Chapter 6: The First Strike

Denny and Dave were waiting at the boat landing. Dana eased up in the small dock and reversed the props at almost the last second. The small boat barely nudged the rubber tire bumpers. She jumped ashore and tied the boat off while her passengers were still coming to realize the journey was over.

"I think the best place to look at this stuff will be the office where Dave and Jimmy hid out. You have a computer and a scanner and printer. I want to separate the 'not so innocent' from the guilty, if you get what I mean. Jimmy can be a great help, if he will." Denny had obviously been thinking hard about the whole thing.

"Yeah, I agree, we just sort of destroy the pictures of the horny actors and rich businessmen who just wanted a fling. But the ones who were messing with kids and torturing poor souls who had been kidnapped and forced into that life I want nailed big time."

"Amen to that." Dave nodded his vehement agreement. "How'd you do, Jimbo?" he asked.

"I felt weird when I got back there to the house. I was sick to my stomach when I saw that filthy Andre. I hope I cut his..."

"You didn't cut anything or anyone. He stabbed himself in the crotch and his fingerprints on the knife prove it." Dave resembled nothing so much as a hungry lion when grinned at Jimmy.

Dana smiled at Dave and said a simple, "Thank you."

"Dana, we need to get this load of stuff into a safe place. The police have put yellow tape all over your office. According to the radio news reports, the police are looking at you as a possible kidnap victim and also a kidnapper, take your pick. They have frozen all your assets to prevent any payoff to possible kidnappers. They also have your picture plastered all over the television. They want you bad.

"Not to mention they have all those John Doe Warrants out on the rest of our evil gang of desperados. Only Dave and I are named specifically." He looked at Dana and shook his head, then looked away. "This is bad."

"You guys go to the office building across the alley from my office. Take Jimmy with you and unload the car. When this is done, I will see if I can get you the title of the pimp mobile by placing a mechanic's lien on it. You would like to own that big sucker, wouldn't you, Dennis?"

"Yup." he answered and fought to keep the shock out of his voice.

"I need to catch a cab and get to my money. Those jerks in the DA's office just think they've frozen my assets. I'll get some fresh clothes for Jimmy and me and money for the rest of the guys. We also have to come to an agreement on your continued terms of employment. I intend to make certain that you both reveive honorable discharges for medical reasons.

Dave and Denny both raised their eyebrows when she added, "Perhaps you two suffer from persistent hangnails maybe or enema addictions. We all know the navy is going to dump you two as fast as they can. You're both embarrassments to our Uncle Sugar. Even if they keep you, you'd be passed over for advancement three times in the next three years and you'd still be out."

In grim silence the two men both nodded in agreement. Dana nodded back at them and walked over to the telephone and called a cab. "Uh, Dana, you got any gas money? We're both broke." Dave had a hangdog expression as he asked her.

She fished a hundred dollar bill out of the roll in her pocket and handed it to Dave and another to Denny. They nodded and left. Soon after that, the cab arrived and Dana directed the driver to a National City storage rental place.

She handed the driver a hundred dollar bill and told him to wait. She hurried to the office and told the man behind the desk, I need change for a hundred for the cab and I also need a cart and your help to carry a heavy box out to the cab. I hand you a hundred and you hand me back eighty dollars. Okay?

"Yes ma'am." he answered without argument, took the hundred from her fingers and handed her back four twenties all in one fast motion. "Lead the way, ma'am." He grabbed a dolly and followed her to the correct locker.

She opened the door to her unit and motioned to the box she wanted that sat next to a waist high stack of boxes. All but the one box contained files, records and personal belongings. It was a wooden crate with a rope handle on each end. The stencils stated, "Bullet Lead." She grabbed the looped handle on one end of the box and nodded for him to take the other end. She grunted as she lifted her end. He could barely lift his end. He sighed his relief when they set it down on the small dolly.

"Jeez, Lady, is there a heavy end and a light end? I almost got a hernia." He came around and tested the weight on the other end of the box. He shook his head and pulled the dolly out of Dana's rental and headed out to the cab.

As soon as they were at the rear of the cab Dana called to the driver, "Give me a hand here, please." The driver got out and came back. "You two take your end and I'll take this end." He looked at her and sneered.

The man from the rental told him, "Better listen to the lady."

The driver, an Iranian, sneered once more, flexed his muscles and bent down and strained. The box didn't move. The two men took one end and Dana took the other. The box was lifted up and into the back of the cab, causing it to drop down almost down on the leaf springs. Dana gave the rental man another twenty and got into the cab. She gave the address of her secondary office and sat back.

As soon as the cab pulled up Dave and Denny came out to meet her. "Take the box out of the back of the cab and carry it upstairs," she ordered.

The cab driver opened the trunk and Dave and Denny reached in and lifted the box out. The driver looked at Dana, looked at the two seals and shook his head. Dana tipped him twenty dollars and the three went upstairs. Dana led the way and opened the office door. The box was carried inside and set on the floor.

"There's a hammer in the desk drawer, open the box and figure out how many to give the guys who helped us."

"How many what?" Dave asked as he went for the hammer. She didn't answer. He pried the lid off with the ripping claws on the hammer and set it to one side. He removed the top layer of foam and looked at a sight usually seen in movies. There were rolls of gold Krugerands nestled in slots.

"Those are real, aren't they?" Dave asked. Denny looked on in awe. Jimmy said nothing, he just moved closer to Dana and put an arm around her shoulders. Dana rubbed his arm with her cheek.

"Oh yes. They're real all right. They are payment from a very grateful client, an Arab prince caught in bed with an underage girl. I not only proved he wasn't there when the cops said he was, but that his cousin was and had left the country already. The whole thing was thrown out of court. He gave me four hundred pounds of those suckers in payment up front."

Dave looked at her in surprise. She continued, "I told him I could get him off but I want payment up front because his friends had a habit of stiffing people who trusted them. That box of gold was delivered to my office the next day. It was worth ten million at the time, he claimed."

"That sounds like Mohamed Abdul Said," Jimmy said.

Dana looked at him, "Uh yeah, it was. What do you know about him?"

"Oh, you'll see some nice video tapes of him in there." He pointed at the stacks of tapes in the corner of the office. Dana didn't answer.

"We started to go through some of the papers. The house in West Hollywood was really something else," Dave showed her a sheaf of papers titled, "Twelve Way Investments." He continued, "The Dirty Dozen had quite a deal going. They transported drugs, murdered on command and even kidnapped kids off the street, runaways who ended up on Sunset Strip. The investment group was set up to funnel their dirty money into the investment company and then on to European banks." He shook his head.

"Dana," Jimmy said apologetically, "I'm awfully hungry again." As if on cue, his stomach growled loudly. They all laughed.

"We all need something to eat and a pot of coffee. We have our work cut out for us. I want to find enough stuff to use as bargaining chips to keep us out of jail. I don't like seeing my face all over the TV. My daughter will see that stuff if she hasn't already."

"Use this phone and call home and tell your wife and daughter you're all okay. This line can't be traced back to here. It goes through a cutout. Anyone tracing it will end up thinking it originated in Bombay," Dana told him.

"Another grateful client?" Dave asked her, grinning.

"He was very grateful." Jimmy started to tense. "I saved him from doing hard federal time and got him a job with the company he hacked into. He gave me a setup on the phones in this office that will drive anyone trying to trace the calls crazy. This is the first time I ever had a use for his expressions of appreciation." Jimmy relaxed again when he found out what the "gratitude" consisted of. Denny noticed and smiled to himself.

Denny grabbed up the phone and dialed home. "Hi Hon, I'm all right," he started. Then he yelled, "Hey, stupid, give the phone back to my wife. I'll talk to you later."

Dave hurried over, "What's up?"

"Since we live on base, they have my wife under arrest over the toxic waste we reported. Some admiral from D.C. is in my house throwing his weight around."

"Give me the phone," Dana ordered. "Who is on the other end of the line?" she asked.

"This is Admiral William Burgess," a self-important voice came over the phone. "I would advise you..."

"Hey there, Admiral Willy, advising is my job. So shut up and listen. This is one toxic waste problem not going to be swept under the rug. I have already informed the TV station about your attempted cover up. You want to come out smelling like a rose, call your boss and tell him you have one chance to do the right thing.

"After that, I go public with more than just the minor of toxic waste, sailors getting sick and dying and water pollution the military did not inform the civilian authorities of. If nobody looked closely, then nobody realized you people do not have the original documents. I have them and they make fun reading. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you. Where are you calling from? If you're close enough, perhaps we could have a face to face?"

"Nice try, Retardo. What's the matter? Can't your phone whiz kids trace the call?" Dana rolled her eyes and continued, "After India, the phone trace will end up in France and they don't like Americans so they won't cooperate. Now put the lieutenant's wife on. If his family are harassed or harmed in any way, you can probably get a job as bus boy in a Tijuana restaurant by the time I get through with you."

Denny and Dave both winced at her treatment of the admiral. Denny took the phone and said, "Hon, I'm here. Tell Melinda the truth about things." He paused. "What do you mean you don't know what the truth is? The truth is I am no longer considered good navy material.

I have a job lined up that will supplement my full pension they are going to award me at full commander's level. I'm going to be working for the lawyer lady you admire so much. That's right." He laughed and handed the phone to Dana, "She wants to talk to you."

Dana answered it with a, "Hello?"

The voice on the phone sounded cultured and well educated. "Oh, Miss Featherstone, is my Dennis all right? Will he be all right? Melissa, our daughter, is so worried. Please tell me he will be all right."