Wood's Reef (15 page)

“And my involvement would be …”

“You would be doing your country a service if you would work with us and recover the bomb. It’s been down there for fifty years. There’s no reason to start a panic. We need to keep it quiet. The newspapers get a hold of this it’ll just make people worry.”

“And this whole thing goes away if I help you out? I appreciate you want to diffuse it, but I trust Wood’s judgement and he has no confidence in you.”

“Yeah, we have some history. But you know how stubborn he can be. Just understand how high up these orders come from. It’s not really that hard, Mr. Travis. Just do what we ask and your girl and Wood will be fine.”

“First of all, she’s Wood’s daughter. Second, she’s not my freaking girlfriend. And third, I bet you didn’t know that she’s a lawyer. She saw that drone you guys were flying over Wood’s Island and wasn’t happy about it. If I were you, I wouldn’t mess with that one.”

“She’s a goddamn lawyer?” Gillum said, flustered by the new information. “Well that doesn’t change anything. You want to leave her out of this, that’s fine. But in exchange for that, you need to do what I’m asking.”

 “That girl can take care of herself. I’d be worried if I was you. As far as I’m concerned, you can get a court order or whatever you need and take a bomb squad out there and do this properly.”

Gillum reached in his back pocket and removed his cell phone. He made a show of dialing the number for the Master of Arms and started talking, shielding the screen with his hand. “I have a prisoner to be placed in holding.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Mac snapped.

“Mac Travis, you are now being held as an enemy combatant.” Gillum played his bluff. “Based on the information this office has obtained, you will be detained and await a military tribunal.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Yes, I can. You are in possession of a nuclear weapon, and know the whereabouts of several others. You are unwilling to cooperate with this office and the recovery of those devices.”

“Slow down there, Captain,” Mac said. “Did you say there’s more than one bomb?”

“I did some research,” Gillum said, not wanting to let on his first-hand knowledge. “There appears to be another bomb missing from that mission.”

“So
that’s
what this is about. If it was just the one sitting there, you’d have no problem calling and having someone to diffuse it. But now you need
me
, because I know where it came from. You think I can lead you to the other!”

“Are you going to cooperate, or do I need to see that you get put on the ghost ship anchored off Guantánamo Bay? Those ghost ships can be scary places. Awaiting a military tribunal is a lot different than being locked up as a citizen in this country. There are no rights of
habeas corpus
. You don’t get your phone call. We can disappear you for as long as we need to. I can put you someplace that girl will never find you.”

“Go ahead and lock me up. You have no idea what you’ve unleashed.” Mac squirmed in his chair, not sure if he made the right decision.

Chapter 27

Trufante pushed the wheelchair, moving as fast as his injured leg would allow. He probably should have been in a wheelchair as well, but a couple of Vicodin had solved that problem. Wood remained stoic as the chair hit a bump on the sidewalk. Once they had gotten off their floor, the escape had been easy. Wood had been moved from the ICU unit to a semi private room earlier in the day, and the other bed had been empty, so Trufante had moved in. Getting him out of bed and into the wheelchair had been the biggest problem they’d faced so far. They’d dodged a few preoccupied doctors and nurses in the halls and elevator. Without the scrutiny of the ICU folks, it had been pretty easy.

“Where to now, boss?” Trufante asked.

“Let’s get the hell out of here. Figure out some way to get us over to Mac’s place. We can figure out what to do from there.”

“We got no transport, man. I got over here in the sheriff’s SUV. You came in here on a stretcher.”

 Suddenly a nurse came around the corner. “What are you two doing out here?” she asked. 

“Just getting some air, hon.” Trufante racked his brain for her name, but the drugs must be dimming his brain power or something. She was way to attractive to forget her name. She’d pushed him several laps around the hospital in the last few days. Then his eyes focussed on her name tag.
Sue
. His grin eased her caution.

“He’s supposed to be on bed rest and you should probably be in a wheel chair, not pushing one.”

“Now, Sue, I gotta be straight with you. We gotta get outa here. I can’t get into all the details now, but it’s important. A friend of ours is in deep trouble and we’ve got to help him out.”

“That’s all good, but you’re in no condition to help anyone out.” She glanced at Wood, who appeared to be asleep in the chair. “And look at him, he just got out of the ICU this morning. He should be in bed.”

“He’s ok, just gave him a few of those pills you gave me for the ride. I’ll make sure he rests.”

She sighed. “Well, there’s nothing I can do to keep you here. If you want to go, then you can.” She appraised the odd couple. “I could lose my job, giving you those extra pills, and you could have killed him. You don’t know what else he’s on. These aren’t recreational chemicals here.”

Trufante started pushing the chair, trying to get the conversation to move around the corner, where they were less likely to be overheard. “I do appreciate everything you’ve done for me here.” He gave her the big smile, teeth gleaming. “I really do, but we gotta do this. If there was any other way …”

“You know, if you’re stuck on discharging yourselves, least I can do is keep an eye on you.” She winked at him. “I’ve got a couple of days off.”

Trufante’s brain was only moving at half-speed, churning for an answer. He was trying to balance what he knew he had to do for his friend against what he wanted to do. From somewhere deep within his head, the answer came that he could have both. 

“I’ve half a mind to take you up on that. I gotta warn you though, there’s a high degree of danger here.”

“Danger, yeah I’m in for some excitement.” 

Wood stirred. “What the hell are we still doing here? And who the hell is she?”

“Settle down, I’ve just recruited some help.”

Wood looked the girl up from top to bottom and made his decision. “Well, she damn sure looks like she’ll be more help than you.”

***

Mel had just finished working out when the door opened. She’d done a hard twenty-minute circuit of pull-ups, push-ups, and squats. Now she was on her back trying to recover her breath. The second workout today was bound to hurt, but it was her tool to control anxiety and get her mind in the right place. It was late, and there was nothing she could do about Mac until the morning. She’d put feelers out to her boss, some contacts in the legal community, and anyone else she could think of that might be able to help. She hoped the workout would burn off some of the anxiety she was dealing with. Take the edge off, and maybe let her sleep. 

She was also dodging her emotions, not wanting to face the feelings she’d felt when Mac was led away. Deep inside her she knew her teenage crush was not realistic. He’d always been like a brother to her. For the first time in years she evaluated her feelings with a rational mind instead of using pure emotion. Oddly, there were so many emotions tied up in this. She was always more rational than emotional. She never understood why she had spurned his advances after his divorce. It just happened. 

The sound of the front door opening snapped her back to the present. She hopped to her feet, leaving a sweat angel behind on the ground. A shotgun leaned up against the bench press rack, keeping her company. After this morning she had decided to keep it close. She picked it up and chambered a round, hoping the unmistakable sound of the gun cocking would be heard by the intruders. She maintained a firing stance as she approached the door, weaving back and forth through the furniture, trying to keep out of sight and obtain cover at the same time. As she approached the door, she saw three figures enter, one in a wheelchair. She worked her way closer until she could see.

“Dad?”

“You can put the gun down and relax, it’s just us.”

“What are you doing out of the hospital? You don’t look like you’re in any kind of condition to be out on your own yet.”

“I tried to take them back.” The woman in the nurse’s uniform said. “I did what I could, but these two are so stubborn that there’s no stopping them. I figured the best I could do was to stay with them and keep an eye on him. That way if something went wrong I could help.”

“I certainly appreciate that,” Mel said, noticing how the woman leaned toward Trufante. She turned to her dad. “So would you like to explain to me what’s going on here? And what is Alan Trufante doing with you and Christ, he’s hurt too.”

“Well maybe if we could all get comfortable … I could sure lie down and have a drink. Help get me settled in and we’ll talk about it.”

“I don’t see us getting up the stairs with you two. Mac’s office is over there. It’s got a couch. That’ll have to do.” The group moved toward the room. It took all of them to get him onto the couch. Wood relaxed, Trufante settled back into the wheelchair. 

“Okay, Dad, start talking.”

“I could sure use a drink. Those pain pills have about worn off.”

Trufante started a stiff-legged attempt at the stairs in search of some alcohol, but Mel stopped him abruptly. “Negative. There’s no drinking for sure, and no pain pills until the nurse here tells me it’s okay. Now, why are you here?” She picked up her phone and started to dial. “Never mind. I’ll just call the hospital and tell them to come pick you two up.”

“Now settle down, Mel. Truth is we heard that Mac was in trouble, and there’s nothing we could do to help him sitting in that damned place. We need to make a plan and get him out of there, and then deal with our other problem. I’ll be fine. My partner over here just has a small leg wound.”

Mel turned toward the nurse. “Can he do any damage to himself here?”

“Not if he stays put. I can’t say for sure, but a patient can discharge himself with any condition at any time. I think the best we can do is just keep an eye on them. They’ll be safer with us watching them than if we let them go back and check themselves out again. I can go back tomorrow and get some antibiotics and pain pills.”

“All right, you guys can stay here tonight and we’ll see how things are in the morning. For now, I have to get a shower and some sleep.” Mel headed off to the shower.

Chapter 28 

Jerry Doans sat at the hotel desk, a piece of stationery in front of him. He’d started a list of items he’d need to recover the bomb. At the top of the list was a boat. That might be a problem. After wrecking the last one, his driver’s license picture would be in every boat rental place from Key Largo to Key West. He’d need to get around that to make this work. He had thought about letting Behzad or the other guy rent one for him, but those two would look more like they ought to be renting a camel than a boat. Their appearance and lack of any kind of boating skills would send a red flag to the top of the pole.

If he wanted to pull this off, he’d have to leave them out of it. He actually had no intention of letting them get their hands on the bomb. He wasn’t sure how, but somehow, he was going to get his money and give them a worthless piece of metal.

“I’m going to need that $25,000 right about now.” He held up the list. “I’ve got things I need to buy.”

Ibrahim looked at him suspiciously. “Yes, we have a deal.” He reached under the bed and pulled out his suitcase. He opened it and withdrew five bundles of $100 bills. He set the money on the desk next to Jerry. “Here is your money, infidel. Now, I want to see some results. We will be watching you.”

Jerry pulled the money toward him. “You can watch me all you want, but if I see you, that means that somebody else might see you too. I’ve got this figured out. Don’t blow it. You just make sure you have the rest of the money when I deliver.” He lifted his shirt and stuck the bundles side by side into the waistband of his pants. “I’m outa here.”