Chapter 34
Phillip returned to the villa with Sharktooth in tow as Paul and the women were finishing breakfast. The air was thick with the aroma of fresh-baked bread and fried bacon as they entered the room. Sharktooth inhaled audibly, rolled his eyes, and rubbed his stomach.
"Are you like to have some breakfast, Sharktooth?" Sandrine asked.
"I could eat," the big man replied. "Some bacon sandwich be good."
"I am being late for work, already," Sandrine said, as Sharktooth wrapped her in a hug and lifted her off her feet.
"I'll put some more bacon on," Liz said. "Go to work, Sandrine; I'll feed him."
Sharktooth smiled with anticipation as he pulled out the chair next to Paul and shook hands with him.
"Your friend, he call Uncle one time this morning, a' ready."
"So that's all set?" Paul poured a cup of coffee for Sharktooth from the carafe on the table.
"Mm-hmm," Sharktooth said, raising the steaming cup to his lips. "No problem. Pietro, he happy. I t'ink he don' much like Uncle; very nervous. He scared Uncle make the zombie." The big man chuckled gleefully.
"Can Uncle Christian really turn someone into a zombie?" Connie asked.
"Well, Uncle Christian do many strange t'ings. Mebbe so, if you t'ink so," Sharktooth replied, a faraway look on his broad, handsome face.
Phillip sat down and cleared his throat. "Dani?" he asked.
"Yes."
Phillip waited a moment for everyone's attention. "Did you think anymore about how we might find Rolle's Kate?"
Dani nodded. "Pietro had a brand new satellite phone; it's onboard Vengeance. It only has two numbers programmed in; one's for 'boat.' My guess is that's Rolle's Kate. The other is 'WR.' That's bound to be Rolle. I disabled the phone as soon as I found it, just in case they had some way of tracking it, but before I did, a missed call popped up from 'WR.' He was probably wondering why Pietro hadn't called him."
"So what's your plan?" Phillip asked.
"Simple, but I've studied it from every angle I can think of, and I still like it. We'll pick a spot for an ambush, and I'll call Rolle and set up a meet – maybe a few miles southwest of Diamond Rock. We'll watch for their approach and pick our moment. We do it at night; I was hoping we could borrow Midnight Thunder from Clarence. We'll slip aboard and take over Rolle's Kate. Then Paul can have Rolle and Alfieri, assuming they behave themselves and don't get killed."
"Who's we?" Phillip asked.
"You, me, and Sharktooth as the boarding party. I figure Paul would be in reserve on Thunder, and join us to arrest everybody unless we need to call him in for some unexpected problem."
As they considered Dani's plan in silence, Liz turned from the kitchen counter where she had been working as she listened. She put a heaping plate of bacon sandwiches in front of Sharktooth and pulled out her chair, taking her place at the table.
"So you'd leave Vengeance where she's anchored?" Phillip finally asked.
"Right," Dani said. "We can let them think they're meeting Vengeance; if they're looking for her at the rendezvous point, it will just add to the surprise when we board them out of nowhere."
"They'll be planning to blow you away, though," Paul said. "They won't be a soft target."
"They're expecting three girls," Dani said.
"How do you explain having the phone? Why would you call instead of Pietro?" Phillip asked. "You'll blow your image as helpless females if they know you knocked off their hired muscle."
"That's what I was struggling with last night," Dani said. "Then it finally hit me; the 21st century solution. I went online and studied the phone that we took from Pietro. It's SMS capable."
"SMS?" Phillip asked.
"Text messaging," Liz said, and a murmur went around the table in response.
"They'll be wondering why they haven't heard earlier," Dani said, "and the reason is that Pietro's phone is on the blink. It's unable to connect for a voice call, but it can still send a text message. In fact, that redundancy is a selling point on the website for the phone."
"So what do you have in mind for the message?" Phillip asked.
"Phone damaged in boarding. Unable to make or receive calls. Text may work. Meet at 14 degrees 16 minutes North, 61 degrees 20 minutes West 2200 tonight. Goods secure."
"I like it," Paul said. "Can we really be ready tonight, though?"
"We've already waited too long," Dani said. "The longer we drag it out, the less believable it'll be."
"You're right," Paul said. "What if they text back and want an explanation?"
"That would be a logical thing to expect," Phillip said.
"The phone's defective, remember," Dani said. "If we just turn it off after I send the text and I take the SIM out of it again, they won't really have any option but to go to the rendezvous. They aren't expecting trouble, so what's the risk to them? They can't pass up any chance to get their diamonds back."
"Well, can we get it all together for tonight?" Paul asked again.
"Yeah," Phillip said. "One way or another. If I can't get Midnight Thunder, we can probably borrow that stealth chopper. I'll go call Clarence. Everything else is easy."
****
"It's never made that noise before," Wallace said as he reached for his satellite phone. He and Sam were on the port side of the bridge deck, scanning the anchorages along Dominica's western shore. They had checked the anchorage in Portsmouth at first light this morning and left after finding no sign of Vengeance, although not before one of the boat vendors had come alongside offering to sell them fresh fruit. They were passing Roseau now, moving slowly, as there were several yachts on moorings with stern lines run ashore. This resulted in the vessels lying with their sterns to the shore, and their names were therefore invisible. As a result, Wallace had ordered the captain to take Rolle's Kate in close enough to allow them to match the yachts' profiles to the image he had printed from Vengeance's website. It was tedious work, and fruitless as well. He looked at the display on the phone, studying it for a moment.
"Text message from PJ," he read aloud.
"What?" Sam asked. "Text message? What does it say?"
"I don't know. I haven't used it before," Wallace said, looking at the screen intently. He finally pressed the function key under the screen label that said 'READ.' An image of a tumbling hourglass appeared on the screen for several seconds as Sam moved to where he could look at the screen with Wallace.
"Phone damaged in boarding. Unable to make or receive calls. Text may work. Meet at 14 degrees 16 minutes North, 61 degrees 20 minutes West 2200 tonight. Goods secure," Sam read aloud. "Where's that?" he asked.
"I don't know," Wallace replied. He leaned inside the wheelhouse and read the coordinates to the captain. "What's that close to?" Wallace asked.
The captain turned from his position next to the helmsman and studied a chart spread out on the table in the back of the space. "Roughly 20 miles west-southwest of Diamond Rock. Diamond Rock's on the southwest corner of Martinique," he said.
"Middle of nowhere," Sam observed.
Wallace nodded. "Good place to scuttle Vengeance."
"What's taken them so long? And why are they down in Martinique?" Sam asked.
"Good questions," Wallace agreed. He leaned back into the wheelhouse. "You know how to send a text message on this thing, Billy?" he asked the captain.
"Sure," the man replied. "You just…"
"Send this for me," Wallace interrupted, handing the phone to him. "Why in Martinique? Why so late?"
The captain took the phone and stepped back inside to get the screen out of the sunlight. His thumbs punched keys for a moment and then he paused, watching the screen. "It's sent, Mr. Rolle," he said, handing the phone back to Wallace.
"So should we haul ass to Martinique?" Sam asked.
"I don't know," Wallace said. "They're probably hanging out somewhere over the horizon; no telling exactly where they are. I wonder if…"
He was interrupted by the normal
chirping sound of an incoming call. He pressed the green connect button and raised the phone to his ear. "Yes," he barked. "Who is this?" He was annoyed that he had failed to look at the caller i.d. before he answered.
"Okay, great!" he said. "Wait a second."
He covered the mouthpiece on the phone with his hand and leaned into the wheel house again. "Take down these coordinates, Billy," he said.
"Ready," the captain replied.
"Okay, give them to me," Wallace said into the telephone. "Fourteen degrees, twenty-six point zero five minutes North, sixty degrees, fifty-three point two six, West."
"Got it," the captain said, reading the coordinates back to Wallace.
"Good work. Thanks," Wallace said into the phone. "If they start moving, call me immediately."
He listened for an acknowledgement. "Thanks," he said, and disconnected the call.
"Was that…" Sam started to ask.
"Plot that and tell me where it is, Billy," Wallace interrupted, speaking to the captain.
"It's the anchorage off Ste. Anne, down on the southeast corner of Martinique," Billy replied. "About 30 miles from the other coordinates you gave me a minute ago," he added.
"Something feels wrong," Sam said.
"Yes," Wallace agreed. "What do you think we should do?"
"They're gonna call if it starts moving, right?" Sam asked.
"Right," Wallace said.
"Let's get ourselves set up close to both places. We need to keep our options open. Weather's nice and settled. If we put Rolle's Kate somewhere in the middle, we could get to either spot with the big RIB in a few minutes."
"I like that idea," Wallace said. "Let's look over the chart and pick a place to anchor."
Chapter 35
Dani and the rest of the group were on the veranda, watching the activity in the anchorage off Ste. Anne. Phillip had excused himself to visit his friend Clarence to arrange for their transportation this evening.
"Who's this Clarence?" Connie asked Dani in a quiet aside. "I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't know him."
Dani smiled. "I'm not sure anybody really knows him. When Phillip and my father were active in the Caribbean basin, Clarence worked with them. As they withdrew, he sort of took over."
"So what's Midnight Thunder? A boat?" Connie persisted.
"Yes. A special, high-speed, stealth boat. It's designed for covert operations."
"Why does Clarence…" Connie started to ask, but Dani interrupted.
"Some things, it's best not to talk about. Okay?"
Connie nodded, a worried look on her face.
The momentary silence was broken by a loud, tinny rendition of Bob Marley's classic, "Three Little Birds." As everyone looked for the source, Sharktooth extracted a cell phone from his pocket and answered softly, cutting off the music. After a brief, murmured conversation, he disconnected the call and turned to the group.
"My frien', he sell fruit to yachts in Portsmouth," he said. "Rolle's Kate anchor last night in Portsmouth. Spend the morning to check out the anchored yachts between Portsmouth and Roseau. Motor 'long the coast ver' slow. Jus' pas' Roseau, she take off fas', going sout'."
"What time?" Dani asked.
"What time she go fas'?" Sharktooth asked.
Dani nodded.
"I t'ink 'bout the same time you sen' the tex' message," Sharktooth said, smiling.
"Did you take the SIM and the battery out of the phone after you sent that?" Paul asked.
"Yes," Dani replied. "A boat like that's probably already in Martinique by now. I wonder…" She frowned.
"Call Phillip, Sharktooth, while your phone's handy."
Sharktooth punched a button and held the phone to his ear. "Dani wish to speak wit' you," he said, handing her the phone.
She walked inside as she spoke with Phillip. Returning to the veranda in a few minutes, she gave them an update.
"He's with Clarence now. We've got Thunder and a crew of three this evening; the extra two will be available to take care of Rolle's Kate until the Coastguard chopper from San Juan puts a crew aboard, just as you wanted, Paul. Clarence has two of his choppers up for island tours this afternoon; he's doing a lot of cruise-ship business this season. The pilots will let him know if they spot Rolle's Kate."
****
Wallace and Sam watched the shoreline of Martinique sliding by a couple of miles to the east. They were cruising at a modest speed; their destination was Anse Chaudière, on the southwest corner of the island.
"From the chart, it looks like we can anchor well away from Petite Anse d'Arlets, where most of the action is," the captain explained, his finger on the chart spread out before them. "That's 12 miles from Ste. Anne, and about 18 to that other waypoint you gave me."
Wallace nodded. "Okay, Billy. Looks good. Take her on in there." He and Sam walked outside, making their way to the sundeck by the hot tub.
Once they were settled and the steward had taken their drink orders, Sam asked, "So which way do we go? The rendezvous point? Or the satellite phone's location?"
"I don't know. The phone hasn't moved since they sent us the message," Wallace said. "I think it must be on the yacht; it seems unlikely that Pietro would be on another boat, don't you think?"
"Yeah," Sam agreed, "but why would he send us way out west unless he was going to be there?"
Wallace shook his head. "If they're still on Vengeance, they'll have to leave Ste. Anne by, say, seven o'clock this evening to make the rendezvous."
"Unless they're going in a faster boat," Sam said. "This whole thing makes no sense. It's a setup of some kind."
"Yes," Wallace said. "Of some kind. Suppose…" he closed his eyes, thinking.
"What?" Sam encouraged after a minute. "Suppose what?"
"If Pietro changed sides for some reason, or if he figured out that I was tracking the phone?" Wallace asked.
"What are the chances of one versus the other?" Sam asked.
"That's what I'm trying to figure," Wallace said. "As far as he knows, the phone is off-the-shelf. Since the tracker wasn't activated until now, he would have had no way to discover it. That's the other reason I set it up the way I did."
"Okay," Sam said. "So it's more likely that he's set us up somehow, then."
"That's where I'm coming out, too," Wallace said.
"Then we go to that rendezvous loaded for bear," Sam said.
"I'm thinking that going to the rendezvous serves no purpose. We know it's an ambush. Why even go?" Wallace said. "It's for damn sure that the diamonds aren't going to be there. All we're going to find is a fight, probably with somebody's hired help. Not even a clue as to who's paying them."
"You're thinking we go to the phone, then," Sam said.
"Yes. At the very least, they won't be expecting us there. Maybe we'll find somebody; maybe not. We'll know where the phone is, for sure. That's more than we'll learn by going into a firefight out in the ocean."
"Unless the phone starts moving in the next few hours," Sam said.
"Even if it does," Wallace said. "If Pietro still has it, he might be carrying it. For all we know, he could be leading the ambush team to the rendezvous."
"You're saying that no matter what, we should go check out the location they sent that message from, then," Sam said.
"For now, that's the best I can come up with," Wallace agreed.
"Makes sense," Sam said. "I got another question for you."
"What?" Wallace asked.
"What time do we hit 'em?" Sam asked. "I vote for ten o'clock. I'd say go now and surprise 'em, but I think we'd better wait until after dark."
"Me, too," Wallace said. "If we hit them at ten, they'll be focused on whatever they think is going to happen out to the west."
****
"Clarence just called," Phillip said to the group. They were all relaxing on his veranda, resting up for the night's excitement. "One of his guys just spotted Rolle's Kate, anchored off Morne Jacqueline."
"Where's that?" Dani aske
d.
"About a half a mile south of Petite Anse d'Arlets," Phillip said.
"Why there?" Dani wondered.
"They could hit the rendezvous from there in an hour," Phillip said.
"If I were running their boat, I wouldn't be where anybody would see me. What's the purpose in stopping there? Why not idle along offshore until it's time?" Dani asked. "Maybe they're picking up somebody, or putting somebody ashore."
"Maybe," Phillip agreed. "If they are, we'll hear about it. The pilot's brother runs a beach bar at Petite Anse d'Arlets. He can see Rolle's Kate from the bar, and he's got my cell phone number."
"Way to go," Paul cheered.
"Home court advantage," Phillip agreed. "At least until it gets too dark for him to see what they're doing."
"I think we need to reconsider our plan," Dani said.
"You want to board Rolle's Kate," Phillip said.
Dani nodded, but before she could speak, Phillip said, "I agree."
"But what about the rendezvous?" Paul asked. "There's a Coastguard boarding crew standing by in San Juan, waiting to pick up Rolle's Kate when I call."
"Once we secure the target, Clarence's extra guys can take her out to the rendezvous point. You're worried about the Coastguard wanting to be in international waters?"
"Partly," Paul agreed. "You don't think Rolle and Alfieri will send somebody to the rendezvous?"
"Possibly," Phillip said, "but we'll know as soon as we've taken Rolle's Kate. We'll have time to deal with that; I figure Rolle and Alfieri for armchair generals. They'll be safe and sound on Rolle's Kate."
"Sounds reasonable," Paul said. "If they move in the meantime, we'll be able to adjust our plans."
Chapter 36
Liz, Connie, and Sandrine sat in Vengeance's cockpit, sipping wine and staring into the darkness that had swallowed Midnight Thunder just moments before.
"That's the strangest-looking boat I've ever seen," Connie said. "It almost makes me dizzy to look at it."
Liz laughed. "It has the same effect on radar."
"How big is it?" Connie asked. "I couldn't tell, even with it sitting right up against Vengeance."
Bluewater Ice: The Fourth Novel in the Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series (Bluewater Thrillers Book 4) Page 20