by Fred Galvin
Roje eyed the GPS and gradually adjusted his heading from due east to east-northeast angling a bit farther north of the Jamaican coast.
Gillian had no idea. He just kept trying to call Vernon and kept saying “Shit!” every time he couldn’t get a signal.
Yes, karma indeed.
Chapter 33: Rio Bueno
Delyse and Ronnie arrived at MBPD. Ronnie, looking refreshed and ready for action, hugged both Gabi and me. “Thank you both again for freeing me.”
Delyse hugged me as well and whispered in my ear, “Yes, Dan. Thank you. I will express my appreciation in a more personal way after this is all done.” Her eyes told me I should try to conserve some energy for later on.
Officer Monro pulled up shortly after Delyse and Ronnie. He was an enormous man with jet black skin and shoulders that seemed to be at least two yards wide. Sergeant Banyon introduced us and my hand was swallowed by Monro’s. He reminded me of the images one saw of a grizzly bear standing on hind legs. This bear carried what looked to me to be a sniper rifle strapped over his shoulder.
Sergeant Banyon reviewed the situation as he understood it deferring to Gabi and me for any necessary clarifications. “Detective Deckler is able to track Roje Deveaux’s vessel’s location via Roje’s sat phone.” He looked up at the clock. “We anticipate their arrival at Rio Bueno in about two and one-half hours, or about 0530. On board with Roje is Gillian Whyte and an unknown third person, most likely an associate of an individual called T-Bone who is the source of the guns being transported from Grand Cayman. We should assume both Gillian and the third person are armed and unpredictable. I am fairly familiar with the Rio Bueno location.”
He spread out a map on a table (had he heard of Google Earth?) and pointed out Rio Bueno. “It has two resorts with several condos here and here. Just east are two rather secluded coves, one of which has a dock reaching out into the sea far enough for a boat the size of the Sea Nymph to tie up which is where we anticipate they are heading.” Pointing to a spot on the map, “Captain Antony will meet us here. Depending on updated locations of the vessel, we will deploy here, here, and here. It is very important that we be as stealthy as possible. There will certainly be men waiting to unload the guns and we don’t want to alert them to our presence prematurely. Captain Antony will issue more detailed instructions on site. Officers Monro, Dixon, and I will be armed. Questions?”
So far Officer Grizzly hadn’t said anything. I was about to speak up when Ronnie held my arm down and stepped forward. “Sergeant, I believe you are aware that Detective Deckler and I were partners in the Homicide Division of the NYPD for many years and have experience in these types of situations. I believe you would benefit by allowing us to be armed and to participate. Of course, we will defer to Captain Antony’s directions.”
Gabi also spoke up. “I agree, Sergeant. Detectives Deckler and Deveaux would be valuable assets for this operation.”
Banyon thought for a moment. “Okay, I’ll issue you both weapons pending Captain Antony’s approval when we get there. We sure can use all the help we can get to avoid bloodshed and to conclude this situation. Any other questions?” There were none. “Okay, Officer Dixon please sign out weapons to Detectives Deveaux and Deckler. Let’s go.”
I asked Gabi if Monro ever spoke. “Not usually. He let’s his rifle do the talking.”
“Oh, I see.”
I took Delyse aside. “I know it would be useless to ask you to stay behind here and frankly I would insist on coming along if I were in your shoes.” She just kept looking at me with raised eyebrows that said, And? “This could go smoothly but it also could get very dicey. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you. Can you at least promise me to stay back and out of any possible line of fire? I’d like to be able to see you at all times. Please?”
Her features softened and she smiled. “You’re sweet. Yes, of course. Besides, I still haven’t completely thanked you yet for saving Ronika.” She did a quick look around to see the others had walked outside then she moved in to kiss me and gave my left cheek a squeeze. The cheek she squeezed was not the cheek on my face.
~~~
We all drove to Rio Bueno and gathered about a half mile in from the shore. The area was deserted. I figured T-Bone’s men wouldn’t arrive more than thirty minutes prior to the expected landing. Captain Antony was waiting at our designated meeting point. He was in his police uniform obviously wearing a bullet proof vest as were the rest of us. Antony was a stocky man just shy of six feet tall with pale blue eyes. He carried himself as a man to be respected in his position.
We shook and he was gracious in his acceptance of me as part of the team. “I understand you were a career detective in New York and Ms. Deveaux was your partner for many years. Thank you for your assistance in securing her recovery.”
“My pleasure Captain.”
He then turned to Gabi. “Officer Dixon. While I have to say that the proper protocol would have been to report the kidnapping to your commander on duty, going off without MBPD backup and on your own time into a volatile and dangerous situation, well, it could have turned out very differently.” He let that sit for a moment. I guess cops’ use of the pregnant pause is universal.
All Gabi could say was, “Yes, sir.”
Then, to his credit, Antony added, “On the other hand, I do understand you followed your assessment of the threats made to do Ms. Deveaux harm if our presence and involvement became known to the kidnappers. The situation was fluid with Roje Deveaux’s involvement being forced. You had wise and experienced counsel from Detective Deckler and you both had personal considerations.” Evidently somehow he knew of her connection to Roje. “The plan to extract Ms. Deveaux was well thought out and executed and, to this point, all is well. The decision to arrest Vernon Whyte under caution and bring him in was a wise one. So, given what I know and the assessment of the current situation, I say, well done, Officer.”
Gabi went from feeling like a child being lectured in the principal’s office to feeling gratified by praise from that same principal. She beamed. “Thank you, sir. I do have to say that Detective Deckler …”
I felt compelled to cut her off there. “Captain, I can state that our plan to rescue Ronnie, I mean Ms. Deveaux, would most likely not have been successful without Officer Dixon’s professionalism and quick thinking inside the store. She took the safety of Ms. Deveaux and the civilians within as her top priority and executed the arrest of Vernon Whyte flawlessly.”
Captain Antony nodded. “Yes. I appreciate your input, Detective.” Turning to Gabi, “I believe we have a valuable officer here who has aspirations to become a detective.”
Gabi turned to me, smiled, and mouthed Thank you.
~~~
Captain Antony had reviewed everyone’s assignments and location postings. We would deploy thirty minutes prior to Roje’s anticipated arrival, always mindful of the possibility of two or more of T-Bone’s reception committee driving up. They would have no need to be stealthy as their mission was to meet the boat, unload the guns, and hand Gillian his payoff.
It occurred to me, and I’m sure to Ronnie as well, that there was always a possibility that T-Bone would stiff Gillian and just kill him rather than pay out the eighty-five thousand remaining on their deal. If that happened, they would surely kill Roje as well. I mentioned this possibility to Captain Antony. He deployed Officer Monro with his rifle and a clear sightline to the dock and orders to react if it appeared the final handoff was heading in a bad direction. He said Monro was the best shooter on the force.
We were constantly checking Roje’s progress via the location sharing on Delyse’s phone. Evidently Roje had been able to keep his phone hidden from Gillian and his extra passenger. I asked Ronnie how he could do that.
“When he’s not wearing his sat phone on his belt, which he seldom does because it’s a bit cumbersome, he stows it on a mount on the wall on the bridge next to a fire extinguisher where it recharges. Now as I think about it,
it’s fairly well out of sight unless you’re really looking. That must be the case.”
The latest tracking showed the Sea Nymph about an hour out at its current pace. The sea was far from calm with a moderate east wind which would be right into Roje’s course. I mentioned this to Ronnie.
“Roje’s a seasoned sailor. He knows how to ride the seas to make a trip as smooth as possible for clients.” Then a twinkle came to her eye. “He also would know how to make it as rough as possible for any passengers who may not he accustomed to rocking decks.”
“My guess is that he’s employing option two on this ride to make Gillian and his plus-one as uncomfortable as possible.
It appeared the last forty-five minutes or so of the Nymph’s progress showed Roje had angled slightly more north of east rather than a due east route paralleling the Jamaican coast which would be the most direct route to Rio Bueno. I showed this to Ronnie. “What do you make of this change in his course a little more to the northeast?”
She studied the map with Roje’s route penciled in. “Not sure. Perhaps he’s trying to delay to give us plenty of time to muster here before he lands.” She looked some more. Then a light went on in her eyes. “DD, if you’re Gillian, don’t you want to have fairly frequent contact with Vernon to check that there have been no problems with me?” She didn’t bother waiting for me to answer. “Of course you would. But I believe cell tower range is about three to five miles, right?” This time I didn’t even bother. When my partner was on a roll I knew just to stay out the way. I just nodded. “So if he doesn’t know about Roje’s sat phone, and it looks like he doesn’t, then he’s been out of touch with Vernon since shortly after they left Cayman. I know for a fact that Roje is aware of cell tower range because our clients are always asking.” She paused and looked up at me, this time waiting to see if I was on the same page. This time I was.
“He’s angling farther away from the coast to keep Gillian from getting cell service for as long as possible. Once Gillian gets a signal and can try but not get through to Vernon, he’ll get suspicious something’s up.”
“That’s what I think too. So by the time they get to us, Gillian will be very worked up and very wary. We better tell Captain Antony.”
Antony agreed that stifling Gillian’s ability to communicate with his brother may be Roje’s reason for the course adjustment. “Regardless, Gillian Whyte will be on edge not having been able to contact his brother and not knowing the status of their captive. We must be prepared. Officers Monro and Dixon are ready. Our priorities are to protect your brother, arrest Gillian, and then to confiscate the guns. The unknown is the additional passenger. You say you can text your brother? His phone is functional?”
“Yes, he has a sat phone and evidently he’s kept it from Gillian. Do you want me to text him now?”
“Yes. We need to know Gillian’s state of mind and as much about the third person on board as he can tell us. He mentioned the term ‘goon’ earlier?”
“Yes. He probably means one of T-Bone’s musclemen to ensure things go smoothly.”
Ronnie and I spent a few minutes composing a concise text for Roje knowing he would have to pick the best moment to view it and respond without Gillian knowing. Satisfied, we sent it hoping for the best.
Chapter 34: “ … he can’t swim.”
Roje kept steering the Sea Nymph on a east-northeast heading. He was approaching Jamaica’s western shore which was at least fifteen miles to the southeast. No lights were visible yet. He was fairly certain Vernon’s phone still was without a signal. The problem was dawn would be breaking within an hour and he would be able to see the island on the horizon. Even Gillian would wonder why they were so far offshore and demand Roje turn southeast.
While he was contemplating all that, he saw the glow of the sat phone, most likely an incoming text from Dan or Ronika. He was right on both counts.
WE R IN POS. @ RB. UR STATUS? G? WHO IS +1? – R&D
He quickly looked down at the cabin. No sign of Gillian or Rico. The rough seas, exacerbated by Roje’s intentional rolling of the vessel with the waves, were keeping them below. He mentally translated the message from Ronika and Dan as saying they were in position at Rio Bueno. They also wanted to know his and Gillian’s status and some explanation as to who the extra passenger is.
He decided he would chance a quick reply that he personally was okay, Gillian was nervous because he has had no contact with Vernon, and the third party’s named Rico who was put on board at the Cayman stop. Both Gillian and Rico are seasick and have weapons. Additionally Roje was beginning to believe he was on borrowed time with the phone. At some point, somehow, Gillian was likely to discover it. So he wanted to alert Dan and Ronika.
OK HERE. G NERVOUS W/O CONTACT W/V. +1 = RICO FROM CAYMAN. BOTH SEASICK. BOTH ARMED. PHONE MAY NOT REMAIN SECURE -R
He sent the text, deleted it, and returned the display to the navigation function. The sat phone could also serve as a GPS, not as sophisticated as the GPS on the Nymph, but adequate. He was about to return it to its mount behind the fire extinguisher when Gillian was suddenly behind him. Talk about a premonition.
“What the hell is that? Is that a phone?”
Roje was ready with his rehearsed response for just this situation. Calmly without showing any guilt or a wide-eyed Shit, I’ve been discovered look, “Oh this? This is a satellite GPS device. It’s used for navigation, especially at night.” He knew Gillian was a bit short of buying it but Roje had a little hope given his recent mental agility track record.
“It sure looks like a phone to me.” He put one hand on the gun butt in his belt, his way of maintaining authority. “Let me have it.”
“Sure. See, the screen is displaying our position.”
Gillian handled and looked at the sat phone as though it was a Star Trek device and Roje was Spock. “But what about the GPS you have here in the boat? Why do you need this?”
Roje knew he was skating on very thin ice that was probably about to give way at any moment. “I told you, it works with a satellite in conjunction with the boat’s GPS to pinpoint our position, especially at night.” What a load of shit. From the look on Gillian’s face, Roje could tell that even this idiot was skeptical.
Gillian looked even closer at the sat phone. “It has little holes at the same spots as a phone for talking and listening.” He glared up at Roje and shoved the phone in his face. His voice was harsh and up a few octaves. “It doubles as a phone too, doesn’t it? DOESN’T IT?”
Again trying to maintain calm which he hoped would rub off on Gillian, “Well, sure it does. It’s called a sat phone-GPS guidance device.” What BS.
Gillian was very excited now. With his hand even tighter on the gun butt, “I need to call Vernon. Show me how it works as a phone.”
“Gillian, I …”
The gun was now out of his belt and pointed at Roje’s gut. Enunciating every word, “I-need-to-call-Vernon-NOW. Show me!”
For a brief second Roje debated tossing the sat phone over the side but quickly dismissed the idea. Nothing good would come of it and he needed to keep the location sharing on as long as possible so Dan and Ronika and Gabi would know where they were. He was fairly sure Gillian probably didn’t even know about location sharing capabilities.
“Okay, sure.” He took the phone and keyed in the number Gillian gave him. It rang four times then Vernon’s voice could be heard. “This is Vernon. Leave me a message.”
“Shit! SHIT!” Then Gillian looked slowly at Roje, the gun still leveled at him, his hand slightly shaking. Roje knew what was coming. “You’ve been using this, haven’t you. HAVEN’T YOU!” The last was punctuated with movements of the gun. “You’ve been making phone calls.”
Roje knew the time had arrived to lay out his cards on the table which would show Gillian that he had a losing hand. He thought, A poker metaphor in the Caribbean Sea north of Jamaica. Could be a first. At least it was for him.
Gillian didn’t wait for an answer. With t
he gun still threatening to put a hole in Roje’s belly he demanded, “Show me. Show me right now the list of calls you’ve made and tell me about them.”
“Okay, Vernon. But first, please lower your gun. You need me to pilot the boat home. Then I’ll tell you everything. In fact, I’ll do you one better. I’ll show you. But please lower your gun. I won’t do anything, I promise.”
Incredibly, Gillian actually did lower the gun. “What do you mean you’ll show me? Show me what?”
Roje decided to let the picture of Ronika say a thousand words, or, in this case, just two words. He scrolled to the text and displayed the picture of Gabi, Delyse, Vernon in handcuffs, and Ronika, her middle finger extended. Below the picture was the text:
RONIKA SAFE SENDS GREETINGS TO GILLIAN. ADV YOUR STATUS-DAN
In the glow of the screen, Roje could see Gillian’s eyes widen. “Shit! When was this taken?”
“A couple of hours ago.” Roje saw Gillian’s shoulders sag and he knew it was time. “Gillian, I told you it’s over and now here’s your proof. My sister is free, Vernon is under arrest, and the MBPD is waiting for you at Rio Bueno. It’s over. You need to surrender before any more damage is done.”
“I can’t! I need that money!”
Incredible. Has stupidity suddenly become a virtue? Like an adult speaking to a child in the throes of denial, Roje calmly said, “There isn’t going to be any money. T-Bone’s men waiting at Rio Bueno will be arrested as soon as they show up to meet us. You and Rico will also be arrested. Gillian, to make this as easy on yourself as possible, you need to surrender.”
Gillian looked beaten, the gun now dangling from his hand pointing to the deck. One thing Roje did not need was a gunshot hole through the bottom of the hull. With the load she was carrying the Nymph would go down like a bowling ball.
