by David Archer
“He’s wanted for murder by both the feds and the State of Colorado. All he cares about now is making money and keeping himself off their radar.”
“Fine,” the old voice said. “Send me everything you have on him so that we can do a little vetting of our own. Remember, Conley, this is on you. If anything goes wrong, you’ll be the one held responsible.”
Conley swallowed nervously. “There won’t be any problems, sir,” he said. “I’ll get that to you right away.”
He ended the call, then called Noah immediately. “Robert,” he said, “I need a copy of that background report. Please tell me you have another copy available?”
Noah chuckled. “Of course,” he said. “It’s in my computer. I can email it to you right now.”
“Good. The people upstairs want to check this guy out for themselves, but we got the okay to proceed.”
“Very good, sir,” Noah said. “It’s on the way.”
The email arrived a moment later and Conley sent it to the secure, anonymous email address for his superiors. Even he wasn’t certain who all of them were, but he knew without a doubt that it would cost him his life if he ever made a mistake that revealed one of them.
* * * * *
Noah turned to Marco when he ended the call. “Sounds like you’re in,” he said. “Conley got the okay from somebody upstairs, but they want to check you out a little more thoroughly. I just emailed him a copy of that bogus background report.”
“Good. Now, if only I could figure out a way to make them take me out to that yacht. The sooner we find that, the better.”
“Which reminds me,” Noah said. “Neil, are you there?”
Neil responded almost instantly through the subcom. “I’m here,” he said. “Can’t believe all that about Jackson and Elaine. Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but it’s kind of hard not to.”
“Same here,” Noah heard Sarah say. Jenny and Renée echoed her a moment later.
“Yeah,” Noah said. “Did you hear me mention having you track the doctors’ cell phones?”
“Yep, and I’m already on it. I’ve got Linden’s, but I haven’t found one for Whitfield yet. On the other hand, I was able to do a location search on Linden’s phone, going back through his cell tower activity. I don’t see any time when his phone left the area in the last thirty days.”
“Maybe he doesn’t take it along when he goes to the boat, Marco said. “That would make some kind of sense, I guess, not letting digital devices onto the vessel. Security measure.”
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Neil said. “On the other hand, I’m looking at all the vessels being tracked in the Gulf by satellite, and this is going to be like hunting a needle in a very big haystack. Allison said it’s a yacht, and we know it has to be big enough to hold quite a few people and some kind of an operating room, so I’m ignoring any vessel less than thirty meters, but we’re still talking about hundreds of them. Even if I just look at vessels within twenty-five miles, I’ve still got over two hundred. I’m zooming in on each one, just to look for any kind of suspicious activity, but that may be hard to spot. These people are probably smart enough to keep anything noticeable out of sight.”
“What about tracking the helicopters? Allison said he’s using one of the life flight services, like an air ambulance. How many of those are there around here?”
“Seventeen different companies operate life flight services within fifty miles of us, and that number only gets a lot bigger if I go further out. Any of them could be involved, but I’m paying special attention to the two of them here on Galveston Island. I’ve got my computer listening for them to be called out, and then I can try to triangulate where they go.”
“All right, stay on it. Let me know if you come up with anything else. Noah out.”
“Neil out.”
It was only a moment later when Noah’s phone rang, with Mayweather’s number on the display.
“Townsend Transport Logistics,” he said.
“Robert? It’s Bill Mayweather. You ready for the list of products to go out tomorrow?”
Noah put a smile on his face so that Mayweather would hear it in his voice. “Absolutely,” he said. “Just let me get to my computer.”
FOURTEEN
The rest of the day went slowly, but there were no new developments. Noah and Marco closed up at five o’clock and headed for home, where Renée and Sarah were preparing to grill chicken on the deck outside Noah’s apartment.
Neil and Jenny were already there, and the six of them talked briefly about Jackson and Elaine Jefferson, but they had all come to grips with the situation by then. They sat on the deck and watched as the chicken cooked, then moved inside to the table for dinner. Afterward, they gathered in the living room to watch a movie, but the conversation continued until the movie was forgotten.
“This is a boring mission,” Neil said. “We’ve been here almost a month, already, and we don’t know anything really important. I’m ready to get down to some action.”
“Well, maybe there will be some soon,” Jenny said. “With Marco handling the kidnappings, we might at least know when to watch those doctors.”
“Actually,” Noah said, “I’m thinking of another plan.”
“Really?” Sarah asked. “Like what?”
“We put Jenny out as bait, hoping she will be taken in order to give us the advantage of knowing where they take her to. Belcher never paid any attention to her, which means we don’t have that advantage working for us. Now, though, with Marco taking over for Belcher, we have the opportunity to insert her into the abduction list. He supposed to get a list of people to grab tomorrow, and I’m thinking of substituting Jenny for any female on the list.”
“Hey, that works for me,” Jenny said. “You get me on that boat, I’ll take the damn thing over.”
Noah nodded. “That’s sort of what I’m thinking. The idea is to get you into whatever transport they use to take victims to the yacht, but without stripping you of weapons. If you could take them by surprise, all we have to do is come in to mop up.”
“But we still have the problem of the mission,” Marco said. “Allison said rescuing the victims is secondary priority, and identifying the people behind it is supposed to come first.”
“I’m aware of that,” Noah said, “but there may be somebody on that vessel who knows enough to give us that information.”
“I don’t like this,” Neil said. “You’re talking about sending her in there alone, with no backup. Jenny’s good, I understand that, but can we really expect her to take on an entire yacht full of killers?”
“Neil, relax,” Jenny said. “This is what I do, babe, remember?”
“No, what you do is assassinate people. What Noah is talking about could mean putting you into some kind of firefight, and that’s not what you normally do. You’d have no backup of any kind, and we’d be back here on the island with no way to help.” He turned to Noah. “I’m also worried about communications. If that boat has super high security, there won’t be any Wi-Fi on it. If it’s that far out, there’s no way in the world she would be able to communicate with us.”
“He’s right, Noah,” Sarah said. “You can’t send her in there alone.” She looked over at Renée, who nodded to her. “I think you should send us in with her.”
“Hey, hold on,” Neil said. “If anybody’s going with her, it ought to be me. I’ve got my weapons, you could put me in with her.”
Noah looked at all three of them for a moment, then nodded. “As much as I personally dislike it, you’re all making sense. Jenny shouldn’t go alone, but Renée does not have any practical field experience with weapons.” He reached over and took his wife’s hand. “Are you going to be able to kill when you have to?”
Her eyes bugged out. “With what these people are doing? I won’t even blink.”
He turned to Neil. “Same question for you. I know you can pull a trigger in a firefight, but this may require you to be selective. If you have to s
neak up behind someone and shove a knife into his brain, can you do it?”
“You bet your ass I can,” Neil said. “And now that you mention it, I can outfit all of us with some of those knives from the printer. They wouldn’t show up on a metal detector, just in case these people were to use them, and they are razor-sharp.”
“Do it,” Noah said. “As soon as we get the list, we’ll figure out whether we can insert you tomorrow or not. All three of you just be ready, in case we need to do so.”
“Woo-hoo,” Jenny said. “Finally, we get a chance for some action. Maybe Neil will finally stop complaining.”
Neil went home to start making the knives and the rest of them decided it was time to get some sleep. Noah and Sarah said good night to them all, then went to their bedroom.
“You’re not upset with me, are you?” Sarah asked. “For volunteering to go with Jenny, I mean?”
“I’m not upset with you,” Noah said. “I’m concerned for your safety, but you are part of this mission. Three of you are more likely to be successful at taking control of the yacht than Jenny could do alone, so it makes sense. I’m just hoping that I’ll be able to find a way to get to you quickly.”
She took his hands in her own and looked into his eyes. “Don’t worry,” she said, “you always do.”
They went to bed and Sarah noticed that Noah held her close to him as they drifted to sleep.
* * * * *
Marco rode with Noah the following morning, leaving Renée with the SUV.
“This sucks, man,” Marco said. “People are probably getting cut up right now, just so these bastards can make a lot of money.”
“I know,” Noah said, “but there’s nothing we can do about them. Even if we were to kill Conley and everyone we know about right now, that wouldn’t help us save those people, and the people above them would simply send in somebody new. Only you and I have heard anyone speak of what’s going on, and neither of us can testify because we don’t officially exist. Without any real evidence, there’s nothing the legitimate authorities can do.”
“Yeah, yeah, and if we did say anything, they would only call it hearsay. It just seems to me that these people are getting off easy. Instead of getting killed, they ought to spend the rest of their lives in prison, where every other inmate would be trying to tear them apart. Let them know what fear feels like, you know?”
“That wouldn’t ever happen,” Noah said. “The reason they send us in is because the chance of actually getting a conviction against these people is too slim. We know they are guilty, but being able to prove it is something altogether different. Better to just eliminate them, so they can’t ever do this sort of thing again.”
“You know what the worst thing is?” Marco asked. “When we do kill them, nobody is even going to benefit from their organs. Isn’t that a waste?”
Noah glanced at him, but said nothing. He turned his eyes to the road and they arrived at the office a few minutes later.
Noah had gotten the list from Mayweather the day before, and the paperwork for each of the organs to be sent out that day was already done. Three of the new transporters were waiting in the parking lot when they got there and Noah waved them all inside.
“We’ve got fourteen organs going to six different cities,” Noah said. “A heart, a kidney and a lung are going to Los Angeles, and the same person can make a stop at Phoenix, to drop off another kidney and a pair of lungs. Another kidney, a pancreas and two lungs are headed for New York City, and I’ve got a kidney and liver going to Baltimore, so they’ll go together.” He picked up another folder and glanced at it. “Okay, that leaves a kidney and a pancreas going to St. Louis and Des Moines, respectively.” He looked up at the three who were waiting expectantly. “East, west and north. Who wants what?”
Julie Kerrigan, the woman who had called last, volunteered for the Baltimore and New York stops, David Kato took the Phoenix and Los Angeles run, leaving Tom Weiss going to St. Louis and Des Moines. When the other two people Noah had hired arrived a half-hour later, he told them to just hang out in the break room in case something came in during the day.
“Okay, you don’t have to worry about getting around your destination cities,” he said to Julie, David and Tom. “There will be somebody waiting as soon as your plane lands, probably the local ambulance service. I’ll contact the recipient hospitals as soon as you head for the airport, so there’s nothing for you to do other than hand over the proper container and have them sign the paperwork.”
“And I thought this was going to be a hard job,” Julie quipped. “If that’s all we’ve got to do, I don’t know why it pays so well.”
Noah grinned at her. “Because you’re saving lives, of course. And that reminds me, I told you you got cash bonuses when you make deliveries. This works out pretty well, because I’m paying five hundred dollars per stop.” He reached into a desk drawer and withdrew the envelope full of cash, then counted out ten one hundred dollar bills to each of them. When he was finished, he put the envelope in the drawer. “There you go, so you don’t have to worry about catching up with me later to get paid.”
“Cool,” David said. “My wife is going to be thrilled. When do we leave?”
“Well, we’re waiting for the orders to arrive. They should be here just about any time.”
As if that was a cue, the loud thumping of a helicopter could be heard approaching from a distance. They all walked outside to watch the chopper land, and it settled into the vacant field beside the office a moment later. Two men Noah had never seen climbed out and carried six large picnic coolers over to where they all stood.
Each of the coolers contained the organs for each delivery city. Each was marked with the organs it contained and its destination, and Noah quickly affixed the plastic envelopes that held the paperwork for each of them. The coolers were taped shut and would only be opened when they arrived at the hospital and the recipients were ready for implantation.
“You must be Townsend?” asked one of the men, raising his voice to be heard over the idling helicopter.
Noah nodded. “That’s me,” he said.
“Okay, I’m supposed to give this to you.” He took an envelope out of a pocket and passed it over, and Noah slipped it inside his jacket. “That’s got instructions for the new guy, and some information about what might get sent out tomorrow.”
“Great,” Noah said. “I’ll get everything ready.”
Both men turned and hurried back to the helicopter, and it rose into the air as soon as they were inside. Noah watched as it swung off toward the west, headed toward the Texas mainland rather than over the Gulf again.
As soon as it was out of sight, he turned to his transporters. “Okay, load them up,” he said. “I’ve got three charter planes waiting for you at the airfield. As soon as you make your drops, the planes will bring you right back here, and you can head straight for home. You can come in tomorrow if you like, or you can take the day off, it’s up to you.”
All three of them gathered their respective coolers and headed for their cars, and a moment later, they were gone. Noah and Marco went into Noah’s office and shut the door, and Noah took the envelope out of his jacket pocket. He opened it and took out the two sheets of paper inside.
The first one listed four more organs that would be ready for transport the following morning, going to three different cities. The second sheet gave the names and addresses of four people, with a photo of each person printed beside their names. Noah looked at them for a moment, then said softly, “Subcoms off.”
Marco’s eyebrows rose, but he also whispered the command, and then Noah handed him the list of victims. A note attached to it instructed him to tell Marco that all four of these people needed to be available for “processing” within the next forty-eight hours.
Unfortunately, only one of them was a woman. All three of the others were men. He passed the sheet over to Marco.
“Son of a bitch,” Marco said. “This woman is Hispanic, and none
of our girls could pass for her.”
Noah nodded. “I agree,” he said. “Unfortunately, we have to stay in character.” He leaned back in his chair and thought about it for a moment, then looked at Marco again. “There’s nothing else we can do. You’re going to have to round them up. Call Renée and tell her to come pick you up so that you can have your car, but I don’t want her involved in this. Meanwhile, I’ll get one of the back rooms set up to keep them in until it’s time to hand them off.”
Marco’s eyebrows rose. “And how do you expect to explain that to your employees in the break room?”
“I don’t,” Noah said. “I’m going to send them all home for the day. I can do everything necessary by myself. There’s a room back by the garages that has a toilet and shower, it was probably a place for the workers to clean up. It’s got a healthy steel door on it, and is big enough for several bunks. As soon as they’re gone, I’ll go shopping.”
While Marco was calling Renée, Noah went to the break room to send his extra people home. He told them to make sure they came in the next morning, because there would be organs to deliver, and they would get the next couple of runs. They grinned when he told them they wouldn’t lose any pay and wasted no time getting out to their cars and driving away.
Noah went back to his office and got on his computer. It took him a few minutes to locate the items he wanted, and a quick call to the nearest store that carried them was all it took to arrange to have them delivered.
Renée picked Marco up thirty minutes later, and the delivery truck pulled in as they were pulling out. Noah had purchased three sets of simple bunk beds, a small refrigerator, a microwave oven and a water cooler. He told the delivery guys that he was setting up a place for his employees to sleep over from time to time, and they were happy to help him set everything up in the room he had chosen.
Once they were gone, Noah decided it was lunchtime. He locked the building and left, then drove into town and found a hardware store. He bought everything necessary to fasten the bunk beds to the concrete floor and then purchased heavy-duty locks that would keep anybody inside from getting out. He ran through a fast food drive-through on the way back to the building, and his little holding cell was complete only a couple of hours later.