"Yuck," Liz said. "He never struck me that way, from what you told me about him."
"Me either," Dani said. "I thought he was a solo operator."
"I'm lost, Dani. What do you mean, solo operator?"
"I didn't think he'd be part of a big organization, even if he and Carlotta run it."
"What organization?"
"They call it S and S Security Service. They wanted to recruit me to run operations in the Eastern Caribbean."
"What kind of operations?"
"All kinds of cloak and dagger stuff, for anybody who'll pay. He excused himself and left me with her to talk about the details."
"What did you say?"
"I told her I was confused, that I thought he wanted a more, um ... personal relationship with me."
"How did she respond to that?"
"She laughed and said he was afraid of women like me — her, too — that we were too intimidating for most men, him included. I shook my head and said that all that time, I thought Ralph was flirting with me."
"What did she say to that?"
"She said, 'When was that?' and I told her about going up to his room in St. Lucia a couple of years ago. Then she said, 'You don't know, do you? He never told you?' and I said, 'What don't I know?' She got this really serious look on her face and told me that Ralph's married. He got married when he finished his assignment in St. Lucia, and his father-in-law is bankrolling this whole business. Ralph's been on the straight and narrow with women ever since."
"Oh, Dani! I'm so sorry. I can imagine what a shock that was."
"I still can't believe it. I'm intimidating to men? I don't get it. Why would he be scared of me? I wouldn't hurt him. I mean, sure, I could kick his ass, but I wouldn't. I liked him, Liz. I mean, okay, he's married. I didn't want to get married, so it wouldn't have worked anyway, but why am I intimidating?"
"Maybe he just — "
"He's not the first one. I've heard that before, every time I got serious about some jerk."
"Well, a lot of men are a little put off by strong, self-assured women. Especially when they see you break somebody's arm, or something worse."
"So what am I supposed to do? Be a candy-ass?"
"All you can do is be yourself, Dani. The right guy won't be put off by you."
"I'm 26 years old, Liz. I haven't met him yet. Maybe you could teach me to act like a girl instead of one of the guys, okay?"
"I'll do my best, Dani, but you need to be comfortable with the way you are. It'll work out."
"Just try, please, Liz."
"Okay. But don't overdo it with Ed. I don't think he's your type. Besides, from what Cynthia says, he's not worth your trouble."
"I need to start somewhere. He's handy, and he's hot."
"Shh, Dani. He and Cynthia are coming aft."
****
Wong sat in the visitor's chair in the Dragon Lady's office, her telephone pressed to his ear. He tried to ignore what she was doing to him and concentrate on what the man from Trinidad was saying.
"Excuse me," he said, putting his hand over the mouthpiece. He turned to face her. "I can't focus if you keep doing that," he said.
"Mm," she moaned. "Neither can I. Call them back later."
"I need to talk with him now, while they have cell service, if you want the girl taken tomorrow."
She pouted and pushed her swivel chair away from him, turning her back.
Taking his hand from the mouthpiece, he said, "Okay, I'm back."
He listened for a moment. Then he said, "Take her tomorrow, but do it carefully. Avoid attracting the attention of people on the other yachts, and whatever you do, don't kill the father or the two women. You must not do anything that will get the police involved."
He listened again. "Tell the father that he will hear from us within 24 hours regarding ransom, and if he calls the authorities, we will sell his daughter to the Arabs. He'll never see her again unless he follows our instructions."
After listening for another few seconds, he said, "That sounds good, if you can do it that way. Call my cell phone when you have her in the clear. I'll tell you where to bring her then. And don't molest her, or I'll kill you both, slowly." He hung up the phone.
"Where are they?" the Dragon Lady asked.
"The Tobago Cays. They said most of the people on the other boats snorkeled on the reef during the middle of the day; they plan to take the girl while she and the others are swimming, if they snorkel the reef in the morning. If not, they will approach the boat pretending to be fishermen with fresh fish to sell, and hold the people at gunpoint while they take her."
"A good plan," she said, rolling the chair toward him. "If the phone rings again, don't answer." She licked her lips as she reached for him.
Chapter 11
"Come up on deck with me for a minute, Dad." Cynthia stood and walked toward the companionway.
Ed got up to follow her and Dani said, "I'll — "
"Excuse me, Dani. Could you give me a hand with the breakfast dishes?" Liz asked.
Dani glared at her, but she nodded in agreement.
"She wanted a few minutes alone with her dad," Liz said, after their guests were on deck.
"Oh," Dani said. "Okay."
"And I need to talk to you, too," Liz said.
"Yes?" Dani said. "About what?"
Liz looked away.
"What Liz? Tell me!"
"While you and Ed were up in the cockpit before breakfast, Cynthia and I had a little chat."
"And? What was on her mind?" Dani asked.
"You ... and her dad."
Dani grinned. "What about us?" she asked, a dreamy look on her face.
"Sure you want to hear this?"
"Don't tell me he's intimidated." Dani frowned. "Did he — "
"Maybe a little bit, but you need to try playing hard to get."
"Wait. I need to what?"
"That's what Cynthia said, Dani. He's accustomed to making the moves. Sexually aggressive women scare him."
"Sexually aggressive? Me?"
"He saw through your little ploy with the sunscreen yesterday."
"Ploy?"
"Don't feign innocence with me. I saw the whole thing."
"But how did he — "
"You smelled like a boatload of freshly grated coconut after you sprayed yourself, Dani."
Dani's face fell. "Oh." She was quiet for a minute, a gamut of emotions playing over her face. "What a chickenshit," she growled.
"Chickenshit?" Liz asked.
"Gutless bastard. It's okay for him to put the make on me, but I'm not allowed to take the initiative?"
"A lot of men have this double standard, Dani. It's not — "
"Well, screw him!"
"Not likely. Not the way you're going about it."
Dani's face flushed. "No way, Liz. Not if he were the last man alive."
"Just back off a little bit. He'll come around. Trust me."
Dani studied her friend for a minute. "You think so?"
Liz shrugged. "What can it hurt?"
"Nothing, I guess," Dani said, after a moment's reflection. "But I was going to snorkel the reef with him this morning. How should I — "
"Remember, I made an excuse for us to stay back. We have to scrape the barnacles off the bottom. Tell them you may be able to join them this afternoon. Besides, Cynthia really does want some time alone with him to try to persuade him that this boy she's seeing is worthy; she'll thank you for it."
"But the bottom's clean, Liz. We just had it painted."
"They don't know that. When they come back we'll just tell them how surprised we were at how few barnacles we had."
"Okay. Will you check them out on the dinghy and show them where to find the dinghy moorings? I'm going to our cabin. Make some excuse for me. I can't face him right now. Buy me a little time to get my temper under control; I'll be okay when they get back."
"Sure. Sounds good to me. And you cheer up. You'll find somebody, if Ed doesn't come arou
nd. Don't be too hasty to jump the first guy you see just because of the Ralph thing. That kind of rebound romance never ends well."
"Thanks, Liz."
"No problem. Now get out of sight. I'll get the snorkel gear out and get them on their way."
****
"They are getting in the dinghy," the man said, resting his elbows on the gunwale of the speedboat to steady the binoculars.
"All of them?" his companion asked.
"No. Only the man and the girl. The women who run the yacht are still aboard. One of them's showing the man how to start the outboard, and the other one is below deck."
"Good. Did you see if they had masks and flippers?"
"Yeah, they did. Looks like we got her."
"Good. Let's wait until they're in the water."
"Right. Damn!"
"What's the matter?"
"The woman on deck."
"So?"
"She's got binoculars. She's checking out the other boats," the man with the binoculars said.
"Easy, mon. We are invisible," his companion said. "We look jus' like the other local boats. She's not going to notice us."
"Maybe not. She just set the binoculars down. She's drinking some coffee now. How are we going to do this, mon?"
"Once they're in the water, we cut the dinghy loose from the mooring so he can't get back to the yacht to call for help. Then just run the boat between the girl and the mon. You hit him with the fish billy if he gives us any trouble, and I grab the girl, pull her in the boat. Then we run like hell through the reef channel and out to sea. Simple."
"Okay, mon."
****
"Come back up and let's finish the coffee," Liz called down the companionway.
"Are they gone?" Dani asked.
"They picked up the dive mooring at the reef a couple of minutes ago. They're in the water now," Liz said, as Dani came up into the cockpit.
She took the mug of steaming coffee that Liz handed her and held it under her nose for a moment, inhaling the aroma. "Ah," she sighed, and took a sip.
"How do you want to spend our free morning?" Liz asked.
"Doing nothing sounds good. I haven't recovered from our lost sleep the other night."
"Neither have I," Liz said.
They each swung their legs onto the cockpit seats, leaning back against the coachroof and stretching out.
"Maybe I'll nap," Liz said.
"Sounds good to me," Dani said. "Hey, wait!" she yelped, a few seconds later.
Liz opened her eyes. "What?"
Dani got to her feet and grabbed the binoculars from the rack at the helm. Lifting them to her eyes, she said, "That's our dinghy."
"Of course," Liz said. "They left it on that dive mooring by the break in the reef. What are you — "
"It's adrift, Liz."
"Adrift? Are you sure?"
"Quick!" Dani said, putting the binoculars back in their place and reaching down to start the diesel. "Man the windlass. Let's get the anchor up and catch it before it drifts out of sight. Idiots must not have tied it to the mooring."
Liz set her coffee in the corner of the cockpit and scrambled to the foredeck. A few minutes later, Dani maneuvered Vengeance alongside the dinghy as Liz picked up the dinghy's painter with a boat hook.
"The painter was cut, Dani," Liz called, as she walked the dinghy back along Vengeance's side. She tied what was left of the painter to a cleat at the stern and said, "Let's get Vengeance anchored and go see where Ed and Cynthia are."
With the dinghy in tow, they returned to the spot where they had been anchored overnight and dropped the hook.
"I think I see Ed," Dani said, reaching for the binoculars as Liz returned from the foredeck to the cockpit. She focused on the man swimming frantically toward them. "Let's go," she said, jumping into the dinghy and starting the outboard.
Liz joined her and untied the painter. They raced toward the swimmer, who began to tread water as they approached.
Dani cut the throttle a few yards from him and called, "Ed?"
"They took Cynthia," he yelled, panting, "and the dinghy was gone."
"Who took her?" Dani asked, as she and Liz helped him slither over the side into the dinghy.
"Two men in a yellow speedboat. They cut between us and stopped. One of them said, 'If you ever want to see her again, wait for our instructions or we'll sell her to the Arabs.' Just that quick, they took off again, and she was gone."
"Which way?" Liz asked.
"Through the reef," he said, still gasping from his exertion.
"No sign of them now," Dani said, standing up in the dinghy to scan the horizon.
"How can that be?" Ed asked. "It was only a few minutes ago."
"A small, fast boat. They probably turned to put one of the little islands between them and us," Dani said.
"Let's call the cops," Ed said.
"That's up to you," Dani said, "but maybe you should give it a few hours and see if you hear from them. The cops down here aren't what you're used to at home."
"What do you mean?"
"At best, they aren't set up to deal with a kidnapping like this. At worst, they could be part of it."
"I can't just do nothing," Ed said, a quaver in his voice.
"I'm not suggesting that, Ed," Dani said.
"Let's get you back to Vengeance where you can call your office and alert them in case they get a ransom call."
"My office? Why my office? I don't — "
"The kidnappers know you aren't at home, and it's unlikely that they'd take a chance on cell service. It's too unreliable out here in the fringe areas. They must have done a little research on you before they decided Cynthia was a good target."
Ed studied her for a moment before he nodded. "Good points," he said.
"Liz can help you with the satellite phone if you don't have cell service. I'm going to take the dinghy and talk to all the local vendors."
"I thought the Cays were uninhabited," Ed said, as Dani steered the dingy back to Vengeance.
"They are, but a lot of people come out here from Union Island and Mayreau every day to sell stuff to the yachts. One of them might have noticed a strange boat hanging out here. They all know one another."
Chapter 12
"You were gone long enough. Any news?" Ed asked from the cockpit as Dani tied the dinghy alongside Vengeance.
"Yes," she said, stepping onto the side deck, "but first, did you get in touch with your office?"
"Yes. They haven't heard anything."
Dani nodded. "Too soon. They'll want you to sweat for a while. You leave the satellite phone number with your secretary?"
"Yes," Ed said. "What did you learn?"
"Several people noticed the yellow boat with two men in it. It's not from around here." Dani sat down across from him and poured a cup of coffee from the carafe sitting on the cockpit table.
"Any idea where it's from, then?"
"It had a Trinidad and Tobago registration number."
Ed wrinkled his brow for a moment. "Tobago? But you said it wasn't from around here."
"Trinidad and Tobago's a separate country — two islands — one named Trinidad and one named Tobago. It's just a coincidence that the Cays here share the name."
"How far is it to Trinidad and Tobago?"
"A bit over a hundred miles," Liz said.
"How long would it take them?"
"Depends on the boat and the sea state," Dani said, "but maybe from two to four hours, if they were pushing it."
"Can we get a fast boat and chase them down?" Ed asked.
"We don't know that they're going back to Trinidad," Dani said. "They could be anywhere. To me, it seems unlikely that they'd spend the time to take her that far."
"But I've always heard that kidnapping's a problem in Trinidad," Ed said. "Wouldn't they want to get her back there? Where they presumably have some connections to hide her while I ... wait ... " he shook his head, looking down at his half-empty coffee mug.
&nbs
p; "They'd want to get her out of sight as soon as they could, I think," Dani said. "Somebody might notice two local fishermen with a young, blonde girl in their boat. From what I heard, the boat's completely open; nowhere to hide her."
"Then why would they come from Trinidad all the way up here to kidnap someone?" Ed asked.
"Kidnapping is a major industry in Trinidad," Liz said, "but it's usually wealthy locals that are the targets."
"What are you getting at, Liz?" he asked, his brow creased again.
"Unless you have some connection to Trinidad and Tobago, it's not likely that anyone from there would target Cynthia," Liz said, exchanging glances with Dani.
"She's right," Dani said. "Any of your clients or adversaries come to mind?"
"As having a Trinidad connection?" Ed asked.
Dani and Liz both nodded.
"No," he said, drawing out the word and shaking his head. "Nobody I know. So where does that leave us?"
"Hired muscle," Dani said. "It has to be somebody in this area that's behind it. Any thoughts? You asked us to pick you up in Bequia. How'd you hear about it?"
Ed looked at her, frowning, not saying anything.
"Anybody you know have ties here that might attract attention to you? Any cases that might lead someone to take her for leverage?"
"You mean, like a setup by someone back in the States?"
"Yes, maybe," Dani said.
"Not that I can think of. I picked Bequia because of an article I read in some in-flight magazine. Can't even remember which one. We're wasting time. We can't just wait for a ransom call. What are we going to do? I think the cops should — "
"I'll call a friend who has solid connections to senior law enforcement people down here," Dani said. "I just wanted to know if you had any thoughts as to who might be behind this."
"How's your friend going to get anything done? Is he a cop?"
"He's retired," Dani said. "He was a partner of my father's. They did a lot of business with the governments down here, and he still lives in the islands."
"But where will they even start?" Ed asked. "You said the guys who took her could be anywhere."
"Yes, but my friend has contacts he can trust everywhere, and we have the registration number of the boat. We'll start by finding the two guys."
"But what if they've already hidden her somewhere? They aren't going to tell the cops anything; they'll lawyer up, and then what?"
Bluewater Ganja: The Ninth Novel in the Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series (Bluewater Thrillers Book 9) Page 6