“I broke it last week snowboarding,” she replied.
He detected her Northern accent and smiled. “Your accent, I can’t quite place it. Somewhere up north, certainly not Savannah,” he said. “Nope. I’m from Michigan. A little town just north of Detroit.” “So, are you a Yankee, or a damn Yankee?” Jake quipped.
“What’s the difference?”
“A Yankee comes down South, then goes home. A damn Yankee comes down here and never leaves.” He gave her an impish grin.
She waited a second or two, then smiled back. “I’m just a Yankee. I’m going back home when I finish school in Savannah.”
“What school is that?”
“SCAD.”
He looked puzzled.
“Savannah College of Art and Design,” she said.
“Oh yeah, I’ve heard of that. I’ve seen the signs around town.”
“Just give me a shout when you’re ready to order.”
She moved to another table.
He took out his cell phone and placed a call to Beth. After the sixth ring, it went to her voice mail. After waiting for ten minutes, he decided to go ahead and order something to eat. He hadn’t eaten breakfast and the hunger pangs got stronger with each whiff from the kitchen.
He leaned back and waved at the waitress to get her attention. She nodded and gave him the “be right there” wave. He turned around and faced the window again, scanning the crowd for any sign of Beth or Kaplan.
A man stared up at him from the street.
Jake instantly recognized him.
CHAPTER 37
Jake stood abruptly and took two steps back away from the glass, bumping into the waitress. He turned to her, opened his mouth, but said nothing.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she said.
He struggled to think of an explanation and finally said, “Do you see that big man with the streak in his hair?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen him in here before. He’s creepy looking, his eyes and all. He’s rude and a bad tipper.”
“What’s he doing now?” he asked.
“He’s trying to get across River Street. Looks like he’s coming in here.”
He needed to find Beth. He was worried about her safety and with the current path the investigation was taking, this man now could be a threat. He needed a cover story. He couldn’t just tell the waitress his suspicions.
“That’s my ex’s new boyfriend. He’s real jealous and he’s real mean.”
“And real ugly.” She said, “There’s something’s wrong with your ex if she traded you in for him.”
“Is there another way out of here?”
“Yes. There are two doors on this floor that exit onto the alley in the back. One is just under that exit sign and the other is through that door.” She pointed to a small door bearing the sign, “Office.”
“But you have to zigzag through the kitchen to get out that way,” she said.
“Which one is quickest?”
“Just go through that door at the exit sign and you’re in the alley.” “Thanks. I owe you one,” Jake ran for the door.
Kaplan stood outside the doorway of the Riverhouse Bakery, two doors down from the entrance to Kevin Barry’s Pub. Bubbles rained down on him from the Loafer’s Loft gift shop directly above him.
He watched the man in the doorway to the pub, looking around, blocking the entrance. Two college-aged girls tried to squeeze around him. One said, “Do you mind?” The other, “Puleeze, how rude.” The man didn’t move.
He had noticed the man following Jake as soon as Jake got off the ferry. He recognized him from the description Jake had given him the day before in front of the Gulfstream plant. He had been on his own way to catch up to Jake when he picked up on Jake’s tail by chance.
When Jake stopped, the man stopped. When Jake turned around, the big man ducked to conceal his presence.
When Jake had stopped at the green-faced boys, Kaplan stepped to the other side of the break-dancer in order to observe both Jake and the big man. No doubt about it, the man was following Jake.
He looked at the two doorways, the only ways in or out of Barry’s Pub from the River Street level. He repositioned himself next to the Hyatt tunnel for a better vantage point. The big man disappeared inside. Jake was still inside. At least, Kaplan thought Jake was still in there, until he saw someone moving out from behind Barry’s on the second-floor level. He saw Jake run across the ramp and over to the stone steps that led up the bluff to the front of the Hyatt at the Bay Street level.
He glanced up at the balcony bar window and saw the big man grab the waitress. He shook her and she pointed toward the rear of the bar.
He moved to warn Jake when he spotted the man again, coming out from behind Barry’s Pub at the same place Jake had come from. The man moved quickly to the stone steps, shoving people out of his way. He could see Jake was nearly at the top of the steps when the man reached the bottom of the stone steps.
Stalking the big man reminded him of a time long ago when he first encountered covert urban operations.
In December 1987, he had been dropped into a remote portion of the Panama jungle on a covert mission with three other soldiers. Their mission was to scout, locate, and map the position of target officials and facilities of Panama as intel for what became Operation Bushmaster. Operation Bushmaster was an operation that used infantry units to supplement military police patrols in Panama, specifically the areas immediately surrounding the Panama Canal and American installations. Their mission was primarily executed under the cover of darkness and they were told that, in the event of capture by General Noriega’s forces, the U.S. government would disavow their operation and claim they were merely mercenaries.
When Operation Bushmaster became official, he and his team were extracted and returned to the United States.
In early December 1989, he received an acceptance letter from the FAA, his start date would be in March. However, on Christmas Eve 1989, Kaplan found himself on another C-130 Hercules transport plane leaving Hurlburt Air Field in the Florida Panhandle in the dead of night, headed for Panama again.
This time his main target was General Noriega’s second-incommand, Raul Diego. He’d acquired his target and followed him through the streets of Panama City. Diego drove from bar to bar ending up at the doorstep of an ill-reputed whorehouse with his favorite prostitute, Angelina Vasquez. He stayed close but out of sight and when Diego arrived, he radioed his squad, “Blue jay is in his nest.” The squad moved in through the rear entrance, as prearranged with Vasquez, and captured Diego, literally with his pants around his knees.
The extraction went as planned and when placed in confinement, Diego divulged enough information to make the operation a success.
He’d all but forgotten Panama and what it had taken to survive there, sure that he would never need those skills again — that is, until now.
He knew Jake was in big trouble.
He also knew he had to help.
CHAPTER 38
Jake heard the noise of the parade, already in progress along Bay Street. He moved fast to the stone steps leading to Bay Street and into the mob of revelers watching the parade. He hoped to blend in with the crowd. When he reached the top of the steps, he turned east toward the Hyatt entrance.
He paused at the corner of the hotel, pulled out his cell phone and hit redial. Still no answer. Where was Beth?
Jake looked over his left shoulder, one last look down at River Street.
He saw the big man.
And the man saw Jake.
He jammed his phone back in his jacket pocket, turned back toward the east, and walked as briskly as the crowded sidewalk would allow. He turned around again to look for the big man. The one advantage Jake had was his size, not too tall to stand out. The big man’s height was a disadvantage and Jake spotted him right away, now walking across the Hyatt driveway looking straight at him.