by Dan Kelly
“Me first if you don’t mind. Why the subterfuge? What are you up to? Why is there this dearth of personal information about you? Why is there so much need-to-know secrecy surrounding you? Why are you so curious about my family and what they do for a living?”
“Wow, I haven’t played twenty questions since I was a kid. You just used up five.”
Pete didn’t react. He just sat there with an expectant look on his face.
“Okay, what I do for a living requires a certain degree of caution. I frequently have to assume other identities with phony credentials that can stand up to the most vigorous scrutiny, but my real identity is buried beneath so many layers of misinformation that it would be a monumental task to find out who I really am, even for a professional.”
“So, is Abigail Keenan your real name?”
“It could be.”
“Alright, I’ll accept that cryptic answer for now. Why the keen interest in my family?”
“Pete, no matter how I answer that or any of the questions you might ask me, you won’t know if I’m lying or not and will probably try to verify everything I say to you. I would prefer that you didn’t do that. I’d like to try to convince you that my answers will be truthful as far as possible without me revealing information that is classified, but not here. How about we have some breakfast and then we take a drive and talk? That way there will be no chance of anyone eavesdropping on our conversation.”
“Hmm. Pulchritude is not the only long suit this lady holds. She’s smart, subtilely sassy and I sense a determined toughness just below the surface. I should take Paul’s advice and shove my curiosity under the rug and go fishing or something. I’m in way over my head with this one. I won’t though. This damn curiosity of mine won’t let me.”
“Okay, I’ve got nothing else planned for this morning. I’ll play it your way.”
Pete devoured his breakfast like he hadn’t eaten in weeks and Abby was right behind him, but in a more ladylike fashion. She took his advice and tried the Mexican omelet and agreed it was sensational. During breakfast, they didn’t talk much except about the kind of foods they liked and the things they did to goof off and relax.
Effortlessly slipping into his suave and debonair mode he offered to pick up the tab and she just as effortlessly slipped into her graciously demure mode and let him. “No flies on this woman.”
They took her car and she drove along the shore for a while until she pulled into the parking lot of a surf board shop where they could watch the waves breaking on shore as they talked. It was one of the most frustrating and confusing conversations he’s ever had. She used a lot of words, was great at allusion, but didn’t really answer any of his questions. She’d have made a hell of a politician.
“Abby, for the past half hour you’ve managed to evade giving me a direct answer to any of the questions I’ve asked you. If it weren’t for your unusual interest in my parents and brother, I wouldn’t give a damn who you really are or what your job is. You’ve asked me a lot of questions and I’ve been forthcoming with every one of them. I think reciprocity is a reasonable request, but for some reason you prefer to hide behind a veil of secrecy. Since this conversation has been far from enlightening for me, take me back to my car and we can go our separate ways.”
From the look on her face, his bluntness surprised her, but she recovered quickly and said, “Okay, I asked for that. Bear with me for a little bit longer and things should clear up considerably for you.”
She started the car and headed back the way they came. When they reached Pasqual’s, she drove right on past and continued on down the road. Pete didn’t say anything. He was just going along for the ride for now. When she pulled into Morrison’s Dive Shop, a piece of the Abby puzzle fell into place. “I’ll be damned! She and Phil Desoto are somehow connected. I wonder if she was the one that called and left the message about the one day sale at Morrison’s” He still kept his mouth shut, waiting to see which way the wind would blow like a good sailor.
They entered and walked to the back of the shop to an office that appeared to be empty. It wasn’t. A large green, blue and yellow parrot was in a cage setting on a table along the side wall and as soon as they entered it squawked and said, “Close the goddamn door. You raised in a barn?”
As soon as they entered Abby said, “Please close the door. He won’t shut up until you do. Have a seat and help yourself to a cup of coffee if you’re in the mood. It’s really good Kona from Hawaii.” Pointing to the parrot she said, “This is Polly. I know it’s not very original, but when’s the last time you met a parrot by that name or for that matter met a parrot?”
She saw the perplexed look on his face and said, “Sit tight. You’ll have your answers in a few minutes.” She went through another door in the wall opposite the parrot which apparently led to another office as Pete caught a glimpse of a rather nice red mahogany desk before she quickly shut the door. He heard her softly talking to someone, but he couldn’t make out any of the conversation. Five minutes later the door opened and she walked out followed by a man whom he was sure he had met before but he couldn’t remember where. At least one other man remained in the other office as he could hear someone talking like he was on the phone, but the door was partially closed so he couldn’t see who was talking.
“Pete, this is Dave Morrison the owner of this diving gear shop and a couple dozen others situated around the Caribbean rim. Dave, meet Pete Brody, yacht captain for hire and the identical twin brother of Paul Brody the man I told you about soon after I moved in next door to his parents.”
As Pete stood up, they shook hands and sized each other up without being too obvious about it. They’re both about the same height and build, but Morrison is as bald as a billiard ball and has large dark brown eyes that give off warning signals to watch what you say and do. One of those no nonsense military types like the navy seals. Click. Click.
“That’s where I met this guy. It was during the time we closed down a drug smuggling operation based in Merida, Mexico. We were putting a lot of pressure on the operation by identifying and intercepting the ships that were being used to ship drugs to Florida. He was a commanding officer of one of the teams that led the raids on those ships and I met him several times during briefings and debriefings before and after those raids. He had a reputation for being tough and fearless and because of that he was given the most dangerous missions. That was a long time ago, twelve, thirteen years. Damn it, Brody! It looks like you’re about to slip a few more feet down that hill of stupidity. This guy could get you killed!”
“Dave, I believe we’ve met before when I was in the Coast Guard.”
“You’ve got a good memory for faces. We were on some joint missions together trying to put a dent in the drug smuggling operations plaguing the U. S. I had some hair back then.”
Turning to Abby more perplexed than he was before Pete asked, “What the hell is going on here?”
Before she could answer, a familiar deep bass voice behind him said, “Man, if curiosity killed the cat, you’ve got to be a statistical marvel. It’s good to see that you’re still alive and as nosy as ever. In fact, I was counting on that.”
Before he turned around, he knew who was there. After the big hug and slaps on the back that old friends who haven’t seen each other in a while engage in, Pete exploded with, “Scrounger, what the hell are you trying to get me into now?”
Laughing Phil said, “Hold your horses, sit back down and enjoy the coffee while I get some information I want to share with you.”
Phil went back into the office and a minute later returned with a sheaf of papers and a lap top. He sat down at the desk with Pete sitting in one of the two chairs on the other side of the desk and Abby sitting in the other. Dave is standing in back of Phil looking at Pete like he’s trying to assess him for something. Pete’s thinking, “I’m about to start slipping further down that hill of stupidity and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m an intrigue addict. I wonder if there’s a
program for people like me. Like AA, although in my case the letters would stand for assholes anonymous. Nah, you’re a hopeless case, Brody. Go with the flow.”
His thoughts are interrupted by Phil opening the lap top and turning it so he can see the screen. “Dave, Abby and I are part of an international team charged with engaging in undercover operations to seriously damage the organized criminal activities based in countries bordering the Caribbean Sea. Since you decided to go back to the dark side and swim with the civilian fishes, things have gotten a lot worse. With every passing year, these organizations are getting bigger, wealthier, more powerful and a lot more dangerous. Our operation goes by the code name Sea Wasp and our mission is to bring about the disbandment of these cartels, these syndicates, through whatever means available.”
“Sea Wasp, huh, like the jellyfish with the fatal sting. Interesting, but why are you telling me about this although I’m beginning to get an inkling of what you’re up to?”
“We want to enlist you in our mission. Your knowledge of the Caribbean region, your experience navigating all over that body of water and your contacts throughout the area make you an invaluable asset to have on our team. I’m not going to hit you with the for God and Country speech. I know you’re a patriot, I know you had strong feelings about how these animals should receive no mercy in our dealings with them and I know how your frustration with the political and military hierarchy with their image and priority constraints drove you out of the service. We really could use your help in exterminating these leeches on the human condition, and this would give you the opportunity to get back in the game on your terms.”
“Man, you haven’t lost your touch. Leeches on the human condition? You dug deep for that one. You’re the only person I know that could earn a PHD in bullshit if it was offered anywhere or at the very least graduate at the head of your class.”
The looks on Dave and Abby’s faces reflected their reaction to what Pete just said. They thought Phil had blown it. Phil was convinced otherwise and his conviction was confirmed by Pete continuing to ask questions.
“Why all the clandestine crap and what does my family have to do with any of this? Why didn’t you just call me or knock on my door?”
“If we are to succeed in our mission, secrecy is paramount to everything else we require. These organizations are powerful, loaded with money and have eyes and ears in many places in many countries. We have to take every precaution to ensure we won’t be detected.
“As for your family, there’s a little egg on our faces in that regard. Our vetting process didn’t pick up on the fact that you were a twin. It never came up when we were working together and when I started my search for you I was just interested in locating you and finding out what you were doing out here in the badlands. We located your parents and had someone keeping a watch on their house waiting for you to pop up on their door stop so we could make contact. In the meantime, that someone was to become friendly with your parents so we could get a lead on your whereabouts. That someone, of course, was Abby. When she met your brother Paul, she thought it was you, but when he told her his name was Paul she decided not to say anything until she was able to get a handle on why you were using a different name.”
“Wait a minute. If Abby thought Paul was me and you had no idea that I was a twin, where does this note on the back of the hotel business card come in? I was handed that card in Martinique about the same time Abby met my brother in Bal Harbour.”
“During the vetting process, we picked up on the fact that you were playing chauffer to rich folks on their yachts and cruising around the Caribbean. We had no idea where you were staying when in port in Miami. The post office didn’t have an address for you, so we put the word out to our operatives in all the port cities along the Caribbean rim to be on the lookout for you and to make surreptitious contact with you using the message on a business card. When you didn’t call and Abby met someone that looked like you, but was using a different name, we weren’t too sure what our next step should be. We thought the operative had made a mistake in identifying you.
“When you showed up last evening and clarified everything, we decided to have Abby look for an opportunity to make a seemingly random contact with you to do some more vetting. She got the license plate number of your car when she was leaving your parents’ house after meeting you and from that she got your home address and has been following you since you left home this morning.
“You surprised her with your knowledge of where she actually worked and weren’t buying her deliberately vague answers to your questions due to secrecy requirements, so she decided to change the game plan and bring you here herself for a face-to-face with me. The original idea was for you to only meet face-to-face with Dave. We hoped you’d be curious enough about the telemarketing call you received last night to stop by the shop on your own, again more of Abby’s work, and to eventually have you communicate with me only via encrypted means and avoid public contact, but you haven’t changed a bit and unknowingly screwed that up.”
“I didn’t call because I wanted to see what you would do if I didn’t which might give me an idea what you were up to. Your track record with me is off the charts when it comes to getting me into all kinds of tight spots, buddy. Besides, the use of the word scrounger was no guarantee that it was you. I haven’t had contact with you in years and all of a sudden, out of the blue, you covertly contact me. I was very suspicious and decided to wait and see what happened next.
“What I learned about Abby I learned from my brother. He’s an ex-cop who opened his own private investigation firm and has ways of finding out things that most people don’t have. Abby, when you came over to my folks’ house to introduce yourself, you asked a lot of questions but dodged answering most of the questions you were asked. This aroused my brother’s curiosity so he decided to give you a lot of misinformation. My mom’s a smart lady and as soon as she heard Paul handing you a lot of malarkey she did the same. The only thing you accomplished that day was to open the door for possible future neighborly visits.”
“I got the feeling your brother was being cagey, but I didn’t have any reason to think he was lying to me. He told me he was an insurance investigator.”
“That was a half-truth. He actually does some of that, but not much. As for the post office, I’m at sea at lot, sometimes for weeks and months at a time, and I don’t want my mail piling up and letting the bad guys know that no one is home. I rent a post office box under a phony business name because I hate getting junk mail and businesses get a lot less than individuals, but I still get all of my bills and other correspondence I want to receive.”
Holding up the sheaf of papers Phil said, “These are the latest reports from my field agents around the Caribbean rim. Something very alarming is taking place. They’re hearing from their contacts that the major crime rings in the area are in the process of forming a consortium to bring an end to the deadly competition that has cost all of them a lot of money and the lives of many of their people. If they are successful, this new consortium will be enormously powerful and able to wreak havoc on the political, economic and military structures of many countries in the area and others as well. We cannot let this happen.
“Their Achilles heel is their cash flow. If we can seriously interfere with that, we can weaken them considerably. A major weapon used by these people is bribery. Sure threats, fear and violence play important roles in their quest for power and dominance, but money is the key to everything they do. Without it, they can’t pay their people, they can’t buy influence, they can’t buy the equipment they need to carry out their nefarious activities.
“Take a look at the monitor. This is a list of all the people and the syndicates that they are affiliated with that we have been able to identify to date that are playing major roles in the smuggling and piracy operations in the area. There may be others and probably are, but we haven’t come across them yet.
“These organizations are highly sophisticated and
have access to the best equipment for their needs. They have ships, cigar boats, planes, submarines, trucks, vans, high tech radar, sonar and communications, you name it, and people highly trained in using and maintaining this equipment. If all of these assets are pooled into one operation, that operation will be an awesome force to fight.
“The top brass in Sea Wasp have decided that the best way to deal with this development is to meet it head on. From a business stand point, the syndicates involved obviously realize that merging their operations is a smart move, but the higher ups believe that there is still a lot of bad blood between these groups and that the lack of mutual trust with respect to everybody playing by the rules they set up will provide opportunities for the good guys to wreak some serious havoc of their own, hopefully serious enough to blow this consortium out of the water.
