Wade complied with shaky hands, while Max peered into the two holes with the flashlight. He followed each wire to its source, trying to decide which one to cut first, keeping a mental image of some diagram in his head.
The stress of keeping the wires apart in such close quarters caused Wade’s hands to tremble and sweat to drip onto the case from his brow. He started to ask a question, but Max cut him off before he could get the first word out.
“I need complete silence now.”
“Sorry.”
“I’m pretty sure we cut the yellow wire first.”
“Pretty sure? Look, man, my crotch is six inches away from this case.”
“Just kidding. It’s the yellow one.”
Before Wade could blink, Max cut the yellow wire. “See? Nothing happened. It’s okay to release the wire now.”
Wade rocked back away from the case and over the tree trunk. He lay on the ground looking up at the jungle canopy, pale as a bedsheet and drenched in sweat.
Max smiled. “There, you can rest now.”
After a few minutes of recovery, Wade regained enough control over his nerves to ask the question uppermost in his mind. “I’m afraid to ask, but what’s the next step?”
“After I remove the C-4 explosives and the crystals, than we get to do it all over again on the second case.”
Wade just stared as Max carefully removed the wire from the detonation device and removed the C-4. He took out each glass cylinder and gently transferred the phosphorus crystals to another container. He replaced the glass canisters with plain rock salt crystals he’d purchased from the store. Then they repeated the procedure with the second case.
The C-4 was replaced with inactive training clay Max had brought from his base. After replacing and soldering wires like they were connected to the active mechanism, Max replaced the pins in the hinges with new ones he cut from a small aluminum rod in the gym bag.
As a final step, the small holes in the case were filled with a black gooey paste that came out of a tube. The gooey substance hardened quickly, and after some light sanding, the patches were no longer visible.
Max gave Wade the task of smearing dirt over the newly-filled areas so they looked like they’d spent the last several days outdoors in the cemetery. They drove back to Wade’s car, and he took on the task of replacing the deactivated cases at the cemetery. Wade had a strange feeling of kinship when he approached the mausoleum. Perhaps he felt he had almost joined its inhabitants. After replacing the cases in their original location, he looked up for a moment of prayer, thanking the Almighty that he’d survived the disarmament.
Max then took up surveillance at the safe house in Belmopan, and Wade returned to the library in Belize City to call Yari and Megan. He realized this might be his last call before their intervention would take place, and to be on the safe side, he decided not to share that fact on either one of his two calls. Wade called Yari first.
“It’s me. Just checking in on your progress.”
“I’ve confirmed flights for your arriving guests. Both operatives are arriving in Belize from Panama. One’s coming in from Europe, and the other from South America. Both are using assumed names and fake passports. The one from Europe arrives tomorrow, and the other arrives the following day.”
Yari gave Wade the flight information for the arrival of the two operatives.
“I tracked down the plane number you gave me. The plane is owned by a couple of guys out of Ecuador. They run a delivery service throughout Central and South America for passengers or cargo, no questions asked. Their flights are said to hug mountainsides and treetops, and they file no flight plans. They seem to have ties with the drug cartels and some arms dealers. Do you want me to turn them over to the authorities?”
“No, not yet. There may be more activity, and I don’t want anyone alerted.”
Yari sighed aloud. “Sounds like this disruption op or whatever it is, is really going down fast. I think it may be a day or two after the other operatives arrive.”
“We’re getting very close. The ceremonies are scheduled over the next four days. I just don’t know which day they’ve picked to do the dirty deed.”
Yari sounded worried when he said, “If things get hot, do you and Max have an extraction plan?”
“Yeah. We’re working out those details now.”
“I wish I were down there with you guys, but I know I’d probably just be in the way, screwing things up.”
“No, you don’t want to be down here right now. Remind me some day to tell you the bomb-in-the-jungle story.”
“I’m not sure I want to know.”
“Do you have any communication from the other two operatives?”
“No. All of my calls are coming from Stephan’s phone in Belize. I did learn that the guy coming from South America isn’t from there, he’s just on assignment.”
“Okay listen, I’ll need a secure encrypted line to make an agency call.”
“You got it. Give me five minutes to set it up.”
“We might be out of communication for a while, in case you don’t hear back from us, but we’ll be okay.”
“You two are one hell of a team.”
Chapter 26
Wade didn’t want to forget anything on his next call. Using a pad, he scribbled some notes before calling Megan.
“Megan Winslow.”
“It’s me.”
“Let me get to a secure line.”
Momentarily she picked up the other line.
He dispensed with preliminaries. “Just calling in to see what you’ve come up with.”
“I have several things that look interesting. Senator Charles Lanier, who’s pushing the Inter-Americas Defense Bill, has decided to make a speech at the ceremonies in Belize. His press secretary just made that announcement today.”
The conversation went into pause while Wade considered, Could Lanier be the target? How could that be, though, if he just decided to come down here today? Would he put himself in that kind of danger just to make a point? Could he benefit somehow from the attack? Maybe he gets his bill passed or maybe he gets himself killed?
He finally filled the awkward silence. “Anything else?”
“Lots. You were right about Spencer’s hit-and-run accident. I spoke with the detective on the case in North Carolina. He felt it could have been a set up. Probably a professional hit. It had all the trappings.”
“Be careful who you talk to about that accident.”
“I am, but I think this detective in North Carolina is straight. It’s somebody you might want to talk to when you get back.”
“Were you able to do more research into whom I should notify about this incident?”
“I got three names. After checking with my contact on their backgrounds, the one I like best is a woman by the name of Zara Wicks. She’s attached to the British Embassy in an administrative capacity, but she’s really MI-6.”
“Why do you like her?”
“She goes by her maiden name, but is actually married to a physician in Belize. This is more than a job for her. They seem stable and very much committed to Belize. One of our agents in the U.K. knew her before she transferred to Belize. He said she was very good and could be trusted. She handled a foreign bombing investigation a couple of years ago in the U.K. and nailed the suspects with top-notch investigative work.”
“Who’s the other person?”
“James Collingsworth is also an MI-6 who works for Wicks. He’s young, with not much field experience, but good with administration. It’s really up to you.”
“Let me think about it. Are they both in the country so they can be reached through the Embassy?”