Escape To Sunset: One Night Stand Romance-Hiding From The Mob (Sunset SEALs Book 4)
Page 14
“That would help a lot. But no. Nobody’s talking, if they know.”
Newman was calming down, and with that, Kiley could finally think. At least Carmen hadn’t turned up dead, although that was still a likely scenario. Kiley knew things would be unraveling quickly, and in the broad brush of sweeping everything into the trash, people’s lives were at stake and their livelihoods messed with. An old reporter she met at a press dinner told her that, when a scandal brewed, the guy or gal in the white hat who came in to save the day was usually the real guilty party.
“They’ll make sure everyone else pays. They’ll make deals and clean up the whole thing and walk out a hero. That’s the one you have to go after. Eventually, you’ll get him, but you have to be patient and persistent,” he had told her. She’d never forgotten those words, which now haunted her.
That was going to be her new focus.
As promised, and using her last burner, she called the chief. This time, he answered the call before the second ring.
“Well, well, well. Look who we got here? I’m guessing this is Kiley Worthington?”
“Yes, sir. I apologize for the change of plans. I was advised not to return to Portland, sir.”
“I see. Well, I hope you have a good lawyer. He could tell you I can demand your presence here. And if you don’t comply, I can have you arrested and escort you back. Whichever you prefer.”
“I plan to come willingly. I am making arrangements now.”
“I’m assuming you know that this is now a murder investigation?”
“My editor said two homeowners were—”
“I wouldn’t exactly call them homeowners. They were on title, along with a whole group of investors. What they have here is the equivalent of a modern-day covered hopper car scheme. They launder some of their losses, and get a tax break doing it. The big difference is, they didn’t lose money. They were making money. Lots of money.”
“Why are you telling me all this? I thought you said I was a suspect or something.”
“I know you aren’t. But that doesn’t mean you won’t get charged with something. I’m trying to press you into service. I need your notes, your audio recordings of all your research, which I understand from your editor you have on your person.”
Kiley admitted she did. There wasn’t any point in not doing so.
“Why don’t you go after the other owners? Maybe they were involved,” she suggested.
“I’m not as quick and smart as some, but I know a who’s who in the local crime scene, and these guys don’t play nice. I’m the last person in the world they’d voluntarily speak with. They have a whole building of lawyers shielding them. No. I need to get the little people. The people you talked to. I want the victims in their own words. And we’re in a race against time, because every one of those people you mentioned have a target on their backs, thanks to you.”
“But I didn’t give any names.”
“Oh, they got the names, Miss Worthington. I’m the one who doesn’t have the names. I need you back here ASAP before you wind up disappeared as well.”
“Then I should go to the local sheriff here.”
“I’ve already called them. You’ll be hearing from them very soon. And I wouldn’t try to run or hide.”
Her body was drenched with sweat. Her stomach yawned. She could feel the bile collecting there, could smell fear seeping through every pore in her body. She felt just like the first day she arrived in Sunset Beach, where everywhere, every shadow, was a hiding place for someone out to get her. Now the police were out to get her too. And the one person who could protect her, or had any possibility of protecting her, was clear across the globe. But he’d also told her he couldn’t get involved, or he’d lose his Trident. In a way, it was lucky he wasn’t here. She was going to have to figure it out on her own.
And then just let things fall where they may.
She saw the folly in her earlier assumptions about how she could control this, could help orchestrate an investigation. Jason was right. It didn’t work that way at all. She should have listened to him in the first place.
Now, it was too late.
Chapter 15
The morning had been spent down by the pier. The men were broken up into four groups, monitoring the coming and going of passengers and the ship traffic. Jason’s group consisted of eight men, while several others of the squad looked for places to hole up for the night under cover of darkness. Lt. Gridley and a handful of men stayed behind at the complex to monitor calls between Washington and the Stennis Carrier Group patrolling offshore several miles. Sven Tolar, former Norwegian Special Forces officer, or FSK, and now a freelance SEALs resource team member, was explaining how the port was operated, and what the SEALs should be on the lookout for.
“The harbor can take up to seven large cruise ships before they have to use the older pier a short distance away.” Sven pointed to his left, where a military gunboat ominously sat.
“That’s a little unusual, isn’t it, Sven?” Kyle asked.
“I’ve seen it. They don’t have their own Navy, so they have to rely on the Spanish for their defense. Generally, Madrid doesn’t want to part with their hardware this far away from home, but perhaps, there’s a good reason,” Sven said, shrugging his shoulders. “Or, maybe they’re also looking for the contraband, since we have their permission to be here.”
“So it’s not exactly a secret we’re here?” asked T.J. Talbot.
Kelly Fielding spoke up. “Only approved through diplomatic channels. The local military police and civil guard aren’t supposed to know. But I wouldn’t worry about it.”
She sat back and smiled, wiggling her eyebrows.
Sven leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek. “You’re scaring the Indians, Kelly.”
“Watch it,” murmured Danny Begay.
“My apologies, Native Americans,” Sven corrected. The crowd, including Danny, chuckled.
It had been rumored that Sven and Kelly had hooked up after one of their earlier missions, a relationship that was off and on. Jason had been told it was mostly due to Kelly living in Portland with her former father-in-law, yet still going back and forth doing State Department work on a contract basis. Sven was in a similar stage in his career. It was a matter of timing, Kyle had told him.
Sven continued, “In cases of weather or other issues, like a problem they had several years ago where a cruise ship was towed into port, having run into a fishing trawler several miles off the island, they digress. Before the transport arrived to deliver the ship back to English shipbuilders, it had to wait, tying up two berths because of how they had to secure it. All the passengers had to be disembarked for another ship, so space had to be made for that.”
“I’m going to guess some captain lost their job over that one,” said Jason.
“Oh, but there’s more! When a huge storm arrived, the ships in port had to stay a couple of extra days until the weather cleared, and the whole area was backed up. During the storm, several cruise ships anchored a mile out to sea because there wasn’t any more room and they were low on fuel. One of the passengers was thought to be having a heart attack. Unable to arouse the interest of any pilot during the storm, the captain took it upon himself to run his beautiful ship, the size of a football field, aground at the largest tourist beach on the island. They sent the passenger to the hospital, where it was determined he had heartburn.”
Their group groaned.
Kyle turned to Cooper. “We heard that story, didn’t we? Weren’t we on that ship?”
“I think so, a year or so later,” Coop agreed.
Sven continued, “The captain was tried and sent to prison in Italy, even though he did what he thought best to save the life of the man who was ill.”
“So, don’t have a heart attack on a cruise ship if it’s not convenient to dock,” someone murmured.
“Probably good advice,” answered Kyle. “Although, those of you who were with us on that cruise from Italy to Brazil,
when we got attacked by terrorists in these waters, know how generally lacking in real security training the crew on board these ships are.”
Jason had heard the stories of how Kyle, Fredo, Cooper and others saved the ship and enlisted the passengers to help them during the takeover and eliminated most of the terrorists in the process.
“We have a full house, then, and with that Spanish cruiser, there’s no more room,” observed T.J. Talbot.
“You would be correct. But take a look on the horizon and tell me what you see, son,” Sven said, handing T.J. his scopes.
“I’ll be Goddamned. I count two, no, three ships out there,” T.J. answered. “Did we know this?” He looked squarely at Kyle, who was also checking out the horizon.
Without removing his binoculars, Kyle answered him, “Nope. Sven’s just demonstrating how we need to be looking all the time. All of you do.” He handed his glasses to Cooper, who then passed them around so everyone could look at the white ships at sea.
“We don’t know who they are yet,” Sven added. “They could be all legit.”
“Would they try to sneak in at night?” asked Damon.
Cooper, Kyle and T.J. laughed at that comment.
“They don’t even come in on their own in broad daylight. Always use pilots, trained captains familiar with the harbor. But at night? That would be suicide,” answered Sven.
Damon turned bright red and shrugged. “Just thought they’d have enough equipment to do it,” he mumbled. Jason slapped him on the back.
“These puppies are not like subs. They don’t maneuver very well. Think Titanic,” said T.J.
“The most dangerous place for a big cruise ship is arriving in port. That’s where there’s wreckage, recent changes in the ocean floor due to storms or earthquakes or acts of intentional sabotage. So it’s not really a dumb question at all, son.”
Kyle went on to explain they were expecting a ship to arrive sometime within the next two to three days, and it was said to be carrying up to fifty women and possible other contraband, eventually destined for the U.S.
“All we know is that it will have Dutch registry, Vanderdam Shipping, which is solely owned by the Vandershoot family.”
“Dutch registry but Italian crew, right, Kyle?” Sven Tolar winked.
Kyle cracked a smile. “That’s right, Sven. As usual, you have good intel.”
“That slippery bastard escaped by bribing his way out before they could bring him back to Spain to face trial the last time we caught him,” said Tolar.
“Yeah, and this time, he gets to be escorted by the Carrier Group and personally delivered to stand trial either in the U.S. or Spain. We’ve got them on standby to take the girls, too, if we need them,” Kyle informed them.
Cooper shook his head and chuckled. “Did anyone think that one through? You got, what, two hundred sailors on board one of those cruisers, and they’re taking on fifty young girls?”
“We’re using smaller ones, Freedom-class littoral combat ships, about a hundred, give or take. We’ve got a couple on standby. They’re faster and maneuver better close to land, should we need it,” said Kyle. “They’re practically brand new and have training facilities on board, so they’re set up like a college dorm, if needed.”
“Well, all right, then,” Coop fist-bumped Kyle. “It’s back-to-school night!”
“And you’ll be on land, Coop, sorry to say,” Kyle barked.
Kelly spoke next. “We’re reaching out to the port officials, who are supposed to cooperate with some intel as to the schedule over the next few days. We have our eye on a couple ships, but so far, not certain. We’ve got to be ready to go when we get the call.”
The team parked their vans at various points along the waterfront. Inside, they stored scuba gear, underwater explosive charges, and some light arms. But Kyle stressed the use of arms was only in an emergency. Like most of their missions of late, they were doing surgical strikes with hand-to-hand combat, using the element of surprise. This allowed them to extract safely without drawing attention to themselves.
Jason guessed they’d brought a bigger team because of the number of hostages.
Kyle’s small group retired upstairs over the restaurant they’d been stationed at all afternoon. It was to be their temporary staging compound. Taking shifts, Jason offered to be first on watch.
“You got things under control back in Florida?” Kyle asked him.
“For now, yes. I hate not being in touch, though. But Kiley was going to fly back to Portland today and I talked her out of it last night.”
Kyle grabbed Jason’s shoulder and shook him. “You stay focused on what we got going on here. There’ll be time enough when we’re done. I’m hoping this one won’t take too long, so you’re in luck.”
“Yeah, but you know how that goes.”
“I do. I do indeed.” Kyle kicked out his sleep gear and passed out bottles of water. “Stay hydrated, everyone.”
The air was hot and muggy. Sven had told him of the beautiful beaches on some of the other islands he’d vacationed on, but Jason knew it was never their luck to get to see the good parts of a country or people. He’d heard about guys being stationed in a concrete bunker for several weeks, spending their whole deployment playing personal video games on their cell phones and being completely out of touch back home. It was more like how decades of previous military operations had been conducted in Panama, Vietnam, and of course all those during World War II. It was only within the last twenty years that communication technology had changed so drastically. Zoom hadn’t even been around ten years yet, so all the guys who served during Desert Storm didn’t have any of that.
He hoped that didn’t make them a bunch of yuppy warriors as he scanned the horizon and remarked at the movement of the stars now beginning to appear. The nature of his job was still the same. It was brutal, because rooting out evil was always one of the toughest things to accomplish, and always only a few could do it.
I am that man, he whispered from the Navy SEAL prayer. Kyle was right. He’d better keep his mind on the job and what he could control, not what he couldn’t.
He heard Thomas whisper to him, like he was calling from inside that fucking blue urn.
You got this.
Jason sent him back a message, Yup, I do. Remember how we loved this?
Loved, as in used to?
I’m good with it, Thomas. You’ve got bigger problems. Are you a pelican or a sea turtle?
Jason heard the sound of laughter all around him. He quickly glanced up to make sure it wasn’t real. And that brought on another wave of belly-laughing from Thomas. Jason mentally put the top back on the urn, and the laughter stopped immediately.
He whispered a prayer to the ocean to deliver up the soul of darkness, to make his movements swift and purposeful. To anticipate every move and be the lethal dose to send that evil soul back to the underworld. He heard the women chanting in the background, felt the firelight against his face and his tiny heart beating inside his chest as he watched the dancing and the magic displayed. His ancestors sang and danced with their gods because they spent so much time with them all alone, at sea, crossing miles and miles of uncharted waters, seeking land.
When all you had to observe was just water, the sky, and the stars at night, it was healthy to believe in the songs and dancing.
Kyle was suddenly next to him. “You okay?”
Jason didn’t know what he was talking about. “Pardon?”
“You’re singing.”
“Oh, sorry.” Jason scanned the room. Damon was nodding his head, yes. But no one else was paying attention. “I do these chants to keep myself alert.”
“Well, stay with us in the here and now, Jason. No imaginary worlds.”
That pissed him off. Kyle must have seen it in his face because he turned back.
“If I hear anything, I’ll let you know. Christy knows how to reach me if need be. You did tell her to call Christy if something comes up, didn’t you?”
Several hours went by. Jason was fast asleep, having been relieved by the second watch. He was awakened by the squawk of Kelly’s com. She bolted upright and turned the device down, not to wake anyone else up, but it was too late.
“Come again?” she whispered.
They all listened while her eyes flashed recognition, and she gave them all the thumbs-up.
“Roger that. We’ll be ready,” she signed off.
She took a deep breath and flashed a smile as the other men began to repack and straighten their gear. Damon handed Jason an energy bar, which tasted marvelous.
“We’ve gotten confirmation from the Harbor authorities a Dutch registry cruise ship has requested a pilot at sunrise.”
Jason didn’t see a speck of early morning sun, but Kyle checked his watch. “We’ve got about one hour forty. Did they say it was only one ship?”
Kelly nodded.
Sven talked into his mic while Kyle informed the other groups. He called the carrier group from his sat phone to be on standby. He was told the mission was still a go from Washington.
The sky started turning a muddy pink color with streaks of gray here and there. There was no wind. Jason figured it was already nearly eighty degrees and the sun wasn’t even showing yet.
“I got visual,” Coop said.
Jason borrowed the scope and saw the white hull of a ship slicing through calm navy blue waters, leaving little wake that suddenly disappeared as the ship slowed. The pilot boat was speeding out from the harbor master’s house, headed straight for it. He was surprised the ship wasn’t any larger than she was.
Three blasts from one of the cruise ships jolted the morning calm, indicating she was going to leave port.
The Spanish gunboat wasn’t there any longer, and a Magnum Class cruise ship was powering up, preparing to depart, it’s pilot boat heading slowly toward the open sea, waiting. Very slowly the ship backed up and then turned, it’s ballast tanks sending out their contents, helping it maneuver the bow until it was pointed in the opposite direction from where it started. Once the behemoth was fully engaged, it began the process of heading toward the horizon, picking up speed and swiftly passing markers until it was several lengths from the pier and approaching unobstructed open sea.