Extreme Heat Warning: A Shallow End Gals Trilogy, Book Two

by Graybosch, Vicki

  Todd said, “Let’s get this show on the road. Where’s the motor?”

  Dusty laughed, “Got me a city slicker. No motor on this type of swamp boat. You got yourself a long pole. One.”

  Pablo raised his voice, “Then we are going to marathon this puppy. We have agents in trouble. Get two more poles! Let’s go! Now!” Dusty couldn’t help wonder why these damn Yankees were always in such a rush. It wasn’t even mornin’ yet to him. The young agent who drove them, gave Todd a card, and told him to call when they were on their way back.

  Like synchronized sailors they staggered their strokes and were speeding through the marshes and into the deep waters of the swamp. Dusty guided them past dozens of water paths that cut through the swamp at various angles. They had maneuvered their way through a maze of tiny islands. Large cypress trees, nearly fallen, arched and covered in long strands of moss nearly hid most of the places where Dusty carefully steered them forward. Green eyes watched them from every shadow. After about twenty minutes Dusty proclaimed he thought Mambo’s hut was right around the next little peninsula.

  “What do you mean you think Mambo is there?”

  Dusty said, “Don’t get your shorts in a bunch. I’m pretty sure. I only came here when I was high and lookin’ for forgiveness from the Saints.” Todd rolled his eyes as he took his shirt off and threw it on the bottom of the boat. The air was heavy with humidity and downright hot. Pablo did the same. They were both wearing muscle t-shirts, soaked in sweat, with their shoulder harnesses for their weapons. Dusty straightened up, “Damn. Feel like I’m giving a tour to a couple of Rambo’s.” Just then they heard a gunshot, then another, and another. The sound of gunfire was getting louder and faster. They could hear people shouting.

  Pablo yelled, “Move it! Push! Push!”

  Dusty screamed, “TOWARD the gunshots?”

  Fifty feet from Mambo’s hut, Jeremiah’s boat was stopped in the water. The boat was surrounded by water moccasins, big ones. The storm had the snakes spooked. Their thrashing caused the water to look like rapids.

  Our little angel group had just arrived, and started throwing the snakes back into the water as they came on shore. As fast as we threw the snakes in the air, Jeanne and Thor were shooting at them.

  Teresa screamed, “Can we talk to snakes?” as she tossed one off to her left back into the water. They were heavy and huge! They were in the trees! I was pretty sure we had disturbed a huge nest because there were skinny little baby ones too. We were trying to create a clear landing spot for everyone on the boat.

  Mary yelled back at Teresa, “Say something! Tell them to go away!”

  I jumped out to the center of Mambo’s little yard and yelled, “All snakes need to leave, now!” That did nothing. So much for angel powers.

  Linda yelled, “Don’t alligators eat snakes? Maybe we should call for the alligators to come.”

  Teresa yelled, “NO! These guys will shoot them by accident and the alligators might actually start harming people too. Remember, Jeremiah said they attack if they feel threatened.”

  Linda screamed, “There is a snake on the boat! They don’t see it!” She flew over, grabbed the snake and tossed it in the water. “Dang! They are heavy.”

  I was standing in the middle of the yard still trying to think what we could do when Mary yelled, “Get SNAKES!” I realized she was brilliant. Of course! I manifested myself a big broad leaf rake and started swooshing the snakes from the edge of the bank back into the water.

  Teresa yelled at me, “What are you doing?”

  I answered, “Mary said to get rakes. It’s working!”

  Teresa screamed, “She said get snakes, not rakes! Mortals can see your stupid rake!” She tossed another snake into the air. I looked around. Thankfully everyone was so busy shooting, I don’t think they saw. Except maybe Jeremiah. He had that one eye turned at me.

  We saw the second boat come around the corner of the peninsula. Thor yelled to them, “These are water moccasins! Highly poisonous! I think we hit a nest. I’m almost out of ammo.” The guys in the second boat were pushing forward with everything they had. They let their boat glide up next to Jeremiah’s, and Todd tossed an ammo clip to both Jeanne and Thor.

  Pablo yelled, “Holy Shit! They are coming on your boat!” Jeanne whipped around and threw her knife at one, cutting it in half about six inches from Thor’s foot.

  Thor heard the thunk of the knife, looked at the snake, and said, “Remind me, you owe me some shorts.”

  We kept tossing snakes in the air as they got close to the boats, and everyone kept shooting them. Jeanne yelled, “The trees!” Dusty, Alan, and Jeremiah all squatted down as low as they could to stay out of the line of fire. They had their hands over their ears, and their eyes kept alternating from wide open to pressed shut. It looked as if it were raining dead snakes.

  Alan screamed at Jeremiah, “Have you ever seen snakes try to fly?”

  Jeremiah screamed back, “Nope,” and ducked down even lower. Suddenly Mambo was standing in her doorway, her arms raised high and chanting.

  The water instantly calmed, and the snakes slithered away from the boats. It was like they had never been there. Thor was panting as his head darted from side to side. “Where’d they go?”

  Jeanne laughed as she yanked her knife from the boat. “Mambo sent them away.” Thor slowly turned his head toward the hut and saw the bent old woman waving her arms above her head. Then she slowly put a Popsicle in her mouth and disappeared into her hut.

  Jeremiah looked at Jeanne, “Told ya she’d like ‘em.”

  Thor looked at Nelson and Manigat and said, “Good idea taking your shirts off except the mosquitos here can carry off a dog.” He shook his head, “This would be one hell of a training exercise wouldn’t it?”

  Jeanne said, “That storm is not going to wait for us, and we don’t need rain pounding our boat from the top.” She looked at Dusty who was spellbound by her, “Aren’t you the artist?”

  Dusty slowly nodded his head.

  “How much weight can you hold on that boat?” His boat definitely had a better deck and sat at least four inches farther off the water than Jeremiah’s.

  Dusty raised an eyebrow and looked around. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “I have no idea. Not my boat.”

  Thor sighed, “Great. Now we have two boats to sink.”

  Jeanne and Jeremiah left the boat for shore to get Adele Brown from Mambo’s and to explain to Mambo what was happening. Thor moved to Dusty’s boat and noticed the dozens of little skulls and clumps of feathers hanging from the trees and bushes. “Lady could use a new landscaper,” he mumbled as he swatted a mosquito. He picked it off his arm and held it up, “Look at the size of this thing! It could be a small bird. Miserable place. Why would someone live here?”

  Teresa had taken off when the snakes went away and was now flying back to us at warp speed. “Guys, guys! Rebecca and Amy are in the swamp!”

  Mary asked, “What?”

  Teresa took off again and yelled, “Follow me!” We followed her, I missed grabbing Linda’s shirt and had to fly on my own. Other than getting tangled in that stupid moss, I did okay. We saw the girls huddled at the base of the cypress tree, crying.

  I said, “Oh no! How are we going to get everyone to come way over here?” It seemed like we had gone a long distance from the group, and I know we had passed where you would turn off to go to Jeremiah’s house.

  Linda said, “Mambo can see us. Can we tell her to send Jeanne out here?”

  Mary said, “Good idea!” We flew back to Mambo’s. This time I grabbed Linda. Jeanne was just leaving. We burst through the wall shouting at Mambo to stop her. Mambo touched Jeanne’s arm, and Jeanne stopped. Mambo was staring at us. Mary said, “Tell Jeanne to go back to where Jeremiah found her! Please? There are two more women there!”

  Mambo was tilting her head and staring. I started trying to do a pantomime of what we wanted, and Teresa asked, “What are you doing?”

  I
realized it wasn’t working anyway and said, “Swatting mosquitos.”

  Mambo pulled Jeanne to the center of the room and said, “Spirits are trying to tell you something.”

  Jeanne looked at her and said, “Am I supposed to do something?” We all nodded our heads yes.

  Mambo said, “Yes.”

  Jeanne asked, “In the city or the swamp?”

  Mambo looked at us and I held up two fingers. Mambo got it. “In the swamp.” Mambo looked at me. I held up two fingers again and then cupped my boobs and lifted them a couple of times.

  Mary’s mouth flew open, and she yelled, “What is wrong with you?”

  Mambo nodded and told Jeanne, “There are two women in the swamp.” I stuck my tongue out at Mary.

  Linda was shaking her head as she said, “Unbelievable.”

  Jeanne gave Mambo a hug and told her she would bring more goodies for the fridge. Holding a Popsicle, Mambo asked, “More?”

  Jeanne laughed, “Yes.” Mambo told Jeanne the snakes had become a problem for her visitors. She was grateful they had killed so many.

  Jeanne ran to Jeremiah’s boat. Adele was already on board with Todd and Pablo. Thor had moved to that boat too. That put five people on that boat, but it was holding the weight better than Jeremiah’s would have. Jeanne announced they had two more women to pick up. Everyone looked at each other. That would put five people back on Jeremiah’s boat.

  Pablo looked at Thor and said, “Let’s get ‘em.”

  Jeremiah’s nephew Alan said, “I wish someone would tell me what the hell is going on. We got five dead people in a box, and we’re pickin’ ladies out of the swamp like mushrooms!” Nobody answered him.

  Thor frowned at Jeanne, “How do you know there are two more women out here?”

  Jeanne answered, “Mambo.”

  Thor looked exasperated and asked, “How does she know?”

  Jeanne tilted her head and smiled, “She’s Mambo.”

  Just then there was a deafening violent crack of lightning. Rain dumped from the clouds with the force of a waterfall. Thor yelled, “Jesus!” He was grabbing for anything to gain balance on the slippery wooden deck. The force of the downpour was practically sinking Jeremiah’s boat. Mary yelled, “AL! We need you!”

  Sure enough, our angel Al Roker was standing next to Mambo’s door eating a Popsicle. “Oh, this isn’t going to work for you guys is it?” He snapped his fingers and said, “Let’s say we have another hour before the storm really hits. And now for the weather in your neck of the woods…” And he was gone. The rain stopped. The thunder and lightning stopped. The swamp was silent.

  Thor was looking up at the clear sky with his soaked hair plastered against his head, “The snakes disappear. The storm disappears. What kind of nightmare place is this?” He was wringing the water from his shirt.

  Pablo answered, “You should come out here at night.” Thor shuddered.

  Jeanne had helped push the boat off for Jeremiah and said to Thor, “When Patterson made me walk into the swamp, I was pretty drugged. I think I probably was bitten by a cypress spider. Better than a black widow, they’re out here too. Still, I was too sick to go back into the water. I spent two nights and three days on the trunk of a tree. Jeremiah thought I was dead.” Pablo looked at her. He wondered what comfy bed he had been in while she was in a swamp. He owed her so much. The look wasn’t lost on Thor.

  Thor yelled from his boat over to Jeremiah and said, “I want to get paramedics to your place for these women. What is your address?” Jeremiah and Jeanne both started laughing. Thor looked puzzled and then said, “Of course. You don’t have one.” Thor’s phone rang. It was Roger. Thor answered, “Yeah?” Thor listened awhile then spoke, “We have been told there are two more women out here. Maybe they’re your missing tellers. I am going to need paramedics sent out here, but Jeremiah doesn’t have an address.” Thor listened a bit then said, “I’ll call when we’re heading back.” He snapped his phone shut. Thor looked at Jeanne, “Roger will have paramedics at Dusty’s place. He has an address on Devon and is assembling the assault team now.”

  Jeanne asked, “He found him already?”

  Thor nodded. “Population over three hundred-fifty thousand, and he found him before lunch!” Thor thought Jeanne looked disappointed. He understood why. She probably would have liked to be in on his arrest, Pablo too. This actually worked out for Roger. Stick his two problems out in the swamp while he caught the bad guy. Roger really had the golden touch.

  Paul and Roger were at Star Ship. Ray was working on saving the phone data from Rebecca’s phone. Roger had taken a quick shower and put on some of Simon’s clothes. Roger had seen a pile of clothes on the floor behind the door. They looked like the clothes Simon had been wearing after shopping with the cabby. Roger chuckled to himself. He was sure Simon wouldn’t mind him taking his clothes, but his own stinky mess made him realize they needed some sort of laundry service. They had some swamp clothes coming in soon. Roger asked if Ray wouldn’t arrange laundry service through the field office. Hopefully, they knew a trusted laundry.

  Paul had the field office prepare the warrant. Everyone was set to move in on Devon’s house at 11:30 exactly. John Barry had agreed to join them. They were to assemble at the field office and go from there. Ray wished them luck and went back to the basement to finish what he was working on. Roger had Paul, Simon, John, and four agents from the field office. Devon didn’t stand a chance.

  A caravan of black SUV’s silently crawled through the streets and surrounded Devon’s block. State troopers blocked all traffic. Roger and Paul followed the assault team through the front door. They moved swiftly and silently. Roger entered Devon’s bedroom first. He saw the mirror in the bathroom was still steamed over. They had missed him by minutes. Roger used his radio to announce to the team, “Don’t disturb anything. We just missed him. He may come back.” The team carefully left everything as they found it. Roger and Paul collected several documents and personal items they didn’t think would be readily missed. Roger and Paul walked around the basement room Devon obviously used as his prison.

  Paul said, “I can’t figure how those girls got out.” Then he studied the door jam. “Hydraulic lock, one of those girls knew how to depressurize it.” Roger tried to imagine the terror those girls felt while trying to escape. Where were they? Roger called the New Orleans Police Department and was told no one matching the girls’ descriptions had been there. Roger put out an APB on Devon’s car and added the alert that there might be passengers in danger.

  He snapped his phone shut and looked at Paul, “I bet he is disposing of them, or they did escape and are hiding from him. I’ll have units sent to their homes just in case. Thor says two more women are in the swamp they are going to rescue. It could be Rebecca and Amy were taken there.”

  A surveillance unit was assigned to Devon’s house in case he returned. The FBI occupied the vacant house across the alley, and the caravan retreated. In fifteen minutes the neighborhood looked normal again. Roger and Paul had ridden together and were sitting in the car wondering what they should do next. Roger’s phone rang. It was Kim. Roger answered, “Hi there. You have already missed an interesting morning.”

  Kim said, “I think it is about to get even more interesting.” Roger knew when Kim said something like that, it was the understatement of the century.

  He moaned “Oh brother. Should I go to speaker? Paul is here.”

  Kim answered, “Oh yeah.”

  Roger looked at Paul and mouthed, “Not good,” as he put the phone on speaker. “Okay, we’re ready.”

  Paul sat up straighter in the car and leaned forward. Kim started, “Ellen has a boss too, you know. They call her Granny. I guess she’s like the Grand Poopah or something.” Roger and Paul gave each other puzzled looks. Roger feared the decision had been made that Ellen and the gals couldn’t help them anymore. Kim continued, “Ellen said this case is going to mushroom into much more than either of you can imagine. Since mom and
everyone are already so involved, Granny said just get the whole mess done.”

  Roger said, “I don’t think I’m following, Kim.”

  “Ellen wants you to bring John Barry into your confidence and explain Ellen, Mom, Linda, Mary and Teresa, you know.”

  Both Paul and Roger said, “What?”

  Kim continued, “Ellen says John is going to be instrumental in going forward, and he needs their help. More than you do really. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

  Roger said, “How can we convince him we aren’t crazy?”

  Kim laughed, “HA! Welcome to my world! Ellen will help you convince him. She is also going to point you all toward another problem, but I don’t know what that is. Ellen is hoping you can do this fast, at you hotel room, so she can have some privacy with all of you.”

  Roger said, “I’ll call him now and have him meet us there. I am assuming Ellen is going to use you to help us explain, right?”

  Kim was laughing, “Are you saying you hope I don’t decide to go shopping or take a nap?”

  Roger laughed, “I will get you if you do! You owe me!” Kim and Roger knew they could tease each other.

  Kim said, “I owe you? Where do you get that Mr. FBI dude? If I were you, I would be a little nicer to me about now.” Kim was laughing. “I guess we’ll just see what happens.” She hung up without saying goodbye. Roger’s trick.

  Roger and Paul sat in silence. Paul couldn’t control his laughter any longer. The look on Roger’s face was a combination of fear, disbelief, and amusement.

  Paul tried to compose himself and said, “Oh brother…Oh shit…” He gave up on composure, and his mind raced with visions of John’s reaction when they told him about Ellen.

  Roger put his forehead on the steering wheel, “What are we going to say? Hi, like you to meet our angels.”

  Roger looked at Paul, “You call him.”

  “Hell no!”

  Roger started driving to the hotel. He cleared his throat and dialed John. After a minute or so Roger said, “John, could you meet with Paul and me at my hotel room? As soon as you can get there, yes. Thanks.” Roger snapped his phone shut and said, “John will never be the same.”