Pete’s voice came through. “Are you sure the ship isn’t coming through sooner than you thought? This is awfully early to start these shenanigans.”
Derek responded. “There are four ships scheduled for this dock in the next 24 hours, we have no idea which one is the target.”
Charlie keyed his mike. “Why not intercept them all before they get into port?”
All three of them could almost hear Derek sigh in the silent pause of the radio. “I already explained to you guys that our hands are tied. The State Department does not want to precipitate an international incident. Plus, it would take the Coast Guard to do this, and they may have been compromised, although, we are working on a plan B for that. Someone should go over and see if there is a body on the ground next to Jefferson Street. Maybe we can learn something.”
Pete answered. “Already on it. He is still alive but bleeding pretty badly. Is someone sending over a vehicle to pick him up?”
Derek responded. “A van with a medic should be there in less than 5 minutes. Be quick and discrete with the pickup. Look, something else has just come up. I’ll check back with you guys in 15 minutes.”
Ed picked up the phone to call Pauline. “Good evening sweetie. Today was kind of strange at the winery. The pieces are starting to fall together. Shindo seems to be manipulating the Chinese.”
“Yeah he certainly does. Now I really get the willies every time I’m around him. Did you see him staring at me intently in the meeting? I felt like he was undressing me with his eyes. He was constantly staring at my chest and my butt. He is a real lecher!”
“Did you get your room yet? We could ride down together.”
“Yes I did. I would very much like to ride down with you. What time will we be leaving?”
“I would like to get down there around three in the afternoon to get checked into our rooms. We should leave here around noon.”
Pauline sighed. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too.”
“I do think that it is a good idea to take a night off from each other. I feel like we have been going a little bit fast.”
“I agree. I really want to savor falling in love with you. I believe in strong commitments in love. We really need to be sure that we are not just a couple of lovesick teenagers.”
Pauline laughed. “Those years are quite a ways behind us. I really do feel that this is the real thing. But you and I have both been fooled in the past. We have both been hurt. So let’s do this right.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“So I’ll pick you up at noon tomorrow?”
“Yeah, what will the weather be like? I want to have an idea how to dress.”
“There will be a northeasterly wind blowing. This should be an unusually warm evening for Oakland. The high temperature is forecast to be 96. It will probably be in the low 80’s for the wine festival.”
Robert spoke firmly into the phone. “I don’t care if the feds are monitoring the docks. I want you to get those remote charges planted. Things are getting dicey. Our guys have already killed some of Shindo’s goons. We could be forced to move early on the shipping containers currently at the dock. Get them wired to blow when we need to.”
Hanging up the phone, he looked hard at Juan. “Yeah, we have some halfway decent mercs. But right now I could really use a couple of Seals for their demolitions know how. These guys of ours aren’t used to stealthily setting remote charges.”
Juan answered Robert. “Boss, have you thought about rigging the fuel lines leading into the docks and maybe even a rupturing charge followed by a detonation charge on that one large propane tank? It would almost be like a fuel-air explosive.”
Robert grinned. “Of course, the poor man’s nuke. I knew that there was a reason why I keep you around. We could level the dock area if we wanted to, especially if we can’t get the ship. Don’t let Eric know about this option. I don’t quite yet trust him completely.” Continued ...
