The Toymaker (29 page)

The blonde wore a ruby red thong bottom. Her tanned buttocks shimmered as the suns rays reflected off the water. Draped around her waist was a gold triple belly-chain. She wore a matching ruby red goddess enhancer top although she needed no enhancing. Perfect in every way. He preferred blondes and would miss her the most.

He started the engines, released the mooring ball, slipped the engines into forward, and idled out of the bay.

† † †

Jake argued with Kaplan all the way to the docks. As Perez parked the car, Jake pointed out Khan getting into a small water taxi with the two women. “Look, it’s very simple. You two do as I say and we capture Khan. If you don’t like my proposal, then we go our separate ways right now.”

“What’s your plan, swim after them?” Kaplan’s face was flushed. “Who the hell do you think you are, coming in here with this take-control attitude?”

“Stay here then.” Jake got out of the car. The two men followed him. “You see, when I found out about Khan renting the cruiser for the evening, I rented a twenty-two foot fishing boat equipped with fishing gear and tackle. I thought we’d just do a little fishing with Khan in sight at all times. And if we get the chance to take him at sea, even better.”

“Really?” Kaplan’s face softened and he looked calmer. “You did that already?”

“I did. And unlike Khan.” He looked at Perez. “Or Delgado if you prefer, our boat is docked right here. All we have to do is jump in, fire it up, and go.”

“Jake, I’m impressed. Since you’re obviously more prepared than we are, it’s your show…for now, anyway.” Kaplan conceded. “But, if you try anything.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Jake pointed toward a gray fishing boat near the end of the outside finger pier. “Now let’s roll.”

“You going to tell me where you went and how you know all this?” Kaplan asked as they reached the boat.

Jake stepped close to Kaplan and put his arm on Kaplan’s shoulder. “All in due time, my brother. All in due time.”

CHAPTER 58

K
HAN FELT THE last of the sun’s warmth against his face. The blazing sun had almost reached the horizon when he cut the engines. He crawled up the steps and through the windshield door onto the bow where the women were laying on their towels. In his hands he held a bottle of red wine and three glasses.

As soon as the cruiser cleared the Bahia de la Concha, both women stripped off their bathing suit tops. Three miles from shore, they removed their bottoms and oiled their skin again. The
all-body
tan seemed important to the women. They were proud of their young, taunt bodies and showed no hesitation in shedding their clothes around Khan.

He liked it.

“Girls, a little toast.” He poured three glasses and handed each woman a glass. “To our last night together in Spain, may it be a night we will remember forever.”

“Here, here.” The women said in unison as they clinked their glasses together.

It will certainly be a night I’ll remember forever.
He took a drink from his glass.

The women downed their glasses and Khan refilled them. He left the bottle with the women and retreated to the cabin where he retrieved a second bottle. He opened it, poured another glass for himself, then handed it to the women through the bow hatch. Yes, it would be another good night.

Earlier he’d noticed a small fishing boat on the horizon but it never got closer than a half a mile from his boat. He watched the men through his binoculars while they trolled along the walls of the Capbreton Canyon where the sea bottom drops thousands of feet. The men were drinking and laughing and never appeared to pay his boat any attention. Now the boat was a tiny speck in the distance. He was being paranoid. Maybe the man he’d spotted in town wasn’t watching him. He wasn’t one of the men on the fishing boat, Khan was sure.

Khan heated up the dinner he’d had catered for the trip by a five-star restaurant in Old Town. He set the table on the stern deck and called the women when it was ready. The sun had set and only a few of the brightest stars were beginning to light up the sky. Tiki lights were strung along the roof on the aft deck, soft music played in the background. A naked blonde and a naked brunette, both giggling, came down the stairs through the windshield door.

“Oooh, something smells good.” The blonde said. She walked to Khan and kissed him hard. “I’m hungry.”

The brunette slipped her tunic over her oil soaked naked body. “We need food so we’ll have energy for later.” She placed the second bottle of wine, half empty, on the table and tossed the empty bottle overboard.

Khan grabbed the already loaded plates from the galley and placed one in front of each woman. The blonde slipped on her tunic. Khan returned to the table with his plate and sat down. The three of them raised their glasses to the center of the table and made another toast. “Ladies, you’re the most fun I’ve ever had.” Khan said.

Both women giggled then the blonde spoke. “We decided to give you a special treat tonight, so save room for dessert.”

† † †

Jake kept enough distance from the cruiser without losing sight of it. He’d made a couple of close passes for appearance sake so Khan could verify that the occupants of the boat were indeed fishermen out having a good time. As good fortune would have it, Perez caught a good-sized fish while they were near Khan's vessel. The three men shouted and yelled validating themselves as fishermen, high-fiving, and toasting with beer. He only hoped Khan was watching and his ruse had dispelled any suspicion the terrorist might have.

It seemed to work. Now, with only the stars aglow in the sky, Jake motored away from the cruiser with the fishing boat’s lights on, then turned them off and maneuvered back to within a half-mile distance. He zoomed in with his night spotting scope. Khan was laughing and drinking and seemed more interested in the two naked women than in whether or not someone was tracking him. No better distraction than beautiful women.

A mistake Jake planned to capitalize on.

Jake noticed the cruiser had a large swim platform. That would make it easier to board the cruiser without alerting Khan.

“Now what?” Kaplan asked.

“We wait.” Jake handed Kaplan the spotting scope. “We wait and watch.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Kaplan said. “Since when did patience become one of your virtues?”

“Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then.”

“And now you’re a bad philosopher too?”

“We could be out here a while.” Perez said.

“Yes, we could. But this is our best chance to take Khan alive.” Jake unzipped a duffle bag that had been tucked under the seats and pulled out night vision goggles.

“What else you got in there?” Kaplan asked.

“Three semi-automatic sniper rifles, ammo and some Snickers bars.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Kaplan asked.

Jake stared at Kaplan then looked at Perez and smiled. “Yeah, I’m kidding.”

CHAPTER 59

T
WO BOATS FLOATED aimlessly half a mile apart, bobbing up and down like a cork on a fishing line. As time passed the Cantabrian Sea grew choppy, waves slapping against the hull grew louder so Jake eased the smaller vessel further from the cruiser.

Khan and the two women had been in the cabin for over an hour. Tiki lamps still lit up the aft deck, their vivid colors played across the water like Christmas tree lights. Before the women went below deck with Khan, Jake watched them take turns dancing with the terrorist. Each one removed their tunics and taunted and teased the man.

After an hour and a half, Jake grew impatient. He was about to suggest they move closer to the cruiser when Khan appeared on deck alone, stumbling toward the stern as the boat pitched in the waves.

“Looks like we’ve got movement.” Jake said.

Kaplan grabbed the spotting scope, Perez his binoculars.

“Who is it?” Kaplan asked.

“Khan. And he’s alone.” Jake watched through his night vision spotting scope.

Khan walked midway across the deck, turned around and returned to the helm. The tiki lamps went out and the aft deck plunged into darkness.

“I can’t see anything.” Kaplan said.

“Me either.” Perez.

“I’ll give you the play by play.” Jake zoomed his scope in as close as it would get him. “He’s digging around in the back for something. Wait, he pulled something out and dropped it on the swim platform.”

“He’s not going diving, is he?” Perez asked.

“What’d he pull out?” Kaplan.

“I can’t tell, just two lumpy shadows on the swim platform. We’re a long way away and the lack of clarity with this scope is making identification difficult. Whatever they are, they’re small and compact. Too big for fins, definitely two, though.”

The fishing boat slowly rotated parallel to the swells and the boat rocked side-to-side. “I can’t see shit with the boat moving like this. Perez, fire up one engine and put the bow into the waves.” Jake ordered.

Perez did as instructed and the boat stopped rocking.

Jake located the boat again with his goggles. “Khan just put something large on the platform, maybe a tank or something.”

“You think he’s going diving at night?” Kaplan asked. “Doesn’t make sense.”

“Unless.” Jake drew out the word. “Unless he’s leaving the women onboard and making for shore.”

Perez laughed. “It’s over forty kilometers to shore…twenty-five of your miles, he’d never make it.”

“Maybe someone’s picking him up. Maybe he’s about to blow the boat up and kill the girls.” Kaplan said.

“Nope. That’s not it either.” Jake stared intently through the spotting scope. “He just brought one of the women on deck and laid her across the transom. Now he’s going back inside.”

“What is he doing?” Kaplan.

“He’s bringing out the other woman. He laid her down next to the first one. Neither one is moving.” Jake lowered his scope. “He’s disposing of the women. Fire up the other engine and get us over there ASAP. Full throttle. We take him now.”

Jake reached into the duffle bag and pulled out a sniper rifle. Then another. Then another.

“You weren’t kidding about the rifles.” Kaplan grabbed one from Jake. “Where did you get these?”

“Don’t ask.” Jake studied Khan’s movements on the back of the boat. “He’s wrapping something around their legs. Son of a bitch, we’re not going to make it. We’re not going to make it.”

Jake jumped when the rifle blasted a shot toward the cruiser. He saw Khan look in their direction after Kaplan fired. Khan moved at a frenzied pace. A splash and only one woman remained on the transom.

“Dammit.” Jake shouted. “He dumped one. Explain it to him again, Gregg. Or better yet just kill him.”

Kaplan fired another round. “I’ll never hit anything with the boat moving like this.”

Another splash. “Oh my God. They’re both gone. The bastard killed them both.” He looked at Perez. “How deep is it here?”

Perez fiddled with the depth gauge. “In feet, a little over four thousand. If he weighted them, they’re gone. There’s nothing we can do.”

“Yes there is.” Jake grabbed a rifle and took aim at the cruiser. “We can kill that bastard.”

“No, Jake.” Kaplan yelled over the roar of the two outboard motors. “Alive. We need Khan alive.”

“Fine.” Jake resolved. “We take him alive. Then we torture his ass to death.”

CHAPTER 60

K
HAN HEARD THE shot off the starboard side of the cruiser in the distance but saw nothing, just a black void across the dark sea. He’d tied the brunette’s feet to the weight when he heard engines roar to life from the direction of the shot. He hoisted her over his shoulder and tossed her in the water. Next he pushed the weight overboard and the brunette disappeared into the black water, plunging her to the bottom of the deep-sea trench known as the Capbreton Canyon.

With renewed urgency, he shackled the blonde to the weight, tossed her into the water, and pushed the weight overboard. She sank out of sight as the weight dragged her down.

Another shot rang out from the right side of the cruiser; the roar of the unknown boat’s engines grew louder in the darkness. He scrambled to the cabin, trying to keep his sea legs while the cruiser pitched and rocked, grabbed his automatic rifle, and returned to the deck. Stopping at the helm, he turned the ignition to each engine and they roared to life. He pushed the transmission levers into forward and jammed the throttles down. The cruiser lurched forward as the bow pitched upward with each new wave. He knew his initial bearing to San Sebastian so he made a sweeping left turn back toward shore. Now the oncoming craft was to port, a better angle for firing from the helm.

More gunshots, bright flashes in the distance, wood splintered down the side of the cruiser. He raised his rifle and unloaded fifty rapid-fire rounds at the mystery boat. He needed to get away; his craft could reach smooth water speeds in excess of sixty kilometers per hour but under these sea conditions, much less—maybe forty-five—if he was lucky. Probably not enough to outrun the smaller craft.

He turned on the GPS-coupled autopilot with his preloaded coordinates and activated it. Now he was hands-free to seek cover and engage the oncoming boat.

Another blast caused a side window on his boat to explode, glass shards rained down across the deck, two of them nicking his face. Close. But the muzzle flash also highlighted the enemy vessel, enough for him to know where to aim, and now he could identify the faint outline of the boat itself. It
was
the gray fishing boat from earlier in the day. He’d been duped. When he saw the men catch the big fish and start celebrating, he’d erroneously made the assumption they were just men fishing the lip of the canyon. As they trolled their craft away from him toward the horizon, he’d forgotten they existed.