Fallen Hunter (Jesse McDermitt Series)

by Wayne Stinnett

  “Just the two of you?” she asked.

  “The four of us,” I said. “Remember, I promised to show you how.”

  We listened to Dan play for another half hour, then he took a break and came over to sit down. I introduced him to Tina and Deuce and we caught up on old times until he had to go back up on stage. It was a pretty good turnout. Just before sunset, I told Rusty and Deuce we had to run out for a bit and could I borrow his pickup.

  “Sure,” he said. “Keys are in it.”

  As we walked out to the front of the bar I said, “I need to make a call to Santiago. Could you go inside and get us a couple of bottles of water?”

  “Sure,” she said and headed into the bar.

  I pulled up Santiago’s number and he picked up after two rings. “I thought you were going to back out, Capitan,” he said.

  “Had things to do,” I said. “Offer still on the table?”

  “Si, but we need to meet in person,” he replied.

  “I’m not in Key West, but I can get down there tomorrow,” I said.

  “Nor am I, senor,” he said. “Can you come up to Miami?”

  “No,” I said. “I don’t have reliable wheels. Do you have a boat?”

  He laughed and said, “Si, I have a boat. Very cautious, eh? Where would you like to meet and what time?”

  “I’ll text you the GPS coordinates,” I said. “It’s offshore near Long Key, Alligator Reef. Early morning, about nine?”

  “Perfecto,” he said. “You’ll be alone?”

  “No,” I said, “Nor will I be unarmed. There’ll be three people with me. One man and two women. A dive charter.”

  “I will be with a young lady myself,” he said.

  “Hasta manana,” I said and ended the call, just as Tina walked up to me.

  We went out to the pickup and Tina asked, “Where are we going?”

  “I told you I’d take you shopping,” I said. “Not just for clothes either.”

  “You don’t have to do that, Jesse,” she said.

  “I want to,” I said with a grin. “Besides, you’ll need a new wardrobe for Cozumel.”

  We got in Rusty’s Chevy pickup and drove first to Hall’s Dive Center. In about an hour of negotiating, we had a complete set of scuba gear and a wet suit for Tina. I also bought a new buoyancy compensator for myself, since my old one had a leaky air bladder. We put everything in the small seat in back and drove to Anthony’s, a ladies clothing store just across A-1-A from the Anchor.

  I told Tina that she needed at least two new bathing suits, three outfits for the evening, three outfits for casual hanging out and whatever shoes, underwear, night clothes and accessories she’d need to go with them. “Jesse,” she said, “The dive gear alone cost nearly a thousand dollars. There’s no way I can afford to repay you for that, let alone this.”

  “You don’t need to repay me,” I said. “We need to look like a classy couple on vacation down there. Our next stop is a men’s store. The money Smith is paying me was already in the bank before he even mentioned it. If you want, I can take it out of the $5000 I was going to give you to go along.”

  “Is this for real?” she asked. “They’re paying you $10,000 to go to Cozumel for a few days and I get half?”

  I got serious for a second and said, “This isn’t just a fun trip, though we’ll try to make it as fun as we can. We’ll be going into Cuban waters, so there is some risk involved. That’s why we’re being compensated so well. If you don’t want to do it, say so.”

  She thought about it for a few minutes then said, “I’ll go.” For the next hour, she tried on dozens of outfits, finally choosing six. She also bought a few things from the lingerie department that made me smile. We piled these boxes on top of the dive gear and headed down by the airport to Bayshore Clothing, where I bought the first suit I’d bought in many years. I was surprised they had a forty-six long to fit me. I also bought a few casual, but sturdy, pairs of pants and shirts. Shoes were a problem. They only had a few styles in a size 13 and I didn’t really like any of them, but settled on the least ugly.

  Once we stowed these in the front seat, there was barely room for the two of us. We drove back to the Anchor and carried everything to the boat. Before we finished putting everything aboard, I heard a familiar voice from the yard.

  “Permission to come aboard, Skipper?”

  It was Tony Jacobs. He used to be one of Deuce’s SEAL team operators and moved with him to DHS. “Tony,” I said, “How the hell ya been?”

  He reached out his hand and took mine saying, “Doing well, Jesse. How about you?”

  “Better every day, brother,” I said. “Tony, I’d like you to meet Deputy Christina La Mons. Tina, this is Tony Jacobs, part of Deuce’s team.”

  The two shook hands and Tony said, “Looks like y’all been out shopping. I have a few more goodies in the SUV. Can you give me a hand?”

  “Sure,” I said and the three of us walked over to Tony’s black Expedition. He’d backed it up close to the barge, so we could unload it without being seen.

  “I have a message for you from Smith,” he said. “He says Ms. La Mons temporary assignment has been approved by the local Sheriff.”

  “Please, Tony,” Tina said, “Just call me Tina. Everyone else does.”

  “Look forward to working with you, Tina,” he said. “But I’m kind of in the dark as to what a Sheriff’s Deputy will add to our mission.”

  “Oh,” she said, “I’m just arm candy.”

  “I guess Smith and Deuce didn’t update you,” I said. “We’re going diving in Cozumel. We’ll drop you and Art off on the way down, then the two of us, plus Deuce and Julie will make a show of having a good time in the sun down there for a couple days and pick you guys up on the way back.”

  “He also said to tell you that he’d like Talbot to come up to Homestead for a day to meet the team. Then Deuce can schedule him for training.”

  “What do you think he’d say about bringing the whole team to the island?” I asked. “Hell, I’ve only met the three of you.”

  “I don’t know, Gunny,” he said. “He’s a weird cat sometimes. I think he’s got political ambitions. Came to us from CIA, but was never a field operator.”

  “That’s the exact same thing I thought when I met him,” Tina said. “I gotta ask. Gunny? Is that another nautical term?”

  Tony and I looked at one another and laughed. “No,” I said. “That was my rank in the Marine Corps. Gunnery Sergeant.”

  “And you were in the Marines too, Tony?” she asked.

  “No ma’am,” he said between chuckles. “My head doesn’t fit in a jar. I used to be in the Navy.”

  “Now you guys have lost me,” she said. “Gunners, jars, port, and starboard. I really need to get a book or start taking detailed notes.”

  “Back to Smith,” I said. “What kind of boss is he?”

  “I really don’t have a lot of interaction with him,” Tony said. “From what I gathered, he seems to think he’s on the way up, though. He micro-manages too. Which is why I doubt he’d send the whole team down here. Putting about twenty people up in motel rooms would make steam come out of his ears.”

  “You guys don’t talk much, do you?” I asked. “I built a pair of bunkhouses on the north side of the island. Bunks for twenty-four men.”

  “Maybe we can just do it and not even tell him,” Tony said as he opened the hatch on the big SUV. “He gives Deuce pretty free reign, as far as training goes.”

  In the back of the car were two large crates and two smaller ones. He grabbed one of the smaller ones and I grabbed the other. We carried them across the barge to the Revenge and stacked them beside the gunwale on the dock. The two larger ones required us making two trips. They were the compact underwater scooters. Once we got them aboard Tony said, “Y’all don’t mind me. It’ll take me about ten minutes to get these bladders set up in the fish boxes. Each one has its own battery powered pump and fuel line. All we’ll have to do is open
the fish box, pull the line over to the fuel tank cap and turn it on.”

  I helped him wrestle the two scooter crates into the engine room below the salon. It was a tight fit, but stacked and lashed there was just enough room to get past them if needed.

  “Come on in for a beer when you get it done,” I said. “I need to make a couple calls.”

  Tina and I carried our new stuff inside and I showed her where to put the clothes, while I stowed the dive gear. Then I sat down at the settee and sent a text message to Santiago with the GPS numbers for the meet. Next, I made the first call to Trent. He picked up and said, “Hey Jesse. You wouldn’t want to trade this island for a rundown old shrimp boat, would ya?”

  “You still thinking about selling the boat?” I asked.

  “I’d like to, but fishing and shrimping is the only thing I know. I doubt I could find much of a job doing anything else.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “That table you built is damn sturdy. You could do something along that line.”

  “You haven’t been to a construction site lately, have you?” he said. “Mostly Mexicans, getting paid cheap wages under the table. I did a little construction work once before, no way I could feed my family on what those guys are paid.”

  “That’s kind of the reason I called,” I said. “That island’s going to get crowded soon, with both people and things. I was hoping that you were actually serious about selling the boat. I’d like to hire you and Charlie as full time caretakers.”

  There was silence on the phone for a few seconds. “Are you still there?” I asked.

  “Um, yeah,” he said. “Are you offering me a job?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Remember talking about aquaculture? Think you could build a system like your buddy has?”

  “Well, yeah,” he said. “It’s not hard to build, but the cost is pretty steep for the equipment.”

  “Let me worry about that,” I said. “Think you could build three more of those tables and a house for you and your family, over by that little cove on the western side? I noticed you and Charlie kind of favored that spot.”

  “Yeah,” he said, “I can do all that. Why would you want to do all this?”

  “I’ll explain it all when I come up there in a couple of days,” I said. “Two more questions. Would Charlie be willing to cook for a large group of people on occasion, maybe once a month or so? And lastly, what was the best landing you ever had in a single week?”

  “I’m sure she could handle it,” he said. “You’re gonna start up a fishing camp, aren’t you?”

  “Something like that,” I said.

  “Hmmm, my best week ever was about a year ago. Brought in a full load in five days and sold them for just over $12,000. If I remember right, I took home about $2000 after fuel.”

  “Talk it over with Charlie,” I said. “If you’re willing, I’ll pay you $50,000 a year, but you’ll have to live on the island. Room, board, and a boat, too.”

  “I’ll talk to Charlie,” he said, “and get more details from you, but I like the idea.”

  “We’ll talk more when I get back up there. I’m meeting Santiago tomorrow. I’ll call you and let you know how that turns out. I’ll be up there Monday.” We said goodbye and then I called Doc.

  “Hi Gunny. Nikki and I were just talking about you. How’re things going? Will you be going out with us again next week?”

  “The crew might have the week off with pay, Doc. Things with Santiago got complicated and now Trent’s thinking about selling out.”

  “Selling the boat?” he asked. “Guess that’s it then. I’ve been thinking of going back in the Navy.”

  “Care to listen to an alternative idea?” I asked.

  “Sure,” he said, “But to be honest, I miss the action. Don’t tell Nikki I said that, though.”

  “How would you like to come to work for me?”

  “Work for you?” he asked. “Doing what?”

  “First mate on the Revenge,” I said, then added in a conspiratorial tone, “Maybe a little work on the side, when it comes up.”

  “Merc work?” he asked.

  “Come up to the Rusty Anchor in Marathon, Monday morning about 0800. Know where it is?”

  “Yeah,” he said.

  “I’ll have someone pick you up there and bring you out to my island. Ask for the owner, Rusty, he’ll point you in the right direction. I offered Trent and Charlie jobs working here and there’ll be a few others here, too.”

  “What kind of money would I be looking at?” he asked. “I gotta think about the future, too.”

  “How’s $60,000 a year sound?” I asked.

  Nothing but silence on the other end. Then he said, “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah, it’s already approved,” I said. “Come up here and meet the team. Later, you’ll have to go spend some time up in Homestead training with them. Nothing you can’t handle, though. And bring Nikki, she should know everything, if you two are serious about a life together.”

  “We’re getting married in the spring,” he said.

  “Congratulations,” I said. “I gotta go.”

  Tina came in from the salon and said, “I didn’t mean to listen in, but it’s a small boat. Are you really hiring the Trent’s and Bob?”

  “Sit down here,” I said. “I need to tell you something.”

  She sat down with a concerned look on her face. “What is it,” she asked.

  “That lawyer that was at the Anchor? The paperwork he needed me to sign? I inherited quite a bit of money from my late wife and I’m going to use it for good. Most of it will go to charities that she’d have liked. But, a large chunk of it’s going into my war chest.”

  “Is that why you weren’t bothered about buying all that stuff today?” she asked.

  “No, not really,” I said. “The government pays me a pretty good retirement, plus what they pay me to be on call for jobs like Monday, is way more than I need. We didn’t even put a dent in that.”

  Just then Tony came in and said, “You’re all set. The bladders fit the fish boxes perfectly.”

  “Thanks, Tony,” I said as I got up and went across to the galley and got two cans of Carib lager. I looked at Tina and asked, “Beer or wine?”

  “Do you have any white?” she asked.

  “I have a Mondavi Moscato I think you’ll like,” I said. I handed the two Carib’s to Tony and he sat down across from Tina, while I got a bottle from the wine cooler and a corkscrew. I poured a glass put the wine bottle back in the cooler and carried it over to the settee.

  “Are you and Chyrel going back to Homestead tonight, or in the morning?” I asked Tony.

  “In the morning,” he said. “She’s holed up in a hotel room with her computers.”

  “Think she’d do some research for me and keep it on the down low?”

  “Oh yeah,” he said. “She’s a real team player. Hates Smith, probably about as much as you do.”

  “I doubt that,” I said as I took out a pen and a notepad. I’d jotted down the last GPS numbers Russ had saved and pulled the sheet off the spiral binding. I wrote CSS Lynx under the numbers and handed it to him. “Ask her to research this Confederate blockade runner and see if there’s any correlation with it and that location. Tell her to call me, or better yet, since she likes to show off her tech stuff, tell her to send me a video message if she finds anything.”

  “What’s this all about?” he asked. “A 140 year old wreck?”

  “It’s what Deuce’s dad was trying to find when he died,” I said. “He was looking for a dozen gold bars that were supposed to be on that ship. I think he found at least one of them and that’s what got him killed.”

  “Whoa,” said Tina. “Twelve gold bars? What do you think they’d be worth?”

  “Gold bars are usually ten pounds,” I said. “At today’s rate maybe two million dollars. But, that’s just melt value. Intrinsic value could be twice that.”

  “I’ll have her check it out,” he said.


  “You seen Deuce?” I asked.

  “He and Julie went out for dinner,” he said. “They should be back shortly.”

  “Where you staying tonight?” I asked.

  “Same hotel that Chyrel is staying at,” he said. “We’re leaving early to go back to Homestead.”

  We talked a little while longer, then Tony said he had to leave, so he could get some sleep. “See you Monday morning,” he said as he left.

  “I’m nervous about diving tomorrow,” Tina said. “Are you sure I don’t have to take a class or something?”

  “We’ll be shallow diving,” I said. “No more than ten or twelve feet. You’ll be fine. That shallow, there’s really only two rules you need to remember.”

  “What’re those,” she asked.

  “First one is to always breathe,” I said. “The second one is, don’t breathe the water.” She reached across and punched my shoulder.

  “Seriously,” she said. “I’m a good swimmer and all, but I’ve never even used a snorkel.”

  “Look,” I said, “I’ve made over 3000 dives and am a certified civilian dive master. In the Corps, I was a Combatant Diver, too. Plus, Deuce was a Navy Diving School Instructor. Julie’s made probably a thousand dives, herself. You don’t have a single thing to worry about. Now, why don’t we take the rest of that bottle to the stateroom?”

  13

  Underwater World

  I woke to the sound of voices. I looked over and Tina wasn’t there. I got up and put on a clean pair of shorts and walked up into the salon. Tina, Deuce, and Julie were sitting at the settee and Tina said, “You were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “Come on,” I said. “I’m a light sleeper. It must have taken you a good ten minutes to get up quiet enough for me not to notice.”

  She poured me a cup of coffee and I sat down next to her against the bulkhead. “Deuce was just telling me about the place we’re diving. Where you and he spread his dad’s ashes.”

  “It’s a beautiful little patch reef, not far from here,” I said. “But, we have to take sort of a roundabout way to get to it. I told Santiago I’d meet him off Alligator Reef at 0900. He wants to discuss terms in person. I told him I had a dive charter near there.”