by Scott Cook
I sighed and was silent for a moment before I said: “Her being here in Costa Rica just makes things all the more complex.”
Andrea began to laugh, “Oh, my hubby… how he’s coming along. Has she found out about nice Doctor Alldroid yet?”
I cast her a shocked glance, “You knew?”
Andrea scoffed, “Honey, there is little I don’t know.”
“Glad to hear that,” I said, gripping the wheel tighter, “because this rescue isn’t entirely altruistic. I want to know exactly what the Christ is going on down here… and I have a feeling you know.”
“Of course I do,” she said imperiously.
When she said no more, I didn’t press the issue. I could bide my time. We made it to Juan’s farmhouse less than an hour later and I led her aboard the Reina del Lago.
“How crazy is this…” Andrea commented.
We rode the elevator up to the third level and entered the lounge. There were several people already there, including Lisa, Umberto, Missy and Palmer. I wasn’t surprised to see Lisa holding a pistol.
“Well, well, well!” Andrea said, clapping her hands together. “A reunion. How yummy.”
Chapter 28
“What the hell is she doing here?” Miles asked heatedly.
“Uhm…” I said and grinned wryly. “Didn’t you ask me down here to find her, Miles? Well… voila! That’ll be two-hundred grand and two Delaneys, please.”
He glared at me, “This isn’t a joke, Jarvis.”
“No, it isn’t Palmer,” I said in a deadly serious tone. I pointed a finger at him. “You and or your ex-wife here, are responsible for Clay’s and Declan’s abduction. I hold you personally responsible for their welfare. If anything happens to either one of them… I’m going to let Missy here do whatever comes to mind. And if by some miracle you’re still alive after that… then I’m going to carve you into little pieces. So no, Palmer, this is most certainly not a joke. If I were you, I’d start talking. Fast and honest.”
Andrea looked at me, “You think I’m responsible for this shit show?”
“I don’t know,” I said, “but I’m goddamned well gonna find out. Have a seat, Ms. Wellesley.”
Andrea shrugged and sat at the table across from Palmer and laughed sardonically, “Isn’t this interesting. Miles, I didn’t think you had it in you. Carrying on two affairs at once? And plotting this twisted scenario and putting a personal friend and his family in danger just to try and squeeze me out of my own company.”
Miles exploded and shot to his feet, “Your company! I built EcoLife from the ground up, Andrea. You come along after all the hard work is laid down and try and claim it for yourself! Who the hell do you think you are!”
“Hard work?” Andrea scoffed. She was maintaining her cool admirably. “You were just a pissant local engineering firm when I came along, darling. Without my savvy, my courage and frankly my direction, EcoLife would still be putting up greenhouses on Missouri peanut farms. That’s all you’d ever have amounted to, Miles. Peanuts.”
“You… you bitch,” he seethed.
Lisa glanced at me and I shook my head imperceptibly. I wanted them to argue. In this kind of heated discussion, something might slip that could be of value.
“You know it’s true, Miles,” Andrea said, still calm. “You’re a smart guy, that’s true. A talented engineer. But as for other aspects of being a man… you lack the fortitude to have built this business up to what it is today. You don’t have the balls. I’m sure young Lisa here can attest to just what you lack in that department.”
Christ… I was glad she wasn’t mad at me. This lioness had some claws and she wasn’t afraid to use them.
“You’re an evil woman, Andrea,” Miles sputtered.
“Am I?” She asked with a cocked eyebrow, “Because I’m telling the truth? Sorry, honey, but you’re short sighted along with everything else. Like it or not, EcoLife is what it is today because of me. If you actually succeeded in pushing me out, it wouldn’t take more than a couple of years for it to fold in on itself and implode.”
“This is getting us nowhere,” I said calmly. “Now I’ve got something to say, so I want you all to clamp your tamale grinders shut.”
Lisa smirked as did Missy. Umberto smiled. Miles sat back down in his chair and fumed. Andrea smiled at me and slowly ran her tongue along her pouty lips.
I heaved a sigh, “Miles or Andrea or both. I have one question and I want it answered. If you don’t tell me what I want to know… where is Garcia’s main camp?”
Andrea angled her head toward Miles and he stared daggers at her. Neither one said anything, though.
“I’m waiting,” I stated. “Miles, I met Father Lopez this morning. He knows you. So there’s no point in hiding it anymore. Where is Garcia’s camp!?”
“Goddammit, Miles!” Andrea exclaimed. “Tell him! Let him get his friend back.”
“I don’t know!” Miles blurted. “I only knew about the one Lisa went to… I don’t know the location of his main base.”
I rubbed my hands across my face, “Palmer… I’m not going to accept anything but what I want to know, ya’ hear me? I will beat you until you piss blood if that’s what it takes. You need to believe that.”
Andrea grinned and Miles looked a little pale, “Scott, I swear I’m telling the truth. I didn’t even know he had another base.”
I felt the anger coming on hard and fast now. My fists clenched at my sides and I only glared at him.
“Miles, just tell him,” Lisa warned. “Don’t push him.”
Miles only spread his hands wide in supplication. Andrea wore a devilish smile on her face and considered Miles for a long moment. I thought the idea of me doing violence to her ex-husband was titillating her.
Finally, though, she raised a hand, “I believe him.”
“What?” I snapped.
“It fits,” Andrea said. “This harebrained plan. Setting up this Garcia guy and an army to take over Nicaragua? And then trying to make it look like it was my idea? It’s just crazy enough and half-assed enough to be exactly the kind of attempt Miles would make. He’s a good engineer, but as I’ve said, he lacks imagination and cunning. It doesn’t surprise me at all that he doesn’t know his rebel buddy has another camp. That’s exactly the kind of deduction and investigation that Miles would neglect. I believe he doesn’t know the location, Scott. I’m sorry.”
“And you?”
Her eyes were smoky and her grin was what a cat might give a still squirming mouse pinned beneath her paw, “Would you force the information out of me? What would you do to get me to talk?”
The other women all reacted disdainfully in a chorus of scoffs, groans and muttered oaths. I stared long and hard at her.
“What would I have to do to get you to tell me?” I asked.
It was impossible to deny or to pretend that her naked lust… a lust for life, for power, for conquest and yes, for sex… wasn’t magnetic. Andrea Wellesley was Genghis Khan in a pleasing package and nothing would ever stand in her way.
“If I said that I’d tell you everything you wanted to know if you took me to bed… would you?” She asked with a gleam in her eyes.
“I’d do whatever you could think of,” I stated.
Lisa scowled at that and even Missy’s brows went up, but I didn’t care. If that’s what it took, then so be it. I would stop at nothing to get Clay and Declan back, whether that meant beating Palmer to a pulp or getting intimate with Andrea. The image of her as a praying mantis suddenly popped into my mind’s eye.
She laughed, “Oh, sweetie… that’s a long, hard list… and it grieves me more than you’ll ever know to have to admit that I really don’t know.”
I scoffed, “You could lie.”
She met my gaze with flashing eyes, “I’m no liar, Scott.”
“We’ll see,” Was all I said.
That was all I could say, because my satellite phone rang. I walked into the galley and answered it.
&nbs
p; “Scott, how was your day?” It was Santino.
“Oh, just ducky,” I quipped.
I quickly related how I’d found Andrea Wellesley as well. Santino whistled in appreciation.
“Excellent. Now all that remains is to free Clay and his son.”
“Tell me McClay came through.”
“He did. How soon can you be at the harbor in Limon?”
“I can leave here almost immediately… but we’ve still got the problem of numbers. Garcia has a substantial fighting force. I’ve got… well, I’ve got myself. Maybe Lisa…”
He paused for a moment to consider that, “I can provide us with at least two additional team members.”
“Us?”
“Us. Charles and I have compiled a reasonable amount of equipment to outfit a fire team of at least half a dozen.”
I was startled by that, “You and Charles?”
“Yes. We can brief you on what we’ve got to work with and we can come up with a game plan when you get here.”
“Okay… That takes care of Clay. But what I still need to do is make sure that once we liberate them, that the Delaney’s are no longer bothered by this Garcia. That means I need to get Miles and his ex-wife to cooperate.”
“I understand. That’s something I might be able to help with as well. Since you have them in custody, it might be a good idea to bring them along.”
I had a sudden insight as to what my mafia friend might do to persuade my guests. I felt simultaneously concerned and gratified.
“Gregorio… I appreciate what you’re doing, but I can’t ask you to go on this raid…”
“We’re not going through this again, are we? I might be ancient, but I’m spry. And I have a lot of respect for Clay.”
Santino was a tall fit man in his early fifties. He was hardly weak or slow and I’ve seen him in action.
“It’s just… I don’t want to risk any more lives than I have to,” I admitted, “A lot has happened since I’ve been here. Hell… I’ve personally killed ten men… one with my bare hands. It’s… it’s been ugly.”
There was a long pause which I felt was in commiseration, “If anybody can handle it, Scott, you can. Hopefully it’s almost over. And as for risking others’ lives… We’re volunteering. We’re all doing it for our own reasons, and that’s our choice. However, I can tell you that there isn’t one of us who isn’t doing it partly because we believe in you. That doesn’t make you responsible. It just makes you the kind of man others are willing to believe in and follow. That’s something to be proud of.”
“I appreciate that, Gregorio… but it also fills me with guilt. If any of you get hurt, it’s because of me.”
“No… it’s because we’re all doing what we feel is right. We’re all glad to let you be our captain, Scott… but you don’t get to decide for us. I don’t mean that harshly. It’s the same for you, as you well know.”
I blew out my breath, “I can’t argue that. I think I can be on the road shortly. Might be a couple of hours until I get to you, though.”
“It’s nearly midnight now,” Santino stated. “Why not just come in the morning. That’ll give us the whole day to plan and to get the ship in position. You’ve had a long and trying day. You need some sleep. Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere.”
I had to agree. I was already very tired. I’d gotten up at 0400 and had ended my day in a long Jeep and motorcycle chase and gun fight. My body was crying out for rest.
I thanked him and hung up. He was right, of course. As much as I rankled at putting others in danger, I knew that whoever had offered to help, they were grownups and could, and should, make their own minds up. I couldn’t prevent that…
Then there was Lisa. She’d want to come, probably feeling some sense of responsibility for what’s happened and to support me. That worried me.
Lisa had proven herself over and over again to be tough and resilient. She’d taken part in more than one dangerous action with me. And she’d even had the balls to come into Nicaragua on her own and try to rescue Missy.
Of course, that had probably been a setup. Miles had probably arranged things with Garcia ahead of time. Yet Lisa didn’t know that. She’d still gone ahead and taken that enormous personal risk for others’ sake.
“What’s going on?” Lisa asked when I walked back into the lounge.
“Miles, Andrea and I have an appointment to keep,” I said.
“What are you talking about?” Palmer inquired suspiciously.
“I mean that we’re driving to Limon to meet some friends of mine and go rescue Clay and Declan,” I stated. “And since you’re both my prisoners, you’re coming along. Doesn’t seem right to leave you here to burden Umberto.”
“You mean Miles, Andrea, you and I have an appointment to keep, right?” Lisa asked defiantly.
“We? What’s this we stuff? You got a turd in your pocket?”
“Just like the good old days. Gonzalez and what’s his nuts on a clandestine mission of mercy,” Lisa said, holding out a fist and giggling.
“Uh-huh,” I replied dryly. I didn’t want to remind her that the Gonzalez part of that team slipped away in the night, leaving what’s his nuts with a broken heart.
“C’mon…” She dragged it out.
I laughed, “Okay, but only if you’re good.”
She treated me to a crooked grin, “You know I am, guapo.”
“You have no right—!“ Palmer protested.
“Oh, shut the fuck up, Miles!” Andrea said in exasperation. “He has every right. Not to mention the fact that you don’t have any choice. Why don’t you fight Scott and get us free?”
Miles spluttered in impotent rage, “Why are you okay with this, Andreea? He’s holding you prisoner, too.”
“If only,” She said with a wry grin. “Frankly, Miles my dear… I’m curious to see how this ends. I’ve got nothing else to do, so what the hell?”
“I’m coming as well, amigo,” Umberto said.
“You don’t even know what’s going on, Umberto,” I protested.
“You’re going to rescue Clay,” He said. “You need people who are familiar with weapons and who can fight. In addition to being in security, I served four years in the Army. I’m with you.”
I heaved a sigh, “Fine, fine. God forbid you damned kids didn’t get your way all the time! I guess your guys can watch over two prisoners, Umberto?”
He nodded.
“Great… then let’s have one more drink and climb into our racks.”
Gus and Jen made us all breakfast. Afterward, they announced that they had made arrangements with their embassy and were flying out of San Jose that afternoon. Apparently the three sisters had already gone home the day before while I was out gallivanting. It was sad to see the Ausies go, Gus was a friendly and amusing bloke, exactly the kind of Australian you’d hope to meet. Jen had opened up considerably since we’d rescued her and was a kind and thoughtful woman.
“Thank you,” Jen said as she and Gus met me and Lisa at the gangway with their meager possessions. She dropped her bag and came into my arms, hugging me fiercely.
“Aw, shucks, ma’am… it was nothin’,” I drawled.
She laughed, “Not to me it wasn’t nothin’. We’ll never forget you.”
I chuckled as she went over to Lisa and Gus came over. He grinned and shook my hand, “You makin’ time with my girl, Yank?”
“You know it, mate,” I said and pumped his hand.
Gus hugged me then, “Thanks, mate. You ever come down to Aus., you’ve got friends.”
I smiled, “What’re you two gonna do now?”
Gus sighed, “We’ve got a friend who’s a therapist. We’ll go see her and make sure Jen has a chance to get whatever help she needs.”
I chucked him on the shoulder, “Good on ya’, Mate.”
After they said goodbye to Lisa, Juan’s wife Maria led them to her car to drive them to the airport. I watched them get in and drive away.
“Mor
e fans for you,” Lisa commented as she came and stood close.
I waved that away, “Fans of yours, too.”
She scoffed, “Not the same.”
I shrugged that off. Lisa put a hand on my arm.
“What?” I asked.
She only sighed, “Nothing.”
I waited.
“Were you serious last night… about sleeping with her to get her to talk to you?”
“Yes. If I had to… humiliating though it might be.”
That didn’t sit well with her. She only frowned, though.
“I’m single,” I reminded her, “and besides… it didn’t come to that, so the point is moot. I’m getting them back, no matter what.”
“I know how driven you are,” Lisa said, “and I guess banging her isn’t the worst duty you could pull. But suppose this had happened a year ago…? Would you…?”
I faced her, “You should know the answer to that. Is that what’s on your mind this morning or is it something else?”
She just smiled slightly and shrugged, ”That’s all… and I know I have no right to question you… Anyway, when do we leave?”
“It’s a couple of hours to Limon,” I pondered. “Once aboard the salvage ship, we’ll not only be able to keep our prisoners under wraps, we’ll also be able to start making a plan. So I say we leave right away.”
“Doesn’t give us much time to convince Missy she’s not coming,” Lisa said with a wry grin.
I sighed, “Oh, Christ… don’t tell me…”
“Yup. She wants in on the operation.”
“Abso-fudgin’-lutely not!” I declared.
Lisa chuckled, “then you tell her.”
“Groan…” I said softly and headed for the stairs.
I found Missy and the girls sitting in the outdoor dining area on deck two. She was explaining how a steam engine worked. I grinned at that. Guess it was a school day. I had a hard time even remembering what day it actually was anymore.
“Hey, Scotty,” Aubrey said with a smile.
Shelby looked up and grinned, “Did you really talk Mr. Alvarez into letting us see the engines and even turning them on?”
