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.He knew they were out to get him.He wanted to be sure they couldn’t seize his toys.He’s been doing the same thing with a couple of homes he owns.”“Jeannie, listen.I don’t really care who owns the Top Ten.I just know I need at least twenty thousand—more like thirty, really—for this job.I know that sounds like a lot, but I risked a lot.”“If I’m right about this, it’s not a lot to Benjamin Crystal.My question would be, then, how come he hasn’t just paid the fee to get rid of you? That’s what doesn’t make sense.What does he really want from you?”“I don’t have a clue.Call Burns and make a counteroffer say thirty, forty thousand.I need to settle this soon.Maddy is in real money trouble.I think I am going to have to buy him out of the boat somehow.If not, I’ll have to sell her and dammit, I don’t want to do that.”***As soon as Pete saw me coming back from the phone, he waved me over.“Seychelle, there’s something you got to know.Something’s going on and it stinks.”“What are you talking about, Pete?”“I don’t know who started it, but the word is that you’re blackballed.Nobody’s going to hire you anymore.They’re saying you’re late all the time, and you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.Guys you’ve worked for who know better they aren’t even speaking up and saying it’s a load of shit.I’m mad as hell about it, and every time I hear it start up, I go over and try to set things right, but it’s no use.You know how it goes with gossip around here.People’ll keep saying stuff they know ain’t true just because other folks are saying it.”I patted him on the shoulder.“Thanks for letting me know, Pete.”“One more thing, Sey.That hairy cop dude? He’s been in here twice looking for you, asking questions about you.People don’t like it.You might not want to show your face in here again for a while.”If I couldn’t work, couldn’t even go to my old haunts to solicit work, I’d lose the boat for sure.I suddenly lost my appetite.Chapter XIVWhen I got behind the wheel of Lightnin’, I wanted to slam the Jeep into gear and lay down some rubber to show the whole world just how pissed off I was.Luckily, I reconsidered.They, whoever they were, were the ones making all the moves, and I had just been running around reacting.And the cops—I didn’t know what they were doing, but it worried me that Collazo was investing so much time chasing after me.It was time to go on the offensive.I stopped at the cottage and threw some old clothes and my in-line skates into the Jeep.I changed into some ratty old sneakers and put out fresh food and water for the dog.As I drove down Andrews Avenue, I had a plan in the back of my mind, and I just wanted to drive for a while and let it brew.The next logical source of information seemed to me to be the Top Ten herself.Undoubtedly, the local cops had searched the boat, but they didn’t necessarily know what to look for.Cesar and his buddy, Big Guy, had been looking for something offshore right around the same spot where I found the Top Ten drifting last Thursday.Maybe it was the wreck I saw them diving on, or maybe they were guessing, same as me.One thing I knew was that if Neal had been looking for something on the bottom, then the position of that something could be retrieved from the memory of the boat’s GPS, Global Positioning System.I turned east on State Road 84.These days everybody from lobster fishermen to sport divers use satellite navigation to pinpoint exact spots on the ocean.The longitude and latitude coordinates are stored as way points in the machine’s memory.Whether or not Collazo and company knew about that, I wasn’t sure, but I decided I would like to take a little look around the megayacht on my own.When I turned right onto Federal Highway, I noticed the dark blue car with tinted windows behind me.It turned at the same time [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]