Dual deception, p.10
DUAL DECEPTION, page 10
The captain’s hazel eyes gleamed. “I’m listening.”
“I’ve done my homework too. Paz’s trust fund is on probationary status due to all his irresponsible behavior. He’s on notice; one more incident will cause him to forfeit it. So in addition to the tribute you demand from him for his release, you can also blackmail him to keep this irresponsible incident—traveling without security and getting captured by a pirate—confidential from his trust fund’s managers. Indefinitely.”
“Which could provide me with a very generous passive income. Indefinitely.”
Molka smiled. “And me too.”
“Which is the dream of all dreamers: financial security to live free and well for life.”
Molka smiled again. “And mine too.”
The captain presented his rogue smile. “Lady Molka, larcenous minds think alike. And with your help, that is precisely what I shall do.”
“Great. Let’s make our plan.”
The captain stood with boots shoulder width apart, hands on hips, and face ablaze. “And a great plan we shall make. But first, I want to meet your partner.”
PROJECT MOLKA: TASK 4
PROJECT LAILI: TASK 1
DAY 5 OF 10
CHAPTER 20
“I told you, we got this, Paz.”
Laili in bikini and Paz in swim trunks reclined on the Outcast’s uppermost deck: the sundeck.
Paz rolled in a lounge chair toward Laili. “I’m just going to walk in her office and tell her the wedding is off. We haven’t known each other long enough to make that kind of commitment, our relationship was just a thing, but it’s over now, and I need to get home and get on with my life. Right?”
“No. That’s what I’m going to say to her while you sit there quietly and agree. No offense, Paz. We’re friends and everything like that, but you’re not up to this. You’re not an alpha. You’re a beta.”
Paz rolled back and laid his forearm across his eyes. “It feels a little weird taking this kind of life advice from you. I’ve only known you for like a week.”
“And you’ve only known her for like five weeks and already agreed to spend the rest of your life with her. Which is weirder?”
“You’re right. Ok. You’ve got my back, right?”
Laili stood and pulled Paz to his feet. “Come on, let’s get it over with and go to our lesson.”
“You think you’re pretty?” Caryn said. “I’m prettier. You think you’re smart? I’m smarter. You think you’re stubborn? I’m stubborner.”
Laili sprung from her chair in front of Caryn’s desk. “Hold up! You—”
“No!” Caryn said. “You hold up. I gave you you’re turn to talk. It’s still my turn. Sit down and listen or I’ll just call security and have you trespassed off this property.”
Paz side eyed Laili from his chair next to hers. “Please Giselle; I don’t want you to get trespassed.”
Laili sat.
Caryn composed herself and continued. “Paz and I have discussed his past fame. And we know you aren’t the first, and probably won’t be his last, stalker.”
Laili started to stand but checked herself. “I’m not a stalker; I’m a vet tech.”
“He’s already told me you know all about his gamer career and how you were a huge follower of his. That’s a stalking red flag.”
“Hold on, Caryn,” Paz said. “I didn’t say she was stalking me. And I also told you we’ve become friends.”
“And that’s fine,” Caryn said. “I want you to have your friends, baby.”
“Well, you did tell all my friends that came here with me they weren’t welcome in your marina anymore.”
“That’s because they spent 24/7 drunk and high on your yacht. They never left us alone.”
“That’s true too.”
Caryn addressed Laili. “Regardless of what you may think, I’m not all bitch. Paz told me you came down here to get away from an abusive relationship. I feel you on that. Before I met Paz, all my past relationships were abusive. And if you’re struggling, I can put you on as a server at one of our restaurants. Servers do very well at them.”
Laili sneered. “I won’t take charity for sympathy.”
“And I won’t take anyone interfering in Paz and I’s relationship.” Caryn reached under the desk and pulled up a black handbag. “Do you know what this is?”
“It’s a purse.”
“No, it’s a Givenchy Medium Eden crocodile-embossed leather shoulder bag and it costs more than your job as a poodle groomer makes—”
Laili’s face fumed. “I’m a vet tech.”
“It costs more than your job as a vet tech makes in three months.”
“So what.”
“So the fact you didn’t know that disqualifies you from giving Paz lifestyle advice. Paz’s lifestyle is beyond what someone like you can comprehend. That’s why someone like Paz needs someone like me. We wealthy people stay with our own kind. It’s just how it’s done. Right, Paz?”
Paz sagged. “Well…I…I don’t know…”
Caryn bored in on Paz. “Paz, damn you, you promised. So is the wedding off or not?”
Paz cringed. “I…I…guess not?”
“Thank you, baby. Now both of you get out of my office. I have a beautiful bridal shower brunch to plan.” Caryn addressed Laili and smiled, arrogant. “I win, you lose. And as Paz used to say, game over.”
CHAPTER 21
“Thought I smelled Paco Rabanne 1 Million and bullshit,” Justain said.
Gus winced in disgust and turned on his barstool at the Sapphire Beach Hotel beach bar, where he was flirting with two young girls in bikinis.
Justain and Hodge waited behind him.
“What are you doing over here, Agent Justain?” Gus said.
“That was going to be my first question for you.”
“I stay here now.”
“You mean here at the hotel?”
“Yeah, I stay here at the hotel now, this island too. I live here now.”
Justain addressed the bikini girls. “Excuse me, young ladies. Allow me to tell you who you’re spending this fine afternoon with. This is Gustavo ‘Gus’ Ramos. He served four years for aggravated kidnapping and is suspected of dozens of other drug cartel kidnappings before that. And before that, he worked as a cartel sicario. Which means he sometimes sawed people’s heads off a with chainsaw while they were still alive.”
Bikini Girl One said, “He told us he wanted to take us to a lit party on a private island.”
Bikini Girl Two said, “We have to go.”
Gus watched his nubile prey get up and walk away. “Gracias, cerdo.”
“Watch your mouth, puta,” Justain said. “Because I’m half-tempted to arrest you and then figure out a charge.”
“How did you know I was here?” Gus said.
“Detective Hodge has lots of friends, concerned citizens who let her know when a piece of shit criminal is posted up at one of the tourist spots macking on barely legal girls.”
Hodge stepped forward. “I really hope you’re not dealing on my island,”
Gus frowned at Hodge. “Why do you want to hassle me too, mami?”
“It’s Detective Hodge. You better not be dealing on my island.”
“No. I’m a businessman now. I’m trying to get a clean start. I’m building something of my own thing for my future.”
“You better not be dealing drugs on my island.”
“He’s not dealing drugs,” Justain said. “He’s worked for many drug dealers, but drugs aren’t his thing. He’s one of those short-dick narcissists who gets off controlling women by turning them into whores.”
“Is that, right?” Hodge said.
“Tell her about that Belize escort service, Gus.”
Gus glared straight ahead.
Justain continued. “Detective Hodge, talk to the bartenders at the nicer hotels and ask them about recent whore activity. Bust one of the whores, and she’ll give up Gus as her pimp, and then you can bust and remove him from your island before he gets his new business established here.”
“I’ll just do that,” Hodge said.
Justain patted Gus on the back. “Nice seeing you again, Gus.”
Hodge and Justain departed.
A chunky 20-something, white man wearing a white polo with Yacht Marina Grande Boat Charters embroidered in the left breast, pleated, pressed, khaki shorts, and brown deck shoes, left a nearby table, approached Gus, and sat on the stool next to him. “You’re not answering your messages, so I came here to talk to you. I was waiting until you got done with those girls, but then I saw that cop come in with the other guy. Who’s the other guy?”
Gus kept glaring straight ahead. “Another cop.”
“Shit. Trouble?”
“No.”
“What’s up with his hair? Dude looks like a clown.”
“He’s no clown,” Gus said. “What do you want?”
“Like I said, I’ve been trying to message you. Everything’s loaded. Sixty packages. You want to come and count it before we leave?”
“No,” Gus said. “I have more important things to worry about right now. Leave.”
“You mean leave now for Puerto Rico or leave this bar?”
“Both.”
He got up and left.
Gus pulled out his phone, scrolled contacts, and dialed. “Yo, Jake, it’s Gus Ramos…Right…So that other thing we talked about…Yeah…I changed my mind…Yeah… I think we can do business now.”
Justain sat passenger in Hodge’s USVI Police patrol SUV. “Who’s next?”
Detective Hodge checked her phone. Barry Tamblyn. Pot dealer. He hangs out over in Red Hook.”
“Let’s go see Barry.”
“You said this Gus Ramos worked with cartels in the past; you think he’s involved with your case? I can bust him, like you said, and we can lean on him.”
“No,” Justain said. “He’s devious, but not smart enough to put something that big together. Just ignore him for now.”
CHAPTER 22
Molka returned from afternoon grocery shopping to an apartment air-conditioned ice-cold and overpowered with gun cleaning solvent and lubricating oil aroma. “Why is it every time I come home, you have a new, gag-inducing, odor waiting to greet me?”
She laid the grocery bags on the kitchen counter and viewed Laili at the kitchen table with her Sig pistol disassembled atop a towel. She used a toothbrush to give a tiny part a violent scrubbing.
Molka sighed. “Where to start… Ok. I really hope that’s not my toothbrush you’re using.”
“It not yours,” Laili said. “I bought it when I got these cleaning supplies, ugly.”
“Why do you have it so cold in here, brat?”
“Because I’m boiling hot right now.”
Molka placed her soy milk, orange juice, grapes, lettuce, cucumber, and tomatoes in the refrigerator. “And our weapons were freshly cleaned and lubed before we got them. Why are you servicing yours again?”
“Because it’s the closest way I can take out my frustrations with it. Azzur said we can’t take our task weapons to the shooting range.”
“Frustrations with what?” Molka cupboarded organic oats and protein bars. “Set back with Paz?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Laili started scrubbing another part with frustration.
Molka dialed back the AC control on the living room wall and sat across from Laili. “Liaison meeting. First item: We need to minimize our task expenses. Like I was telling you, it’s crazy costly to rent a boat here. And they have a waiting list. So I had to pay an extra fee to get moved to the top of it.”
Laili smirked. “Sucka.”
“Anyway, I got my boat.”
“Good for you. What’s the next item? I have to get ready to go out tonight.”
“Tonight is the next item,” Molka said. “Cancel your plans. Captain Savanna wants to meet you.”
“He’s your asset. Why does he want to meet me?”
“Because you’re working with me. It’s part of his vetting process. In his mind, everyone is undercover law enforcement trying to set him up until they prove to him otherwise.”
“That man’s not dumb,” Laili said. “Where are we meeting him?”
“At a marina.”
“He’s taking us out boating?”
“No,” Molka said. “He’s taking us out pirating.”
CHAPTER 23
“When you meet him, he may kiss your hand,” Molka said. “But don’t freak out. That, and the way he talks, is all part of his…character. So just go with it.”
“Yeah, ok,” Laili said.
At 10PM, Molka and Laili—both outfitted in their black tactical wear—arrived at the Saint Thomas, Vessup Bay marina where Mister Cutter kept his private boat. But they wouldn’t be riding that night on his sport cruiser.
Instead, Vengeance awaited them in all her menacing beauty.
As they walked down the dock approaching her, Mister Cutter—dressed again for pirating, including his fighting knife—could be seen loading gear as the lone crew member.
And strolling toward them from the dock’s opposite direction—also clad in his full pirating regalia—was Captain Savanna with a gorgeous young red head in a red dress on his arm.
Molka and Laili arrived aside Vengeance at the same moment as the captain and his latest lady.
The captain grasped her shoulders. “I shall endeavor not be all night. But if I am, be prepared for an epic morning.”
He kissed her, and she departed biting her lower lip under lustful eyes.
The captain turned and presented Molka and Laili his rogue smile. “The true gentleman wants two things: danger and play. For that reason, he wants woman…the most dangerous plaything.”
Laili’s wide eyes walked Vengeance’s length stern to bow and back. “This is the chillingly coolest boat I’ve ever seen!”
“I’m happy you approve of her,” the captain said. “Please come aboard, my ladies.”
Molka and Laili boarded, and the captain joined them.
“Captain Savanna,” Molka said. “This is my partner, Giselle. Giselle, this is Captain LJ Savanna.”
The captain kissed Laili’s hand. “A pleasure, Lady Giselle.”
Molka gestured at Mister Cutter. “And this is the captain’s quartermaster, Mister Cutter.”
Mister Cutter smiled at Laili. “Hello, missy, or Lady Giselle, I should say.”
“What’s a quartermaster?” Laili said.
“Lady Giselle,” the captain said. “The quartermaster is the heart, the soul, the conscience, the confessor, the absolver, the enforcer, the healer, the mother, the father, the brother, the sinner, and the saint, of the crew. And they come none better, on all accounts, than that man you see before you.”
Laili nodded. “He’s carrying a badass fighting knife too.”
The captain laughed. “Mister Cutter.”
“Aye captain.”
“Get us underway.”
“Aye captain.”
With Mister Cutter piloting, the captain invited Molka and Laili into the cabin to sit and be briefed on the night’s prize.
“Here’s the tale,” the captain said. “A friend of mine controls the marijuana trade in the British Virgin Islands. He’s an honest crook who provides a highly desired—and mostly harmless, in my view—commodity at a reasonable price. However, on occasion, an upstart seeks to infringe on my friend’s trade. Tonight, one such upstart will attempt to make a product drop on an isolated part of Tortola’s north coast. My friend has employed me to seize their cargo and make a strong impression on them to permanently end their intrusions. In exchange for this service, I will receive a fee equaling 75 percent of the booty’s current retail value.”
“How can we help?” Molka said.
“By assisting in a support capacity. Lady Molka, you said you served in the military; are you able to operate an M60 machine gun?”
Molka nodded. “I’ve fired that weapon several times.”
“Good.”
Laili bounced on her seat. “What weapon do you want me to operate, captain?”
“Were you in the military too, Lady Giselle?”
“Yes…well…not really. They kicked me out after a month. But I’m a better shot then her and have the trophies to prove it. Just ask her.”
Molka addressed the captain. “She outscored me by less than a 10th of a second in a practical shooting match and it seems to be the greatest accomplishment of her life.”
Laili sneered. “Shut up, ugly.”
Molka sneered. “Behave yourself, brat.”
“As if you could make me.”
“Can and will.”
“You’re not my boss.” Laili looked to the captain. “Captain, she’s not my boss.”
The captain raised calming hands. “Now ladies, we can’t have disharmony on the crew. And on my ship, my decisions are sacrosanct. Lady Molka will operate the M60. However, Lady Giselle, I have something else in mind for you. Something equally—if not even more—vital to our quest tonight. Let’s go topside, and I’ll teach you.”
Twenty-five minutes into their run, the captain checked the radar screen. “Right where she was supposed to be and right on time. Mister Cutter, you may close on the target.”
“Aye, captain.”
The captain faced Molka and Laili sitting the in rear most seats and addressed all over their wireless headsets. “Now hear this, crew: For security reasons, from this point on, we will not refer to one another by formal names. I will be referred to only as captain, Mister Cutter as quartermaster, Lady Molka as gunner, and Lady Giselle as chief mate. Is that clear?”
The crew in unison: “Aye, captain.”
Mister Cutter spoke. “I have a visual, captain. Thirty-foot sport fisher off the port bow.”
The captain stepped into the cabin and returned wearing his double shoulder holster rig with the matching .45s.
Laili’s eyes devoured his gear.
