by Dale Mayer
“Yeah,” he said. “It is obvious you two have some problems. It changes the whole dynamics of the group. Personal conflicts permeate the atmosphere.”
“It’s a little tough to respect somebody who’s only interested in getting their ass out of town. Dr. Sanchez deserves our caring attention too.”
“That’s fine and dandy,” Johan said, “but not if it’s her Colombian friends and family who have done this. We could spend a lot of money and time searching this big bloody ocean, only to find out she’d been whisked away in the first few hours after she was kidnapped.”
“She could be back home, whether she likes it or not,” Vince added.
“That doesn’t mean we ignore her or her situation,” Vanessa argued. “If there was a way to get a message to her, fine. The bottom line is, we have to find out where she is.”
Vince looked at her and nodded. “We do need to know that she’s safe,” he said slowly. “Maybe send her a message. Email or however it is you want to do it. In a way that you know she’ll get it if she’s anywhere close to a computer or her phone.”
Vanessa looked at him in surprise. “That’s a good idea. I didn’t even think of it because I was thinking she was still lost out in the ocean, without her phone, like we were.”
“But, if we’re right, and she’s in Colombia,” Vince said, “this is a whole new ball game. But first we need confirmation of where she is.”
Vanessa opened up an email and sent it off to her friend. She had more than one email address for her, so she sent one to all three. Then sent her a Facebook message. Then she closed her laptop and looked at the two men. “Okay, done,” she said. “Now what?”
*
Vince hoped Dr. Sanchez answered because it wasn’t feasible to search the globe for her, so they first had to pinpoint her location. It was one thing to think the pirates had taken her off the ship, but it was another thing entirely to think her family might have taken her back to Colombia. That wasn’t a good place for anybody to fool around in unless necessary. Vince didn’t have a problem going to Colombia, and he had it on his list of places to see.
But he knew in his heart of hearts that going to Colombia to rescue Dr. Sanchez wasn’t his job here, and he was still employed by Legendary Security. Levi had to make that call. And there was no reason for Levi to even assume Dr. Sanchez was in that kind of danger. Levi could just as easily play devil’s advocate and say she was part of the kidnapping plot.
Maybe it was a way for her to disappear entirely. After all, nobody, none of the four crew members were seriously injured. And that was another point. “Because none of you were seriously injured—presuming Jasper is doing okay—some people might say she was part of the plot. That she might have had something to do with this.”
Vanessa sat back. “How can you even suggest such a thing?”
Johan cut in. “Because we have to.” His voice was hard. “Think about it in a rational way. She is missing. She could have gone overboard, could have been kidnapped. She could be dead or just missing on or in the ocean. For all we know, she dove into the water and drowned. The kidnappers left you all alive. The other kidnapper is gone, so you’re left on board with a man you took down yourselves. Where’s the logic in any of that? What does make sense is, if Sanchez arranged for this, she did so to disappear permanently.”
Vince watched the anger float across Vanessa’s face. She had quite a temper, this absolutely extraordinary woman. Everybody else had been more than happy to get back home again, eager to see friends and family, but not her. She was the only holdout, trying to save her friend.
“If we could hear from her that would help a lot,” Vince said calmly. He squeezed her fingers. “You know law enforcement will tear this apart from the exact same angle and suggest she was a part of it too.”
Vanessa shook her head. “She wouldn’t have done that.”
“Sure, she would have,” Johan said. “We all would, under coercion or duress, in the right circumstances. She might have loved her job. She might have loved whoever it was she was currently going out with. She might have loved a lot of things in her life, but she probably loved living and breathing more. And, if her way of life was about to be put in danger, including the people she knew and loved, then she needed a way out. What better way out than this?”
“Do you remember how many pirates there were initially?” Vince asked.
Vanessa frowned. “I assumed there were a lot. I was working downstairs when we were attacked, but I only saw two gunmen at that point. I only really know that I was knocked unconscious after I was grabbed. Somebody shoved a gag in my mouth, and then I remember waking up at the bottom of the old boat.”
“In other words you have no clue how many men there were. It could have been just the two you saw. And, with his partner taken out, the other guy decided to slink away. And, if you never saw the top of the old boat, and you weren’t awake when you were transferred over, you have no idea what happened to Dr. Sanchez.”
“I really don’t want to go down that road,” Vanessa replied, her voice raspy. “Do you know how hard it would be to contemplate that she had anything to do with this, that she was behind the pain and fear we experienced? Poor Jasper. His head wound is not something to be laughed at.”
“Neither are the wounds on your attacker,” Johan said softly. “Did she pay them? Were they cheap labor she picked up? Chances are, your attacker will never be normal again, if he even pulls through this.”
Vanessa flushed. “So am I supposed to feel guilty now for hurting him? We did what we thought we had to do to escape. And we certainly wouldn’t even need to escape if those assholes hadn’t kidnapped us in the first place. We did what we had to in order to save ourselves.”
“Of course you had to,” Vince said. “That was the only option you had. But why would they have only two armed men for the four of you?”
“Because they didn’t need more,” she snapped. She threw up her hands. “They were armed, remember? It’s pretty hard for unarmed people, no matter how many of us, to go up against bullets.”
“Did any of you have martial arts or self-defense training?” Johan asked.
Vince watched her closely.
She shook her head. “Not me. I would have sworn Dr. Sanchez was a no as well. As for the other three, I have no clue. That’s anybody’s guess. No, … I take that back. Dr. Walker is a worm, a coward. So a great big no for him. Tony is gay and worried he is not an alpha male, like you two. So a no for him as well—and I’d appreciate it if you kept that fact a secret. Then there’s Jasper. He may be huge, but he’s a teddy bear. So no for him as well.” She glanced back at Vince. “But, if you don’t want my guesses, you can contact all three of them and ask them.”
“We might,” Vince said. He glanced over at Johan, who was studying Vanessa intently. “What do you think, Johan?”
“I think something fishy is going on here. We thought that right from the beginning. Now whether they actually planned to kill the four of you is a little premature to note until we can capture the other guy who was part of it. If we can capture the other guy. He’s in a sea full of pirates. Who knows where he’s gone to ground.”
“If he’s gone to ground,” Vince said. “Because, of course, the other side of this is that somebody set it up to look like Laura might have had a part in it. In that way, if she was looking to disappear and did so successfully, they could also make her disappear successfully. And nobody would be the wiser.”
Vanessa burst out, “Talk about craziness. How do you even follow the thinking in your head?”
“Easy,” Vince said, hardening the tone of his voice. “Betrayal seems to go hand in hand with love.”
“Or,” Johan added, “betrayal comes from within a group’s inner circle.”
That shut her down to just quiet looks as she thought about both men’s words.
Vince didn’t mean to come across as a cynic—and he was pretty sure Johan would agree—but it was pretty hard not to when somebod
y asked the questions that she did. Particularly right now.
Still, she was doing that out of the goodness of her heart, and obviously she was worried about her friend. That was the bottom line. He could understand that. He’d been in many positions where he had been separated from a team member and had worried until they reconnected. Sometimes that reconnection had taken weeks. It depended on the type of mission and how far into enemy territory he’d gone.
He had to admire anybody so stalwart in her defense of her friend. But the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea that maybe Dr. Sanchez had a hand in arranging this escape. If she needed to go undercover, it was a great way to do it. And then the problem became, were Vince and Johan to even try to pursue her? If they could confirm that, what were they supposed to do?
His phone rang just then. He put it on Speakerphone. “Levi, what’s up?”
“Lots of things.” His words held tiredness and frustration. “But nothing solid. Nobody knows anything. None of the government teams or representatives where you are have a clue who would be after Dr. Sanchez or the entire team. I doubt it’s competing research companies. It’s a simple process to get licenses. There isn’t a ton of money involved. The research scientists have been coming for years, and the government needs their services, so they’re not against them coming. They always come up with a viable plan for the local officials to implement as to how to balance tourism versus the decline of the natural habitats.
“So it’s hard to imagine this issue coming from that. There’s not enough money involved. The biggest local companies involved in ecotourism at Galápagos have done so for years and years, and, according to the three owners we spoke with, they didn’t know anybody else trying to get in on the same industry. Only so many tourists are coming there, so one CEO said there’s basically enough for the three companies and not a whole lot more.
“He did say he makes very good money off of it because the archipelago is so protected that he and his guys do everything to bring in new money streams. But they have to be strict as they still get a lot of tourists who want to leave garbage behind or who want to ride on a turtle. He said sometimes you have to really be mean. But you have to watch it too because, if you don’t balance that out, then the negative reviews come, and you’ll see your tourist numbers going down.”
“I’m surprised they even want tourists here then, if they’re being shitheads.”
“It’s their business. It’s their lifeblood,” Levi said. “That’s a problem faced by many delicate ecosystems around the world. How do you balance that almighty tourist dollar with responsibility to keep the ecosystem thriving? He did suggest there was a lot of competition at the market level to supply the tourists. Although he didn’t know of many pirates in the area, he had heard of some people stealing supplies before they ever made it to the market. He wasn’t sure if that was the black market operating a quick switch of hands, so other people had better produce or more produce, or whether it was typical low-end finagling of stock. He said, if they can hold back shipments of, say, mangoes, for a day, by the next morning, the price of mangoes had shot up, and they could sell off their stock at a very healthy profit.”
Vince looked up to see Vanessa’s jaw drop at that. But he understood. “It’s kind of dicey to do that,” he said.
“That’s basically supply and demand though, isn’t it?” Levi said. “And we see it in the stock markets all the time. It’s still illegal, but it won’t stop anybody from doing it.”
“No, it won’t,” Johan said quietly. “And, if you think about it, if you take something that’s not quite as plentiful off the market for even two or three days, by the time it finally shows up, the profits are huge.”
“Yeah, exactly.” Levi’s voice changed as he hesitantly said, “We’re checking with the university, with friends of everybody on the team. Everybody was held in fairly high regard, and we heard there was a special relationship between Jasper and Dr. Sanchez. Can anyone confirm that?”
“I have Vanessa sitting across the table from me. What do you say to that?” Vince asked.
“They were friends,” she said. “I know she thought a lot of him, thought he had the potential to go far. He was one of those genius kids who graduated early, got his first degree early, and the second degree seemed to just line up without any effort.”
Vince studied her face, looking for any hint of jealousy or envy, but there was nothing. “Do you think the relationship was anything other than professor and mentor to help an amazing student?”
“I don’t think there could be anything between them more than that,” she said slowly. “There’s been a few rumors about Dr. Sanchez and students, but no one ever reported her, so I’m sure those were just rumors.” She shrugged. “People should just mind their own business.”
“When you all realized Dr. Sanchez wasn’t with you, who was the most shocked, and who was the least shocked?” Levi asked.
“Oh, very interesting question,” Vince muttered under his breath as he watched Vanessa process what Levi was asking.
She frowned, and it was like her whole face frowned. She was very animated most of the time. He’d never seen anybody with such an expressive face.
“I think the least upset was Dr. Walker,” she said in a tense tone. “But, keep in mind, he’s all about himself. I think Tony was quite worried but also felt like there was nothing we could do about it, and we needed to save ourselves first.”
“And what about Jasper?” Levi asked. “If they were as close as everyone believes, how devastated was he?”
“He was the one knocked out the longest,” she said slowly. “He lay unconscious on the floor for a long time. When he did finally wake up, we were already going on the attack, so I’m not sure he had much time to process she wasn’t there. But …” She stopped and gave a head shake. “No, it can’t be.”
“What can’t be?” Levi asked.
“He didn’t ask,” she said in shock. “He never asked where Dr. Sanchez was. From the time he woke up … No, I think I told him immediately, well, as soon as he was lucid, so he knew already. And then we attacked one of our kidnappers. So he didn’t need to ask anything about Laura.”
They could hear Levi whisper, “Bingo.”
“Are you thinking he had something to do with her disappearance?” Vince asked Levi. He exchanged a glance with Johan. “We have a different theory.”
“Speak up then,” Levi said. “What do you think happened?”
“We were wondering if she’d arranged her own disappearance,” Vince said. “If you think about the facts, the four people who were on this boat were her teammates, and no one was seriously hurt. Yes, Jasper sustained several blows to the head, and one required stitches, but, in the scope of things, it could have been so much worse. Those men had rifles. They had a lot of firepower. If they’d wanted to, they could have not only shot the victims but they could have put a hole in the boat before leaving, and it would have sunk the boat with all the team in it, never to be found again. But they didn’t. So maybe the gunmen weren’t pirates or kidnappers but maybe her family or some paid guns to whisk her away.”
“But,” Vanessa interrupted, “they left us to die on that boat. Laura would not do that.”
Vince added, “Or maybe she instructed those men, after a day or two, to anonymously leave the GPS coordinates with the local authorities or the university or even with her hired goons to transport you back to safety.”
“And to what purpose do you think she wanted to reinvent her life?” Levi asked his men.
“The only thing we have come up with so far, and we haven’t done very much digging yet,” Vince said, “is the fact she’s connected to a drug cartel in Colombia.”
Silence. “As a connection, that’s a pretty good theory,” Levi said. “I was trying to figure out if anybody had any reason to get rid of her. If Jasper and she were lovers, it’s quite possible he wanted to get rid of her because she ditched him. And then he would
have had something to do with it that the others didn’t know about. If you were unconscious right away, Vanessa, then how do you know what conversations or actions the others all had on their own?”
“I don’t,” she said. “Obviously, if I was out cold, I couldn’t have. I didn’t really see anybody as I was attacked from behind. Then, as I turned, I saw two gunmen, mostly the two guns. When I woke up, I was tied up in the bottom of that old boat. And the other three men were with me.”
“So it’s quite possible that three of you were attacked the same way, and yet, they could have been on the instructions of Jasper.”
“I can’t believe that. He’s awfully young to arrange something like that,” she said. “And it’s pretty ugly to even think somebody that age would want to do something like that.”
“Serial killers come in all ages,” Levi said coolly. “But more than that, this man is highly intelligent, is he not?”
“Yes, of course he is,” she said dropping her hands on the table. “I just can’t believe Jasper would be involved in either theory.”
“Why not?” Levi asked.
She stared down at the phone. “Because he was the one who got beat up the most and because he’s in love with Laura.”
Chapter 8
Vanessa hesitated for a moment, then elaborated on Jasper’s attachment to Laura. “I’m pretty sure he was. It’s not like he ever talked about it, but he always had this warm glow around him. And the two of them had an obvious connection whenever they were together. We all noticed, but none of us commented. Again they were adults. Jasper was young and obviously a good twenty to twenty-five years her junior, but, if it was the other way around, we would have just raised our eyebrows and shrugged. Because you see that happening all the time in universities. The age difference here made some of us question it, but, at the same time, there was no need to be worried about Jasper. He was a healthy adult male. And, if that was the direction he wanted to go, and she was willing, then fine.”
