To Honor We Call You: A Florida Action Adventure Novel (Scott Jarvis Private Investigator Book 9)

by Scott Cook

  “Yeah,” I said. “You’re a liar and a turncoat. To hell with you.”

  Lisa grinned and Jackie’s brows went up. There was more than a little heat in my tone.

  “How sad…” Nikki prattled. “However, it doesn’t matter. Garcia was only kidding anyway. It’s not me he’ll kill.”

  “Can we just get on with it?” I grumbled wearily.

  “She’s right, senor,” Garcia joined in again. “She’s far too valuable and… muy bonita… to dispose of. I just wanted to hear your reaction. No, I have plenty of other hostages to eliminate. The entire crew of the Theresa Maxwell.”

  I heard a curse from my phone.

  “You think I can’t find the ship and liberate them?” I asked coldly. “You have an unerring track record of underestimating me, Garcia.”

  He only laughed, “Si! I’m sure that you and your friends could easily launch a rescue mission. However, as the ship is currently anchored in Havana Harbor, I suspect you wouldn’t try it and risk an international incident.”

  Another curse from Grayson which I covered with my own and with the sound of Jackie’s string of oaths as well.

  “Aren’t these the same guys that have been smuggling drugs into this country?” I asked. “Why would we want them back?”

  Garcia laughed, “You don’t know that. And you don’t know who among these dozen men… and women… are involved and who is innocent. No, Jarvis, no. I think you’ll trade. You have twenty-four hours to meet me in Havana harbor. You bring the map and the deed. If you do so, without trying any of your heroics, I will allow the vessel and her crew to sail back to Miami. I can’t promise the cargo will be intact, however… price of doing business here, comprende?”

  “How will I get in touch with you there?” I asked after a moment’s reflection.

  “Come to the ship and we’ll meet aboard.”

  “I’ll think about it,” I said.

  He chuckled, “Think very hard, amigo. I’ll see you mañana.”

  Garcia hung up and Grayson cleared his throat.

  “Well… that leaves us little choice or time.”

  “Can we put an op together?” I asked.

  Grayson sighed, “Yes, I could assign you a spec ops team. But sending in a squad of snake eaters isn’t going to do. Not in the middle of Havana Harbor, for Christ’s sake.”

  “Dammit, Colonel!” I exclaimed. “Isn’t this what ICE is supposed to do? We could go in under the cover of darkness and cut the ship out.”

  “Sure we can. But what happens when the Cuban Navy comes after you? I have no doubt that the ship is being held in quarantine. Any attempt to leave the harbor would result in immediate punitive action.”

  “Okay, forget the damned ship, then. How about just getting the crew off?”

  I knew it was a long shot at best. Grayson sighed again and I knew what he’d say.

  “Under the circumstances, the risk versus reward simply doesn’t justify it. We’re going to have to trade that map. It’s not that important, in the long run. We can deal with the fallout later. Garcia is right, we don’t know who among the crew is innocent. Then there’s agent Sloane to consider.”

  Lisa scoffed.

  “You mean you think she’s still on our side?” I asked. “And just playing a double agent role?”

  “Precisely. I’m inquiring about that in Washington. We’ve got to assume it as well. Further, whether she’s a double agent or a double-double agent… we need her retrieved. In either case, she’s going to have valuable intel.”

  “Suppose she doesn’t want to come back?” Jackie asked.

  “She may not. Not yet.”

  I blew out my breath, “Okay then… what’s the plan, Colonel?”

  Grayson chuckled, “This is your op, commander. You tell me.”

  I thought for a moment, “We need to get from the Keys to Cuba fast. Make the exchange and get that ship underway. I’d like a fast boat with a range of over two hundred miles. I’d like a small team of experienced shooters. Marines, SEALs, whatever. Just in case Garcia gets cute once I get there.”

  Grayson sighed, “As for any other operatives… I can’t, not now and not for this op. There’s the international angle to consider. All of our people, including Jackie, are active military. Should something happen or any of you get captured… it could be a problem.”

  “Then how come Scott can go?” Lisa asked.

  “Loophole,” Grayson replied. “Scott is a private investigator. Technically he’s a reservist… at least officially. Besides that, Garcia asked for him specifically. I can’t risk sending in our people… but I won’t stop you from taking anyone you think would like to join the party, Commander.”

  “Sir!” Jackie protested. “Permission to accompany the Commander. I’m already here and—“

  “Denied,” Grayson said sternly. “I wish I could, but not in this particular case. I’m sorry, Jackie and Scott.”

  Jackie looked pinched but kept her mouth tightly closed.

  I smiled gratefully at her, “I have a boat in mind… but I don’t think the owner will appreciate me asking to borrow it.”

  Lisa chuffed and Grayson chuckled, “No doubt. It sounds like Lisa’s mother’s new husband is pissed off about her… appropriating… the boat last night. There is Tavares’ sport fisherman, though. Coasties brought it into Marathon this morning. I’m sure the Monroe County forensics people have gotten things cleaned up by now, if not by tomorrow morning.”

  I considered that. Maestro Pescador did have plenty of range and she could do thirty to forty knots. Couple three hours to Cuba and another three back. She didn’t have the cigarette’s theoretical escape speed, though. Then again, if the Cuban military really wanted us, they could send a helicopter after us. Even at eighty knots, we couldn’t outrun a gunship.

  “Very well,” I said finally. “I’ll start organizing things.”

  “Outstanding. I’ll see you in an hour or so.”

  “Well,” I said, slipping my phone back into my pocket. “Isn’t this a pretty kettle of fish?”

  “We’re really going to give up that map?” Lisa asked.

  I shrugged, “I guess so. But not easily. I’ve got to make a few phone calls. Who wants to interview Ray’s mom?”

  “I do, I do!” Lisa said.

  “I’ll go with her,” Jackie offered.

  “Good,” I said. “You can call Ray and ask where she is. I know she manages his three restaurants, so she’s bound to be at one or another… he may not like the idea of us talking to her, though.”

  “We can find her on our own,” Lisa said, getting to her feet. “I’ll call Ray if I need to. What if he does ask why I want to talk to her?”

  I sighed, “I don’t know… I guess tell him the truth. We’re trying to go down the line and find the common thread. I don’t suspect her of anything… just that maybe she might have some information or an insight.”

  “Okay, come on Lisa,” Jackie said wearily as she rose as well. “Let’s go do boring stuff while the Commander here lounges around on the yacht all afternoon.”

  “Rank hath its privileges,” I stated. “Try not to get sploded, huh?”

  Lisa grinned, “Psssh! What are the odds of that happening?”

  23

  From the Exciting Chronicles of the World’s Awesomest and Humblest Investigator

  Lisa’s journal entry 4

  Yes, enraptured reader, it’s your heroine Lisa and her Marine Corps sidekick back on the mean streets yet again. That’s right, Jackie and me racing across the Miami metropolis while the man sits on his ass doing nothing.

  Hehehe…

  Okay, just kidding. I felt so bad for Scott. He hates sitting on his ass. But with Colonel Grayson coming and the need to do some actual investigating, we had to split up. Frankly I was kinda glad he wasn’t coming along. He was just sitting on a boat, hopefully safe. I know it’s dumb, but it always scares me when he goes off in the middle of the night or gets himself hurt.
>
  “Hey, what were those two detective girls on TV back in the eighties?” Jackie asked as we drove to the first of Ray’s restaurants.

  “Cagney and Lacey?” I asked.

  Jackie chuckled, “Fuckin-A girl! That shit went off the air before we were even born! That was quick.”

  “Well, when you get to be a well-seasoned detective, hardened in the fires of danger, you learn about all the old shows,” I quipped.

  “Do you even have your P.I.’s license yet?”

  “Don’t cloud the issue with trivial facts.”

  “So where are we going?” Jackie asked as she drew her Sig Sauer pistol out and checked it.

  “Planning on shooting somebody?” I asked with a wry look.

  “Not usually,” Jackie replied, slipping the gun back into her handbag. “But hanging out with you guys… seems more and more likely. And I’m a fuckin’ Marine.”

  I glanced at her. Jackie was wearing white Nike’s, jeans that showed off her long shapely legs and small waist and a sleeveless powder blue turtleneck that showed off her muscular bear arms. She only wore a little makeup and she didn’t need much. She was very pretty in spite of her sturdiness and short barely-regulation Sarah Mackenzie hair.

  “You could’ve fooled me,” I said. “You don’t look like a Marine.”

  Jackie grinned, “Good. Cuz’ I’m like… under cover. Don’t tell anybody.”

  I chuckled, “Deal. Unless I get ascared… then I’m telling everybody a bad ass Marine is with me.”

  Jackie gave me a thumbs up and an Oo-rah.

  “You might be more inclined to believe it if you saw my tattoo,” She remarked with a grin.

  “You got a tattoo?” I asked. “I’ve never seen it.”

  Jackie winked, “Oh, I’d show ya’… but it’s intended for male personnel only. Unless you were serious about the three way earlier!”

  We both laughed uproariously. It was nice to have a new girlfriend. She reminded me a bit of Sharon, too. Only not so rough around the edges… and Jackie was a Marine!

  “We’re going to La Cantina Fantastico on Calle Ocho,” I answered her earlier question. “The first of Ray’s Cuban restaurants.”

  “Any good?”

  I shrugged, “Don’t’ know, I’ve never been. But Calle Ocho, or eighth street for you gringos, is world-renowned for its authentic and yummy comida de Cubano, meng… that’s Cuban food for you gringos.”

  Jackie chuckled, “I think Scott’s rubbing off on you.”

  I grinned.

  Jackie laughed, “Lucky… so… speaking of Scott rubbing off on you… what’s he like, anyway?”

  I cocked an eyebrow at her, “Jackie!”

  “What…? I’m a Marine, we’re crude.”

  I laughed, “Uh-huh. Do you have a crush on him?”

  Her face reddened. That tickled me to no end. Nothing like making a Gunnery Sergeant blush, “Come on, Lisa…”

  “No, you come on, Jackie.”

  “Well… maybe a little bit… not that I’d ever do anything about it!” She reassured me. “As if Scott would allow that anyway… it’s just, y’know… he’s…”

  I smiled, “Yeah, I know. And I’m not jealous. It’d take a real man hating bitch not to find him attractive. I’m biased, I know, but still…”

  She waited.

  “Well… he’s amazing! Whether we’re making slow and passionate love or he bends me over something and pounds me like a handful of pizza dough… God how I love that”—Jackie laughed out loud—“he’s always caring and gentle. I always come first. And not just with sex, either. Scott is a wonderful man. He’s not perfect, mind you, nobody is, but he’s just so much more than any man I’ve ever been with.”

  “He’s got a very strong sense of honor,” Jackie added.

  “Yeah… sometimes it’s almost too much. You know what he reminds me of, sometimes? Superman.”

  “The Christopher Reeve Superman,” Jackie put in.

  “Yes! Exactly! You’re like, ‘there’s no way this dude is this honest or has that much integrity.’ But he does.”

  She sighed, “You’re a lucky girl. And ICE is lucky to have him, even if it’s only sometimes, I think.”

  There was a pause and then: “Okay… what annoys you about him?”

  “What?”

  “Come on, he’s not perfect, like you said,” Jackie needled.

  I chuckled, “Well… he likes to get up early. Like stupid early. Six o’clock sometimes. He just can’t sleep in. I hate getting up any time before nine and I’ll sleep in longer if he lets me.”

  “Sounds awful.”

  I flipped her off, “Okay… he hates TV. I like watching shows, but he absolutely hates the TV. He doesn’t stop me from watching, but I know if I wasn’t in the picture, he’d turn the cable off at his house. He’ll watch a game now and then, but really all he ever wants to do is go outside and workout and read stupid books!”

  Jackie scoffed, “What an asshole!”

  “I know, right?”

  We both laughed.

  “If those are the only complaints you have,” Jackie stated. “You don’t have anything to complain about.”

  I scoffed, “This coming from a Marine. You’re probably up at the ass crack of dawn, too. Probably don’t like much TV, either.”

  “Nope.”

  “Okay, then try this on, devil dog… he’s not good at making bacon.”

  Jackie looked at me incredulously, “What!? He’s like… practically a fuckin’ chef!”

  “I know!” I exclaimed. “That’s what’s so crazy… but it’s like his kryptonite or some shit. It’s either underdone or overdone and always all wrinkled up and folded on itself.”

  Jackie put a hand on my arm, “I’m so sorry… Do you need to talk to someone? I can get you somewhere safe.”

  “Fuck you!” I laughed.

  “Lisa, my last boyfriend used to leave his smelly socks in the living room, he couldn’t boil water and his dick was so short when he was soft it was like looking straight on at a mushroom cap,” Jackie stated.

  I guffawed, “A grower not a shower, huh?”

  “Pfft! He didn’t grow all that much, either!” Jackie rejoined and laughed as well. “It was like playing patty cake with a friggin’ Weeble-Wobble!”

  I almost lost control of the car I was laughing so hard. Jackie had a huge shit-eating grin on her face.

  “That’s a shame,” I poked. “Believe me, whether he’s flaccid or hard, ‘Scott… oh! Look we’re here!”

  “No! Wait! What were you—“

  “Sorry, no time! Business first,” I said, pulling into a space and jumping out with a wicked grin on my face.

  “You’re a mean girl!” Jackie whispered in my ear as we entered the restaurant.

  La Cantina Fantastico was an upscale eatery that was dripping in Cuban décor and culture. Multi-colored marble tile flowed across the floor in a subtle pattern of Caribbean greens, blues, golds and cream. Coach lamps were mounted to the walls and here and there to either side of archways were ensconced torches burning with real flame. Lush tropical plants, although probably silk, were interspersed throughout the tables and in corners. The ceiling was high and arched giving the interior an open-air feeling. Spanish guitar played softly in the background and even near the end of the usual lunch hours, the dining rooms were full.

  “Can I help you?” A college age Cuban girl with long black hair asked from behind her podium.

  “Yes, we’d like to speak with Mrs. Angelique Tavares if she’s in,” I said. “We’re friends of her son’s.”

  “Oh, she’s here,” The girl replied cheerfully. “Would you like me to get her?”

  “Does she have an office here?” I asked.

  “Yes, but I think she might be in the kitchen,” The girl replied.

  “Well, if you could see if she’s free and ask if we could maybe speak with her in private, that’d be great,” I said.

  A few minutes later, a woman st
rode out into the lobby to meet us. For someone who was probably in her middle to late sixties, she looked very youthful and still had quite a lot of what once was probably very great beauty. Her black hair, although the color probably came from a bottle these days, was thick and lustrous and hung down below her shoulders. Her body, although tending toward plumpness, was still well-shaped and she carried her five-and-a-half-foot frame with a straight-backed posture that gave her a distinct gracefulness. In spite of the crinkles at the corners of her eyes and noticeable laugh lines, her face was pretty, round and friendly.

  “Good afternoon,” Angelique said in a low but pleasing register that still held some Cuban accent in it. A bit like my mom sounded, actually. “You are the detectives my Ramon mentioned? Pero I was expecting a young man.”

  “Yes, my boyfriend Scott,” I said, extending my hand. “I’m his assistant also. Lisa Gonzalez. This is my friend, Jackie. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Esta Cubana?” Angelique asked.

  “Si.”

  Angelique smiled and then shook Jackie’s hand, “Welcome to you too, Miss Jackie.”

  “Thank you ma’am.”

  ‘So formal!” Angelique said with a smile. “Just call me Angie, huh? No ceremonia, por favor!”

  “That means don’t stand on ceremony to you gringos,” I whispered to Jackie as Angelique led us to her office. Jackie elbowed me in the ribs and we both had to stifle our giggles as we followed Ray’s mom into a very cozy office full of teak and velvet furniture.

  “Can I get you anything?” Angie asked as she took her place behind an oak desk.

  Jackie grinned, “I wish we hadn’t eaten lunch… the food smells delish.”

  “I think we’re okay, thanks,” I said. “Although we’ll have to bring my boyfriend back for supper soon. He loves Cuban food.”

  “So what can I do for you ladies?” Angie asked.

  I wasn’t quite sure how to begin. I know that Scott wanted to know more about her history. To find out if there was something from her past that might connect to all the shit that’s going on. He’d know what to ask. I kind of felt flattered that he’d trust me with this… but it also made me a little nervous.