"Okay. When did you last check our email?"
"Last night. Why?"
"I was hoping we'd hear from Connie again."
"That reminds me," Liz said. "Marie's been emailing Clarence every evening. She told me they were expecting to have Delaney's place in Virginia under loose surveillance beginning sometime yesterday. Did she mention anything to you about it?"
"No. I knew she was corresponding with Clarence, but nothing more. We should ask her about that when she comes on watch. But it sounds like Delaney's living in a fortress, so I'm not sure it matters."
"Right. Well, get some rest."
"I will. Have a good watch."
"Did you sleep all right?" Liz asked, as Dani joined her in the cockpit at the end of her four-hour watch.
"Like a baby."
"Is Marie awake?" Liz asked.
"Yes. She’s taking a shower. How are things up here?"
"Quiet. We’re racking up the miles at 14 knots."
"We must be close to abeam of Miami," Dani said.
Liz smiled. "We’re miles north of Miami."
"We must be flying," Marie said, climbing into the cockpit as she fluffed out her wet hair. "You said it was 80 miles north of us when I went off watch."
"That was eight hours ago," Dani said. "Did you sleep well?"
"After I checked my email, yes. We have Delaney’s estate under surveillance now. I have been anxious about that."
"One of your deep-cover people?" Dani asked.
Marie shrugged and sat down. "Clarence has ways to do these things."
"Is Delaney at home?" Liz asked.
"He was yesterday. He had a visitor, a lawyer from Miami named Walter Lucas. Do you know this name, by chance?"
Liz shook her head.
"No," Dani said. "But how did you learn who he was?"
"Rental car records. We are following up to find out more."
"Do you suppose he works for Delaney?" Liz asked.
Marie shrugged. "Our person did not think so. He parked his rental car outside the gate and three armed men in black military gear came in a Humvee and picked him up. Two of them searched him and the car while the third held him at gunpoint. Then they handcuffed him and put him in the Humvee. A few minutes later, they brought him back and took the cuffs off. He got in the car and drove to Dulles airport, turned the car in, and took a commercial flight to Miami."
"Why are your people so interested in him, Marie?" Liz asked.
"We have the surveillance to learn more about Delaney's security. This man Lucas was parked at the edge of the road about a quarter of a mile from Delaney's gate for a few minutes, talking on his cellphone. Because of the timing, we think he was calling to announce his visit. The men in the jeep arrived at the gate within thirty seconds of the rental car. But the way the road inside the gate curves, we couldn't see very far along the inside road. It is possible they stay there out of sight and monitor the gate with a video camera."
"From the way they greeted this man Lucas, he must be a stranger," Dani said.
"Perhaps," Marie said. "Or Delaney's security is tighter than most. This is why we watch. The identity of the visitor is of secondary interest to me, for now. But Delaney's people followed him to the airport, which makes me curious about him."
"Dani told me about the idea you two discussed to get to Delaney," Liz said. "Have you thought of any other ways to approach him?"
"No, but I have some more thoughts on Dani's idea. There is still the problem of how to get Delaney into a killing zone. Dani's idea does not address that, but it might be a beginning."
"Only a beginning?" Dani asked. "Why do you say that?"
"Because Delaney and Montalba did business for a year and never met face to face. Montalba told us this."
"How did they come to do business?" Dani asked.
"Their relationship was set up by a U.S. Senator named William O'Toole," Marie said.
"I've heard of him," Dani said.
Marie smiled. "That would not be a surprise. He was prominent — the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee."
Dani shook her head. "I don't follow that kind of thing."
"Because of his position on the Armed Services Committee, Delaney curried favor with him. Montalba said that O'Toole borrowed SpecCorp people sometimes. He was often in the news," Marie said. "There were even rumors he might run for president."
"Why are you using the past tense?" Liz asked. "What happened to this O'Toole?"
"O'Toole and a lawyer he knew for years were involved in criminal activities in South Florida, and they killed a couple of people. O'Toole is serving a life sentence. Before that happened, though, he was engaged to marry Montalba's sister."
"Montalba's sister? He was going to marry a drug lord's sister?" Liz asked.
"She was socially prominent. She passed herself off as a young, wealthy woman from Argentina — inherited money, she claimed. No one knew she had a brother. Remember, Guillermo Montalba was a man who did not exist, for most purposes."
"She's the one who pretended to be a travel writer and chartered with Connie and Paul, right?" Dani asked.
"That's right," Liz said. "That was when the Montalbas thought Connie was competing with them. That's when their scheme began to unravel, isn't it?"
"Yes. But my point is that O'Toole brought Montalba and Delaney together. Even though they never met in person, they each had a close relationship with the senator."
"Okay," Dani said. "That's all interesting, but what does it have to do with our plan?"
"Your plan would have us make a cold approach to Delaney, with no one to introduce us."
"Delaney has heard of us," Liz said. "He knows we're connected to J.-P. and Connie, and he's the one who told Montalba about J.-P. Won't that be enough to establish our bona fides?"
"I am not sure that it will," Marie said. "We have seen how security-conscious Delaney is."
"We know he's desperate, too," Dani said. "And I can show him the money he needs. What's bothering you, Marie?"
"Two things. First, Montalba said that Delaney was in awe of J.-P., you remember?"
"Yes," Dani said. "So what?"
"Delaney will wonder why J.-P. is coming to him. In Delaney's mind, J.-P. already has everything that Delaney could offer him. There is nothing in this for J.-P., from Delaney's view. This will make him suspicious, yes?"
"I can see that," Liz said.
"I understand what you said about why Delaney would question Papa's interest," Dani said. "We'll have to address that somehow, but you said there were two things bothering you. What's the second?"
"This is in my gut, I think you say. I feel this, but it is difficult to explain, maybe. So I need your help to think clearly on this second thing, yes?"
"Okay," Dani said. "I respect your gut feelings. You're the one with the most experience in this arena."
Marie frowned and nodded. "I have told you what Montalba said he told Delaney. The drugs we used in the interrogation made him cooperative, so he wanted to please us. You understand me so far?"
"I think so. You worry that Montalba may have lied?" Liz asked.
"Not lied," Marie said. "He told us the truth as he knew it about the things we asked him. This I know. But there may be things we didn't know to ask. Our questions were focused on his drug business and SpecCorp. J.-P.'s name only came up in passing, I think you would say." She paused.
"You're worried about how much they know about J.-P.?" Dani asked.
"Or how much Delaney knows about J.-P. that he did not tell Montalba," Marie said. "You must remember, our focus was on Montalba and his associates. We only asked about Delaney as it related to Montalba's activity. We did not ask so much about J.-P."
"Is there something specific Delaney might know about J.-P. that worries you?" Dani asked.
Liz interrupted before Marie could answer. "Or something that Delaney might not know about him?"
"Yes, both. Thank you. It is J.-P.'s reputation."
"Yes. You know I have worked my whole time in this business, for different countries, yes? Before I came to work with Clarence?"
Dani and Liz nodded, and Marie continued. "I have heard of J.-P. for a long time. Never have I heard that J.-P. might be in the drug trade. And many people in this business are in the drug trade. This makes J.-P. and his associates much different from others, like Delaney. You see now?"
"I think so," Liz said. "You're worried that Delaney won't believe J.-P. would stoop as low as laundering drug money."
"Yes! This is it. This story about J.-P. wanting to launder drug money may have no credibility with Delaney, you see? It is dangerous."
"We need to think of a way to deal with that," Dani said. "It's an excellent point."
11
"How did you get this information?" Delaney had the telephone handset cradled against his left shoulder. He held a tumbler with two fingers of single malt scotch in his right hand, and his feet were on his desk.
"It's complicated, Clayton. It'll take a few minutes. You sure you want the details?" Larry Thompson, the man on the phone, had a 30-year career in military intelligence; he had retired as a two-star general before he joined SpecCorp as their intelligence officer.
"Damn right. Every bit of intel you got on the son of a bitch. I'm the one with a contract on my ass; I need to know if that bastard's for real."
"Okay. I wasn't gonna build you a watch if you just wanted the time. But here — "
"Well," Delaney interrupted, "tell me what time it is first."
"You sure? It may bias your assessment of his credibility."
"Yeah, I'm sure, Larry. Tell me where you ended up. Then we'll talk about how you got there."
"Okay. The threat may be credible, but his story appears to be bogus."
"What the hell does that mean?" Delaney asked.
"I'll tell you about the credibility of the threat first. We got one of our people who has connections to the South Florida drug scene to ask around about Lucas. He's kind of shady, works with several other lawyers who take care of drug defendants. He's more of a fixer than a lawyer. And he's rumored to have an inside track to the DEA. He can get information no one else is privy to — even about pending raids sometimes, but mostly names of witnesses, details of investigations, that kind of thing. Okay?"
"Yeah, but are you saying he got the word from the DEA about a hit on me?"
"Nobody knows where he got it, Clayton, but you said he told you it came from O'Toole."
"Yeah. That's what he said."
"You also had us working on a way to communicate with O'Toole in the pen, remember?"
"Of course I remember. I was going to ask you about that in a minute."
"Yeah. Well, they're related. We're closing in on the O'Toole thing, but we're not there yet. In the process, we got access to the prison's visitor log. Lucas hasn't been anywhere close to O'Toole since O'Toole's been in the pen."
"You're saying Lucas was lying about getting this from O'Toole, then? What about a phone call?"
"O'Toole doesn't have phone privileges."
"How about through other inmates?" Delaney asked.
"O'Toole's segregated from the general population for his own protection. He's in solitary — gets out of his cell for an hour a day. That's it."
"He must get to meet with his lawyer, for appeals or some shit like that," Delaney said.
"Yeah, but that's controlled and logged, Clayton. Nobody's been in touch with O'Toole for at least two weeks."
"What about guards?"
"Uh-uh. We checked them out when we were checking up on ways to get messages to and from O'Toole. They're clean."
"Yeah? So that's why you say Lucas's story's bogus?"
"Yep. That's it."
"But you said his information about the hit on me might be credible. What makes you say that?"
"Lucas told some people the same thing about Montalba before he bit the dust."
"No shit?" Delaney asked. "When? Before or after the escape?"
"After."
"Who did he tell?"
"We're working on that. It was rumor; we picked it up in more than one place, but all of them tie back to Lucas."
"From street-level people?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"How many of them would have even known who Montalba was?"
"Are you kidding? After he got busted the way he did? Everybody in Miami knew who he was after that."
"Yeah, okay. Any more to the rumors?"
"Yeah, but it's far-fetched. I'm not sure I believe it. Not yet, anyway."
"Tell me anyway."
"Remember that I said Lucas is supposed to have a source inside the DEA?"
"Yeah. He got this from the DEA? Is that what you're saying?"
"You already asked me that. You're jumping to a conclusion that we can't support, Clayton. Over time, Lucas has told different people about rumors within the DEA of a deep-cover, off-the-books operation that's outside the normal chain of command, okay?"
"Okay. What's this deep-cover operation supposed to be doing?"
"It was set up to avoid leaks to people like Lucas. It's only a handful of people, and they're on their own, free to go after high-value targets."
"Like Montalba, for example," Delaney said.
"Yeah. And O'Toole. Word is they're the ones that took the two of them down."
"And you think this special group put out a contract on Montalba? Or me?"
"That's another conclusion that's not supported by intel, Clayton. It's the worst kind of unsubstantiated speculation, and it's coming from unvetted sources. You know how paranoid drug dealers can be. Especially the ones who sample their own wares. Let us work this a little more, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. But keep me in the loop."
"That goes without saying, Clayton. Anything else I can do for you right now?"
"Yeah. I got another question."
"Let's hear it, then."
"Assume for a minute that Lucas is right, okay?"
"Right? About the hit on you?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. What about it, then?"
"If he's right about that, and you're right about him not having a connection to O'Toole, what's Lucas's motive for warning me?"
"Excellent question, Clayton. I asked that myself. But we don't have an answer yet."
"Any guesses?"
"Only general ideas, at this stage. Maybe somebody's looking for a favor from you. Or someone you're already doing business with wants to protect you so you can finish whatever you're doing for them. Or it's total bullshit and somebody's doing it to rattle your cage for some reason we haven't figured out yet. You got any other thoughts?"
"No. But I'll think it over and let you know," Delaney said.
"Good. While you're working on it, think about the different deals we've got on the books and which ones might be related."
"Related?"
"Yeah. Either to a hit on you or to somebody trying to get on your good side."
"All right. About Lucas?"
"Yeah, what about him?"
"Should you have somebody question him?"
"We've considered it; we decided we'd get more by letting him run, at least for now. We want to see who he's working with and what he's doing. If we question him, it could drive this whole thing underground, see?"
"Yeah, okay. I figured that's what you'd say."
"It's your call, Clayton, but I advise against it right now. It could tip off whoever's behind it; no telling what that might provoke. In the meantime, your security is tight enough so you shouldn't worry."
"Yeah. I'm not worried. More like curious about how to work this to our advantage. Talk with you later." Delaney returned the phone to its cradle and took a sip of his scotch.
Had Lucas's warning really come from O'Toole?
If so, what did it mean?
Did O'Toole know that he had been the target of a hit?
W
as O'Toole trying to let Delaney know that he would retaliate if Delaney made a move against him?
Thompson was confident that O'Toole wasn't the source of Lucas's information. Delaney was less sure of that.
O'Toole had contacts in several clandestine organizations. He could have learned that Montalba and Delaney had planned to have him killed in prison.
By the same reasoning, Delaney was sure that O'Toole had the wherewithal to mount a counterattack against him.
For that matter, O'Toole may have had a hand in Montalba's demise.
Larry might be sure that O'Toole was being held incommunicado, but Delaney knew more than Thompson did about the senator's web of contacts throughout the federal government.
O'Toole knew his way around the Justice Department, the parent agency of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Someone in the hierarchy would owe the senator a favor or two. That was how people like O'Toole worked.
Delaney would let Larry Thompson do his job, but he suspected that before it was over, they would have to interrogate Lucas. He was willing to bet Lucas was telling the truth and that his information came from O'Toole.
"I'll get that," Liz said, reaching for the locker where they kept their satellite phone. She and Dani and Marie were lingering over the remains of another dinner in Vengeance's cockpit. "It's Connie," she said, looking at the caller ID screen as she accepted the call. "Hi, Connie. You have all three of us."
"Good evening, ladies. Are we interrupting your dinner?"
"We just finished," Dani said. "What's new with you?"
"We're in English Harbour," Connie said. "Our guests opted for dinner ashore so we decided to give you a call. Where are you?"
"In the Gulf Stream," Liz said. "We're a few hours north of the Bahamas. We should pass Cape Canaveral sometime this evening."
"You're making good time," Paul said. "You must be out of the bad weather, huh?"
"Yes," Marie said. "Since early this morning, it is beautiful. You have some news from your cousin, perhaps?"
"We do," Connie said. "He says it's definitely SpecCorp that's asking the questions about us. And not just about us — they're also checking up on a lawyer with connections to the Miami drug scene. His name's Walter Lucas.
Bluewater Target_Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series Page 8