| |
Josh sipped the last of his warm cola and watched throngs of tourists saunter into the small town of Cozumel and catch taxis into the city of San Miguel. The remains of his fruit-glazed chicken, Spanish rice, and black beans were nearly nonexistent. Only crumbs remained of Stacie Vandercoy’s fish tacos. He had to remind himself her name was Stacie McCoy for this op.
Jeff “Rock Star” Lennon had called that morning to tell him he’d meet up with the two of them after he finished captaining for Jack’s catamaran company for the day. Josh hated deceiving his friend, especially since he was staying in his home, but it was an excellent cover for Rock Star who had been key in this operation.
“So, Jeff and I are to continue to follow the human traffickers until they move the terrorists,” Stacie reiterated in a low voice, even though they were the only ones in the restaurant’s outdoor dining area. It was late for lunch and early for supper but most cruise line guests ate on the ships since meals were included in the price of their voyage.
“You’re positive your ship is the only one they’re using to transport illegal aliens into the States?” Josh found it hard to believe but there must be a reason only the Caribbean Breeze was being used. Usually, if a methodology worked in one place, they’d repeat the success on other ships.
“Yes.” Stacie’s answer was firm. “A few weeks ago I stayed here. Jeff and I checked the movement from every safe house the Los Zetas coyotes use. They receive the merchandise...” She huffed. “I just hate calling these poor people merchandise. They’re human beings who scrimped and saved enough money to pay off these damned traffickers to take them to the United States. They just want a better life than the one they had in some God-forsaken third world country. Most of them don’t even know better than to pay these monsters to sneak them into the States. They have no idea about our immigration laws, or even that we have them.”
Josh simply nodded. Although he worked for Border Patrol Division of Homeland Security, his focus was terrorists. When he’d spoken with his command center that morning, intel had the terrorists in a safe house in the Cancun area. It made sense that they’d be closer to the ships so he was in Cozumel.
He ignored Stacie’s rant. “How long do they usually hold them before they move them onto the ship?”
“From what I saw, the people arrive in Cozumel on the weekend.” Stacie sipped her lemonade. “They move them a few times during that week to different safe houses, then onto the ship. The Breeze is scheduled in here every Tuesday.”
“Do you have any idea why some are moved onto the ships and others overland?” Josh had wondered this from the beginning.
“I’ve talked to a few of the women, who are all gorgeous by the way, and they said their coyote had selected them specifically. They acted as though it was an honor.” She looked away. “They had all been raped. Several times by the bastard handlers. They called it their training. The better the women were in bed, the more food they got to feed the rest of their family.” She turned back his way. “Most considered the sex as payment for passage.”
“Fuckers.” Josh hated the destiny of those women, but human trafficking wasn’t his job. Besides, if his team took the traffickers down before they moved the terrorists, the targets might find another way into the United States before Josh could stop them.
“Yeah. They indicated they had good jobs waiting for them, and they had to get there quickly. They were also being taught a little English but it was mostly sex talk. They sounded like hookers.” She shook her head. “I wish I could do more for them, but I was afraid they’d bust my cover as it was. They weren’t supposed to talk with anyone, just do their jobs. They’d never tell me who their handler was on that part of the journey. Zak, the head of security, seemed to keep a close eye on them though. I don’t know if it’s because they were new, or if he’s involved, or if he simply likes women with black hair, dark eyes, and brown skin. The whole thing makes me sick.”
Josh could understand Stacie’s passion for catching the men who sold women and children into the sex trade, but that was a different division. He had to focus on the five–maybe more–Muslim men who were determined to reach the United States and target several cities at the same time. He had to stop them. He hated that meant allowing the human traffickers to move more people through the Underground Railroad, but his priority was the safety of everyone who lived in the U.S.A.
He stared into her zealous brown eyes. “Do you want to transfer to the human trafficking division when this is over?” He couldn’t miss the flash of hope that crossed her face.
“You know I love working for you, Madman,” Stacie grinned, “but if you’d allow me to transfer there, temporarily only, I’d appreciate it.”
“I will.” He liked Stacie and would miss her caring personality as well as her skills. She was brilliant. A graduate of the Naval Academy, she’d been tapped by the Office of Naval Intelligence when they realized her natural proclivity with languages. She’d worked with some of his SEALs undercover in HUMINT, gathering human intelligence, in Afghanistan. She and Rock Star had lived as a married couple, imbedded in a city in Iraq, for nearly six months before their cover had been blown, and Jack’s team had to extract them. It was no wonder the two of them worked this op so well together.
Josh had been concerned about teaming her again with the good-looking former SEAL but both had passed the psych evals with flying colors. They held to their story that they’d never been intimate the whole six months. He looked at the pretty woman, currently a blonde, and wondered if Rock Star was a saint or stupid. Or just that focused on the mission. Sleeping beside a beautiful woman like her every night, yet not fucking her, was a test no man should have to endure. But fraternization was one of the biggest no-no’s in intelligence. It would have gotten both Jeff and Stacie thrown out of the program.
Maybe she wasn’t his type.
Although beautiful and intelligent, two requirements Josh had for his dates, Stacie wasn’t his type either. They were both deep in the same business and he needed a break from the underbelly of the world when he sought the company of a woman. He wanted to talk about normal life problems over a meal, not speculation on what the bad guys were going to do next and how to take them down. He preferred conversations like he’d had around the Girard table the past few days. Like he’d had with Lilly.
“Ready to go see the safe houses?” Stacie asked, forcing him off that train of thought. She downed the last of her lemonade, folded her cloth napkin, and placed it beside the empty plate before standing.
No, Stacie wasn’t his type at all, but Lilly sure was.
Josh stood and grabbed the paid receipt from the table, pocketing it for his expense account. He followed her to the crowded street where he’d parked the company car Stacie and Rock Star always used on the island. It was left at a Border Patrol safe house a few blocks from the walk-on ferry dock. Looking like every other white sedan driven by locals so it could be used for surveillance, it had a customized engine enhanced for high speed chases and bullet-resistant windows with a steel-reinforced exterior. All standard for Josh’s teams.
Stacie stopped suddenly and turned toward him. “Sorry, I hate to do this but kiss me.”
“What?” Before Josh could ask why, Stacie grabbed his face in both her hands and laid her lips on his.
When he didn’t respond, she lifted her lips a fraction. “The director of ship’s security is watching me, and I need him to think we’re meeting for other reasons than chasing bad guys.”
Josh slipped his hands around Stacie and pulled her to him. This time he made the kiss look as though they were lovers. He moved her slightly so he could see where she’d been looking.
When he lifted his lips, he hugged her and whispered in her ear while scanning the area, “Where is he?”
“Fifteen feet down the sidewalk.” As though it just dawned on Stacie, she added, “He’s talking with Jack Girard and his family.”
Josh’s heart fell to the pit of his stomach.
“Fuck!” At least Lilly had her back to him. Hopefully she hadn’t seen that kiss. But Jack and the security man were staring at him. “Give me a few minutes.” He released her and started toward the Girards, then turned and said loud enough for everyone to hear, “Let me ask Jack if he can arrange that. Why don’t you go ahead and shop? Buy something special to wear tonight.” He hoped that would send the right message to the security guy yet keep it casual looking for the Girard family.
Stacie pasted on a sultry smile. “I’m looking forward to it, Josh.”
At his name, Lilly turned around. Her bright smile fell into pain as she focused on Stacie and Josh. He needed damage control and right now. First things first. “Jack, can I have a minute?”
“Sure.” The two men stepped a few feet to the side.
Before Jack could say a word, Josh went on the offense, “Is your family buying the Caribbean Breeze?”
Jack’s expression was one of concern. “Yes. You’ve heard us talking about it.”
Josh glanced to where the group stood waiting for Jack. “Send them on.”
“Why don’t you get Mom out of this heat?” Jack ordered. “I’ll catch up with you. Josh and Stacie want to go diving if I can get ahold of my crew.” He reached into his pocket for his phone.
Thank fuck the man could think fast.
The security guy excused himself and strode quickly down the street-wide dock toward the ship.
Finally alone, Jack asked, “What’s happening on the Breeze? And is it all ships or just the one we officially buy next week?”
“I’ve heard your family discuss buying a cruise line but I didn’t know which ships.” Josh watched Lilly pass several shops that overflowed onto the sidewalk then she disappeared through a door half a block away. “But I never put it together until right now.”
Jack stepped closer. “What the fuck is going on? And are you and Stacie...together?”
Starting with the last question, Josh tried to explain. “No.” He wiped his hand over his face. “She kissed me to maintain her cover. And before you jump all over me, yes, she works for me.”
“You have goddamned agents on that ship?” Anger whipped through Jack’s voice.
“Just Stacie.” They took a few more steps closer to the edge of the dock as a group of elderly ladies passed. “Look, Jack, there isn’t time to go into it right now. I promise I’ll tell you everything but not here. Not now.”
“Is there an op in play?”
How much to tell Jack? He wanted to protect his friend, but Jack no longer had a top secret clearance. Josh's stare would have to be Jack’s answer.
“Does it involve the Breeze?”
Josh continued to stare.
“Fuck me.” Jack turned his back on Josh and stared at the gigantic ship that would belong to his family within days. He was a smart man and well aware of who Josh worked for and exactly what division. “Is that fucking security chief involved?”
“Unknown, but Stacie doesn’t trust him.” Josh wondered if his friend knew something about the man.
Jack turned back to face him, a smirk on his tanned face. “Good to know I haven’t lost all my Spidey senses.”
“I need to know more about the ship’s personnel and processes. Would it be okay if I talked with your human resources person?”
“Sure.” Jack pointed down the street. “We don’t have a sign up yet but our offices are right there. Jessica came in from Chicago to oversee the hiring of the crews. Let’s catch her while she’s in.”
Excellent. It also gave Josh a reason to see Lilly. While he was unsure of what she’d seen, he was certain she’d heard his plans with Stacie.
As they turned toward the office, Jack pulled a sheaf of papers from his pocket. “I was going to give you these later, but you might as well get started on them. Jessica is wary of these people. Take a look at who’s on top of her list.”
Josh glanced down to see Yitzak Reisman, Director of Ship Security. “I’ll be damned.”
Moments later, Josh was seated at a small conference table with Jessica and Jack. The rest of the Girard family, including Lilly, were on phones in other offices.
“Before I run these names through our data banks, help me understand the hiring process for the cruise ships,” Josh asked Jessica. “I don’t want to waste resources repeating your efforts.”
Jessica smiled at him. “I’m not sure what your data banks are exactly and don’t want to know, to be honest. But thank you for helping us.”
“My pleasure.” Josh nodded and waited for her to continue.
“Most cruise lines employ staff from all over the world,” Jessica explained. “Currently, the Caribbean Breeze has one thousand twenty-six staff members and the Caribbean Dream has one thousand and twelve.”
“For how many guests?”
“Each ship can carry about twenty-five hundred guests,” Jessica stated.
Josh thought about the six thousand sailors and Marines that lived aboard an aircraft carrier during each deployment and wasn’t surprised at crew levels. “Do cruise lines have a high turnover rate?”
Jack sat quietly absorbing every word.
“Yes. Living in a tiny room, working without seeing the sun for days or even weeks, eating with hundreds of people, surrounded by the ocean, it isn’t for everyone.” Jessica explained.
Josh glanced at Jack who kicked up one corner of his mouth. They knew exactly what that life was like. Welcome to the Navy.
She continued, “The staff speaks dozens of languages, so it’s easy to feel left out. And they do this while serving guests from different countries with varying lifestyle standards. Not everyone can handle it. Some quit after a few weeks. Of course, there are some who prefer life at sea, but the standard cruise line employee contracts are only six months. Some will jump onto another ship with a different line then return after that contract is completed.”
The turnover rate was considerably higher than Josh had expected. “Would you walk me through the hiring process?”
“We run all potential employees through an international criminal data base, drug test them often, and they’re given extensive language tests.” Jessica then admitted, “We repeated this process with all the new cruise line employees but not all the results are back. We have...I mean we will have...employees from nearly seventy countries. Some of these places barely have electricity to say nothing about computerized records.” She shrugged.
Josh was well aware of the shortcomings of third-world countries. He also knew a few dollars in the right hands would cover any previous problems someone had with law enforcement. “Okay, let's say I’ve passed the language tests and your background checks. Now what?”
“You would be interviewed by someone in the Human Resources Department and depending on the position, maybe even two or three people. When you accept the offer to hire, you’re told where to meet the ship and sent travel information and the necessary tickets.” Jessica took a drink of her soda then continued. “You’d need the hiring confirmation letter to get on board. That gets filed with your passport in the security office when they issue you a name badge and a staff card.”
She showed him a hard plastic card that looked like a combination of picture identification, credit card, and electronic hotel key. “Access to all staff areas require a special pass key and the bar code is used every time you would enter and exit the ship.” She smiled. “We’ve used a similar system to track employee movement at several of our manufacturing facilities. In the high security research and development areas we use palm plates, and in some cases retinal scanning. Nothing like that is needed for the ships.”
“So how do they get paid?” Money was always a good way to find a bad person.
“We require direct deposit.” She finished her soda and tossed it into the trash.
Josh fought to hide the satisfaction he felt inside. He knew how they did it, and it was genius. “Thank you, Jessica. I appreciate your time.” Rising, he shook her hand.
“I’m not sure how much help I was, but if you can assure me those people,” she nodded to the stack of papers in his hand, “are good employee candidates, I’d be very thankful.”
Jack followed him out the door and into an empty office. When the lock clicked he turned to Josh. “Tell me.”
Josh just stared at his friend.
“I saw the minute you figured it out,” Jack accused. “I must have missed something. But first tell me now, what’s going on.”
Josh evaluated the man in front of him. He knew Jack’s experience and skills and more importantly, he trusted him. He might need Jack’s help at some point, and his friend might be able to add to the existing intelligence. He already had something on the ship’s security director.
“Human trafficking,” Josh admitted.
Jack shook his head. “Not your divi—” His jaw dropped. “Fuck. No.”
“We’re not sure.” Josh raised a hand, letting Jack know there was more. “Intel has at least five tangoes moving through the Los Zetas cartel’s human trafficking system. They arrived in Cancun a few days ago. That’s all we have right now.”
“And they're being smuggled onto the Breeze?” Jack raked his fingers through his shoulder-length sandy-blond hair as he paced the small office. “Fuck. This could ruin us.”
“We’re not sure how they’re transporting the tangoes, but we are sure they’re using the ship to move women to the United States and into the sex trade.” Josh hadn’t told Stacie he had confirmation on that fact, although he was sure she’d put it together.
Jack spun around and glared at him. At the fury in his eyes, Josh cautioned, “Hold off. That’s not my division but I know they’re getting ready for a major crackdown.”
“That’s not happening on my ship,” Jack warned.
“I have to get the ISIS terrorists first.” Fuck. Josh should have known better than to tell a civilian. But this was Jack. He just hoped his friend wouldn’t go off and do something stupid.
“How do they get the people on the ship?” Jack was on task. Excellent.
“Follow me as I talk my way through this.” Just like old times. The two of them had talked their way through preparing for an op more often than Josh could remember. Each would act as the devil’s advocate, blowing holes through one scenario after another until they had it figured out. “Jane Doe is a real person who goes through the steps Jessica outlined to get hired. When she decides to quit after a few weeks, Yitzak Reiman—”
“Shit Sack,” Jack interrupted.
“Nice, I like it,” Josh admitted, then continued. “He tells her that he’ll process her out. Of course, he never notifies human resources that Jane has quit. He takes her ID card, standard operating procedure, but then tells her he needs her banking info because they’ll be closing that account. Of course the account remains open but he now has control of it and her ID card.”
“Got it.” Jack picked up the trail. “So Shit Sack replaces Jane with someone provided by the Los Zetas. They pay him to get her to the U.S.A., he certainly isn’t going to pay her while she works on the ship that week, and he pockets all the money the cruise line is still paying Jane Doe.” Jack stopped pacing and held completely still for a long minute. “That explains why our benefits don’t match employment.”
Josh nodded.
Jack continued, “Some of the supervisors would have to be in on it.”
“I’m figuring at least one, probably whoever is in charge of cleaning the ship at night.”
Jack agreed, “It would be the best place for them to work. The least guest contact and yet their jobs would get done. I’ll find out who that would be. So far, it would only take the Security Director and that supervisor.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Josh was amazed at how simple it would be to smuggle people onto a cruise ship. “They keep to themselves working vampire hours, the nametags remain consistent, and with the high turnover and multiple countries represented, no one would question it.”
“Once they reach the States, they don’t even need a passport. That staff card is a guarantee to immigration that the cruise line has that person’s passport on file.” Jack shook his head. “Shit Sack would collect the cards as he hands them over to the next person. He’s the one who guarantees that there is a passport in the safe corresponding to the card. He scans the cards on the way back in and holds them until Tuesday when the ship is in Cozumel. Repeat.”
Jack glared at Josh. “This has to end before we take over the ships.”
“Then you may have to delay the purchase because I’m not stopping this underground train until I get my tangoes.”
“Fuck.” Jack fisted both hands and paced away. He marched back and stood a foot away.
“I want in.” Jack’s demand stunned Josh.