Fallen Pride (Jesse McDermitt Series) (15 page)

“All six of them are carrying Sig P229’s chambered for .357. Three of them are carrying Belgian FN P90’s, under their suit coats.” The P90 is an ugly looking bullpup type of submachine gun. But with a 50 round magazine and capable of firing 900 rounds per minute, it’s extremely effective and can be carried on a shoulder sling under a coat and be hardly noticeable. He looked surprised, so I grinned and added, “If the President would like, I can up-arm all six of them.”

“You brought an arsenal to take the President fishing?”

“No sir. Like I said, this chest is always on board. Everything in it is cleaned and ready for use. That’s one of the reasons Deuce and I are still alive to take you guys fishing.”

“So I’ve heard. That
little trip into Cuba was armed by you?”

“Yes sir. We didn’t have time to wait for armament.”

He looked at me a moment and at the cluster of ribbons and badges on my chest. “Wait outside with the others. I’ll talk to the President.”

On the dock, he walked back to the car and got in. Stockwell looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “Just a few toys,” Deuce said. “Nothing to get too excited over.”

The five of us were standing in a loose line, with Stockwell standing at an angle next to Deuce at the end. Bender lifted his hand to his mouth and spoke into his sleeve, just like they do in the movies. I made a mental note to tell Chertoff that I could upgrade their communications, too. Bender said something to the four agents at the corners of the car and the rear passenger door opened again.

Chertoff and the President climbed out of the car and started walking toward us. The President was wearing jeans and a
polo shirt, with a long billed fisherman’s hat on that had the Texas Lone Star flag on it. The jeans and hat were well worn.

“Attention!” shouted Stockwell. The five of us immediately aligned ourselves and snapped to attention.

Instead of the usual hand salute command, Stockwell said, “Present Arms!” I couldn’t help but grin just a little.

As the President walked toward us, he snapped a return salute and Stockwell said, “Two!”

The President stopped a few feet in front of Stockwell and with a slight Texas drawl said, “Good to see you again, Travis. Mike tells me y’all might be prepared to go to war?” Before he could answer the President looked right at me and said, “I suppose a Texican should be able to trust a Silver Star recipient. If a big ole shark comes at me, you be sure to shoot him for me, Gunny.”

I grinned and said, “Aye aye, sir.”

With the ice broken and apparent permission to keep the weapons on board, he stepped forward and shook hands with Stockwell.

“Mister President, this is Commander Russell Thurman
, my team leader. We call him Deuce.”

“Nice to meet you, Deuce. How ‘bout you introduce me to our crew here.”

“My pleasure, Mister President,” Deuce said. This is Lieutenant Commander Jackie Burdick, MD. She’s the Second Mate on the boat you’ll be on, sir.”

The President shook Jackie’s hand and said, “A Navy Doctor as Second Mate?”

“It’s an honor to meet you, sir. Actually, I think I was only invited so I could meet you. I’m a friend of Jesse’s.”

“You were the doctor that treated these two guys?”

“Yes sir, I was.”

“I read the report from
Admiral Arthur. He had nothing but high praise for your action and skill.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jackie said with a slight coloring of her cheeks.

Deuce said, “This is Gunnery Sergeant Jesse McDermitt, retired. He’s the Captain of the boat you’ll be on.”

I took his offered hand and said, “Truly an honor to have you aboard, sir.”

“The honor’s mine, Jesse. Mike told me about what you did in Cuba a few months back. If you were active duty and the mission could be talked about, you’d be wearing a bronze star on that Silver Star ribbon.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Going down the line, Deuce said, “This is Petty Officer Second Class, Robert Talbot. He’s my team’s Corpsman and will be First Mate on your boat.”

“Good to meet you, Doc. That is what those Jarheads call you guys, right?”

“Yes sir. Very honored to have you aboard, sir.”

“I read the after action on your part in the mission. Very good job
, son. Ever think about reenlisting? The Navy needs men like you that can keep their head in battle.”

“Thought about it many times, sir. Thank you.”

“Lastly, Mister President, is Coast Guard Petty Officer Third Class Julie Thurman. She’s the most recent person to join our team, just graduated from the Maritime Enforcement School. She’ll be the Captain on the escort boat and I’ll be her First Mate.”

“It’s an honor to meet you sir,” Julie said taking his hand.

“First woman to graduate that school, right?”

“Yes sir, it was a tough school.”

“What I heard, you could have been one of the Instructors. I understand you’re getting married next week?”

Julie looked surprised and glanced at Deuce quickly.

“Yes sir,” Deuce said. “She has agreed to allow me to be her First Mate permanently.”

“Congratulation
s to you both,” the President said with a chuckle. “Now, I hope y’all aren’t planning on staying in those uniforms the whole day are you? I thought we were gonna slay some denizens from the deep.”

“
No sir,” Stockwell said. “We can change while we’re under way.”

Before w
e split up to the two boats, the President surprised me. “Paul, make sure your men step lightly. Those hard soled shoes play hell on fiberglass and teak.”

“Of course, Mister President,” he said and relayed the order to his men over his sleeve mic. F
our of the Secret Service agents joined Deuce and Julie. Bender and the agent that drove his car, along with Stockwell, Chertoff and the President joined us on the
Revenge.
Julie and Deuce had a change of clothes on the
Cazador
and could change in the small head in the engine room, under the console.

The agents took the Secretary and the President into the salon, along with Stockwell, then took up positions on either side of the bridge, facing aft.
Jackie and I climbed up to the helm and I shouted down to Doc and back to Julie, “Cast off!”

Doc had the lines loose in seconds and looking back, I could see that Deuce had done likewise. Julie was using the bow thruster to swing the bow away from the dock. The agents on her boat were standing fore and aft the console, much like they had around the President’s car.
Julie nudged the throttle and idled past me and into the channel. I followed about twenty yards behind. Once we cleared the outer markers, Julie’s voice came over the radio, “Going up on plane, Jesse.”

“Roger,” I said and nudged both throttles up to 1300 rpm, both boats lifting up on plane simultaneously.
“Switching to alternate com, Jules.” Deuce and I had already planned on using encrypted ear wigs for communication once we were away from the dock. Both he and Julie had one and I had two, one for me and another for Doc. Julie and I had already discussed many options on where to fish yesterday, but I suddenly realized I hadn’t even asked what they wanted to fish for. I was well stocked on bait for anything they might want to catch, so I turned to Jackie and said, “Why don’t you go down and ask our guests what they’d like to catch, then you can let me know over the intercom in the forward stateroom while you get changed.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” she said and climbed down to the cockpit.

As she disappeared through the hatch, I called down to Doc, who was busy setting up fishing tackle. “Hey Doc, go get changed. Then you can spell me up her, so I can get out of this monkey suit.” I put the ear wig in my right ear and turned it on. Speaking low, I said, “Com check.”

“Loud and clear,” came Deuce’s voice in a slight whisper.

“Same here,” Julie piped in.

“Roger on both of you. I’ll give Doc his when he gets changed.”

Jackie’s voice came over the intercom, the light showing she was talking from the forward stateroom. “The President said that what the First Lady missed most about living in D.C. is she can’t get fresh dorado. What’s that?”

I pressed the button o
n the intercom for the forward stateroom and said, “Thanks Jackie. Dorado is Texican for dolphin. Everyone riding okay down there?”

“The Colonel and the Secretary
look a little green, but the President is having a great time. Bender won’t allow him out of the cabin until we’re well offshore.”

“Looks like we’re hunting mahi, Jules. I owe you $20.”

“She’s below changing,” Deuce replied. “I’ll let her know.”

“Let’s open ‘em up. Make your heading 130 degrees, we’re headed for
the Stream.”

I watched as the big center console surged forward to 3
0 knots. I pressed the button on the intercom to the whole boat and said, “Increasing speed, Mister President. We’re taking y’all out to the Gulf Stream. We always catch mahi along the weed lines out there. We’ll be there in about an hour. If you need anything, just ask Commander Burdick. Mister Bender, we’re two miles offshore now.”

Doc climbed up to the bridge and took the helm so I could go down and change. He was wearing a long sleeved denim shirt and jeans, with boat shoes.
I gave him the ear wig and he put it in his ear, without comment, and turning it on he said, “Com check.”

“Good here,” I said. Julie and Deuce both responded that they could hear him too.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” I said. “We’re going to the weed line for mahi.”

“Ya know,” Doc said. “It felt kinda good being in uniform again. Even if it was just a dog and pony show.”

“Yeah, me too. Just a little.”

I climbed down to the cockpit, where Bender and the other agent were still standing on either side, scanning the water behind us.

“I apologize about back there, McDermitt,” Bender said. “Just doing my job.”

“No worries, Paul. Just doing mine.”

“Say, tell me something. In a pinch how fast can this boat go?”

“
On flat seas, with a following wind, about 47 knots.”

He thought for a minute and responded, “That’s 55 miles per hour? That’s pretty damned fast. Hope we don’t need it, but it’s good to know.”

I grinned and said, “The other boat can make 40 knots. We wouldn’t want to run off and leave your auto guns.” Then I disappeared through the hatch, leaving him wondering. Jackie was right, both Chertoff and Stockwell didn’t look real well. The President, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the ride. I guess if you can do barrel rolls in a fighter jet, a little rocking on the water won’t bother you. Jackie was still in the forward stateroom and I headed that way. As I passed Stockwell, leaning on the galley counter, I said, “Dramamine, top drawer right side.”

“Thanks,” he said and reached for the drawer as I started down the steps. “Commander Burdick is still down there changing, Jesse.”

“I know,” I said and saw him grin as he opened the top on the pill bottle, swallow one and pass it to Chertoff.

Jackie had on a pair of jeans and a red, long sleeve cotton shirt
. She was tying her hair in a loose pony tail when I walked in.

“Why exactly am I here, Jesse?”

“I kinda like having you around,” I said, slipping my arms around her from behind. “Plus the duties of Second Mate include being Galley Wench.”

She spun around inside my arms and punched me hard in the shoulder. “Galley Wench, huh?”

“Well, it’s a step up from Swab.”

“Seriously,” she said, “why did you ask me to come along?”

“You were the one that took the call from Chertoff, when I was still in the hospital, remember? I just thought you’d get a kick out of meeting him and the President.”

“That’s it, then?” she said as she withdrew from my embrace.

“And the Galley Wench part. Doc and I will be pretty busy. Maybe you could offer refreshments? Make sandwiches? Usually, I tell my clients they’re on their own for drinks and food. Didn’t think that would be appropriate for these clients.”

She smiled and said, “Yeah, I can handle that. How do I look?”

“Good enough to eat,” I said and started to take my uniform blouse off. “Chertoff and Stockwell just took some Dramamine. They didn’t look too well. President Bush seems to be right at home, though.”

“I’ll head on up and see if they need anything, then.”

She left and I changed quickly. Taking off my trousers, I heard Julie in my ear wig. “You do realize you forgot to turn your com off, right, Jesse?”

“Shit,” I said. “Sorry.”

“Had a hard time not laughing,” Doc said. “Galley Wench?”

“Hardy har, guys.” I dressed quickly in fishing shorts, topsiders and a
Gaspar’s Revenge Fishing Charters
tee-shirt. Since I’d be on the bridge most of the time, leaving the cockpit to Doc, I wasn’t too concerned with getting too much sun.

When I stepped back up into the salon, the President was gone. Chertoff and
Stockwell were sitting at the settee and Jackie was cutting up fruit and putting it into a bowl. Both men looked a little less green, but it would take at least a half hour for the medicine to have full affect.