Bluewater Target: The 15th Novel in the Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series (Bluewater Thrillers)

by Charles Dougherty

  "That's good," Delaney said. "Let go of him and get out of the sniper's line of fire."

  The man gave Delaney a relaxed smile and shook his head. "You're Delaney. I've seen pictures."

  "Yeah. Who're you?"

  "Walter Lucas. I'm a lawyer from Miami. I'm here to deliver a message from William O'Toole."

  "You represent him?"

  "No, I don't. Someone else retained me for this. Mr. O'Toole's attorney of record continues to represent him, and he is not aware that I'm here."

  "Okay. You said you had a message for me."

  "Yes. The message is that there is a contract out on you."

  "What?!"

  "Someone has hired an assassin to kill you, Mr. Delaney. Simple enough. My job is done now."

  "Wait. O'Toole sent you to tell me this?"

  "He thought you should know."

  "Who wants me dead now?"

  "I have no further information."

  "Can you ask him? If I retain you?"

  "No, sir. I'm sorry, but he's in maximum security. His communications are restricted. It was quite difficult to arrange the delivery of this message. As it is, there are several people in the chain. I'm merely the last link. I know who brought me the message, but not who gave it to her. I know there was another woman involved, pulling the strings behind the scenes, but that's it."

  "I see," Delaney said.

  He motioned for the two men who were waiting a few yards away to approach, and said, "Please show Mr. Lucas to his car."

  Delaney watched as they led the man back across the lawn. He decided to walk around the grounds and consider who might want him dead.

  It was ironic that O'Toole was warning Delaney. He'd spared O'Toole. Now O'Toole was looking out for him.

  Or was he? Devious man that he was, Delaney wondered if this was not a warning, but a threat of some kind.

  Thinking of O'Toole reminded Delaney of his order to Larry Thompson. Delaney wanted him to set up a means of communicating with O'Toole. That must have been a couple of days ago. He'd follow up on that when he went back to his desk.

  Meanwhile, he concentrated on the news that he was on someone's hit list. He wasn't too worried; his personal security was as good as money could buy. There were world leaders who weren't any better protected. But then world leaders did get killed every so often.

  Delaney wondered who sent Lucas. Was he lying about the O'Toole connection?

  Important people owed O'Toole favors, and they'd no doubt prefer to keep him on their side. Montalba wouldn't have been the only one worried about what O'Toole knew and when he might decide to trade information for favorable treatment in the pen. He was still a powerful man.

  Given all that, Delaney wondered why O'Toole would have bothered to send him a warning. If O'Toole had sent Walter Lucas, it would be because he wanted something from Delaney. O'Toole never lifted a finger unless there was some personal benefit. The first thing Delaney thought of was that O'Toole wanted freedom. O'Toole of all people would have figured SpecCorp sprung the Montalba twins.

  Delaney shook his head. He couldn't imagine where a man like William O'Toole would go if he escaped from prison.

  O'Toole wasn't like Montalba. Montalba was a different breed. He'd lived his life in the shadows. For Montalba, disappearing was as natural as breathing.

  O'Toole, on the other hand, was a public figure. Delaney couldn't picture him living the rest of his life in hiding. But then he couldn't imagine O'Toole living the rest of his life in prison, either. If O'Toole wanted out, Delaney could make it happen. All hell would break loose as a result, but Delaney wasn't one to worry about that. He was more like Montalba than O'Toole, happy to live in the shadows.

  Delaney returned to his office. He called Larry Thompson for a progress report on setting up communication with O'Toole.

  "Good morning," Dani said. "How was your watch?"

  "It has been easy," Marie said. "The difference from yesterday, it is amazing."

  Dani chuckled. "Yes, it is."

  Vengeance was on a close reach in the Santaren channel. She was on the port tack, her course generally north, and the gurgling of the wake told Dani she was making close to ten knots through the water.

  "What's our speed over the ground," Dani asked. "Ten?"

  "Nine point eight," Marie said. "How do you know this?"

  "I know my boat, how she feels, how she sounds. She speaks to me."

  "Like a mother with her child," Marie said.

  "I wouldn't know about that," Dani said.

  "Nor would I, but I have read this somewhere. Anyway, it is a big change in a few hours. How does this happen?"

  "The low pressure up north has moved and weakened, so the wind's dropped, plus we've changed course. And right now, we're in the lee of the Cay Sal Bank, so it's flattened the seas. Plus we've lost the foul current. I'd say our speed over the ground and our speed through the water are about the same, now."

  "We will soon be north of the Cay Sal Bank," Marie said. "It will get rough again then?"

  "Maybe for a little while, but by then, we'll be running parallel to the Florida coast, so we'll just get a little wind chop. Should be pretty easy sailing from here."

  "What about the Gulf Stream? I have read that it can be quite rough, with what they call square waves — very steep and close together."

  "That's so if there's a strong wind opposing the current, but the wind's been mostly from the west-southwest for the last several hours, and it was out of the northwest before that. The Stream should have calmed down by now. We won't be in it for a few hours yet, anyway. We should have benign conditions by the time we get there."

  "How far are we from Florida?" Marie asked.

  "Not far at all. The northern Keys are about 55 or 60 miles to our northwest. We'll be off Miami by early evening."

  "That soon? I thought it must be almost a hundred miles."

  "Closer to 80, I think. We should begin to get a lift from the Gulf Stream in the next hour or two. If it's running true to form, we'll get an extra four knots or so on top of our speed through the water. We could make Miami in time to spend the night, if we wanted."

  "I think you told me earlier that from Miami to the Chesapeake might be three to four days. Is that right?"

  "Should be. With the storm moving away, we should have clear sailing. It's hard to tell how much we'll gain from the Gulf Stream after all the unsettled weather, but getting there in three days wouldn't surprise me."

  Marie nodded. "Will you be calling your banking connections today, then?"

  "I could, if that's still what we want to do."

  "Why wouldn't you? We are close enough now for you to make a meeting in a day or so, if you need to, yes?"

  "Yes, but I wanted to talk to you about a different idea I had."

  "What is this idea?"

  "I've been thinking about what you learned from Montalba — his belief that J.-P. might be working with Connie in a drug cartel."

  "Not just with Connie. With all her friends — you and Liz, Phillip, everyone."

  "Right," Dani said. "And do you think he shared that with Delaney?"

  "I am sure he did; it was Delaney who told him about J.-P.'s business, remember?"

  "Yes. Montalba must have been sure Liz and I were involved. That was why he had them steal Vengeance and install the surveillance gear aboard her."

  "That is correct," Marie said. "It was when Sharktooth interrogated the man SpecCorp sent to retrieve the recordings from Vengeance that Delaney discovered the connection to J.-P. Until then, he just thought you and Liz were working with Connie. When he found out you were J.-P.'s daughter, Montalba said Delaney panicked."

  Dani grinned. "Good to hear that. I was missing that piece."

  Marie shook her head and frowned. "Why does that matter?"

  "I was worried that Delaney wouldn't know who I am."

  "He knows, but I still don't… Wait, Dani. What are you thinking?"

  "That I might
be the one who can draw Delaney into your ambush."

  "I do not think J.-P. would like it if we used you for bait. You are thinking to let Delaney use you for a hostage, somehow? To get J.-P. to finance SpecCorp?"

  "Not exactly. I was thinking of approaching Delaney myself. I'll offer to buy out Montalba's interest in SpecCorp."

  "But what about J.-P.?" Marie asked. "He would go along with this?"

  Dani shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't have in mind asking him. Delaney knows I'm J.-P.'s daughter. He knows my connection to Connie. Why do we need J.-P.?"

  "For the money?" Marie asked.

  "We won't give Delaney money, Marie. We're going to make him believe that we might be induced to finance his receivables, if he can make it attractive enough by laundering our dirty money."

  "How will you do this without sending him money?"

  "We'll show him money, but he'll have to jump through some hoops before he can get his hands on it, and we'll control that."

  Marie shook her head. "I don't understand this."

  "But Liz and I do. We can make him think we have tens of millions of dollars — dirty money sitting in an anonymous account — just waiting to pass it through SpecCorp. That part is easy."

  "You have discussed this with Liz?"

  "Not yet, but she'll be fine with it."

  "If this is easy, what is the hard part?"

  "The hard part will be getting Delaney in the location where you want him. Where do you plan to hit him?"

  "I don't know yet. Would you be asking him to come to a meeting, perhaps? To sign a contract?"

  Dani chuckled. "There are no written contracts in this kind of deal. It's all outside the legal system; that's the point."

  "But you are talking about loaning him money, correct?"

  "Yes, sort of. And there will be multiple paper trails, but they'll be connecting a series of shell companies. We'll set up some companies in obscure places to contract for SpecCorp's services. SpecCorp will bill the companies, but there won't actually be any services provided. The companies will pay SpecCorp's invoices through yet more shell companies. They'll each take a cut of the supposed dirty money and pass the rest to SpecCorp. The cut from the shell companies will be paid to our front company, which will report it as interest income from our loans to SpecCorp."

  "This is complicated," Marie said.

  "Only until you see it work. Then it's dead simple. And I can guarantee that Delaney's seen a similar arrangement with Montalba."

  "But setting up all these companies," Marie said, "how long will this take?"

  "Twenty-four to forty-eight hours, once we figure out how many and where to incorporate. There's a guy in the Bahamas we've used before. I'll just have to get in touch with him. He'll make it happen. He can also create the illusion of electronic funds transfers. His fees are reasonable for setting up the companies, and he takes a percentage on the transfers."

  "Okay. I can fund this from my operational account, but I will need to have an entity to which I make the payments."

  "Don't worry; I'll front the money and you can repay me. I have an offshore account I've used with the man in the Bahamas before. It has enough money to cover this."

  "But Montalba was dealing in tens of millions, Dani. I do not mean to pry, but are you sure you can fund this?"

  "Yes. We'll create the illusion of tens of millions, but there won't be any real transfers. If you think the shell company arrangement is complicated, you don't even want to think about how this works. I only have a vague concept, but it's done more often than anybody knows. The guy in the Bahamas specializes in it."

  "Okay," Marie said. "So this can be our working strategy. The tactical question is where to ambush Delaney."

  "Yes. But there's another tactical question," Dani said.

  "What is it?"

  "We need a credible way for me to approach Delaney. I can hardly call SpecCorp's switchboard and ask for him. He'd never buy that."

  Marie grinned. "I have a satellite phone that belonged to Montalba."

  "I'm not sure how that helps," Dani said, "except that Delaney might recognize the number. He knows Montalba's dead, though. Anybody could have his phone by now."

  "Yes," Marie said. "But there is more to it than that. It is a special satellite phone, provided by SpecCorp. It is encrypted, and it has several layers of passcode protection and two-factor authentication with a dedicated cellphone that Montalba only used for this. I have all of that, even the cellphone. When Delaney sees the call, he will know that it is either Montalba or someone trusted by Montalba."

  Dani laughed. "Okay. We have the beginnings of a plan. We have some details to work out, and you have some ground recon to do once we're in the Chesapeake."

  10

  "How did Marie fare on the early morning watch?" Liz asked, handing Dani a mug of coffee and sitting down on the windward cockpit seat.

  "She was okay. Surprised at how different conditions were when she came on watch."

  "Yes, I'm sure. During my watch it went from borderline wild to wonderful. Turning north into the Santaren Channel was like flipping a switch."

  "I can imagine," Dani said. "You shook out the reefs, then? Before she took over?"

  "Yes. It was benign, so I put the autopilot on for a few minutes and got it done. I told her if things got nasty to call me."

  "She had a grand time," Dani said. "Wanted to know if I planned to make phone calls today."

  "And do you?"

  "I don't think so. I had a different idea, thinking about Connie's call the other morning."

  "Tell me."

  "Short version: I approach Delaney, convince him I represent Connie and J.-P., and offer to finance his receivables in exchange for his laundering our money."

  "Just call him out of the blue?" Liz asked.

  "Not quite. I was worried about that, but Marie has this special phone that Delaney gave Montalba for secure communication. I figure if I make the call on that phone and play it right, he'll think we did in the Montalbas."

  Liz laughed. "He wouldn't be far wrong. But then what?"

  "Then we use Jeffrey Crosley to make Delaney think we're sitting on — I don't know, pick a number. Say 50 million dollars in dirty money that we want to launder through SpecCorp like Montalba was doing."

  "Jeffrey Crosley," Liz said, shaking her head and smiling. "Did you know Connie used him?"

  "No! Are you kidding? When? What for?"

  "Twice. Once when she was sliding out of that mess she was in with that Alfano character, and then again when somebody planted a bunch of money in some accounts in Paul's name, trying to frame him for something. Crosley just erased the accounts and they kept the money. Really screwed the people who were after Paul."

  "How'd she find him?" Dani asked, chuckling.

  "Her lawyer in Miami, back during the Alfano thing."

  "No surprise there. Crosley probably does work for half the lawyers in Miami," Dani said.

  "No, no surprise. Did Marie buy off on this?"

  "For the time being. She's focused more on where she wants to ambush Delaney."

  "That makes sense," Liz said. "Are you still going to call around and see if there are any rumors about SpecCorp in the banking world?"

  "Not unless Marie vetoes the scam. If I start asking questions, it's likely to get back to SpecCorp. I think the plan I sketched is way better. The other one still begs the question of how to get our hooks into Delaney."

  "I agree. I think this one could be fun to play out. Ignoring the part where Delaney dies."

  "That's still bothering you?"

  "Yes. How about you?"

  "Yes. I don't like to admit it, but it is. I keep reminding myself that he's the bastard who was behind stealing Vengeance, though."

  "Me, too," Liz said. "How did you come up with the idea for scamming him?"

  "Well, Marie planted the seed when she told us about Montalba deciding Papa was behind Connie's imaginary cartel. Then this morning, whe
n I came on watch, she asked me more about Connie's cartel ruses, and it came to me. She thought I meant to bring J.-P. into it, but I don't see any reason to. Do you?"

  "I don't know," Liz said. "Let me think it over for a while. But my first reaction is that we don't need to."

  "I've got enough money in my offshore account to get Crosley up and running, and Marie will reimburse me for expenses," Dani said.

  "You're thinking you'll end up breaking even, then?"

  "Maybe. I'm still noodling it."

  "You shouldn't lose money on it, Dani. Marie and Clarence probably have funding."

  "Oh, I won't lose money. I was thinking more of cleaning out SpecCorp. No point in leaving a bunch of cash there with Delaney gone."

  Liz smiled and shook her head. "You're not comfortable that Marie's going to kill him, but you're willing to rob his grave."

  "Don't, Liz. It's not like that."

  "No?"

  "No. It's the challenge. I don't care about the money."

  "That's what they all say," Liz said.

  "I don't care. If I score, you can figure out a charity to give it to. I just want the bastard to know he's broke before he dies."

  "Okay. We'll see; I need to think about this whole thing for a while," Liz said. "I can see how the promise of funding would draw Delaney out, but how do you get him into Marie's ambush?"

  "Well, it's hard to come up with specifics when she hasn't figured out where she wants to put him. One of my thoughts is to rip him off so badly that he loses his cool and comes after me."

  Liz was silent for thirty seconds, her brow wrinkled as she stared into the distance. "That could be dangerous. What's Marie's reaction to it?"

  "I haven't shared it with her yet. I'm trying to come up with another option. Marie was thinking of a meeting to strike a deal; she was envisioning a contract signing." Dani chuckled.

  "Right. That won't work, but maybe we can think of a good reason for a meeting. It would make sense to run a transaction or two up front, before you met with him, to show good faith and build his confidence in the deal. Maybe have some kind of celebration after the first score, or something, when everybody's guard is down."

  "I like that, Liz. Keep thinking on that, okay?"