Chapter 29
Ed settled into the soft leather seat of his SL 600 roadster, relishing the feeling of being in a cocoon, secure from the irritations that had plagued him all morning in his office. The car was an outrageous expense, but one that he had allowed himself when he had scored his first million-dollar fee. To him, it represented not just achievement but also escape, and if he'd ever needed an escape, he needed one today. He pressed the starter.
The blinding flash of light that enveloped the car faded in a split-second, but the echoes of the blast persisted for a long time, even though he could barely perceive them. He was sure his eardrums must be ruptured as he staggered from the car and fell to the concrete floor of the parking garage, disoriented. His vision cleared before his hearing began to return, and he could see that the car appeared undamaged.
He was on all fours when the security guard sprinted up. The guard flailed about, wild-eyed, the oversized pistol in his hand jerking around erratically. Seeing nothing amiss, he lowered the pistol, holding it loosely by his right thigh. "Mr. Savage?" he asked.
Ed watched him, not sure whether he heard the man call his name, or whether he imagined it. The guard dropped to a knee and put his pistol on the floor, raising a hand to Ed's shoulder. "You okay, Mr. Savage?"
Ed thought for a second. Other than the ringing in his ears, he didn't feel anything amiss. "Yeah, I think so," he said.
"No need to shout, Mr. Savage," the guard said, drawing back, startled. "What happened?"
Ed shook his head. "No clue. Call the cops."
"They're on the way. That was a hell of an explosion. You know where it was?"
"Under my car," Ed said, still unable to judge how loudly he was speaking.
The guard dropped to his hands and knees and peered under the low-slung Mercedes. "Don't see nothin', Mr. Savage. You sure?"
Ed shook his head. "Uh-uh."
"That your phone?" the guard asked, as Ed felt a vibration in his pants pocket. He couldn't hear the ringing.
He sat back on his haunches and fumbled the phone out. "Yeah?" he barked, after he swiped the screen. He switched the phone to speaker mode as he raised it to his ear, hoping he'd be able to hear it. "Yeah?" he said, again.
There was a forced laugh from the speaker, and then he heard a rough, low-pitched voice. "That was a warning, Mr. Savage. Just to show you how it could happen if you file that motion to withdraw."
"But I ... " Ed's voice trailed off as he realized that the caller had disconnected.
****
"How was it?" Liz asked, pouring coffee into two mugs as Dani and Sharktooth settled in under the cockpit awning.
Sharktooth picked up a piece of the still-hot pastry that Liz had baked while he and Dani were gone. He took a bite, moaning in appreciation.
"No big surprises," Dani said. "She's still trying to figure out who I am. She asked several questions about J.-P., too." Dani took a sip of coffee.
"What did you tell her?" Liz asked.
"Nothing. She made sure I had the grand tour of the yacht; it was obvious that the captain had been told to make sure I knew they weren't hiding anything. Lotus Blossom's got lots of little nooks and crannies, but she's clean as a whistle."
"So they don' have the girl, then," Sharktooth said.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure they do," Dani replied. "Otherwise, why go to so much trouble to show me they didn't?"
"You shouldn't assume everybody's as devious as you, Dani," Liz said.
Dani smiled. "We should call Mario."
Liz passed her the satellite phone. "He really does seem to worry about you; it's nice that you remembered to call him."
Dani set the phone on the cockpit table and placed the call with it in speaker mode. "I want him to hear this; I'm hoping he can check a few things for us."
"Good morning, Dani."
"Morning, Mario. Sharktooth and Liz are with me."
After exchanging greetings with the others, Mario asked, "Learn anything from Chen?"
"Maybe," Dani said, "indirectly." She told him about her suspicion that Chen was holding Cynthia.
"Could be," he said.
"Anything else?"
"Yes. Wong was in the meeting. I got a good look at his injuries; he was sitting where the sunlight was on his face."
"And?" Mario asked.
"Superficial; somebody hit him to make him bleed, not to do any real damage. And the Chief Super says he's a brawler. I could buy that someone might land one sucker punch, but he wouldn't get hit in the face three times, with no other damage, unless he allowed it to happen for some reason."
"What are you thinking?" Liz asked, frowning. Her frown faded to a smile as she watched Sharktooth scoop the rest of the pastry onto his plate.
"I think he and the first mate messed each other up to lend credence to the story about the two guys in the speedboat taking Cynthia back."
"Really?" Liz asked.
"The first mate's a big, dumb bastard. He's been in his share of fights — knife scars on his upper arms and his face, knuckles all swollen and twisted." She told them about his comments about the "little bastard and his razor."
"Wow! He did everything but tell you it was Wong who cut him," Liz said.
"Yes. If you could have seen the body language the two of them displayed, you'd have no doubt."
"Why would he give all of this away, Dani?" Mario asked.
"He isn't the tightest knot in the rope, for one thing, and for another, he's pissed off at Wong, and it shows. He may lose the use of his right arm. That's probably more damage than he signed up for."
"He said he'd seen 'him' do it before," Liz said. "Do what before?"
"The strong implication was that the 'little bastard with the razor' had amputated someone's penis. This jerk wanted me to know he'd escaped that fate."
"Thought you fancied him, did he?" Liz asked, nudging Dani with her elbow.
"Hope springs eternal, I guess," Dani said.
"The mon who ran the drug squad here, he was cut like that," Sharktooth said. "Coroner say prob'ly wit' straight razor."
"We hadn't heard that," Dani said.
"Jus' hear this mornin', when I check on the plane."
"Did you get the tail number?" Mario asked, "I can — "
"No need, Mario," Sharktooth said. "Plane registered to Apex Investment Partners."
"Okay. Good work," Mario said. "And back to the coroner's discovery that Sharktooth mentioned. Don't forget Mike DiFiore was sexually mutilated as well."
"With a razor?" Dani asked.
"My source said they couldn't tell exactly what happened; the wound was cauterized — with a blow torch, probably. It kept him from bleeding to death, but it made a mess of the wound, and caused a lot of extra pain, I'd guess."
"Mario, do you know someone who can check out Apex Investment Partners for us?"
"Sure. You think there's something off about them?"
"I don't know. There's something off about Ed Savage. His reactions are inconsistent."
"Inconsistent in what way?"
"Liz noticed it; she got closer to him than I did." She turned to Liz. "Think you can explain it?"
"Well, it's just that at first, he was distraught about Cynthia's kidnapping, like you'd expect. But then, he would seem to not think about it. Not like he'd forgotten — more like he wasn't worried about her. It's hard to describe, but unless something happened to remind him that she was missing, he just wanted to try to seduce one of us."
"One of you?" Mario asked.
"First Dani, but she got too wrapped up in finding Cynthia to be bothered with him, so he shifted his attention to me."
"You said, 'unless something reminded him,' Liz," Mario prompted.
"Right. When he'd get a call from the kidnappers, or one of us would mention Cynthia, it was like a cue to play the worried parent role. Dani saw it before I did."
"I'll get my financial people to look at Apex right away, then," Mario said. "I'm hoping they'll have
more on Tequesta Recycling by this afternoon. I'll call back as soon as I hear."
"That sounds good," Dani said.
"Sharktooth's expecting to hear more about Lion of Judah later today, too," Dani said.
"I thought it was in charter to Chen," Mario said.
"That was jus' the rumor on the waterfront," Sharktooth said. "Paperwork confusing, but no mention of Chen. I got some people lookin' into it in Haiti."
****
It took Cynthia a moment to realize that the roaring in her ears had stopped, replaced by a thumping, clattering sound like some demented giant was shaking an oil drum filled with bricks. She recognized that the noise must come from the anchor chain being released. It sounded much like the anchor chain on Vengeance, amplified by the vibrations it induced in the steel hull of the dirty little freighter. The ship was coasting to a stop, the engine at idle.
A muffled, rhythmic banging, accompanied by the raised voices of women screeching in anger or fear, resonated from across the corridor. A man yelled something in the language that she couldn't understand, and the women quieted down.
"Where de hell we at, you assholes? You damn betta lemme go o' I give you sump'n' you ain't never gon' get ovah. I know how to gi' you de virus, mon," a woman's voice bellowed from the cabin across the corridor.
"Shut up, stupid bitch; you gon' be sorry you evah born. We gotta take care a the rich little white bitch firs', then you gon' have some good time wit' us, yeah. Betta you rest now; you gon' be busy tonight. The boys all askin' fo' you an' yo' virus." He laughed. Cynthia recognized the voice of the one man who spoke broken English.
The hand wheel in the middle of the watertight door squeaked and began to turn. She clutched the torn shift around herself and huddled in the corner of her berth, waiting.
In a few seconds, the door crashed open, swinging back against the bulkhead, and two grubby-looking men stood in the opening, leering at her. She saw that the English-speaker stood behind them. He barked something at them, shoving them into the cabin with her. They stumbled toward her, each grabbing one of her arms.
She thrashed, kicking out with her legs, catching one of them with a foot to his groin. The other one laughed and drew back his fist, punching her in the stomach. She retched and doubled over, fighting for breath, and felt an open hand explode against the side of her head.
Disoriented by the blow, she allowed them to drag her out of the cabin. She was too frightened to wonder what was going to happen to her; she focused on breathing and staying conscious. She could taste blood from where her teeth had cut the inside of her cheek when he hit her, and her vision seemed blurred as the two men pulled her through the corridor.
They came to another door, and she spread her arms as best she could, bracing her hands on either side of the door. One of the men hit her on the back of the head with something hard. She didn't lose consciousness, not completely, because she knew that one of them lifted her in his arms like a child and carried her for some distance. She felt him pass her to another pair of waiting arms, and she saw the dwarf as he stuck a hypodermic in her arm.
Chapter 30
"Good afternoon, everybody," Mario's voice came from the speakerphone on the table in the main saloon aboard Vengeance. "I have some news on Tequesta."
"Well, don't keep us in suspense," Dani said.
"The actual ownership is well-hidden, but the man who runs it is Joe DiFiore. That means Jimmy Gregorio is certainly the ultimate owner. The DiFiores are his long-time underlings."
"That makes sense," Dani said. "They must have snatched Cynthia so they could put pressure on Ed Savage to change the outcome of the class action suit."
"But what about the ransom demand?" Liz asked. "That doesn't fit."
"No, it doesn't, Liz," Mario said. "Any ideas on that, Dani? Sharktooth?"
"Suppose Gregorio paid somebody to take her," Dani said, "and they saw an opportunity to freelance?"
"You mean, take Gregorio's money and pick up an extra ten mil on the side?" Mario asked.
"That's one explanation," Dani said.
"I can't see that happening. If Gregorio got wind of that, he'd make sausage of them."
"Okay, so assume Gregorio blessed the $10 million ransom demand. What would he get out of that?"
"It's small change in the context of the suit," Mario said. "I can't see any reason why he'd agree to that."
"Leave that for a moment, then," Dani said. "Several things point to Chen's being behind the actual kidnapping."
"What, for instance?" Mario asked.
"Wait," Sharktooth said. "Befo' you leave Tequesta, I got some word back from Haiti."
"Yes?" Mario said.
"Tell us, Sharktooth," Dani said.
"The mon you talkin' about, this DiFiore?"
"What about him?"
"He sign the papers for a long-term charter of Lion of Judah."
"That's good information, but you said it tied in to Tequesta," Liz said. "Is there a direct connection, or just an implied one?"
"He sign the paper as Managing Director of Tequesta Recycling, PLC," Sharktooth said.
"That's a direct connection," Liz said.
"Anything else, Sharktooth?" Dani asked, seeing the gleam in his eye.
"Mm-hmm," he rumbled. "Charter specified that the ship is for the exclusive use of Fragrant Harbour Spices, Ltd."
"Fragrant Harbour," Dani mused. "That's what Hong Kong means in English. Think that's Chen's company?"
"Mm-hmm," Sharktooth said. "Authorized agent of Fragrant Harbour Spices, Ltd. is Li Wong. He mus' approve all shipping documents to authorize use of Lion of Judah."
"That gives us a solid enough connection between Chen and Gregorio," Mario said. "Sounds like there was a disagreement between Chen and Mike DiFiore, though. What now?"
"I want to board Lion of Judah," Dani said. "I've got a feeling that's where Cynthia's being held."
"Dani," Mario said, "I need to let you know that the Feds have all the information that I just gave you. They'll be moving on Gregorio as we speak."
"How did they find out?"
"I asked the questions; a lot of the people I asked are involved in various parts of the government's effort to break up the drug trade. You'd better assume they'll put the pieces together as quickly as we did."
"Thanks for the heads-up, Mario. We'll just have to move faster than they do. They may not be as worried about protecting Cynthia as we are."
"That's why I told you."
"Thanks again. Sharktooth, can your people find the Lion of Judah?"
"They already lookin'. Soon come, we know."
****
"Sharktooth and I will board her," Dani said. "You stand off in Lightning Bolt and be ready to back us up if anything goes wrong."
Liz nodded. She was already at the controls of the go-fast boat. "Check the UHF radios," she said, referring to the tiny transceivers that Sharktooth had provided. He kept a small armory hidden away on Lightning Bolt.
"Done," Dani said, passing one of the earpiece-sized units to Liz. They were equipped with throat microphones which picked up the slightest vibration of the vocal cords, allowing near-silent communication. "They're all set for voice control. Take us in easy."
They were drifting about 100 meters away from their target; Lightning Bolt's engines were shut down. Lion of Judah was anchored off the old whaling station on the tiny island of Petit Nevis, about a mile south of Bequia.
Liz engaged the electric thrusters and moved them into position against the side of the rusty ship without a sound. Dani, cat-like, leapt onto the lowest rung of the boarding ladder that was affixed to the ship. Sharktooth grasped the ladder and held them in position until Dani had cleared the ship's rail. With a nod to Liz, he swung himself up and she backed Lightning Bolt away into the darkness.
Dani scrambled up the exterior steps to the bridge deck, leaving Sharktooth to clear the hold and the main deck. She worked her way down as he worked his way up; they met in a corridor tha
t ran across the ship's main deck. They flashed each other the all clear sign. The only sign of life aboard was raucous laughter punctuated by women's screams. The noise emanated from what appeared to be a dining area that opened off the corridor near where they stood.
Dani held up three fingers and Sharktooth nodded. She folded her fingers down, one at a time. When she dropped the third one, she dove through the opening and rolled to the right, coming to her feet with a silenced pistol held down beside her thigh. The room went silent as the four men who were abusing three women noticed her.
One man grinned and took a step toward her. She noticed the others watching him, waiting to follow his lead.
"Hey, bitch! You got good timing. We jus' needed one more woman. Now you here, but you got too many clothes on. He grinned and took a step toward her, collapsing with a scream as her pistol coughed.
"Shut up," she yelled, over his wails, "or I'll pop the other knee."
The three remaining men disengaged themselves from the naked women, spreading out and moving toward Dani as if they had done this sort of thing before.
She stuck the pistol in her belt and launched herself at the closest one as Sharktooth grabbed the other two from behind. Holding each of them with a big paw around the neck, he smashed their heads together. He dropped their limp forms to the deck and stepped back to watch as Dani ducked below her opponent's punch and drove an elbow into his groin.
As the man bent over, she lunged up from her crouch, driving her head into his chin. When he collapsed, unconscious, she drew the pistol again and turned to the man clutching the ruins of his knee and moaning.
"Stand up," she said, nudging him with her foot. "Party's about to get good."
"What do you — " he screamed as she put her foot on his bloody knee.
"I want you on your feet," she said. "Sharktooth, give him a hand."
The big man grabbed a fistful of greasy hair with his left hand and hoisted the wounded man off the deck, his feet dangling as his hands flew to grasp Sharktooth's wrist in an effort to ease the pain in his scalp.
Bluewater Ganja: The Ninth Novel in the Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series (Bluewater Thrillers Book 9) Page 18
