Chapter 24: How to Hide a Super Yacht

“How had they known where we were?” I kept wondering. The only people who actually knew were Cynthiana, Reggie, and the President. I decided to talk with the women.

“Now that you mention it, my husband did sound a bit odd when I called him a little while ago,” Anita related. “I just decided that he was distracted with everything going on.”

“Is there something that your husband would know about you that the rest of the world does not know?” I asked. “Like that you had breast cancer?”

Anita thought for a while then suggested a couple of things. I ran to the bridge and quickly explained what I was thinking. Captain Alfred took the secure radio and asked to speak with the Captain of the USS Alvin Childress. When he was on, Captain Alfred explained our concerns and asked him to radio his contact and ask the president if Anita could contact her parents and how to go about it.

The captain radioed back that the President was suddenly unavailable.

“That’s odd!” claimed the Captain of the Childress. “We have had complete access to him ever since you left the Boat Show.”

“Let us know when you hear from him,” Captain Alfred told him.

“Whatthefuck!” someone sputtered over our main radio almost fifteen minutes later. “This is Ron Dexter! Put Anita on the radio! Now!”

“This is Alex, President Dexter. Could you tell me your pet name for my boss?” I asked.

“What? Why would ... okay. She calls me ‘that old reprobate’ and I call her ‘Cindy-lou’,” the President replied.

“Your wife is on the way. Please remember that this is an open marine channel. You might want to have someone contact the Childress to find out what’s been going on,” I told him and then handed the mic to Anita.

“Ron?” she said hesitantly.

I won’t bore you with the rest of that presidential conversation. Just rest assured that they said all the things that you or I would say in the same situation, albeit they said them very quickly.

“He said they would call us on the iPhone in ten minutes,” she said when she handed me the microphone.

I looked at her with a puzzled look on my face. I had heard the entire conversation and not one word concerning the iPhone or ten minutes was mentioned.

“A girl has got to have her secrets,” she said with a giggle as she headed back down to the salon. I followed behind her, mentally scratching my head in amazement.

Sure enough, exactly ten minutes later, the encrypted iPhone rang. Anita put it on speaker and placed it on the table so all the ladies could hear.

“Ron?” she started.

“That ole’ reprobate told me to call you and tell you that he can’t possibly contact your parents because they passed away when you were small,” Cynthiana announced. “Now, is Alex there?”

“Right here,” I called out.

“Good. What color do you want me to have your cart painted?” she asked.

I knew that she already knew because I had told her weeks ago. So it was a test.

“Red and Black with a white top and logo’s on the front and sides,” I replied.

“I just wanted to make sure that you hadn’t changed your mind,” Cynthiana said. “Now it seems that Billy Bob has somehow gotten hold of Ron’s elaborate security plans.”

It was easy to figure out that ‘Billy Bob’ was William Robert Strawbourn.

“Is Ron safe?” Anita asked.

“Of course. For now, Ron is safer than you or me,” Cynthiana told her. “As for Billy Bob, we are closing in on his operation. It turns out that his daddy owns Southern Alabama Metatronics, in Mobile, and that’s where a lot of his information and money seems to be coming from. The Justice Department is preparing to have the US Marshall’s service serve all sorts of search warrants and arrest warrants in several places, mostly in Mobile. But we still need some time. Isn’t there some way you could pull one of your infamous disappearing acts about now?” Cynthiana asked.

“Let us talk it over,” I told her and then hung up.

The ladies jumped up to fix dinner and discuss the situation some more. Meanwhile, I went to the bridge and asked Captain Alfred to continue to head for the Venice Yacht Club. He said he would notify the Childress.

After a real southern dinner of chicken and waffles, we all got back together in the salon, to discuss how we could disappear for the few days that the government needed. Captain Alfred remained on the bridge.

“How can a boat this size just disappear?” Anita asked.

“Alex made our friend’s eighty-foot catamaran disappear,” Archara supplied.

“And then we couldn’t find him for two months!” Kelly Ann added.

“But how? How can a yacht this size and nineteen people just disappear?” Anita asked.

“I think I know a way...” I told them.

First, I borrowed Archara’s laptop and searched for what I was almost sure I would find. Then I went to talk with mom.

While she got on the iPhone and made the call I requested her to make, I went to the bridge to play with the chart plotter and question both of the Captains on the Cécile’s height above the water line, her width, and her draft. Then I went in search of the special transponder the Secret Service had installed to help the Childress track us, to see how it was installed.