CHAPTER EIGHTEEN #2
“Is it safe?” Nova asked.
Behind him, he could hear the snickers. Snow looked over his shoulder and leveled the team with a warning glance.
Joker grinned. “Hey, don’t look at us. She’s asking if you’re dressed, not us.”
Snow looked back at Nova. “Ignore them. And yes, I’m fully clothed.”
The door opened the rest of the way, and Nova cautiously stepped into the room.
“Good,” she muttered. “I’d rather not add The Great Towel Incident: Part Two to your team’s highlight reel.”
A few muffled chuckles drifted through the speakers, but thankfully no one took the bait.
Snow pulled one of the desk chairs out for her before taking the one beside it. Turning slightly so they could both see the tablet, he rested his forearms on his knees. Then his eyes met hers.
“All right,” he said, his voice losing its playful edge. “What did you find?”
“I’ll start with the easy one. There is no boat or any asset named Delilah registered to Gulf Tide, or any of its subsidiaries.
Damn, Snow thought to himself.
“I was able to confirm that Gulf Tide still employs Mike Capperson and, according to their HR, he is listed as a crew member on this rig.”
Snow sat up straight. “Seriously?”
“Yup. I had Paige, my paralegal, confirm with their HR department. And don’t worry, I had her check all the crew members so it didn’t seem suspicious that I was asking about one employee.”
“That was smart,” Snow acknowledged. He had explained everything to the team last night after dinner.
Commander Connors spoke up. “So, just to confirm, this Capperson person is still employed and supposed to be on the rig.”
Nova nodded. “Yes.”
“And Snow, the two guys yesterday told you that the guy disappeared about seven weeks ago.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Commander Connors folded his hands together. “Good work, Nova. I’ll pass this information on to the appropriate agencies immediately so that they can look into this guy.”
Nova held up her hand. “I’d hold that call for another minute, Commander. There’s more.”
Snow looked at her, his eyebrows raised. “More?”
She nodded, and then pulled out her phone and tapped the screen. “ I just sent each of you a couple of pictures I took.” She then began to explain what she had found.
“The first picture is a passport I found. As you can see, it has Brett’s picture, but the name listed on it says Anthony Telesford. That seems odd in my opinion.”
That was very odd, Snow thought to himself.
“The second picture is a notebook that I’m pretty sure belongs to Capperson, considering it has his name on the front of it. The next few photos are of pages from the notebook filled with date and time entries.”
Snow stayed quiet as he listened and flipped through the photos.
“It seems like this person was definitely documenting something,” Bear stated, and Snow agreed.
“The next picture is from another page in the notebook. This one had the name Andre Matisse written at the top, with what again looks like entries.”
As soon as Snow heard the name, he looked at the screen and could see the guys looking at one another, which made him believe that they were all thinking what he was thinking.
Andre Matisse wasn’t just someone. Over the last two to three years, he had been making a name for himself on the international front in arms dealings.
His name had been linked to several terrorist organizations and ongoing civil wars happening in Africa.
He also operated on the black market. He was wanted for questioning by agencies all over the world.
But the problem was that the man rarely got his own hands dirty. Instead, he financed operations, moved weapons through layers of shell companies and intermediaries, and disappeared long before authorities could get close.
Long story short, someone wouldn’t write down Andre Matisse’s name just for the fun of it. There was definitely a reason why.
“Well...” Duke muttered quietly. “This just made things more interesting.”
Derek nod. “I’d say it did.”
“What are your thoughts, Commander?” Snow asked.
Derek sighed. “If Matisse is involved, then we are no longer looking at just a local operation; it’s now international.”
“Who is this guy?” Nova asked.
Snow looked at her. “He’s an international arms dealer.”
Nova’s eyes widened. “Oh, well, that might explain the next three pictures,” she said.
Snow swiped to the next picture. Before he could say anything, Bear let out a low whistle. “Is that an underwater drone?”
“That’s what it looks like. Or some kind of prototype,” Aussie said.
“Whatever it is, it definitely looks military-grade. Look at the propulsion housing.”
“I’m more curious about what’s in that barrel,” Jay Bird stated. “I can’t make out what the wording is on it.”
Snow’s gaze drifted from the barrel to the photograph of what appeared to be an underwater drone. When you put those two together, they painted a picture he didn’t like. His stomach tightened.
Whatever was inside that barrel couldn’t be good if it was somehow being paired with military-grade underwater equipment.
It immediately brought him back to the briefing—the NOAA buoy detecting unusual chemical signatures, and the string of unexplained maritime incidents that had drawn multiple federal agencies to this investigation in the first place.
Snow addressed Derek. “Sir, is it possible we’re looking at chemical warfare?
” he asked. “If those canisters and whatever is in that barrel are being transported with underwater drones...” He paused, choosing his words carefully.
“Could this be the smoking gun we’ve been looking for?
Something capable of delivering a chemical agent without anyone realizing it until it was too late? ”
“It could be,” Derek replied as he leaned back in his chair.
“But we also need to think about where Andre Matisse fits in.” He paused, letting the implication settle over everyone.
“If he’s connected to this device, then we are no longer talking about simple weapons smuggling.
” Derek tapped a finger against his desk.
“Matisse has spent years supplying sophisticated military hardware to the highest bidder. If he’s involved, there’s a very real possibility he isn’t just moving weapons through this rig; he could be supplying the technology, the components, or even financing whatever is being built there. ”
“Shit,” Bear said. |Do you really think they could be weaponizing those drones? And building them right there on the rig?”