by Matt Lincoln
But there was a fort calling my name. And Arik. Yeah, I had to help Arik. I wondered just what he’d gotten himself into this time… Oh well, I would catch up on my way there.
Chapter 6
Jake
After a few hours of not-too-restful sleep, we all convened in the kitchen. Rosa had taken to her self-appointed duties as a chef and was doing something with milk and pork that smelled fantastic. I spotted some fresh fruit and juice available, so I helped myself.
The kitchen was open and looked out into the living room, where we spent most of our time. Xavier’s bar ran about seven feet long and had an excess of drawers and cubbies facing the ovens and stove. The walk-in fridge door was off to the left, next to the laundry. The lighting overhead was fantastic and sunken. I’d hate to have to change the bulbs, though.
Doc had cleaned up and straightened out the spare room we’d kept Kippy in. He nursed his coffee next to me and waited for breakfast. He passed on the juice I offered. Xavier was the only one that seemed to have started with his day. He had a sly smile on his lips, so he must have found something good on his laptop.
“Header? I just got a private email for you in my account. Do you know an ‘Eve Sarabia, J.S.D.’?”
I thought for a moment. “No, I do not. Who is she?”
“Well, um, remember our friend from last night? How she said that she worked for some Judge if you recall? So does this Eve lady. The Honorable Judge Miranda Fu.” Xavier sounded impressed already. “This missus Sarabia woman is apparently her private counselor, and she’s requesting a confidential meeting or call with you today to discuss Arik Fu’s situation.”
I guess not everything she told us last night was fake, Rosa signed as she checked on her culinary creation.
“Or,” I countered, “it could be a very elaborate plan to trap us into something we don’t want to get into.” Doc gave me a sideways glance, and I conceded that I was overthinking it. “Okay, but it is a possibility. Just saying.” I just had a bad feeling about that Ozoa woman. “What else does the Judge’s lawyer say?”
Xavier typed away, and I figured that he was doing extra credit research for us. “She gives all the right credentials. And the stories match with what Kippy said last night. A little less blunt, and certainly more tactful language, but it seems legitimate.”
“Does she mention the Yabut or anything like that?” It would be good to know if there was a suspected connection here. As for me, I was still unsure about all of it.
“No. Not by name. Just ‘outside influences’ that may have an affiliation.”
At least that gave me some idea of what was going on behind the scenes. “First, why did she send you my email? Second, how does she even know about us and that we were involved? Third, why should we get tangled up in some mess when we don’t even know who is telling us the truth?”
Rosa set our plates out before us and looked over Xavier’s shoulder at his screen. How often do you even check your email, Header? It’s very plausible that the woman from last night told them about us and that they’re relaying information already. I mean, I would.
“The Judge, or this Sarabia woman, wants to hire us to find and return Arik, Header.” Xavier actually looked up from his screen to address me. He was taking this seriously, even if I wasn’t. “The offer’s good. Not a bad payday for something you want to do, anyway.”
“I never said that I wanted to get further involved.” I didn’t like anyone putting words in my mouth.
The kids, Jake. We all saw the same thing. That was a kidnapping, and in the off chance that the Yabut aren’t part of this, Arik and Mia still need our help. Rosa got Xavier’s attention to question him some more. Are the local reports still ignoring this?
“Yes. They’re staying with the drunk driver story and leaving out everything about the couple being taken, the gunfight, the second car. You name it.” He looked unconcerned about that for some reason.
Even Doc stopped eating to stare at me. And to wait for an answer.
Damn it. I hated it when they did this. “Alright. I’ll talk to the Judge or the lawyer, whichever one. Set up a time, Xavier. Whatever works best for them.” I purposely took my plate into the living room to eat. Pressure at breakfast never sat well with me.
By the time we finished our meal and cleaned up, I had decided to do the right thing and try to find the kids. It wasn’t like it was a hard choice. Whether they were involved with the Yabut remained to be seen, but if what we were being told was true, then a couple of lovelorn teenagers didn’t deserve to be used as pawns.
The plan was to go back and canvas the area of the crash and try to find any leads as to the who and why. As we got ready to head out, there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find our runaway visitor from last night, Kippy Ozoa.
She looked almost human now. She'd taken a shower, cleaned up her wounds, and found some new clothes. She was leaning against the doorframe and grinning as if she knew something I didn’t. Unlikely, but maybe.
“Mr. Header? May I come in, please?” Her voice got the attention of the rest of the team, and they all gathered around to see what was up.
“I see that you’re feeling better. That’s good. But we’re just about to head out, so…” I didn’t want to make time for this. Not once I’d decided to find Arik and Mia. They were all that mattered.
“Nonsense! You have time to hear me out. Trust me.” She smiled and looked to be sincere.
Those words just made me cringe, though. She could tell that I wasn’t convinced.
Kippy nodded because she knew that I wasn’t going to be an easy sale. “It’s about Arik. And Mia. And I need to thank you all, too. Again.”
“We accept your thanks, but we do have other places to be.” I started to close the door.
She pushed herself off the frame and stood with a different bearing. I could see the military stance, the confidence, and the calculated tact she was emitting. I saw something similar every day I looked in the mirror. She was careful in her presentation to us today, also part of the ‘form.’
Her hair was blonde and straight, easy to see now that it wasn't caked with dried blood. She had it pulled back into a low ponytail and had a band around her head to keep it in place. She wore sensible sneakers, well worn in, along with jeans and a long-sleeved black tee-shirt. She looked out of place on the Azores. But that too may have been deliberate.
She held up her hands in a passive gesture. “I get it, but hear me out. I have a way to find Arik. A much more informal, less trudging way. But I need an experienced diver, and I hear that you fit the bill.” She looked around me, into the room, and at the others. “Several of you do, as a matter of fact. So, what do you say? Postpone your outing for a few and hear my offer? Pretty please?”
I had to admit it would be good to know what she was up to.
I made sure to keep my eyes on her while we invited her in. Kippy sat on the edge of the furthest chair with her back to the corners of the room. I recognized the tactic. She had placed herself to protect her back and was able to see us from her position. She sipped the coffee that Rosa had presented her. After a solitary taste, Kippy set the cup on the floor and signed in reply. Thanks. That’s delicious, Red. I appreciate it.
“It’s Rosa, not ‘Red,’” I informed her. So she had been doing some research on us. That was interesting.
“Oh, I know,” Kippy replied as if she found everything in the world privately amusingly. “And Doc is called so because he is and was a medic. Red has some training in that area too, though, don’t you?”
Rosa nodded and confirmed this. I know enough to help people. Speaking of, you seem much better this morning. Did you go to the hospital after all?
We’d all noticed that she appeared to have received institutional care since last night. Her injuries had been cleaned more thoroughly than Doc had been able to handle. Medicine and liquid bandages had also been applied to most of the wounds.
“I found a wandering vagabond
that gave me a magic elixir if you must know.” Kippy winked at Xavier. “That one’s for you, champ.”
“I’m assuming that you know all our names. Why are you annoyingly rude?” We didn’t have time to waste on her showing off. I wanted this over as soon as I could get it. “And you said that you had a way to find Arik. What did you need our help for, then?”
Kippy clucked and shrugged her shoulders. “Well, you see, I forgot my diving gear, and I kind of threw all Arik’s incriminating evidence into the harbor last night.” She rubbed the back of her neck as she said this. “There’s a way to track him on the phone I tossed, but I wasn’t expecting to need it again. Because you know, the kidnapping.”
“You tossed his goods? Why do that before you had him on your plane?” If she was going to fly him out and back home, why even toss it? I saw Xavier’s dubious look, and it matched mine.
“Arik’s memory is… well, not good. I mean, he stored everything on that phone, and I knew that once I got him back to the States that he’d try to get with Mia again. So, tossing it, and hers, meant that they couldn’t communicate anymore. And that’s kind of the whole purpose of this little romp. At least how I read it.” Kippy picked up her mug to drink while we considered this.
It would make our task of finding Arik and Mia a lot easier if this were true. There was only one way to find out, though. “So you want us to dive for you, retrieve the phones, and then what?” I wanted her to spell it out for us.
“Once I have his phone, I can get his location.” Her eyes darted around the room to judge our acceptance. “You see, I forced Arik to swallow a tracking beacon before I caused the car crash and started the gunfight as a distraction. Obvious, right?” Kippy leaned back in the chair and sneered directly at me. “I know you think I’m not on the level, and believe me, I get it. I’ve been where you are. I know the feeling.” She shook her head. “The one deep in your gut, telling you not to trust some outsider.”
She looked around to connect with Rosa, Doc, and Xavier, too. “I’m no one to you. You have no rhyme or reason to take my word for what it is. But I also know that I don’t have the time to prove myself to any of you. You either want to help me get Arik back, or you don’t.”
I shifted off the wall and moved over to a chair to get a better feel from her. “So we get this phone, you locate Arik and Mia, then what?”
“I’d like us to work together to get both of them to safety.” Her eyes flashed. “Think of it as, like, we’re a divorced couple. We forgo the bitter custody dispute, and you take the girl, and I’ll take the boy, and everyone leaves happy. We’ll call on birthdays and maybe go to Denny’s for Thanksgiving together, but the rest of the time, we can ignore each other.” She put one finger up to make an amendment to this. “After we get them back.”
Her phone went off, and she slipped out of her chair to her feet immediately. “I’m going to take this outside and give you all a chance to discuss amongst yourselves.” Kippy stepped outside and closed the door behind her.
Once clear, I addressed the room. “All cards on the table, what do we think?”
We have no leads on who took them and no idea where to start. I don’t trust a word out of her mouth, but if she can locate him, it might end this more quickly than if we go it alone. Rosa was wary enough to see this for what it was. I hate it, but I say we work together. But we’ll have to minimize all contact and sharing of all sensitive information. We have to lock everything down.
Doc seemed to agree with her. “There feels like a multitude that we’re being told here. Honestly? We’ve done more with less.” His internal compass had to be spinning. “However, those kids are the most important element, and their safety is what we have to focus on. If this Ozoa character can facilitate that, then we need to exploit her connections.”
Xavier was the last one to speak. “I’m going to be behind the laptop the whole time, so I’m good with whatever you decide. I’m still trying to track down who she really is and who she works for.”
Those were my million dollar questions. “Any luck there?” It would make this much more straightforward if we had those answers.
He subconsciously glanced at the door. “I found one interrelationship that could mean something, but I need to verify first. It's deep, Header, and really dangerous if it's true.”
“Spill it. I want all the data before we accept any help from that woman.” I knew that I wasn’t going to like this one bit.
Xavier grimaced. “It’s not verified. It may not be real. It may be a cover or just plain fake. I’m not comfortable giving you uncorroborated intel.” His tone faltered. “Give me a few hours, okay? Once I have proof, one way or the other, you’ll know what I know. Please?”
“I can accept that.” Once again, I admired his mettle.
There was a knock from the outside, and I guessed that meant that Kippy’s call had been completed. She opened the door and peeked in. “Permission to enter, Captain?”
“I'm not your captain. Come on in.” I faced her and gave a short nod. “You and I are going to go recover those phones. My team has some other things to attend to. Give me ten minutes, and I’ll meet you out front.”
“Got it, copain.” Kippy waved to the room and left.
I turned back to my team and prepared for the blowback. “Rosa and Doc, I need you two to try to get to the crash scene and find out whatever you can about it. Keep an ear out for anything that could be related to the Yabut, just to cover all the bases. Xavier, you already know what we need, so carry on.”
Are you sure you want to go alone? Rosa’s apprehension was pronounced.
“Yes. She’s full-on acting when we’re all together. Maybe one on one, she’ll let that guard down.” I didn’t know if that was possible, but it could be worth a shot.
I left them to make a quick stop to Wraith to gather my gear. I was careful to scan the area for extra eyes. Luckily, the safe house had a healthy array of trees and privacy-inclined landscaping to mask my trip to the small dock. I gained my access, grabbed my diving bag, and checked the security just to settle my worries.
To my surprise, the proximity alert recorded activity last night, but they didn’t trigger the recording device. In the past, it had been instances of birds or rodents getting too close yet not producing enough of a threat to warrant further measures. I wondered about this one. I’d have to have Xavier look into it when I got the chance. Better to be safe than run the risk of violation of Wraith and her secrets.
Chapter 7
Jake
The cab dropped Kippy and me off at the location she directed the driver to. It was a clean and industry heavy dock without a lot of traffic or business. I let her handle the exchange and payment as I got my gear out of the trunk and found a reasonably private place to set up. I didn’t want to call attention to what we were about to do or where we were doing any of this.
Once the cab drove away, she walked over to the edge of the waterfront. She seemed to be searching for a point of reference. I noticed her going back and forth, turning around a lot to get a view from the street and looking back again at the water. She knelt down, got as close to the water as she could, and then called out, “This is the place.”
I took note of the area. It was a nice, open space, and there were no shops or vendors nearby to ask questions. It was almost too good to be true if I was honest. It was as though it was precisely chosen due to the lack of eyes and ears that might have noticed something. I wondered if she expected me not to observe that.
“You’re not going to hang me out to dry here and take off once I get in the water, are you, Ozoa?” That would not surprise me in the least. I still didn’t know for certain that her agenda was matched up with mine.
She laughed, rather smugly. “What would that accomplish? I mean, you’re the one with the gear, and I’m just the schlub with the tracking device? It doesn’t make much sense for me to trick you into the water, and then what? Search your bag, looking for your deepest, darkes
t secrets and desires?” She grinned ominously. “I can’t believe I have to say it, but I do want to get the kid back safely, too, you know.”
“It’s just good to hear it from your own lips, Ozoa.” I waved to the water. “So, can you give me any clue as to what exactly I’m looking for down here?”
“It’s a bag about yay big.” She motioned with her hands to something about nine inches long and seven inches tall. “There should be an activated glow stick in there, bright pink. Industrial strength and improved for the super dark.”
That was impressive. “Nothing but the finest, huh? Still, good thinking. I’m impressed. I take it you’ve done this sort of thing before?” I’d have to file that detail away for later.
Kippy grinned. “It’s amazing the level of awesomeness that money can buy these days. But please, don’t be coy. You know more about me than you’re letting on. Just recognize the skill and be done with it, Jake.”
I had a sudden twinge of revulsion when she used my first name. “Don’t do that. If you have to call me anything, use ‘Header,’ okay?” I didn’t want her to get the idea that we could ever become friends.
“Delicate subject matter, huh? Okay, copain.” She nodded respectfully. “Hey, just a thought, but after you get the goods, maybe we could have a little chat and clear the air. Declare expectations, that sort of thing, huh? Just to keep that abject hatred to manageable levels from here on out. What do you say?”
“I’ll think about it,” I nodded to her as I slipped on my breathing apparatus, checked my BCDs, and flicked the switch for my LED lights. The lights circled my wrists and ankles. Another rested just on my forehead and gave off a warm, bluish aura. Diving this close to a dock was nothing to get too worried about, but there was always the chance of hitting a cache of trash, broken supports, or other kinds of deterrents and traps.