Deepfakes and Diablas (J.R. Finn Sailing Mystery Series Book 12) by Charles Dougherty

Author:Charles Dougherty [Dougherty, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-22T16:00:00+00:00

"This is glorious," Mary said, her left hand on my right shoulder as we lazed behind the helm. "Six and a half knots and smooth as silk."

"Doesn't get much better than a broad reach in flat water," I said, grinning.

We were running almost directly downwind. Passing between Diamond Rock and Pointe du Diamant on Martinique's southwest corner, we were close enough to shore to have calm seas. Farther out, the more erratic wave action would cause Carib Princess to roll from side to side, spilling the wind from our sails on our downwind course, but for now, we were enjoying a sleigh ride.

"Should we call Aaron?" Mary asked. "He wanted us to check in once we left."

I shrugged. "It's only been a little over an hour since we spoke with him. What's the rush? In a few minutes, we'll pass the point and get a big wind shift. Then we'll be busy trimming the sails for an hour or so until we're out of Martinique's wind shadow. Aaron's not going anywhere. If anything exciting happens, he'll call. Let's enjoy the sail while we can."

"No argument from me. We don't get to do this as often as I'd like."

"We sure don't," I said.

At the moment, our course was almost due west. By the time we were a few miles west of Martinique, we would take up a more northerly course, heading for the U.S. Virgin Islands on a beam reach. For now, though, our plan was to stick to a westerly course until we were out of sight of land, which would take us another couple of hours.

"This is what I expected life to be like when I pulled the plug and retired from the Department." I laughed and shook my head. "Didn't quite work out that way."

"Ever wish you were still retired?"

"Not really. I like what we're doing. How about you? Do you miss working solo?"

"No," she said. "Solo was all I knew until Bob recruited me into Phorcys. Until then, I never thought I'd be part of a team. When you were with the Department, did you always work alone? Or did you have a partner sometimes?"

"Before I joined the Department, I was a covert special ops team leader in the Army. There were usually two or three of us working together in the field. But not once I joined the Department. I worked alone. That wasn't like what you were doing, though. I had a support team in the background, feeding me intelligence."

"Was Aaron always handling support for you?"

"No. He became my intel officer after my first few missions. There was somebody else before that."

"Who?"

"I never knew. She was just a voice on the phone. Then one day Aaron took her place."

"And you didn't know who she was?"

"No. That was by design. Aaron and I weren't supposed to know each other, either. That was Department policy." I smiled. "But the old-fashioned version of voice recognition clued us in."

"Was Bob still running the Department then?"

"I don't know for sure, but I don't think so.

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