Inherent Danger

by Matt Lincoln

  “Well, we still don’t have any customers.” I pointed at the empty bays as evidence of that. “And I’m really going to need to open things up for business if we plan on staying here.” It was at this time that I noticed Xavier’s Outback pulling into the lot. I sighed and looked at Lael. “I’m going to have some personal issues to oversee in a few minutes, so why don’t you just take it easy today and slowly work back into the swing of things. Sound good to you, Lael?”

  He shrugged his shoulders and nodded. “Fine by me.”

  As he moved away, I started walking toward Xavier, who was also coming in my direction.

  I wanted to remain cool and strong about what was going to come next. I knew better than to let this fester between us, and it was just between us. We had to fix it right now. Xavier stopped a few feet from me. We’d met on the first part of the wooden dock that split out into the two bays. I gestured toward the office. “I think that we should go back inside to hash this out. Don’t you?”

  “Sure.” Xavier turned on his heel, and we walked a few feet apart to the destination in silence. Once inside, neither one of us took a seat right away. As an opening token, I pulled out a couple of bottles of water from the mini-fridge and offered him one.

  “No thanks.” He shook his head. “Can you please just yell at me, or tell me off, and let me get on with my day?”

  “Is that what you want me to do? Reprimand you for your conduct?” I asked him straightforwardly.

  “Please do,” he insisted, “because this whole act of equality and partnership among your team is a farce. I am willing to admit that I should have asked you about Eve working here, but don’t for a minute think that I wasn’t putting the interests and wellbeing of this team’s mission above everything else, Header.” Xavier was standing his ground, which would have worked in a lot of situations, but I wasn’t in the mood to admire his gumption now.

  “You flat out said that you wanted her here because of the impact it had on my mood, Xavier,” I pointed out. “That is not a professional matter at that point. And you all know that I do not tolerate the pushing and shoving of my private affairs into my professional life. I have never given you any indication that this would be okay.” I purposely kept my voice and tone down and in the normal octaves. I didn’t want this to escalate, but I needed to get my point across to him.

  “No, but you did ask me to find someone to run your office here,” he argued. “And I did. I did all of it to your specifications, and you still shot it down.” He clenched his fists and set his jaw at me. “Whether you like it or not, this move of yours to Miami has made it very difficult to upkeep the level of security and secrecy that you demand for Wraith and the team. I’ve been doing the best that I can with what I can.”

  I stared at him for a minute, unsure of where this was coming from. “What does that have to do with Eve and what you did?”

  “Header,” Xavier began, sounding drained, “You don’t have any clue about the narrative I have to alter and the lies I have to feed people just to keep Wraith and what we do here a secret.”

  “That’s why you tried to get Eve to work here?” I scoffed, hoping that a better answer was forthcoming.

  He sighed, probably in frustration at me. “We have five dead bodies stashed in a fish freezer right now. There are a lot of questions that come up when we have no discernible income to report, but we always have cash on hand to play with.” Xavier was choosing his words wisely. “You have shot people and killed them, and someone has to cover all of it up for you, for the team. That kind of influence comes at a cost, and we are not making too many inroads with the whole ‘blending in’ thing.”

  He stopped long enough to catch his breath. “You wanted us to play along and do this vigilante thing of yours, but that comes at a cost. Heaven forbid, I thought that having a legitimate attorney working with us, even in this office, might give us a little protection from the kind of things we deal with every day.”

  I held up my hand to get Xavier to stop. “That still didn’t give you any right to invite Eve in without telling me about it first, Xavier. Why are you not seeing that?”

  “You’re sleeping with her, Header!” This was the first time he’d raised his voice. “I thought that meant that you trusted her. At least enough to run your rinky-dink boatyard.” Xavier paused, knowing that even though he probably meant it, he shouldn’t have said that to me.

  I raised my eyebrow at him as a warning to be cautious in how he carried this forward. I was going to listen to him, but I didn’t put up with personal insults as a rule.

  He started over. “Look, we can’t keep this up. We can’t stay here in Miami and in Florida and not expect to be found out and spied on and outed as a covert mission team.” He stood up a little taller as he closed his tirade. “You’re the team Captain, as you love to remind us daily, so act like it and take some responsibility for what we have to do in this world.”

  “Okay, that’s more than enough, Xavier.” I nodded at him and tried to have my say, but he still wasn’t done with his venting sessions, it seemed.

  He started to say more, but maybe his heated words had gotten the better of him. Because as it turned out, he started for the door to leave instead. “I did find the call sign of the boat that was shooting at us the other day. I tracked down the captain, the crew, and their criminal activities. Big surprise, they’re into a lot of bad stuff—murder, theft, and breaking and entering on American soil. And like we’ve been saying all along, they are connected to Verity’s thing. I just thought that you should know.” He left and walked quickly back to his yacht. I had a feeling he knew that he’d crossed over another line today.

  It was kind of selfish of him to leave me hanging with all that information just blurted out, and I had half a mind to go after him, but I thought better about it. We both needed to cool down, and that wasn’t going to happen in the next few minutes.

  To amuse myself, I thought about starting to charge him the dock space, but now probably wasn’t the time to bring that up. I had listened and not lost my temper, which I took as a sign of real growth as a human being. And now, the best thing for me was to get out of here, out of my headspace, and focus on something else. Sure, I was going to think about what Xavier had just laid on me, but I knew, as he did, what my position on most of his grievances was.

  I looked around the room I was standing in, and I wondered if buying this place had been a good thing, overall. It was a great place for keeping Wraith, but that was about all it was. I wasn’t going to admit defeat, but maybe it was time to reassess the situation as a whole.

  30

  Jake

  I headed over to talk to Verity, hoping to get her take on the break-in now that she’d had a little time to recover and think about it. We met down at the bar and restaurant in the hotel she was staying at, and at this time in the morning, it was pretty dull and empty. That was a good thing, as it meant that we weren’t as likely to be overheard or spied on if that became a concern.

  She sat at a small two-seat booth in the middle of the room. It was an odd choice, but I wasn’t going to complain about it. It probably made her feel more secure to be out in the open, where she could see everyone and everything. I smiled as I got closer.

  “How are you doing, Verity?” I leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

  She had a glass in her hands, and I could smell the Scotch in it. “I’m swimming, can’t you tell?” She raised the glass as proof. “I have always stayed away from the hard stuff, but lately, it seems to be the only thing to help.”

  I shook my head at her knowingly. “That’s just a temporary fix. You realize that? Maybe you should be looking into getting some help of another kind.” I didn’t want to press the matter, but I could see how this might get out of hand for her, or for anyone, without it meaning to.

  She shook her head. “Oh, no, I won’t let it. My father already set up an appointment for me with a trauma counselor. It feels silly to say that, but I�
�m not one to shy away from a mental health checkup. Not after all of this.” Verity gave me a weak attempt at a smile but was still holding on to that glass.

  “Alright, then.” I didn’t see any use in pushing it. “If it's not too much to bother you with, I would like to ask you some questions about the break-in the other night. About what they might have been doing there, and if it was maybe connected to your case.”

  Verity shook her head vehemently. “Oh, I know that it was. They were looking for the evidence of all those copies Arwa and Emiko were making. That’s all they were looking for. It was the entire reason they broke into my dad’s house.”

  “You know that it was Arwa and Emiko doing the forgery, then?” This could be good news if there was genuine proof.

  “Yes,” she nodded. “It has to be. Weir wouldn’t do anything like that, and Dallis isn’t smart enough.” Verity scoffed. “The burglars said that they knew the pieces were at our house. So, Emiko or Arwa must have lied to keep themselves safe and told them that I had them, which I obviously didn’t and don’t.” Verity said this very matter-of-factly, without a doubt in her mind that she knew all about it.

  I didn’t want to scare her any more than I had to, so I chose my wording kindly. “I think actually that the burglars may have been looking for those statuettes that Xavier and I had brought to you. Well, we only showed you the one, the Venus, if you remember, but there were more. That’s what I think they may have been after at George’s place.”

  She gave me a quizzical glance as she worked that out in her mind. “But why would they have come to Dad’s place? That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “You’re right. It doesn’t.” She had me there. “But I think it’s possible that the people who broke in there were misinformed about a lot of things. I think they might have been searching for what Xavier and I had and got that mixed up with what your company was doing.” I shrugged, still unsure of that opinion of mine. “It’s a theory of mine, anyway.”

  “That would have to mean that wherever or whoever you got them from would have to be connected to my office and my co-workers.” Verity shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t think that’s a strong possibility, but if it was connected to someone from the firm, then it has to be Arwa or Emiko. I think they’re both in on it together, in more ways than one.”

  “A little office romance, huh?” That could make them desperate to protect one another and blame the rest for their alleged wrongdoing.

  “Yes,” she confirmed. “It’s been going on for a while, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they cooked all of this up between them. Copying pieces of art, selling them as genuine and rare. It’s despicable.” Verity was clearly put off by the notion as she took another drink. “And then they rented out extra office space and hid the 3-D printers there to do everything. There’s no telling right now how much counterfeit art could be floating out in the world because of the two of them.”

  Her words caught me unaware. “Floating… Verity, who would someone go to if they wanted to get rid of that stuff? The fake copies, I mean?”

  “I have no idea.” She drained her glass. “It would probably be better to transport it to the country that it was supposed to come from, to make it seem authentic, but you could just as easily claim that it came from a private collection and that the seller didn’t want it anymore.”

  “Does that sort of thing happen a lot in the private art world?” Admittedly, she would know more about it than I ever could.

  “You mean selling off of pieces? Not in my experience. It’s more of a generational tradition to hand them down. Usually, when the family gets tired of them or wants to look good, they ‘donate’ them to a museum.” She sighed. “There’s a bigger push nowadays to collect only as a means to gather and then donate them. Kind of like an ancient, expensive scavenger hunt for the elite masses.” She smiled and leaned in. “Modern sculpture is really the big deal for the current market.”

  I thought that perhaps the Scotch was getting to her because Verity wasn’t talking too much like herself anymore. I gently removed the glass from her hands and beckoned a waiter over to our table. “Could you please get us a couple of cups of coffee and whatever soup and salad combo you have here?” The waiter nodded pleasingly. “Oh, and some rolls, or toast, just whatever you have on special.”

  He must have understood my reasoning because he didn’t have to ask for more specific orders or directions.

  “Verity,” I reached out to take her hand, “let’s eat a little something, and then I’m going to have to go tend to some other business. Are you going to be okay when I leave here?”

  “Sure I am,” she promised. “My sister should be here later today, anyway. She’s coming in to help with Dad, which I really do appreciate. Mallory can be a little intense about some things, but she’s excellent in her way.” Verity sighed and started to look bored and tired the longer we sat there.

  “Well, I’d still love to meet her,” I replied. “When she does get here, let me know, please?”

  She nodded.

  Soon enough, we were having our Caesar salads, corn chowder, and some fantastic honey yeast rolls. That was sure to help her mood and situation. Once I saw Verity back in her room, I was off to my next location, back to the marina. And along the way, I called in the team to meet me there. We had a little spontaneous dive that we needed to attend to, and we didn’t have a moment to lose.

  31

  Jake

  I got back to the barn and opened it up to find Rosa waiting for me and doing the rundown of the checklist.

  She waved and nodded when she saw me. Hey, just making sure everything is where and how it needs to be. Any special orders you need me to do?

  “Not that comes to mind,” I replied. “Where’s Xavier? I thought that he’d be here by now. It’s not like he has far to walk.”

  Rosa shrugged and continued working.

  I made for Wraith and would be taking my seat at the helm. I knew that Xavier and Doc would have texted or called if something else came up. But I checked my cell just to be on the safe side. I had a thumbs-up from Xavier and an “I’ll be there” from Doc.

  I really hoped that this morning’s unpleasantness wasn’t going to taint the mission I had planned. I had been working over in my mind how Verity’s case and the Speirs case might be linked. I would talk it out with my team as we traveled to the debris site. Then, I planned to dive at the coordinates where Xavier had pinpointed it and where Rosa had placed the now missing buoy.

  Rosa interrupted my ideas when she tapped me on the shoulder. Doc’s outside the barn. He says that he needs to speak to both of us. She motioned off of Wraith and to the side door.

  “Okay, we’ll see what he needs.” I got up and followed Rosa off the boat and to the door that led back out there to the dock. I slid it wide open, and then, seeing what I saw, I slammed it back shut before Rosa could do or sign anything.

  “Zaid’s there with Doc.” I turned to Rosa, shaking my head at her.

  What? Let me see. Rosa slid the door open just a crack and looked out to see Doc with his young grandson. Doc stood there with a briefcase in his hand and tried not to look offended at having the door closed in his face.

  Rosa shook her head. We can’t take the kid with us, can we?

  Then Doc’s voice sounded from the other side of the barn door. “If you’d allow me to explain, I will. His regular babysitter has the day off, and as I wasn’t expecting to come out here today, I have no one that I trust to leave him with at present.”

  I couldn’t ignore this forever, so I slid the door open once more and addressed the situation. “Doc, I really don’t think that it’s a good idea to take anyone not on the team out with us, not this time.”

  “You’ve broken that rule a dozen times before. You’ve even let trained photo-journalists on board with less conflict than this small child.” Doc motioned to Zaid, who was watching us debate it back and forth. “And I didn’t come unprepared. He has plenty o
f things to entertain him here in this case,” Doc lifted the briefcase to illustrate, “As long as we’re not bringing up any decomposing corpses, he should be fine.”

  “Geez, Doc!” I was a little alarmed at what he was saying in front of Zaid. “No, I’m sorry, but the answer is no. I’m not taking him on Wraith. Period.”

  “Hey, Doc,” Xavier’s voice called as he walked toward us from the docks that led to his yacht, “Next time, just say that Linda Reyes approves of whoever you want on Wraith and on the team, and Header will let them right in. He has a track record of it.”

  I didn’t quite know how to react to that statement, much less what to say in reply. I did hear a low whistle come from Doc’s direction and a weird scuffling sound from Rosa’s.

  “You want to run that by me again, Xavier?” That was all that I could think to say just then.

  “Sure.” He turned to Doc. “Next time anyone wants to add to the team, even temporarily, just mention Linda’s name, and Header will do it. He’ll do just about anything she asks of him, always does.” Xavier stopped and stared me down with his arms crossed, daring me to contradict him somehow. There was a smile or a smirk there, but it was very impertinent.

  “That’s not… entirely… accurate,” I offered as a defense, but even I didn’t say it with conviction. And I certainly didn’t want to get into this here and now.

  “Look,” I turned again to Doc, “we can’t let a kid on Wraith, not with what we’re going to be doing out there today. It’s just not a safe thing.”

  Doc took a step closer to me, Rosa, and the door leading to Wraith. “Living in this world is a risk, and I chose to share that risk with you, my family. And now, Zaid is family. There is no place safer for this boy than by my side and with all of you to watch over him.” He nodded respectfully at me. “And besides, I’m training him to take over for you when you retire or get eaten by a Kraken someday.”