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

by Charles Dougherty

  "He will make that connection with no trouble," Marie said. "He has enough information, with what you gave him. It is better to let him work that out."

  "You did give away the fact that we were in Annapolis," Liz said. "I'm not sure that matters, though."

  "I did?"

  "Yes, but only if he thinks about it," Marie said. "You told him the original phone was stolen from you."

  "Oops," Dani said. "You're right. Since they recovered the phone, they've probably tried to track down where it was stolen from. For sure, they'll know the general vicinity. Damn!"

  "Do not worry about that," Marie said. "He will know you're in the area soon enough, anyway. Once you set up a meeting, it will be obvious, yes?"

  "That's so," Liz said. "Don't you wish we had a bug in his office right now?"

  "That would be fun, wouldn't it?" Dani said. "But since we don't, let's talk about my next call."

  "First, turn that phone off," Marie said. "We do not want him to call you; that would give him some sense of control. It is better if he gets the recording if he tries, yes?"

  "You think he will call?" Liz asked.

  Marie shrugged. "Maybe. Once he has discovered his bank account has disappeared."

  "Okay," Dani said, switching off the phone. "That'll add to his frustration, if he does try. Any thoughts on how long we should give him before I call back? I'm leaning toward two hours."

  "I think that is good," Marie said. "And when will we return his money?"

  "I've been thinking about that," Dani said. "We could do that overnight, but if we can set him up for a meeting tonight, why even bother?"

  "How much money are we talking about?" Liz asked.

  Dani shrugged. "No idea. I could call Crosley, I guess."

  "It doesn't matter," Liz said. "What would we do with it if we didn't return it?"

  "Pick a charity, maybe," Dani said. "Or several. I'll get the amount from Crosley before we call Delaney again, so I can tease him with it."

  "That is the thing to do," Marie said. "We do not have to decide what to do with the money yet."

  "No, you're right," Dani said. "He'll be in a panic, whether or not he shows it. He'll want to know how quickly we can re-establish his account and put cash in it."

  "What are you going to tell him?" Liz asked.

  "I'll tell him we have plenty of cash we can transfer overnight with a phone call. We'll send him enough to stay afloat, but we'll hold the rest until we see evidence of his commitment to a deal."

  "What kind of evidence?" Liz asked.

  "A face-to-face meeting, at least," Dani said. "I'm trying to figure out a way to set him up for the recording of Montalba spilling his guts, but I'm stuck at the moment. Maybe I'll just start it when he answers the phone."

  "No preamble, huh?" Liz asked. "I like that. He can draw his own conclusions."

  "Yes," Marie said. "We start the snippet at the point where Montalba names O'Toole and Delaney."

  "That makes no damn sense, Bill. You know we had an account there. What the hell's the bank trying to pull?" Delaney asked.

  "They're saying they have no record of our account. I — "

  "You sure as hell must have a record, don't you? There was what — something over $50 million in there when I asked about payroll the other day, right?"

  "Yeah. I even exported that report from my browser to a PDF. I — "

  "Send them a copy of the PDF, then. That should — "

  "Clayton, I tried that. They can't accept that; it's too easy for somebody to gin up a fake PDF. Same with our paper records."

  "Paper records," Delaney said. "Don't they have paper records?"

  "No. Everything's electronic."

  "What about from when we opened the account? I remember a ton of paper — resolutions from the board, corporate shit, signature cards. They've gotta keep that stuff, right?"

  "Yeah, in theory. But they — "

  "In theory? I thought there were laws about that."

  "Yeah, and all kinds of banking regs, Clayton," Bill Legrand said. "The problem is, they digitize all that stuff and then stash the paper in an off-site storage facility. They supposedly keep it forever to meet the legal requirements. I grilled 'em on it. Told 'em we wanted them to produce the paper, but they're stonewalling me. The first thing they said was when they acquired the commercial banking business, the selling bank agreed to hold the paper files for them. The paper originals never get looked at, except sometimes in a sticky lawsuit. Most of the time, everybody agrees to accept the facsimile documents printed from the digital files, even in court."

  "So our money just evaporated? What about all the digital files?"

  "There's no trace in any of their electronic systems."

  "But these people know you, Bill. You've had lunch and stuff with them. Hell, I even did once or twice, early on."

  "Their memories are fading rapidly, Clayton. We need a lawyer to pursue this."

  "Shit! How the hell are we gonna pay a lawyer?"

  There was a knock at the door, and Larry Thompson entered. "A lawyer for what? I heard you yelling through the soundproofed door."

  "The damn bank is claiming we don't have an account with them — never had an account with them," Delaney said.

  "You said at the last staff meeting that we were good for several weeks with the cash on hand," Thompson said, frowning.

  "Yeah. We were."

  "What the hell happened, then?" Thompson asked.

  "We don't know yet," Delaney said. "Bill, find us a hot-shot lawyer. I'll cough up enough to get him started from my personal account. I want a real shark, somebody that's gonna rip that bank a new asshole. Damages and all that, okay? Do it right now."

  "Yeah, boss. I'm on it." Legrand left the office, closing the door behind him.

  "So, what about that phone call, Larry?" Delaney asked, as Thompson settled into a chair across the desk from him.

  "Okay. I listened to the recording while the guys were checking on the phones, so I'm good with that. Now, about the phones, she was telling the truth. The techs hacked the billing database. Both the sat phone she called on and the cellphone used for two-factor authentication showed up on the network. They dropped off right after the call."

  "What's that mean?" Delaney asked, his face still flushed from the news about the bank.

  "They were cloned, right down to the hardware and firmware. Even the electronic serial numbers and all the embedded identifiers that the manufacturers use. To the telephone network, they are indistinguishable from the originals. And whoever used them was savvy enough to disable them once the call was made, so they're not still sitting on the network where they can be tracked."

  "She said they'd disabled the GPS feature," Delaney said.

  "Yeah. The call metadata shows that GPS was turned off on both phones."

  "I didn't know you could duplicate a phone like that. Especially not an encrypted sat phone. That thing's military grade, right?"

  "Yeah. The techs said there are Israeli companies that can do that. The FBI and other high-end law enforcement organizations use them. Their technology's proprietary, and they're super expensive. And that's just to crack an unlock code. No telling what somebody spent to duplicate those phones."

  "Who the hell are we up against, Larry?"

  "I don't know. But she told you to check the bank balance, so I gotta — "

  "Shit! You're right. I'm so frazzled I missed that. Whoever she's working with must be behind this whole mess. That what you were about to say?"

  "Yeah, exactly."

  "She said she's gonna call back," Delaney said.

  "Yeah. We're ready with traps on those phone numbers, but the techs say it won't get us anywhere. We have to try, though."

  "Sure," Delaney said, picking up his smartphone in response to an odd, echoing ping. "It's that app that Lucas sent me yesterday. Looks like I've got a message from him — a long one, too."

  "Let's have a look," Thompson said, pulling his cha
ir around to the side of Delaney's desk so they could both see the screen.

  RE: Warning! About the "contract" we discussed.

  I have confirmation that you are the target. Contract will be executed within a few days. Team led by a woman. Source of information is highly reliable. No further details available.

  Also discussed the other matter with the clients. They understand. No worries there.

  Delaney frowned at the screen, shaking his head. "What do you think? Should I trust Lucas?"

  "What's the downside to trusting him? At least on this?"

  "You're right. I don't see a percentage for him to be making this up. I've already told him I'm interested in working with his client. The most he'd get out of telling me about a hit on me is my goodwill."

  "That's how I see it," Thompson said. "It's gotta be that Barrera woman, Clayton. It all fits."

  "What do you mean by all?"

  "Everything points to her being behind the hit on Montalba, right?" Thompson asked.

  "Yeah, even the FARC stuff, I guess," Delaney said.

  "Now we've got this woman who has her hands on the encrypted phone we gave Montalba," Thompson said. "And she's wanting to set up a meeting with you. You never met Montalba face to face. Why would she want to meet you?"

  "Yeah, Larry, I see your point, but if she's looking to take Montalba's place, why would she put a hit on me?"

  "Who knows why women do stuff, Clayton? Maybe she wants to throw you off balance. Or she's pissed off from before."

  "From before?"

  "When you were spying on her for Montalba," Thompson said.

  "What's your advice?"

  "See what she says when she calls back. There's nothing to lose, there."

  "We're tight on time, Larry. Payroll's coming up in a few days; that'll take most of what we had in the bank."

  "How fast do you think Lucas can move?"

  "I don't know. I'm not sure I want him to know we're broke. His people might lose interest if they knew that."

  "What's your alternative, then?"

  "If Barrera wiped the bank account, she can cough up the money."

  "Where's her incentive?"

  Delaney grinned. "We have to give her a little motivation, that's all."

  "What do you have in mind? Thumbscrews?" Thompson asked.

  "Something along those lines."

  "But you have to catch her first, Clayton."

  "Yeah." Delaney rubbed his hands together. "Wish she'd hurry up and call. Time's a wastin'."

  "Quick question," Thompson said. "What was the other matter Lucas referred to in the text?"

  "O'Toole's well-being. I texted him about it yesterday."

  24

  "Are we ready?" Dani asked.

  "I've got the snippet cued up to start where we wanted," Liz said. "It'll play when I touch the button."

  "I'm ready with the cellphone," Marie said. "You may make the call."

  They listened to the ring tone, waiting for Delaney to answer.

  Liz held a finger over the play button on the recorder.

  "Good morning again, Ms. Barrera." Delaney's voice came from the satellite phone's speaker.

  Liz pressed 'play,' and Montalba's voice filled Vengeance's main saloon.

  "My name is Guillermo Montalba…

  "Senator O'Toole introduced me to Clayton Delaney, who runs a company called SpecCorp. SpecCorp specializes in black ops. O'Toole called them 'deniable operations.'

  "When they use SpecCorp, the government can pretend ignorance of military actions that might embarrass the politicians.

  "Delaney owed O'Toole a debt of gratitude. O'Toole used his position as the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee to funnel lucrative contracts to SpecCorp.

  "In exchange, Delaney did favors for O'Toole — personal favors. O'Toole ran several illegal businesses — drugs, gambling, prostitution, just for example. Delaney often provided people — soldiers — to carry out acts of violence against O'Toole's competitors.

  "O'Toole introduced me to Delaney when I needed broad-scale surveillance of people in several Caribbean countries. My relationship with Delaney evolved from there.

  "SpecCorp offered a perfect means for me to launder money, as I mentioned earlier. Delaney was eager to help, in exchange for a percentage. He was passing part of his commissions through to Senator O'Toole. I'm aware that people under Delaney's orders killed several — "

  Liz touched the stop button, and Dani said, "Good morning, Mr. Delaney. Sorry you couldn't see the video that accompanies that audio clip, but maybe another time."

  "What do you think you're doing? Who was that?" Delaney asked, watching Larry Thompson's face for his reactions. Thompson nodded and put a finger to his lips. Delaney stopped talking.

  "I'm sure you recognized his voice, Mr. Delaney. There are hours more of his reminiscences, but you can hear it another time. You might enjoy his description of how your team sprung him and his sister from federal custody in Miami. Oh, and there's dirt on several of the remaining members of the Armed Services Committee that might be useful to you."

  Delaney and Thompson exchanged looks. Thompson shrugged.

  Delaney asked, "Why did you play that?"

  "To serve as a personal introduction from Montalba, since he's not able to join us. Now you understand how I got the sat phone you gave Montalba. Are you comfortable with my identity, now?"

  "What if I am?"

  "Then we can move on to discuss business. You're in desperate need of money — say $56,535,617.26. Isn't technology amazing?"

  Thompson raised his eyebrows, and Delaney looked down at the printout on his desk and nodded.

  "Do you mind if I ask how you did that?" Delaney asked.

  "Ask whatever you wish. Are you wondering how I got the balance? Is that your question?"

  "For a start, yes."

  "You're a smart man, Mr. Delaney. Figure it out."

  "Did you hack the account?"

  "Now, now, Mr. Delaney. That would be illegal. Don't make accusations you can't support."

  "I'm asking. You said I could ask whatever I wanted."

  "I did, didn't I?" Dani laughed. "I never said I'd answer, though. Are you interested in a loan? You must have a payroll to meet soon, to keep that much money in your checking account."

  "I want my money back, Ms. Barrera. Then we can discuss a loan."

  "And you think I took your money?"

  "You're toying with me, and I don't like it."

  "Don't be a killjoy; let a girl have a little fun. It's possible I might help you recover what you've lost, but we need to discuss a few concerns of mine, first."

  "What concerns?"

  "Well, first," Dani said, "there's the matter of your unsavory reputation. You heard the recording; Montalba went into more detail later. Bank account numbers, amounts, details of your customers.

  "There's embarrassing information in those recordings — I might even say dangerous information.

  "If I were you, Mr. Delaney, I'd want to be sure that information didn't become public. And I won't do business with you while you have that exposure."

  "You have the recordings," Delaney said.

  "Yes, at the moment. I might send them to — "

  "How much do you want?" Delaney interrupted.

  "I don't understand your question, Mr. Delaney."

  "For the recordings. How much?"

  "I see. You think I'm trying to blackmail you?"

  Thompson locked eyes with Delaney and shook his head. Delaney nodded. "I don't even know you. I wouldn't accuse you of such a thing. But you do have the recordings, don't you?"

  "Hours' worth. Mr. Montalba was quite forthcoming at the end of his life."

  "Are they the originals?" Delaney asked.

  "Yes, the originals."

  "And are there copies?"

  "No, Mr. Delaney. I'm not comfortable having the originals, even. They're too dangerous to too many people in high places. You want them?"

>   "Yes. What do you want for them?"

  "I'm prepared to hand them over to you as a token of our agreement."

  "Our agreement? What agreement?"

  "The one we will negotiate soon. Don't worry; my terms won't be any more onerous than Montalba's, I'm sure. He was in the same business I am."

  "And when will we negotiate this agreement, Ms. Barrera?"

  "I'm in the D.C. area now, but I'll be leaving soon. We could meet tonight."

  "Where and when? I need neutral ground."

  "I understand that. You know the target ship off Tangier Island? The one called the Hannibal?"

  "It's the American Mariner," Delaney said. "The Hannibal was destroyed years ago. That's its replacement."

  "You do know it," Dani said. "Shall we say midnight?"

  "Midnight will work. How will I find you?"

  "How will you be arriving?"

  "By helicopter. And you?"

  "By small boat; I'll get there early and find a suitable spot for you to land. When you're a minute out, call me on this phone and I'll mark a landing zone with red flares."

  "Ms. Barrera, I look forward to meeting you. Montalba never agreed to meet me."

  "I never do business with anyone I haven't met in person. That's one difference between me and Montalba." Dani disconnected the call and turned off the phone.

  "How'd I do?"

  "Fine," Marie said.

  "That was too easy, Ms. Barrera," Liz said.

  Marie and Dani chuckled.

  "Will he come?" Liz asked.

  "I'm sure he'll come, but I suspect he'll have his own agenda," Dani said. "He wants the recordings and his money. Then we're dead, at least in his version of the story."

  "What do you think, Larry?" Delaney asked, after he hung up the phone.

  "She was mixed up in the hit on Montalba, all right. Could you recognize his voice from the recording?"

  "Yeah, that was him. Why?"

  "Somebody interrogated him before he died," Thompson said. "There were signs he was drugged, the way he broke up his sentences and stumbled over words. That's a given, I guess."

  "She said she has hours of recordings," Delaney said.

  "We can't trust her to turn over the originals, Clayton. The stakes are too high."