Chapter 24

"Rob! What?" Kay grabbed my arm as George bent to pick up my phone. Hope it survives my dropping it! I looked at her and said the first thing that popped into my mind. "Gotta figure out something else for a honeymoon trip, babe." She just looked at me, not really comprehending what I was saying. "I mean, Nocturne's gone. That was Gary on the phone. Somebody just blew up our boat."

Kay and Laurel both gasped in shock. "Nooooooo!" moaned Kay, and Laurel sagged against the Escape. Lucky it was there, or I think she would have passed out and fallen. Then Kaitlyn cut loose with a string of words, some of which I'd never heard, and all of which I'm certain would have gotten her mouth washed out with soap, if either of her folks had heard her.

I realised I was leaning hard against the car, too, and shuddered with the effort to pull myself together. Had to stay strong for Kay and Laurel. I saw that my phone was unhurt; George was, in fact, talking on it. Mitch was on his own phone, apparently getting briefed on the situation. He hung up first, and just looked at us for a few seconds. George told Gary we'd see him shortly, and disconnected from the call. Handing me the phone back, he said, "Okay, who's riding with whom?" He looked at Mitch, "You get anything?"

"Only that they found the new watchman in back of the maintenance shed, with a lump on his head. Lucky for him it wasn't a hole. He's being treated now. But something's not adding up here. Todd's only been out a couple of hours, no way there was time for him to arrange a hit like this. His old man doesn't play like this either, usually, but maybe they've got a rogue in their organization. Anyway, let's get down there before things get too tangled up. You riding with me?"

"No, I think I'll stay with the kids for now. Got some explaining to do, I think."

We followed Mitch's car out of the lot, and down toward the marina. I drove, and George rode shotgun, with the two girls in the back seat. We all were quiet for a few minutes, like we were waiting for something. Then I looked over at him, and just said, "Explaining?"

He grimaced at that, then sighed and said, "Cunningham's got delusions of grandeur, but he's not all that bright. I think he's being played, but not sure by whom."

"Being played?" I probably was a little more sarcastic than I should have been. Okay, a lot more sarcastic than I should have been. "C'mon, George, what's really going on?"

George sighed again, and told us a story of back-stabbing, and of downright treachery within the Cunningham family. I know there's supposedly no honor among thieves, but this was sickening! And on top of their inter-family shenanigans, they were facing pressure from one of the cartel splinters. Apparently they wanted sole control of the "trade" and would do anything to get the finger pointed at the Cunninghams, just to distract the real bad guys, as well as the law.

"We've been watching, even tried to infiltrate, but they're very careful who they let get close to them. Word is that Todd's in hot water with his old man just for letting Toad and Rabbit in on his action. And it looks like there are a couple of cousins who swing both ways." I looked at him and he laughed, "No, not that way. We've seen them working both sides of the street, sometimes with the family, and sometimes they're running an errand for the opposition. Meanwhile, the real Mexican muscle is eyeing all of them. So far they've looked at them just as a nuisance, but I expect they'll get tired of them before too much longer."

"But what's all this have to do with us?" Kay was beginning to sound pissed off. "Mitch said that Todd wouldn't have had time to get anyone to blow up our boat, so how come?"

George looked even more chagrined, and said, "I can't say. Only thing I can think of is that the splinter group is trying to take advantage of your blowup with Todd, and trying to make it look like his old man is taking some revenge on you for hurting his little boy. Either that, or the big guys are trying to get us to take care of the Cunninghams for them. First we have to find out what kind of fireworks they used. That'll likely tell us more about who did it."

"But how will we know if it's us they're after?" Laurel sounded scared, "I mean, if it's Todd's father coming after Rob and Kaitlyn, what do we do then?" George didn't have an answer for that, either, so we finished the ride in silence, each of us with our own thoughts.

We got to the marina, and George got us past the cop at the entrance. I pulled into the lot behind the office, and we saw an ambulance still there, and Mitch was standing near it, talking to Gary, and to a man sitting on a gurney next to it. I looked down toward the water, and saw the Bomb Squad vehicle, and there were all sorts of spotlights and flashing lights. It looked like mass confusion.

Then I saw a man in body armor, one of the bomb squad, come running up to Mitch, and stop to say something to him before calling for a body bag and a photographer. George said, "C'mon, Rob, it just got interesting again!"

We followed him down to the water, and saw that Nocturne was still there – at least a part of her. She'd burned to the waterline, and was heeled over and partly submerged. There was a big chunk missing from the slip, and the mast was lying over onto one of the other boats. Mitch wouldn't let us get closer, but we heard him tell George they'd made an initial determination that it was a propane blast that had done in our boat. "Looks like whoever it was had cut the line to the LP tank, and had opened the valve. The rubber line was definitely cut in an area where it couldn't have worn through." Then he apparently made a mistake, and something sparked, and the whole thing blew up with him still in the cabin. Not much left. Definitely not a real pro at it, and he sure ain't gonna get any better at it!"

"Is there enough left of him for an ID?" George looked at the girls and said "Sorry, but we gotta find out."

Mitch said "Dunno yet, but I hope so. They say he's pretty much unrecognizable from the waist up, but maybe his ID survived."

I felt Kay and Laurel both crowd up against me, and Kay was shaking her head. I got the message. "George?" He looked at me, and I asked him, "Is there any reason we need to stay down here? Can I take the girls home?"

"Yeah, Rob," he said, "you probably should. No reason to put them through more of this. I'll call and let you know when we've found anything new. Meanwhile, you guys just lay low until we do find out who's doing this."

I felt both girls relax when they heard that, and just nodded, and we walked back up the ramp to the office. The EMTs were done working on the watchman, and were getting him ready to transport to the ER to make sure there were no fractures or other hidden injury.

I heard someone call out, "Señor Rob!" There was Hector coming toward us. "Mi amigo – I am so sorry this has happened!"

"This is not your fault, my friend, I could not blame you, or Reynold, either. How is he?"

"Ahh, he is very sore. He was hit with a bat or something, and they want to make sure he has no fractures. He never saw it coming, just as he turned the corner to check on the parking lot, someone attacked him and hit him on the head. And that is all he remembers."

"He saw no one?"

"No, my friend. He does not know if it was one person, or more than one. Señor Gary called me as soon as it happened, and I came right over here." He looked at Kay, "And you, Señorita Kay? Are you all right?"