The Matt Drake Series: Books 1-3 by David Leadbeater

Author:David Leadbeater [Leadbeater, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-05T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

After the metaphoric dust had settled, Drake, Kennedy and Ben met with Justin Harrison on the bridge of the ship, as they limped landward.

“We’re going down to Miami,” Drake said. “This whole thing’s Caribbean-related. We can work from there and see where the research takes us.”

Harrison looked preoccupied. “Yes, yes. Do whatever you must. Just, please-” he met Drake’s eyes. “Do it fast.”

Dry land beckoned and forty minutes, later, Drake and his team were ensconced in a government-issue station-wagon, taking a last look through darkened windows at the U.S.S. Port Royal and its shattered hull. The authorities still didn’t know how Boudreau and his army had pulled it off, but meticulous planning, advance knowledge, and major inside help were being blamed.

For Drake, Hayden had summed it up to perfection: “If you remember, the Port Royal was only in the area whilst it fixed its own surveillance issues. It made perfect sense to transfer the box to it. Both of these events could have been engineered by somebody with one hell of a long reach.”

“Crap,” Hayden now said as she ended the call with her boss, the Secretary of Defense. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there were public executions when the truth of this thing comes out.”

“We all love a conspiracy,” Kennedy said. She was sat beside Drake in the front of the vehicle.

The station-wagon cut through the encroaching night with Drake following the SatNav directions to Wilmington International airport. The early November cold snap, so apparent back in the U.K., hadn’t made it to this part of the States yet - if it ever did - so Drake drove with the Air Con cranked high. They made one stop to load up on service-station food, Mountain Dew for Ben, and hot coffee before hitting the road in earnest.

“Tell me, Mano” Drake said after a while, “What did Boudreau want with you, my friend?”

Kinimaka shifted uncomfortably and Drake actually had to make a correction to the car’s course as the weight shifted. “Beats me,” Kinimaka rumbled. “Far as I know I’m a pretty normal guy.”

Hayden had squashed herself in beside him, with Ben to her right. “Trusting, supportive, effective. Is that normal for a guy, Kennedy?”

The only answer was a chortle from the New Yorker.

“People you’ve hurt. Arrested. Places you’ve been. Men you’ve crossed. Any stand out at all?”

“Usually, I’m the second, or third in a team. None of the bad guys even know I’m there,” he paused. “Unless I hit ‘em, I guess. Never had a threatening letter. Lived all my life in Hawaii, north shore Oahu.”

“His name in Hawaiian,” Hayden said with a glint in her eye. “Means ‘passionate lover’.”

Now Kennedy did turn around. “You’re kidding?”

Kinimaka shuffled again, looking embarrassed. “Or ‘shark’.”

“Or what? I mean, can’t they decide?”

Kinimaka shrugged. “Never knew.”

“I think we’re getting off track,” Drake said more gruffly than he wanted to. “You say you’re a back-up man from hang-loose Hawaii. What the hell would Boudreau want with you?”

“Or more than likely his boss,” Kennedy put in.

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