Sabotage (11 page)

“We should wait. I know we're losing time, but it looks like El Presidente has his hands full. Maybe Doc Higgins will come up with something."

As if on cue, Dr. Alvin Higgins walked in a few moments later. He was sweating profusely, but he wasn't huffing and puffing from the heat, showing his conditioning in spite of his size. He pulled up a chair and sat down, while mopping his brow with a handkerchief.

"Gentlemen, I hope your investigations are going well."

"We've got zilch, Doc," Cal said.

Dr. Higgins looked from one man to another. "Why, I would have thought a duo of your stature and expertise would have been able find some kind of information by now or have at least dipped your toes into trouble. As for me, I now remember why I took an office job instead of jet-setting from one desert locale to the next." Cal could see he was building up to something. They waited patiently and Daniel smiled.

"Why, just as I was strolling down Camp Lemonnier Boulevard, enjoying the nonexistent breeze and dreaming of a nap in a nice air-conditioned hotel room, I happened to come across the most interesting fellows. It was near the front gate, you see, and this young boy was accompanied by an older gentleman, who I came to find out was his grandfather. Said young man was chatting amicably with one of the soldiers in fluent American English, even though he was dressed like a native. I casually listened in on their conversation and happened to hear two familiar names."

Dr. Higgins paused, wiped his brow before he continued. "Would you gentlemen like to venture who this young lad was speaking of?"

“Vince and Karl," Daniel answered. Dr. Higgins nodded.

"Naturally, I didn't want them to know that I was eavesdropping, but I casually followed behind and watched where the soldier took them. I thought that perhaps the three of us—or rather four—excuse me, Liberty." He reached down and patted her head. "I thought the four of us could go find yon natives and have a little chat."

"Doc, you never cease to amaze me, you know that?" Cal said.

Dr. Higgins gave a short bow, and said, "I live only to entertain you, young Calvin."

Sometime later, they'd somehow convinced the layers of base protection, without invoking the president's name, that they weren't a threat and that they needed to talk to the commanding officer of the camp. He greeted them with curt civility and got straight to the point.

"I'm not sure who you folks are, but my adjutant says that you've invoked the holy name of national security to get in here to talk to me and with a dog to boot. Now, was my adjutant right or wrong in that statement, gentlemen?"

"That's correct, General," Cal said. "I appreciate you—"

The general cut him off with an upraised hand. "Why don't you just cut straight to it? Now, while you don't look like typical Washington weenies, I sure as hell don't appreciate strangers coming onto my base, right smack dab in the middle of a potential international crisis."

Cal nodded and chose his words wisely, carefully.

"Two Djibouti nationals just entered your camp, General. I'm not sure if you had a chance to speak with them, but we would very much like that opportunity."

The general seemed to be only half listening, because he had suddenly taken a keen interest in Daniel.

"Do I know you, son?" the general asked, meaning Daniel, of course.

"We have met once before, General," Daniel said. The general’s eyes flickered with recognition.

"Well I'll be goddamned," the general said, "Snake Eyes, isn’t it?"

"Yes, sir."

The general slapped his desk, pointing at Briggs. "I can see by that ponytail that you're not in the Corps anymore. I never did hear what happened to you. Did you get out and secure some fancy job with these two gentlemen?"

"Something like that," Daniel answered with a smile. "My friend here," Daniel pointed to Cal, “is a Marine, too."

The general looked at Cal.

"I know I shouldn't be asking this, but what's your name, son?”

"Stokes, General. Cal Stokes.”

The general thought about that for a moment and then asked, “You wouldn’t happen to be related to
Colonel
Stokes, would you?”

"He was my father, General."

The older man nodded. "I'm sorry for your loss, son. I didn't know your father personally, but I knew
of
him, and I suspect you already know that he was
the
Marine's marine."

Cal felt that familiar pit of hollowness deep in his stomach, and after a brief silence, the general changed the subject.

"Well, now that I know that Washington hasn't thrown a trio of spies into my midst, why don't you Marines tell me what you need with those Djibouti nationals?"

Cal nodded for Daniel to explain.

"We're looking for some people, General. Our operation, if you could even call it that, isn't classified or logged in any book, if you take my meaning." The general nodded. "It's possible that these two visitors know the whereabouts of our missing companions."

"Would these missing companions, as you describe them, in any way be linked to the current hubbub between China and Djibouti?" None of the three answered, but the general took their meaning once again. "Gentlemen, I believe it would be best for all of us if we ended this conversation."

"But, General—" Cal said before receiving the raised hand.

"I will not discuss this further, and I suggest you take my lead, unless we all want to be dragged in front of some international tribunal. Now, it was a pleasure meeting you all, but I really do have a pressing schedule to get back to."

Cal was going to protest, but Daniel grabbed his arm and pushed him towards the door.

Once they were outside the office, Cal said, "He knows something. We were so close."

They ignored the curious onlookers as they made their way through the headquarters building and finally found the exit. Just as Daniel was reaching for the doorknob, somebody called from behind.

"Excuse me!" It was a fair-skinned captain, the general's adjutant. He held up a piece of folded paper for Cal. "Gentlemen, the general said you forgot this in his office." Once the piece of paper had changed hands, the peppy adjutant did an about-face and went back to his tasks.

Cal unfolded the paper and read,

The two visitors you are looking for are in the temporary lodging. Get them out of here as soon as you can.

He handed the piece of paper to Daniel, and after the sniper had read it, he handed it to Dr. Higgins.

Higgins looked up from the paper. "Well, I’d say we have quite the mystery on our hands.”

Chapter 14

They'd been waiting around all day for word from Sergeant Peabody, and MSgt Trent was starting to get cabin fever.

"Come on, Gaucho, let's take a walk."

His friend looked up from the bed where he'd been watching reruns of
I Love Lucy
. They'd found a comfortable hotel with decent air conditioning, but the only entertainment they had was a flat screen knockoff that had only one working channel. So much for the modern amenities that had been listed on the hotel brochure.

"We should stay here, Top. You remember what Peabody said: 'The streets aren't safe right now,' so I say we just lay low."

Maybe it had something to do with his enormous size, but Trent wasn't good at lying low. He did what he had to, of course, but he'd rather meet a challenge head on than wait for the enemy to come to him.

"Oh, you're just scared," Trent ribbed. "Come on. You're always saying you need some more excitement in your life."

"I was referring to female companionship. Look what we do for a living, Top."

Trent stood up from the armchair, and stretched. "Well, like it or not, I'm leaving. Unless you want me to get lost in this strange city, you'd better accompany me."

Gaucho looked at Trent for a moment, as if he was wondering whether the Marine was messing with him or not. It was obvious that Trent had no intention of sitting back down. Gaucho groaned, and eased his body up off the bed.

"You know, Top, the last time you convinced me to take a stroll in a strange city we got accosted by a couple of Filipino pimps who didn't like the way we were looking at their women."

"That was just a little bit of fun."

They picked a path that would take them down by the waterfront. Trent's thinking was that there would be a breeze coming from the ocean. Gaucho had fired back by saying that there had been plenty of breeze coming out of the air conditioner in their hotel room. Trent ignored the comment and kept walking.

There definitely seemed to be more of a military presence on the streets, but they weren't hassling anyone that the pair observed. Most of the soldiers seemed to be bored, resting up against drab olive Humvees, weapons strung casually across their chests.

They'd just passed a row of vendors yelling at each other about stealing customers when he noticed Gaucho’s body tense. Trent didn't have to ask what was going on as he doubled back right behind Gaucho when his friend suddenly began talking about forgetting his movie tickets back at the hotel. That was when Trent saw them too, a trio of soldiers leaning against the building, watching them with more than idle curiosity. They didn't even bother looking away.

"I don't like it," Gaucho said when they were finally out of sight. "We should head back to the hotel and be careful about it.”

But Trent was curious now, and without any answers from Cal and Daniel, or Gaucho's friend Sgt. Peabody, Trent figured it was time to do something.

"Let's go back," Trent said.

"Are you crazy?"

"I'm a Marine, aren't I? Come on. Let's go."

Gaucho turned around with obvious reluctance, but he set his jaw and followed his friend. The three soldiers weren't where they had left them, but after they made a couple more turns they did catch sight of them.

The soldiers had taken up a casual walk, maybe fifty feet behind Trent and Gaucho, once again making no attempt to stay hidden. Trent had been in enough cities to understand the general layout, to know that all mazes have their certain commonalities, so he took his time like he was just taking a casual stroll through a new town. He established the persona of the country mouse coming to the city for the first time. He was all wide-eyed and ogling the sights. He finally convinced Gaucho to start talking again, and the two slipped into an easy conversation talking nonsense about the pretty buildings and the wonderful smell of the food coming out of the restaurants.

It wasn't long before Trent found exactly what he was looking for, and he took a sharp right turn after a shawarma café.

"It's a dead end, Top," Gaucho hissed as they entered the long alleyway.

"Come on. I've got something to show you," Trent said excitedly, now hurrying his steps for the first time. When they got to the end of the alleyway, Trent slapped the concrete wall and said, "Oops, my bad!”

When he turned to make his way back out, there stood the three soldiers that had been following them. Top walked toward them with an incredulous Gaucho at his side. Trent kept his long limbs loose, trying to appear as nonthreatening as possible, still chatting happily.  When the soldiers were ten feet away, he stopped as if he had just noticed them for the first time.

"Oh, hey, there, fellas. Y’all wouldn't by any chance know where I could find a Starbucks, would you?"

None of the three answered the question, but Trent could see that they were gripping their weapons a little bit tighter.

"How about a McDonald's? I guess I could settle for one of them McCafes."

Still no response from the soldiers. He looked down at Gaucho. "Well, I guess we'll just have to go find it ourselves," he said sadly. That's when the three rifles came up.

"You are wanted for questioning," the middle man said.

"Who, me?" Trent asked in mock surprise.

"You are wanted for questioning," the soldier repeated.

"Well, I'll be. You know, my travel agent didn't tell me that we were going to have a welcoming party when we got to Djibouti City. Did they tell you?" he asked Gaucho.

Gaucho shook his head, but kept his eyes locked on the three soldiers.

"Well, I hate to tell you this, gentlemen," Trent said, "but I've got a date with a latte, and neither heaven nor hell will keep me from breaking that engagement. So if you’ll excuse us —”

There was not even a blink from any of the soldiers; they appeared unaffected by Trent’s tactics.

"Ah, I know what this must be about." Trent grabbed Gaucho's hand. "You think that because we're American, we're on a date or something. Is that it?"

Stone-faced stares from the soldiers was the response. They did not appear amused.

"Well," Trent continued, "I've got to admit, you three are some crack detectives, because you got us. You really caught us red-handed. We were just going to go to a local establishment and do a little dancing. But since y’all said that we need to come in for questioning, y’all wouldn't mind if we got in a little dancing right here, would you?"