River Traffic

by Martha Brack Martin

  I looked at Kat. I thought she’d be as confused as I was. But she didn’t look it.

  I turned back as Oleg began loudly stomping around in his boat. He still scanned the shore. He looked mad.

  What’s he waiting for? I mouthed at Kat.

  She shook her head and mouthed, No idea.

  Then, on the dark shoreline, I saw a figure carrying something. I thought it might be one of the people who’d just gotten off the boat. Then I saw that this person was much taller. Heavier too. Solid.

  We watched as he stepped onto the dock. He walked right up to the boat and stood looking down on Oleg in silence.

  “What took you so long?” Oleg’s voice carried over the water. He sounded more freaked out than angry.

  “Do you have the other delivery?” We could hear the tall man’s voice just as clearly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kat lean forward.

  Oleg bent down and grabbed something near his feet. “Here.” He almost shoved it at the tall man. “Now give me my cash. I wanna get out of here.”

  “Not so fast. I need to see if it’s right.” The tall man fiddled with the package. “You didn’t open it?”

  “No! Why would I? I don’t want to know what’s in there.” Oleg sounded like a scared little kid. Not like the tough guy he pretended to be. “I’m just doing a job.” He was loud, like he’d forgotten where he was. “I’d never do this if I didn’t need the cash. I know it’s wrong. But I’m desperate. Pay me and let me go.”

  The tall man tossed the bag he’d brought into Oleg’s boat. He was silent for another minute.

  Oh, crap. What’s he waiting for?

  I had a bad feeling our night was about to get worse.

  Then the big man spoke.

  “ Don’t you want to count it… Dominik?”

  “No. It’s fine. I’m sure—” Oleg stopped. “What did you say?” He looked up at the man on the dock. “How do you know my name?”

  “I know a lot about you, Dominik.” The tall man spoke loudly and clearly. He put the bag Oleg had given him over his shoulder. Then he moved his free arm.

  He’s going for a gun!

  I grabbed Kat, ready to yank her down, out of the line of fire. But the man flicked on a flashlight—one he aimed at his own face.

  “And you know me, Dominik,” he said slowly.

  Kat and I gasped at the same time.

  The tall man on the dock was Kat’s dad.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Mr. Smith?” Oleg looked as confused as I felt.

  I glanced at Kat. Her face was frozen.

  Should I get her out of here before it gets worse? Is it even safe to move?

  Before I could come up with anything close to a plan, things got crazier.

  A bunch of guys in bulletproof vests swarmed out of the dark. They charged onto the dock. Some of their vests said DEA. Others said FBI or US Border Patrol. They surrounded Oleg and Mr. Smith in seconds.

  “Holy shit!” I was too scared to say it very loud.

  I felt it louder, believe me.

  We saw Mr. Smith drop to the dock and put his hands behind his head. I heard Kat let go of a big breath she must have been holding.

  I looked at Oleg. He didn’t say a word. Just stood in his boat like he’d been turned to stone. He looked so scared I felt sorry for him. Even if he was up to his eyeballs in something bad. Even if he had treated me like crap all through high school. I still felt bad.

  And I felt even worse for Kat. Who wanted to see their dad taken down by armed guys in black?

  I put my arms around her. She turned to face me and moved into my hug.

  I held her for a few seconds. She leaned back. We stared into each other’s eyes.

  And her face broke into an ear-to-ear smile.

  What the…?

  I had no time to figure out how she could smile at a time like this. Stuff was still going down.

  Huge spotlights suddenly lit up Oleg’s boat and Mr. Smith. It was brighter than daylight.

  The lights were coming from the channel—from three boats lined up, blocking Oleg in. One had US Border Patrol on it. Another said RCMP. The Mounties. The last one was turned so I couldn’t see its logo. Then the guy driving it started waving at Kat and me.

  So much for thinking we were hidden.

  It was Nate’s dad. He was driving the LaSalle Police boat. I could see Canada Customs agents with him.

  He may be waving now. But he’s going to kill me later.

  The guys on the shore took Mr. Smith and Oleg into custody. The DEA guys pulled the money out of the boat.

  I could hear Oleg muttering, “I’m so stupid. I am dumb…just like he said. Dumb Dom. Oh my god…” He kind of crumpled in on himself.

  Some guy read Oleg his rights. Then they took him away.

  The minute Oleg was out of sight, Kat leaped up.

  “Come on. We’re getting out of this boat.” She tugged my arm.

  “What?” I asked. “Your dad was just taken down by the cops! Why aren’t you freaking out?”

  “Don’t worry about it. Get out of the boat,” Kat said.

  I felt like I was trapped in some crazy movie. I had to pry my hands off the steering wheel after our boat ride through hell.

  I was sure we’d be taken down ourselves now that the cops had seen us. I needed a minute, so I stalled. I slowly took off my life jacket and carefully bent to stuff it behind my seat.

  “Tom LeFave!”

  I jumped a few meters as a deep voice barked my name.

  Mr. Smith was standing beside Kat on the dock. His hands weren’t cuffed. I looked for the cops, but he was alone.

  “Sir.” My voice cracked. “I mean…”

  I had no idea what I meant.

  I looked at Kat. She was grinning from ear to ear again. Her dad gave her a nod. “I’ll let you tell him,” he said to her.

  “Daddy’s FBI, Tom. High up. He was in charge of this whole thing,” she said proudly.

  Mr. Smith is FBI? My brain tried to catch up.

  “I knew he’d probably be here,” she said. “And I was sure I heard his voice on the dock. But he should have been running things behind the scenes. I couldn’t figure out why he’d be doing the drop.” Kat looked at her dad. “Why did you, Daddy?”

  “Thanks to you two, we knew where to come. And we got here in time to move into position. But we didn’t get a chance to completely secure the area,” Mr. Smith said. “As lead, I felt I should take the risk, not my men. And once I knew our guy was Dom…” He put his arm around Kat. “I felt sorry for him, honey. I didn’t know if he’d panic and do something stupid. If I was doing the drop, I hoped my guys might be a little less trigger-happy.” He chuckled.

  “What if Dom had panicked?” Kat said.

  “I can handle myself. And I’ll make a better witness for him at trial than one of my guys would. He said some things that might make a judge go easier on him.”

  I was still trying to catch up. I focused on the one thing that made sense to me.

  “I knew you didn’t look like a businessman, Mr. Smith,” I said.

  “The name’s Waters. Agent Mike Waters.” Kat’s dad put out his hand to shake mine. Then he kept mine in his grip. “And you don’t look like FBI. So I’m not sure why I’m not ripping you to shreds for bringing my little girl into this situation.”

  He waited to let me sweat a bit. Then he cracked a smile and let go.

  “Maybe it’s because I know my little girl,” he said. “And no one can stop her if her mind’s made up.” He hugged Kat tightly. “Even if it almost killed me, knowing you two were out here somewhere. Between the storm and the drop, anything could have happened.”

  “So you knew we were following Oleg? Did you get Kat’s note?” I didn’t think he could have and still made it over here before us.

  “I never wrote a note,” Kat admitted. “He wouldn’t have been home to get it in time.”

  “I’m lost,” I said.

  “Da
ddy was supposed to come back after dinner. When he didn’t, I knew something must be happening. Then we heard Dom start his boat,” Kat said.

  I remembered what we were doing when we heard Dom’s boat. I made myself focus.

  “I had to give Daddy a way to track us if you and I were going after Dom,” she said. “So I texted him when you were texting Nate’s dad. I told him to follow the tracking chip he ‘hid’ in my cell phone.” She rolled her eyes.

  “Hey! I’m a dad,” Agent Waters said. “We do what we have to.”

  “Well, most dads don’t put tracking devices on their kids,” Kat said. She looked at me. “I figured out Daddy put the chip in my phone when he gave it to me. I turned it off. But I had to turn it back on tonight. He needed to be able to follow us.”

  “I wondered why it looked like you never went anywhere after I gave you that phone. But it paid off. We tracked you and knew where Oleg was likely heading.”

  “Daddy tries to keep me out of his work. But sometimes I can get information he can’t,” Kat said proudly. “That’s why I was at Dom’s party. To check out the house. I hated to let you have all the fun. But someone had to keep Dom out of the way.”

  “I knew Kathleen would be safe with all those kids there. And with you of course,” Mr. Smith—I mean Agent Waters—said. “I had you cleared as soon as we met you.”

  “Super,” I whispered. I wondered who had cleared me.

  Kat’s dad turned to her. “We got some intel late today from the new network. That’s what put it all in play.” He turned to me to explain.

  “All the law-enforcement agencies in the area have been working together to set up a new network. It covers the river and lets us all talk to each other if there’s a crisis. No middleman. No need for clearances and paperwork. It’s state-of-the-art.”

  “All the agencies can share information the second one group hears about it,” Kat said.

  “We’ve had a few trial runs, but today was the real deal. A source confirmed that one of the Olegs had to be our guy. We just didn’t know which one. Or the details,” Agent Waters added. “You two gave us the one piece we were missing. And I can’t thank you enough.”

  Agent Waters had us tie up the runner. Then we walked back to the big dock. All the action was winding down.

  Kat pointed at a sign on the end of the dock. “Heron’s Nest,” she read. “Is this where Troy lives?” she asked her dad.

  He nodded.

  “Can we go home now, Daddy? I’m pooped,” she said.

  “You bet.” Agent Waters waved to someone behind him. “I think Tom here knows his driver. We’ll talk tomorrow.” Kat’s dad turned to me. “How about we meet at your marina around ten?”

  I nodded as Agent Waters led Kat off. So much for a good-night kiss. She mouthed, Good night, and winked.

  Officer Murphy walked up with another cop I knew.

  “I won’t tell you how I feel about you tracking the Oleg boy tonight,” he said. “It’s late, and we’re both tired.”

  He walked me to the LaSalle Police boat and waited as I climbed in. “You’re soaking wet. Grab a blanket and a hot drink. My thermos is right there. Jim will bring the runner home. Thank God that storm’s done.”

  I wrapped up in a blanket. Before I could take one sip of coffee, I was asleep.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I woke up to Dad singing one of his favorite songs at the top of his lungs. He hadn’t sung since Mom left. After all the stuff that had gone down the previous day, Dad’s happy mood seemed even stranger.

  When they’d brought me home the night before, he’d been waiting. Nate’s dad must have told him we were coming. Dad didn’t say where he’d been all night, and I didn’t ask. Once I showered, he gave me a hug and sent me to bed.

  “Tom! Get down here. I’ve made pancakes and bacon. Lots of bacon,” Dad yelled.

  And now he was singing and making me breakfast. Life was full of surprises.

  “Thanks to our sources, we felt the drop was going to be somewhere close to Grosse Ile Airport. But we didn’t know where,” Agent Waters said. It was still hard to think of Kat’s dad that way. “Not until Kathleen confirmed it was Dom and turned on her tracking device.”

  “Dom went south because the Hole in the Wall is monitored,” Kat added. “He knew he’d get picked up right away, out in a storm and all.”

  We sat around the Southern Comfort’s cabin—Kat, me, Dad, Agent Waters and Officer Murphy. Kat was beside me, holding my hand. My heart rate was still up from the kiss she’d given me—right in front of everyone—when she arrived. Her Southern hug became a repeat of the previous night’s. When we came up for air, I saw both of our dads smiling. Crazy.

  “We never got a chance to put trackers on the Oleg boats. Things happened too fast. When Kathleen texted, I was already at the island’s airport. With her signal, we moved into position.”

  “I knew it was Dom driving the whole time,” she admitted.

  “Once he went past the yacht club, we were sure he was headed to the Herons’ place. We knew he was there often. So I already had men standing by.” He took a sip of coffee before he went on. “Kathleen tells me you met Troy Heron at the party.”

  I nodded.

  “Daddy brought the Herons in. But he thinks they’re clean. It looks like Dom acted alone.”

  I looked at Agent Waters. “Did you know Oleg was smuggling people into the States?” I asked. “Or were you just after the drugs?”

  “The human smuggling is what brought me here. We’ve watched that group for months. We caught one guy already.”

  “The one you told me about,” Kat said.

  “We’re after the guys at the top.” Agent Walker paused. “We picked up Dom’s ‘guests’ once they were out of sight. My people are taking their places.”

  “If you guys were after the human smugglers, how did you know about the drugs?” I asked.

  “We didn’t. Not until yesterday. That new network I mentioned last night? It was key in putting the pieces together.” Kat’s dad pointed at Nate’s father. “The drugs are Murphy’s case.”

  Nate’s father had been sitting quietly beside my dad. Now he picked up the story.

  “A week ago the RCMP got a tip. Quebec Ecstasy, coming through our area. Destination New York, with a possible Boblo tie-in. No idea of the who or how, but we did know the shipment was leaving from Grosse Ile Airport last night. That’s when the tower guy goes home,” Officer Murphy said.

  “Someone was getting the drugs to the airport over the river. We’ve all been watching—Customs, the RCMP, everyone. We knew the river was key, but nothing flagged. Time was up. Tonight was it. We knew they had to move.”

  “So you and Agent Waters joined forces?” I asked.

  “All the groups involved only got clearance to share intel over the new network in the last twenty-four hours,” Officer Murphy said. “Most of us don’t work together very often. Or very easily.” He laughed.

  “The new network was key. When we shared what we knew, everything fell into place,” Agent Waters said.

  Officer Murphy looked at my dad, who’d also been sitting quietly. “Do you want to tell him the rest, Butch?” he asked.

  Butch? As in my dad? What would he know about any of this?

  My dad stood up. “Let’s go over to the shed.” I could tell he was trying not to smile.

  I hadn’t been within ten meters of the shed in months. I could hear a buzzing sound as I got closer.

  Then Dad opened the shed door… and I couldn’t believe my eyes.

  Inside were floor-to-ceiling wires, with computers and monitors everywhere.

  Officer Murphy put his hand on my shoulder. “Your dad is the mastermind behind our new network, Tom. He’s been working on it for months.”

  “I couldn’t tell a soul, Tom,” Dad said. “The RCMP hired me to design it. I know the river, and I know all the local marine communications systems.”

  I could hear the pride in his voice, an
d I almost lost it right there.

  “We used this old shed because I could set everything up and you wouldn’t know I was doing something extra. It’s a perfect location for the hub.” He paused. “I had a hell of a time keeping you away from this shed though.”

  You have no idea.

  “When they saw I could run the whole thing, not just build it, Joe gave me the contract. He’s my RCMP contact.”

  Joe. The guy on the phone.

  “Anyway, it’s a full-time job, keeping this hub running.” He looked around the shed. “So I guess you’re going to have to run the marina on your own next summer.”

  “What?” I must have heard wrong.

  “I’ll be able to afford a manager,” Dad said. “Consider yourself hired.”

  Kat and I held hands, swinging our feet as we sat on the Southern Comfort’s swimming platform.

  “It’s good your dad’s helping Oleg,” I said.

  “Dom giving evidence will help for sure. And he seems truly sorry,” Kat said. “It sounds like Mr. Oleg was really hard on him. Putting all that pressure on him about school. Cutting off his money when Dom thinks money is everything. I think he was desperate.” Kat squeezed my hand. “At least they’re talking now. Dad’s booked some counseling.”

  “I just wish I knew why Oleg’s always been such a jerk to me. Thank God he doesn’t know we were part of him getting caught.” Agent Waters had managed to keep our names out of the proceedings so far.

  “I have some leads on that,” Kat said. “Do you remember when Dom was arrested? He was mumbling about someone being right about him being dumb?”

  I thought back. “Yeah. I figured he was talking about his dad.”

  “No. He was talking about you.”

  “Me?” I was instantly mad. “I never called him dumb. Not until this year maybe. And never to his face!”

  “He told Dad last night that you were in daycare with him when he first moved here. You were little, and you told all the kids his name was Dumb instead of Dom. They teased him. Guess he never got over it.”