaring all over the ship and then Popeye’s voice coming over the public address system.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please. This is your captain speaking. We are experiencing some engine difficulty and are going to have to tie off at one of the docking areas nearby until we can determine what the problem is and correct it. There is no reason to be alarmed as we have enough power to complete the docking process. At this time, I have no idea how long our cruise will be interrupted. I will periodically notify you as to our status until we are ready to resume our cruise. Please accept my apology for any inconvenience this unforeseen delay may cause you.”
Red has a real bad feeling about this development deep in his gut and makes a beeline to the pilothouse to find out what is going on. “Popeye, what’s happened?”
“Red, we’re running out of gas and I don’t know why. I personally observed the refueling operation back in Bettendorf and the tanks were filled to the brim. Our under water cameras are constantly scanning for debris in the river that might cause damage to our hull as well as the hull itself and they’ve picked up nothing that could have caused this kind of fuel loss. The fuel gages show the tanks a little less than three quarters full, but a visual inspection shows them almost empty.”
“If the gauges are showing sufficient fuel, what alerted you that something was wrong?”
“We started to lose power and with the reduced speed began to have trouble navigating through the rapidly moving current. When there’s not enough fuel feeding the engines, they begin to sputter and then die. We are very lucky to have enough fuel left for some of the engines to continue to run long enough to successfully dock. We’re also damn lucky that we are so close to a docking facility that can handle a ship the size of the Floating Fantasies. This dock is normally used for loading and unloading super large barges hauling all kinds of freight. If we had gotten stranded out in the middle of the river without power, we would have been a floating disaster waiting to happen.”
“Popeye, I know you’ve put a lot of extra security in place, including the help of your merchant marine buddies, but I’m thinking that somehow the Chameleon tampered with your refueling operation and your fuel gauges. The stink of him is all over this.”
“You’re probably right, Red, but I can’t see how he pulled this off. If I ever get my hands on this creep, he’ll regret the day he was born. We came close to being part of a real catastrophe. In this storm, as fast as the current is moving, we could have smashed into something out there that would have sunk the Floating Fantasies and a lot of people might have drowned.”
“How long before we launched did the refueling take place?”
“A couple of days, why?”
“Is there any way the tanks could have been partially drained after they had been filled?”
“No way! I or one of the crew would have heard something. We live onboard, so some of us are around all of the time.”
“When the tanks are filled, are they visually examined to make sure they are indeed full?”
“No. I watch the fuel gauges on the fuel tanker trucks as they register the number of gallons going in and the accumulated price and when the refueling is completed I check the fuel gauges in the pilothouse for confirmation. The main reason I monitor the refueling process is to make sure that all safety procedures are adhered to and no damage is done to the Floating Fantasies. Where are you going with this line of questioning, Red?”
“Well, from what you’ve told me, there is only one way left for the Chameleon to have been able to sabotage the Floating Fantasies. He was the one doing the refueling and he had messed with the tanker’s gauges so that they would give erroneous readings. When you thought you were getting a full load of fuel, you were only getting a fraction of your normal amount. He’s also tampered with the gauges in the pilothouse, but I don’t know how and when he did that. Somehow he managed to evade the extra watch dogs you have placed all over the ship. He might have been wearing a security guard disguise and entered the pilothouse when it was empty to fiddle with the fuel gauges. If anyone did see him, they wouldn’t have though anything of it.
“I think you should probably alert all personnel to be highly suspicious of any security guard who is in a place where he is not easily observable by a lot of people. This will strain your relationship with Sentinel Services, but it can’t be helped. They’ve never gotten back to you with the results of their review of all the guards that have been assigned to the Floating Fantasies, have they?”
“No, they haven’t. I’ll follow up with them and alert all personnel to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.”
“Ah, nuts, nuts, nuts. We’ve got to nail this guy before someone gets seriously hurt or killed. How long before we can get under way again?”
“A day, maybe two, should do it if there’s no damage other than what’s been done to the fuel gauges. It shouldn’t take my tech very long to fix the gauges, but we won’t be able to take on any fuel until I can arrange for tankers to meet us here. I won’t be able to reach anyone until tomorrow morning and it will take about ten hours for the trucks to get here.”
“Okay. I’m going to arrange to have Jillian driven back to Bettendorf tomorrow so she’ll be able to do the interview with Tim Collins on Friday. We won’t
be getting back until Saturday at the earliest.”
“Good idea. I want to supervise the docking here and then I’ll alert all personnel about the security people. I sure hope our plan to snare the Chameleon works. He’s got to be taken out of circulation.”
With that, Popeye turned and left the pilothouse and Red headed back to the casino to try to restore the festive mood that was in a shambles when he took off for the pilothouse. His hasty exit probably didn’t help matters any either.