Page 52 of Invincible
CHAPTER17
“So you’re saying what exactly?”Tyler asked, sending Dex an incredulous look.
“Listen,” he began, sitting forward on the couch.“You both know this entire thing started on a hunch I had about what happened to Mia.My SAC let me pursue this on my own time because I have at least some standing in my office in closing cases.
“The Houston office, the coast guard, the port authority, they are just doing me the courtesy of keeping their ears open.We still don’t have any direct evidence that we can use that anybody’s even being held against their will, much less know where they are.I cashed in every marker I had.”
“So you’re saying we’re basically still on our own,” Knox said, standing to pace the room.“Fuck me.”
“Exactly.Look, I filed a missing person report on Greer, but we may only have one more shot at locating the container—that’s once it’s loaded on the ship.The one thing we do know is what ship they’re using.”
“What if they load it on the bottom of the hold?We could spend months trying to find it and, even if we do, how do we get them out?”Tyler asked.
“They won’t load it on the bottom.The hold gets too hot and they’ll want to make sure their cargo doesn’t perish before they can get them to their destination.They’ve spent too much money on their ‘investment’ already.I’m almost positive they’ll want the women on the top where they can be conveniently checked on,” Dex added.
“Almost positive,” Knox grumbled under his breath but loud enough Dex heard.
“Okay, I’m ninety percent positive.The way this usually works is, the money is wired to the supplier before the women are shipped.Therefore, it is in the customer’s best interest to make sure his investment arrives alive and in decent shape.The higher the price, the more care will go into protecting his merchandise.”
“I hate that you refer to them as objects,” Tyler said.
“I do too, but this is how they’re viewed by the smugglers,” Dex answered, pulling her closer to him.
“So what is your plan?”Knox asked.
“If we can get you on the ship, you’ll have several hours to find the container before it hits open water.I think I can convince the police to take the situation as credible, but you’ll have to send a signal that you’ve found them.If you can get everyone to the front of the ship, they’ll have no choice but to board the Mariposa Bonita.But it needs to be before it reaches open water.”Dex looked at Knox, then Tyler, who both sat thinking in stony silence until Knox suddenly seemed to jerk himself out of a trance.
“Okay, I think you’re right.I don’t see that we have a lot of other choices.We’d better go over the plan until it’s as foolproof as we can get it.I still don’t understand how I’m going to slip onto a cargo ship,” he said.
“Us,” Tyler said, splitting a look between the men.“I’m going with you.”
“The fuck you are.I’m not taking a chance on something happening to you, too,” Knox growled.
“Greer’s my best friend.I’m not letting anything else happen to her.I’m not asking permission,” Tyler added.Dex just shrugged at Knox.It wasn’t like they could stop her.
They spent the afternoon laying out what they believed to be the best plan once they made it on the boat, often scrapping parts of it in favor of others until they had something that would hopefully not get them all killed.By dinner, they felt like they had the details ironed out.
Dex was still worried about sending two untrained civilians into danger, but he couldn’t come up with another way to stop that ship.He needed to be on that patrol boat to guarantee the police were in position when the time came.It also bothered him that, so far, they hadn’t come up with a plausible way to board the ship undetected.
That evening, they hunted for the warehouse.It was still better to try a rescue on land if possible.The agents who were helping track the pickup announced the men had never returned to the hotel.Dex assumed the truck they had left at the port would be retrieved by the girlfriend, who would use it until the next time they arrived in the country.
He had retrieved a detailed map of the storage facility locations along the shipping channel, but they had no access to them.The best they could do was stake out the buildings behind the fence, watching with high-powered, night-vision binoculars.
At midnight, they decided to get coffee at one of the all-night diners located near one of the storage facilities.They had just found a couple of empty spots at one of the booths when Knox’s phone rang.After a tense couple of minutes listening, he hung up, turning to Dex.
“That was Thayer.Memphis has gone back and forth so much, he’s starting to decompensate.”
“What does that mean?”Tyler asked with concern.
“It takes so much energy to phase, it wears out his body if he does it too often,” Dex answered.
“He’ll develop severe headaches, start vomiting, turn pale, even spike a fever.It’s why we fight to keep him hydrated and fed adequately when he’s going back and forth.Thayer said she made him go get some sleep with instructions not to leave either physically or metaphysically until further notice,” Knox added.
“I understand.I have to be careful as well.Just because I can deadlift a car doesn’t mean my joints or bones can always support me.I’ve had several broken bones and dislocations because of it.”
“Same way I can’t hold the fire I can create in my hands too long.It starts burning the flesh after a while,” Knox said, nodding at Tyler.“Anyway, he’s out for now.She said to let her know if we get in a bind though and she’ll go wake him up.”
“Okay, we’ll just save Memphis until he’s absolutely necessary.He’s already helped out more than he realizes.If you’re done, we’d better head back out,” Dex said.
