The Homecoming Surprise
Chapter 19
“The cops are getting bored, but they’re not complaining given the OT they’re making off this gig,” Jimmy casually mentioned to us while sitting in his office at the embassy. We’d completed the perfunctory introductions and idle chitchat that went along with them.
“Dick, here are the photos of the house you asked for. We were even able to download overheads thanks to Google maps. I think they’re pretty good, except for all the damn greenery around the place, although that may work to our advantage. There are lots of hiding places for the perimeter team so Vlad won’t be able to escape our cordon of cops waiting outside. You and Pet will do the heavy lifting on this one as the entry team. I wish you luck.”
We’d earlier decided to take Vlad down at his house rather than elsewhere since we could control the location and circumstances of his demise without any witnesses. Only Pet and I would enter so there would be no disagreement about how he died. It would be a case of self defense and I’d brought along an untraceable, throw down piece in the event it was needed to substantiate our story and theory of the crime.
Jimmy had obtained a search warrant from the Seychellois Ministry of Justice based on the Interpol Red Notice. We were semi-legal and if there were any hassles from the host government, we’d thumb our noses at the authorities by claiming diplomatic immunity. However, I was optimistic we could avoid all the bureaucratic hoopla and red tape. Vlad was a bad boy and everybody would soon know it. We believed the angels were on our side of the matter.
We went over the details of our op plan and tried to cover possible contingencies knowing we couldn’t think of every scenario that might happen. So we’d have to ad lib if it came to that. That’s what I’d done for most of my career with the DSS so I’d gotten pretty good at it over the years. Pet probably hadn’t earned her spurs yet in that discipline, but she’d do fine just the same.
The meeting broke after Jimmy issued us our bulletproof vests and confirmed we’d meet just before dawn the next morning. He’d make sure the cops were awake and ready as well. Pet and I had the afternoon off and we drove to a secluded beach and swam and sunbathed the rest of the day. I sat back and admired her swimming abilities and other attributes I’d never experience. Damn it, Cupid had let me down!
Our dinner was a somber occasion with little conversation and a lot of wine. We both were thinking of tomorrow’s operation and how it might go. I tried not to dwell on the negative, although with difficulty. There was no gallows humor spoken whatsoever.
Pet kissed me on the check and said goodnight. Jeez, waking up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 a.m. really sucked!