Scent of Danger

by Judith Rochelle

  “Andy hasn’t been able to get a picture of him,” Rickanswered her. “The guy’s camera shy and with good reason. And I don’t know ifhe spends all his time on the Cay or not. If you can’t see him, you can’t trackhim.”

  “Then I say our next stop should be Camellia Cay. That’sprobably where Jordan has gone to ground. Remember, he has a connection there.If I can find him, I can shake the truth out of him. Otherwise I’ll be anotherdead body and the blame for everything will fall on me.”

  Kelly touched his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re in shapefor something like that?”

  A muscle twitched in his cheek. “This is my gig. I clean upmy own mess.”

  She sighed. “All right. Then Xena and I are going with you.”

  “Oh, no.” He gave his head a vehement shake. “That’sdefinitely not happening.”

  “Rick, don’t be a hard-ass. You can’t do this alone and Xenais the best protection you can have. Not to mention that I’m a pretty fair shotand have great survival skills.”

  “Listen. I have no idea how I’m even going to get on theisland, as heavily guarded as it is. Or what I’ll find when I get there. Andcertainly I can’t have a dog as big as a horse crashing through theunderbrush.”

  Xena growled at him and Kelly grinned.

  “She says you insulted her. Listen, Xena knows how to bequiet. We’ve practiced this kind of stuff before. And you absolutely cannot dothis by yourself. Besides, we need to do those memory exercises again andyou’re not supposed to do them by yourself.”

  “At the risk of getting my head chopped off,” Daninterjected, “can I also point out that Xena has unusual skills that you justmay need?”

  Rick threw up his hands. “All right, all right. Let’s notwaste any more time arguing. What we need are satellite photos of Camellia Cayand surrounding area and every single fact we can dredge up about it. And Ineed them yesterday.”

  * * * * *

  Al-Dulami was having his own problems. He had not been ableto get in touch with his son for several hours, nor had anyone located theelusive Mr. Latrobe. And while the continued strikes he’d made were successful,they were taking too much time. Far more than he’d expected. He just didn’thave the manpower he’d counted on to hit a number of places all at once. Thecoalition forces were massing and preparing for a heavy assault on ground he’dalready gained.

  He’d planned this for so long, paying attention to everysingle detail. But Allah had not smiled on him. One of his idiot soldiers hadleft the incriminating gun behind, the man who held all the pieces of thepuzzle in his head was still alive and his own son had disappeared.

  This evening he would go to the mosque in town and pray forguidance. He was so close to success. He wondered if he had somehow offendedAllah, or he was in some way being tested. Surely Allah would not take it allaway from him now.

  Would he?

  * * * * *

  Andy and the Dragon hadn’t progressed much further eitherwith Greg Jordan’s financial sources or the guests of Camellia Cay. But he didemail them a full range of satellite photos of the Cay and the surroundingislands, along with a topographical map of the area. Rick had no idea how he’dmanaged to get them and he wasn’t asking any questions. He just spreadeverything out on the dining room table so they could study it.

  Dan had left long ago to head back to the office and Mikehad just finished talking to him.

  “He’s had another visit from the feds,” he reported.“They’re getting even more testy. And they’ve set up permanent surveillance onthe airfield, the office building and your house. Probably everyone’s houses,even Mark’s and Dan’s in San Antonio.”

  Rick lifted his eyes from where he was studying photos.“They think I’m going to Texas?”

  “They think you’re running away from your crimes. And we’rehelping you.”

  Something ugly flashed in Rick’s eyes, something Kelly hadnever seen there before. “How bad is it for the agency? And don’t soft soap me,okay?”

  Mike lifted a shoulder. “We’ll weather it. And not bythrowing you to the wolves, either. What we have to focus on now is getting youto Camellia Cay because I don’t see any other lead to follow.”

  ”I’m certainly not going back to Iraq to hunt down somerevenge-bent tribesman to see if he’ll answer my questions. Okay, then. Let’sget back to work here.”

  An hour later Rick pushed back from the table and stretchedhis arms, wincing slightly at the residual soreness in his chest that stillplagued him. Kelly tried to hide the concern she was feeling but he obviouslycaught a flash of it.

  “I fought wars with worse injuries than this,” he assuredher. “I’ll be fine.”

  “From what we see here,” Mike said, “the best way in is toland on one of these uninhabited islands here,” he pointed to a spot on thesatellite map, “and go in at night by boat.” He looked at Xena. “It’s going tobe a rough crossing because we can’t land on an island too near the Cay. Howwill Xena take to rough seas, if you run into them and a long trip by boat?”

  “She’ll be just fine,” Kelly assured him. “I’ll explain toher what it’s all about. She’ll understand.”

  Mike couldn’t help the grin that turned up the corners ofhis mouth. “I still can’t believe you actually have conversations with thisdog. And more than that, she understands you.”

  “And answers me. Xena has incredible powers. Trust me.She’ll know what’s at stake here. If she understands that her actions couldbring harm to Rick or me, she’ll do whatever we tell her to.”

  Mike tossed his pencil onto the table. “Okay, then. Let’sput this down on paper.”

  * * * * *

  Kelly thought for a moment she’d fallen into a spy movie asthe partners set up the plan to get the three of them out of town withoutraising any flags. Rick assured her every bit of it was necessary to make sureneither the feds nor the media caught wind of where he was.

  Dan had gone to Rick’s house, lit inside by the timer andlet himself in, calling to tell them that a car and a van were parked acrossthe street. Leaving Mark with the prisoners, Troy had gone to the office,making sure his tail saw him talking on his cell phone. He’d parked his car inits usual spot in the underground parking lot, turned on the lights in theoffice and settled in for a long night, knowing whoever was tailing him would becamped beside his car.

  “We should keep a lot of people busy for a long night,” Danchuckled when he called Rick to check on their departure time.

  In the condo where they were holed up, Kelly had Rick gothrough the memory exercises twice more. The second time he was sure he’dgotten the niggling fact unstuck but when he reached for it, it eluded himagain.

  “It will come,” Kelly assured him, gathering up the picturesand symbols they’d been using. “Probably when you least expect it.”

  When they were sure no one had accidentally stumbled ontothe location of the condo, Mike drove Kelly, Rick and Xena to the spot wherehe’d hidden the helicopter, yet another country airstrip. Xena, by now aseasoned traveler, had hopped into her usual seat and waited for someone tobuckle her in. Ed was waiting for them at the hidden helipad with the suppliesthey’d requested and they quickly loaded them into the chopper’s cargo area.

  Then they were off and unexpectedly Kelly felt butterfliesin her stomach and the first tendrils of fear. She was heading into a totallyunknown area in a situation which she hoped she wouldn’t screw up. Despite thefact that she had both the H&K and the rifle with her, she knew her bestweapon was Xena, so she’d have to make the best possible use of her.

  Rick and Mike were busy studying the satellite images andother information, going over the details again and again as the choppercarried them southward over vast reaches of water. Kelly put her arm aroundXena’s body and leaned against the dog, whispering to her, stroking her.Exhausted by tension and the long day she dozed off and the dream surroundedher.

  She was standing in the thickness of tropical foliage,strange birds chattering overhead, the heat s
o oppressive she could barelycatch her breath. Xena was beside her, tugging at the fabric of her shorts,pulling her away from the clearing in which she stood. When she didn’t move thedog turned her head to look at her and in her eyes she could see the image of aman with a gun. She tried to move but her feet seemed glued to the ground.

  Suddenly Rick was beside the man and they were shakinghands. Chatting, as if they were old friends. But as Rick started toward her,the man raised his rifle again, pointing it straight at Rick. Xena launched herselfthrough the air just as the rifle fired.

  Kelly awoke, startled, the dream shattered by the crack ofthe rifle.

  She looked at Xena, the dog’s eyes sending her messages.

  I got it, girl but I’m not sure what it is. What’s themessage I’m supposed to decipher?

  She leaned forward and tapped Rick on the shoulder. Hehanded her a set of headphones to put on so they could talk.

  “Someone you know is going to kill you,” she told him. “Ortry to.”

  “Another dream message from Xena?”

  “I pick up her thoughts, like in the other dreams. She wantsyou to know that someone you think is your friend wants you dead.”

  He nodded. “Greg Jordan. We’re already aware of that. He’stried to kill me twice, remember?”

  “No, I don’t think this is about him. It’s someone else.”

  Rick frowned. “Someone else? I can’t imagine who that couldbe. The only person I know down here is Greg. And I’m sure he won’t be happy tosee me.”

  “Just…be careful. Extra careful.”

  He grinned. “You have my word, Red, I’ll pay strictattention to everything.” He reached for her hand, lifted it to his lips andkissed her knuckles. “Besides, I’ve got Xena to watch my back, right?”

  “Xena’s the one sending the warning.”

  The grin disappeared. “In that case I’m hoping she’ll reallybe on the alert. I can’t imagine who she means but I promise not to take anychances.”

  The radio crackled to life in the cockpit and Mike pressed aswitch so they could all listen.

  “Hey, guys. It’s the Dragonslayer.”

  Rick turned to Kelly and mouthed, “Andy.”

  She nodded, swallowing a grin at the nickname.

  “You got something for us?” Mike asked.

  “Yeah, something important.” They waited for him tocontinue. “Okay, I got more satellite imagery that I was able to enlarge. Shotsof the surrounding islands. You guys need to know something.”

  “Then you’d better go ahead and tell us.” Mike’s voice was acombination of tolerance and impatience.

  “Okay. Yeah, yeah. Well, remember I told you this MatthiasGrant guy bought some islands around Camellia Cay and built houses on them? Iguess for even more privacy. Like if Interpol or someone was after him or hisguests.”

  “Andy,” Rick prompted, his tone sharp.

  “Okay, okay. Well, I can tell you Greg Jordan is definitelythere, only not on the Cay itself. I got clear shots showing him on one ofthose other islands, not the main one. I enlarged the face and matched it tothe head shot we have of him, just to make sure. He’s on the island markedNumber Three on the topographical map I sent you.”

  Rick shuffled through the papers on his lap and pulled outthe photo he wanted. “I’ve got it. So that’s where we should be heading.”

  “You got it. You can still land where you were planning to,just on the opposite side of the island. There’s a wide beach there that shouldbe fine for you.”

  The Caribbean islands, made of coral and covered with thick,tropical foliage, were arranged in three arcs. The ones they wanted were in thecenter arc, where the sands were actually black rather than white. On some ofthem, dormant volcanoes slumbered, waiting to breathe themselves to life again.Not always the easiest places to breach, which Rick assumed was why MatthiasGrant had chosen them for his hideaway.

  “I’m sending you another picture to the laptop,” Andy toldthem. “It’s a more definitive picture of the island where Jordan’s living. I markedthree lagoons on the far side that you can bring the boat into and hide in themangroves. But be careful, you guys. I can’t tell if there are guards on thatisland or what.”

  “No problem,” Rick assured him. “We’ve got thermal imagerswith us that can see through anything.”

  “All right. Here goes the picture. Take care.”

  Rick opened the laptop he’d been balancing on his knees andaccessed Andy’s email.

  “We’ll study this when we get down,” he told Mike. Then heturned back to Kelly again. “It’s almost daylight. We’ll have to camp out wherewe land until it gets dark. I don’t want to cross the water and approach theisland until then.”

  “Okay. Xena and I are good.”

  Along with provisions for the humans, Ed had loaded a sackof dog food for Xena. Kelly hoped they wouldn’t be there long enough to use itall up.

  * * * * *

  Greg Jordan found that old habits were hard to break.Despite the fact that he had no schedule to keep, no deadlines to hit, he stillrose at six every morning. The problem was, after doing his daily exerciseroutine, going for his run along the beach and eating the breakfast thehouseman prepared for him, there wasn’t much else to do.

  He’d never gotten the knack of fishing, he already had asmuch tan as he wanted and he didn’t have any hobbies. At least none that hecould pursue in such isolation.

  This morning he was up before dawn, restless, agitatedabout…he didn’t know what. Rather than wake the houseman he brewed a pot ofcoffee himself. He was sitting on the terrace drinking his first cup and tryingto figure out what to do with the rest of his life when the normal chatteringof birds was broken by a familiar sound that drew his gaze to the sky. Ahelicopter, night lights winking, passed overhead. Probably another “guest”arriving at Camellia Cay to drop from sight until it was safe to return home.Or head for someplace else. At least once a week a helicopter brought someonein. Or took someone out.

  Somehow none of this had turned out the way he’d expected.Years ago when he first met Matthias Grant, he was still a Ranger on a missionthat Grant had somehow gotten in the middle of. He’d saved the man’s skinny assin a dicey extraction in Africa and Grant had promised to take care of him.When he left the Rangers he went to work for Grant on his obnoxiously lavishisland providing security for the very high-level criminals who used it to dropout of sight when necessary.

  But working for Grant, even at the exorbitant salary he waspaid, only whetted his appetite for the bigger bucks. Grant was the one who hadturned him onto the Grainger Caldwell gig, told him to make himself noticed sohis old friend Mike D’Antoni would look him up and the payday in the end wouldbe worth it.

  Yeah, right!

  It turned out to be the biggest disaster in the world. Andsomehow his gut was telling him this wasn’t a safe place to be anymore. Hedidn’t know why but he’d learned to trust his instincts. The man surelywouldn’t turn on him and no one could find him here. But just the same,something was telling him to move on.

  He just had to figure out where to.

  * * * * *

  They landed on the far side of the uninhabited island, acoral atoll covered with thick tropical vegetation, setting down on the beachjust as the sun was beginning to turn the sky pink. Mike managed to maneuverthe bird close enough to the shrubs and trees at the edge of the beach to landwhere he could hide it, and they covered it with camouflage netting.

  The three of them with Xena found a spot not too far awaywhere they could be concealed from any passing boats or planes, yet not farfrom the chopper in case they needed it. Mike unfolded a thermal blanket andthey sat down, stacking their provisions to one side.

  “We’d better get some sleep,” Mike said. “We were up prettymuch all night and we’re going to need our wits about us when we launch.”

  Rick looked at his watch. “We’ll take turns standing guard.I don’t think all of us should sleep at the same time.”

  “I can
take my turn,” Kelly told them. “Xena will guard withme.” She looked from one man to the other, seeing their objections in theireyes. “And no arguments. I’m a great shot and I don’t fall asleep on the job.So no catering to the ‘little lady’,” she insisted.

  Rick chuckled. “Okay, Red. You get your turn. But let metake the first watch. Mike, you flew all the way and Red, I want you fresh. Soeveryone make yourselves as comfortable as possible.”

  He pulled his Glock from his waistband, racked the slide tochamber a bullet and checked his pockets to make sure he had extra clips.

  Kelly and Mike smeared themselves with insect repellent andstretched out on the thermal blanket, using backpacks as pillows. Rick latheredon the liquid and then seated himself on a fallen log. Xena planted herselfright beside him, eyes alert, head pointed inward toward the center of theatoll.

  “You and me, girl. Right?” Rick fondled the dog’s ears.

  Xena nudged his hand with his nose.

  It amazed Rick that the animal hadn’t made a sound since thechopper had taken off in Maryland. Even her footsteps were nearly soundless,almost impossible for an animal her size. During the two hours they stoodguard, Xena never once relaxed, never lay down. She simply sat ready forwhatever happened, constantly scenting the air and swiveling her eyes.

  At the end of two hours, Rick shook Kelly gently.

  “Time to wake up, sleeping beauty,” he said in a low voice.

  “Oh, lordy.” She leaped lithely to her feet and treatedherself to a good stretch. “If I’d known you guys had so much fun and lived solavishly I might have hunted you up a long time ago.”

  Rick pulled her close to him, capturing her mouth in a deepkiss. “When this is over we’re going to take some time off and plan our future,just like I said at the cabin. I have a specific plan in mind and I hope you’reokay with it.”

  Her eyes studied his, searching for something. He held her,letting everything he felt show for her to see. Then he pulled her hard againsthis body.