"Logan. You fancy a walk up the coast and test out those headsets?" she asked.
That sounded good to Logan who was also feeling stuffy and wanted to stretch his legs.
"Yeah! That's a great idea. Ryan - Are you OK here if we walk out for a bit and test this headgear?"
"Sure" said Dempsey who was busy sorting out his contacts and getting himself prepared and organized for the night's action.
"The headsets are in the bottom cupboard beneath that fax machine and here is my swipe key to get back in." he tossed the card to Hayes.
Watson and Hayes left the safe house via the back door and walked along the stony pathway with the sea on their right side. It was a beautiful, hot afternoon and the sun beat down relentlessly on the deserted coastline. The gentle swishing sound of the surf on the shore made a very relaxing sound.
"Do you think Ryan will have eaten out the fridge when we get back?" joked Watson.
"I wouldn't bet against it!" laughed Hayes. "He's a really nice guy though isn't he?"
"He sure is and he knows his job real well" said Logan.
As they walked along the promontory, looking out to sea, they chatted for some time about their careers, their hopes, their aims and a whole load of other things. A real bond was now being formed by two people thrown together - not by choice but by circumstances. This really helped to ease the nerves and alleviate the worries that had started to build up within each of them. Without realizing or intending too, Hayes and Watson were establishing a strong team spirit and mutual trust. Privately now both felt that there would be a positive outcome at the end. There had to be.
After a while, they sat down on the shore and gazed out towards the sea.
"Have you ever got close to settling down with somebody Logan?" asked Madison, completely catching Watson by surprise. After a moment or two he replied.
"Yeah. When I was twenty back in New York I was going steady with a girl called Carla and things looked real good for us. Then I was away in North Carolina on a camp when I got a call from my folks telling me she had been killed in a road accident. I was devastated and I lost my way for a long, long time." He looked pained at having to recount this tragic part of his life before carrying on.
"Then about three years later, when I was in the Navy, I thought I'd met somebody perfect but I guess I was way still too young and naive back then. When I got back from Iraq she had gone off and met somebody else so I guess I would have been making a massive mistake."
"I’ve drifted from place to place since then with the DEA and I ain’t come close to meeting anybody special. But I’d like to settle, get married and have kids one day. Then I'd like to live in California during the hot summer, then New England for the Fall and New York for a snowy Christmas!" At this point, his trademark toothy smile came out again.
Hayes was touched by his honesty and openness and felt kinda guilty for asking him a direct question which had such sad content.
"Logan. I'm real sorry to hear about Carla. That must have been awful for you" said Hayes, as she wondered how she would have dealt with that situation had it been her.
"Yeah it sure was. But you gotta try and carry on which is why I went into the Navy" reflected Watson. Having opened up to her, Watson now turned the tables.
"So come on now, what about you Madison? I bet you've never had a problem attracting guys!" said Logan smiling and looking more cheerful.
She smiled back.
“When I was at high school and college I got a lot of male attention and I had a couple of boyfriends. But I think guys found me hard to talk to cos I was real shy back then and my folks kept a close watch on me. I met a guy when I was at college and we got on great for a long time. I think my Mom wanted me to marry him as he was polite, good looking and had a great career ahead of him! He’s a lawyer in Cleveland now doing real well"
"But something in the relationship was missing for me and I started to feel I was just going through the motions. We split up at the beginning of last year and I ain’t found anybody else I’m interested in yet.” She looked at Watson for a few long seconds and smiled again.
“My sister and brother are both married with kids now and I think my Mom reckons I’m gay – which I certainly am not!” she added unnecessarily forcing a small laugh.
"I'm really enjoying my job with the Bureau but, like you, I would like to start a family one day when I meet the right guy"
They both reflected on what had been said then Madison spoke.
"Hey let's check out these headsets now and make sure they are OK. I trust Ryan and I reckon they are fine but best to be sure!"
They both slotted the earpieces snugly into their right ears and pulled the microphone piece down towards their mouths.
"Ryan, Ryan. Do you copy?" said Hayes.
Moments later Dempsey's voice boomed back loud and clear confirming that all was OK on the communication front. They wandered back along the coast to the safe house.
Now all they could do was wait for darkness - and for Miguel Perez.
Chapter 7
Friday 13 July 2012 19:25pm EST Bachetti family home, Port Charlotte, Florida.
Even at 19:00pm the weather in Port Charlotte, Florida was still stiflingly hot and sultry. Today the temperature had reached 38C and humidity was very high.
Brianna Bachetti had just gotten little Jake out of his bath, gotten his pajamas on and was trying to settle him down with a drink of hot milk before he went to bed. But Jake wanted to play trucks with his daddy on the veranda and he had no interest in going to bed.
"I'm sorry Jake but Daddy has gotta go to work soon and you have school tomorrow" Brianna said.
At that moment, her husband Ethan came out onto the veranda of the house in his works overalls. "Hey little guy your mommy is right. You need some shut-eye now but we can play trucks tomorrow I promise."
Jake looked disappointed but he didn't say anything. He quietly pushed a big truck up and down the veranda in the hope that his parents would let him stay up a bit longer.
"C'mon Jake! I'll put you to bed" Ethan said after a couple of minutes and scooped up his young son who now started to smile. Ten minutes later Ethan came back onto the veranda and Jake was fast asleep in his bedroom.
"Honey" said Brianna "How are your guts? I saw you holding your stomach again before. I really want you to go to the Medical Center and get checked out. You've been in pain for a month now at least".
Ethan looked up awkwardly. "Hey it ain't too bad today – just a twinge but it's nothing." He smiled to try to put his wife's mind at rest but reflected on the fact that he had been in pain now for nearly two months and his stomach felt weird. Ethan was desperately keen not to take any time off work as money was tight and the loan companies unforgiving.
"If it ain't right next week, I'll go up the Center" he offered as a peace deal again with a big smile.
Brianna smiled too. "OK honey. I just worry about you and you are real quiet at the moment".
"I'm fine. Hey I better get up to the garage now. I am on at eight tonite and I really hate these nite shifts".
Ethan worked as an auto mechanic at a garage just outside Port Charlotte center, which also offered route-side assistance to broken down vehicles on behalf of Road America. At this time of year, the East coast of Florida was always full of tourists from all over the States and beyond, and Ethan was busy fixing punctures, overheated radiators and air-con problems. Whilst he didn't like working nights, shift attracted a bonus payment which helped with the mortgage, vacations, Jake's schooling and a hundred other things too.
"This may help keep you going, honey". Brianna smiled as she handed him a small bag containing some shrimp sandwiches and a flask of black de-caffeinated coffee.
"Thanks!" said Ethan giving her a kiss and climbing into his Ford F450 pickup truck. He fired up the big truck waved goodbye and headed up Harbor View Road to Johnson's Autos just a couple of miles outside Charlotte Harbor listening to Cat Country 107.1 his favorite station.
Fifteen minutes later Ethan pulled onto the forecourt of the garage and parked up. Hank, one of the other mechanics was just finishing the afternoon shift and was getting ready to leave.
“Hey Ethan - it’s been dead quiet today man. You’re gonna need a good book, a magazine or some music tonight!”
Ethan smiled, said goodbye and went into the office to check the paper work and say Hi to Jim Johnson Snr who manned the phones at the garage - even though he had retired many years ago. The old air conditioning unit whirred noisily but was just about doing the job of keeping the small office cool and bearable.
“Hi Jim - how ya doin?”
“I'm fine thanks Ethan. Hey! Have some of these cookies”
Ethan took a cookie but his stomach didn’t really fancy it so he quietly put the cookie down on his desk for later.
“Jim are those CB radio things working OK again now? One played up on me the other nite”
“Well funny you should mention it Ethan cos the new ones I ordered last week arrived this afternoon. Gotta range of about forty miles in them so you'll be loud and clear all over Charlotte County tonite. Hey! I’ll know where you are as they gotta a GPS tracker device built in - so ya can't be playing pool instead of working! They are all charged up so you can test one out tonite”
The old man smiled happily at his jokes and so did Ethan.
Friday 13 August 2012 20:00pm Boca Grande area, Port Charlotte, Florida
Delgado was already at the boathouse when Mr. and Mrs. Perez arrived. He had unlocked the boathouse doors and had double checked that both vessels were fuelled-up.
"Ola!" said Maria.
"Are you refreshed Luis?"
"Si" replied Delgado "I think it will be a great night for us all"
He started up the Pantera for Maria as she kissed Perez goodbye and then gave Delgado a kiss on the cheek. She reversed out of the boathouse, headed out to the Gulf to re-join the Alcatraz and await the return of her husband and his best friend. They would be bringing a small fortune with them and Maria started to dream about what she might like to spend some money on next.
About three quarters of an hour later, Perez and Delgado, stashed the suitcases into the small hold, fired up the Motion and reversed out of the boathouse. As Delgado headed up the estuary the Motion's engines started to splutter and cough before clearing themselves.
Delgado looked worried and turned to his friend.
"This boat is like a Senorita - beautiful one moment then a bad temper the next"
"It seems OK now. Keep going" replied Perez more in hope than certainty.
The massive boat limped through the water and edged on towards Alligator Bay.
Delgado slowed down and nursed her along but finally the engines spluttered to a halt and the craft slowly stopped. The Motion drifted aimlessly in the water until it gently ran aground, like a beached Minke whale.
The deal with the Lombardi brothers was now in big danger. Non-delivery meant no payment.
Chapter 8
Friday 13 August 2012, 20:30pm EST, FBI Safe House outside Port Charlotte, Florida.
It was time to go. Hayes had showered again whilst Watson was rising himself after his sleep. Both agents were wearing wet suits and Watson tried real hard not to stare at Madison as she bent over to zip up her wetshoes. She fitted her wetsuit perfectly he thought.
Hayes, Watson and Dempsey went through the back door of the safe house and down to the boathouse unseen by anyone. Dempsey unlocked the solid metal doors and switched on the light.
The atmosphere was tense as everybody was nervous to some degree. Ryan sensed this and read out loud from his clipboard.
"Hey guys! Whilst you were out before, I loaded up and checked all the equipment:
Spare headsets
Medical kit
Torches/flashlights
2 x waterproof carry bags
Sample analysis kit
Inflatable dinghy with oars
Handheld GPS
Heat/thermal camera
Spare Glock rifle and ammo
Flare gun
Life jackets
FBI bullet proof vests
2x NVT goggle sets
Money-belt with cash and credit cards
A flask of coffee
And plenty of pretzels!
As he read out the last item, they all laughed.
"She is all A1 and good to go" concluded Ryan.
"That's great thanks Ryan. Let's go Logan “said Hayes wanting now just to get on with things.
Dempsey opened the front of the boat house and unmoored the craft as Watson turned the ignition key. The boat fired into life and Watson steered them out into the night sky, switching on the craft's night navigation lights and the on-board GPS.
"Good luck. Remember I am here monitoring it all and I'll give you any updates we get. We are gonna bring that son of a bitch in!" roused Ryan.
"See you later" said Hayes and Watson. Ryan locked up the boathouse, went back up to the observation room where he could see the boat slipping though the sea via his night scopes.
Watson turned the boat into the estuary and then followed the GPS directions starboards towards the Gulf of Mexico. With its muffled engines and dark paintwork, the boat stealthily eased along attracting no unwanted attention.
Watson throttled back a little as they edged past Charlotte Harbor Nature Reserve and hit the Gulf of Mexico. There was no wind and the sea was very placid and quiet as if holding its breath in expectancy.
Friday 13th August 21:00pm, Coquina Sands, Naples, Florida
Giancarlo Lombardi, his brother, Valentino, and their bodyguard Marco climbed into their Rigid Inflatable Boat, known as a RIB, at an exclusive private mooring in Coquina Sands, near Naples carrying two suitcases packed with dollar bills. The cases contained over $10 million in cash and was the full payment agreed via numerous Blackberry Messenger haggles with their trusted contact, Miguel Perez. It was a hell of a lot of money but Perez had always delivered on time. They trusted him.
Their superfast boat, equipped with eight Yamaha outboard motors sped northwards up the Florida coast to the agreed transaction venue in Alligator Bay, outside Port Charlotte.
This was a previously used rendezvous point that all parties were happy to use again.
The well dressed Lombardi boys, in their Gautier suits and Jimmy Choo shoes would be there in plenty of time for the scheduled 21:30pm handover of top grade coke which they were confident would quickly turn over into a $3 million profit. Everybody would be happy.
Chapter 9
Friday 13 July 21:20pm, Johnson's Autos office, Port Charlotte, Florida
The phone rang loudly in Jim Johnson's office and the old man answered in the same manner he had for the past 15 years.
"Hi! This is Johnson's Autos. Jim senior speaking how can I help you there?"
It was the Road America central call center