“Did you give it to them?” Wesley asked.
“Yes I did. I put them on hold and made a call to your people and they provided me the current coordinates of the trawler.”
“What other data did you share with them?” Wesley probed.
“Not much,” Pepper said. “It’s not like there is much to give. I sent them a photo of the fishing trawler and told them that I would call them if, or when, we detected the vessel might be changing course toward land.”
“Do you have Hail’s phone number?” Moore asked.
“It was trapped on my phone from when they called me,” Pepper said.
“Then maybe we can triangulate on Hail’s phone signal.”
“Why?” Pepper asked as if Moore didn’t understand the plan. “Does it really matter where they are? Kara is on board and she will do her magic and before you know it, Hail will be her very best friend. As long as Hail gets the job done and Kara gets us some good intel on Hail’s operation, then who the hell cares where they are?”
Wesley and Moore thought about it.
“Then why were you so concerned about her just a minute ago,” Moore asked.
“I was more concerned about why our high-tech gear doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do,” Pepper shot back.
Wesley said, “If Hail Storm works, then we’ll look good simply having a presence in the operation, regardless of how our equipment functions.”
“Hail Storm?” Pepper asked. “What’s with this Hail Storm?”
“That’s what I named this operation,” Wesley told Pepper.
Pepper looked unhappy.
“What? You don’t like the name?” Wesley asked.
“I just think it’s a little over-the-top,” Pepper said disdainfully.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Every name for every operation we have is over-the-top, as is the military’s. Desert Storm, Bayonet Lightning, Valiant Guardian, Urgent Fury, Eagle Claw, Spartan Scorpion, Operation Overlord, Rolling Thunder…”
“OK, OK,” Pepper cut her off.
But Wesley didn’t stop.
“All the names of our operations have to be over-the-top, testosterone packed, overblown black-ops doozies. If we ever get called to appear in front of a special congressional committee because an operation went south, then the last thing we want to explain is why operation Fluffy Puppy went horribly wrong.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Pepper said.
Everyone was silent for a moment. Then Wesley said in a more forgiving tone.
“I just don’t think you like Marshall Hail very much,” Wesley told Pepper.
“How I feel about Hail has nothing to do with the name of this operation. I just… I don’t think that…”
Pepper stopped talking and looked irritated.
Then he confessed, “You’re right. I don’t like Hail, but it’s not the man I don’t like. It’s what the man represents. He’s a vigilante. And you can dress that up anyway you want, but he is still a rich, high-tech vigilante. He could simply turn over his assets to us and we could get the job done in the same manner, but no, he wants to rub our nose in it. I think he actually enjoys making us look like boobs. And that’s why I don’t like him.”
Pepper stopped talking and tried to recall what they had been talking about before he began his speech.
“The name is fine,” he reluctantly agreed; glad to put an end to that topic.
“Of course it’s fine,” Wesley said defiantly. “Just like all the other fine names of operations I come up with.”
Now she looked irritated.
“That’s all,” Pepper announced, putting an end to the meeting as well.
Sea of Japan ― on the cargo ship Hail Nucleus
Hail knocked on the door of Kara Ramey’s stateroom around dinner time. He had been purposely avoiding the CIA operative the last few days for a number of reasons. First of all, she was CIA and she had an agenda. He knew it. She knew it. But Hail wondered if she knew that he knew it. Secondly, Hail liked her. Sure, he liked her at the same base level that all men liked her. What was not to like? But there was also vulnerability in the woman that attracted him. And for some strange reason, Hail had always been drawn to people who were damaged or in need.
As a young man, Hail had become a lifeguard at the local recreation centers in the many cities and countries where he had lived. The idea of saving people had appealed to him even at a young age. He was also the boy who would pick up the bird that had smacked into the clear plate glass window and try to nurse it back to health. Hail had married his first wife after he had broken up with her and she had then tried to commit suicide. It seemed as if Hail was always trying to save the unsaveable. He was the champion for those who cared very little for their own lives. And Hail sensed that even though Kara Ramey was not in the classification of the unsaveable, she had certainly been traumatized and needed saving, whether she knew it or not. He fully recognized that his attraction to save Ramey was strong. And that scared him a little.
Kara answered the door and Hail was once again stunned by her beauty. She was clean and fresh and young and shapely and flawless on the outside.
Kara let loose a ten-thousand-watt smile and Hail felt compelled to smile back at her. She was wearing black yoga pants and a tight red short-sleeve shirt that had a modest V-neck.
“I know that you like me wearing tight stuff,” she said.
Hail didn’t know how to respond. Was that a joke or was she serious?
Kara added, “You know, so you can tell I’m not carrying any hidden CIA cameras or microphones and such.”
She cocked her head to the right and smiled at Hail.
He still didn’t know if she was joking and that made him uncomfortable. Then he suddenly realized that she was trying to make him uncomfortable. Well, two could play that game.
Hail said, “In your line of work, I’m sure you are accustomed to wearing very little.”
Kara must have expected a different response. Her smile quickly faded and her right eye twitched.
There was a second of edgy silence between the two.
“Where are we going?” Kara asked, choosing to totally ignore the previous exchange. She was smiling again, but there was little sincerity behind it.
By habit, Kara started to look for her purse and then realized that she didn’t have a purse.
Hail realized what she was doing and said, “Oh, almost forgot. Here are your things. I’m sorry it took so long to get them back to you.”
Hail handed Kara a clear plastic bag that held her clothes and her purse.
Kara looked surprised and took the bag from Hail. She opened the bag and pulled out her purse and dropped the bag with clothes on the floor inside her door. She unsnapped her purse and looked inside.
Hail could tell she was running an inventory in her head.
Kara confirmed that her compact, her phone, her phone charger and other smaller objects were all accounted for.
“Thanks,” she said, snapping the purse closed. “Are there any rules as to the use of my cell phone onboard?”
“Would it do any good?” Hail asked.
Kara didn’t know how to respond, so she didn’t.
With a graceful wave of his arm, Hail motioned for Kara to step out into the hall. She did and Hail pointed to the right. Kara began walking in that direction. Hail closed her door and caught up with her.
“I was wondering what had happened to you?” Kara said. “I haven’t seen you since our lunch date.”
Hail was caught off guard by the use of the word date.
“That wasn’t a date,” he said, and then wished he could take it back.
Kara laughed and asked, “Well is this a date?” Then without waiting for a response she asked, “Where are you taking me?”