Caribbean Capers

by Dan Kelly

  “You think I came across too pushy with the police and that seaman.”

  “Not with the inspector. By nature, cops are suspicious of everybody at the first encounter and you treated him probably like he expected to be treated when he told you to back off. I sensed, though, that the seaman wasn’t entirely sold on you asking the types of questions you threw at him just so you could write a book. We’ll be talking to a lot of seamen and people who work around the marinas, some of them I know quite well, some well enough to say hello to if I bump into them and others I won’t know at all. All of these people, however, will clam up if they think we’re up to something and aren’t being honest with them. They are highly developed bullshit detectors.”

  “What you’re saying makes a lot of sense. People will be a lot less wary about talking to us while we’re around if they think we’re harmless and clueless. I’ve got to be more careful around people like that seaman. My internal radar was telling me that he knows a lot about the smuggling and piracy operations in the Caribbean. I figured if I came on strong he might let something slip. As you know, that didn’t work, but I don’t think I alarmed him to the point where he’d make a big deal of it with his cronies.”

  “You’re probably right, but being cautious is the smart way to go when you’re dealing with people as dangerous as the people we’re planning to mess with.”

  “I hear you. I’d like to follow the same game plan in Santo Domingo though. Talk with the people in the marinas. Talk with the police and newspaper folks and then make the rounds of the local watering holes for the loaded. Mix a lot of money with a lot of booze and you’ve got the perfect formula for the mother lode of loosened tight lips.”

  “I agree. Until we generate some leads, there’s not much else we can do. I’m hoping we’ll pick up something on the Trumball kidnapping. It’s been over a month now and no contact with anybody has been made by the kidnappers for a ransom. The Sea Wasp network hasn’t come up with anything and the Barcelona authorities haven’t either. With each passing day the picture gets bleaker and bleaker.”

  “Well, Pete, you know what they say, ‘No news is good news.’ Thinking the worst only ruins your day. It accomplishes nothing else.”

  “Okay, enough of the doom and gloom. How about we put some practice time in on that special equipment of yours?”

  “Let’s do it.”

  Chapter 7

  -About Ten Miles Due South of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic-

  Pete and Abby have been practicing using the special equipment for a couple of hours every day they’ve been at sea and are getting quite skillful at using all of the features it provides.

  “Pete, you said that you would teach me how to identify ships by their acoustic signatures. How about starting now?”

  “Okay. I think the timing’s perfect. You’ve accomplished a lot in the use of this equipment and are ready for phase two. There’s not much sense in learning how to use the equipment if you don’t know how to interpret the data it generates.

  “Besides, when we leave Santo Domingo I want to spend some time sweeping the open sea for suspicious subs. The cartels use them a lot in their smuggling operations. If we’re both up and running on all of the equipment, we can alternate the sky and sea watches and be able to give each other some down time to relax and rest up. We can draw up schedules for us to follow when we’re at sea.

  “So you’ll have a better understanding of what we’ll be dealing with, I’ll start off with how an acoustic signature is generated. Every ship’s acoustic signature is unique. What makes this so is the makeup of every signature which consists of three elements, machinery noise, cavitation noise and hydrodynamic noise.

  “Machinery noise is generated by a ship’s engines, propeller shafts, fuel pumps, air conditioner systems, etc. Cavitation noise is generated by the creation of gas bubbles by the turning of the ship’s propellers. Hydrodynamic noise is generated by the movement of water displaced by the hull of a moving vessel. These noises, these emissions, depend on the dimensions of the ship’s hull, the type of machinery installed on the ship and the ship’s water displacement.

  “Therefore, different ship classes will have different combinations of acoustic signals that together form a unique acoustic signature.

  “Dave has provided us with reference books that have diagrams of every known acoustic signature as well as pictures of every kind of plane imaginable, so we’re in good shape when it comes to identifying what we see.”

  After spending a couple of hours reviewing the pictures and diagrams in the books with Pete, Abby heads for the galley to rustle up a snack for them and as she passes the group of monitors set up for their surveillance activities she spots something that looks like one of the diagrams in the books. “Pete, take a look at this. What do you think it is?”

  “It’s not military. It’s too small. A military attack sub is 362 feet long and a military ballistic missile sub is 560 feet long. This is about 150 feet long and about 32 feet wide. I don’t think we’re going to find this baby in any of our books. I’ve read somewhere that there are about 100 known privately owned subs and they cost millions of dollars to build. They can’t go as deep as a military sub, about 300 feet is their limit, and they can’t stay down for more than 20 days. It’s anyone’s guess what the particulars are on this sub. The cartels certainly have the funds to finance the development of subs for their special needs. Let’s get some pictures and send them and the sub’s coordinates to Dave. If there’s a military sub in the area, he can sic it on our mystery guest.”

  A short time later they’re docking in Santo Domingo and getting ready to go on shore.

  Pete asked, “Where do you want to start?”

  “It’s a little early to hit the bistros. Let’s start off with the local gendarmes and then pay a visit to the newspapers.”

  Their encounter with the Santo Domingo police in the person of Lieutenant Sergio Garcia was no more pleasant than the one they had with the Kingston police. In fact, it was a lot worse. Unlike the Kingston police, no attempt was made to be diplomatic in dissuading Abby from pursuing her quest for information about the smuggling and piracy taking place in the Caribbean. Of course, Abby’s barely veiled accusation that perhaps police concerns over her making inquiries weren’t solely based on possible interference with ongoing investigations was certainly a rapport killer. They were sternly cautioned to stop butting in or they would pay the consequences, steep fines, jail or both, and then they were shown the door.

  “Man, that sure went well. Abby, are you nuts? Even hinting that some cops are on the take can stir up the kind of trouble that could take us out of the game.”

  “Pete, the game is to mess with the minds of the people behind all of the smuggling and piracy in the Caribbean any way we can. Knowing that people are poking around, asking questions that they don’t want asked, isn’t going to be soothing to their nerves. If cops are involved, we’re planting the seeds of fear and doubt as to what might come to light and who might blabber. If those seeds germinate, they’ll be like weeds in a garden. As they grow, they’ll disrupt the normal order of things and start to strangle anything in their path. If the cops are clean, no harm will be done.”

  “Did you ever hear of weed killer? Crooked cops who are making lots of money illegitimately won’t hesitate to remove anything that threatens them. Aren’t we supposed to be just eyes and ears for the higher ups? Nobody said anything about painting a target on my back.”

  “Come on, Brody, we’re partners in this right? I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine. It’s not my intention to put us at any risk we can’t handle. I don’t have a death wish. I want to live a long happy life too. Besides, with Manny and company in the wings watching over us, we’re safer than the gold in Fort Knox.”

  “Safer than the gold in Fort Knox?” You’ve definitely been hanging around Scrounger too much.”

  “Yeah, but if degrees were offered in bullshit, he’d still graduate as
Valedictorian of the class. I might make salutatorian.”

  They both laughed and shaking his head Pete said, “If I live to be a hundred, I’ll never understand why I let that guy talk me into stuff like this.”

  “You don’t have to live that long. The answer is simple. He doesn’t talk you into anything. You do.”

  As she started walking back to their rental car, Pete’s digesting what she just said. “No way. I admit, I’m curious, but I’m not dumb enough to do stuff like this on my own. Am I?”

  “Pete, come on. Hurry up. I set up an appointment with a reporter at Listin Diario for 11:30. It’s a quarter after and they’re office is across town so we have to move it.”

  On the drive to the newspaper, Abby clued him in on the paper’s history. “The Liston Diario has an interesting history. It was founded in 1889 by a couple of successful merchants who wanted to inform the general public of the arrival and departure of merchant ships in and out of Dominican ports and grew and evolved into one of the major daily newspapers in the area.

  “Like most newspapers they got involved in the politics of the day and strongly voiced their support or opposition regarding candidates and issues that impacted their readers. When the dictator General Trujillo came on the scene, the paper opposed him and paid the price of financial strangulation and was forced to close its doors for 21 years.

  “After Trujillo’s assassination in 1961, descendants of the original founders and other close relatives launched their plan to reopen the doors which they had been working on even before Trujillo was assassinated. In 1963, the paper began publishing again. In recent years, it has become embroiled in several scandals, including the banking debacle in 2003 in the Dominican Republic which involved Banco Intercontinental which somewhere along the way had acquired the newspaper. After the banking scandal broke, President Hipólito Mejía seized it and it is now used as a political tool of the powers that be when they deem it appropriate.

  “Sea Wasp resources have informed us that Listin Diario has its fingers in a lot of pies and no story is off limits to them. If we can develop a rapport with them, they could be a big plus for us.”

  “You might have to agree to a quid pro quo arrangement to get their co-operation.”

  “I think that could be arranged within certain limits and not revealing what we’re really up to.”

  When they arrive at the offices of Listin Diario, they are directed to a conference room where they are met by a man named Julio Mendoza. Senor Mendoza looks nothing like Pete was expecting, a bespectacled pencil pusher, a look alike of the reporters they had met in Kingston. He’s 6’2” tall, Latin movie star handsome and in great shape for someone approaching fifty at a pretty good clip. When the reporter excused himself for a moment to talk with a co-worker Pete said, “Wipe your chin. You’re drooling.”

  “Nah, he’s a little too Latin for me. All that’s missing is the handlebar mustache, but he does have a nice tush.”

  The reporter’s looks weren’t the only thing that was unexpected. He turned out to be a down to earth kind of guy with a lot more than a surface knowledge of what was happening in the Caribbean region. Pete also suspected that he wasn’t buying the story that Abby was trying to sell, that she was doing research for a book, but Pete also sensed that he was a good reporter who was smelling a dilly of a story somewhere down the road if he played his cards right. Pete’s suspicions were confirmed when Mendoza offered to work with her, tap his resources for the kind of information she was looking for, if she would give him an exclusive interview or a series of interviews for publication when she was done with her research.

  “Senor Mendoza, why would you be interested in the results of my research which is primarily focused on sociological matters?”

  Flashing a dazzling and seemingly knowing smile he answered with, “Senorita Keenan, research is a fascinating activity. At times it can be quite boring, but at other times it can lead one to amazing discoveries. If that happens with you, I’d like to be in a position to benefit from it, to write about your discoveries under my own byline.”

  “Fair enough Senor Mendoza. You’ve got a deal. I’ve got a satellite phone because I’m traveling all over the place and a regular cell doesn’t always have good reception. Here’s my number. Feel free to call me anytime whenever you have some information for me. What’s the best way for me to get in touch with you?”

  He gave her his direct line at the office as well as his cell and home phone numbers and said, “I’ll start digging as soon as you leave.”

  “Thank you, Senor Mendoza. May we both get the stories we’re looking for.”

  “Please call me Julio. That senor stuff gets old in a hurry.”

  “Please call me Abby although senorita does bring back pleasant memories of my teenage years which were longer ago than I like to admit.”

  Walking back to their car Pete kids her with, “Not your type huh? Then how come there’s drool all over your blouse and what’s with ‘my teenage years which were longer than I like to admit?’ They’re not that long ago. Are you into older guys? That guy’s got to be pushing fifty pretty damn hard. Are you trying to appear older for the sake of getting some attention from the old boy? And don’t tell me it’s to soften him up for our purposes. I won’t buy it.”

  Before she answers she checks her blouse and Pete bursts out laughing. “Gotcha!”

  A little embarrassed she responded with, “Well, I have to admit he does have a certain appeal, but despite what you might think it won’t hurt the cause if he thinks we can relate to each other.”

  “The relations you’re talking about aren’t the same ones he’ll be thinking about believe me.”

  “Oh really. And how would you know about that?”

  It was Pete’s turn to be embarrassed, his face turned beet red and he couldn’t think of a thing to say.

  “Gotcha, smart ass.” Laughing, she picked up the pace as they headed for the car.

  Chapter 8

  -Santo Domingo-

  When they get back to the marina, Manny is waiting for them in the Vuelta de Lujo’s galley. “Dave called. Apparently, your poking around is getting the attention of some of the lower echelon in a couple of the cartels our operatives have managed to infiltrate. It’s only aroused some curiosity so far, but Dave and Phil are convinced that the word will spread and the curiosity will soon become concern as our game plan unfolds. They think it would be a good idea for you two to have some shadows from now on when you go on shore.”

  “Abby said, “That’s probably the smart way to go, but, Manny, you’ve got to stay away. A shadow is one thing; a penumbra is something else entirely. You’re just too big a guy not to be noticed no matter how hard you try. We want people to feel comfortable talking with us. If they see you hovering around, they’ll get real nervous in a hurry.”

  Manny’s used to people kidding him about his size and takes no offense. He knows what she’s saying is true. He’s been there and done that. “I understand. I’ll stay far enough away not to be seen and won’t show up unless my men have a need for me, but I’ll want your agenda when you leave the ship.”

  “Fair enough, but we won’t always know where we’ll be going as we’ll be developing leads on the fly.”

  “In those cases, I’ll have to depend on the men I assign to follow you to keep me informed.”

  Pete spent the next several hours tracking down some friends of his in Santo Domingo to pump them for information while Abby researched the “in” places where the upper crust go to play. Pete also gave Millie Trumball a call to see how things were going with the search for her husband.

  Unfortunately, no progress has been made. Because of Bob Trumball’s prominence in the American business community, the family was able to get the Federal Government involved via the U. S. Embassy in Venezuela and the FBI was calling in some favors from their counterparts in Venezuela, but so far nothing has been accomplished. The kidnappers have still not made any attempt at asking
for a ransom. Millie Trumball wants to offer a very attractive reward for any information leading to the safe return of her husband, but the Barcelona authorities don’t think that’s a good idea because it would only encourage the kidnappers to demand an even greater ransom and bring all kinds of phonies out of the woodwork who smell some easy money. They also were quick to point out that the payment of a ransom is no guarantee that her husband will be released.