Operation Dolphin Spirit

by Kimberli A. Bindschatel

  “Mind closing the door?” Jesse asked.

  I reached for it, started to give it a shove, then caught myself. Why was I so aggravated? I drew in a breath. Exhaled. I glanced at Jesse. He really was a nice guy.

  I carefully closed the door and hitched the latch.

  Dalton was standing on the dock when we pulled in. Deuce must have called him on the marine radio. Great.

  He stood, hands on his hips, that look on his face, but when he spoke, his voice was calm. “What exactly were you doing out there?”

  “My job,” I said.

  He set his eyes on me. “Without informing your partner. Without backup. Without any kind of—”

  I held up my hand to stop him. “I already got the fifth degree from him.” I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder toward Jesse.

  His gaze shifted to something over my shoulder, then back to me. The muscles in his neck drew taut. “I have no idea what’s going on with you. You’re not making any sense. You’re not listening to sense. You’re going off on your own, half-cocked. It’s like when we first met. I thought we’d worked past this.”

  “Yeah, well, like you said, we agreed to disagree. We’re not always going to see eye-to-eye. And since I don’t even know what’s happening with this partnership thing, what’s going on, anyway…”

  He stepped back, stared at me.

  I looked away.

  “We need to talk,” he said.

  “Yes, I’m sure we do.”

  He straightened up. “While you’ve been out, we got a hold of Hyland.”

  Oh. “The phones are back on?”

  He stared at me, deadpan.

  “Right, of course. What did she say?”

  He stepped closer, making sure only I could hear him. “She said to stand down.”

  “What!” I couldn’t believe it. “Stand down?”

  “Shhh.” His eyes darted back and forth. “Believe me, I’m as disappointed as you are. But her exact words were, do not engage.”

  I stared at him, stunned. This couldn’t be. Finally, I said, “I don’t believe you.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “What? Are you kidding? Why would I—” He exhaled with a heavy whoosh. “She said to leave the island on the next plane.”

  “But that doesn’t make sense.”

  Through clenched teeth, he said, “Why does that matter?”

  “Why does that matter? Because we have a job to do. I still have to get the fifth—”

  “Our job is to do whatever she tells us to do. It doesn’t have to make sense.”

  “But—”

  “But nothing. Let’s go.” He took me by the arm.

  I yanked free. “Wait.” I spun to face him. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t agree with me. Tell me you don’t.”

  “It doesn’t matter what I agree with or don’t. We’re going.”

  “No. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Poppy, c’mon. What’s gotten into you? We’ve talked about this.”

  “No. You’ve talked. I can’t leave and do nothing.”

  The muscles in his jaw tightened. “But your job—”

  “Well, then my job sucks.” I crossed my arms. “I signed up to help animals. To bust bad guys. To right the wrongs. How is leaving now going to do that?”

  “We don’t always know the bigger picture.”

  “What a bunch of crap. The bigger picture? The bigger picture doesn’t take into account the welfare of these five dolphins and you know it. You said it yourself.”

  “Poppy, we’re talking about international warfare. This could be way bigger than we know.”

  “Yeah, and why is that? Why can’t we be in the know? This isn’t the military. I didn’t join the military, where I’m supposed to blindly, unquestioningly, follow orders. Why the hell am I even here if my hands are going to be tied? Huh, why?”

  He stared.

  “Those dolphins have been taken captive, against their will, and trained to be soldiers. And—”

  He shook his head.

  “What?”

  “I just…knew you wouldn’t be able to…”

  “What? I wouldn’t be able to what?”

  “Nothing.”

  I clamped my jaw shut.

  He glared at me. “You don’t get it, do you?”

  “Gee, I bet you’re going to explain it to me.” I was pissed and I didn’t care if I was being snarky.

  He paused. I could tell he was restraining himself. “Those dolphins are worth thousands, tens of thousands of dollars to the Russian government. You think taking away their audio device is going to stop them? That they’re just going to sail away and forget the whole project? They’ll have a new device here within hours, that is, if they don’t already have a backup on board.”

  I drew back. Dammit, Jesse.

  “Yeah, I know what you’ve been up to. Getting the trackers off the dolphins’ fins, which—good work by the way—but you think that’s going to make a difference for these dolphins? There’s still a tracker on one right? Your researcher said they travel in groups. They’ll stay together. They only need the one to track the whole group. You’ve been running around making trouble, but you’ve accomplished nothing.”

  “That’s not true.” My knees felt weak.

  “It is true and you know it.”

  I stared, trying not to give away what I was feeling. “What’d you tell Hyland?”

  He crossed his arms. “Nothing.”

  “Tom and Mike know I got the trackers.”

  “They won’t say anything. The Russians likely suspect what you wanted them to suspect, that you’re a hot-headed activist. The hot-headed part sure as hell is right on target.”

  “And so everything will go on as it was. We get on a plane and leave. We stand down.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But what about Kerrie? She’s still in danger.”

  He stared. I could tell he was pondering that one, but he wouldn’t admit it. “As long as she stays quiet, she’ll be fine.”

  They travel in groups. They’ll stay together. They only need the one to track the whole group…

  Dalton shook his head. “Oh no. Whatever you’re thinking, the answer is no.”

  “What if there was a way to save the dolphins and—”

  “Poppy, you can’t just—”

  “No, hear me out. I have an—”

  “No. You hear me out. I can’t do this anymore.”

  “What?” I stepped back. “What are you saying?”

  It was there, in his eyes. “I’m done.” He turned and walked away.

  Chapter Twenty

  “He’ll cool down. He’s Dalton. He just needs a minute,” Chris said. He slid over and patted the couch cushion next to him.

  I plopped down and leaned into him. “I don’t know. He seemed…” How did he seem? I’d never seen him react that way. Something was very…wrong. “He’s been exasperated with me before. Many times. Well, all the time, actually. But not like this.”

  Chris wrapped his arms around me. “I’m sure it’s going to be fine.”

  “I’m supposed to be on the next plane.”

  “What do you mean?” He pulled away. “Why?”

  “My boss said to stand down. Leave. It’s over. She doesn’t care about the dolphins.”

  His eyebrows slammed together. “What? I don’t understand.”

  “It’s political bullshit. What’s to understand?”

  He seemed to accept this. “So, what are you gonna do?”

  “Maybe Jesse was right. I’m in over my head. I can’t go after Russian-trained military operatives. Not alone.”

  “Who says you’re alone?”

  “Chris, I love you. I can’t ask you to—”

  He pulled back, shaking his head. “Not me. Hell no. This Jesse guy. And that Deuce. I bet they have the skills to make those Russian dudes disappear.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure you’re right. But even if they would, that would make things wor
se.” I snuggled into Chris’s embrace. “What I really need is for the dolphins to disappear.”

  My body tingled all over. I jerked up straight. That was it.

  “Chris!” I grabbed him by the back of his head, pulled him toward me, and kissed him on the lips. “You’re a genius!”

  “I am?”

  “I know what to do.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah.” I grinned.

  He frowned. “Will I get shot at again?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “All right then. Let’s get to it. One of these days, I’ve got to get back to work.”

  I went right through the back door of Kerrie’s house without knocking.

  She leapt to her feet when she saw me.

  “Is there someplace on the island you can go for a few days?”

  “What?” She moved toward her kids who played on the living room floor. “What’s going on?”

  “Change in plans and”—her little girl looked up at me with big, round eyes—“and I just want to be sure you’re safe. Just for a day or two.”

  “I guess, I—”

  “Good. Get packed.”

  She gathered her kids close and went straight to the bedroom.

  Natalie was sitting at the kitchen table, her eyes wide. “What’s going on?”

  “Glad you’re here,” I said. “You’re just who I need to talk to. I have to catch the last dolphin.” If the Russians hadn’t already shot her. “We need that tracker. No matter what, we have to have it. What do we do?”

  “Well,—” her eyes traveled around the surface of the table as she thought “—if we really have to, we could dart it. I guess?”

  “We can? I thought you only observed the dolphins here. I didn’t think you’d have anything like that.”

  “We do, but we have one on hand in case a dolphin gets entangled in abandoned fishing gear or something like that. There’s often no other way to get them unentangled because they’ll fight us. ”

  “Well, let’s get to it.”

  She rose from the chair and we headed for the door.

  On the way, Natalie explained the procedure. We’d need to get within forty feet of the dolphin before firing the dart. And that was if she wasn’t moving, or one of us was a good shot. All while bobbing in the ocean.

  “I’ll do it,” I said. I’d won the firearm medal in agent training. I was confident I could hit the mark. Though this was a CO2 gun, similar to a paintball gun, but I’d also shot those in training.

  The dart would penetrate the dolphin’s thick layer of blubber and inject the drug directly into the muscle. Once the sedative took effect—a light sedative, Natalie assured me—the dolphin would become lethargic, but not fall asleep completely. If she did, she would drown. We’d have to catch her quickly and keep her afloat until she regained full consciousness.

  “How will we do that?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. We’ve only darted one, that I was around for, but it was entangled. So, we didn’t have to catch it.”

  “We’ll have to wing it.”

  She nodded.

  Chris agreed to take the wheel again, freeing me and Natalie to work with the dolphin.

  If we found her. Alive.

  It was late afternoon now and the sun would be up for only a few more hours.

  We sped out toward the spot where we’d seen them during the storm, where I’d removed the other four trackers, but there was no sign of them.

  Natalie suggested another area where they’d been spotted hanging out the week before.

  Chris turned the wheel and headed that way.

  They weren’t in that area either.

  We searched every spot Natalie knew, but we didn’t see the dolphins.

  The fact was, they were most likely hanging close to the Russian boat. Where I couldn’t get to them.

  “Meet me here at dawn?” I said, back at the dock.

  Natalie and Chris were discouraged, but agreed.

  “What are you going to do now?” Chris asked.

  “It’s time to call in the cavalry,” I said and left them. I headed straight to the marina, to Droppin’ Skirts. I needed some ammo first. If I was lucky, Dalton wouldn’t be there.

  Tom was aboard, alone, cleaning dishes from his dinner. Red Hot Chili Peppers played on the radio.

  “Where’s Mike?” I asked.

  “Ah, he was anxious to get back to the states. Took the next plane when Hyland gave the nod. I told him I’d take the boat back. Why not?”

  “Sure. A little fun in the sun.”

  “That why you’re still here?” He wiped his hands with a dish towel and opened the tiny refrigerator. “Want a beer?”

  “Yeah. Sun. No beer. Thanks. I, uh, promised Kerrie I’d give her some info on the dolphins though, before I left. For her research. Any chance you recorded that call? The one you detected when the dolphins turned away from me?”

  He headed toward the hydrophone equipment. “Well, I assume so. That was the protocol.” He pulled a memory stick from the hydrophone device and plugged it into a laptop. “Let’s see.”

  In a few minutes, he had all the tracks pulled up. “Here it is. There’s a date and time stamp.”

  “Great, thanks. I know she’ll appreciate it,” I said, pocketing the stick.

  “Listen,” he said, eyeing me, treading carefully. “I know you weren’t happy with the way this all came down.”

  “Oh, no. No, no worries. We can’t win ‘em all, right?” I gave him a grin.

  “Right,” he said, crossing his arms. “It’s just…I agreed with you. I wanted you to know that. I didn’t think it was right.”

  “Well, I appreciate that, Tom.”

  He exhaled, as though he’d been holding his breath, waiting for my reaction. “I’m going to head back to Miami first thing in the morning. I guess we’ll all take a breather and regroup when Hyland gives us the call, eh?”

  “Yeah. Yeah,” I said. But my stomach clenched tight. I wasn’t sure how I could work for Hyland after this. Another thing I had to think over when all this was done.

  “Dalton must be in Montana by now.”

  “He—what?”

  “Well—” He paused, eyeing me. “He left before Mike did. You didn’t know he was gone?”

  “Oh, yeah,” I lied, nodding too much. Dalton left? Without a word? No goodbye? “I just didn’t realize he was able to catch the earlier flight. Good for him.”

  Suddenly I couldn’t draw in air.

  “Anyway, catch you later.” I spun, turning my backside to him so he couldn’t read my face.

  Why would he do that? It’s not like we’d had a fight. Not a real fight. But he’d just…left?

  Deep breath. I couldn’t think about that right now. I needed to do this one thing, for the dolphins. Then I could think about that. About Dalton. As soon as I was done here.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Gaspar’s Revenge was still tied to the dock. Lights glowed inside.

  I jumped aboard, walked straight into the salon. Jesse and a blond woman were seated at the settee. They both looked up quickly from a laptop, their hands moving in unison; his to a sidearm I was sure was tucked under his shirt. He relaxed when he recognized me and held a hand up to the woman.

  “What the hell?”

  My eyes went from his to hers. Obviously, I’d just barged in on something. She was very pretty, dark tanned, several years older than me, but very fit, almost a female version of Jesse.

  My eyes fixed on his. “I need your help.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Well, okay.”

  The woman had an amused expression on her face as Jesse rose, told her he’d return in a moment, and walked me back out to the dock.

  “Boarding without permission could get you shot,” he offered.

  “Sorry, but I really need your help.”

  He stopped and turned toward me, eyes waiting.

  “Tonight, would you and Deuce do your
recon-incursion-thing you do with those fancy rebreathers you have, and foul the prop on that Russian boat?”

  With skepticism in his eyes, he slowly nodded. “He’s gone. But I might.”

  “You can do that alone?”

  Now he looked at me amused, one eyebrow arching. “Uh, yeah.”

  “Okay.” This wasn’t going as I’d planned. “Didn’t mean to offend.”

  “No offense taken.”

  “All right then. Um. Don’t use a dock line. Has to be something they’d get entangled in by accident. Plastic, old fishing net, something.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  I handed him the memory stick. “Then, at dawn, would you play the sounds that my team recorded through your diver recall system? It’s track seven.”

  Again, he nodded slowly. “I could.”

  “If we can call in the last dolphin, we can get her satellite transmitter off.”

  The eyebrow nudged upward again. “Her?”

  “Yeah, well, she’s the clever one, I figure she must be female.”

  He grinned. “Right.”

  “I’ll meet you out there,” I said. “You play the pied piper and I’ll do the rest.”

  He stared, looking into my eyes, considering something.

  “Will you do it?”

  “For you?”

  “For the dolphins?”

  He gave me a big smile.

  I couldn’t resist planting a kiss on his cheek.

  Dalton didn’t answer when I called. Not one of the seven times. Maybe his phone had died.

  Maybe there would be a million dollars in my bank account when I woke up.

  Maybe I’d already lost my mind and didn’t have the capacity to realize it. Is that what happened when people lost their marbles? They had no idea until they found themselves locked in a white room, bound in a straight jacket, thinking, hm, how’d I get here? Oh yeah. I must have lost my marbles.

  I held my head in my hands. Get yourself together!

  It was better this way. Dalton wouldn’t be happy with me. Not in the long run. He’d expect me to settle down, be someone else. And I couldn’t do that. It just wouldn’t work. That’s all. It wouldn’t work. I wasn’t a white-picket fence kind of gal. Two point three kids and a dog. Well, I could definitely have a dog. But that wasn’t the point. Married? A family? A yard to mow? No, it was better this way.