“Maybe. I’d like to think we’re assessing our people. Besides, the bullshit is inversely proportional to the threat, and the threat here is as high as anything in CENTCOM.”
“Concur. She’s a kid, and she’ll get over it. She’s moving into one of the Arrow’s staterooms for the time being.”
“Good. You ready for this?”
“Yep. Wonder what those guys are thinking down there.”
What does he want? Daniel thought as he looked out at the blue Caribbean through the sound-treated windows of his observatory. With Annibel and the girls at the pool, he took a call from Ramirez on his secure line. He needed to always show confidence. Smile, he thought.
“Eduardo, I hope you are well.”
“My friend, I hope you are well because Ramos is losing his ass in the Pacific, and he knows why.”
“What do you mean?” Daniel asked.
“The yanquis are not only mobilizing their army to attack us, they have stepped up operations in the Pacific. Ramos has lost all his shipments in the past four days, and he knows why.”
Daniel listened.
“You told us, Daniel, that the Americans would concentrate on the Venezuelan military once your puppet general rattled his saber. Jail a diplomat. Have the Russians fly in a provocative manner. Well, you were right! They are off our shores now! And they’ve shut down the canal, and Ramos’ Pacific shipments are going missing — with no trace, like yours two weeks ago. Seems you just transferred your problem to him.”
“And you, my friend, how are your supply lines?”
“I’ve shut down. I’m weathering the storm until it passes. But the shipments are the least of our worries. The American banks are using their Internet people to stop money transfers and freeze our accounts. Ramos is going to kill you.”
Daniel froze for a moment, knowing that Ramirez spoke the truth. Confidence.
“We will see about that, but why do you tell me this, Eduardo? Don’t you stand to gain from my death? Or if I engage Ramos in a turf war? You’ll be the one standing. You’ll own everything.”
“My friend, if you are out, then Ramos is focused on me. Even if both of you are dead, the whole world focuses on me alone.”
“Buy the Americans off!”
“Daniel, you could not buy the Colombians off, which is why you live in my country now! No, I want you and Ramos, my friends and enemies, close to me in this ménage a trios of convenience. So I warn you, my clever friend, to call off your stooge in Caracas, give the damn Americans their limp-wristed diplomat back, and stop the Russians from scaring Washington to death. Do you know that Raul has armed men surrounding their torture chamber at Guantanamo?”
“Yes, I’ve told my man to provoke but not to attack.”
“Your man is a military fool, unaccustomed to thinking, taking orders from milquetoast politicians who themselves get it wrong.”
“He’s the top general of the Fuerza Aérea Venezolana!” Daniel raged. “There’s no one higher!”
“He’s a fool, Daniel! Did he communicate with the Russians and Raul? If he did, they have overplayed their hand, and the Americans are bringing the thunder! Did you communicate with the Russians and Cubans to coordinate what you wanted?”
“Of course not!” Daniel shot back. “There can be no trail, and these military details are not of my concern!”
Ramirez laughed. “These details will kill you, Daniel. You asked your man to stir up the Americans to take the pressure off — so he did! They now think Guantanamo is going to be invaded, and the Russians are going to start World War III! And you had them take a worthless diplomat—”
“I did not!” Daniel sensed he was losing control.
“You did, Daniel, because you didn’t spell it out for the fools who work for you. You asked them to bring you a rock, and they did! Just not the rock you wanted. And now the excited American cowboys on their battleships are going to attack us, and I think they are really going to do it! Do not forget that they fight for their flag, you idiot, not for the riches you throw at your medal-covered generals and perfumed princes in Caracas…who have proven themselves inept!”
“You overreact.”
“Do I? I’m the one bringing you word about Ramos. I’m the one husbanding my resources. While your beauty queen of a wife is in Caracas spending all your money and you are in your gilded prison bouncing up and down on your silicone prostitutas, the Americans have a satellite looking at you right now. And, if you don’t move fast, they are going to send a guided missile into your glass observatory. And the last thing they’ll see before it blows up is your bare ass!”
Furious, Daniel looked at the phone and resisted the urge to hurl it against the window. Outside the window was a view of Trinidad, lush and inviting. Surely, he could swim across the gulf to answer the island’s invitation to escape—to be free of Ramos, free of the triangulating Eduardo who deserved to die, of Annibel, of business headaches, and of the damned Americans and their smart bombs. He could see the island, could reach out and touch it. It can’t be fifty kilometers away. It’s right there. While growing up, he had swum in the Pacific surf. In an instant, Daniel listed swimming to Trinidad as an option. He would miss the girls… Julianna would take it especially hard. Ramirez snapped him out of his daydream.
“Daniel! Daniel! Do you hear what I am telling you? If you don’t have your fools bow and scrape before the Americans right now, and put the genie back in the bottle, you are dead. And if you don’t pay reparations to Ramos right now, you are dead. You may already be a dead man walking, but, remember, I warned you!”
Daniel heard a click as the line went dead. How he wanted to strangle Ramirez with his expensive silk tie, to rip that moustache off his lip with the fingers of his clenched fist. Daniel had grown accustomed to having his wishes fulfilled with a casual wave. Did he, once again, have to do the thinking, too? Did he have to do it for Hernandez, a mayor general? Daniel realized his thinking was getting him into trouble. Regardless, no more safe house frolics for Hernandez. Bad dog.
Ramirez was right about one thing. With few exceptions, the Americans fought for a flag — the damn stars and stripes! Who said it? Napoleon? A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon. Would the American sailors and airmen also fight this way? Risk their lives for nothing, for their own inept politicians? For a piece of colored ribbon?
Daniel knew he had to find the exceptions, the traitors who would give up their country for a new jet ski, or simply to get attention. America had such men — and women — in their military. He would find them.
Ramos. Daniel stared at Trinidad as storm clouds gathered to his west but thought of Ramos instead of the island’s luscious trees.
CHAPTER 43
Devil Davies wasted no time gathering his warfighters and gearing them up for a fight. Less than an hour after his arrival aboard Coral Sea, he received a perfunctory ten-minute “turnover” brief with a shell-shocked Meyerkopf.