Caribbean Capers

by Dan Kelly

  Pete and Aloncia nodded their assent and they went back into the villa and placed the call.

  Chapter 41

  - Bogota, Colombia –

  When everyone was on line Phil said, “Before we begin, I want to say to all of you ‘job well done’. We’ve put a world of hurt on these animals and it’s going to take a long time for them to recover, if ever, and you all played a key role in bringing that about. I hope you’re as proud of yourselves as I am of you. Okay, that’s enough of the schmaltz. What are you people up to that I’m sensing I’m not going to like?’

  Abby passed on Aloncia’s ideas along with their concurrence and then went quiet as they all waited for Phil’s explosion. They weren’t disappointed. “You two have definitely slipped your trolley.”, he screamed. “If you two have a death wish, that’s a damn good way to make it come true. There’s got to be another way to get these people to come out of hiding if we can’t find them by other means.”

  Phil continued his diatribe for another minute or so and then stopped in midsentence and said, “Well, aren’t you going to say something, Abby, interrupt me with a slew of objections like you usually do?”

  “We’ve put a lot of thought into what we’ve presented to you, Phil. We can think of no other avenues to pursue. If you’ve got better suggestions, we’d like to hear them. If not, the only other option is to do nothing and let these men go their merry way. The ball’s in your court, boss. What do you want us to do? ”

  Phil is caught somewhat off guard by Abby’s demeanor. “This is a different Abby from the one who usually confronts me; more in control of her emotions, more mature. Brody’s influence I’m sure. Damn, I think I might have created a monster putting these two together.”

  “Okay, proceed with the search of the farmhouse. Dave, arrange for the necessary warrants with our people in Bogota so if we find anything useful in the search we can use it in a trial situation. Abby, do you have anyone guarding the farmhouse and other buildings on the property?”

  “Aloncia arranged for some of her people to cover the main farmhouse, but she has no one else she can trust to guard the other buildings.”

  “Then the first order of business is to get people out there to do a thorough search before Fuentes can send someone to clean the place out of everything incriminating. You and Pete can supervise the search, but, Aloncia, I want you to make sure their backs are covered as long as they remain in Bogota. When the search is completed, I want them out of Bogota and back in Miami ASAP, preferably by private jet if you can arrange that.”

  Aloncia said, “I can do that. My husband was a pilot and after he died I’ve been keeping his plane in a hangar at a small private airport not far from here until I can decide what to do with it. “Hiring a pilot to take me where I want to go is one option, but I can’t afford to pay for a pilot on call and it’s not easy to find a competent one on a moment’s notice. I could learn to fly it myself, but I’m not sure I would be very good at it. My husband used to say I was born to be a passenger in any kind of motorized vehicle and not someone who should be at the controls unless I was competing in a demolition derby or wanted to scare the hell out of everyone in the wild blue yonder.”

  This brought a laugh out of all of them and put a damper on Phil’s anger over the suggestion that Pete and Abby use themselves as bait.

  Pete said, “If nothing useful turns up at the farm, what’s our next step? It seems the only logical one is for us to try to set up a trap using us as bait.”

  Everyone expected another angry outburst from Phil, but all that occurred was a lengthy silence. No one wanted to breach it because they thought at least he was thinking about the merits of the idea.

  Finally Phil broke it with, “I’ll put some of my people here on it and see if we can come up with something that will pull Fuentes and Christensen out into the open yet keep you and Abby from becoming customers of the local coroner.”

  Pete said, “Boy, Phil, you certainly haven’t lost your way with words.”

  This produced a disconnect from Phil and a satisfied sigh from the rest of them. Abby said, “That went better than I thought it would. Let’s plan on being at the farm at sunrise and thoroughly combing the place for anything we think might even remotely help us to find these guys. Aloncia, would you clear it with the guards that we’ll be coming and instruct them to help us with the search. The more eyes the better because we might be looking for a needle in a haystack.”

  “No problem. Do you want me to come along?”

  “No. You’ve stuck your neck out enough already. There’s no need for you to push your luck and have someone spot you and the word get back to the bad guys. You are too valuable an asset to risk that, but thanks for offering.”

  “Well, at least I can see to it that none of you go hungry. That search is going to take most the day and you’re more apt to stay alert if your stomachs aren’t growling.”

  Pete laughed and said, “Are you sure you don’t have a brood of kids hidden somewhere around here? That was spoken like a true mother.”

  Laughing back she said, “No, but I’m one of seven siblings and remember how it felt when I was late for dinner and all that was left were scraps and I had to do my homework on an empty stomach. It’s hard to concentrate when your stomach keeps yelling at you to feed it.”

  Pete said, “My mouth is already watering.”

  Abby brought the evening to an early close with, “Well, since we’re going to be up before the birds tomorrow, I suggest that we head for bed now.” She got up and walked back inside and Pete and Aloncia trailed behind.

  Chapter 42

  - Bogota, Colombia –

  Pete and Abby arrived at the farmhouse just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. Before Pete brought the car to a complete stop they both sensed something wasn’t right. There were no lights on in the farmhouse and there were no guards in sight. Aloncia had told them before they left the villa that one of the guards had a police dog with him, a big German shepherd that when on duty was no one to challenge. There was no sign of the dog either. Something was definitely out of kilter.

  One of the first things Aloncia saw to after they got settled in at the villa was to arm them with reliable weapons to protect themselves should that need arise. They didn’t bring their own weapons with them when they left the U. S. because they wouldn’t have been allowed to carry them onboard a commercial airline and didn’t want to attract any attention by going through the process of turning them over to airline personnel until they arrived in Bogota. When they got out of the car those weapons were in their hands with the safeties off.

  There were supposed to be three guards watching the house with the fourth guard and his German shepherd patrolling the grounds where the other buildings were located. It was like a graveyard with the only sound coming from the birds in the trees. After cautiously checking the perimeter of the farmhouse and finding nothing, they entered the farmhouse through the kitchen door and found one of the guards lying in a pool of blood on the floor. He’d been shot in the head at close range.

  They found another guard in the wine cellar with his throat cut and another in the bathroom lying over the edge of the tub with two bullet holes in his back. It looks like the three men were surprised because there was no sign that any of them had tried to defend themselves in any way. There were no defensive marks on their bodies nor were there any signs that their weapons had been fired.

  Abby said, “Silencers must have been used or someone would have been alerted and tried to defend himself. This didn’t happen too long ago. Their bodies are still warm.”

  Pete said, “I wonder where the fourth guard is.”

  Abby said, “Let’s check out the rest of the house to make sure there are no surprises lurking somewhere waiting to have a go at us.”

  They walked through the rest of the house, checking every feasible hiding place and finding no one. “Okay, Pete, let’s start checking the other buildings on the property, starting
with the barn.

  The barn had nothing in it but some farming machinery, bags of seed and fertilizer and a beat up old motorcycle. “There’s a lot of open field out there, Abby. We should keep a good thirty feet away from each other so as not to make it too easy for us to be picked off if someone is still around with an eager trigger finger.”

  “That makes sense to me.”

  They headed for another building about 75 yards away, but before they had covered fifteen yards they heard a rustling sound which appeared to be coming from somewhere along the far side of the barn. They hit the dirt and froze, hoping they hadn’t been spotted. After waiting a couple of minutes and hearing nothing more, Pete slowly and as quietly as he could crawled around to the back of the barn and inched his way to the side of the barn where the sound seemed to have come from. As he peeked around the corner he came face to face with the biggest German shepherd he had ever seen. The dog let out a low but menacing growl and Pete let out a soft and petrified “Oh shit.”

  The two of them just stayed where they were and stared at each other. Abby finally called out, “What’s happening, Brody?”

  Pete answered with, “I found the dog or perhaps I should say we found each other and he doesn’t seem to be too thrilled about it.”

  “Is the dog hurt? Do you see the guard anywhere?”

  “I’m a little reluctant to take a look as I think Fido here will take a good chunk out of me if I move a muscle.”

  “Well, we can’t just lie here forever. Try making friends with the dog. Try talking to him in a soft soothing voice.”

  “From what I’ve read about German shepherds, they’re real smart dogs and aren’t easily conned by someone lying on the ground with a gun in his hand.”

  “Well, slowly put the gun down and see what happens.”

  “That’s easy for you to say and damned hard for me to do.” Suddenly, Pete remembered reading somewhere that some animals don’t like to be stared at. They see it as a form of aggression. “Okay, I’ll give it a whirl. If it doesn’t work, please put me out of my misery by shooting the dog before I become dog food.”

  Pete looked away from the animal and slowly laid the gun down on the ground and pushed it away from both him and the dog. After he accomplished this without getting bitten, he began talking softly to the dog, trying to put him at ease, saying things like, “Don’t be scared, fella, I’m not going to try to hurt you. I’m a friend looking for you and your master. Where is he, boy? Help me find him.” After doing this for a couple of minutes, Pete slowly stood up and looked around and saw two men lying in some tall grass along the side of the barn. “Take me to your master, big guy.” As Pete started to walk towards the bodies, the dog took his sleeve in his mouth and pulled him toward one of the bodies which was farthest from where they were.

  When Pete bent down to check his pulse, he found that the man was still alive, unconscious but still alive. It was obvious from where Pete was standing that the other man wasn’t going to need any medical attention. His throat had been badly bitten and judging from the blood all over the dog’s snout and chest it had been the dog that had killed him, probably protecting his master.

  The dog’s master has suffered a chest wound and a stomach wound and has lost a lot of blood. “I think it’s okay for you to come over here now, Abby. The dog is just sitting by his master, occasionally whining and licking his master’s face. We’ve got to get an ambulance out here quick or his master’s not going to survive.”

  Abby walked around the corner of the barn and over to the dog. She bent down to check the man out and petted the dog while doing so. The dog licked her hand and then her face and then returned to his vigil. Continuing to pet the dog, she flipped open her cell phone and called Aloncia. “Aloncia, we got here too late. Fuentes’s men beat us to the farmhouse and killed three of the guards and seriously wounded the fourth. We need an ambulance ASAP or the man is going to check out too.”

  “I’m on it, Abby.”

  While Abby was on the phone with Aloncia, Pete had gotten some towels from the farmhouse and was using them as compresses to staunch the flow of blood seeping from the wounds. The ambulance must have set some kind of land speed record because it pulled up to the front of the barn in less than fifteen minutes. The man was still breathing and his pulse was weak but steady, but he was still unconscious. The dog wanted to get into the ambulance with his master and put up a fuss when he wasn’t allowed to do so, but he didn’t get mean. Abby kept talking to him and petting him and he finally settled down, but he was one sad dog.

  After the ambulance left Pete said, “What do we do now? Do you still want to search the farmhouse or do you think it would be a waste of time. Whoever was here probably took anything incriminating away with them.”

  “I think we should search it anyway. They could have overlooked something. After we do that, I want to talk with those mechanics in the hangar at the end of the tunnel. Someone might get careless and let something slip that we could use. I agree with Manny, they know a lot more than they’re letting on.”

  “Won’t that be like walking into the lions’ den without a whip or a chair? I don’t like the odds of two against ten or more. I think we should have some backup.”

  “We’ve tapped Aloncia’s resources enough for a while. I think she should lie low for a bit. I don’t want her pushing the envelope any more than is absolutely necessary or she might wind up a casualty that could have been avoided. I’ll give Dave a call and see what he can arrange on a moment’s notice.”

  “What are we going to do with Fido here?”

  “He can stay with us for now and when we get back to the villa ask Aloncia to find a temporary home for him until she sees how things go with his master. My gut’s telling me that she’ll probably keep him until she knows what the outcome is going to be and maybe even permanently keep him if his master doesn’t pull through. That woman is not only extraordinarily courageous and determined to do whatever she can do to help clean up the human pollution in the Caribbean, but she also has an extraordinary big heart when it comes to the welfare of others. I think that probably goes for animals as well.”

  “Yeah, the lady is definitely something unusual isn’t she?”

  Their search of the farmhouse didn’t turn up one scrap of a clue that would give them even a hint as to where Fuentes was headed. The house had been given a thorough going over, particularly the room used as an office. Two computers were missing, desk and file cabinet drawers had been rifled and were left partially open and no cell phones, IPods or other electronic gear were left lying around to be scanned for information.

  When they were finishing up, Abby’s cell phone rang with some more bad news. It was Dave getting back to her regarding backup and none would be coming. Those that were within a reasonable distant from the farm were tied up until sometime tomorrow evening on something related to the recent mission. You’ll have to wait until then, Abby.”

  “Tomorrow evening could be too late, Dave. Pete and I got here soon after whoever took out the guards then cleaned out the farmhouse of any incriminating evidence. We’re breathing down the bastards’ necks. Isn’t there any way you can spring some of those guys loose from whatever they’re doing to help us out here? This has got to me more important than what they’re doing now. We might be able to quickly shake someone up and get some info that will lead us to them and ultimately to Fuentes and Christensen before they have too much of a head start.”

  “Abby, if there was a way they’d be on their way right now. Don’t push your luck. If you and Pete go into that hangar by yourselves, you’ll be asking for trouble. Stay put and wait for backup.”

  “There’s got to be a way for us to confront those mechanics and at the same time keep them at bay. I’ll get back to you, Dave.” She hung up before Dave could start reprimanding her for even thinking about ignoring his instructions.

  Pete asked, “What’s up?”