Peace - A Navy SEALS Novel (DeLeo's Action Thriller Singles Book 3)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “If not, we’ll just waste them, and do what we had planned anyway,” Bull replied. “This way we get Alvarez.”

  “Did you get anything from those characters with Osama, who speak English?” Peace asked.

  “Not much, other than some observations of shipments from before, they were involved with,” Dan answered. “I don’t think they know anything that will help us in that.”

  “Maybe they’ll get something else out of them when they’re on the Regan,” Peace commented. “They have teams ready to grill the crew. We’ll need all the details if we want to make this work. The Chinese guys could be instrumental with Alvarez.”

  “Make the call, Peace,” Dan said, after a moment’s hesitation. “I’ll get Jessup on the horn from the Regan. Don’t sell this with facts not in evidence, Petty Officer Peacenik.”

  “Hoo-ya,” Peace said, gritting his teeth as he pushed to his feet, trying to hide the pain from his wounds. Bull followed him out of the bridge area after Nick brought over the Satellite phone and handed it to Bull.

  “Pretty slick, Peace,” Bull said, as they went down the ladder slowly.

  “You were pretty good in there yourself, Chief. I didn’t even think you knew there was a word like rhetorical, let alone use it in a sentence properly.”

  “Boy, I can’t wait until you’re well, smart ass,” Bull retorted, handing Peace the satellite phone. “Gonna’ have some fun then - yes sir, gonna’ have some fun then.”

  Peace laughed, and walked away from Bull, who took the hint, and descended to the main deck. Peace dialed a generic CIA number, and coded a message to his contact, adding the number he could be reached at.

  Peace went to stand by the railing, looking out at a still gray sky, over the tinted ocean below. The phone buzzed in his hands, and he answered it.

  “Hi, havin’ fun?” Chuck’s voice asked.

  “It’s a good day in the neighborhood so far,” Peace replied.

  “Thank God,” Chuck whispered, relief in his voice. “What can I do to make your trip more pleasant?”

  “I want to captain this rig into port, and surprise our good buddies on shore.”

  There was silence on the other end for so long, Peace thought he had lost the connection.

  “I believe you’re stretching your adlib powers a bit, little buddy,” Chuck said finally. “You know how anxious Uncle Buck is to seeing all the goodies safe and sound.”

  “Think how glad he’ll be if we make sure his goodies remain unique. Wouldn’t they be even more valuable then?”

  “Possibly, but we don’t want too glowing of a welcome.”

  “Sure seems like the thing to do, while I have the con,” Peace urged.

  “I’ll call you back, someone’s knocking on the door.”

  Peace heard the line go dead, and he ended the call. He hunched the coat he had on up a little snugger in the cool breeze, flinching as his shoulder sent shooting pains to his brain. Leaning up against the railing, Peace took most of the weight off his injured ankle. Fifteen minutes later, the phone rang.

  “Adlibs incorporated, alterations our specialty,” Peace answered.

  “Very funny,” Chuck snorted. “Uncle Buck says okay, he’ll let a few people know he’s behind the alterations. He also says you better not run that tub aground.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “It better be more than your best. You have a friend in the organization, and I’m sure he would think this a foolhardy enterprise,” Chuck warned. “He’s managed to join up with the big guy.”

  “How nice for him,” Peace replied, wondering how Julio had pulled that stunt off. “I think maybe he’s been hanging around me too much.”

  “I would have to agree, but then he wasn’t aware you were adlibbing again. I’m sure he would have found somewhere else to be,” Chuck offered. “I’ll let you get back to work. Safe voyage, Gilligan.”

  “Thanks, Skipper, Gilligan out.” Peace ended the call, and walked back into the bridge area, where Dan looked up from the charts in front of him expectantly.

  “We’re on, Sir,” Peace said.

  “You can probably guess how Jessup took the news,” Dan replied with a nod, indicating Peace sit back down, as Nick brought over another cup of coffee for him.

  “Thanks Nick,” Peace said, as he wrapped his hands around the warm cup.

  After Nick moved away, Dan leaned closer.

  “Jessup knows you ain’t just a little seaman second too, Porky. I don’t know who he’s more pissed off at, you, or your other bosses.”

  “You don’t think he’d throw me off the team, do you?” Peace asked, leaning closer, as the consequences of his actions suddenly became a little more worrisome. He had not thought about how Jessup would feel about his status with the CIA. “He knows I’m not spying on the team, right?”

  “Hard to say,” Dan admitted. “This is worth it, right?”

  “With all I’ve got riding on it, it better be,” Peace answered. “He going to call you back?”

  “Yea, he figured when I told him you were making a call for permission, he said he’d relay my message up the ladder, and then wait for word.”

  “I found out I’ll have a friend with the bad guys when we hit port,” Peace told him. “I’ll have to find out how much he knows. If he were compromised, we’d be in deep shit.”

  “We’ll need all the friends we can get. I hope he knows how to duck if the fireworks go off unexpectedly. Even if we knew what he looked like…”

  “I know,” Peace cut in. “He’ll find a way to announce himself. I’m kind of curious about how he could have ingratiated himself in with Alvarez so quickly.”

  “He may have been on hand at the right time when Alvarez hit town. You said you took care of Batiste’s guys. He probably slipped in easily, having the inside knowledge he had.”

  “You’re pretty good at this,” Peace smiled. “I think you’re right. We left one of Batiste’s girlfriends alive, and my friend took her with him. I’m wondering if he may have used her to intro him to Alvarez. Anyway, I’m going to get some more chow, and have the Doc find a way to disconnect my shoulder and ankle.”

  “You better find a place to bunk down too. It looks like you’ll need to be real rested up, Porky.”

  “I never should have told you it was Por… oh never mind,” Peace grinned at his long time friend. “I’ll check back with you when I wake up. I’ll let the Chief know where I bed down, so you can get me if there’s a problem.”

  “Whatever would we do without you, Petty Officer Peacenik?” Dan retorted with as sarcastic a tone as he could manage.

  “You’d probably be laying in a nice warm bed at home, with Becky,” Peace answered.

  “Or watching nuclear dawn on the horizon,” Dan said seriously.

  Peace began to reply; but seeing the serious look Dan was giving him, he merely stuck out his hand, which Dan shook. “Thank you, Sir.”

  “Carry on, Porky.”

  “Hoo-ya,” Peace replied, pushing painfully to his feet again.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Hidden Player

  Peace felt the gentle rocking, but had difficulty opening his eyes. He started to sit up, and the lancing pain through his shoulder popped his eyes open, eliciting a startled gasp along with it. In the dim light, Bull’s face swam into focus. Bull shook his head when he saw Peace was coherent enough to notice.

  “You look wonderful, Petty Officer Peacenik,” Bull announced sarcastically.

  “Hoo-ya,” Peace replied, easing up onto the side of the bunk, feeling the ship’s movement. “How long I been out?”

  “Nearly eight hours,” Bull answered, handing Peace four pills and a canteen. “Doc said to give you these as soon as you wake up. Two are antibiotics, and two are aspirin. He says to see how you feel with just the aspirin first.”

  Peace popped all four pills in his mouth, and chased them down with a long swallow from the canteen. He made a distasteful face. “What did you giv
e me, toilet water?”

  “It probably tastes bad because you mixed it with whatever crawled in your mouth and died,” Bull suggested, leaning back. “Your breath smelled better in Iraq after being in captivity for months without a toothbrush.”

  “Good point,” Peace said, taking a longer drink. “Yea, okay, that is a little better. We’re underway already, huh?”

  “Yea, they ain’t real thrilled with your plan, and they think if they speed it up, it will get better. They just want to move the tanker a little to get the feel of it. Anyway, they flew the tanker crew over to the Regan, and CIA flew in a skeleton crew to sail the tanker in, along with a few of their special ops guys. You’ll recognize one of them. Remember that ‘just call me Dave’ guy from Syria?”

  “He recruited me,” Peace nodded, standing up gingerly. “Did you recognize anyone else?”

  “Nope, but a couple of the special ops guys are ex-Seals,” Bull replied, helping Peace struggle into his foul weather jacket. “Dave wants a sit down with you and Dan.”

  “When do we make port?”

  “Tomorrow afternoon,” Bull said, leading the way out of the compartment. “Dan and the CIA guy are waiting up on the bridge. Doc wants to change your bandages again when you get done.”

  “The Med Officer on the Regan liked Doc’s stitching job so much, he just soaked my shoulder and ankle in a peroxide mix, and re-bandaged me with antibiotic salve. They feel pretty good except for the soreness.”

  “Doc predicted you’d say that,” Bull looked back, smiling. “He said if you want to keep them that way, he has to keep changing the wrappings.”

  “Hey, I’m not arguing,” Peace said, narrowly missing the rim of the deck hatch with his shoulder. He stopped for a moment before climbing again. “Damn, that was close.”

  Bull looked back from the next deck level. “What?”

  “My shoulder was about a fraction of an inch away from me screaming for my mommy.”

  Peace exchanged pleasantries with JT, Nick, Tony, and Tracer, who were all doing gear checks on the main deck. They needled him about his retiring on the job, and Tracer gave him a couple of energy bars, which Peace inhaled on the way to the bridge. Bull stayed on the main deck.

  When Peace walked into the bridge area, a tall lanky, dark complexioned man of about thirty-five stood up with a smile, holding out his hand. Peace shook it, and sat down next to Dan.

  “How you doin’, Peace?” Dave asked, leaning back with his hands behind his head, which was shaven. He wore a full brown beard with patches of gray.

  “I’ve been better, Dave,” Peace admitted. “How about you?”

  “You know, same old, same old. I hear Julio’s on the ground.”

  “Yea, he found a way to worm his way in with Alvarez,” Peace replied.

  “No one’s happy with this little plan of yours,” Dave stated.

  Peace looked around at the bridge crew.

  “They’re mine. We can talk,” Dave reassured him. “Your Lieutenant here has already been cleared. The problem, as we see it, hinges on your assumption Alvarez doesn’t know that Osama character you questioned.”

  Peace nodded his understanding, taking a cup of coffee Dan had poured him. “That part’s weak; but we’ve found in the past, these guys don’t pass around pictures of one another.”

  “One of those clowns with Alvarez could be wired with enough explosive to put our cargo in jeopardy, or he could be able to signal some guys with portable missiles to make some nice holes. He could even have a boat full of explosives run into us.”

  “That’s why I was glad to hear Julio had the inside track,” Peace replied, sipping the coffee. “They did get some resources all around the docking area when they were handling Batiste’s goodies, didn’t they?”

  “And we’re getting satellite surveillance of anything moving in or out of the area,” Dave added. “The boss just don’t like playing footsies with WMD’s, unless we have every aspect wired.”

  “Before I forget,” Peace inserted. “Julio doesn’t know what the hell we’re doing out here, right?”

  Dave looked at Peace as if he had grown a horn between his eyes. “Have we given you some reason to insult us?”

  Peace held up his hand, and ducked his head, as if warding off an attack. “I had to ask. He’s in a dangerous position, and I don’t know how he got there.”

  “The only thing Julio knows is how to get in touch with us if he has anything,” Dave answered finally, and then added, “as always.”

  Dave paused, and then told Peace to give him a sample of his language skills, in Arabic. Peace adopted Oasama’s persona while spewing shipment facts, and demands for an accounting of every step planned in the future. Dave smiled, nodding his head as he listened, and watched Peace’s face intently. Even Dan did a double take at the affected tenor of Peace’s voice.

  “Not bad,” Dave commented. “You might pull this off after all. I’ll stay with you during the initial meeting. Why don’t we just pick this Alvarez up now, and save all the trouble?”

  “Once we get him up on the bridge, I can start adlibbing a bit. If I can get a name, or anything at all, it’ll be worth it. I was told we’ve been trying to get Alvarez for years. What makes you think we could flush him out without this bait? Somebody is protecting him in Mexico. No way, he and Batiste could make a port like Ensenada into their own playground without help.”

  “He’ll have a small army waiting there to unload the cargo, and work security,” Dave added.

  “True,” Peace agreed. “He might have a couple of his Middle Eastern buddies with him too, maybe the ones interested in setting this stuff off. I bet they’re less than enthused with using a middleman to get their hands on our cargo goodies. You have to admit it was pretty ballsy for Alvarez to move right in after having his main man Batiste get taken out along with his whole crew.”

  “He won’t be putting anything in storage after the Batiste bust,”

  Dave replied. “We figure he’ll be moving it to the border right away.”

  “What about back up for the army you’re talking about at the port?” Dan asked. “Mexico won’t be thrilled with a military operation right under their nose.”

  “Too bad for them, Lieutenant,” Dave shrugged. “My orders are we do it, and then we explain it later. In answer to your question, we have a back up strike force ready to move, off shore. The air wing on the Regan will be flying support, just in case Mexico doesn’t get the message to look the other way.”

  “Jesus,” Dan whispered. “All the marbles will be on the table with this.”

  “They certainly will be if Mexico gets in our way,” Dave added. “Peace is right. Someone high up is protecting this ring. We can’t risk telling them about this until it’s a done deal. All our bases along the border will be on alert, and we will have assets in the air at all times.”

  “I think maybe you guys are overestimating Peace’s infallibility quotient,” Dan joked.

  Dave and Peace both laughed.

  “Like I told Peace, they ain’t real happy with his suggestions on this operation; but the stakes are high enough for them to follow this through,” Dave said. “If Peace can get a name the easy way, or Alvarez gives one up later the hard way, we can really make a dent in our border security problems with Mexico.”

  “Not to mention a clearer idea of which rogue nations we still have supplying terrorists,” Peace added. “What good will any of this do if they can just order in another shipment. That Osama character has Saudi Royal family connections, Dave. I…”

  “I already was filled in on your interrogation antics,” Dave cut in. “You wouldn’t have any slick ideas for Alvarez would you?”

  “He’s not religious. I don’t have any suggestions for interrogation with him that won’t hurt,” Peace admitted. “That’s why if I can get him to use a name in the conversation, we…”

  “We could have convinced Osama to help us out,” Dave cut in. “You just don’t have any fait
h, Peace. We don’t need dungeons and meat hooks anymore.”

  “There wasn’t any time,” Dan pointed out. “The window of opportunity would have passed us real quick.”

  “Agreed, but the window may be wider with Alvarez,” Dave agreed.

  “Yea, if we can take him alive,” Peace added. “I’ll stay close to him, so when the jig is up, I can put him down out of harm’s way.”

  “You don’t look like you could keep yourself out of harm’s way, Peace,” Dave said seriously.

  “I’ll manage,” Peace replied. “I’m feeling a lot better, and I’ll have lots of backup once the shit hits the fan. Can you do a little make up job on me so I look as much as possible like Osama? With that hat he was wearing, all I’d really need is to get a little darker, and sport a reasonable copy of his scruffy ass beard. I’ll supply the psycho eyes.”

  “I’ll bet you will,” Dave laughed. “We’ll have you looking like Gunga Din in no time.

  “Hey, Din died in that story,” Peace protested.

  “But he died a hero,” Dave quipped. “Right, Lieutenant?”

  “That’s right, Peace,” Dan joined in. “What do you want, egg in your beer?”

  __

  Peace watched the proceedings on the dock closely, looking for anyone out of the ordinary, involved in the docking procedure. He, Dan, and Bull sat up behind the railing where Peace had been wounded. Cargo boxes had been placed there with a tarp over them. With just enough room in the blank middle, the three Seals scanned the docking area in three different directions through small openings in the tarp. Dave, and two others, were positioned to scan the outer docking area from another position.

  “How long we going to stay here, Peace, you smell a little gamey,” Bull said quietly, provoking muffled laughter from his two friends.

  “Right up until I see Alvarez approach the tanker, then we’ll slink on down to the bridge,” Peace replied.

  “Did you have to come up here with us?” Dan asked. “You could be resting up for the big show.”

  “Either of you familiar with this port?” Peace asked in return. After a moment, he continued. “I studied it in detail before taking Batiste. I’m just trying to give us a little breathing room in case there are any surprises. The two days rest did wonders for me with Doc’s mothering.”