by Matt Lincoln
“You’d be safe, though,” I pointed out. She shrugged it off.
“I don’t think I would be able to concentrate much on my work if I was so worried about your safety over here.” Tessa looked down at the plastic utensils in her hands. “If you needed my help and I couldn’t get to you… I don’t want to be in a position like that.”
“I can handle myself,” I pointed out, but my statement had no strength behind it. Sure, I could handle myself, but I wouldn’t ever refuse help from Tessa.
“I know,” she admitted. “It didn’t feel right, though. I know I need to stay in this house and stay hidden. It feels a bit like a prison at times, but getting to go through this with you makes all the difference.”
I smiled down at her, but a booming voice interrupted our moment.
“Italian food?” Header barged into the dining room and beamed down at the display Tessa had set up.
“Yes,” Tessa giggled. “Did I make the right call?”
“Oh, you absolutely did,” Bonnie laughed as she followed right behind Header. Warner and Paul joined us around the table too, and before long, we were all sitting down and shoveling forkfuls of pasta into our faces.
Three o'clock came quickly. After both Farr and Jay arrived, and we discussed the plan, we all piled into a couple of vehicles and headed toward the docks. I wasn’t too familiar with where we were going, but it wasn’t a terribly long trip. When we pulled in through the chain-link fence, the air smelled like fish and seawater, and a long row of dirty, well-loved fishing boats bobbed in the water facing us. At the end of the row, standing out against the rest of the boats, was a stark white mini yacht.
“Way to blend in,” I teased, shooting Farr a pointed smirk.
His eyes narrowed as he steered the SUV toward where the yacht was waiting. Beyond that point, I noticed multiple slips lined up with what looked like a variety of recreational boats on display. I took a moment to appreciate the fact that I wouldn’t have to walk too far. I knew that Farr had set this up so that we would avoid notice by anyone coming or going along the slips, and although the yacht itself stood out dramatically next to the worn-in fishing boats, this section of the docks had very few people around. We would be able to slip onto the yacht virtually undetected, on the off-chance that a mob member was keeping an eye on things.
When we pulled up in front of the yacht, a short man with a potbelly and a linen button-down shirt stepped onto the pier and walked over to meet us. He had combed-back dark hair streaked with gray, and pale blue eyes that looked friendly yet tired. His expression remained reserved until he saw Farr emerge from behind the driver’s seat.
“Donny!” the man shouted suddenly, his face lighting up with joy. “It’s been too long!”
“It has,” Farr acknowledged. Although Farr didn’t seem as chipper as the other man was, I did see the tension ease off his face at the sight of his friend. I wondered how far back their relationship went. Not many people could pull off giving him a nickname like Donny.
Farr approached the man and gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder. “Ben, meet my team. Team, meet Ben. Ben has no idea what our mission is about. All he needs to do is get you to the Hamptons, drop you off undetected, and go about his day. He will be on call in case you need a lift back here. If things go awry, keep him safe.”
“Safe?” Ben asked, looking a bit taken aback. “Donny, I know you trust me to not ask questions, but should I be worried?”
“No.” Farr shook his head adamantly. “The reason I asked you to get involved is that, if they are looking for unusual boat traffic patterns, they won’t find it with you. They will recognize your boat as a regular traveler, and they won’t bother you. We’re counting on that.”
“So, you’re using me for my predictable travel habits,” Ben chuckled.
Farr grinned at him. “Yes, pretty much.”
“Ehh, anything to help my old friend,” Ben said cheerfully. He looked all of us over thoroughly. “Some of these men look like they’ll do the job of protecting my livelihood if necessary.”
Header and I both laughed. “You can count on us, Ben.” Header looked over at me with a smirk, and I nodded in agreement.
“You couldn’t ask for better men, Ben.” Farr locked eyes with us both, and I warmed at the compliment. With Farr, compliments like that were few and far between.
We set about unloading the gear and getting it all on board, and when we finished up, Warner and Bonnie called us over to the back of the SUV.
“I have the typical items in here for you,” Warner said, opening up a black hard-sided case. “Earpieces for communication are here, along with video feedback to hook onto your vests. This way, Bonnie and I can help you from here if you need direction. There’s four of everything, so Paul, Jay…” Warner looked over at the other two men. “Make sure you use all of this, too. We need to work as a team.”
“Of course,” Paul assured him. Header grabbed the case and passed it over to Jay to carry onto the yacht. I glanced behind Warner to see Tessa leaning against Paul’s truck looking a bit nervous. I excused myself and strolled over to her.
“Are you okay?” I asked softly, cupping her face in my hand.
“I’ll be better once I know you’re safe,” she sighed. She looked up at me with wide eyes. “Please stay safe.”
“I’ll do my best,” I assured her. I leaned down and gently kissed her. When I pulled back, she kept her eyes closed for a moment longer as she relished in the moment. When she looked up at me, I smiled.
“I’ll see you later,” I promised. I gave her hand a squeeze and followed the rest of my team up onto the yacht.
I needed to make sure I kept that promise.
Chapter 28: Ethan
The Hamptons didn’t look like they belonged in New York. It was a different world out here, and the hustle and bustle of the city were long gone.
We had spent most of the trip getting geared up and loading spare magazines for all of our firearms. It had been a long time since I’d been this prepared for a mission, and the process of loading the magazines and securing the molle straps on my gear helped to focus my mind on the task at hand. I set Holm out of my mind for the moment, opting instead to focus on the men we were after. If Warner was right, and this was the location for the meeting, these men would get much more than they bargained for tonight. After everything they had put us through, I was glad to be the one to bring them their just desserts.
Paul and Jay were mostly quiet as they worked, and though they weren’t personally invested in the mission like Header and I were, they were taking this just as seriously. Jay was the blond version of Paul, with a comparably full beard and sharp pale green eyes. I was positive that whatever he’d experienced in the military had contributed to his steely gaze. Despite his hardened appearance, however, he was warm and friendly. When he was all set, he helped Header with his gear, and they ended up cracking a few jokes together in the corner. I wasn’t in a joking mood, but I knew that it wouldn’t detract from Header’s focus on the case.
I was getting the last of my gear on when I heard Ben’s voice call down from up above. He sounded downright terrified.
“Boys?!” he bellowed in a shaky, high-pitched voice. “I think you should see this!”
“Ben!” I shouted, running up above to ensure he was okay. I found him at the helm, his eyes wide and his hands shaking.
“What is it?” Header called up to us. Ben turned to look at me, and I could feel the fear emanating from his pores. He pointed out off the port side of the yacht, and when I looked out over the water, I saw a sleek black yacht with armed men lining the railing, and they pointed their rifles at us.
“I’m not sure who they are,” Ben muttered shakily, “but they don’t look friendly.”
I let loose a string of swear words. “No, they don’t. Header, get up here!”
He took two steps at a time, reaching my shoulder and following my gaze.
“So much for slipping in und
etected,” he groaned.
“They outnumber us,” I pointed out unhelpfully. “We won’t win in a gunfight, not on this boat.”
“We don’t have dive gear, either.” Header looked to be deep in thought, so I didn’t respond. I had nothing helpful to contribute, anyway. He was right.
“Actually,” Ben interjected, snapping out of his fearful trance, “Donny told me that this case here might come in handy if things went awry.”
Ben pointed toward an unmarked black case that was several feet deep. I exchanged a puzzled glance with Header and then went over and opened it. A pile of dive gear was inside and resting on top was a note in Farr’s handwriting.
Just in case you two end up in a bigger mess than we planned for.
“Unbelievable,” Header sighed, stripping off his gear and grabbing a dive suit. “This man thinks of everything.”
“It’s almost as if he knows what’s coming. How does he do it?” I grabbed the second dive suit and began stripping down as well.
“Ben, kill the power,” Header announced. “We’re sneaking off on the starboard side to prevent them from seeing us. Paul? Jay?”
“Yeah?” Paul’s head popped into the ladderwell and looked up at us.
“Protect the boat. Marston and I are going in.”
Paul grabbed his rifle and hustled up the ladderwell. Jay was close behind him. Header and I snuck around to the starboard side, and I grabbed at my thigh to be sure my trusty K-bar was in place.
“See you on the other side,” I quipped, and the two of us fastened our dive masks and dropped down into the water.
My cases down in the Caribbean had definitely spoiled me. The water up here was not nearly as clear, and this was definitely not a diving hot spot. I swam through the murky water, grateful for my dive light, and headed straight for the other boat. It was sitting idle in the water, and as we came up on the far side of the boat, I didn’t hear much activity. Header and I clung to the side to avoid notice, and we listened closely.
“There’s no activity from their end, sir,” a gravelly voice said. “Should we open fire?”
“Not yet,” an authoritative voice boomed. “Are our divers ready?”
“Yes, sir,” the first voice responded.
“Good. Send them over to plant the device. We only fire if they start shooting first.”
I looked over at Header, and he looked as alarmed as I felt. If they were planting a device, it had to be rigged to explode. There was no other reason for it. I didn’t need to speak with Header to know we were both thinking the same thing.
We needed to stop them before they reached our boat.
I heard some commotion above us and looked up to see a diver adjusting his mask. Of course, they had decided to drop down on the far side of their boat to avoid detection. It was the same maneuver we had just pulled.
Header and I dropped below the surface and moved toward the bow, careful to avoid notice. When we saw the other divers hit the water, we let them dive away from the surface before we began our approach. The best way to handle this was to make sure the rest of their crew above us had no idea what was happening.
There were three divers, and the one in the center was carrying something small and heavy in his arms. The other two divers flanked him, offering protection. Header and I separated, each approaching one of the flanks, and I pulled out my K-bar as I closed the distance between us.
At the last second, right as I got within arms’ reach, he noticed me. He pushed away and grabbed for his own knife, but I was too quick, slashing against him and causing him to recoil. He sent the knife hurtling toward me, but I rolled sideways and felt the water rush past my arm as it barely missed me. I grabbed his wrist with one hand and sent an elbow into his arm in an attempt to separate him from his knife. It worked, and as he fought to grab it again, I held him at bay.
We struggled against each other's flailing bodies as I tried to will his knife to drift well out of reach. Behind him, the center diver glanced back at us and pushed forward toward Ben’s yacht. A few feet away from me, Header was working in a cloud of blood, and I prayed that it wasn’t his.
There was a hell of a lot riding on me stopping that diver. With that thought drilling into my mind, I glanced quickly behind me to see his knife had drifted much too far to be a threat. I summoned the extra strength I needed and fought off my opponent enough to free my K-bar. As he steadied himself and regained his composure, I took advantage of his transition and sunk the knife deep into his side. His eyes widened as I removed the knife, and although the growing cloud of blood obscured much of my vision, I knew exactly what I had to do next.
I pushed my bloody opponent off to the side and barrelled forward like my life depended on it. I was closing the gap between myself and the center diver, but not quickly enough. He reached the hull of Ben’s yacht before I could reach him, and he quickly slapped the boxy device onto the surface. When he whirled around to head back, he hadn’t expected to find me there wielding a large knife.
I watched as the man looked past me, and I knew he could see the plumes of blood and the still ongoing fight between Header and his guy. He quickly held his hands up in surrender and took off back toward his yacht. I ignored him.
Instead, I swam up underneath Ben’s yacht to yank the device off his hull. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but inspiration struck me as I watched Header break free and intercept the bomb planter. If I could get to the black yacht before their people did, I could plant this device on their hull instead.
I made a beeline toward the enemy boat, leaving Header to work out his differences with the final diver. The blood hadn’t followed Header, and neither had his original opponent, so I knew he hadn’t been injured, at least not too badly. He glanced up and saw what I held in my hands, and I could see him making an effort to prevent his new opponent from seeing me. Relief washed over me as I closed in on the other boat, and I made quick work of affixing the bomb to the hull. I sped back toward Header to help him, and only when I reached them did Header let the man go.
The sudden stop to the fight threw the diver off his game, and he looked back at the both of us with a puzzled look on his face. I lunged at him, and he pushed back, turning and moving as quickly as he could back to his boat. We hesitated for just a moment as we watched him try to escape our reach, but we both knew we needed to get back to Ben’s yacht and fast.
The first thing on that man’s agenda would be to confirm the bomb’s position on our hull to his boss. However, since they’d lost the element of surprise, they’d want to detonate it as soon as possible, so that we couldn’t intervene. This was all fine by me, but a device of that size would cause one hell of a ripple effect, and we needed to get as far as possible from them before that happened. Luckily, they were probably thinking the same thing which would help us out.
Header and I worked our way quickly back to the yacht, and Paul and Ben helped us back up onto the deck.
“How’d it go?” Paul asked casually as we quickly began shedding our gear. I turned to Ben and didn’t mince words.
“We need to get out of here, and fast,” I ordered. “Start moving. I’ll fill you in on the way.”
“Yeah!” Header snapped. “Away from them! Now!”
Ben’s eyes widened, and he spun around and got to work. We were on the move in record time, and once I was dressed, Header and I walked over to the port side to look back at the black yacht. As I’d predicted, it was moving away from us pretty damn quickly. I cringed in anticipation of what was about to happen. It had been necessary in order to protect our mission, and as a result, save countless lives, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, I hated it.
The explosion lit up the darkening sky, and despite the distance that we’d gained, the ripples still rocked our boat.
“What in the world was that?” Ben shrieked.
“Hey,” Header chuckled. “You finally started asking questions.” He walked past Ben and clapped him on the s
houlder.
“You two are remarkably calm about this,” Ben said, his voice quavering.
“Yeah, we saw it coming,” I pointed out.
“That was supposed to be us,” Header quipped. “So, let’s count our blessings.”
Paul and Jay didn’t say anything, but they had twin smirks on their faces.
“We can give you all the dirty details later,” I chuckled as I took in their impressed faces.
“Please do,” Paul nodded.
Ben’s hands had stopped shaking after a while, and the sun had mostly set over the horizon by the time we approached the sandy shore. Dark bands of blue teased the edges of the sky, offering us the protection of the darkness. The long jetty that Ben pulled up to was empty, illuminated only by a few yellow-tinged bulbs that hung on a strand along one side. At the far end where the wooden slats met the sand, yellow caution tape hung across the entrance.
“This looks a bit exposed,” Header pointed out warily as we stood ready to disembark.
“It isn’t used at night,” Ben informed us. “In the early morning hours, you get fishers. Sometimes, real late at night, you might find couples sneaking off for some alone time. Now you won’t find much. There’s a short path that leads straight to the jetty. People can access it directly from the road ahead. A friend of mine put up a barrier both by the access point and there at the end of the jetty to keep people at bay. You should be alright.”
Header grunted in acknowledgment, but I could tell he wasn’t thrilled about disembarking here. It wasn’t ideal, but we would have to make do.
We shook Ben’s hands one at a time as we stepped off the yacht. Farr had been right. The man had not asked a single question for the entire ride, even when he had stepped down to use the head and saw all of our gear and firearms spread out at our feet. He merely looked away and pretended he hadn’t seen a damn thing. Farr had a good group of people in his inner circle. They were trustworthy and reliable, and nothing short of professional.