Bluewater Revolution: The Twelfth Novel in the Bluewater Thriller Series - Mystery and Adventure in Florida, Cuba, and the Caribbean (Bluewater Thrillers Book 12)

by Charles Dougherty

  "Yes?"

  "What are we going to do with him? Do you think he's really an undercover agent?"

  "I don't know; he's not my idea of a hard-nosed fed, that's for sure. Paul should be able to find out, one way or another."

  "Let's say he's not," Liz said. "What then?"

  "Then he's probably a crook of some kind, and we can let the cops deal with him."

  "And if they don't want him? Suppose they don't have anything to arrest him for."

  "Then he's probably disposable."

  "Not if they know we have him, Dani."

  "We can turn him loose. He won't get very far. Miami's a dangerous city. Look what happened to Lupita."

  Liz shook her head. "You're impossible. Imagine what's going to happen if he is a federal agent. We've kidnapped him and tied him up, not to mention half drowning him. And that crack on the head."

  "You're right, Liz. I was restraining myself, because I was afraid I was angry about the way the bastard used me."

  "What?"

  "I should trust my judgment," Dani said. "I mean, sure, he broke my heart, but I shouldn't let that influence my decisions when it comes to how we should handle him."

  Liz looked at her, frowning. "Now I'm completely lost. Your decision as to how we should handle him? What are you thinking?"

  "Same as you, I believe. We should cut our losses. We're still in 1,500 feet of water. Take the helm and I'll get that chain. We should just get rid of him."

  "But what about all the things he told us about Cruz and those other people?"

  "He's already told us everything he knows. He's not much good to us now. Besides, I've realized there's a big hole in his story."

  "What's that?" Liz asked.

  "If he were a federal agent, he wouldn't have been willing to help Lupita kidnap me."

  "I hadn't thought of that," Liz said.

  "So I think we should go ahead and dump him," Dani said.

  Liz looked off into the distance, her brow furrowed.

  "You don't think so?" Dani asked after a long pause.

  "He said Cruz wanted him to spy on Phillip and your father."

  "That's what he said, yes."

  "Do you believe him?"

  "It's a reasonable scenario. Where are you going with this?"

  "We need to let Phillip and J.-P. in on this," Liz said.

  "I was going to tell them, sure. No matter what we do with him."

  "I don't mean just passing along the information. They need a say in what happens to him. He might be useful."

  Dani scrunched up her face for a few seconds, and then she grinned. "You mean we could feed them misinformation through him?"

  "Maybe. I think we should give them the option."

  "That makes sense to me. We can do that whether he's a fed or not. Getting rid of him is a separate decision. Good thinking, Liz. We'll just keep him aboard until we talk it over with them."

  ****

  "Hello. The usual place? Just give me a time to meet. I'll need at least 30 minutes to get there."

  The way Rick Olsen answered the encrypted phone brought a smile to Phillip's face. "Unless you've learned something new since we spoke, I think we can do this on the phone," he said.

  "But you said it was compromised," Olsen objected.

  "I have new information. I think the phone's safe, but even if it's not, we've got a bigger problem."

  "You're the one with his ass on the line; I'm safe at home. What happened?" Olsen asked.

  "I heard from Martínez."

  "That was quick," Olsen said. "What did he want?"

  "To know who was trying to buy a suitcase nuke," Phillip said.

  "Wait a second. You said he wanted to buy one. What's going on here?"

  "A test, Rick. Who did you tell about the nuke?"

  "Only the director. Why?"

  "I think you know the answer to that one."

  "There was no nuke?" Olsen asked.

  "Let's just say that if there were a nuke in play, Martínez didn't know it until your side told him," Phillip said.

  "My side? I thought you and I were on the same side, Phillip."

  "I hope we are. But, as you said, I'm the one with his ass on the line. You're safe at home."

  "It had to be the director," Olsen said.

  "Uh-huh," Phillip said. "You and he were the only ones who knew about it."

  "You don't think I'd be talking to Martínez ..."

  Phillip let the silence drag on.

  "I see your point, Phillip, but I'm offended."

  "I'm sorry, Rick. I understand."

  "Where does this leave us?"

  "It leaves me and J.-P. caught in the middle. I'm not sure about anybody else."

  "You can't do this without us, Phillip."

  "Don't take this personally, Rick, but if that's an order, your side is in no position to give it. If you think differently, then there's no need for us to continue with these contacts."

  "But without us, you're blind," Olsen said.

  Phillip laughed.

  "It's not a laughing matter, son," Olsen said.

  "From your perspective, I agree. From our perspective, we're already blind. We're thinking if you were blind too, it would level the playing field a bit."

  "That would be a mistake. Is there a way I could change your decision?"

  "So far, all you've offered us is the sleeves from your vest, Rick. This ain't our first rodeo, as they say where you hail from. Not even the first one we've ridden without Uncle Sam's help."

  "Listen to me, Phillip. You can't believe you could do something like this inside the U.S. without our blessing and get away with it."

  Phillip laughed again. "Listen to yourself, Rick. You made it plain from early on that we might not have your blessing. All we're doing is removing that little element of uncertainty. If we know we're on our own, we know what the rules are."

  "The government makes the rules, son. Don't do this."

  "Sorry, Rick. If you want to be in the game, we might give you a vote on the rules, but you have to pay your way if you want in."

  "So if we agree to fund this -- "

  "You don't understand. You said yourself, this first installment's nothing. Any of us could buy the stuff out of pocket at a local gun show. If you want in, then you're in all the way -- no more bullshit about who you're working for, or what we can or can't do."

  "Phillip, I can't believe you're -- "

  "Rick, if you keep wheedling, I'm going to lose respect for you. Right now, I think somebody's taken advantage of you. If you get your people to deal with reality, give me a call. Otherwise, I think we're done."

  "So are you going to do this, or not?"

  "Call me, Rick. I hope you enjoy your retirement."

  Phillip hung up the phone while Olsen was talking. He switched the power off and put it in his pocket.

  ****

  "What did he say, José?" Maldonado asked. He and Martínez were in the safe house where Martínez had brought Phillip a few days earlier.

  "He is very careful. He gives nothing away unintentionally."

  "Did he deny telling Olsen that we wanted a nuclear weapon?"

  "I challenged him by saying that he had told Olsen we wanted a suitcase nuke," Martínez said. "He appeared to be nervous when I confronted him on it. He avoided my eye, and he fidgeted with his hand. After a few seconds, he said, 'I never told Olsen it was you.' His reaction and words made me think he and Olsen are maybe dealing with someone else."

  "And you think this was deliberate on his part?"

  "As long as I have known Phillip Davis, he has never done anything that was not deliberate. So, yes, I think he meant to make me think that."

  "Do you believe it?" Maldonado asked.

  Martínez shrugged. "It is possible. Davis himself has ties to some of the exiles, and Mario Espinosa is the Berger girl's godfather. He and J.-P. Berger have done business for decades."

  "But Espinosa hasn't been active in any of the
anti-Castro activities since the Bay of Pigs."

  "That we know of," Martínez said.

  "We would know," Maldonado protested. "Cruz runs Alpha-66."

  "Do you trust him, Willy?"

  "He's one of us. Of course I trust him."

  "He wouldn't be the first DGI agent who turned on us."

  "I don't think we need to worry about him. It was his idea to hide the troops among the Haitians when we were working on the plan. Did Lupita know about that, by the way?"

  "It's hard to say. She and Cruz had a strange thing going; she may have."

  "It's just as well that she's gone, then."

  "Yes," Martínez said. "But there are the other organizations. It doesn't have to be Alpha-66 looking for a nuke."

  "That's true," Maldonado said, "but all of them are run by toothless old men, now. Besides, we have good sources in Brothers to the Rescue and the other organizations. We've heard nothing about this. Why would they suddenly decide to get aggressive again after all these years, anyway?"

  "For the same reason we're doing this," Martínez said. "The current situation is ripe with opportunity, or vulnerability, depending on your perspective. We have no monopoly on that insight. There's no heir apparent to Raul Castro, and he's announced that he's going to retire. There will be a power vacuum."

  "But a nuclear weapon? It's a sledgehammer to kill a mosquito."

  "Think of the threat of a nuclear weapon concealed in Havana, Willy. The leverage is far out of proportion to the actual threat. A handful of men could take over the government without firing a shot."

  Maldonado stared into space for several seconds before he locked eyes with Martínez again. "How did you leave it with Davis?"

  "He may be willing to trade information. We both needed time to think. I believe the door is open."

  "He would tell us who the other party is? The one that wants the nuclear weapon?"

  "I don't know, Willy. That's not the sort of thing that he can do if they want to stay in business. But he might be willing to back away from that deal without burning any bridges. Business is business with these people."

  "Could this be a negotiating ploy? Is he trying to make a better deal?" Maldonado asked.

  "I don't know if it's a ploy. It could be, but there are good reasons to think it is a real threat. I don't think we can gamble on that. Do you?"

  "What could we offer him?" Maldonado asked.

  "He indicated that disclosure of our principals would be a step toward establishing trust."

  "And would he tell us who his other client is in exchange?"

  "I doubt it," Martínez said. "But as I said, he could walk away from that other deal."

  "Can we apply pressure through Olsen to sway him?"

  "The word is, he doesn't trust Olsen's chain of command. So probably not. Between us," Martínez said, "I think we already put too much pressure on him through Olsen when he asked if the U.S. government would bless the deal."

  "You know why we did that; we didn't have any options that didn't risk the cover of our inside contact," Maldonado said. "What if we disclose some of our 'principals' to him?"

  "What are you suggesting? A bluff? There are no principals to disclose."

  "We might be able to come up with some names that would be convincing," Maldonado said.

  "I think that's too risky. You're forgetting how broadly connected these people are in the Miami area."

  "You mean Espinosa?"

  "Espinosa, Davis himself, the Berger girl," Martínez said. "She's fluent in Cuban Spanish, remember? She spent a lot of her childhood here with Espinosa and his wife. They all have long-term ties here. And don't forget this retired cop, Paul Russo. He was part of the JTTF for years. He's probably got contacts we can't even imagine."

  "Do you have any ideas for a solution?" Maldonado asked. "Or are you focused on why we can't do it?"

  "Don't take that tone with me, Willy." Martínez's eyes looked like black marbles as he leaned into Maldonado's face. "You know what I am; what I can do to people who get in my way. Lupita was our first casualty on this operation. You could be the second."

  Maldonado swallowed hard and looked away, fighting for composure. He turned back to face Martínez and said, "Sorry, José. There's a lot at stake, and I'm frustrated."

  "Giving vent to emotions gets people killed," Martínez said. "There may be a way to do this, but we need to find out how Ortiz is getting along with the girl. Go and talk with Cruz. And find out how the troops are doing. Are they behaving themselves in Little Haiti? I'm worried about them getting bored; we don't need any problems that might attract the attention of the cops."

  A buzzing sound came from Martínez's pants pocket. He looked surprised as he stood and took out a cheap cellphone. He gave Maldonado a forbidding look and went outside to take the call.

  ****

  Chapter 22

  "What did he have to say?" J.-P. asked, as Phillip put away the phone after his call with Olsen.

  "The trap is sprung," Phillip said. "And he wants to know who's trying to buy a suitcase nuke."

  "Who did he tell?" J.P. asked.

  "He said he only told the director."

  J.-P. frowned. "What do you think, Phillip? What should we do?"

  Phillip shrugged. "I don't know, but I don't think we can trust whoever Olsen's working for."

  "I agree with that. Do you think they will follow through with their threat to expose us if we back out?"

  "Is that what you want to do?" Phillip asked. "Back out?"

  "It must be our decision, Phillip, not mine alone. But I am not comfortable with this. I heard from Mario while you were out. Nobody knows anything about this invasion -- none of the exile groups. Mario's friends have checked."

  "That does put things in a different light," Phillip said, scratching the back of his neck and looking at the floor. He took a seat across the coffee table from J.-P.

  "Yes," J.-P. said. "I have been trying to understand what this could mean."

  "I have to believe that Olsen's people know this, whoever they are," Phillip said. "They must have sources inside the exile groups; almost everybody does."

  "Who could Martínez be working for, if not the exiles?" J.-P. asked.

  "Almost anyone, I suppose. There's no telling where those weapons might end up. He could even be plotting an attack in the States."

  "But would Olsen be involved in something like that?"

  "I don't think so," Phillip said. "Not knowingly. But I'm not sure what's going on with him, so I'm not inclined to share anything else with him. Martínez is looking to arm a light infantry platoon with this first shipment. Whatever his objective is, there must be people to carry the weapons. If they aren't coming from the exile community, where are they?"

  "And who are they?" J.-P. asked. "You think Martínez really could be working for a terrorist group planning a strike in the U.S.?"

  "I can't rule it out. He's been a soldier of fortune for a long time. I don't know what drives him, other than money and excitement."

  "Do you think he's going to respond to your offer to trade information?"

  "Maybe. He knows we won't tell him who wants a nuke, but that doesn't mean we can't do some kind of trade. The problem is, he has to suspect that we know the exiles aren't his clients, and he's not about to tell us the truth about who's behind him."

  "Mario suggested that this could be a reprise of the Avila scheme that he mentioned earlier," J.-P. said.

  "To give the Castro regime some anti-U.S. propaganda?" Phillip asked. "I thought of that, but Martínez would still need troops. Where's he going to find 30 trained people in Florida?"

  Before J.-P. responded, Paul Russo joined them. "We lost Martínez," he announced, sitting down next to Phillip on the couch. "We followed him to a gated community in Coral Gables. Connie and I tag-teamed him, so he wouldn't spot us. She called me to tell me; she had the last leg. She's a few minutes behind me."

  "How many houses in the gated commun
ity?" Phillip asked.

  "A dozen or two."

  "Enough to give him some cover, then. If he's even staying there."

  "He is," Paul said. "We waited to see if he came out."

  "He could be pretending to be a gardener, or something," Phillip said. "Hanging out in there."

  "Caretaker," Paul said.

  "How did you find that out?"

  "Connie gave the guy in the gate house some line about wanting to hire the gardener in the white truck that just drove in. I don't know what she said, exactly, but she got his phone number."

  "She got Martínez's phone number?" Phillip asked, his eyebrows rising.

  Paul gave him a rueful smile. "And the guard's, too. You know Connie."

  "The guard had a number for Martínez?" J.-P. asked.

  "Martínez is supposedly working for some outfit that house-sits and does handyman work while the homeowners are away. She got his business card from the guard."

  "It's probably bogus." Phillip said. "Can you do a reverse lookup on the number, in case it's not?"

  "Tried it already. It's a prepaid cellphone -- no address."

  "No address, huh?" Connie said, sitting down next to Paul. "You mean I undid my top button for nothing?"

  "Not for nothing. At least we know he's staying there," Paul said. "Too bad you couldn't find out which house."

  "I was worried that the guard would get suspicious if I asked that. I couldn't think of a plausible reason to ask more questions, once I had a way to get in touch with Martínez."

  Paul nodded. "Right. Good thinking. I ran the plate on the truck. It's registered to a one-man landscaping company, but the owner says he rented out the truck and equipment to a guy for a couple of weeks so he could take his kids to Disney World."

  "Look," Phillip said, standing and moving to peer out the window. "Dani and Liz are coming in to the dock."

  "Let's go give them a hand," Connie said.

  ****

  "Who were you talking to just now?" Maldonado asked, when Martínez came back into the safe house.

  "Our inside source," Martínez said. "That call was on my burner; that's how I knew it was an emergency."

  "What's going on, then?"

  "Olsen's gotten suspicious. I think they may be about to burn him."

  "Really? They'd waste a guy like him? With all his connections?"