“Introduce us, John.”
“This is Terry Nelson. He’s a cheap gang-bangin’ thug. I’ve picked up shells on the beach with more brains. He outdid himself this time.”
Nelson is already impressed. He has a little trouble talking with his forehead and chin nearly immovable. “Har… Harding? What… what’s goin’ on?”
“You can talk to me, Mr. Nelson,” Denny said, leaning toward Nelson. “You mixed with the wrong guy. Now, you’re going to tell us everything about Claude Chardin. In case you don’t know his name, he’s the one that gave you the explosive pack.”
Terry’s eyes widened even more which I didn’t think was possible. “Man… I don’t know shit about-”
Casey cut his cheek with a scalpel in a slow deliberate shallow slice from his chin to eye. Nelson’s squeal ended in a sobbing, guttural whine. I believed we’d reached an understanding. I moved up where Terry could see me.
“Look Nelson, you were going to outfit a ten-year-old boy with a bomb to blow up God knows how many innocent people. You ain’t ever leavin’ this place alive. My associates will get everything you know. How you draw your last breath is in your hands right now. Tell us everything you know about Chardin and this gig at Jack London and you can go out with a smile on your face.”
Denny moved up and showed Nelson a hypodermic. “This is a wonderland hotshot, Mr. Nelson. Do as John suggests and you get it. Play dumb and in an hour you will be begging us to hear every detail.”
Nelson folded like the cheap prick I figured he was. He cried first. Yeah, that’ll work.
“Okay… okay… I know the guy. He… he said I’d make twenty thousand if I could cause a distraction for him with a small bang on the Square. I didn’t-”
Lucas bitch slapped the gang-bangin’ moron with a coldly delivered refresher. “We’re not interested in what made you shit on your country, maggot.”
Nelson saw something in Lucas’s eyes that reached him on a level he understood. His eyes closed for a moment, squeezed tightly as if in protest to his entire miserable life before opening once again with a suitable haggard acceptance. “Dude didn’t tell me why. He gave me ten thou’ up front and told me what he wanted done.”
“How did he contact you, Mr. Nelson?” Denny kept it formal.
“There… there’s a cell-phone in a panel under my driver’s seat. I got his number in there. He only contact me twice. The money sold me… I-”
“Shut up!” I thought of Darin blowing up in some crowded spot in Jack London Square and reality starts to fog up on me. Denny grabs my arm but I shrug him off. “I’ll be right back. Better start prayin’ Terry. If that cell-phone ain’t there with all you say I’m going to make you wish you were never born.”
I jogged out to Nelson’s Cad and found the throw away cell-phone under a taped over piece of mat. I’d already checked the regular cell he’d been carrying without anything other than the gang-banger stuff I planned to use to make my wakeup call in the area around my neighborhood. I brought it back in to Denny. He downloaded every bit of anything it had on its circuit board. He made some calls while he worked. I saw him smile in the midst of his examination and figured we hit pay-dirt. He uploaded the stuff somewhere because he watched the notebook computer screen until a beep sounded. Denny walked back to Nelson and before I could intervene he injected Nelson with a hypo that put a dim smile on Terry’s face before the shadows came up from hell and dragged his black soul down to his just rewards. At least that was what I comforted myself with.
“You in a hurry, Denny?”
“John, you’re too close to this. Nelson needed to go bye-bye before your feelings for him got out of hand. Chardin wouldn’t have trusted this idiot with anything more than what I just got from the cell-phone. He won’t know we’ve busted Nelson yet so he’ll keep the cell alive we have the number for. I’m having him triangulated as we speak. We’ll get the bastard before he has a chance to move. There wasn’t any need to take this interrogation any further.”
“Maybe you needed to trust me with a say in that, Denny.”
“What about it, Lucas?” Denny turned to Blake.
“I got no dog in this hunt other than America. John bleeds red, white, and blue. You should take a moment before asking me for an opinion, Denny. I ain’t your bitch… if you know what I mean.”
“Don’t even look at me, Den,” Lambert had both hands up while backing away. “John’s gold with me. I ever get mixed signals about something and I think of going to ground he’ll be the first I call after Lucas for backup. You feel me, Ace?”
Denny looked at Lucas again. The grin Lucas gave him in answer did not please Denny. A few seconds of absorbing the obvious exhorted a small chuckle from Denny and a drop of his shoulders. He looked up at us with a shrug. “You guys are as close to family as I’ve got. Don’t take this personally. Some things you’re better off not knowing. If that’s a problem then dance with a different partner.”
“Maybe you better remember some people are exactly what you think they are, Denny,” Lucas replied with calm aplomb. “You should have given John a chance to satisfy his curiosity.”
“Maybe, but I didn’t. Let’s go get this murderin’ son of a bitch before he gets away. You can bet he didn’t trust anything to Nelson other than assigning the bomb. We’ll leave Nelson here for disposal. Get your gear on. It’ll have to be the four of us.”
“Want to take a few seconds to brainstorm how the hell Chardin knew anything was going on down at Jack London tonight?” I saw Denny’s eyes widen slightly. “It could have been my guys but I’m betting you know somebody else more likely.”
“I’ll think about it while we’re loading.”
Lucas gripped Denny’s shoulder. “You know, Denny, you’re just like family to me too. If I find out you knew something about someone that could get us maimed or killed, I’m goin’ to whup you like a red-headed stepchild. What did you see on the cell that made you boink the little gang-banger here?”
Denny sat down. “I’m under orders guys. I saw a number I think matches with an alias we’ve been tracking in our department. My calls inside confirmed it. We’ve suspected someone’s been feeding Chardin information from in the agency. It won’t affect us nabbing Chardin.”
“Unless you uploaded the cell info to the wrong person,” Lucas pointed out. “In which case we could get triangulated right into a trap. I don’t think you’d do that, Denny. I think you already know now who it is working with Chardin. Am I right?”
Denny nodded. “He’s out of the loop but we can’t pick him up without tipping off Chardin.”
I knew. “It’s Reddig. Isn’t it, Den.”
Denny stood up. “Can we go now? I can’t guarantee we’ll all get through this unscathed but I guarantee what I can’t say won’t hurt us. Okay?”
I exchanged glances with Lucas and Casey. They grinned and nodded. “Is this dead or alive?”
“We’d like to take him alive.”
“Tell John where he is,” Lucas told Denny. “If anyone can figure an approach that’ll net this scumbag alive it’s him.”
“He’s at the Marina in San Leandro. We have a general area for the signal. Chardin could be eating at a restaurant there or he may have a boat he’s prepping for tonight’s dance party. We’ll have to get closer before we can pinpoint which it is. Our people are checking the registry of every boat in the Marina right now. My guess would be he won’t have anything obvious but they’re looking for boats just ported there or anything out of the ordinary.”
“He’s got our pictures. Bet on that.”
“You’re right, Lucas,” Denny acknowledged. “Any suggestions, John?”
“Once we find out where he is exactly and I don’t care where, let me blow his knee off.”
“I like it!” Lambert claps me on the shoulder. “Do you have anything stored here you’re familiar with?”
I knew Casey meant a rifle I’d worked with before. Making a shot with an untried weapon is
not a good idea. “I do have one. Denny had a target of opportunity pop up about six months ago. Remember, Denny?”
“Sure I do. You went rogue on me and offed a person of interest from half a mile away we wanted to talk to. Your rifle’s locked up in the gear locker just like you left it when you cleaned it up while ignoring my official upbraiding of your act.”
“You were unclear on the mission parameters, Den.”
“Do you realize what favors I had to call in to clean that mess up?”
“Oh wahhhh… Aybak killed Al Stennic in France. I didn’t think he’d be treated properly in captivity.”
“Damn, John… you did for the weasel that wasted Al?”
“Don’t encourage him, Lucas. Let’s go. I like your idea, John. Please don’t kill Chardin. I know I gave you a straight out sanction order before but things have changed. When we get him on the table in here I get a head rush thinking about what we can find out. Aybak would have been in the same predicament if you’d given me a chance.”
I laughed. “Bullshit, Denny. I overheard your conversation with Cantoni.”
“Shit! You never said anything. Okay… okay… but Aybak was different. He was an arms dealer we could have turned. I…” Denny shut up as the rest of us folded our arms with looks of comical interest as if we were entranced with what could have happened with an Aybak deal. “Fine. He’s dead. New day, clean slate. Let’s go get it done. We don’t even know if we can get Chardin in a place where John can take a shot at him.”
“We need an outsider to recon this thing. Let’s pick up the kid I recruited. If they can pinpoint the building then fine, we’ll take him coming out. If he’s in one of the boats we’ll need to find out which one. We’ll put a tracker on Jafar and send him along the pier. If we get meshing signals we’ll know where Chardin is.”
“That’s good, John. Whether we need him or not I’ll rely on you to make sure he understands the situation. I vetted Kensington but I was hoping to see him in action on a less important mission before trusting him on something like this.”
“I’ll vouch for him. Let’s get going and we’ll pick him up on the way.” I called Jafar and told him to meet us at the corner of Doolittle Drive and Davis Street in my Chevy, less than a mile from the Marina.
In Denny’s utilitarian action van that looked like a medical emergency truck on the outside and a SWAT response vehicle on the inside I explained how Jafar had acted in the Tess kidnapping. We were all outfitted in blue EMT uniforms. I got a few laughs telling about our first meet up in jail. I also filled them in on some of Jafar’s skills, including languages and computers.
“This kid sounds like a natural,” Lucas acknowledged. “He speaks the enemy lingo and he’s computer savvy. Damn! I wish I’d recruited a sidekick like that instead of Gomer here.”
Casey immediately began to sob and rub his eyes comically. “You can be real hurtful, Lucas. You know that? I should have fragged you on our third mission. And to think I was going to intro you to my new girl.”
“Oh crap… that’s right… we have to save the world quick so we can get ready for dinner, Case. John, pretend like this is the last hour in one of those Jack Bauer ‘24’ episodes.”
“I heard that,” Denny called back from the driver’s seat.
Casey gestures at the added turret type bubble top above us. “I hope this’ll be high enough for you to get a shot. It’s perfect for cover but the pits if our target’s not in the open.”
I shrugged. “If I can’t get a shot we’ll go to up close and personal. Our plus is Chardin doesn’t trust anyone. That’s obvious because he let himself get seen talking with Nelson. It seems, thanks to Denny suspecting that dweeb Reddig, Chardin doesn’t suspect we know what he looks like.”
“Meaning he won’t have an army with him,” Lucas said.
“Not unless they’re a crew he’s been with since the beginning,” Casey added. “Hell, the three of us are just like him. We don’t have an entourage. He won’t have one either. I’m betting he has a boat. It’s perfect for moving around without detection out here on the coast with all of the interior within easy rented car range. If he doesn’t have a couple of loyal sidekicks Chardin would be limited to a boat he can pilot alone.”
I hadn’t thought of boat size. “You’re right, Case. We’ll have to figure that in. It may make Jafar’s approach more dangerous. Hey, Den, can I bag the henchmen?”
“Shoot to wound,” Denny called back. “If he does have a crew they may be an easier interrogation. I like Casey’s thinking. Chardin can move up and down the coast at will and dock pretty much where he wants. If… wait one.”
We heard Denny talking to someone and then sign off. “Good news. We have a boat at the Marina with Pakistani diplomatic tags. It’s a big one so he’s not alone. You still want to pick up the kid, John.”
“Yes. Call for the specifics on who has the boat docked near it. We’ll send him up to Chardin’s boat asking if they know where such and such is docked. He may be able to get us an idea of how many are on board. I hope Chardin parked it up the pier far enough so when they start screamin’ we’ll be able to get over there before they draw a crowd.”
“On it.” Denny called my request in and by the time we pulled up next to Jafar we had all the details of who owned the boat docked next to Chardin’s and the fact they were not on board.
Jafar hesitated for a moment when we stopped next to him and the back door opened. Lucas put out a hand. “C’mon aboard, kid. We need a hero.”
Jafar shook Lucas’s hand and climbed into the back with us. “Okay, so where do we pick him up at?”
Chapter Fifteen: Hunting Chardin
Even Denny laughed. I explained what we wanted him to do and briefed the kid on who to say he needed directions to find. Jafar listened intently, nodding his understanding at the appropriate times. His eyes widened a bit when I told him the boat had Pakistani registration. Casey gave him the transmitter we wanted him to carry. Although we now knew which boat Chardin was in I still wanted something we could track on Jafar.
The San Leandro Marina area consists of a sprawling area of park, coastline, restaurants and piers. It’s a beautiful bay from which you can see forever on clear days such as this one. Denny turned into the parking lot furthest from the line of piers with Casey sitting next to him reading off our position in relationship to Chardin’s boat. We had the far end of the parking lot to ourselves so Denny jockeyed us into a position at Casey’s direction where we could see the boat with a minimum of obstacles in the way. As we hoped, Chardin had ported it at the very end of the last pier in the line. I figured Chardin’s cruiser was at least an eighty footer, sleek with double-decker cabin areas. I didn’t see much in the way of deck area though which would limit his exposure considerably.
I got up in my makeshift cockpit, standing on a metal stanchion we had rigged to the floor with my sighting scope. Our bubble on the vehicle’s roof was opaque from the outside. When looking up at the extension it appeared to be a vent. The salt air breeze blowing in from the ocean cut across the parking lot at a good clip. It also rocked the vessels tied up at the pier, further adding to our difficulties.
“Good news is I have clear sight of our target boat,” I told my comrades while doing a slow scan of Chardin’s craft. “Bad news is there’s not much uncovered decking and the windows are dark tinted. Since I doubt Chardin will be dancing around outside on the small fantail, I’m not optimistic about my plan A. Plan B is we put on the siren, rev up to the pier, and Jafar leads us in like we’re answering an emergency call. I’ll charge, you guys clean.”
“Short, brutal, and oddly satisfying,” Casey remarked. “I’m in.”
“I lost my love for plan A the moment I knew he had a crew. This works for me, John,” Lucas added. “How about it, Denny?”
Denny handed me a printout of a Bertrund 800 Cruiser. “These are the floor plans for the vessel they have docked. Multi layered, so hit all the decks or Chardin will find a
way to curl up somewhere and waste you lunk-heads.”
“We’ll need to get them immobilized quickly.” Denny closed his eyes for a moment before standing up. “If there’s no questions about the layout get Jafar into a uniform. You guys take floating Pakistan out to sea after securing the crew and Chardin. I’ll cruise out to you when I get a couple people out here with a boat that I can trust.”
“Can we keep the boat?” Casey’s liking the design.
“No, you can’t keep the boat. Get movin’.”
“What’d you pack for plan B, John?” Lucas asked me as we first got Jafar in a uniform with vest underneath.
“I brought the 9mm Taurus you like with the AWC Abraxas silencer. Same for Case and me. I’ll be right behind Jafar when he knocks on the door. If they open up I’ll throw in a flash/bang and we’ll get the party started.”
“What should I do after they answer my knock?” Jafar’s voice only shook slightly. Very good – too much reaction, bad, too little reaction, just as bad.
I fastened the last straps on his vest and gave him a uniform shirt with all the EMT tags the rest of us wore. We all had ball caps on. “Drop to the deck immediately. Don’t get cute and don’t look up. If things get ugly, dive into the Bay.”
“I heard you say something about this ship being of Pakistani registry. Is this legal?”
Lucas put an arm around Jafar’s shoulders. “Do like John tells you. We’ll talk later about your comfort zone. If you don’t like the way things go down today, now’s the time to find out. Anything else?”
“I’m good.” Jafar wisely decided now wasn’t the time.
Casey and I packed a first aid bag along with a few special utensils we might need on our Bay Cruise while Lucas kept an eye on the boat. We had a folding gurney to make us look real good hustling down the pier. Denny made sure Jafar knew what name to shout out while banging to come aboard the cruiser. Denny was back in the driver’s seat five minutes later. He snapped on the siren while speeding to the nearest pier access spot. Being a weekday, the sidewalk bordering the waterline and the piers that butted into it were virtually deserted. A few people ducked their heads out of the restaurant nearby but went back in after Denny turned off the siren.
Hard Case: Boxed Set Books 1,2 & 3 (John Harding Books) Page 19