Bluewater Target_Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series

by Charles Dougherty

  "I know just the place," Dani said. "When we were coming up the Bay, we passed a naval aerial gunnery range. I don't think it's used often. If the range isn't hot, it should be perfect for us; whatever noise we make with our friends won't attract any attention. I need to do a little research, though, to be sure."

  "That sounds good," Marie said. "You can tell me about it this evening."

  "Fine. But we will need that speedboat."

  "Do you have any special requirements?" Marie asked.

  "Something with a range of two or three hundred miles on a tank of fuel. That will let us leave the big boat wherever we want. Maybe an open 24-footer with a pair of outboards — something like that. Should I check around?"

  "Wait," Marie said.

  Dani and Liz could hear several seconds of muffled conversation. Then Marie came back on the line.

  "I know someone who has one we can borrow," Marie said. "We will want to see this place before we commit ourselves to it, yes?"

  "I agree," Dani said.

  "Perhaps if they bring us the boat early in the morning, we can go there and back tomorrow?"

  "Sure," Dani said. "It's maybe a two, two-and-a-half-hour run for a boat like that. We can go down in the morning. There are several places we could stop for some nice fresh seafood on our way there or back."

  "That sounds good," Marie said.

  "Will you need to go back to where you are now before we finish?" Dani asked.

  "No, I think not, but that could change. Why do you ask?"

  "I was curious about cars. If you're sure we don't need one, it would definitely be easier to wait and use yours. We're out in the sticks here; it would be a pain for us to get a car. If we'll only need it for a day or two and you don't have to go all the way back out there…"

  "Yes," Marie said. "It would be better to save your doing that paperwork. I have transportation now; I will turn in the rental car I have before I come to this Galesville today."

  "But how will you get here from Annapolis?" Liz asked.

  "My friends with the boat have a car they are not using. They will leave it in Annapolis for me to use. When we finish with it, we can leave it with no problem. They will recover it from wherever we leave it. It is much simpler, yes?"

  "Yes," Liz said. "Dani and I will just poke around Galesville this afternoon. Everything's within walking distance. I may do a little sketching. It's a pretty place."

  "Okay. I must go now," Marie said. "I have more things to get done before I leave this area. I will see you late this afternoon."

  "Goodbye, then," Dani said.

  "Goodbye," Marie said, disconnecting the call.

  "Sounds like she's connected with her support team," Dani said.

  "Yes. That was a strange comment about the paperwork on the rental car. I got your point about the hassle, but paperwork?"

  "She doesn't want to leave any more of a paper trail than we have to," Dani said.

  "But she's got a rental car."

  "Maybe. If she does, there's no telling what identity she used. Or one of her local team may have picked her up."

  "I didn't think of that," Liz said. "She mentioned something about that before. Are these people working for her, do you think?" Liz asked.

  Dani shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. Or maybe for Clarence. It's hard to tell with Marie. They could be people she knows from one of her previous lives, too. People like her have all kinds of informal networks. They trade favors. I wouldn't ask her, though."

  "Oh, I'm not going to. I just thought it was strange that she's got people in the Washington area who can provide her with a boat on a few hours' notice, and a car."

  "Washington's a hotbed of activity for people like Marie," Dani said. "She's been in this business since she was in her late teens, remember — probably twenty-plus years' worth of contacts. No telling how much time she's spent around here, or who owes her favors."

  "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, after the way she and Clarence got the passport for me, but she's just so low-key and unassuming."

  "That's a job requirement for somebody in her line of work," Dani said. "Calling attention to herself would shorten her life expectancy."

  "Did you know her before she started working with Clarence? Maybe through your father?"

  "No. My father has never had much to do with the covert stuff that Clarence and Marie get into. I don't know much about her background. She was in the Israeli army. She's mentioned that. She probably went from there to the Mossad, but that's not something she would talk about."

  "No, I guess not," Liz said. "She's been all over the world. Do you suppose she has roots anywhere?"

  "Not that she wants anybody to know about, I'm sure," Dani said.

  "I wonder how long she was in the Mossad," Liz said.

  "She's never mentioned being Mossad. Or not being," Dani said. "For all I know about that, she could still be, if she ever even was."

  "What a strange life she must have," Liz said. "And lonely. How can she even make friends?"

  "We're her friends, Liz."

  "But there's so much she can't share with us."

  "Everybody has secrets. Hers are just different — we think. You never really know another person, deep down. I think people like her aren't so different from us. She accommodates to her situation as best she can on an ongoing basis, just like you and I do."

  "If you say so." Liz shook her head. "Want to go walk around and see what's here?"

  "Sure. The lady in the marina office said the deli sandwiches at the little general store are great. Let's grab an early lunch while we're out."

  Larry Thompson came into his office as Delaney was about to eat lunch at his desk. "Want half?" He held out a partially unwrapped hoagie. "It's more than I need."

  "Thanks, but I can't stay. There's too much happening. I wanted to give you a quick update on the sat phone."

  "You found it?" Delaney stopped with the sandwich halfway to his mouth. He put it down and devoted his attention to Thompson.

  "Yeah, but…"

  "But what?"

  "That's all, so far. We found it. The techs got the location. It turned out to be a pawnshop in the suburbs about halfway between Annapolis and Baltimore."

  "How'd it get there?"

  "We don't know, Clayton. The guy that runs the shop fences stolen goods. Somebody sold it to him."

  "Yeah, so he says, anyway. You check him out?"

  "Yes. We've done this before, you know."

  "Sorry, Larry. I'm impatient, okay?"

  "Sure. I get that. Here's the short version. The pawnbroker's a known fence. He bought the phone and some other stuff from a couple of druggies last night. Powered it on to see if it worked before he took it. That's how it got on the network. It was in a leather bag with an index card that had the passcode written on it. The cellphone to capture the pin for two-factor authentication was in there too, but it was locked, and no sign of the unlock code. Our guys gave the pawnbroker two hundred bucks for the bag and the phones. They have them in the lab, now."

  "What about the druggies?"

  "The pawnbroker had no idea how to get hold of them. He said they show up a lot of nights, though. He said we could put somebody in his back office if we wanted to stake out his place."

  "How'd your guys persuade him to cooperate? He still in one piece?"

  "Yeah. They rattled him pretty hard. Told him they were DHS anti-terrorist agents, and that the phone was on a watch list because someone had used it in an attempted terrorist attack."

  "And he rolled over that easily?"

  "Well, they offered him a choice. He could name his price for the phone if he told 'em how he got it, or they'd send him to Guantanamo and let somebody else work on him."

  "Staking out his place isn't gonna be fast enough, Larry. There's gotta be another way to find the druggies besides just waiting for them to show up there again."

  "Yeah. That's a last resort," Thompson said. "The pawnbroker showed our guys the re
st of the stuff the two druggies brought him. Cameras, computers, handheld marine radios, shit like that. He says they're ripping off tourists, given the stuff they usually bring him.

  "Based on last night's haul, they broke into some boats. Probably boats that people were vacationing on. A couple of the computers and cameras had lots of photos of the sights in Annapolis."

  "So they're looking for the druggies in Annapolis?" Delaney said. "That's gotta be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

  "Yeah," Thompson said. "They're working the phones, calling the marinas that cater to transient boats, asking about thefts last night. When they get a hit, they'll go check out the boats that are there."

  "Smart," Delaney said. "The druggies were a red herring, huh?"

  "That's what we figure. It might still be handy to question them, find out which boat they stole the phone from. Of course, they may not know. Not exactly reliable people. Worst case, we'll go back and take the pawnbroker up on his offer."

  20

  "What's Delaney's place like?" Dani asked. "Is it really a fortress?"

  Marie swallowed a sip of wine. They were sitting in the cockpit, watching the small sailboats racing on the river. Vengeance was tied to the marina's outer dock, affording them front row seats.

  "You cannot see any of the buildings from outside the fence," Marie said. "And the perimeter is secured by high technology sensors.

  "I talked with the people who saw the man, Lucas, when he visited a few days ago. They told me more about how the security detail handled his visit. They are serious and competent."

  "But you already told us about that," Dani said. "What else did you learn?"

  "The details of how they positioned their vehicle and themselves. They set it up so there was only one place Lucas could park, and it gave them clear fields of fire from several angles. The watchers later saw troops changing watch in three different concealed bunkers that overlooked the gate area."

  "So they've secured the gate well," Dani said.

  "Beyond secured. With high-powered binoculars, I could see a concealed barrier that would stop a tank from passing through the gate. We examined the rest of the fence line, too. Everywhere the terrain permits a vehicle to approach, there is evidence of some planned interdiction — minefields, camouflaged tank traps. This is not a surprise, given the business he is in. It is unusual to find such measures in an environment like that one, though. Perhaps it is a showroom for him."

  "So you're saying his place is impregnable," Liz said. "But you weren't planning a full-on frontal assault, so why does it matter?"

  "Well, first," Marie said, "it is not impregnable. There is no such thing. But to penetrate his defenses without attracting attention from the authorities would be impractical. We would turn the area into a battlefield. But as you say, that is not what I was planning. The reason it matters is that it shows how careful he is. Killing him will not be a simple matter, even if we draw him out into the open. So tell me about this gunnery range."

  "There are two ranges," Dani said. "There are targets out in the middle of the Bay, near the Patuxent River mouth. Those won't suit us as well as the target ship off Tangier Island. That's farther south, a few miles south of the mouth of the Potomac. We're talking roughly 70 miles from here, but we could move Vengeance closer."

  "What is this target ship?"

  "It's an old Liberty ship, named the American Mariner. The Navy scuttled her in shallow water about three miles west of Tangier Island. It's all shot full of holes and rusting away, but it's still there. I saw it as we were coming up the Bay the other day. That's what put it in mind."

  "This island is close to the target ship. Is it inhabited?" Marie asked.

  "Yes. It's an interesting place, an isolated community, from what I've read. Historically, it was a fishing village. There are still a lot of active watermen there. I think they're trying to cater to tourists, now — at least a little. But they're used to living close to the range. From what I can gather, a lot of the gunnery practice these days uses electronic simulation, but they still shoot some live rounds from time to time. Whatever we do isn't likely to attract the islanders' attention."

  "What about the Navy?"

  "The wreck itself is in the center of a prohibited zone — a circle with a 1,000-yard radius. Around the outside of that, there's a three-mile-radius restricted area. The Navy has patrol vessels and planes to warn people off when the range is in use."

  "And how often is it used?"

  "I don't know precisely, but not often. And from everything I found, it's only used during daylight, and I figured you'd want to do this at night."

  "Yes, I think so. Is this well enough known so that Delaney will find it?"

  "I'd bet on it. It's well known to people who use the Bay. It would surprise me if anybody in his business didn't know about it."

  "And the only access is by boat?" Marie asked.

  "Or by air. You mentioned that he travels in a chopper with a gunship escort."

  "Yes. Is there a place he can land?"

  "We'll need to check. From the photos I found of the wreck, it looks as if you could find a spot on it somewhere. We could mark it with flares for him, I'm thinking. Not sure they'd want to land, but they could do a touch and go to drop him off."

  "This sounds good," Marie said. "I had not thought there would be such a place. Seventy miles, you say?"

  "Yes, but we could move Vengeance to the Patuxent River. There are lots of marinas at Solomons Island

  "I see." Marie said. "Seventy miles is not too far with the speedboat. I think it would be better to keep Vengeance far away, yes? In case there is trouble, it will be easier to evade pursuit with the smaller boat."

  "That makes sense," Dani said.

  "There's still the problem of how you will get Delaney there," Liz said. "Any ideas on that?"

  "Yes, I think so," Marie said. "Tomorrow, when they bring us the boat, my people will have phones for us to use."

  "We can get burner phones ourselves," Liz said.

  "No, I am not making it clear. They are not bringing burner phones. The two phones which were stolen, they are making clones of both. The satellite phone and the cellphone. Identical clones."

  "But wait," Dani said. "There are embedded codes in the hardware — like a serial number or something. Won't SpecCorp be able to spot that?"

  "You are right, Dani," Marie said. "But these clones are made using tools from the people who hack into encrypted phones for the world's law enforcement organizations. They duplicate the hardware. We took the precaution of making copies of the two phones in case something happened. It is easy, with the tools — especially if you have the unlock codes already."

  "So we can call him the way we discussed," Dani said.

  "Yes, although our technical people have cautioned me. Someone acquired a satellite link with the phone they stole from us last night."

  "How could they tell?" Liz asked.

  "It is beyond me. But they can hack into the service provider's billing system, where such data is collected."

  "But would the thief have known about the authentication process you told us about?" Liz asked.

  "No. The passcode for the sat phone was in the bag with the phones. The unlock code for the cellphone was not.

  "That stopped them. They could not make a call. That sat phone is restricted to calling only SpecCorp, anyway. It looks like a normal, commercially available phone, but it is not useable for regular calls."

  "If your people know this, isn't it possible that SpecCorp will know as well?" Dani asked.

  "You mean about the phone acquiring a satellite link?" Marie asked. "Yes, they probably know. This is why I asked that you move from Annapolis, you see?"

  "Yes. You said the phone had GPS tracking enabled," Dani said.

  "Yes, this is so. But the one we will get tomorrow has that disabled. It is a user setting."

  "Then SpecCorp will know when we call that it's not the same phone, won't they?
" Liz asked.

  "We are working on the assumption that they have the phone, by now," Marie said. "So we will surprise them if we call them using the clone."

  "You think they have the phone?" Liz asked, her eyebrows rising. "Already?"

  "Yes. Our techs downloaded the location of the phone when it acquired the satellite. Their techs will have done the same. And the phone has been turned on and tested since then. The second time it was turned on, it was in Delaney's compound."

  "And you still think we should use the clone to call them?" Dani asked.

  Marie grinned. "Think of how they will be surprised. At first, we were thinking they would be shocked because they got a call from somebody using a phone that only Montalba knew how to use. Now, they will be stunned because we have penetrated their security for the phone. This will be a signal to them, yes?"

  "What kind of signal, though?" Dani asked.

  "We must think about this," Marie said. "We can use it to misdirect them, perhaps."

  "It's already misdirecting me," Dani said. "Shall we try the restaurant here in the marina for dinner? Liz said it had rave reviews online."

  Delaney leaned back in his swivel chair and put his feet on the desk as he answered Larry Thompson's call. "Yeah, Larry. Something new on the phone?"

  "They're making progress, but no answers yet. I got something — "

  "What progress?"

  "Two marinas got hit by thieves last night. They got a list of boats, and now they're working on who's on each one to see if any names ring a bell. I'll let you know when they've got the names, okay?"

  "Yeah, okay. You got something else, then?"

  "Yeah. The tap on Walter Lucas's phone."

  "What about it?"

  "He got new marching orders. He's catching a plane tonight, coming to see you tomorrow."

  "Who'd he talk to?"

  "We traced the call back to a lawyer's office. He was one of the two Kilpatrick saw Lucas with at the bar last night."

  "So does that mean the Di… Who were they again? The brothers?"

  "The DiGenovas. Probably so, but we can't be sure yet. That's the way those wise guys work. They keep somebody in the middle, like the lawyer."