Rendition Protocol Read online

Jana crossed her arms and waited.

  Wallace continued. “I have a team in route to your location. They’ll be there within two hours. Gaviria will no longer be a problem.”

  “And what if I won’t give him up?” Jana said.

  Wallace laughed. “You have no choice.”

  “I don’t work for you,” Jana said.

  “I tell you what, Agent Baker. You hand over Gaviria and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

  “You’re going to tell me the CIA’s agenda?”

  He laughed again. “No, but I’m going to earn your trust. I’m going to tell you where Cade Williams is.”

  Jana’s mouth dropped open but her words came out laced with anger. “What did you do with him?”

  “I assure you, he’s not in CIA custody. Consider the information a gesture of good will.”

  “Dammit!” she screamed. “Where is he?”

  “Do we have a deal?”

  “Yes.”

  “After Gaviria has been turned over to us, you’ll receive instructions.”

  The call went dead.

  Jana slammed her fists into the desk. “Prick!”

  From behind the laptop, Jana’s father said, “You are right not to trust him. There’s an agenda. There’s always an agenda.”

  Jana’s jaw muscles clenched as she glared at her father, but then Stone spoke. “What are they playing at?”

  “I don’t know,” Ames said. “But it’s always a level above.”

  “Meaning?” Stone said.

  “Well, you were a Delta Force operator, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “You were given missions, and those missions made sense on your level, didn’t they?”

  “Normally, yes. Our clearances were high, so we typically knew what we were doing and why.”

  “But there’s always a level above. A higher priority, a grander scale. That’s what you didn’t know. For example, where’s one place you were deployed?”

  “I can’t talk about that,” Stone said.

  “Of course not,” Ames replied. “Let’s see, okay, here’s an example. Let’s say it’s 1985 and you’re on Delta Force. You get tasked to do a weapons transfer to the Iranians. Now, at that time, Iran was under weapons embargo, so none of this was legal. But you are told that the US is going to sell Hawk and TOW missiles to the Iranians in exchange for the release of seven American hostages being held in Lebanon by Hezbollah. And since Iran has a lot of influence over Hezbollah, we’ll get our guys back. You follow?”

  “This is sounding awfully familiar,” Stone said.

  “What you wouldn’t have been told was the higher agenda, the next level.”

  “Which was?”

  “Getting the American hostages made sense on your level, but the real goal was the exchange of cash. The US needed a massive, untraceable cash hoard to fund anti-Sandanista rebels in Nicaragua. Their goal? To overthrow the Sandanista government.”

  Jana murmured, “The Iran-Contra Affair.”

  “That’s right,” Ames said. “A higher priority agenda. And that’s not the half of it. You’ve no idea how far CIA will go. Ever heard the name Kiki Camarena?”

  “Sure,” Jana said. “Cade talked about him. Said he was a DEA agent that was murdered in Mexico.”

  “Murdered because CIA didn’t like him disrupting their drug trade,” Ames said.

  “Oh, come on,” Jana said. “CIA isn’t going to have a federal agent murdered. Why would they be involved in a drug trade of their own?”

  “Look it up if you don’t believe me. Same reason,” Ames said. “They were raising funds for the anti-Sandanista rebels.”

  Stone said, “Alright. We’re getting off track here. So that takes us back to square one. What is the CIA agenda here on Antigua?”

  “I don’t give a shit,” Jana said.

  “You don’t sound very convincing,” Stone replied.

  “I want Kyle and I want Cade. That’s the priority. If CIA wants in on the drug war, they can have it. After this is over, I can hunt down Wallace and kick his ass.”

  A few hours later, just as sunlight had begun to form a glow in the eastern sky, a rap on the door startled the trio.

  “Pizza delivery guy?” Stone joked.

  “I don’t think the Company delivers pizza,” Jana retorted.

  “But they do a nice pickup service I hear,” Stone said as he glanced outside. Four Kevlar-laden operators flanked a casually dressed man. “Go ahead, it’s them.”

  Ames slid aside in an attempt to stay out of view.

  But when Jana opened the door, she couldn’t believe who was standing on the other side.

  51

  A Surprise Visitor

  “Hello, Jana,” the man said.

  “What are you doing here?”

  The man nodded to the operators and they made entry with weapons forward. Stone pointed to the bedroom door. The four hulking men grabbed Gaviria off the floor and drug him out as he thrashed. They disappeared toward the water, where an inflatable F470 Combat Rubber Reconnaissance Craft idled just off the beach.

  The man passed a stern look at Stone but then turned to Jana. “Sorry, had to wait until they were clear.”

  “What’s going on?” she said.

  “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know?” Jana said.

  The man said, “I have a message for you. Apparently Cade got pinched. When he went to rent the boat for your operation last night, the locals grabbed him. He’s still in custody.”

  “The local police?” Jana said. “Why?”

  “They’re looking for you, Jana. They’ve been scouring the island. Since you didn’t report back in, they consider you a fugitive, and Cade an accomplice. They want to charge you with attempted murder for the attack on Montes Lima Perez.”

  Jana shook her head but before she could say anything, the man extended his hand. Jana shook it and felt him pass her something. He disappeared toward the water and was gone.

  She closed the door and Stone said, “Who was that?”

  “Pete Buck, CIA. We’ve worked with him before. Kind of comes off as an asshole at first, but once he gets to know you, he’s a good guy.”

  “Yeah, seems very warm,” Stone said. “What did he hand you?”

  “You don’t miss much,” Jana said. She opened her hand to reveal a tiny manila envelope. She opened it and dumped the contents into her hand. Three unmarked digital chips spilled out.

  “SIM cards?” Stone said. “The CIA cuts communication from the US to our cellphones, but now they’re giving us new SIM cards?”

  “Buck wouldn’t have given these to us without a reason,” Jana said.

  “It doesn’t make sense,” Stone continued. “They can listen in on our cell calls whenever they want, so why give us new SIMs?”

  Jana was entranced in thought. “I don’t think the CIA gave us these. I think Buck did.”

  “But Buck is CIA.”

  “I know,” Jana said, “but there’s something going on. He wouldn’t do anything to harm me, of that much I’m sure.”

  Stone said, “You think the CIA doesn’t know what the CIA is doing?”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time,” Jana replied.

  From against the wall, Ames said, “I think he’s trying to communicate with you.”

  Stone looked at the angered expression on Jana’s face then said, “Mr. Ames, I think you should sit this one out.” He turned to Jana. “I think he’s trying to communicate with you.”

  “Very funny,” Jana said.

  “Do you trust him?” Stone said.

  “Yes.”

  “Then you should trust him. Put the SIM in your phone. I’m betting that not only will it receive calls from the US mainland, but that Buck will be calling you soon.”

  “Fine, but we’ve got to get ready for Rojas. He owes me a hundred K.”

  52

  Obstruction of Justice


  Office of the Commissioner, Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda, American Road, St. John’s, Antigua.

  “I’m sorry, who did you say is calling?” the secretary said into the phone. When she heard the repeated response, she cringed. “Oh, one moment please.” She pressed a button on the desk phone and said, “Commissioner? I think you’re going to want to take this.”

  “I’m in the middle of a briefing,” Robert Wendell, the newly appointed Commissioner, said.

  “Sir, I just really think—”

  “Fine, patch it through. Good Lord,” he said to the group of twelve senior inspectors assembled in his office. “New secretary,” he said with a smirk. “Still not quite sure who she can tell to leave a message.” He picked up the blinking phone line. “This is Commissioner Wendell.”

  The other men in the room could hear muffled yelling coming from the phone receiver.

  The commissioner stuttered into the phone, “Yes, ma’am. We have a what? Well hold on now, ma’am. I don’t even know—I see. No, ma’am, I’m sure we haven’t detained a—I understand that you’re saying he’s a US citizen but on Antigua—” The commissioner waited as the person on the other end of the line continued.

  The inspectors heard a banging sound across the phone as the party on the other end hung up.

  The commissioner placed the phone receiver down then rubbed his eyes. He looked up at the inspectors until his eyes landed on one in particular, Lieutenant Jack Pence. “Pence? Do we have a US citizen in custody?”

  “Yes, sir. His name is—”

  “His name is Cade Williams. Yes, I know. And he’s charged with?”

  “Obstruction of an investigation.”

  “So, in other words, he’s committed no crime. Am I right?” He slammed a fist onto the desk. “Do you want to know how I know his name?” He was met with silence. “Well I’m going to tell you.” He rose from his seat so quickly his swivel chair slid into the wall. “That was a very pleasant woman named Linda Russo on the line. Want me to give you three guesses who Linda Russo is?” He leaned his fists onto the desk. “She’s the damned United States ambassador to Antigua! Why in the flying fuck do we have a US citizen in custody? And not just some random tourist, but apparently an employee of the United States government. Jesus Christ! I haven’t been in this chair for four months, and I’m about to get my ass canned! Call your people and cut him loose.”

  “Sir,” the lieutenant stuttered, “we believe he’s—”

  “Harboring a fugitive. Yeah, the ambassador was kind enough to share that little fact with me. Look, you want to bring in the actual suspect and charge her with murder, that’s one thing. But harboring a fugitive?” The commissioner shook his head. “Cut him loose, right now.”

  Twenty minutes later, Cade walked out of police custody. He hailed a cab and watched behind them to ensure the vehicle wasn’t being followed. The cab dropped him a mile from the safe house. He waited to further ensure he did not have a tail then walked across the street and offered a kid ten dollars for a bicycle with no tires. He rode the rest of the way back on steel rims.

  When he pulled up to the house, Stone came outside. “Hey, nice ride.”

  “Very funny. Where’s Jana?”

  “Inside. You enjoy your little time in the slammer?”

  “Oh, it was lovely.” Cade walked in and Jana hugged him. It was more than he had expected.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “We had no idea what happened to you.”

  “How’d you find out?” he said.

  After she explained the previous night, the CIA’s revelation that he’d been arrested, Gaviria being taken away, he nodded.

  “They’re going to charge you, Jana. I’m sorry.”

  She said, “They really consider it attempted murder?”

  “Apparently so,” he said. “They know about your route home. That you walked out of your way. To them, it looks like you lured him down that alley. And since they know about your special-agent background, the training . . . well, they think it was planned.”

  She crossed her arms. “Screw them. Besides, we don’t have time for this. We’ve got to get set up for my visit to Diego Rojas.”

  “You think you’re ready?”

  “I can get past the gate. But how to get Kyle out of there, that’s the problem. I know he’s being held. And I’m betting he’s somewhere behind that steel door in Rojas’s wine cellar.”

  “I believe you, by the way. That Kyle’s alive. It makes perfect sense. Even though we don’t know why CIA is involved, it makes sense that Kyle was the one who told Rojas that Gaviria was now on the island.”

  Stone walked in and listened.

  Jana said, “We can’t get distracted with CIA. We’ve got to focus on our one objective, Kyle.” She looked around then out the bay window. The boat was gone. “Wait a minute. My father is gone?”

  “Left a while ago,” Stone said.

  Cade said, “I know you don’t want any advice about your father, Jana, but you need to give him a chance.”

  “He doesn’t deserve a chance. If he wanted to be there for me, he had that chance when I was born.”

  Cade let the subject drop. He looked at Stone. “We need a plan to get Kyle out. Stone, you were a hot-shot Delta Force operator, and you’ve been inside Rojas’s estate. What do you suggest?”

  “I’d go in with a team of eight operators. Come in under cover of night, put guns in position to cover, take the guards out quietly. Have our electronics expert disable any alarm systems. Get inside and breach the door Jana described. Grab Kyle up and get him out of there. We’d have a vehicle in front waiting for us and a CRRC boat in the back, just in case we need to get out that way. Helicopter gunships in reserve in case it got ugly.”

  Jana said. “That’s nice, for a team of eight.”

  “I know,” he said. “There are four of us.”

  “Three,” Jana said.

  “We need his help, Jana,” Stone said.

  “Look, there’s only a few of us,” she said. “You’re talking about killing these guards quietly, in cold blood. If that goes wrong, we’d probably be in a firefight. Have you ever done this before?”

  “Many times,” he said, though his voice was distant.

  Cade shook his head. “We don’t have that type of support. Gunships in reserve, boats? It’s just us.”

  “Then we walk in the front door,” Stone replied. “Jana walks in, anyway. I’d be set up just off-site. I’ve got a sniper rifle with an AMTEC suppressor. If things go sideways, I’ll take out the guard at the gate and the one at the front door without anyone knowing.”

  “Wait, wait,” Cade said. “We don’t stand a chance trying to take Kyle by force. Not the three of us. How can we get him out without all that?”

  “We use Jana,” Stone said. “Jana on the inside is better than eight operators on the outside. But she’s going to have to be prepared in case things go bad.”

  Cade said, “How is she going to be prepared if they search her again, which, they’re sure to do?”

  “I’m going in armed,” Jana replied.

  “Armed?” Cade said. “How are you going to sneak a weapon past the guards?”

  “I’m not. I’ve proven myself to Rojas. I’m carrying a weapon on my person and he can kiss my ass if he thinks otherwise.”

  Then, Jana’s phone rang.

  53

  Origins

  The caller ID on Jana’s phone said simply “Unknown.” She placed the phone to her ear but said nothing. A garbled, computerized voice said, “Your mother had a favorite candy. Meet at the place of their origin, ten minutes. Come alone.”

  “What?” Jana said, but the call had gone dead.

  Cade said, “Who was it?”

  “Somebody wants to me to meet.”

  “Well, it has to be Pete Buck. He’s the only one with the number to this new SIM card.”

  “Yeah,” Jana said, “but where? And why would he disguise his voice?”
/>   “He disguised . . .” Cade said. “He obviously doesn’t want anyone to know he’s in touch with you. He slipped you the SIM cards, and now this. Where did he say he wanted to meet?”

  “I have no idea,” she said.

  “You just talked to him,” Stone said, still looking out the windows.

  “He said to meet at the place of origin of my mother’s favorite candies.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Cade said.

  Jana began to walk as she thought. “She loved marzipan too. That’s where I got it from. But they’re made in New Orleans. He said to meet at the place of their origin in ten minutes. Now how am I supposed to meet him . . .”

  “Jana?” Cade said.

  “I know exactly where,” she said and then walked out the door. “He means the Little Orleans Market.”

  Cade and Stone began to follow but Jana held up a hand before getting in the car. “I’m doing this alone.”

  When she drove away, Stone said to Cade, “Don’t worry, she knows what she’s doing.”

  “That’s what bothers me.”

  54

  The Question is the Answer

  The Little Orleans Market, Antigua.

  A few minutes later, Jana pulled her car behind the market and parked next to a dumpster. She went in the back door. Inside the ramshackle shop was the owner, a little old lady named Abena. She didn’t look up from her sweeping. Pete Buck was seated at a tiny round table, one of three set up for anyone enjoying Abena’s cooking. Jana walked to the table but paused, her eyes glued on the old woman. Abena had stopped where she was standing, her broom in hand. It was almost as if she was frozen.

  Jana walked to her and placed a gentle arm around her waist and took hold of the broom. The woman smiled at her through Coke-bottle-thick glasses and the two walked in shuffle-step behind the counter where Jana helped her onto a stool.

  Then Jana sat at the table. “She gets stuck sometimes.”

  “I know you’re going to ask, Jana. And I don’t know.”