Operation Tropical Affair: A Poppy McVie Adventure (Poppy McVie Series Book 1) (17 page)

“Did you clean up the crumbs?” Noah said.

Clyde scurried back and swept the floor with his tiny hand.
 

“I’ll get it,” I said and got up for another biscuit. I held it in my hand, wanting Clyde to take it from me. He approached without hesitation, his high-pitched whine as cute as can be. “See, he knows. Instinctively or otherwise, he knows I’m a friend. He’s smarter than we are in some ways.” I clenched my jaw, anger stirring in me. “But humans have the immense capacity to be deceitful. We have better traps, better weapons, better cages.”
 

Noah sat up. “So you’re a fed. What are you doing here in Costa Rica?”

“Not nearly enough,” I said. “But you can help.”

“Tell me how.”

“Does Maria know you’re the one who has been targeting her operation?”

“I don’t know how she would.”

“Would she recognize you for any other reason? Does she know you’re an activist?”

He kinda half shook his head. “She might. If she went out of her way to investigate.”

I nodded. She certainly would have done that. “I have an idea.”

“Will it save animals?”

I smiled wide. “We could use the gang, too.”

“Tell me when.”

“Tomorrow morning, I’ll be back. We’ll plan our attack.”

I had all day. After I’d assured Dalton that Maria couldn’t possibly know Noah, not to worry, he left for his morning five-mile run and after that he’d planned a day of sorting through snakes and frogs, then going to play cards again, so he’d probably be late.

I stopped at the Coco-Cabana, dragged Chris out of his bed, and we headed for the tree house.

“Noah, this is Chris. He’s a friend. Not a cop.”

Noah shook Chris’s hand. “Coffee’s almost ready,” he said and tromped across the rope bridge.

Chris raised an eyebrow at me and mouthed the word
wow
.
 

“He’s straight,” I whispered.
 

He raised the other eyebrow.
 

I grinned. “Very straight.”

Clyde bounded up the stairs, Isabella not far behind him. “Buenos días,” I said.

“Buenos días,” she groaned, one eye open.

“Noah’s coming with coffee,” I told her, which caused a slight uptick in her step.

Chris and Clyde were making fast friends. Chris held his arm out and Clyde swung on it like a trapeze artist. “He’s so cute,” Chris cooed.

Jack and Doug arrived, Jack with a bag of doughnuts and Doug carrying a watermelon. Noah came across the bridge with a pot of coffee and three mugs in his hands. “Grab some more mugs,” he said to Jack. “And let’s take this to the picnic table. This old tree house is pretty sturdy”—he winked at me—“but I’m not sure how many people it’ll hold.”

Matt and Claudia walked up as we plopped everything on the picnic table. “Amanda and Colette will be here soon. Dan and Sierra have to work.”

The morning sun felt warm on my back. I dug my bare toes into the sand.
 

Their hands wrapped around warm mugs of coffee, the others sat down forming a circle around me. “This is going to be dangerous,” I said. “If you don’t want to be involved, I understand. Just say so now.” They each looked around at the others, none of them wanting to bow out. “All right.” I assessed my team, then turned to Chris, Jack, and Doug. “My plan is a bit, well, bold.” I grinned. “I think its time Maria had a little competition. Chris, meet Doug and Jack, your bodyguards.”

“What do I need bodyguards for?”

“You’re a wildlife smuggler. A very successful one. And you’re moving in on the competition.”

Doug piped up. “I’m not trained for that sort of thing.”

“You’re an actor, right? It’s all for show.” He nodded, the concept slowly settling in.

“Your first task: go shopping.”

Chris gave me his yeah-I’m-gay-but-c’mon look. “Seriously?”
 

“You need to dress for success.” I turned to Doug and Jack. “You, too. Ex-military, green beret types. Can you do that?”
 

They nodded, excited.

I turned to the rest of the group. “They’ll need a car.”

Noah jumped to his feet. “This way.” We all followed him into the trees to a structure built with corrugated tin panels. He lifted the latch on a sliding door and pushed it open. “This work?” Parked inside was a shiny new black SUV.

“Perfect.”
 

Doug slapped him on the back. “You’ve been holding out on us, man.”

“Nice ride, dude,” said Jack.

Noah turned to Doug. “You drive.”

“We’ll need the VW, too,” I said.
 

Noah shrugged. “Whatever.”

As we walked back to the beach together, I explained that we’d be visiting some potential buyers. Chris asked, “How will we convince them to leave Maria and buy from me?”

“Oh, we don’t have to convince them of anything. We go talk to them, about the weather, whatever. As long as we’re seen doing it.”

“But what if she asks?”

“She won’t. But if she does, even better. They’ll say we talked about the weather, because we did. Of course, she’ll think they’re lying.”
 

“But I don’t see what that does if there isn’t a real threat,” said Jack.

“The threat doesn’t have to be real. She only has to think that it’s real.”

We sat back down in the sand. Noah said, “This whole plan depends on your judgement of Maria. That she has people watching, that she’ll act on this. You’re giving her a lot of credit.”

“She didn't get to be a world-class wildlife trafficker by being stupid.” I looked him in the eye. “And she’s not going to let it go very easily either. That’s our advantage. We know her goal and we know what she’s afraid of. The key is to guide her in the direction we want her to go, without her realizing it. We do what fortunetellers do. We give her the right bits of information and let her connect the dots.”

He shook his head. I wasn’t sure if he was skeptical or in awe of my great insight.
 

I turned to Isabella. She likely had the best information I needed for the other part of my plan. “Have you ever seen Maria come to The Toucan to see Carlos? The woman from the fundraiser?”

Isabella shook her head.

“Okay, just tell me what you know about Carlos, everything you know.”

She made a disgusted face. “I don like heem.”

Noah answered. “He owns The Toucan, a hangout for tourists who get off the cruise ships, mostly a lunch crowd. All regular deliveries, the food, alcohol, come in the morning, like any other bar. But it’s a front for the smuggling. During the lunch rush, when the place is too busy for anyone to notice, locals show up, delivering boxes to the storeroom, a shed out back, behind the kitchen.”

“Everyday, the same time?” I asked.

“During lunch. We figure they’re the poachers. Carlos hangs out back with his right hand man. Whenever a poacher arrives with something to sell, he sends his man into the bar to get cash from the till.”

“How big is the shed? Big enough to house these animals?”

He shook his head. “They load them right into the panel truck. Carlos just hangs out back there, smoking all day. At two-thirty, Paco drives away in the van and Carlos empties the till and leaves in his own car.”

I turned to Isabella. “What about drugs? He running those through the bar?”

“I don know,” she said. “I never seen no drugs.”

“So it’s possible they are in one of these mystery boxes, then?”

Noah said, “We didn’t know there were drugs until you and I—”

“Right, got it,” I said. Everyone didn’t need to know about our escapade. “So if there are drugs, they’d be in the panel van, headed to wherever the animals are taken.”

Jack piped up. “We rode the van once. To the shed at the old coffee plantation. That’s how we knew about it.”

“All right, what about—wait, what do you mean you rode the van?”

Jack grinned. “We roof surfed. You know, like hood surfing, only on the roof.” He put out his hands like he was balancing on a surf board.

“You’re kidding right?”

He stared at me, his brow knit. Like why wouldn’t that be possible?

Amanda and Colette came walking down the beach, hand in hand. They filled coffee cups and joined us. “What’s going on?” Colette asked.

Doug held up his mug. “We’re going to kick some wildlife smuggler ass!” he said.

I thanked them for coming, but my head was still at The Toucan. “Does the van go to the shed at the plantation everyday? Or could there be multiple locations?”

Noah shrugged. He looked to Jack and Doug. They shrugged. Noah said, “We do know that the van comes back in the evening. They drive down on the dock. Everyday by five. That’s when the shipments go out. Then the empty van gets parked behind The Toucan for the next day.”

“All right.” To Amanda and Colette, I said. “You two can impersonate drunk college girls, right? You have bikinis?” They nodded. “And Amanda, I have a computer question. We can chat about that in a bit. What we need to know right away is details about the whereabouts of the drugs. We need to know what day they ship. I need surveillance on the shed at the plantation.” I looked at Noah. “It’s not a fun job, but I can’t be seen with you. Will you do it?”

He nodded and turned to Matt and Claudia, the river guides. “I’ll need your help.”

“Anything,” they said simultaneously.

“Make sure you have enough supplies to camp out up there for a couple days if need be,” I said. “Take your cell phones. Make sure they’re charged and keep them off until you need to contact me. There’s no cell coverage up there. You’ll need to hike out a ways to get service. So as soon as you see the van—wait a minute.” I turned to Isabella. “Did you say Paco? Is there more than one Paco?”
 

“I don know.”

 
Could it be? Could I be that lucky? Agent García had likely chosen Paco because it was such a common name but—“How long has Paco been with Carlos?”

Isabella shook her head. Noah, too. Isabella said, “This Paco, I haf seen him around, but only a few month does he get dee money and drive dee ban.”

“Do you work today?”

“Sí, everyday at eleven.”

To Chris, Jack, and Doug, I said, “Get shopping. Be dressed and in character and meet me at The Toucan at noon. Get a table close to an exit.”

I had to change my clothes, grab a few things, and, this time, make sure Yipes followed me to where I was going for lunch. I popped into the bungalow and ran into Dalton.

“There you are,” he said. “I thought you were going up to the cocina for some coffee and you’d be right back.”

“I went for a walk. What are you doing here? I thought you had frogs to sort.”

“I’m taking the day off. Gonna spend it with you like we had planned for yesterday. I was just going to call you.”

Crap.
I had to get back to The Toucan. This would blow everything. I had to think. Fast. I smirked. “Yeah, you don’t need to babysit me. I’m behaving.” I made sure he heard the sarcasm and disappointment in my voice. “It’s already getting hot out there. Thought I’d change and go shopping. Yay!” I snatched my khaki shorts and a tank top from my suitcase, waltzed into the bathroom, and shut the door.

I quickly changed, trying to think of what else I might need so I could grab it and go. I opened the door and Dalton was standing right there, blocking my way.

“I want you to know,” he said, his jaw muscles tight, “that I’m sorry. I’ve been on your case since you got here. I haven’t given you a fair chance.” His eyes dropped to his hands. He examined his cuticles, then the backs of his hands. Finally his eyes came back to mine. “You were right. I screwed up and that’s why they sent you down here and, well, I was ticked off.”

“I understand,” I said. “Don’t worry about it.” I pushed by him and headed for the door. He grabbed me by the arm and spun me around.

“Wait, that’s it?” He looked hurt. “I’m trying to tell you I’m sorry.” He threw up his hands. “God, women!”

I screwed my face into a smile. “I’m just saying, no apology needed. I get it. This op is important to you and you don’t want anything to jeopardize it. I respect that.”
 

“Thank you,” he said. He actually looked relieved. God he was such a sweet guy.
Dammit. My plan better work.
He took my hand in his. “I’m actually glad you’re here. The way you figured out it was Maria so quickly.”
 

I blushed a little.
 

“I was thinking maybe…”

“Yeah, no.” I yanked my hand away. “We’ve got a job to do here.” I gave him a stern look. I had to be stern.

“Wow, you really don’t like compliments, do you?”

“Do you compliment Joe?” I had to pick a fight.
 

“What?” He stepped back. “Why would I?”

“I bet you wouldn’t spend the day at the beach with him. So you could
finally see him in a bikini
.” The last words I spat at him, dripping with sarcasm. “I get it. I’m here on your turf. But you also made it abundantly clear who’s in charge. This job’s important to me too and I’m doing exactly as you told me. Shopping, going to the beach. Staying the hell out of your way. I’m being the good, obedient wife. You don’t have to rub it in.” And I was out the door, feeling like a heel.

When I got to The Toucan, the guys were already there, halfway through three baskets of fish fingers and a bucket of Cerveza Imperials. I had to take my time getting there to make sure Yipes could follow. I sat down at the table with them. My eyes on Chris, I said to Jack and Doug, “Remember, boys, don’t talk to me. You’re the muscle. My business is with Chris.” They didn’t flinch. Excellent. “We’re going to chat. You look confident, comfortable. I’ll shift in my seat a few times.”

Chris nodded. Acted nonchalant, in control. He was good at this.
 

“Now, sit tight,” I said. “And easy on the beer.” I went to the bar and waved Isabella over. “Next time Paco comes in, point me out to him and tell him I’m also hunting a beautiful butterfly and that he looks like he could use a bathroom break.”

She looked at me with a quizzical expression.