Fallen Pride (Jesse McDermitt Series) (13 page)

“None that I can think of, Colonel.”

“That’s about all I had then. Thanks again for letting me stop here, Jesse. Now is someone going to tell me what the hell that contraption is Carl’s working on?”

“It’s an aquaculture system,” I said. “We’re going to raise crawfish and vegetables right here on the island.”

“Crawfish?” he said. “And vegetables? Why?”

“Jesse wants to be a hermit,” Jackie said with a smile. “Completely off the grid.”

“A hermit?” Stockwell asked.

“Just a crazy idea I had. We get most of our food from the sea. When I first cleared this area, I wanted to grow some vegetables, but the soil’s all wrong. Trent suggested aquaculture and I was curious. Besides, I love Cajun crawfish.”

Deuce and I showed Stockwell around the island. He was impressed with the bunkhouses, the new electrical station, the water maker, and mostly the remote location. “How long do you think you could support an eight person team out here?”

“Eight?” I asked. “As long as they like seafood, pretty much indefinitely. Why?”

“I like the location for intense training. This will be perfect for Julie’s small craft boarding training. No distractions and no outside interference or monitoring. And I like your idea of using it as a base of operations for missions. Can I see your boats?”

We walked over to the house and up to the deck. The 16 foot wide deck surrounds my house on three sides, all but the east side and is completely enclosed below, where the dock
s are located. Originally, I’d only planned on docking the
Revenge
and my 18 foot Maverick Mirage skiff under the house, but with a little extra work and planning, we were able to get all six boats docked below.

Stockwell turned to us at the steps down to the docks and said, “Can Jesse and I have a moment alone?”

“Yes sir,” Deuce said and turned to Jackie. “Come on inside Doc, we’ll show you the house.”

Stockwell and I
walked down the steps toward the front of the house and I opened the door to the dock area. Stockwell stepped through and let out a low whistle. The
Revenge
was docked in the first slip and a three foot wide dock went from the door to the rear of the house. The dock continued along the rear wall and back to the front along the east wall, with another dock extending down the middle. There are small storage closets at the end of each dock, at the front of the house.

He walked down the dock and around the stern of the
Revenge
. The Cigarette was docked in the next slip, with barely a foot between them. Beyond it, the Grady was docked in front of Alex’s skiff against the center dock, with my skiff tied off to hers. Against the far dock lay the Winter center console,
El Cazador
.

“Not a lot of room left down here,” Stockwell said.

Joining him at the stern of the
Cazador,
I said, “This is the boat Julie will pilot with the Secret Security detachment aboard.”


Cazador
? That’s Spanish for hunter, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, we sort of adopted her when drug smugglers didn’t want her anymore.”

“How fast are these two?” he asked.

“The
Revenge
has a top speed of 46 knots and
Cazador,
about 40 knots.”

He glanced at me surprised. “Not your average fishing boats, huh?”

I laughed and said, “No, they were both built specifically for the drug trade.”

He nodded to
ward the Cigarette, “What about the go fast boat?”

“Not much for fishing,” I replied. “But
she’ll get you there really quick, over 100 knots. She came with the
Cazador.

“Very impressive,” he said. “Everything.

“Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Yes,” he said. “I wanted to talk to you about the woman killed in the boat accident last winter, Isabella Espinosa.”

“With all due respect, I think we both know that wasn’t her real name.”

He eyed me sharply. “Afia Qazi, daughter of Syed Qazi Al Fayyad and a known terrorist. Deuce gave me his report, including the single shot fired that ignited the fuel tank. I then shredded his report. The investigation has been closed, the Monroe Sherriff’s Office and the Florida Marine Patrol have officially called it a boating accident, involving an illegal Cuban national.”

I gave that some thought. “So, you’re telling me I’m not a suspect in the killing of a known terrorist?”

“What terrorist?” he said with a sly grin. “A Cuban national, in the country illegally, with ties to a drug smuggler. I also did some more in depth reading in your service record book. I was particularly impressed with a single day in Mogadishu.”

“Ancient history, Colonel,” I said.

“Are you saying you’re no longer able to make a shot like that? Not many people can make a 1200 meter kill shot.”

“If need be, I probably could.”

“Deuce also told me how you handled a situation with his two long gun shooters. Think you could work with them some? Maybe make them a little less spooky?”

He was talking about the Australian, Donnie Hinkle and his spotter Glenn Mitchel. They were a SEAL sniper team, before coming to DHS to join Deuce’s team. Before the Cuba operation, the rest of the team sort of steered clear of them. I had a few words with the two men and made them see the error of their ways.

“Sure,” I said. “Hinkle and Mitchel are good men, just a little aloof.”

Back in the clearing,
we joined the others. “One last thing,” Stockwell said. “If we’re going to use this place for training and staging, we need to know the name of the island.”

“It doesn’t have a name,” Jackie said. “Just one of many little islands in the Content Keys.”

“So what do you call it, Jesse,” he asked.

“Never called it anything. Just ‘the island’.”

“Guess that’s good enough, then,” he said. “We’ll just call it The Island.”

He
and the pilot climbed back in the Huey, Stockwell in the co-pilot’s seat. Minutes later, they lifted off and headed southwest. The sun was heading toward the horizon and I wanted to get to Boca Chica well before sunset. “We have about 50 miles to go to get to the marina,” I told the others. “If we’re going to make it and still have time to eat, we better get going.”

We said goodbye to Trent and I once again had to tell Pescador to stay here. He didn’t look to happy about it.
We untied the two boats, boarded and started the engines. I yelled across the Cigarette to Julie, “On the key fob, push the unlock button to open your door.” She nodded and pushed the button, as I pushed the same button on mine and the two doors slowly began to swing outward on their big spring loaded hinges.

When the door was fully open, I put the engines in forward and idled out from under the house. Once clear, Julie slowly pulled out behind me and I pointed the key fob aft and pushed the lock button. The electric motor started pulling the door closed and I saw that Julie
had done the same thing, closing the east door.

At the end of my channel, I turned northeast into Harbor Channel and brought the big boat up on plane.
Looking back, I saw that Julie was up on plane as well, maintaining a safe distance.

“Isn’t Boca Chica the other way?” Jackie asked
from the second seat.

“Water’s too shallow for a straight shot. We have to get out in the Gulf
, turn west and circle around the end of Key West.” I switched on the radar, sonar, and both the VHF and UHF radios.

The sky was a deep, cobalt blue after the morning’s rain. I turned north following the channel into the deep blue water of the Gulf of Mexico. The seas had flattened out and I pushed the throttles up to 1
600 rpm, the knot meter showing our speed at 25 knots. Glancing back, I saw that Julie was moving out of my wake and coming alongside, about 30 yards off the port side. She throttled back, matching my speed.

“Want to take her for a while?” I asked.

“Jesse, I’ve never driven a power boat.”

“You’re in the Navy and you’re never piloted a boat?”

“Sailboat yeah. I wouldn’t have the first idea what to do, going this fast.”

I stood up and moved to the port side bench. “Just like driving a car, except there’s no brakes.”

She grabbed the wheel from the second seat and said, “Are you crazy? What if I hit someone? And what do you mean no brakes? How do you stop?”

“Just slide over and take the helm. There’s nobody out here to hit.

She slid over and looked at me, “Hey, I’m driving
! But how do I stop? You never told me that.”

“If we need to stop, you just pull back on the throttles.”

“How do I know which way to go?”

“Just follow the sun.”

“Seriously? That’s it?”

I laughed and said, “For now, yeah.
If you’re gonna earn your keep tomorrow, you gotta get your feet wet. It’s a big ocean, if you take us a mile or two further out into the Gulf it won’t make any difference. The sonar is set to alert us if we have water ahead that’s shallower than ten feet. If you hear it beeping, just turn right a little. I’ll be back in a minute, need to find my cell phone.”

I went down to my stateroom and found it in a drawer, but the battery was dead. I took it and the charger back up to the bridge and plugged it in. I turned it on and pulled up the number for Lawrence
Lovett, an Androsian friend and taxi driver in Key West. He answered on the first ring.

“Hi Lawrence, this is Jesse,” I said. We talked for a minute and I asked him if he could meet us at the
Boca Chica Field Marina in an hour. He promised he’d be there and I ended the call.

“I’m sure you’ll want to go home and change before dinner,” I said to Jackie.

“Oh? Are you asking me out on a second date?”

“Actually, if you count today’s boat ride, it’ll be the third date,” I said with a grin.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Well, since your car’s still in Marathon, I thought we could walk over to the Runway. When Lawrence drops you at your house, just tell him what time you’ll be ready and he’ll be there
at exactly that time to bring you back to the marina. Where do you live anyway?”

“I share a house in Old Town with one of the nurses. She works nights and I work days, so we rarely see one another.”

Jackie piloted all the way to Northwest Channel, where I took over. Julie fell back and got in line behind us as I turned south into the channel and dropped the speed to 20 knots. Fifteen minutes later, we crossed the main ship channel, turned east at Whitehead Spit and I bumped the throttles back up to 25 knots. There were a few other boats on the water, but all the cruise ships were either docked or still far out to sea. Fifteen minutes later, we picked up the lights for Boca Chica Channel and turned northeast.

I picked up the mic and said, “Coming down off of plane, Jules.”

I waited until I heard her respond, “Roger, Jesse,” and slowly pulled back on the throttles. The big boat settled into the water and we idled into the marina. There was no fuel dock at the marina, but the
Cazador
had already been topped off and the tanks on the
Revenge
held more than enough for tomorrow’s trip. We idled into the turning basin and I maneuvered the
Revenge
to the center of the long dock, in clear view of the main building. Having only a single engine, Julie swung the
Cazador
in a sweeping turn and lightly kissed the dock fifteen feet astern of the
Revenge.
The Dockmaster and another man came out of the building and helped make both boats fast.

“You must be Captain McDermitt,” the Dockmaster said.

“Yes, I am,” I said. “The other boat is skippered by Captain Thurman. You were expecting us?”

“Yes sir. The CO said you were picking up some VIP clients
here in the morning, for a day of fishing. He also said not to ask who, so I won’t.”


Wouldn’t matter,” I lied. “You probably know more than I do who they might be. All we’ve been told was to pick them up here.”

The man shrugged and left. I added two more lines
to secure the boat to the dock and watched as Julie did the same. Jackie had disappeared into the salon to gather her things and stepped down to the dock just as Deuce and Julie walked up.


I need to call a cab,” Deuce said. “We’re going to stay at the Double Tree.”

I glanced up the road from the dock and could see Lawrence’s black Crown Vic heading our way. “I already called one, Deuce. He can drop y’all on the way to take Jackie home.
” Turning to Jackie I added, “Call me when you’re on the way.”

I walked them out to where Lawrence was standing by the front of his cab. He hurried around the car before we got there and opened all the doors.

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