Hard Case: Boxed Set Books 1,2 & 3 (John Harding Books)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “On your knees, hands behind your back,” I shouted out to them. “Make a fuss, and die now!”

  They did as told. By then, Lynn had inched the Wolf up near the ramp. Jafar helped her dock it, and let me know our ride was safely secured. We were still absorbing warnings of doom from the Cartel motley crew. I allowed Gary to take his friends back inside the living quarters, explaining they might have to stay a while until we organized a relief crew. They were happy to be alive. I called Laredo down for a landing. Three men in oil rig gear followed Laredo off the platform.

  “Good to see you, John. I heard Lucas made you swim to the rig from Texas.”

  “If felt like it. Are you staying?”

  Laredo nodded. “Denny told me he wants one person anywhere near the com center. That would be me. Did you have to nuke it?”

  “That was another good thing. I had a rig worker disable it rather than destroy anything. I’ll go get him. He has the parts to make it operational again.”

  “That’s a relief. I want to set up an operations base here for now until you get those people in Cancun safe. If we can get clearance, Denny wants me to fly them back to the states from here unless he can get a Coast Guard Cutter to rendezvous with The Sea Wolf. Any objections to sailing back by and dropping them off if everything goes well?”

  “Actually, that sounds almost perfect. I’d rather transfer them to the Coast Guard though.” I introduced myself to Denny’s oil rig management team and took them with me to the living quarters. I brought Gary back with me. He and Laredo hit it off right away.

  “How’d we do with the funds from Hector and his boys?”

  “Pretty well for underlings,” Laredo replied. “Hector made the largest donation to the West Coast Fund.”

  “Gary helped me big time getting this done. I’d like to work fifty thousand into a tax free fund somewhere for him.”

  Laredo smiled at the stunned Gary. “Consider it done. Bring your parts along, Gar, and let’s get this rig’s com center back working under new management.”

  “You bet.”

  “We’ll be casting off for Cancun with our new informants.”

  Laredo’s features twisted comically. “Damn. I thought maybe you had all the info you needed. So, Cruella Deville will be playing entertainment cruise director again, huh?”

  “She’s the best, and we need some insight into communications, guards, and layout of the place. One of the guys we just ditched told us three of the ones we just captured have been to the complex in Cancun. Thanks to Lynn, we took this rig without blowing it up or losing a single person good or bad in the process.”

  “You’re right, John. Besides, I hear now she has her act down so well, she doesn’t even hardly lay hands or knives on them.”

  “It will be interesting to see her with a baby.”

  “Maybe in your universe that will be interesting. In mine, we’re provisioning for the apocalypse.”

  Okay, that was funny. I waved as I turned away. “See you when we get back with the hostages.”

  “Tell Clint the bet’s still on Cruella croaks him in the night.”

  * * *

  The Wolf put out to sea again with our new set of guests with Lucas at the helm. This after complaining about nearly everything from roughing up the boat’s side while picking us up to Clint getting blood on the deck while doing triage on the guy he put a crossbow bolt through. We all took it in stride because we didn’t want to show any disagreement between crewmembers. Ahab calmed down once he was again at the Wolf’s helm.

  I took a hot shower while the captives were entertained by the cruise entertainment director. Lynn had decided to warm them up while Jafar fingerprinted and took pictures of them for Denny. By the time I got out of the shower and dressed, our guests were avoiding eye contact with Lynn. She kept moving from one to another with her monster face, studying each one, tilting their heads, and turning them as if figuring out which side view was best. When the one Clint had shot a crossbow bolt through saw me again, he began demanding better treatment. The grim part was, we all recognized this clown from Hector’s description. He was their lead torturer, the one who had conducted and participated in the killings of all the crewmembers. We had not told him his buddy, Hector Manos, bought a quick death with detailed information about what they had all done, especially the complainer, Gabe Medina.

  I waited silently, listening to dead man rattle off demands for lawyers, arrest warrants, and even claiming he had diplomatic immunity. I could tell Cruella wanted to cut out his tongue, but I kept shaking her off when she turned to me. The other guys were having a hard time keeping a straight face. Finally, Jafar returned from the bridge with ten sheets of updates from Denny. Five of them had to do with Medina. I turned to Lynn as I pointed out confirmation on Hector Manos’s identification of the three in our group who had been making regular trips to Cancun. Medina wasn’t one of them.

  Lynn turned to Medina, crouching down with a look that would have frozen the blood of anyone with eyes. I could tell Gabe was impressed. She pointed a finger at him. “We’re not going to mess around with you Mr. Diplomatic Immunity. I’ve been listening to your shit since we left the rig. You are going to be an object lesson to your friends here on how to be helpful. You can’t be helpful, so it sucks to be you.”

  Cruella turned to Jafar. “Remember that chum I asked you to save in the refrigerator? It’s in the large sealed plastic bags.”

  “Yes,” Jafar replied with grim purpose, because he had read what Medina had done. “I will get it at once. Shall I have Lucas come to a stop?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Lucas slowed the Wolf down to an idle. I had an inkling of what Lynn had in mind. This would not be a pleasant demonstration. After reading what Medina had done, I didn’t care what she had in mind for him. I doubted whether we would have much to worry about getting the five survivors to talk. See, in the Gulf of Mexico there are a wide range of sharks. Lynn didn’t care one way or another if we attracted the right kind or not, or even if they showed up. This was a demonstration of what we planned to do. Jafar brought her a large plastic bag full of chum from our fishing off the boat. She went back and dumped it into the ocean off the fantail. The rest of us monsters manhandled the Cartel boys into a kneeling position near the fantail.

  Nearly half an hour later as Lynn released bag after bag, there was a churning in the water. Lynn clapped her hands. “Showtime! Strip him boys. We don’t want his clothing to get caught in their teeth. Put a life jacket on the prick so he doesn’t sink.”

  Clint and I stripped the screaming Medina. We forced a flotation vest on the very vocal Gabe, and held him while Lynn click-clacked Mr. Skinner out. She made a shallow but bloody incision from his groin to his neck.

  “That’ll do it. Throw out the bait.”

  Clint and I threw out the screaming Medina into the ocean. It was quite a show as they nudged him. He screamed. He splashed. He begged. Sharks really have no compassion for anyone. In his case, neither did we. Our planned for sequence went on for longer than even we expected with poor old Gabe screaming to the last before he disappeared from view. A ragged flotation vest popped up a few minutes later.

  Lynn spun around on our guests with passion. “Okay, ladies! That was the demo! Who wants to go next? C’mon, don’t be bashful. What? No takers? Well, I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. We need to know everything you know about the Cancun estate where the hostages are held, or the Dark Lord here is going to let me cut pieces off of each of you to stir up our shark buddies before we toss you in to feed them. Please don’t talk! I’m going to cut chunks out of you for bait until the cows come home, and the sun is high!”

  Cruella moved to drag another victim out to be stripped. I played my part.

  “Hold on, Cruella. We have to give them the alternative.”

  “Sissy boy!” Cruella turned away, but not without a quick grin to let me know she boinked me.

  “Give us all your information about Ca
ncun along with the personal accounts you assholes have accumulated. Impress us with not only that, but bad things you all have done since childhood. We want everything. If you don’t impress me, I let my enforcer prep you for the ocean and the sharks. Believe me! You won’t like that option. If you bunch impress me, we’ll sit you up on deck to watch the sunrise and give you all a happy shot into hell. What’ll it be?”

  The decision was unanimous, but Lynn of course showed her displeasure with my alternative. She went at our very upset and willing informants with grim entreaties.

  “Don’t tell him anything, kids! Screw the big cluck! Let me show you a new horizon of death. It will be so intense, you’ll be glad when you’re dead, you rascals you. C’mon, take a walk on the wild side!”

  Clint corralled her to the bridge with Lucas. Casey and Clint then watched the prisoners while Jafar and I began the tedious question and answer sessions with each one separately. I could tell that bothered them. In the meantime Lucas resumed course to Cancun. We mostly allowed them to talk at first. I compared what they said with the sheets Denny had forwarded, and the information we’d already learned. By the time we were done, we had a candidate for our next phase.

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Cancun

  He was resigned to death, and by the sheet on him, and his own cohorts’ description of his duties, Joe Valois was in charge of handling the targeted couple’s delivery to the Cartel’s estate. The way they worked it was Hector Manos took over the couple’s yacht with his own men, while the hijacked crew was taken back to the oil rig. Valois would come on board the captured yacht, smoothing things over, emphasizing the need for absolute secrecy, and all would be explained to them by their soon to be fellow partners. In Cancun, a limousine would meet them for their enthusiastic briefing by the other couples held at the Cartel estate. They were filmed and interviewed in a picturesque setting, drinking umbrella drinks, and excitedly discussing an oil partnership with the others.

  Reality would come later, when the couples were taken to a closed off video room with large screen HD TV. On screen they would watch each of their yacht crew tortured hideously by Gabe Medina and killed by the other butchers. After that illuminating experience, their cooperation in slowly draining their accounts was guaranteed, along with acting as dupes for the Cartel to give glowing endorsements. Joe didn’t know it yet, but he was going to buy his worthless life. We took Joe’s comrades up on deck as promised after dawn, and fulfilled our part of the deal with them. They were then stripped and fed into the chummed water. It didn’t take long. Joe watched in horror, believing he had not impressed us enough, and he would be fed to the milling sharks alive.

  Lynn put an arm around his shoulders. “Want to maybe live through this, Joe?”

  Valois turned pleading eyes toward Lynn, unwilling to believe she would save him for anything other than special torture. “Did I not tell you everything? How can I live?”

  “We’re going on a rescue mission to free those couples at the Cancun estate. My partner Clint and I are the ones who have cultivated this whole thing. You’ll deliver us to the Cartel just as you did the other couples. As I understand it, you take the couple by limousine directly from the dock to the estate by yourself. Correct?”

  “Yes! It is just so. I can get you both in without a problem. It is well guarded though. They have a dozen guards I know of. We are always passed into the compound. No one stops us. You would be treated like honored guests with me as your guide. The rough stuff does not start until after the videos they take of everyone together when we arrive. The estate has a beautiful jungle setting around its walls.”

  I liked this as well as Lynn and Clint seemed to. “How big is the limousine they send for you at the dock, and is the glass well tinted?”

  Joe’s eyes widened. He was a smart one. He had changed sides already. “It is a huge stretch limo meant to impress. Yes, you can get your team inside. You will have to force the driver to do your bidding. He is simply a driver. His name is Alto Balos. Once we are inside, I can do my usual escort job while Alto takes the limo to where the garage is. Alto must be the one who opens our door for us.”

  Lynn patted his cheek. “I’m beginning to like this guy. Do you usually stay overnight when you deliver people?”

  “Yes, I stay overnight.” Joe smiled. “I always have my overnight bag. You would like me to carry something other than a change of clothes, huh?”

  “I’m thinking a couple of MAC 10’s, extra clips, and a few flash-bangs,” Clint said. “We’ll isolate the hostages, and then get the party started. How many couples do they actually have in there?”

  “Six.”

  “That’s more than we know about or have seen on the bait video,” I told him.

  “They only use the Americans when doing their commercial video. Once we enter the estate, I am always to take the people directly to where the couples are all sipping drinks around their huge, beautiful indoor pool. There is soft music, lowered lighting, and a tropical theme all around the pool area. The attendants who seem to be waiters are armed guards. There are four of them by the pool.”

  “Do you sit with us, Joe?” I’m wondering if Clint can get at the bag while having drinks.

  “Yes, I stay with everyone until the videos and interviews are over.”

  “Are the guards spread around the pool, or near the tables,” Lynn asked.

  “They remain close to the tables and lounges to serve. They are very casual, because no one has ever done anything at the estate. The brutal slaying of the yacht crews on video from the oil rigs, coupled with a show of force after the showing is all it has ever taken to keep the hostages in line.”

  “How about a way to go from the garage to a higher vantage point,” Casey asked. “If we could get the geezer up in a spot with the M107, he might be able to pick some of them off, and guard our exit from the garage.”

  “I heard the geezer remark, prick!”

  I looked toward the bridge. “Damn. The geezer has ears like a bat. What about it, Joe?”

  “There is a stairwell access to the decorated catwalk that borders the estate,” Joe replied.

  “Sounds like we have a plan,” Casey said. “Is there ever any problem with the authorities when you come into port?”

  “Not at our dock. There is never any interference at the docking area from the authorities. They are all paid to ignore Cartel business.”

  I planned on Denny reinforcing that if he could do it without tipping anyone off. “Okay, what do you have to do in order to let them know you’re coming with the people and their yacht?”

  “I just text them when we get close to port. They make a few calls. We hook up at the dock, and then I text them again. They send Alto in the limo.”

  “Why am I getting a bad feeling about this being so straight forward after that perfect op on the oil rig,” Casey asked. “That in addition to the Dark Lord’s uneventful mile swim in the dark is giving me the creeps. I think I feel a disturbance in the Force. The Dark Lord has sucked up and used all our luck. The cosmos is working against us.”

  I naturally launched into the outraged Dark Lord’s troll like voice. “How dare you question the Dark Lord?! You who are mere minions of the Dark Lord will do as you’re told or feel my wrath!”

  We all got a laugh out of my channeling the Dark Lord. Joe stared at us like we were insane of course. Lynn gave him a little hug. “Don’t let this worry you, Joe. Stick with us. We’ll save the innocents, kill the bad guys, and put you somewhere the Cartel will never find you. Now, there’s just one more question we need answered. Will that big cheese guy who runs the estate, Edwardo Godinez, be there?”

  “He is usually there, but stays in the background until after the people are forced to watch their crews murdered.”

  Lynn sighed. “We’re going to need him, Joe.”

  “Yes, Ms. Montoya.”

  * * *

  We docked in Cancun without incident or questioning authorities in the spot Joe told us was
Cartel protected. He texted our arrival as we tested communications with Jafar who would be our command center aboard the Wolf. I left him with a MAC 10.

  “Do not allow boarders kid. That’s an order. Fire at will, and get the hell out of here. You shoot very well, and Lucas says you’re a natural at the helm. Don’t worry about us. We’ll take to the jungle until we can get a pickup from Laredo. Make sure Denny is on through every phase.”

  “I understand, John. I hope the Force is with you, Dark Lord.”

  “Good one, kid. See you in a while.”

  The limousine arrived fifteen minutes later. Joe asked to be allowed to speak with Alto the driver alone, and bring him to meet us near the Wolf. I had no objections to that. Lucas took the M107 up to a spot where he could monitor the discourse. That limo would either be leaving with all of us or not leaving at all. Alto walked with Joe. He was wide eyed terrified, but understood United States operatives would be involved. That in itself put his life in danger with the Cartel.

  “He understands this will get done, with him dead or with him alive,” Joe informed us. “Alto is a good man with a family. He drives. He does not participate in Cartel business. Alto may need relocated with me and his family.”

  I nodded. “Done deal. He’ll have to stay out of sight until I can arrange for such a transfer. Right now, we will be over loaded as it is going back to the oil rig, or to meet the Coast Guard. I’m hoping my boss will do an at sea transfer after we get into international waters. You have my word we’ll come for Alto and his family.”

  The negotiations done, we loaded aboard the very beautiful stretch limousine. As intended, it was very impressive. After over half an hour, we arrived at the gates to a splendid jungle surrounded estate. The gates opened as we arrived without incident. The courtyard gleamed with newness and money. Alto stopped where he should, hopping out immediately to open the door for Joe, Clint, and Lynn. Although Clint dressed casually, Lynn wore a red off the shoulder mini-dress no one could mistake as casual. Joe escorted them inside. Alto hurried around to take control of the limo and drive us into their spacious garage. Then it was business as usual for us. I told Alto to stay in the limo, and if he didn’t, I would take that as a sign he had decided to commit suicide. I recited it in Spanish to make sure he knew if our op didn’t end well, I would end him.