“It will take all of us unless we sign on a crew to help. If we all go, we can cruise in safety if everyone pitches in. Issac has experience in the engine room as I do. I’ll go over the engine room features. I’ll create a list of provisions for possible breakdowns, maintenance, and repairs. I’m not handling the food.”
“That’s the bad part,” Rachel said. “Once you go cruising on a ship like ‘Starlight of the Seas’ with people waiting on you hand and foot, it’s difficult thinking about doing all the work required to keep everyone happy.”
“They had everything on the ‘Starlight’,” Tina agreed. “Count me out. I’m not going cruising with the pirates. We’ll be in a war zone I’m sure and it won’t be only meals and cleaning we’ll be pitching in to do.”
“Sonny and I will go,” Jean said excitedly. “We don’t care about food. We’ll clean and do chores. When do we leave? We’ll need to board our captured ships with knives in hand!”
“Jean!”
*
“We’re glad to have you back, Kabong. I have to leave soon.” Nick greeted Johnny and Cala at the door. “Thanks for speeding the identification process with Jafar. Did the rest of the filming go okay?”
“Yes, and Lynn says it’s the best episode yet. She really listened to my suggestions and acted on them. I have learned much about dialogue from your novels, Muerto.”
“Thanks. I’m glad Lynn liked your input.”
“As to our targets, Jafar thinks those other three will leave for the Mexican border soon. The one you killed, Gibril Salib, was last listed and seen in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, along with his cohorts Chahid Oda, Larbi Ajam, and Malik Naifeh. They left the camp hours before the Jordanian police arrested them for instigating treason against the King. The police in Jordan have since connected them with Isis. The four of them came here from the East Coast to be resettled in San Jose. Jafar believes they picked you as a high profile target. There is a new tactic since the stabbing deaths of the Paris policeman and his wife.”
“I’ve read about it,” Nick replied, leading the way into his kitchen. “The lone attacker stabs his target before randomly stabbing bystanders until escaping in the melee. So far, the bastards have gotten away with it. In the bookstore, our security guys would have been afraid to fire in a crowd. They never found the prick’s car. That means he had a driver, Johnny, and I think you and Jafar found him.”
“Jafar thought of hacking into Pilgrim’s Way Books security. All we needed after that was to plug in the time frame through the security company’s feed.”
Nick chuckled as he served his friends coffee. “They stopped right in front of it with their faces hanging out. We go tonight. You and Cala researching all the known and secret masjids in the area previously sure helped us now.”
“Yes. We simply made the rounds when we returned from the north,” Cala replied. “We found the van at the second fake masjid near Lover’s Point. When Johnny and I first checked it out, we marked it as a terrorist halfway house.”
“We won’t worry about electronics,” Nick said. “We’ll use the EMP gun before I go in. I bought a car off of Jerry for this job. When I finish, we’ll load them in their own vehicle, drop them off in the valley for prep work before disposal, and give the van and extra car to Jerry for recirculation. He’s in all the way and will be awaiting the arrival of both vehicles.”
“How do you do these type of breakins, Muerto?”
Nick shrugged. “I’m an expert locksmith, Cala. Once inside, I kill everything with a heartbeat. Mistakes happen only in hesitation. I wish I could take prisoners tonight for Denny but we can’t take the chance this close to my trip to the sand. If I get Al-Saud in a position overseas at my safe-house to do a conference call with Denny, I’ll do it. Otherwise, I take care of business and get the hell out of there. Every extra minute I spend on peripherals endangers my helpers. C’mon upstairs. Everyone’s up there reliving the bookstore signing through Jean’s eyes. We have veggie tray and snacks.”
“If all goes well, will we have a morning at the beach with the Irish before you go, Muerto?”
“Absolutely, Johnny.”
*
Malik Naifeh stirred uncomfortably. He sweated profusely, soaking the sheets around him. Sitting up groggily and throwing off the covers, the light on his nightstand turned on. A masked figure waved at him.
“Hello there. I’m Muerto.” Nick sighed while taking off his mask. “Okay… I’m Nick McCarty. Your friend Gibril came to my book signing event with violence in his heart. I drove his nose-bone into his brain. You and your buddies, Chahid and Larbi, must have partied tonight. You all smell of booze. I guess you were all having a wake for poor old Gibril. It made things so much easier for me. I’ve already fixed them without any bloody mess. I gave you my slower acting liquid killer.”