He shrugged slightly.“I don’t know the details.Phil’s dad’s a federal judge.And Cynthia Norton will be aboard with her Secret Service detail.”
Despite her sleepiness, Olive noted the understandable little snarl on Jerry’s lips whenever he mentioned DHS.He continued, “Anyway, I imagine things were arranged at a very high inter-service level.”He slipped his hands into the pockets of his shorts.“Between Federal Marshals and Secret Service for Norton’s wife, we’ll likely have several security checkpoints, and all of our events are exclusive and private.”
“That’s fair.”She paused.He didn’t move.“What else?”
He rubbed the back of his neck.“I don’t know how to explain this.”He let out a breath.“If something bad happens—”
She stood and put a hand on his chest.“Hey, Jerry, it’s good.I can follow orders, and I don’t want you to worry about me if something goes sideways.I want you to focus on what you have to do.”
“I will, but we should have a plan.”
She felt her head cock to the side as she considered.“Do you have a plan if something happens?”
“I do, yes.”
She nodded.“Then I’ll trust your plan.”
After a moment, a slow grin spread across his face.“I love you, do you know that?”
“So you say,” she said, stepping closer.“I love you, too, by the way.”
He cupped her cheek and gave her a small kiss.“Ready to roll?Getting late.”
She scoffed.“We have time for one more kiss.”
Miami, Florida
Jean Desalin leaned against a conex, the night air thick with salt and diesel from the nearby Miami docks.An enormous street light painted the shipyard with a silvery light in the pre-dawn morning.The low groan of mooring lines creaking against the tide hummed in the background, punctuated by the distant clang of a loose chain
Despite the darkness, Jean wore his sunglasses in case a camera captured his face.
“What’s the ship’s status?”he asked in Haitian Creole as three people emerged from the shadows.
“Definitely something buzzing,” René said.“The crew shifted this week.We’ve lost four of ours.I’ve never seen it happen like that.”
“A VIP is coming aboard with some tight security,” Marie said.“Hao doesn’t even know the details.The manifest contains no names.”
“No names?How?”
Marie shrugged.“Hao said even the captain didn’t know.”
His mind whirled.What did this mean?The last thing he needed was his crew getting removed.“Can we proceed?”
Claude shrugged.“That gives us four to add to the island plan.Most of the manpower is there upfront.We can add them to the ship after.”
Jean looked at Marie.She said, “My cover name so far has held up under scrutiny.I don’t think we need to worry about my position.”
“We still have two on security, which will help.And we have Hao on the bridge,” Claude added.
Jean nodded and asked, “Do you believe we can truly trust Hao?”
Marie didn’t even blink.“Absolutely.”
Impatience crawled up Jean’s neck, but he pushed it back down.Emotions could ruin this kind of careful planning.“I don’t have a way to recover the money we paid to Wei.Not like he gave me a receipt.We don’t have a lot of choice but to continue with the plan.”
René nodded.“Wei provided his people.We have about half of them still vetted for the ship because they already worked for the company.I just don’t know if we can rely on them entirely when it all goes down.”
“We may not have a choice,” Marie said.“This is our last chance, and our ship numbers aren’t enough.”
