Bluewater Quest

by Charles Dougherty

  "I will," Ed said. "Ease up. The cops may want to visit. We don't have time to deal with a corpse right now."

  Leila nodded and went up on deck to make her call.

  21

  "So what did you find out?" Phillip asked, as Liz and Dani came into the kitchen.

  "We haven't had time to look, yet," Dani said, setting the dry bag on the island in the middle of the kitchen. She unrolled the folded-over top and unzipped it. Upending the bag, she let the contents slide out.

  "Laptop," Sharktooth said. "May I?"

  "Sure," Dani said.

  He opened the lid and the screen came to life, asking for a user i.d. and a password. "Looks like a job for Marie's bunch," he said, closing the lid. "No point messing with it; we'd risk it wiping the disk if it's secured well. Shall I call her, see if she got somebody can pick it up?"

  "Sure," Dani said. She fanned out the four passports on the counter.

  Sandrine picked one up and examined it with a practiced eye. "I think this is real, but I will take them to the office tomorrow and see if they scan."

  "But they already checked in, didn't they?" Liz asked. "Wouldn't they have been scanned already?"

  "Yes. But at the internet café, remember?"

  Liz frowned.

  "They do not scan with the machine. They only make a copy of the first page."

  "Okay," Liz said. "What does the machine do, then? I thought it just read the barcode."

  "More than that; it records the information on the chip; these are chipped passports. Very easy to spot a forgery, unless they are stolen and modified. Even then, if the theft has been reported to the issuing agency, we would know."

  Dani had arranged the remaining items on the countertop. She picked up a bulging envelope and shook out the contents. There were several stacks of $100 bills, held together with rubber bands. She thumbed through one of them.

  "Used, but still fresh and crisp," she said. "The serial numbers aren't sequential, either."

  "How much?" Phillip asked.

  "Twenty bills, ten stacks. Looks like $20,000, if each stack's the same."

  The others each took a bundle and flipped through it.

  "Twenty," Sharktooth said.

  "Yes," Sandrine said.

  Maureen and Liz and Phillip nodded, their counts agreeing as well.

  Dani had counted the remaining four packets while the others were working. "Twenty thousand, then."

  "A lot of money for innocent tourists," Sandrine said. "But divided among the four of them, less than what must be reported on the clearance forms."

  Maureen held the camera. "Look," she said, turning it so the others could see the screen on the back. "Pictures of Vengeance, somewhere." She scrolled until they saw Dani and Liz sitting in the cockpit. "Tough to see you in the shade," she said. "That you?"

  "Yes. We saw them up on the hill over Friendship Bay," Liz said.

  "We were anchored at Petit Nevis," Dani said.

  Maureen scrolled again. "Looks like Rick and Shellie, walking around ashore. Are they at the old try-works, then?"

  "Exactly," Liz said.

  Maureen scrolled through several more shots of the same subjects, stopping when she saw one of Sharktooth climbing down into a dinghy. Phillip was already seated, twisted at the waist to start the outboard. A few more shots showed clear images of their faces.

  "This morning," Phillip said.

  "Mm-hmm," Sharktooth said. "That explains the phone call."

  "What phone call?" Dani asked.

  "While you were out robbing yachts, I got a call from the bartender at the hotel where they're having dinner," Phillip said. "One of the women showed him and the waitress pictures of Sharktooth and me. Asked if they knew who we were."

  "Of course they didn't recognize you," Dani said, grinning.

  "No, of course not." Phillip winked. "But the bartender stepped into the kitchen and called us, just in case somebody else might mistake those two in the pictures for us."

  "Did you get Bert straightened out?" Leila asked.

  "Yeah. He threw up once he came to," Ed said. "He's sacked out for the night."

  "Where's Ash?" she asked.

  "In your cabin. She's done for the day, too."

  "What the hell's the matter with Bert, anyway?" she asked.

  "He mumbled something about being second in command, and I explained to him that you only report through our chain of command for admin stuff."

  "He should have already known that."

  "I agree. But he's got this gender role thing firmly fixed in his mind."

  "Doesn't he get that we can't play those games in the outside world? If I wear a hijab and walk behind you guys, it'll blow our cover."

  "I explained that to him. But he's like a lot of guys. One of the attractions to going back to Iran is that whole world view. Keep women in their place."

  "Yeah. That's why I'm here. If I were living in Iran, I'd be throwing bombs at assholes like him."

  "You should be careful saying stuff like that. Word could get back."

  "You're not going to tell; I've got you by the balls, and you know it."

  "I'm not your problem."

  "You think Ashley is?" she asked.

  "She could be," Ed said.

  "No, she's with me." Leila smiled.

  "As long as we're leveling with each other, why did you go back if you feel that way? You could have stayed in the States and had an easy life. Why take on this whole thing?"

  "Because, Iran is my country, and I and a lot of other people like me are going to take it back."

  "Back to the days of the Shah, you mean?"

  "That wasn't perfect, but they had some things right. These pinhead mullahs running things now are nuts, with their ultraconservative bullshit."

  "Why are you working for them, then?"

  "I'm not."

  "What are you saying? Are you … "

  She shook her head. "I'm loyal to my country; not to Islam. When the time is right, we're going to change things."

  "Your country? Which one?"

  "You don't need to ask, do you?"

  "Why do you trust me, Leila?"

  "We covered that. You'd be stoned to death if I showed those pictures to Rahimi."

  "But I'd have to be back in Iran before what happened could come into play. I could … "

  "If you keep talking like this, you and Bert may both have an accident."

  "You know I won't say anything, Leila. I'm just curious."

  "Enough with your curiosity."

  "What did the cops say?" Ed asked, after an uneasy silence. "You were on the phone for a long time. I take it they aren't coming out here?"

  "No. The four of us need to go to their office in Marin in the morning and make a formal report. They'll give us some paperwork that we can take to the U.S. Consulate in Fort-de-France; it's only a short taxi ride, they said. The Consulate will work with the U.S. Embassy in Barbados, and we should get replacement passports in a day or two. This happens often enough so they have a regular process."

  "Really?" Ed asked. "It's that common?"

  "Yeah. They said the sneak thieves target bareboat charters because tourists are careless with their belongings."

  "What about our belongings? Any chance of recovering anything?"

  "Oh, the guy I talked with gave me a song and dance about how if we had the serial numbers and so forth, they'd be on the lookout, check out the people known to receive stolen property, that kind of thing. When I pressed him, he admitted that was bullshit, especially here."

  "Here? In Martinique?"

  "In Ste. Anne. In Martinique, too, but especially in Ste. Anne. It's only 20 miles across the channel to St. Lucia. People do the trip all the time in little fishing boats. He said most of the thieves come over here from St. Lucia because the pickings are better."

  "Tomorrow morning, huh?" Ed said.

  "Yeah."

  "Here's hoping Everett doesn't decide to leave tomorrow."


  "We've got the tracker. Good thing Ash had the tablet in her purse. Speaking of that kind of thing, what about Tehran?"

  "I sent an email from my phone. There's a computer store in Fort-de-France run by a guy who's supposedly from Pakistan. He'll be expecting me. Besides the computer, he'll have a sat phone and some cash for us."

  "Good. So we're set, once we get the new passports. I'm beat. See you in the morning."

  "How was your day?" Liz asked, as she answered the knock on Phillip's door to find Rick and Shellie.

  "Great," Rick said. "Thanks for all your help. Sorry we're so late."

  "Oh, that's no problem. We just finished dinner ourselves. Come on in." Liz swung the door wide and stepped out of their way.

  As they came in, Dani and Marie LaCroix entered the foyer from the living room.

  "Call me as soon as you crack it," Dani was saying.

  Marie smiled at the newcomers. "Good night, Liz. Dani, that may be as soon as a couple of hours. Maybe two or three a.m. You do not wish for me to wait until morning?"

  "No. I'd rather know who the hell they are as soon as we can. We may need to take action of some kind, even if it's just to ditch the tracker and run for it."

  "Very well," Marie said.

  "Run for it?" Rick was frowning as he stared at the laptop in Marie's hand. "Excuse me, but what's going on?"

  "Sorry, Rick, Shellie," Liz said. "Meet our friend Marie LaCroix." Marie nodded at the Everetts, and Liz said, "Rick and Shellie Everett, Marie."

  The three shook hands, and Marie said, "Well, I must hurry, then." She nodded again and walked out the door.

  "We need to talk," Dani said. "Come into the living room and have a seat."

  "Would you like an after-dinner drink, coffee, or anything?" Liz asked, as the Everetts sat down on a couch. "We may be here a little while."

  Rick looked at Shellie. "No thanks, I'm okay," she said.

  "I'm fine," Rick said. "Did something happen?"

  "I'll bring you up to speed, and then we can discuss what you'd like to do," Dani said. "Okay?"

  "Sure," Rick said. "Is this about my project, somehow?"

  "We aren't sure, but it may be. We're still working on that," Dani said. "let me tell you what we know so far." She gave a three-minute summary of what had happened since Vengeance had been broken into. "Now, I think that's everything that you don't already know," she said. "Questions?"

  "Wow!" Rick said, shaking his head. "That's a lot to take in. So who are these people, anyway?"

  "We have their passports, so we have a good start on that. Sandrine will find out more in the morning after she verifies that the passports are real. And who knows what Marie may find on their computer? Sometime tomorrow morning, we should know a lot more about them."

  "Who is Marie? Really?" Shellie asked. "Is she some kind of cop?"

  Dani looked at Phillip. "She works with a former business associate of mine," Phillip said. "They do contract work for the government. Forensics, and so forth."

  "They're helping us out as a favor to Phillip," Dani said. "Plus, Liz and I have gotten to be friends with Marie; she sails with us when we're all three not busy. And she and her people are between assignments right now, so they offered to keep an eye on Aquila."

  "I can't believe you broke into their boat," Shellie said.

  "They're spying on us," Dani said, "and they broke into Vengeance, and attacked me in the bargain. It's personal, at this point."

  "How do you know they're the ones who broke into Vengeance?" Rick asked.

  "They had the stuff that was stolen from us," Dani said.

  "Weren't you scared?" Shellie asked. "Suppose they had come back?"

  "Scared? No. Liz was with me; she was in the cockpit, keeping watch. And Marie's people are on a boat that's anchored between us and Aquila."

  "Still," Rick said, "these people sound dangerous."

  "I can take care of myself," Dani said, "as long as nobody blindsides me. And I'm not about to let that happen again."

  Shellie frowned.

  Rick shook his head. "So, what now?"

  "Now that you know what we know," Liz said, "we want to ask you a question."

  "Okay," Rick said. "Shoot."

  "We have to wonder if there's something about your project that might cause these people to be spying on you," Liz said. "What do you think?"

  Rick stared down at the floor for a moment. "Well," he looked up, making eye contact with everybody. "I don't know. Have you and Dani told them what you know about the project?"

  "Yes. We thought that would be all right, given the situation that's developed."

  "Sure. Of course, it's fine. You can imagine that there could be some, uh, let's just say, political implications to finding out that the Moors discovered the New World, right?" Rick looked around the group again.

  Everyone nodded, and he continued. "I can only guess that there might be any number of people, countries, religious organizations, what have you, who would prefer not to stir up this kind of speculation. On the other hand, there are probably an equal number who would think it was a fine turn of events. But I don't know of anything specific. I've had no indication that anyone's interested in what we're doing."

  "Who knows about it?" Dani asked. "The foundation you mentioned, but anybody else?"

  "The department head at the university where I teach, but she's sworn to secrecy, and I trust her. We both worried that this could go either way. We'd either make an earth-shaking discovery, or we'd look like crackpots. We agreed to keep it quiet until we knew which."

  "Anybody else?"

  "The charter broker," Shellie said, " Elaine, um … "

  "Elaine Moore," Liz said. "She never discloses information about charters. Discretion is important to a lot of clients: she trades on her reputation for protecting clients' privacy. We're on the low end of her portfolio. She books for a lot of yachts that go for over a hundred thousand a week, and people who have the means to do that … well, let's just say they want their plans kept quiet. Anyone else that you can think of?"

  "I mentioned to you that the documents came from the archives of a foreign government that wanted to remain anonymous, at least for now. But I think it's in their interest for you to know, in case it's somehow connected to them. Will you keep this among us?"

  He looked at each person in the group, holding eye contact until they all agreed. "Okay," he said. "Saudi Arabia has an extensive archive of ancient Arabic material. Manuscripts, official documents, artifacts — if you can imagine it, they probably have it. They're my main source. And you can see why they would want that kept quiet."

  "Thanks, Rick," Dani said. "Does anybody have anything else?"

  When no one spoke up, Liz stood up. "It's getting late. Shall we go home to Vengeance?"

  Rick, Shellie, and Dani nodded and got up from their seats.

  "Breakfast here in the morning at 7:30," Sandrine said, as they walked to the door.

  22

  "Good morning; come in," Phillip said, as he opened the door for Dani and Liz and the Everetts. "Sandrine's in the kitchen; she started the eggs when we saw you get in the dinghy. Did you hear from Marie about the computer yet?" he asked, while he escorted them through the house to the outside dining area.

  "Yes," Dani said, "but shouldn't we wait for Sandrine?"

  "Sure. Have a seat and let Sharktooth pour you all some coffee. I'll go give her a hand. We'll only be a minute."

  "Mornin', mornin'," Sharktooth said, filling mugs with steaming, fragrant coffee and handing them to Maureen, who set one in front of each of the vacant chairs.

  "How are you?" Maureen asked.

  "Great, thanks," Rick said. "We're trying to figure out our next stop."

  "I been thinkin' 'bout that," Sharktooth said. "You said somethin' 'bout a cave."

  "Yes, that's right," Rick said.

  "When I was involved wit' the Ministry of Tourism at home, I met people from some of the other islands in the EC."


  "The EC?" Rick asked.

  "Sorry," Sharktooth said. "EC's short for the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States."

  "What did you do with the Ministry of Tourism?" Shellie asked.

  Sharktooth looked down at his place mat, and Maureen said, "He was the Minister of Tourism for a while. He doesn't like to tell anybody he was involved in politics."

  Sharktooth shook his head. "Tha's not important. Anyhow, what I was goin' to say is, the only island that was tryin' to play up caves as a tourist attraction was St. Lucia."

  "You said something about that yesterday," Rick said. "Brigands' Cave?"

  "Tha's right. I haven't come up with any other caves in the Lesser Antilles. There mus' be a few, but most of the caves are in the Greater Antilles — Cuba, Jamaica, like that. Mebbe I heard of one in Antigua."

  "Okay," Rick said. "But everything points to this area, around Martinique and St. Lucia."

  "Mm-hmm," Sharktooth said. "I t'ink the mention of the cave points to Soufrière, out of the three places you mentioned yesterday. I called the tourism person I know from St. Lucia. He gave me the name of a mon who runs tours 'roun' Soufrière. He takes people to Brigands' Cave."

  "I can't imagine that if it's a tourist attraction, there'd be anything left for me to look at," Rick said, "but I guess it's a starting point."

  "Mebbe he knows 'bout some other caves," Sharktooth said, handing Rick a scrap of paper. "Here's his cellphone number. He lives in Soufrière."

  "Randolph Mercer," Rick said, looking at the note. "I'll call him when we get there. Thanks, Sharktooth."

  "The plates are hot," Sandrine said, balancing a large tray with both hands.

  Phillip used potholders to put a plate in front of each of them. Sandrine set the tray aside and Phillip held her chair for her before he took his own seat.

  "Please," Sandrine said. "Eat, before the eggs become cold."

  A few minutes passed in silence, and then Dani, having washed down her last swallow of eggs with a sip of coffee, said, "About that computer. Marie's people were able to get past the password protection without much trouble. The bottom line is, it looks like these people are following you, Rick. Some of the files appear to be translations of those old manuscripts you described."