Sailing into Death (CJ Washburn, PI Book 2)

by James Paddock

  Parker just stared at him, his mouth hanging open.

  "What happened?" Gracie said, partially overhearing the conversation.

  "We got lucky, real lucky," CJ said and then went on to detail the entire event. When he was done, and after Stella had put in her clarifying comments, Gracie looked as white as the day before when she first learned of a WMD.

  "I just hate this!" Gracie said and wrapped her arms around Stella. "Are you okay?"

  "Yes. A bit sore." Stella was wearing a light, cotton top, the dressing completely covered.

  "And here you are hauling chairs." She gave CJ a critical look and took the chair away from Stella. "Can I get you something? Have you had breakfast?"

  "Yes. We ate."

  "How about brandy and chocolate?"

  Stella laughed. "That just might hit the spot, but how about we wait until after we get back from the beach?"

  "How about chocolate on the way there; brandy when we return?"

  "It's a deal."

  The beach was exactly what CJ and Stella expected: A warm breeze, a gentle surf, sea gulls vying for scraps, a scattering of people sitting and walking, some with pre-school aged children. Two blankets, five chairs and one huge beach umbrella found the five of them sitting back, iced tea or water in their hands, gazing out at the horizon.

  "Is that a pelican?" Stella said, pointing to a huge bird with a long beak as it glided by and then dove head first into the water.

  "Brown pelican, yes," Gracie said. She pointed to two others farther down the beach, gliding their way in their direction. "They're fishing."

  Stella watched the two as they got closer. "One has a brown head, the other is white. Is that the difference between male and female?"

  "No," Gracie said. "The brown head means it is a juvenile. The white head is an adult. As far a male or female, I'm not sure. Do you know, Parker?"

  "I think the male is bigger and has a longer beak. Tracy could tell you."

  "Your daughter?" Stella said.

  Parker nodded. "She did a report in school last spring. Knows all about the birds of Florida's gulf beaches."

  Josh stood and walked down toward the surf, looking out at a jet-skier seeming to come too close to the shore. The skier did a fancy whip turn, throwing up sea spray and then headed back in the direction he'd come. Josh looked up and down the beach and then back toward the parking lot before returning to his chair.

  "You need to relax," Parker said. "With that silly Hawaiian shirt I gave you, you look like the body guard for a don. Do they issue those shades at basic?"

  Josh ignored Parker's question. "I'll relax when Dad and Stella's flight back to Arizona lifts off the runway."

  Parker looked over at CJ. "When we were sitting in front of the coffee shop Saturday morning, just before all hell broke loose, you said you thought the threats were over, that they'd come to the realization that, and I quote, 'anymore of this cloak and dagger hit squad crap is useless.' Yet Ms. Danohough is dead and here you are still being pursued as though you are carrying the secret that would unravel their entire operation, an FBI agent as your bodyguard. Have you had any thoughts as to why they're still after you?"

  CJ sat in his chair looking north along the beach and toward the parking lot while Josh did the opposite, his view being toward the south and out into the water. When they set out the chairs, the arrangement, though unspoken between the two of them, had been conscious. Unlike Josh, though, CJ didn't jump at any guy who came within fifty feet, or who came barreling in on a watercraft, but he was well aware of every male individual approaching the beach from the parking area. So far, there had been none who weren't obviously accompanied by a female and who weren't wearing beach clothes. As far as Parker's question, CJ hadn't thought about much else all morning, finding that relaxing on the beach was about as successful as trying to light a barbeque in a high wind. If you weren't careful, it'd blow up in your face.

  "I have to say, Parker, I'm clueless."

  "Maybe Douglas told you something else that you're not remembering and somehow they know you don't remember it, want to eliminate you before you do."

  "Or maybe they just think he told me, but he didn't."

  Parker nodded. "That, too."

  "Either way, I'm still a target they're after."

  "Do they think Stella knows something, too?" Gracie said.

  "I doubt it. Killing her would just be collateral damage in going after me. As a matter-of-fact, being near me, you all could turn into collateral damage yourselves."

  Gracie looked up and down the beach. "That's not very comforting."

  "Sorry, Gracie. Every time I think they're through with me, that I have some idea what they're up to, I get blindsided. Now I've got everybody running down the summit angle and am no longer sure the summit has anything to do with it. I usually don't believe in coincidences, but now and then they do happen."

  "More often not, though," Parker said. "I think it has to do with the summit and you know something you have yet to realize you know."

  "Thanks for the confidence, but it's no help."

  "I have a question," Stella said.

  "What's that?" CJ said.

  "When you talked to Douglas, he said he'd been back in the states for three days. Is that right?"

  "That's what he said."

  "And he let slip something about a summit."

  "That's what I remember."

  "But, apparently, the FBI didn't know anything about the summit and as far as I can tell don't seem to find it important." She turned her head to Josh. "No offense meant, Josh."

  "None taken."

  "If it was so important," Stella continued, "why hadn't Douglas turned it over to the FBI right after he returned?"

  There was silence for a time and then Josh said, "Maybe he didn't obtain the information in Ireland."

  "You mean he'd discovered it after returning and had yet to contact his handler about it?" Parker said.

  "When you're undercover like he was, it's not always easy to get information out," Josh said. "You have to be careful: Initiate a time and place, plan how to get there while making it look like something very normal, be aware of everyone around you, pass the info without being observed or recorded in any way. It can be a bit complex. I have to say, though, three days does seem like a long time to let something like this slide. He should have found a way to get to his handler. In any case, his handler should have made contact with him to get a debriefing within twenty-four to forty-eight hours after his return."

  "Douglas did check in with his handler." Realizing what he'd said, CJ jerked forward in his chair. "Holy crap!" He half exclaimed and half groaned. His rib cage didn't appreciate the sudden movement.

  "What?" Parker said.

  "You okay, Clint?" Stella said.

  CJ took a long, slow breath, willing the pain to relax. "I'm fine. Just moved too fast." He looked over at Josh. "I can't believe I missed it."

  "Missed what, Dad?" Josh considered his dad's words for a few seconds. "Are you saying that he did meet with his handler? Did he tell you that?"

  "Yes, he did. Until just now I didn't recall it. Probably didn't recognize the significance of the statement." He thought for a few seconds and then added, "He said something about having returned three days before from Northern Ireland and that while there he didn't talk to his handler, that they trusted him to do what he had to do. And then he said, 'I only just checked in yesterday.' Those were his exact words. I'm sure of it. That was Friday morning when I talked to him which means he checked in with his handler sometime on Thursday. I can't believe I didn't put those two things together until now."

  "You've got to be mistaken," Josh said. "There's no way."

  "There's always a way, Josh. You put enough money or incentive on the table, there becomes a way."

  "Agent Taffer said that Douglas had requested a meeting for Friday night."

  "Whoever gave him that information, lied to him."

  "Lied? What?" Graci
e said. "I'm lost here."

  Josh and CJ just looked at each other. Stella didn't say anything. Parker put his hand on Gracie's arm. "What they're saying, dear, is that Douglas checked in with his handler, but the handler didn't pass the report on to his cohorts."

  "Which means?"

  "The handler purposely withheld vital information to the FBI that would help thwart whatever it is that needs to be thwarted."

  "Oh," Gracie said, almost under her breath.

  "Who was the handler?" CJ said.

  Josh had his cell phone in his hand. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out." He punched at the phone and then stepped away.

  Silence ensued thereafter, anticipation evident on all faces. CJ watched a man approach the beach through the dunes, some hundred yards north; loose fitting plain blue shirt, long pants, ball cap, sunglasses. He stopped and looked both ways, seeming to pause his gaze on CJ's group, but only briefly. Another man appeared but he didn't continue onto the beach, only his head visible over the dunes. After a bit the first man turned around joined the other man and then they both disappeared. It wasn't the same approach that CJ's group had used, that being less than twenty yards away, the closest approach from the small parking lot. CJ watched the area while waiting on the results of Josh's phone call.

  Chapter 33

  "Blain," Josh said when he returned. "Special Agent Howard Blain."

  "Coulter's partner?" CJ said.

  "Yep, though I've never met him."

  "It was the two of them who picked me up at the hotel Thursday night," CJ said. "Haven't seen anything of him since."

  "He had a family emergency come up on Friday and took off for Wisconsin. Something about his mother."

  "Convenient." Parker said.

  "Taffer isn't inclined to believe that he has an agent on the take," Josh said, "but he's checking it out anyway. Needless to say, he's a bit pissed."

  "No doubt," CJ said.

  "I think he's reserving at whom he'll be pissed until he gets more information. You being the source of the bad news may make you the recipient. Are you one-hundred percent certain of what Douglas said?"

  CJ closed his eyes for a few seconds, forcing up a recall of the conversation. "I've no doubt. He said that when he was there, in Ireland that is, he didn't talk with his handler, that he'd just checked in the day before. His words, and this is as exact as I can recall them, ' I just checked in yesterday.' That would be Thursday."

  "That still leaves a 24-hour hole for doubt," Josh said. "He could have learned of the summit between the time he checked in and the time he talked to you."

  "What about Coulter?" Parker said. "They're partners, aren't they?"

  "Only one of them would be designated the handler, but you're thinking is right. Partners know everything about each other, have each other's back. So from Douglas' point of view, they'd both be handlers."

  "Could there be two agents on the take?" Stella said.

  "Taffer's pulling Coulter out of the field right now."

  "I'd give a hundred bucks to be the fly on that wall," Parker said."

  After a bit of silence, Gracie said, "You up for a walk in the waves, Stella?"

  "It's the only reason we haven't left for home, yet," Stella said. "If I don't get my feet wet soon, I'll go crazy."

  The women got up, Stella kicking off her sandals.

  Josh seemed to shift uneasily in his chair, appearing tossed between staying with his father and playing bodyguard to Stella. When he looked over at his dad, CJ gave a slight nod toward the women. Josh rose to his feet.

  CJ smiled. He really didn't think there was a threat on a St. Petersburg beach, but it wasn't worth the chance. He'd feel so much better knowing that there was someone watching her back. He was also glad to see her pick up her purse, her pink Sig Sauer nestled inside. And then he silently cursed at himself, again, for not taking the time to check his own weapon through airline security.

  Without a word, Parker got up and moved over to where Josh had been sitting. CJ knew it wasn't so that he could watch the women's posteriors as they strolled away. He was taking over Josh's place, watching for threats. What the two of them would do if such a threat presented itself, CJ had no idea. Hobbled with injuries and no weapons, they were both about as useful as couple of children with water balloons.

  CJ suddenly felt very naked.

  "I hope to hell you're wrong on this one, CJ," Parker said.

  "I hope I'm wrong, too."

  As they talked, CJ continued to watch the beach accesses. The two guys still nagged at him. Another man stepped onto the beach, this time directly from the parking lot. He was alone, however his dress was not similar to that of the first man. He was wearing stylish shorts and a T-shirt, too tight and tucked in, wrap-around sunglasses, and a ball cap; a phone was clipped to his belt. There was no place for a concealed weapon.

  "I don't like the idea of a federal officer on the take, or cop of any kind," Parker said.

  "I know what you mean," CJ said.

  Maybe it was the shoes. CJ couldn't tell for sure, but they didn't appear to be something one would wear onto the beach.

  "When I was in uniform, we had a cop in Tampa taking bribes from a drug dealer. Turned real messy. Put a black smudge on all of us."

  Whatever it was, the guy seemed out of place.

  "Had the same thing happen in Phoenix," CJ said.

  "Makes it real hard to do our jobs," Parker said.

  The guy was looking toward the area of the beach behind CJ, to the south. CJ started to twist about to see the girls but found, with his rib injury, that he had to stand and turn. They were some seventy or eighty yards away, Stella knee-deep in the surf, Josh close by, phone pressed to his ear. It appeared to CJ that that was where the guy was looking.

  "I've been watching them," Parker said. "They're fine."

  CJ sat back down and found that the guy was walking back to the parking area.

  "I thought there was someone watching them," CJ said.

  Parker twisted around. "Who?"

  "He's gone. It was nothing."

  "You're getting paranoid, CJ."

  "Yeah. Tell me about it."

  By the time the women had turned around to come back, the guy from the parking lot had returned, only this time he was carrying an umbrella and pushing a baby carriage; big wheels, huge canopy, an over-endowed woman in an under-endowed bikini following with a diaper bag and cooler. They set up about twenty yards behind CJ.

  Parker watched them for a while and then said to CJ, barely above a whisper, "A couple of square inches of material should be illegal."

  "Maybe she grabbed Barbie's bikini by mistake instead of her own."

  Parker snorted.

  "He's the guy I was worried about a few minutes ago," CJ said.

  "Really! Looks to me like he has other things on his mind."

  "Like you said, I'm getting paranoid."

  When Stella and Gracie flopped back into their chairs, they didn't seem to give the neighbor woman–on her stomach, top unhooked, bottom covering next to nothing–more than a glance. Parker returned to his chair so Josh could sit back down.

  "Now that I'm back you suddenly feel guilty," Gracie said, "so you had to move to give up your view."

  Parker gave his wife a serious look. "I figured that Josh, being single, would have a deeper appreciation for such things. I've got everything I need right at home."

  Gracie put her hand on his. "You'd better believe it, sweetie." To Stella she said, "He always knows the right thing to say."

  Josh just sat, unmoving in his wraparound Ray-Bans. After a time he said, "Talked with Agent Taffer again. He got a hold of Agent Blain. Blain said that Douglas had checked in Thursday afternoon, but didn't have anything significant to report. Blain didn't have a chance to file the report before he got the call about his mother and had to fly home to Madison, Wisconsin. She was in an auto accident. Nearly died."

  "So sorry to hear that."

  "It's s
till touch and go. Blain is pretty stressed out, according to Taffer. Anyway, he claims that Douglas said nothing about a summit."

  "Does Taffer believe him?" CJ asked.

  "I think so," Josh said. "There have only been a handful of cases where an agent has gone on the take. The risk is so high, I can't imagine."

  CJ continued to watch the beach accesses, wondering about the guy in the blue shirt. When they finally packed up and carried everything to Parker's van, he eye-balled any car he could see, but found no one suspicious, and as they headed out there was no one following. He still couldn't rid himself of the feeling that they were being watched.

  Chapter 34

  They stopped at a Subway on the way home. CJ bought. When he started to get an argument from Parker he said, "It goes on my expense tab. Don't worry about it."

  Stella poked him in the ribs and snorted.

  CJ groaned.

  They ate their sandwiches on the deck, under a huge umbrella, overlooking the lake behind the DuPont home.

  "I should have picked up something for the kids," Gracie said. "We're going to be in the doghouse when they see the Subway trash."

  Parker glanced at his watch. "We've got time to finish up and dispose of the trash."

  "If they did that and we caught them, we'd give them hell."

  "The difference is, we're adults," Parker said.

  "That means it's okay?" Gracie said.

  "That means that by this time, we should have learned enough lessons to be smart enough not to get caught."

  "That's the lesson we're teaching our children?" Gracie looked over at Stella and CJ, a sardonic smile on her face. "Meet my husband, the cop. This is the guy sworn to serve and protect, the one who lectures his children about being honest, law-abiding citizens."

  "So you'd just let them find out and face their wrath?" Parker said.

  "Oh, hell no. I'd either go out and get something for them or I'd dispose of the trash deep in the can and then brush my teeth to make sure I don't have sandwich breath."

  CJ laughed.

  "What are you laughing at, Clint?" Stella said.

  "I was just thinking that we need to be writing all this stuff down. It'll come in handy when we start growing our own family."