Devlin's Defiance: Book Two of the Devlin Quatrology (6 page)

“
But how does
that work?”

“
When I do get a
little bit hungry, I nibble a tiny bite of something, but never very
much.”

“
But – but
what about when you go out to dinner? Or do you?”

“
Sure, I do, but
again I only nibble, and I almost always take most of the meal home;
sometimes it can last four or five days, and I always order stuff
that'll keep that long.”

“
I'd guess she
gets about a hundred, maybe 125 calories an hour.”

“
That's all?
Wow.”

“
Never counted,
but Gordy's pretty good with numbers, so I'll take his word for it.”

“
I've started
doing the same thing, thanks to Rosemary. And I've sorta figured out
that weight control or loss – and I'm only talking about
weight, not any medical issues; that's a whole different ball game –
is about four percent food choice, four percent exercise and 92
percent portion size and
timing
,
like grazing.”

“
You DO do
numbers, like she said, huh?”

“
Guess so, some
of the time. But right now, I'm 92 percent sure my body temp has
dropped a full degree in this 79-degree water. And I think I need a
nap. So if you lovely ladies will excuse me?”

“
Sure, Gordy; nap
well.”

“
Thanks, Ro. And
Dallas, nice meeting you.”

“
Same backatcha.”

As Gordy headed to
shore, he overheard Dallas say, “You've never had any work
done?” and Rosemary answer, “Nope, none; cross my heart,”
and he smiled to himself, lay down on his lounge and fell deeply
asleep.

- 18 -

November
12, 2012
3:19
p.m. local time

Aboard
Defiance

On t
he
Red Sea

“
I think he's
gone, Jake.”

“
Ah, shit, Pam.”

“
I don't think
you were gonna get anything outa him, anyhow.”

“
Hey, Doc, we
need you back in here.”

“
Be right there.”

A few moments later,
the doctor finished checking the survivor, then shook his head.

“
Time of death,
3:21 p.m. Sorry, Jake.”

“
No problem, Doc;
we knew he wasn't gonna last. Pack him up and prep him for an
overboard drop. Full weights.”

“
Will do, Jake.”

“
Okay, Pam, JJ,
let's head back up. Thanks for your help. Good work, Doc.”

“
Thanks, Jake.
Wish I coulda kept him alive longer.”

“
I do, too. But
nothing you could have done, I'm sure.”

Ten minutes later, back
up on the foredeck, as Jake, Pam and JJ were once again reclining on
their lounges, Jake's walkie buzzed.

“
Yes, Captain?”

“
Sir, we have an
ID. Rashid al-Sharadi, formerly known as Paul-Noel D'ortagnon,
French citizen, 24 years old, only a midlevel AQ, but he's got a
million-dollar bounty from the US. I've stopped the body drop,
awaiting your orders.”

“
Well, well,
well. Give me a minute. Okay. Send a message to Keegan at CIA,
let him know we've got the body, but don't give him our identity,
location or the circumstances. Let him know we'll get it to him in …
ah … Cyprus in two days, if he wants it; but if the photos and
prints will do, fine, and we can drop the body. Have Amber set up a
new account for the bounty, then donate it to the micro-loan
programs. I'll leave it all in your hands.”

“
Yes, sir, will
do.”

“
Thanks, Captain.
Out.”

“
Well, that's
some good news, isn't it, Jake?”

“
I guess so, JJ.
But I was sorta looking forward to the rest of the interrogation.
Got a little rusty on that after all that time in Bonita.”

“
Not too much
interrogation to do there, was there?”

“
No, Pam, just
you. And I used a different technique.”

“
I know.”

“
You know?”

“
And I knew back
then.”

“
You knew?”

“
I knew. But I
didn't want you to know I knew.”

“
But I knew.”

“
You knew I
knew?”

“
I knew you knew,
and now you know I knew you knew.”

“
I thought so,
but I wasn't sure, at least not till now.”

“
Well, now you
know that I knew you knew and I also knew that you didn't want me to
know that you knew.”

“
Wow. That's
new.”

“
No, you knew
that. I know you did.”

“
I knew? No, not
then. You were good.”

“
So were you.”

“
I know. But it
was just my training.”

“
Oh, Pam, don't
be modest. You were top of your class, weren't you?”

“
How do you know
that?”

“
I don't
know
know it, but I'm right, right?”

“
Yup, you're
right.”

“
But I was a
close second.”

“
That she was,
Jake, and by only half a point.”

“
Really, JJ?
Congratulations.”

“
Thanks, but it
was a long time ago.”

“
Class of '81,
right?”

“
Nope, '80.”

“
And then the
advanced courses in honey-trapping, right? And out to the field by
early '81?”

“
Yup.”

“
And you were
maybe an acting major in college before that?”

“
How do you –
yup, theater. But how could you know that?”

“
I can usually
see the signs of a method actor.

“
And you two
worked as a team, right?”

“
How did you –
okay, you're psychic; I get it. Right, Pam and I sometimes worked
together.”

“
No, not psychic
at all. I just put two and two together some of the time. And I'll
bet you've got some advanced degrees, as well.”

“
Geez, you must
be psychic. Yup, a master's in forensic and counseling psychology.”

“
And a few
courses toward your PhD, I'll bet.”

“
How do you –
okay, okay; definitely psychic.”

“
And I'll also
bet that narcissistic ditzy chick routine is just one of your
personae.”

“
Personae? Not
personas? Okay; I'm impressed with your Latin, too. And yup, as I
was trained, 'Use what you got.'”

“
And you
certainly do that, JJ.”

After a moment of
relative quiet, Pam said, “You know, Jake, I think I'm ready
for another mimosa.”

“
Cranberry?”

“
Of course.”

“
JJ?”

“
Sure; same.”

“
Twin Mimosas
coming right up.”

“
No, no, Jake,
stay there; I'll get 'em. Anything for you?”

“
No, thanks, JJ;
I'm good. By the way, Pam tells me you're going back to the States,
right?”

“
Uh, yup. I'm
sure gonna miss this luxury, and I thank you and Pam for letting me
spend this time with you.”

“
Oh, JJ, Pam and
I loved it, and thank you both for helping so much with my recovery.
But I know sometimes life intrudes.”

“
Yeah, it does.
My leave of absence is up and we're already in the prime giving
season. I talked with my boss last night and he really wants me back
in the saddle.”

Pam and Jake glanced at
each other and chuckled.

“
That'd be
uncomfortable, wouldn't it?” Jake said.

JJ smiled and said,
“Not if you know what you're doing.”

“
And I'll bet you
do.”

“
Of course. Too
bad you haven't seen me at my best … yet.”

“
Ah, but I can
put two and two together sometimes.”

“
How about two
and one?”

Jake just smiled as JJ
sashayed across the deck to the bar.

- 19 -

November
12, 2012
3:45
p.m. local time

Bonita Beach, Florida

The chanting woke Gordy
from a much-needed nap. Not quite fully awake, he reached under his
lounge, but found nothing there. Instantly awake, he pulled his hand
back out and shaded his eyes against the hot sun.

“
Baby killer,
baby killer, baby killer,” the chanting continued, growing
louder and louder as the group moved from the boardwalk onto the
sand.

“
What the”
--

“
Baby killer,
baby killer, baby killer.” Chanting and waving signs, a few
looking homemade, most professionally done, some with grisly photos
of aborted fetuses, the gang of a dozen or so mostly senior women in
matching black skirts and white blouses, a few older men clad in
black slacks and white shirts with ties and two priests in their 40s
followed their apparent leader, a thirtyish male with piercing eyes
and a bullhorn amplifying his chant, closer and closer, until they
gathered in a rough circle around Gordy's lounge and continued their
rant, remaining at least five feet away.

Norm and Janet pulled
out their cell phones and started shooting video, as did Rosemary,
several of the Beach Potatoes and the Barefoot Beach Babes. Gordy
reached into his beach bag, retrieved his cell phone and sat up,
smiled broadly and aimed his phone directly at the leader.

“
Say 'Cheese,'”
he said and started the video recording. As he did so, the leader
raised his bullhorn in front of his entire face, but not before
Gordy's phone had gotten a clear picture of him.

“
Baby killer,
baby killer, baby killer,” the group continued to chant.

Gordy, still sitting on
his lounge, swiveled his phone toward each member of the group in
turn, but each of them lowered their sign to conceal his or her face.
Gordy paused on each and tilted down to the feet, then slowly tilted
up to the sign before repeating that process on each of the rest of
the group, all the while smiling. The chanting continued. Janet
made a call on her phone.

“
Need any help,
Gordy?” Norm shouted over the din, peering between the signs
two of the ladies were holding.

“
Thanks, Norm,
but nah; got it handle- – wait a second. Yes, you can. See if
you can get some face shots; profiles will do fine.”

“
You got it,
Gordy.”

Norm circled around
behind the group, videoing the members' faces from the side as Gordy
aimed his phone at each from the front. Between the two of them,
they managed to get video of all of the members of the group by the
time they heard sirens in the distance.

- 20 -