“Are we in danger?”
“I don’t think so. When the US government freezes your bank accounts and cuts off a contract that’s strategically important, it must mean an arrest is soon to follow. The only reason I didn’t leave you at the house is that I don’t know who’s after me.”
“Why would the US government arrest you?” said Diane.
“I haven’t done anything wrong that I know of, but having my money and my business contracts frozen and my contact in the CIA unavailable has me spooked,” said Pat.
“Now I’m scared.”
“Throw your phone overboard. We need to remain unfindable until I can figure this thing out,” said Pat.
It took almost two hours to sail to Nassau Harbor. Diane was clingy for most of the trip, and while Pat would have preferred to spend the time planning, instead he’d found himself responding to an endless stream of questions and concerns from Diane. During the few respites from her desire to be assured, he’d quietly debated whether it would be safer to drop Diane off in Nassau. Ultimately, he’d decided to keep her with him. Partly out of selfishness, since he couldn’t stand to be away from her, and partly because he knew it would cause her just as much pain for her to be away from him. It was poor operational reasoning, and he hoped he wouldn’t regret it.
Pat docked at a transient slip in the Palm Cay Marina. Unlike his tiny fishing marina in Governor’s Harbour, the Palm Cay was built for luxury tourism, and with one hundred and ninety-five mostly occupied slips, his yacht blended in perfectly. Pat booked for two days and paid the docking fee of two dollars per foot per day to the harbormaster. Once they had the power and water connected, they locked up the boat and walked to the car rental office located inside the marina clubhouse.
“What’s next?” asked Diane.
“We need to provision the boat with food for a three-week journey. There’s a Fresh Market a few miles from here that should have everything we need. We also need lunch, and I need to find Wi-Fi so I can contact my people. Once we load up and prep the boat, we’ll fill the external fuel tanks. That’ll give us a range of close to three thousand miles and then we’ll be ready to depart tomorrow morning,” said Pat.
“Depart for where?”
“At this point, it’s more about getting off the grid. I really don’t have any particular destination in mind.”
“That doesn’t sound like much of a plan,” Diane said with a smile. Pat put his arm around Diane and kissed the top of her head.
“It’s not, but if it turns out I have to be on the run, we might as well make a holiday of it.”
The first stop was lunch. Still unwilling to put a cell phone in operation, Pat used the navigation system on the rental car and settled on a nearby restaurant called Luciano of Chicago. It was almost three in the afternoon, and the restaurant was nearly empty. While he was waiting for his shrimp and scallop ceviche appetizer, Pat turned on his laptop and connected to the restaurant’s free Wi-Fi. Using a TOR app, he was able to mask his IP address and location and encrypt his communications. He went on Google Messenger and sent a message to Mike Guthrie.
“The contract has been suspended and all my personal and business accounts are frozen. What gives?” he wrote.
After devouring a magnificent seven-ounce filet mignon with asparagus and mashed potatoes, he received a reply from Mike.
“Explosives used in Brussels bombing originated from Trident. JTTF has identified you as a subject of the investigation, and an arrest order has been issued,” Mike replied.
“Does the JTTF know what I do and who I work for?” wrote Pat.
“No. The director wants to avoid a scandal. The case against you is strong and getting stronger. Disappear and give me some time to find out who’s pulling the strings on this,” Mike replied.
“Done, will check back with you daily on this channel.”
“Any updates you want to share?” Diane asked. Pat sipped his double espresso while looking across the table at Diane’s concerned expression.
“The good news is that there’s no physical danger. The bad news is as I suspected. I need to disappear while the people I work for clear this problem up.”
“What do you mean by disappear?”
“It means we spend a few weeks on the Atlantic, looking for the perfect wave,” Pat said.
Diane smiled. “Being on the run with you sounds like fun.”
Rising Sea Page 19