Black Sun

CHAPTER 31

The dockside agent for Gulf Boat Rental had his feet up, radio on, and the brim of his baseball hat tilted just enough to keep the sun out of his eyes. He heard the sound of people walking toward him on the wooden dock and looked up.

To his surprise he saw several Chinese men in slacks and dark shirts. They didn’t look dressed for a fishing trip.

“Hola,” he said.

The largest of the three men pushed his way into the small booth. The rest of the group stood out in a defensive formation.

“You rented a boat earlier,” the Chinese man said to him. “To some Americans.”

“We rent out to many Americans,” the agent replied.

“You’d remember these ones,” he was told. “Two men, one white and one black. Plus a beautiful woman and a young boy who doesn’t look like he belongs to them.”

“Right.” The agent nodded.

The questioner seemed surprised but pleased. He produced a wad of bills, handing a couple of twenties to the agent.

“Do you know if they had any weapons with them?”

“Maybe a speargun or two,” the agent said.

“Where did they go?”

“Fishing for wahoo,” he told them, repeating what the woman had said to him. “But they did have diving equipment with them.”

This time a hundred came his way. He began to see how it worked.

“Do you have any way to track them?”

The agent shook his head. “I have only the deposit, in case they don’t bring the boat back. But they only have enough fuel for about fifty miles. Where could they go? We would just call the other docks.”

“Which direction?” The Chinese man said, clarifing his interest.

“Due north, once they left the harbor.”

The Chinese man handed over one more note. “Give me what you have of theirs. And rent us two of your best boats to go find them.”

The agent nodded and reached for the keys to the larger boats. They had pilothouses and inboard motors, designed to go for swordfish, and they were as fast as the boat the Americans had gone out in. Maybe faster.