Phantoms Don’t Kill - chapter 7
I returned to the truck and drove to my place without looking in the back. Everything around my place looked normal, so I parked in the driveway. I stepped to the back of the truck, dropped the tailgate and took a seat.
“Where are we?” Kate asked as she crawled toward the lowered tailgate.
“My place.” I said. “Let’s talk before we go inside.” Indoor conversations were so difficult these days. I briefly wonder what people do in the northern states when they want a private conversation. Then I remember that most people don’t know when they are having private conversations. That is part of the control, you are never really sure if they are listening or not.
Kate lay down next to me on her back, her eyes looking up. I told her how the meeting went. She seemed a bit worried, “It seems to good to be true.” she said.
“Yeah, I agree. But maybe living an honorable life does pay off sometimes. Basically, it was a matter of who Diego believed. My guess is Roberto is a bit less honorable than a phantom.” I speculated.
“Less honorable than you and I” Kate corrected. “What did he mean by ‘you’ll know’?”
“I’ve no idea. But it will be dark in a few hours. Let’s make ourselves comfortable. Maybe there will be a clue on the TV.” I then hopped off the tailgate and helped her down. Kate was still wearing the same faded pink sweatshirt. On the front it said in very faded and peeling letters “Key West”. But to me, it said “Hug Me”.
I turned the TV toward the living room and settled onto the couch. I told Kate to find whatever made her comfortable. She disappeared for a half hour. A long hot shower later, she came in wearing only a bath robe. With a most mischievous smile she said “I’m comfortable in this”. She dropped down on the couch next to me, drew her knees up in a ball, and promptly fell asleep.
I felt like I was sitting next to a fireplace that was radiating warmth. The kind of warmth that penetrates every bone in your body, causing you to wear a silly grin that won’t go away. Then I fell asleep too, some old black and white movie playing quietly on the TV.
It was dark when my phone rang. It was Scott. “Hey good buddy, wanna go for a boat ride?”
Scott was clearly trying to tell me something. I mean, yeah, I love boat rides, and we go for many of them. But tonight? After sunset? I played along “Sure Scott, you know I”m always up for a ride.”
“The weather is great, there is just a slight breeze. I figure we’d head out to the bay and just drift for a while.” Scott said casually.
I was now wide awake. I suddenly sat upright and Kate looked at me trying to blink the sleep from her eyes. Drift! Drift! Did Scott really want me to come over, or was he trying to tell me something else? “Do you have any of that 16 year old scotch left?” I asked.
“Of course. Come on over.” Scott said.
“Alright, gimme a half hour.” I hung up.
“I think we know.” I told Kate. “As much as I like you in that bath robe, let’s get dressed.”
Kate put on one of my oversized blue sweatshirts and found a pair of gray sweatpants with a drawstring that fit her well enough. She tucked her hair up under a baseball cap to make her hair color less obvious. “The guards at the marina won’t be expecting a blonde.” she explained.
We walked to the marina at a brisk pace, covering the distance in just over half an hour. As we approached the guard shack the guard said “Hi Ms. Cooper. Your new boat sure is nice. Decided to get one with a little more room?”
“Yeah.” Kate replied trying not to act shocked. “He’s with me.” she added, tilting her head in my direction without breaking stride.
My reflex was to turn for Scott’s boat, but with a tug Kate alerted me to the idea that if there was a boat sitting in 232, we’d better act like we are not surprised. So we went to slip 232 and found a 40 foot cruiser in the slip. Probably not as fast as Drifter, but more room and a flybridge. This boat would handle rough weather. We surveyed the scene for a bit, then noticed the name on the back of the boat. “Drifter II”. “I think we know.” I said as we stepped aboard.
The interior was elegant. Wood trim with a touch of brass. Royal blue upholstery. There was a main salon and a large forward cabin. The head even contained a small jaccuzi.
In the main salon we found a laptop and thumbdrive. The thumbdrive contained pictures of Yosemite and the Golden Gate Bridge. Standard stock photos. Clearly encrypted messages. Kate entered the standard phantom encryption password followed by her personal encryption code. Up popped a message.
“Forgive me, Ms. ‘Cooper’ for allowing those around me to make me doubt your loyalty. Please accept this token of my appreciation. Included are instructions for some state of the art features that you may find useful. See you soon. Be well. Diego.”
What followed was stunning stuff we would not have found without the instruction manual. The GPS was equipped with an ID switcher. It could switch IDs with a nearby boat. This had to be done smoothly, so that it looked like the two boats just crossed paths. Only recently had the technology been developed to throw GPS position. To make it appear as if your boat was gradually up to a mile from where it actually was. Clearly, this was technology developed offshore. No manufacturer within the reach of the grid could have developed anything like that.
“That might come in handy for us, don’t you think?” Kate said. The subtle insertion of “us” as much of a question as the GPS capability.
“Yeah. Real handy. Assuming this boat has enough room for two.” I added, making the question less subtle.
“Looks like there is room to me” Kate said with a smile.
We had bonded quickly through trial by fire. A bond that was made more special by the fact that we were both phantoms. It just isn’t possilbe to explain to someone who isn’t a phantom what it is like to be one. Thus, the phantom life typically brings with it a sense of loneliness.
The boat also had some other technology that made it useful for phantom work. The engines were flex fuel capable, preferring bio diesel but capable of running on alcohol. With two thousand gallons of fule aboard, her range was more than four thousand miles. Enough fresh water for a month. You could really get lost with this boat.
There was an RF shield generator that blocked eavesdropping, even from cell phones. A normal RF shield causes static which elevates you in the algorithm, but this RF shield still lets a carrier wave through. The carrier wave simply contains no audio. Truly state of the art stuff.
“Permission to come aboard captain.” came a voice from the dock. It was Scott.
“Come on aboard. Scott meet Kate. Kate - Scott.”
Kate flashed me an angry look for using her name. “Scott knows” I tolder her. “He is my liaison. Without his help, I would not have found you.” Kate seemed reasonably satisfied with the explanation.
Scott put her completely at ease with “A pleasure to meet you……Ms. Cooper”. With that he set a bottle of 16 year old single malt scotch and three glasses on the table. “Word is there was this plane crash at sea east of the Dry Tortugas. You know what I think?” Scott paused. “I think flying is unsafe. Much better to take a boat. Cheers.”
“Cheers.” Kate and I replied, raising our glasses for a toast.
- the MuseTags: phantom
