Danger Point
Page 27
“Yes, General Sandoval, I understand. Let’s go,” replies Spike as he turns to his men. “As soon as this guy Aziz gets here, load him into the van. Drop him at the address he gives you, then drive into south central and kill the woman. Drop her in the middle of the Grape Street Crips. As soon as I get this deal done with The General, I’ll meet up with you guys at our warehouse.”
Spike looks directly at his right-hand man, “Don’t fuck this up. As much as I love you and your family, I’ll kill all of you if you do.”
Chapter 58
“Prepare to come about!” DJ shouts.
We drop the spinnaker and hoist the headsail. We all do our jobs and do them well. There’s too much at stake to mess up. Delany, John G., Alexis and the Master Chief are already in their wetsuits and checking their dive gear. They’re diving with the LAR V Dreager Rebreathing System, a closed circuit SCUBA device. It runs on one hundred percent oxygen where all expelled breath is recycled into the closed circuit where it is filtered for carbon dioxide. It has an operating depth of only seventy feet but there are no tell-tail bubbles. Delany tells us all branches of the Armed Forces use this system for their special teams.
I watch as Alexis picks up the M4 CQBR assault rifle. She handles it like she’s used one before. It’s a compact weapon, but has the stopping power of an assault rifle. She covers the gun barrel with a balloon to prevent water from entering the barrel.
“How much longer to our drop site, DJ?” The Master Chief asks.
“About thirty or forty minutes, Chief. We’ll sail up to within one hundred yards of the site, drop the sails, off load you guys and then head to Newport Harbor,” DJ tells him. He turns to me and says, “Bobby, take the helm, would you? I want to make sure we’re still on course.”
I take the wheel from him. It’s so foggy that I can barely make out the bow of the boat. We had shut down the radar hours ago so The General’s sub won’t know we’re out here.
Alexis sits down next to me. “You know, Bobby, you’ve really impressed me with your ability to stay calm under pressure.”
I look over at her. She’s barely said anything personal to me since we got on the sailboat.
“So,” she continues, “if we get out of this alive, I’ll go on that date with you.” She stands up and lightly kisses me on the lips. Before I have a chance to say anything, she’s back to getting her gear together.
“Hey, Bobby, pay attention or you’ll run us into something.” He lights a cigarette and takes a seat in the spot Alexis has just vacated. I wonder if it’s still warm from her….no, probably not through the wetsuit.
He starts to talk, pulling me back. I can’t afford to be daydreaming right now.
“As soon as we get these guys in the water,” he says, “You, Murphy and I will go over our plan then set sail to where I think Maria is being held. I promised we’d do everything Murph tell us, but, if I see a chance to rescue Maria, I’m going take it, Bobby. Have you got my back?”
I don’t hesitate to reply, “You know it, bro.”
◆◆◆
Aziz sits in the dory as it makes its way toward shore. The fog makes it impossible for him to know where he is or where he’s going. He has a job to do and no one is stopping him. He has been ordered to kill everyone in the boat once he reaches land. He has a cell phone that has been pre-programmed with the number of a contact who will pick him up and take him to a safe house. He will sleep, get up, enjoy his last meal, then set out to place the briefcase carrying the virus. When the timer on the cases hits zero, the small charge will cause the containers to start releasing the flu virus. It will take seventeen minutes for each briefcase to empty itself of its deadly contents. Once airborne, there will be no stopping it. Aziz tingles with excitement for what awaits him in paradise when his deed is complete.
◆◆◆
“General, with the exception of Spike’s money, everything has been deposited into the Cayman Island accounts,” his aide tells him. “You have five million dollars on the submarine and between the cocaine and ecstasy Senior Spike is purchasing, you will have ten million dollars.” He looks at his notes, “You owe Yuri and the submarine crew their three million, plus their bonus. That leaves you with six million in cash and over a quarter of a billion in off shore accounts.
“Thank you.” says The General, “Excellent accounting. If you would please excuse me now and send Spike down? We have one more piece of business to discuss.”
“Yes, General.”
When Spike steps into the salon, The General says, “Thank you for joining me. Please sit down. I have a proposition for you.”
Spike sits down across from The General and sets his large case down beside him.
“What do you have in mind? I’m always interested in making money.”
The General takes a slight pause before beginning. “Spike, right now I am sitting on ten million hits of ecstasy. I will front you all ten million hits for fifty percent of their value, plus a ten percent fee for the exclusive distributorship of the drugs. The balance of the money will be due to me upon completion of the sale. With your connections in every major city in the United States, and with your emerging prowess in Eastern Europe, you will make millions of dollars in profit each month. I can also ship you as much cocaine as you can handle. I will turn over all my contacts to you so you can be in charge. I will provide the submarine for delivering the drugs and you will deposit up front monies into my Cayman Island bank account.”
Spike sits for a couple of minutes, processing. He looks General Sandoval in the eyes and says, “If you’ll lower your distribution fee to five percent, lower the price a thousand dollars a kilo on the coke and lower the ecstasy to a dollar and fifty cents a tab, we have a deal.” He sits back, “I’ll also pay cash up front for the ten million hits of ecstasy and a thousand kilos of coke, if this deal goes off smoothly. How does that sound?”
The General sits there, stunned. He wasn’t expecting this response from a gang banger. He stands and extends his hand. “You have a deal, Señor Spike.”
Chapter 59
Alexis, the Master Chief, Delany, and John G. are dressed in their dive gear. The X460 Electric Sea Scooters they will share are sitting on the deck. The sea scooters can go as deep as one hundred feet, with a battery life of five hours of continuous use. They’d be in big trouble if they needed any more than that for their mission.
“Delaney,” says DJ. “We’re coming up on your drop site. Bobby, get up on deck and get ready to drop the headsail. Murph, you go with him and help him haul the sail down onto the deck. Make sure you keep it out of the water.”
We get into position and DJ yells, “Everyone, ready? Bobby, drop that headsail. Murph, Bobby - you need to pull that sail down faster!”
The boat has almost stopped in its tracks. It’s hard work to pull in that big sail with only two people.
“Great job, guys,” DJ says.
Delaney looks at the crew and says, “This is where we split up. Murph, your team has two hours to get to your objective and get Maria back. If we can’t take The General out in that time, I’m going to call the navy and have them send out a P3 Onion Anti-Submarine warfare plane. If they can find it, we’ll sink that sub, everyone and everything on board. Good luck, everyone.”
I stand up, walk over to Alexis and kiss her. She holds me for a few seconds before letting go.
“Please come back,” I say, “After all this, I’m going to need that date.”
The Master Chief is the first into the water and we hand him down the first sea scooter. The rest of Delany’s crew rolls into the water and we pass down the rest of their equipment.
“God speed,” Delany calls up. He slips on his mask and they all disappear into the black water.
Murph, DJ and I are dressed in black and ready to go. DJ goes through his bow set to make sure he has everything he needs. I slip on a shoulder holster and check my Glock. We’re not just in black; we’re wearing lightweight, black body armor, provid
ed to us by the good old United States Marines.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” DJ says and Murph and I start hoisting the sails. DJ drops the boat back so the sails can catch the wind. Within minutes, we’re back underway, making eight knots, heading in to the unknown.
“At this rate, we should make the harbor entrance in less than forty minutes,” DJ says. “I think Maria’s being held on a yacht toward the end of Balboa Island. We can sail up to the gas dock and approach the boat from the blind side.”
A fisherman’s dory appears out of the fog, swerves, barely missing the hull of our boat. It must be doing fifteen knots.
“What a fucking asshole!” I shout. “What kind of a jerk brings a small boat this far out on a foggy night?”
◆◆◆
According to the Master Chief’s calculations, they’re close to the site where the submarine and The General’s boat will meet up to make the exchange of drugs and cash. After that, The General will then get on the submarine. They have to stop him from getting on that sub and disappearing forever.
The Master Chief suddenly holds up his fist as a signal for all of them to stop. He speaks into his underwater transceiver. “We’re about one hundred meters from the transfer site.” He says, “Once we spot our objective, we’ll split into teams and approach the boat from the north side. Alexis, you’re with me. We’ll take the stern. Delany and John, you take the bow. Do your recon before you try to board the boat. Delaney, remember your pneumatic weapon only fires one hundred rounds, so choose your shots wisely. John and Alexis, you need to take you weapons out of their dry bags once you’re on the surface. Any questions?”
They all shake their heads.
“Okay. Watch your backs and we’ll meet up on the boat. Alexis, let’s go,” the Chief says.
Delany and John G. swim off in one direction and Alexis and the Chief swim off in the other, slowly making their way to their objective. When they break the surface of the water, it’s foggy and dark. They pause, waiting for any sign of movement on the boat. John throws his grappling hook up, catching the railing. Pulling hard against it to make sure it’s secure, he slowly climbs up on board as Delany covers him from the water. John motions Delany to climb up as he covers him. They wait for a couple of minutes before Delany signals John to take to starboard side while he takes the port side. John takes his time making his way down his side. There are lights on inside the cabin but he sees no movement as he makes his way toward the stern. He stops and listens. Slowly, he looks around the corner and sees the Chief and Alexis standing in the stern. They motion him into the cockpit. They split up and search the boat below deck, finding nothing. The boat is completely empty.
“General, it appears you were right,” the Captain says, “The American Special Forces are approaching the boat. What are your orders, sir?”
◆◆◆
The General turns to the Captain and replies. “Sink it, Captain, then set a course for Cape Town, South Africa.”
“Yes, General.” The Captain turns on the intercom. “Weapons station, prepare to launch torpedo on my mark.” He types the information into the submarine’s weapons computer and speaks into the intercom again, “Torpedo room fire in five, four, three, two, one. Fire.”
“Torpedo away, sir,” comes back over the speaker.
“General, the torpedo will hit the target in approximately seven minutes. Do you wish to stay and watch or do you prefer for us to get underway?”
“I need to reach Cape town as fast as we can,” replies The General. “I’ll be in my quarters. Please let me know when our target has been destroyed.” He turns and leaves the bridge of the submarine.
Chapter 60
We’ve dropped the sails and DJ silently guides the sailboat up to the gas dock on Balboa Island. I jump down and tie off. I climb back on board and go below. Murph is sitting with his vest on, gun in hand. DJ follows me below to check his bow and fill the quiver with his favorite Easton St. Axis arrows. Full metal jacket, these arrows are bad ass.
“What’s our plan, Murph?” I ask.
He stands up. “Let’s go get your wife back, DJ. Shoot first, ask later. We’ll try to get near where they’re holding Maria without being spotted. DJ, you’ll need to take out the guards as quickly as possible. Since we don’t have sound suppressors for our guns, the arrows are going to be our best bet at getting to Maria undetected. I’d feel a lot better if we had a SWAT team here.” He turns to look at me, “Bobby, cover our rear and keep a sharp eye out.”
I nod. None of us knows if we’ll come out of this alive, but we’ve got to try. The life of my best friend’s wife is at stake.
DJ looks at us and says, “Thanks, guys.” He grabs his equipment, climbs into the cockpit and we follow. He says quietly, “The boat is about a hundred yards down the road. Stay close and I’ll try to take out the guards. It’s got a fly bridge and a spotter’s tower. There will be at least one guard with a radio up top. I’ll take him out first. Don’t fire your weapons unless it’s absolutely necessary, okay?”
We nod and are right behind DJ as he jumps off the boat and heads up the sidewalk. I let the two of them get ahead of me and keep a lookout for the Harbor Patrol and the Newport Beach cops. We’ll likely be shot ourselves before we can even explain what we’re doing here– not that they’d believe our story anyway.
I see DJ stop up ahead in front of a boat named ‘Border Trap,’ right next to the boat where we think Maria is being held. There is indeed a guard in the spotter’s tower. Under the cover of Boarder Trap’s stern, DJ positions his arrow in the bow, quickly stands, fires and drops back under cover, reloading the bow. A second shot isn’t necessary. The guard is dead and has had the courtesy to fall silently where he stood and not down on to the deck or into the water where he could have alerted the others on the boat. DJ quickly dispatches two more guards, one each in the stern and the bow of the boat. He then motions me to come forward. Murph is shocked at DJ’s accuracy, but I’m not. His years of bow hunting, plus his motivation to get his wife back, have honed his ability tonight.
DJ signals for us to move quietly up the dock, and check for any more guards. We move slowly, silently, climbing over the transom. Murph signals us to stay put while he does a quick once around the boat.
When he comes back he whispers, “The deck appears to be all clear. We’ll need to clear each of the staterooms next.” We make our way down below and silently assure ourselves each stateroom is clear until we come to the last one. The door is locked. This must be where they’re holding Maria.
“What do you want to do, DJ?” I whisper.
DJ thinks for a minute, then whispers, “Murph, do you think you can kick the door in?”
Murph nods.
“Okay. Bobby, you stand here and cover us. Murph, kick that door open and I’ll take out anyone who might be in the room with Maria.” DJ raises his loaded bow and points it at the door.
I can feel my nerves jangle as I wait. As I listen to Murphy and DJ plan how they’re going to storm the stateroom, I think I hear a noise from the front of the boat. I move quietly forward up and into the salon and come face to face with a giant. A man of epic proportions is standing next to a second man, much smaller and of Middle Eastern decent, holding a silver briefcase. I see a look of terror in the eyes of the smaller man as he clutches the briefcase to his chest. Before I can react, the big guy sees me, grabs my gun hand and puts his other hand around my throat. He picks me up by the throat and twists my gun hand, forcing me to drop my weapon. With both hands around my neck, he gives an extra squeeze and tosses me overboard. I hit the water, knocking what’s left of the air out of me and I hear the Giant say, “Let’s get out the hell of here,” as I begin to black out.
◆◆◆
DJ doesn’t notice Bobby is missing. He’s too focused. He signals Murph to kick in the door and follows behind, bow loaded. He almost runs into Murph who has stopped short, gun raised.
“Captain?” Murph says.
“Detective,” Sprague says. “Nice to see you.”
“Captain, what are you….?” Murph sputters. “Oh my God. You’re the leak. You’ve been in on this the entire time. I don’t understand. Why?”
Captain Sprague laughs, “You always have been such an idiot, Detective Murphy. I don’t know how you ever made it out of uniform. Did you think I was going to settle for a cop’s retirement when there’s so much drug money for the taking?”