Orchid Beach

CHAPTER

53

Harry Crisp looked at his wristwatch, then at the group around him at the table. “Rita should be here by now,” he said. “She got off at three.”

Holly spoke up. “Did we get anything from any of the bugs she took in there?” She turned and looked at the front door as it opened. Bill walked in. “Hey, everybody,” he said. “Where’s Rita?”

“She’s not here yet,” Harry replied. “Did any of the bugs go live?”

“They were all live when she took them in,” Bill said. “I got a few words on one of them, then it seemed to go dead. We’ve picked up some car noise on at least one of the others, but no voice.”

“What words did you get on one of them?”

“Two men talking, then they stopped, went quiet.”

“They found the bug, then?”

“Could be.”

“Bill, get on the radio and get somebody to check the parking lot at the service gate at Palmetto Gardens,” Harry said. “I want to know if her car is still there.”

“Right away.”

Harry turned back to the group. “If the bugs don’t work, then we’re going to need another excuse for a search warrant.”

Ham raised a finger. “Maybe I can help.”

Everybody turned and looked at him.

“How?” Holly said, looking at him narrowly.

“Well, I was in there last night, and I saw a few things.”

“What?” Holly said.

Harry spoke up. “Tell me what you’re talking about, Ham.”

“I just thought I’d take a look around,” Ham said.

“Ham…” Holly began, but Harry held up a hand to quiet her.

“How did you get in?” Harry asked.

“I went in through the marsh next to the marina entrance, then I took a walk.”

“Somebody get the aerial photographs,” Harry said. They were laid on Jackson’s dining table, and Harry spread them out. “Show me,” he said.

Ham stood up and pointed. “I took my boat in here about three this morning, then waded ashore. They’re depending on about fifteen feet of thick brush for a fence back there, and it ain’t working.” He began to give them an account of his reconnaissance.

“I don’t believe this,” Holly said. “You’re completely crazy.”

“Well, everybody just seemed to be dying to know what was in there, so I thought I’d take a look,” her father replied.

“Go on, Ham,” Harry said.

Ham pointed to the photographs again. “I got a look inside a house right here. A regular orgy going on in there.”

“Anybody see you?”

“Nope. Then I worked my way over to the chain-link fence, right here,” Ham said. “Turns out there’s three fences. The middle one is hot.”

“Three fences,” Holly repeated tonelessly.

“Yep. I went over to the com center, right here, which seemed to be shut down for the night, except for one man inside the front door. Had a look on the roof, too. The air conditioners are up there and what looks like either a self-contained generator or maybe a battery backup.”

“For the computers,” Jackson said. “I guess it would be bad if all of them went down at once, in a power failure.”

“But they’ve got a big generator that cuts in if the power fails for five seconds,” Holly said. “Barney Noble told me that.”

“Five seconds without power is forever to a computer,” Jackson said. “They’d want a battery backup, even if it’s only good for long enough to let them save the data they’re working on and shut the things down.”

“What else did you see, Ham?” Harry asked.

“There’s a gun emplacement right here,” Ham said, pointing. “I saw a heavy automatic weapon—not something I recognized either. Might be Chinese or something. Bigger than fifty caliber. It would sure play hell with a helicopter. One guy manning it, and he didn’t look too vigilant. I could have killed him three or four times.”

“If I can tell a federal judge that an informant has told me there are illegally imported weapons in there, that might get me a warrant,” Harry said.

Bob came back. “Rita’s car isn’t in the parking lot,” he said.

Harry went into his briefcase, came up with a sheet of paper and handed it to Holly. “This is a description of her car. Can you put out an APB on it? I’m worried.”

“Sure, I can.” Holly made the call from Jackson’s office, then came back. “You think they caught her placing the bug?”

“It’s a better possibility than I want to think about,” Harry said.

“I think we ought to let Barney Noble know we know she’s missing,” Holly said.

“What? You’re going to call him up and ask if he’s got our agent?”

Holly got out her notebook, looked up the number for Palmetto Gardens and dialed it. “Security office,” she said to the operator.

“Security,” a man’s voice said.

“Barney Noble,” Holly said.

A moment later, Barney came on the line.

“Barney, it’s Holly Barker. How are you?”

“Pretty good, Holly. What’s up? I was just on my way home to dinner.”

“Barney, we just had a call from a Mrs. Garcia, whose daughter works out there as a domestic. The girl didn’t come home after work, and she’s worried. You folks heard anything about her?”

“Hang on, I’ll check,” Barney said. He didn’t cover the phone. “One of you guys hand me the checkout roster for the service gate,” he said. There was a shuffling of paper. “Here we go,” he said. “Is she Rita Garcia?”

“That’s the one.”

“She checked out at the service gate with the other cleaning women just after three o’clock this afternoon.”

“Do you check them out one by one?”

“Yeah, we do a body search to be sure they haven’t lifted anything from one of the houses, and then they’re checked off the list. She left, all right—no doubt about it.”

“Okay, Barney. Would you do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Would you call me if she doesn’t show up for work tomorrow morning?”

“Be glad to. I’ll alert the man on the gate to look for her.”

“Thanks. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Holly hung up. “He says she checked out just after three this afternoon.”

“Sure, she did,” Harry said. “I’ve got another reason for a search warrant now. Jackson, can I use your office phone? I want to call a judge of my acquaintance.”

“Sure, help yourself.”

Harry disappeared into Jackson’s office and closed the door behind him.

“Ham,” Holly said, “what the fuck do you mean going into that place?”

Ham shrugged and grinned.

“Those guys could have you right now.”

“No, they couldn’t,” Ham replied. “They don’t have anybody could take me.”

Holly rolled her eyes and sighed.

Harry came back. “The judge is thinking about it,” he said. “He’ll call me back later.”

“If we’re going in there, we’re going to need a lot more help,” Holly pointed out.

“Yeah, but I can’t request the manpower until I’ve got a search warrant.”

“Jesus, Harry, if Rita is missing and presumed in there, what more does the judge need?”

“I think he just wants to see if she turns up on her own. He knows what a big effort this would be, and he wants to be sure his warrant stands up on appeal.”

“So what do we do now?” Holly asked.

“We wait,” Harry replied.