Doubled Down Deadly

CHAPTER 50 - END

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

As his men retreated to the kitchen of the lodge to recover from their toil, Miquel and Fong came to Danny. The captain piloting the fish tug stood behind the duo. "Time for you to go on boat," said Miquel. He looked at Danny as if he were a fly and Miquel had a swatter. "The crew knows what to do." Miquel couldn't resist the final threat."

Danny played the innocent. He thought the crew wouldn't need cement blocks to sink his body once they killed him. They could throw him overboard and the weight of Danny's weapons would take him to the bottom and hold him until they rusted. He had a gun in a small holster on the back of his belt. He had an ankle holster with a revolver. He carried a combat knife in full view in a scabbard at his side and his gravity knife in a pocket of his jeans. He wore a baseball cap with a line of razor blades inserted invisibly into the brim. He could take off the cap and swipe the brim against a neck or an arm to incapacitate an adversary.

The crew could order him to turn over his weapons. To avoid this, Danny announced to Miquel and the captain that he was armed. The captain looked at Miquel for orders. Danny looked at Fong.

"That's good, Danny. Take care of my shipment." Fong gave Miquel a hard look as he spoke. Miquel glared at Danny. He turned to the captain and gave a brief nod. The captain shrugged.

Fong handed a cellphone to Danny. "This has my phone number keyed in. Only my number, you understand?" Danny took the phone and nodded to Fong. "You have any trouble, you call me. It will use a satellite if there is no Wi-Fi signal." The phone would assure Danny would keep his arsenal. It would not, however, assure he wouldn't be murdered at sea and dumped over the side. Just as Rafael had 'drowned', Miquel and his people could say Danny had slipped, fallen and drowned. How sad. What could Fong do as long as his precious guns reached their destination?

Danny stepped onto the deck of the fish tug. As it pulled away from the dock, he waved but not to Fong and Miquel. He was waving to the two snipers who watched his every move and reported them to Marion.

It was like a 'time out' for children as all activity at the warehouse site ceased. Miquel and Fong went into the lodge to join Miquel's crew. Marion and her team hunkered down in their individual hides. She told her people to get something to eat and to rest in the late morning warmth. She would alert them to any action. At one point over the next few hours, Marion saw a person walking on the road some distance from the site. She thought it was Walt Walker by the person's gait but he - or she - disappeared and Marion thought no more about the figure.

Aboard the fish tug, Danny had little to do. He had noted the name of the tug on its white hull when he boarded. The boat was called "Thundercloud." It was an apt title because the noise of the engine reminded Danny of the constant rumbling of thunder. He knew the six such boats purchased by the cartel had been refitted with more powerful engines. Each was capable of twice the speed of typical fish tugs. This likely wasn't enough to outrun police or coast guard vessels but it meant a tug could motor from the warehouse to the far shore of Lake Michigan in half a day and to the nearest U.S. shore in half that time.

This tug was making good time. While the captain watched the boat's controls, the two crewmen drank coffee while sitting on a narrow bench attached to the outside steel wall of the deckhouse. Danny was leaning against the steel side rising above the deck with his back to the water.

"Hey, man," said one of the crewmen. "You know how to use that gun in your belt?" Danny looked at the man but kept his expression neutral.

"No. It's just for decoration," he answered. "Like a tattoo."

"Like all of you darkies," said the second man. "Don't know shit about nothing." The two men laughed. The man then added, "You know how to swim, darkie?"