Deadly Straits (A Tom Dugan Novel) Read Online Free PDF

Dugan said. “What about the navy protective detail?”
    “Three dead,” Ward said. “The only survivor was the team leader, a young petty officer named Broussard. He managed to get off a warning and was picked up floating in the strait by the Malaysians.”
    Dugan grew quiet. “I met him,” he said at last. “Seemed like a nice kid.”
    Ward only nodded, and Dugan continued. “But I still don’t see what that has to do with Phoenix … or me.”
    “MSC chartered the ship through Willem Van Djik in Rotterdam,” Ward said. “Van Djik was told about the job by a call from someone at Phoenix. He was under surveillance by the Dutch for unrelated smuggling issues. The phone conversation itself was secure, but they heard his side through bugs in his office and traced the source to Phoenix in London. They only put two and two together after the hijacking.
    “Thing is,” Ward continued, “MSC chartered Alicia because she was the only available tonnage, and that was no accident. Backtracking it, Van Djik spent a lot of money chartering other suitable tonnage though a variety of fronts just to take the other ships out of play.”
    Ward looked Dugan in the eye. “People don’t jack gunboats to water ski, Tom, and you’re tied to this from both ends. There’s your connection to Phoenix and the fact that you inspected the ship before she was hijacked and knew the cargo—”
    “Along with about a thousand other people,” Dugan said.
    Ward held up his hands. “I’m not saying I think you’re involved, Tom, but it is a coincidence, and folks in my business don’t much like coincidences. I’ve known you a long time, but for someone like Gardner, you look a lot like a suspect. I’m sticking my neck out here bringing you in. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t, except for our long relationship and the fact that, with your relationship with Kairouz, you’re our best shot at getting inside Phoenix quickly.”
    “Jesse, I’m not trained for this.”
    “Mainly you’ll be helping us place a British agent,” Ward said.
    Dugan hesitated, toying with the idea of telling Ward about Alex Kairouz’s recent strange behavior. No, he thought, best leave that for now. “I just don’t feel right spying on Alex,” Dugan said instead.
    “What’s better for Kairouz? Having you there or a stranger?”
    Dugan grew quiet. “All right, I’ll do it,” he finally said.
    “Good. Assuming you accept the possibility Kairouz is guilty.”
    “Like you accept the possibility that I’m guilty?” Dugan asked.
    Ward changed the subject.
    “Tell me what you remember about Alicia. ”
    Dugan shrugged. “Not much to remember. She’s a little one-hatch coaster owned by her skipper, a Dutch guy who’s running her into the ground. Chief mate’s name is Ali something — Sheboni, I think. He seems to be running the show.”
    “Sheibani,” corrected Ward. “According to Broussard, Sheibani orchestrated the hijacking and murdered three of Broussard’s guys in the process. Two at point-blank range in cold blood.”
    Dugan’s face hardened. “That little fucking puke. Do you have any leads?”
    Ward shook his head.
    “We had the strait blanketed by satellite coverage within hours of the news, with no sighting. Alicia couldn’t have cleared the strait by then. We’re assuming she’s on the Indonesian side, and given her last-known position and maximum speed, she could be anywhere along two hundred miles of coastline—a thousand miles, counting islands and inlets. Hundreds of good hiding places.”
    Dugan nodded. “I see the problem. You can’t really even rule out too many places due to water depth. As I recall, Alicia draws fourteen feet fully loaded. That’s fifteen hundred tons. Those boats and associated gear totaled less than fifty. She can get pretty light.”
    “That’s right,” Ward said. “But the real priority is recovering the boats, and we don’t figure the hijackers will waste any time getting them off