CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“They’re never going to go for this,” said Reginald. “Gustav likes to be close to the water. He has a few yachts and one of those supersonic speedboats so he can escape if necessary.”
“A speedboat, you say?” grinned Ham. “What’s her name?”
“The JenniLynn.”
“Tanner, Ethan, and Connor. Time to go swimming,” said Ham.
“I don’t know how swimming is going to help this situation.”
“Leave it to them,” said Ham watching the men run out of the room. They were headed to the helipad where Autumn was waiting. From New Orleans, they could be at the docks in thirty minutes, beneath the water in fifteen, and home within an hour.
“Once they’re back, you’re going to make the call and say everything, verbatim, written on this script,” said Gator.
“Who are you guys?” he asked for the tenth time.
“No one you need to know about. Be grateful that we’re going to let the authorities know you helped us in the end. Your parents and sister are being looked after. No one will harm them.” Jak just glared at the young man as his lip quivered.
“I just thought it was easy money,” he said shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I knew they were criminals but I just thought it wouldn’t touch me or my family.”
“And that’s why people look the other way,” said Gator. “Everyone thinks, ‘it’s not my business’, ‘it doesn’t affect me’, ‘why should I get involved’. You get involved because it does affect you! It affects everyone in this damn country.
“I’m so sick of people looking the other way, not reporting suspicious behavior in their own backyard, hell, not even reporting it when it’s in their front yard.
Do you realize that there was a house in a middle-class neighborhood of Cleveland that had been trafficking young girls for seventeen years?
Seventeen. Dozens and dozens of girls forced to have sex with the local banker, minister, or football coach.
“Everyone looked the other way. They thought that someone liked to party, maybe another teenaged girl lived there. Except not one person questioned the fact that as far as they knew, no teenager lived there or went to school from that house.”
“I-I didn’t know,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“You were blessed with a fucking brain for technology and electronics. You had a great job at the DOD, helping our country in all the right ways but you were so consumed with greed, wanting more, that you couldn’t see your way to doing things right,” said Ham.
“Ham, honey let’s feed the guy before he passes out. A hot plate of food will clear his head and maybe get him to see things more clearly,” smiled Sadie. “Are you hungry?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he nodded. “I could definitely eat.”
While Reginald ate, being watched over by Sadie, Dylan, and Mattie, the men met with their own technical team.
“Where are the other board members?” asked Gator.
“In hiding. And they’re hiding well,” said AJ. “They must know that something big is about to happen. I’m still checking for possible vacation homes, yachts, and other things but so far, nothing.”
“Keep looking, AJ. If we can get to them before their meeting, we can avoid anyone getting hurt.”
“I have another idea,” said April.
“No!” yelled everyone at the same time. She stared at them, her hands on her hips and Margo smirked in their direction.
“Oh, honey. You’ll get used to that. You don’t have to like it but you’ll get used to it. As for you idiots, she wasn’t going to suggest putting herself out there. Try listening before you shut us down.”
“Sorry, babe,” smiled Quinn.
“You’d better be glad you’re so handsome,” said April. “My suggestion was going to be forcing them to another location. Gustav doesn’t like Pensacola, it’s just that it’s not Miami, which he hates more, and it has a hotel that’s owned by one of the other board members.”
“So, Gustav doesn’t have a home there?” asked Patrick.
“Not a permanent one that I’m aware of. The only home that he had, was obviously given to Jerry.
I don’t know if he was actually living there at any point in time but whenever there was a conference call, or a business state-of-the-company meeting, his first remarks were about how much he hated Florida. ”
“Okay, so he’s cheap and doesn’t like Florida,” nodded Ham. They all frowned at him. “What? If he doesn’t want to use a fellow board members hotel in a city and state he hates, but does it anyway because it’s free, that’s him being cheap. We need to figure out something else.”
“That’s what I’m getting at,” said April, rolling her eyes. “We were all given employee credit cards for hotels, cars, meals, that type of thing. The cards earned points and miles that were saved by the company. We didn’t get to keep any of it.”
“That’s shitty,” frowned Quinn.
“I agree. We all agreed. If we were the ones working, flying, and staying away from home we should get the perks of the points but the board didn’t see it that way.
Anyway, they should have millions of points.
Enough to cover a high-end, luxury hotel right here in New Orleans.
It’s also close to the water, which we know Gustav likes. ”
“That’s a great idea, April,” smiled Finn. “You sure you picked the right brother?”
“Back your ugly ass off,” growled Quinn.
“Dude,” he laughed, “if I’m ugly so are you.”
“Alright, enough,” said April. “Thank you, Finn, but I think I have the right brother. I’m good.”
“Just in time,” said AJ. “We’ve got footage coming back from Pensacola. Looks like the boys are really having fun.”
The JenniLynn was empty except for two security guards and a few crew members. Tanner, Ethan, and Connor didn’t want to hurt innocent people only doing their jobs, but they would if they had to.
“Not busy tonight,” said Tanner nodding toward two small dinghies. “Be a shame for those two old boats to sink because of fire.”
“Do it,” said Ethan. “Connor? Let’s go. We’ll plant the explosives and ensure that the ship can’t leave dock.”
Tanner smiled at the two men as they disappeared beneath the murky waters of the gulf. The quay where the boats were docked was narrow, leading toward the brighter, aquamarine waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
He could feel the eyes of the men on the JenniLynn staring at him. Turning, he waved casually and dropped some small firecrackers, laughing as the men reached for their guns.
“It’s cool, dudes,” he laughed. “Just havin’ some fun.”
He pulled out a few more rows of firecrackers, sparking them and tossing them on the dock. Then he reached for something a little larger. Dynamite.
“What the fuck is that idiot doing?” growled one of the bodyguards.
“I don’t know. I can’t see,” said the other. “Fuck! He’s got dynamite.”
“Hey! Hey, stop!” yelled the man running down the dock toward Tanner.
He tossed one stick of dynamite into each of the smaller boats and then a pair of sticks into three different smaller vessels. The dock was exploding in a waterfall of debris from the boats and dock.
While the bodyguards ducked, Tanner dove into the water, grabbing his underwater gear and tank hidden in the water. Gliding toward their submersible craft, he let himself in and notified the others.
“Let’s go boys. I’m waiting for you to arrive.”
“Fuck you, Tanner. We’re hurrying.”
Above the water, the bodyguards and others watched from the docks, staring at the destroyed vessels. They were shaking their heads when they looked at one another.
“The yacht!” said the first man. The other shook his head.
“They don’t pay me enough to die on that fucking thing,” he said calmly. “Give it a few minutes and then I’ll head back.”
They didn’t need a few minutes. It was less than sixty seconds and the JenniLynn ceased to exist.
Tanner heard the banging on the steel door and opened the hatch for the other two to enter.
“Let’s go boys. Autumn won’t wait forever.”