“So,
that’s the plan… for now anyway. Any
questions?” Dean queried the two
individuals opposite her in her small office.
Bill
and Katie exchanged looks and both began to speak at once.
“That’s it?”
“Yup! Looks like you and I are on vacation as soon as I
clear up some paperwork on my desk,” Dean recapped.
“Colonel,
I have thirty days on the books. Mind if I
put in for it starting tomorrow?” Bill asked hopefully.
“I
can’t ask you to do that, Lieutenant. After
all, we may actually be on a wild goose chase, and I couldn’t ask you to give up your
time. Besides, if anything happened to you, I
don’t think I could face Dirk,” Dean replied honestly.
“Well,
if it is a wild goose chase, what better place to spend it than the Bahamas? And you don’t really think it’s a wild
goose chase anyway,” Lieutenant Jarvis responded.
“And if you’re worried about it being dangerous, that’s all the more
reason you need additional back-up.” He
smiled at her before he continued. “Besides,
Dirk would never forgive me if I stayed behind and let something happen to you or
Katie.”
Dean
swiveled her chair to face the window, silently thankful for the loyalty of her young
officer. “If you get your paperwork in
to me within the hour, I’ll sign it and send it forward to the general. But it will be up to her to make the final
decision.” She swiveled back around to
face him. “Until then, Lieutenant, I
believe you have several boxes here to pack into my SUV before 1800 hours.”
Lieutenant
Jarvis quickly stood, assumed attention, and replied formally, “Yes, Ma’am.
Thank you, Ma’am,” and exited the office with his arms full of surveillance
equipment. On his trip back from the parking
area, he decided he would stop at his cubicle, fill out the required request-for-leave
forms, and submit them to the colonel. He
also decided he would put in a call to Dirk, apprising him of the situation.
Watching
the young lieutenant leave, Katie smiled and returned her gaze to her lover. “I do believe that young man would follow
you to Hades if you asked him to.”
“Don’t
forget ‘and back’,” the colonel added, watching the door of her office. “He’s one of the best officers I’ve
ever had under my command. I trust him
implicitly, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure we all come back.” Dean turned to face Katie and peered seriously
into her emerald eyes. “You don’t
have to go on this assignment, Katie. I have
no supervisory control over you once this day is over.”
“Ah,
ah, ah. You can’t get rid of me that
easily. After all, I’ll be on vacation
too, and I think a trip to the islands is in order. Besides,
three heads are better than one.” Katie
stopped and cocked her head to the side. “Do
you suppose Tracy and Colleen will have room for a third person?”
“Hmm,
I don’t know. Guess I’d better give
Trace a call and see what she thinks,” Dean responded as she reached for her phone
and punched in Tracy’s work number. After
a short wait she heard Linna answer on the other end.
“Linna, it’s Dean. Is Tracy
in?” Once Tracy got on the line, she
quickly summarized the situation and broached the question of Lieutenant Jarvis. Tracy assured her that the additional guest
wouldn’t be a problem.
“So,
it looks like we may be having a little ‘extra fun’ on this trip?” Tracy
questioned. “Hope you’ll be able
to use a couple of extra hands.”
“You
know, Trace, I can’t ask you to help, but I did mention to General Carlton that we
were going with you and Colleen, and she seemed to approve.
Of course, she couldn’t say anything in the affirmative at the time, but now
with the unofficial status this operation has taken, I’m sure she’ll feel better
that we’re not going it alone.”
“Great!”
Tracy replied. “You know, since
we’ve been going down there every year for the past few years, Col and I have made
friends with a lot of locals … Some may even be helpful.”
“Yeah. Well, we’ll be contacting Art Lyons once
we’re there, and he’ll have some contacts for us too. Hopefully, we won’t need a small army, and
we’ll be able to get this done ourselves. We’ll
just have to wait and see what happens once we’re there. I’ll call you again as soon as we have our
arrival information. And Trace …
thanks.”
“No
problem, Dean. Hey, after last winter …
this’ll be a cakewalk! Talk to you
soon.”
Hanging
up, Dean looked up at Katie. “Well,
looks like it’s a fivesome. Now we just
need to get lucky at the warehouse Sunday night.”
The
rest of the afternoon and Friday were spent clearing paperwork, reviewing what was known
about the case to date, checking the list of equipment they had packed in the SUV, and
what they would be taking from their private arsenals.
General Carlton signed Lieutenant Jarvis’ leave forms, gave Dean Art’s
phone number in the Bahamas, and finally, requested that she be kept up to date on their
‘vacation.’ At 1830 on Friday, they
left the Pentagon to begin their vacations.
*
* * * *
Chapter
11
1900
Hours, 5 November
“Hey,
this is pretty good barbeque,” Bill commented as he licked the sauce that had oozed
onto his fingers, being very careful not to drop any on himself, or the new rug Dean and
Katie had just purchased two weeks ago for under the dining table.
“Not
as good as some of the places in Kansas City, but for an east coast barbeque, it’s
not bad,” Katie said before she took another huge bite out of her sandwich.
Dean
watched the two of them inhale their food with abandon, as she took another forkful of
coleslaw chewing it slowly while she mentally prepared for tonight’s masquerade, her
mind racing around several thoughts. Hope we can find out some solid information
tonight. Like what Gentry is up to in the first place.
I hate going into a situation without enough pertinent facts. Damn, I wish we knew what kind of radar array
Gentry was installing. Maybe tonight we can
find out ... maybe. I sure hate the thought
of having to use Tracy or Colleen on this case. I’ll
be busy enough watching Katie’s back. Good
thing Bill’s coming along. Maybe we
won’t have to use Tracy and Colleen at all. Maybe... Dean was totally lost in her whirling thoughts
until she felt a gentle nudge on her shoulder. Looking
in the direction from whence the force came, she found emerald eyes searching hers.
“Uhh,
umm. Sorry, just lost in thought,” Dean
answered the unspoken question. “Trying
to get a handle on all this.” She
shrugged as Katie placed strong hands on her shoulders and began a gentle massage of the
tight muscles she felt. “Umm, I’ll
give you twenty-four hours to stop that,” Dean sighed as she relaxed into the
massage.
“Well,
love, if we had twenty-four hours, I’d be glad to oblige. Unfortunately, you’ll have to get changed in
about thirty minutes,” her young lover informed her softly.
“Oh,
in that case then, I’ll give you thirty minutes to stop that.” Dean turned to look at Katie, allowing a thin
crooked smile to appear on her lips. “What’s
Bill doing?”
“He’s
cleaning up the kitchen, and then he’s going to give Dirk a call. How about we go to the bedroom, and I’ll give
you a proper thirty minute massage?” Katie
raised one eyebrow and gently blew a kiss into her lover’s ear.
“Oooo,
blow in my ear, and I’ll follow you anywhere,” Dean responded in a seductive
voice.
“And
back!” came the blonde’s sultry reply as they both stood and moved toward the
bedroom.
*
* * * *
Dean
pulled the SUV into the convenience store parking lot and slipped into the slot next to
the beat-up looking blue van. The
driver’s side door of the van opened, allowing Sergeant Major Tibbits to exit and
wave at Dean and her crew. Putting the SUV
into park and turning off the ignition, Dean opened her door and walked around to meet
Tibbits who was swallowing hard at Dean’s appearance.
She was attired as she was the previous Sunday, and the image she projected was one
of subtle strength and palpable sexuality.
“Are
you sure the general isn’t going to get into trouble over this?” Dean asked,
pinning Tibbits with her ice blue stare.
“You
can ask her yourself,” Tibbits replied as he backed away from the intense gaze. Dean swung around as she caught the movement of
someone standing behind her, and came face-to-face with General Carlton.
“General!” Dean nearly shouted at seeing her commander, and
automatically came to attention. Now how
did she slip up behind me without my sensing her? Hmm,
maybe my skills are losing their edge, or, maybe she’s a lot better than I gave her
credit for.
“At
ease, Colonel,” the general said softly. “We
don’t want to attract the attention of anyone around here now do we?”
“No,
Ma’am,” Dean responded in a softer voice. “But…”
“Look,
just consider this as a little ‘unofficial’ help.
I requested the van as a kind of ‘shake down cruise’ to check out the new
equipment that was installed a couple of weeks ago. I
haven’t had time to see it in operation, so I had Tibbits here pick it up so we could
take it on a test run of sorts.” She
looked up at Dean and smiled. “You
don’t mind if I test it out on you, do you? You
know, General’s privilege and all. Besides,
I wouldn’t want Tibbits here to get into trouble for unauthorized use.”
“No,
Ma’am. I just wouldn’t want you to
get in trouble for it, either,” Dean answered honestly.
“Well,
just let me worry about that. You worry about
whatever it is you need to worry about tonight.”
She smiled as Bill and Katie joined them. “You
two don’t mind if I join you, do you?”
“Umm,
no Ma’am,” Katie said smiling. Now
where in Hades are we all going to fit? Katie
thought as she recalled the cramped quarters inside the van. “Glad to have the extra
company.”
“Yes,
Ma’am, glad to have the extra company,” Lieutenant Jarvis echoed.
Dean
gave in and nodded, motioning for the general and Tibbits to enter the van. As the general passed Dean, she looked at her and
winked saying, “Nice outfit, Colonel,” bringing an immediate flush to
Dean’s neck and face.
“Thank
you, Ma’am,” Dean replied, catching Katie’s desperate attempt to refrain
from laughing out loud, and silently sending a message to the young blonde that she’d
better not. As Katie passed her lover on her
way to the van, her twinkling eyes sent a message back that she’d behave.
*
* * * *
They
dropped Dean off in the same place they had the previous week so she could begin her slow
walk to work. By the time the colonel made it
to the warehouse, the van was set up in its surveillance position with all systems
operational. “Okay team, here we
go,” Dean remarked to no one as she walked into the warehouse parking lot.
Katie
and Bill were in the chairs in front of the monitors, while the general and sergeant major
opted to stay in the background to observe the workings of the new equipment and the
skills of the threesome on this case. Katie
was giving General Carlton and Sergeant Major Tibbits, a blow-by-blow account of where
Dean was, and what to expect during the course of the next eight hours or so.
Burt smiled at Dean as ‘Maria’ entered
through the loading dock door. Dean returned
the smile saying, “Hola, Señor Burt ¿Qué
usted quisiera que hiciera esta noche?” Burt
just looked at her with a blank expression, totally unsure of what she was asking. Okay Burt, let’s try it again. ¿Usted quisiera que trabajara aqui? Again, Burt had a blank expression on his face, so
she added a few hand signals indicating lifting boxes and added, “¿trabajara
aqui?”
Burt
at last caught on, and replied in the affirmative. “Ahh,
sí, sí.” Burt nodded his head and led
her over to the workbench to give her a back belt and work gloves. “You’re one pretty lady,” he said,
smiling at her and nodding.
Dean
just smiled back and said, “Gracias,” as she accepted the safety equipment
before returning to the same station as the week before.
The
night progressed pretty much as it had previously. As
the forklifts brought new crates over to be transferred to the shipping containers, Dean
took careful note of any that may have been opened and resealed. So far, the only boxes she noted that may have
been opened were a few that were marked with a slight fold in the packing tape indicating
that these were the ones examined by Bill and Katie a few nights ago. Well, nothing looks out of place, yet. Maybe I’ll get a chance to wander into the
warehouse again. I wonder if the old bathroom trick would work twice? Hmm, no, better try something else. Dean thought about several other options as
she watched as much of the warehouse floor as she could without arousing suspicion. After about two hours of loading, the crew took a
short break. One of the younger guys came up
to her and asked if she wanted a soda. At
first, following a failure to be understood, the young man almost gave up but instead
tried one more time. He reached over and
tapped her shoulder, motioning with his head and hands for her to follow him. Okay, Dean thought, why not? If I remember correctly the Coke machine is up
front. Maybe I can catch a glimpse as we walk
up.
“That’s
it, just follow me.” The young man
smiled at her as he led her to the Coke machine. “My
name is Pete.” He was a nice looking
kid, about twenty-four or twenty-five years old. He
was a little shorter than Dean, with blazing red hair that was definitely not from a
bottle, and had a mass of freckles on his youthful face.
His body build suggested he spent a lot of time lifting weights.
Dean
wondered what a seemingly nice, clean-cut kid was doing in a place like this. He sure doesn’t look like the rest of
these jerks. Wonder why he’s working
here? Almost as though the young man
could read her thoughts he started talking to her in a nervous tone of voice.
“Boy! I don’t know what I’m going to do for a
job after tonight. Burt said this was the
last of the shipments, and that he wouldn’t be needing any of us back after
tonight.” He looked up at Dean and
smiled. “Too bad you don’t speak
English. You look like a nice person, not
like some of these other jerks around here.” His
voice was quiet and almost conspiratorial.
Okay,
Dean, careful here, he could be a plant trying to check me out after last time, she
thought to herself as she gave the young man a blank look.
When they got to the Coke machine, she reached in her pocket to find some change. Pete placed a hand on her arm and shook his head
saying, “No, no. My treat.” Then he put the coins in the machine and motioned
to her to select her choice. Well if he is
a plant, at least he’s got some manners. Dean
smiled at him, then punched the button for a can of grape juice, picking it out of the
drop slot while he put more coins in, selecting orange juice for himself. Taking his can out of the drop slot, he reached up
and tapped her can in a salute, before opening it and downing at least half of it. Dean opened hers with a nod and a
“gracias” before drinking half of her can, too.
While they drank the rest of their juice more slowly, the young man continued to
prattle on about the weather, lifting weights and his family, conscious the whole time
that the woman sitting next to him probably didn’t understand a word he said. He even took out his wallet to show her the
pictures of his young wife and twin boys, who were miniature versions of their dad, minus
the body building physique.
*
* * * *
“Well,
well,” Bill said smiling, “looks like the colonel found a friend.” They were all watching the blue dot move from the
back of the warehouse to the front, and listened to the chatter as the young man attempted
to make conversation with Dean. “Wouldn’t
he be surprised to find out she understands every word he’s saying.”
“Do
you suppose he’s a plant?” Katie asked as everyone in the van listened to the
conversation on the external speakers.
“He
could be, but I’m sure the colonel has thought of that already,” General Carlton
cut in.
“Yeah,
you’re probably right,” the young agent agreed.
“But he really seems out of place here.”
“Maybe
he really is trying to support his family with this job,” Tibbits offered. “It would make sense that they’d have to
hire a few guys off the union rolls to keep suspicions down.”
“Do
you have their personnel files downloaded on this computer?” the general asked Katie.
“Yes,
Ma’am. Good idea!” Katie swiveled around to face the computer and
started entering codes on the keyboard. In a
short span of time she was scrolling through the personnel files. “Let’s see, there are two
‘Peter’s’ listed in the files.” She
pulled up the first one scanning the personal information.
“Nope, not this guy. He’s
originally from Brooklyn, and I’d lay odds he hasn’t lost that accent yet.” Looking at the next file she smiled. “Yep, this sounds more like our guy here. Name’s Peter O’Brien. Lives in, oh get this, married student housing at
Georgetown University. Hmm, he’s
twenty-seven, a student obviously, and is claiming three dependents on his W-4.” Katie exited the personnel files and changed
programs. “Okay, let’s see what
else we can find out about him.” As she
pulled up his file from student records at Georgetown, she whistled slowly. “Take a look at this. This guy carried a 4.0 in medical school, is
currently a surgical resident at the hospital, has a wife and two kids, and seems to be
working part time wherever he can. Wow! Look at those MCAT scores!” She looked up at the three faces reading over her
shoulder. “I don’t think he’s
a plant.” Three wide-eyed faces nodded
back at her.
*
* * * *
“Well,
I guess we better be getting back to the dock.” As he spoke, Pete motioned to Dean to
follow him. As they walked back, Pete kept up
his non-stop talk on all sorts of subjects explaining that it was nice to have someone to
talk to, even if she couldn’t understand him. At
that comment, Dean couldn’t help herself and allowed the slightest smile to appear on
her lips. About halfway back, Dean caught a
glimpse of movement off to her right and recognized the same two guys from the previous
Sunday working with an open crate. The
contents of this crate were boxes of tin foil. Wonder
what they’re smuggling this time. Must
be something they want hidden in all that metal, safe from detection by any x-ray scanning
devices. There must be at least ten crates of
tin foil. Guess I’ll have to tag each
one with a scan chip. Getting away with
planting a chip on one box could be tough, especially after last week. Getting away with ten chips … now that will
test my skills. Dean came out of her
thoughts in time to see Golding watching her with a vigilant look. She turned to Pete and in a casual voice said,
“Gracias Pete, por la bebida. Usted es
un hombre muy bueno.”
“Yeah,
whatever you said,” Pete replied laughing.
Dean
joined in the laughter then said in halting English, “Thank you.”
“You’re
welcome. Uh, I mean, gracias.” He said back to her.
“No,
no. De nada.” Dean tried explaining. “Gracias.” She pointed to her chest. “De nada.” She pointed to his chest.
“Oh
I get it, yeah, ‘thank you’ is gracias and ‘you’re welcome’ is de
nada.” He started nodding his head in
approval. “I’m not really a dope, I just never paid attention to foreign
languages. I’m more of a math and
science man. Plus, I took Russian, which
doesn’t resemble anything you’re saying!”
He began chuckling again.
“Sí!” Dean said clapping him on the back. They continued to the loading dock smiling and
laughing. During the rest of the night, Dean
taught him several more words for simple things and short phrases. He was a very quick learner, and Dean was very
impressed, wondering even more what he was doing in a place like this. Their banter back and forth was just the
distraction she needed to place the ten chips on the tin foil crates. When they returned to the dock, the others were
paying her quite a bit of attention, but when she began her language lessons with Pete,
they soon lost interest in anything that might be remotely educational. The rest of the night went quickly, and by the
time the last shipping container was loaded, Pete was asking ‘Maria’ if she
would like to go for some breakfast after work, when Burt came up.
“That’s
it, guys. Last container truck is loaded. Time to line up for your pay,” Burt bellowed
as he led the workers to the office area. Dean
was last in line and was musing, Well, let’s see if I get a raise this week,
when it was her turn to be paid. As she
counted her cash on the way out, Burt came up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.
“Boss
wants to see you,” he said, motioning for her to follow him back to the office. Pete was waiting for her at the back door when he
heard Burt come up to her. When he made a
move to go with them, Burt turned and told him to go home, in no uncertain terms. Dean turned and looked at Pete who was in the
process of telling Burt he’d wait outside for her, when she caught his eye and shook
her head, motioning for him to leave. Confused,
the young man shrugged and stepped out the back door.
*
* * * *
Chapter
12
0730
Hours, 6 November
“Wonder
what this is about?” Bill asked as they watched Dean’s blue dot return towards
the office.
“Better
fine tune that audio. We don’t want to
lose a word of this conversation,” the general cautioned as she started to become
concerned.
“Yes,
Ma’am.” The young lieutenant
reacted immediately, reaching for the audio dial.
*
* * * *
As
Burt led her to the office, Dean could feel her neck hairs start to bristle. I don’t think I’m gonna like this,
she said to herself and mentally began preparing for the worst by counting the guys left
in the warehouse. If they’re just
looking for a fun time … well … ten’s a bit much, but somehow I don’t
think that’s what’s on their mind. She
began running through her options. If they
get me in that office, I won’t be able to call for back up. Okay, time to improvise. She stopped just outside the office door, refusing
to enter.
“Inside!” Burt shouted, pushing her towards the door. Dean shook her head and refused to move, causing
Burt to shove her harder. “I said
inside, bitch!”
Dean
turned and said “No. Aquí!” To
which he shoved harder, while two other guys came up behind her to help, but stopped as
Roger Golding came out of the office smiling evilly.
“Good
evening, Colonel Peterson,” he said as he walked around her. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
Dean
just continued to stare straight ahead and said, “No comprende señor.”
“Oh,
drop the act, Colonel! I finally remembered
who you were when I heard you laughing with that young dockhand. I did a little checking of my own tonight, and
what did I find? Surprise, surprise, that
young lieutenant I remembered is now a lieutenant colonel.” He came back around to face her. “No, you wouldn’t remember me, but I
certainly remember you.” He pulled back
his fist then hit her square in the gut causing her to bend over, but going with the blow
that she had anticipated. As she stood, two
of the guys behind her grabbed her to keep her from returning the action in kind. “I was on a supervised squad assigned to
clean the recovery room after they patched you up. Must
not have been a successful trip, eh, Colonel? That
was just before they shipped me off to Leavenworth to do my time. But I remember your laugh. I heard you with that Patient Admin Officer as I
cleaned the floor in the hall outside your room. Never
liked Intelligence Officers. One of them put
me in Leavenworth!” He reached in his
pocket, pulling out a handful of scanning chips. “Now,
it’s my turn to laugh. Look what my boys
found on my special crates before the trucks left.”
Dean quickly counted them and mentally had the last laugh, noting that there were
only seven in his hand.
“Hmm,
wonder where those came from?” Dean
said, smiling at him. Okay guys, any time
now! I know I didn’t say the
‘gringo ladrones’ bit, but you should have caught on by now!
“So,
Scott had reason to worry about his shipment after all,” Golding continued as he
tossed the chips in his hand. “Well, too
bad you won’t be able to track it.” Roger
returned the smile as he dropped the chips to the floor and then made a show of crushing
them with the heel of his foot.
Just
about this time, Dean caught a movement in her peripheral vision. ‘Bout time guys!
She
was just about to tell Golding what he could do with those crushed chips, when Pete came
rushing out of the shadows and charged the guys holding her. Damn it, Pete!
You should have gone home! His
unexpected charge toppled both of the goons holding Dean, along with Dean and himself. Unfortunately, Pete hadn’t had the presence
of mind to check out how many other guys were still in the warehouse. Dean quickly regained her feet and managed to pull
her boot knives out in the process. One knife
immediately went flying into the shoulder of Burt, who was attempting to slam the butt of
his pistol into Pete’s head. The knife
lodged deeply, causing him to drop his weapon, as well as giving Pete time to get back on
his feet. Golding recovered from the attack
quickly, pulling out his Glock, aiming it at Dean. He
got off a round but missed her, as she dove for Burt’s dropped weapon. His missed shot hit one of the guys behind her, as
he was attempting to stand. The bullet sent
him back to the concrete floor on a permanent basis.
As three of the other guys came out of Golding’s office with weapons drawn,
Dean shot on instinct and managed to hit all three with disabling shots. Four down, one wounded, five to go … Dean
counted, as she spared a glance over at Pete who seemed to be holding his own with one of
the other guys he knocked down. Okay, make
that five down, one wounded, four to go. As
she turned to focus her attention back on a wounded Burt and Golding, she noticed two
thugs moving around to her left and behind the two forklifts that were parked there. The rest of the warehouse was nearly empty, and
she and Pete had no place to hide. Burt,
Golding, and another mercenary had retreated to the office to stay out of her line of fire
as they began attempting to hit them with shots from their weapons. Damn, no place to hide except behind the bodies
for now. She quickly told Pete to hide
behind the big brute he had just subdued. He
was totally surprised to hear her command in perfect English, but quickly did as she had
instructed. Surveying their situation, she
noticed a small trash dumpster by the bathroom to the right of the office, and estimated
the distance to be under thirty feet. Damn,
where are those guys! Okay, we’ll do
this the hard way.
“Stay
where you are, Pete!” Dean shouted as
she moved from her prone position and returned fire with two shots towards the office and
two towards the forklifts. She raised herself
into a sprinter’s position and took off for the dumpster. Five weapons began sending fire in her direction
as she ran toward her goal. Only one bullet
came close to its mark, grazing her thigh as she dove behind the dumpster. As soon as she rolled up to her feet, she checked
her clip to see how many shots she had left. Okay,
one in the chamber and three in the clip, plus I still have my other boot knife. Gotta make them count! She got behind the dumpster and began pushing it
towards Pete, who was barely able to hide behind the guy he knocked out. The harder she pushed, the faster it began to
roll. “Get ready!” she shouted over
the din of weapons firing in her direction. When
she was within five feet of Pete, he leapt up and made it to the safety of the dumpster
without a scratch.
“Gracias,”
he said as he reached her side. They began slowing the dumpster so they could reverse its
direction.
“Give
it up, Colonel. You’ll never make it to
the door. We’ve called for back up and
they’ll be waiting for you,” Golding shouted from the office.
“Well,
I wouldn’t be too sure of that, Roger. What
makes you think I didn’t come with back up myself?” she shouted back.
“You
do have back up, don’t you, Maria?” Pete whispered.
“It’s
Dean, and yes, I do. I’m just not sure
why they’re not here yet,” Dean answered, but stopped talking when she heard the
sound of the forklifts engines starting. “Uh
oh. We’re in trouble. Get ready to push this sucker towards the loading
dock with everything you’ve got.”
One
forklift came directly at the dumpster while the second one swung around to cut them off
from the side. Dean chanced a peek over the
top of the dumpster and realized she didn’t have a clear shot at either driver. “Now!” she shouted and began to push
with all her might, but the forklifts were faster than she had hoped, and the one coming
straight for them had lowered its tines. As
soon as it made contact, it began to lift the dumpster up and away, exposing them to the
drivers. When the dumpster was lifted and
they were left without cover, Dean moved and stood in front of Pete, raising her hands. Both forklift operators now had them in their gun
sights.
“Drop
the gun,” the man behind the second forklift shouted.
Dean
did as she was told. “Let Pete go. He doesn’t know anything. He just thought he was helping a woman in
trouble,” Dean asked quietly.
“Afraid
we can’t do that. Especially after he
clobbered Freddie.” The two men extended their weapons and aimed. Two shots rang out, and the two operators fell
forward at their controls, blood spilling from the bullet holes in their heads. Pete wobbled a bit before he realized he was okay,
then sat down on the concrete floor putting his head in his hands.
“Cutting
it a little close?” Dean called out to the two figures coming around the forklifts. “What took you guys so long?”
“We
figured he was going to take you into the office, so we decided the best approach-- rather
than slugging it out with his thugs at the front door--was to come in his back door,
through the tunnel. He’d never expect
that,” Katie said, smiling as she walked over to where Pete was sitting. “Hi, Pete.
My name is Katie O’Malley, and this is Lieutenant Bill Jarvis,” she said
extending a hand to him. “Thanks for
trying to help out tonight. We didn’t
expect that move,” Katie said shaking his hand.
“No
problem.” The young man stood, somewhat
in shock at nearly being killed. He accepted
Bill’s hand too and shook it, still in a trance-like state. Finally, he shook the cobwebs away and asked,
“Now, mind telling me what’s going on here?”
“Well,
we’ll have to let the general decide that,” Dean said as she picked up the gun
she had dropped. “Where are Golding and
Burt?” she asked Katie.
“Tibbits
has them and another guy covered.” She
jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “The
general should be here any minute with the van.”
Dean
nodded as she began walking back towards the office, noticing her injury for the first
time. Pete noticed it too, and moved closer
to take a look.
“Looks
like it just grazed you,” he said, looking up into her eyes with concern. “But we’d better take a closer look just
to be safe.”
“Yeah,
well, I can tell you it ain’t all that bad, and I refuse to go to a doctor to take
care of it,” Dean replied curtly.
“Colonel,
you should probably know that Pete here is completing his residency at George Washington
University Hospital. I think he can take a
look to keep you from going to a doctor.” Lieutenant
Jarvis looked over at a completely baffled Pete and smiled. “I’m sure there’s a first aid kit
around here somewhere, and if not, there’s one in the van we can use when the general
gets here.”
This
recitation elicited a surprised look on both Dean and Pete’s faces, stopping them in
their tracks. Pete was the first to speak. “Just who are you guys?”
“Later,
Pete,” Dean said smiling at him. “I
knew you didn’t fit in here. I’m
just surprised to hear how much you didn’t fit in.” At this moment, they heard the van pull up to the
loading dock.
Pete
turned and looked at his placid companions. “What
if their back up is out there? They might
shoot at your general!” Alarm was
clearly showing on his face.
“Nah!”
Dean told him as she began walking toward the office once more. “He was just bluffing.”
“How’d
you know?” he asked, confused once more.
“If
he’d had back up outside, they would have come running at the first gunshot,”
the tall woman answered him politely. “Now,
how about you take a look at this scrape so I can get back to work, okay?”
“Okay,”
Pete answered as he entered the office, where he quickly scanned it for a first aid kit. He was a bit nervous about the three mercenaries,
but relaxed when he saw them cuffed and under the watchful eye of another man he surmised
was Tibbits.
Before
Dean entered the office, she looked over at Bill and Katie speaking softly and motioning
with her head towards the prone bodies on the warehouse floor. “Take a look at those other guys. I think a couple of them might need Pete’s
help too, and they’ll need to be cuffed. One
or two of them might be beyond anyone’s help.”
*
* * * *
It
didn’t take long for Pete to care for Dean’s flesh wound and Burt’s
shoulder. He said the latter would take a bit
more medical treatment than he was able to perform with a first aid kit, considering that
the point of the slim blade entered his shoulder from the front and only striking the
scapula stopped it from penetrating his shoulder completely. After immobilizing the shoulder and bandaging
around the still embedded knife, he instructed Burt not to move his arm. Then he went out to check the guys in the
warehouse, leading Burt and the other mercenary out into the warehouse with him. General Carlton entered the office, nodding to
him as he exited with his two charges.
“Sorry
it took so long, Dean. I had to get in a
commander’s face before he would let them into the power station and down the
tunnel,” the general explained. “We
could have tried the outlet to the Potomac, but we didn’t want to take the time to
find it.”
“Just
a little close for comfort, General, but everything worked out okay. Any chance he was able to get in touch with
Gentry?” Dean asked.
“Not
possible. We clipped the phone lines as soon
as we heard you in trouble,” General Carlton informed her.
Dean
nodded as she walked over to where Golding was now sitting alone. “Okay, Roger, now it’s time to play show
and tell. How about you tell us everything
from the top?”
*
* * * *
“Damn. That guy is good at keeping his mouth shut,”
Lieutenant Jarvis marveled as they watched the D.C. Police take custody of the six
mercenaries. The morgue vehicle had already
taken the four dead bodies out. “It’s
a good thing Floyd will keep these guys on ice for us, and take care of the cover
story.”
“Yeah,”
Dean agreed, “when we get to the bottom of this, they’ll be facing much more
serious charges.” She smiled at the
young lieutenant. “At least we can still
track the cargo. Golding only found seven
chips. That means there are three of them
still active.”
“Hey,
that Pete sure was a surprise,” Katie interjected.
“Imagine in this day and age, someone willing to come to the aid of a stranger
in trouble. Of course, a beautiful stranger
makes it a bit easier,” she added with a wink at her lover.
“Cut
that out. He’s a happily married
man,” Dean countered with a raised eyebrow and smile of her own. “How long has he been in with the
general?”
“Too
long, if you ask me,” Lieutenant Jarvis replied.
“I wonder what kind of a line she’s giving him.” As they looked over at the warehouse office door,
they saw Pete and the general emerge, chatting amiably.
“Well,
whatever it was, he swallowed it hook, line, and sinker!” Katie added, smiling and
nodding her head. They continued to watch as
General Carlton walked to the loading dock door with the young man and shook his hand
before he exited the door. “Hmm, nice
touch. Okay, any bets on the line she fed
him?” Two heads shook in a negative
response.
As
General Carlton approached, Dean and Bill unconsciously assumed a stance of attention. “At ease,” she commanded softly. “There are still a few policemen around, and
I wouldn’t want them to be curious about the cover story your friend Floyd is
concocting.”
“Yes,
Ma’am,” came the twin responses, as each adopted a more relaxed posture. “So what’s the next step in the agenda
for your vacation plans?” she asked as they all walked back toward the van where
Tibbits was waiting, making sure none of the police officers decided to check it out.
“Well,
we leave for Freeport on Friday morning, so that gives us the rest of the week to track
the cargo and figure out a way to send our equipment through customs,” Dean replied
as she opened the door for the general. Mary,
Dean and Katie sat in the back, while Tibbits and Bill took the front seats.
“Where
to, General?” Tibbits inquired as he
started up the van.
“Take
a long route back to the convenience store. And
watch for any tails,” the general commanded.
Once
they were situated and on the way, Dean turned on the TDSC unit and the computer and
initiated the commands to link the TDSC unit to the satellite. This took a matter of minutes, but soon the small
screen was tracking a convoy of trucks unloading at a dock in Baltimore where the shipment
was being placed on board a container ship.
“Looks
like they’re taking a direct route to the island.
That ship is flying a Bahamian flag,” Dean noted as she pointed to the
described item on the computer screen. “They
must be on a tight schedule to be shipping directly there.”
Katie
considered this then added, “If they leave port on high tide tonight, they should
arrive in Freeport by Thursday night or Friday morning, if they don’t have any
interim stops for additional cargo. We can
check the ship’s itinerary on the computer.” She
noted the ship’s signage and jotted it down. “General,
is there any chance you can keep the van checked out until we leave?”
“That’s
doable. I’ll just let them know I’m
going to run some scenarios with a new training team.”
General Carlton nodded. “The team
that helped out in Las Vegas is due in D.C. today. It’ll
be a good cover, plus,” she added, looking over at Dean, “it will allow you to
keep the satellite link active.”
“General,
it’s a shame you never got a chance at field work.
You’re a natural,” Dean commented as she continued her observation of the
container ship, memorizing her details for later recognition. “Now we’ve just got to come up with a
way to get our equipment past customs.”
“That’s
been covered, too,” Mary revealed. “I pinned Art down before he and Gwen left
for the Bahamas and told them everything we had to date.
He was actually relieved to hear that his suspicions were confirmed. We discussed you and Katie going there to do a bit
more investigation and the equipment I wanted to send along. He contacted his friend in the British Embassy
here, and they will pick it up on Friday morning and ship it through their diplomatic
channels.”
“Great.” Katie was relieved that they wouldn’t have
to try to sneak the stuff in or, worse yet, try to do without it. “Will we pick the equipment up from the
Embassy contacts?”
“No,
Ned will. You’ll have to pick it up from
him,” Mary answered. “Art’s
planning a dinner for all of you when you arrive. You’ll
be able to get the equipment then.”
“Thanks,
Mary,” Dean continued. “I know the customs people are pretty relaxed there, but
I sure wouldn’t want to be the one visitor who gets their luggage checked, and have
to explain hundreds of thousands of dollars of high tech military surveillance
equipment.”
Tibbits
pulled into the convenience store, parking next to Dean’s SUV. Mary suggested she return to the Pentagon parking
facility for her car and then follow Tibbits out to Dean’s house to drop off the van. She also suggested they meet there on Tuesday
evening to discuss their investigation plans further.
With that settled, Dean, Katie and Bill exited the van and got into Dean’s SUV
for the trip to Occoquan where Dirk was patiently waiting for them to arrive.
*
* * * *
Chapter
13
1700
Hours, 7 November
“Wow,”
Katie commented as she rolled over in bed and stretched.
“I feel like I could stay in bed for forty-eight hours.” It had been a short nap, since they only crawled
into bed five hours previously. “I think
we really need a vacation.”
“When
this is over, love, I promise we’ll go somewhere that no one will be able to find
us.” Dean, already dressed in jeans and
an Army sweatshirt, strolled over to the bed and sat beside her young lover. She reached out and stroked Katie’s hair,
brushing a few errant strands from her eyes. Bending
down, she gave Katie a soft kiss before helping her sit up.
“I know a nice resort down in Aruba where we can just lie on the beach and
watch the waves come in.”
“Mmmm,
sounds nice. Should be good and warm there
too, now that winter is nearly here again.” Katie
reached over to pick up Dean’s hand, placing a kiss on the palm. “Of course, I don’t have to worry about
being warm with you next to me. You’re
my own personal heater no matter where we are.”
She snuggled closer as Dean put her arms around her in a gentle hug. “Yeah, we could be in an igloo in Alaska, and
you’d still be able to keep me warm.”
“What
can I say? I’ve just always been a hot
number,” Dean teased with a wry smile that earned her a playful slap on the stomach. “Better get showered and dressed, love. They’ll be here pretty soon. I’ll whip something up in the kitchen while
you get ready.”
“Oh? I hope it’ll be edible.” Katie’s comment was greeted with a raised
eyebrow as Dean headed off toward the kitchen.
************
Katie
couldn’t believe the aromas coming from the kitchen as she entered. “Mmmm, that
smells wonderful. What is it?”
“Just
a little something I picked up in Italy. I’ve
adjusted the ingredients a bit more to my liking, but it’s simple, quick, and a
substantial meal. I call it ‘Pasta
Fagioli a la Dean’.”
“Sounds
interesting, and you made enough to last a week. So,
what’s in it?” Katie picked up a
spoon and tasted the food, smiling as she recognized Dean’s penchant for hot peppers.
“Just
onions, garlic, Italian spices, tomatoes, beans, tubetti pasta, some olive oil
and…”
“Hot
peppers!” Katie finished as she fanned her mouth.
“What’s in the oven?”
“Bruschetta. I conned Gino out of his recipe before we left
the Catskills.”
“Oooo,
I loved Gino’s bruschetta.” Katie
eagerly opened the oven to see if they were done.
“Give
them another minute, and they’ll be ready. How
about opening a bottle of Montepulciano to go with the meal?” Dean suggested.
Katie
walked over to the wine rack and selected the bottle as the front door chimed. Setting the bottle down, she walked to the foyer
and peeked out the side window. Outside,
General Carlton, Bill, Dirk, and three other persons were patiently waiting. Katie opened the door and invited them all in. The guests immediately began sniffing the air. As
Bill and Dirk made their way to the kitchen, General Carlton introduced Major Fellows,
Lieutenants Wilson, and Petri from the training unit.
“Nice
to meet you.” Katie extended her hand to
each as they were introduced. “We were
just getting ready to have a bite to eat. Dean
made enough for an army, no pun intended, so why don’t you join us?”
“Thank
you, Katie,” General Carlton said as they followed the young woman to the kitchen. “We’d appreciate that.”
As
the group sat around the large kitchen table enjoying the meal, they discussed the current
location of the shipment. The Island Queen
was stopping in Miami Thursday night to pick up more cargo before heading the short
distance from there to Freeport. The loading
would take place all day Friday, and the crew would have shore leave Friday night. A few crew members always remained on board for
ship security. The ship was then scheduled to
leave Miami on Saturday, at 1500 hours, with an anticipated docking in Freeport at 2300
hours.
“That
seems like a long time for such a short distance,” commented Lieutenant Wilson. “Do they have to wait at sea for an unloading
berth at the container port?”
The
group considered the plausible explanation before Dean picked up the conversation.
“We’ll
be landing in Freeport on Saturday at 1230. Tracy
and Colleen are meeting us at the airport. We
should be able to watch the arrival and unloading from the boat Tracy has chartered. My concern is that I’m not comfortable with
the placement of those three TDSC chips. If
they come loose during the unloading, we might lose precious time trying to track the
package.” Dean looked around the table
before continuing. “I want Katie, Bill,
and I to board the Island Queen on Friday night when the majority of the crew will
be on shore. We need to find the crate with
the package and insert another TDSC chip inside it.”
She looked at General Carlton, before turning her attention to Major Fellows. “Major, how would you and your team like to
be a diversion while we do our dirty work?”
“I
think that could be arranged. It will be a
weekend, and we’ll technically be off-duty, so a trip to Miami might be nice.” The major looked around the table to see his two
lieutenants beaming back at him. “I need
to get some flight time in, so I’ll check on scheduling a plane for the trip.” General Carlton nodded her approval, and the group
began planning the diversion.
*********