Soon to be released on
Castle’s In The Air - My interview with author extraordinaire, Armand Rosamilia.
It is with extreme pleasure that I
share with you all, Armand’s unpublished short story “Miami Spy Games: Deeper”. I have
no doubt you will enjoy it.
Miami Spy Games: Deeper
Armand Rosamilia
Jennifer
Sanchez made sure her stationery and pens were all in place on the meeting room
table, all lined up perfectly. All within easy reach. She sat down in her
swivel chair and flipped through the file before her.
There was a
knock at the door.
"Enter,"
she said without looking up. She knew by the tap it was Kostas, her tech guy and
one of the key members of this Miami ACES team.
"What's
going on, senorita?"
"Just
working." Jennifer looked up as he sat down in a chair near her. "Can
I help you?"
"I'm
bored." Kostas picked up a couple of the pens and tapped them on the
table. Jennifer had a sudden urge to snatch them from his hands but resisted.
"Go
find something else to do. I'm busy. Where's Martin?"
Kostas
shrugged. "He's working on that thing."
"What
thing?"
"You
know. That thing." Kostas leaned forward. "What are you working
on?"
Jennifer
smiled and placed the open folder on the table. "What am I working on?
Nothing." She slid it across to him. "Kostas, I'd like you to meet
Diana Marston."
Kostas
picked up the file and leafed through it, stopping at her file photo.
"Wow, she's damn hot. Is she seeing anyone?"
Qué idiota, she thought. "She's an undercover right now, part of the ACES team
based out of Jacksonville."
Kostas smiled. "Close enough
for us to meet and have a fun weekend, but far enough away I don't have to
worry about her getting all clingy with me."
"I seriously doubt she would
fly down to Miami for you." Jennifer grinned. "I doubt she'd walk
across the street to see you."
"Ouch."
"She was following up on some
pretty nasty Russian activity in and around the airport in Jacksonville when
she got in with one of the minor players, Pavel Nusenbaum. He works for Denis
Woloshyn."
"Woloshyn is a ghost. No one
has ever seen him."
"Kim L thinks Diana made a
positive identification two weeks ago."
"And?"
"Then she disappeared. No one
has had any contact with her since."
"Why did this come across your
desk? Surely Jacksonville ACES can take care of this. I'm sure with one of
their own missing, they'll be all over it." Kostas smiled. "Besides,
I don't like Jacksonville. The city or the football team. I'm a Miami
boy."
"You're not even from
here."
"This is now my home, and the
people of Miami took me in with open arms."
"Good. Then they will be happy
to know you won't be going to evil Jacksonville, because a half an hour ago she
was spotted at the Miamarina with Nusenbaum, trying to get a sailboat."
"I like where this is going.
Did they get one?"
"You sail in an hour,
captain," Jennifer said. "Better you than me."
"I suppose it makes no difference
I know nothing about actual sailing, right?"
Jennifer rearranged her pens.
"I'll make sure you have experienced crew onboard. You have twenty minutes
to Google nautical terms so you'll know what the crew is talking about."
Kostas grimaced. "More than
enough time."
*
* * * *
When the captain came onboard, Diana
Marston knew something was amiss. He was young, in his mid-twenties, and didn't
move like he'd been raised on the water. He moved like a city boy trying to
blend in. His first mate didn't look natural, either.
She rubbed her hand against Pavel's
arm and smiled at him, getting his attention. "This is such a beautiful
day," she said.
Pavel grinned at her, his perfect
teeth gleaming. "And you are a beautiful woman."
"Are we going to sail to an
island? Or just a cruise for the day, honey?"
Pavel kissed her lightly on the
lips. "That's a surprise. Now, go relax and slip into something sexy for
me. I could use another martini, too."
Diana smiled. "Anything for my
man."
She walked past the captain and
nodded her head. He couldn't take his eyes off her chest. Jerk. Pavel had two of his men on the sailboat with them, and they
looked ridiculous wearing suits and sweating. She went to the bow and slipped
off her red sun dress and her yellow shoes that matched the flowers on her
dress, and placed them next to her. She knew the two bodyguards would be
watching her, so she made sure to make an exaggerated bend and let them get a
good look at her shapely legs and her butt, barely covered by the thin black
bikini bottom.
Diana found her sunglasses in her
small pocketbook and put them on, smiling and lifting her chin to the Florida
sun. She could get used to this.
"Where is my martini?"
Pavel asked.
Diana smiled, glad her sunglasses
didn't betray the anger in her eyes. "Coming right up, honey."
The sailboat backed out of the
marina slip. Darnell turned the bow into the strong breeze and raised the
mainsail before turning on course. Diana went down below and found the liquor
cabinet. Pavel was lounging on the daybed and talking in Russian into his cell
phone.
She took her sweet time making his
martini and listening to his conversation. She had her back to him and made
sure she didn't tense up when she heard him tell whoever he was talking to
about meeting with Denis Woloshyn in the next hour in international waters.
This was the break she was waiting
for, and the reason she'd gone so deep undercover and cut off all ties with her
superiors and contacts. She'd been up Pavel's ass for days. He didn't let her
out of his sight, which worked in her favor. She was gathering intel at a
fevered pace but keeping it in her head for now. The worst thing she could do
was record it or write it down and get caught.
Pavel was paranoid, and with good
reason. He often patted down his bodyguards randomly, looking for wires and
transmitters. Rumor had it he once did the same to his mother.
He put his cell phone into his
pocket and took the offered drink from Diana. He was smiling. "Tell the
captain I need to see him, will you?"
"Of course, dear." She
went and found the captain, who was standing on deck and looking out to sea.
"Captain?"
"Yes?" he said with a big
smile and looked right at her cleavage.
Diana snapped her fingers. "Up
here, Captain Crunch. My boyfriend needs to see you right away."
"Sure. Where is he?"
This guy is an idiot. She looked
toward the stern. "He's at the bow."
"Thanks." He started
walking to the back of the sailboat.
"Excuse me, but I said the
bow." Diana pointed. "You're going the wrong way."
He grinned sheepishly. "I knew
that."
"No, you didn't." Diana
slid up next to him causally and smiled, aware the two henchmen were watching
her every move. "Look, I don't know who you are and I don't care. But I do
know you aren't a damn captain. I'm about to toss you overboard and sail
myself. Got it?"
He leaned forward. "I'm Kostas
with ACES, and I'm here to rescue you."
Diana looked over the side of the
boat. "I don't need to be rescued, you dolt. I need you to stay out of my
way and make like you know what you are doing, because we're about to be handed
a big fish to fry in an hour. I need you to keep an eye on the bodyguards."
She glanced at him. "Pavel will pat you down, you know."
"I have four handguns already
hidden on board. One is taped under the front sail thing. Let me go talk to
your boyfriend."
"I don't like you."
"I get that a lot."
*
* * * *
Kostas and Darnell (who worked in
ACES as a mechainic for the vehicles and actually knew how to sail a boat) went
about their business, Darnell casually doing most of the work as Kostas
struggled to figure out what he was supposed to do. It was easier for Kostas to
sit on the dock with a remote control and make the sailboat do maneuvers, fire
weapons and use multiple cameras. If such a craft existed. Kostas decided to
work on it as soon as he returned.
"Let me take over, by your
command, captain," Darnell said drily. The other ship, a forty-four
footer, had been drifting toward them for the last twenty minutes. It was no
coincidence.
"Of course." Kostas looked
around. "What should I do?" he whispered.
"Get up front in the boat and
get the free line ready to toss over to them."
Kostas ignored Pavel and Diana as
they came up and stood next to Darnell. The two bodyguards were a few feet from
Kostas now, but they both looked ready to pass out in the heat. They stunk like
sweat.
The other sailboat pulled closer and
four lines were exchanged. Luckily for Kostas, Darnell and the three sailors on
the other vessel knew what they were doing, and the two boats were quickly
rafted together. The two floated as stable as if they were one ship.
Kostas counted five men visible on
the other boat.
"Stay here," Pavel said to
Diana and glanced at his two men, who were now standing at attention on the
starboard side. He pointed at them and spoke Russian with a grin. Pavel climbed
carefully onto the other boat, shaking hands as he moved.
Kostas noticed Diana casually put
her dress back on and sat down, her dress covering the side of the seat where
Kostas had also told her was one of the guns. She was good.
An older man stepped out from the
cabin and frowned at Pavel. He wore a busy Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants, with
a towel draped over his right shoulder. Kostas could see the bulge under the
towel, and knew he was trying to hide a gun. His right hand was also behind his
back, another red flag. Denis Woloshyn was an imposing figure, muscular and
intense, especially as mad as he looked.
By the time Kostas registered Denis
had reached around and shot Pavel in the face, another half dozen gunshots
started ringing out. He fell to his stomach and pulled a 9mm from under a seat.
*
* * * *
Diana was already pointing the 9mm
at Denis when he shot Pavel in the face, but the move adjusted him enough so
her shot just missed him.
Everything was chaos in such close
quarters, and she shot both of Pavel's bodyguards from a few feet away before
they could even put a hand on their holsters. The other boat's men were drawing
weapons when Kostas shot two of them in the chest. He was a good shot, but
Diana was better.
Darnell took a bullet to the neck
and fell overboard.
There were three men and Denis on
the other boat, only a few feet away. Diana dropped down and began firing. She
smiled when she heard a grunt and someone hitting the water.
"Untie us, you idiots!"
Denis was yelling.
Kostas, still on his stomach, put up
three fingers.
Diana nodded. "Give up,
Woloshyn. You're under arrest."
She knew it wasn't going to work and
wasn't surprised when bullets skipped around the deck all around her. They were
outnumbered right now. The odds had been reduced but not well enough, and the
element of surprise was gone.
Damn
Pavel, walking right into an assassination, Diana thought. Her goal was to
get the info on the other boat since there were too many Russians to contend
with. A gunfight from a few feet away wasn't in the plans.
The Russians began unloading on the
sailboat, striking the starboard side. She turned to Kostas. "They
unhooked! They are moving away."
Kostas got up on one knee and fired
in rapid succession before dropping back down and miss getting shot at the
return fire. "I hit another one, but I don't see Denis. Only two
left."
Diana felt another half dozen
bullets strike the side of the boat and something popped loudly below them. They
weren't stupid, punching holes below the waterline. She waited until the firing
stopped before lifting her head up.
The other sailboat was already fifty
feet away and moving quickly north on the wind. "I don't think so."
Diana began taking aim, shooting five holes into the sailboat's hull. Kostas
joined her, his shots hitting the mainsail's post and shattering it. Maybe he wasn't such a bad shot after all,
she thought.
"We're sinking," Kostas
said matter-of-factly.
Diana pointed. "So will
they."
"There's even odds now,"
Kostas said, but before he could say another word Diana was already aiming and
shooting, striking the Russian in the forehead as he peeked over the side rail.
"Or maybe we take the advantage. Where'd you learn to shoot?"
"Quantico. You?"
"Brooklyn."
"Think you can sail this back
to shore before we sink?"
Kostas didn't even move. "Not a
chance. I guess we start swimming."
"Yes." Diana turned and
smiled at him. "But first, we swim over to the other sailboat and shoot
him in the head."
Kostas shrugged. "Sounds like a
plan. Please, after you."
Diana laughed. "You know
nothing about boating. The bilge pumps will keep us afloat for quite some time.
Long enough for us to get back to shore. Or we could panic and dive into the
Gulfstream current and die, or get the dinghy and try to make for shore."
She pointed. "Denis knows nothing about boats, either."
Denis Woloshyn was lanching his
sailboat's dinghy into the ocean.
Kostas turned and smiled. "Can
you get us back to land?"
"Of course. Once I take the
shot and take the top of this bastard's head off."
"Not if I get him first."
Diana fired and Denis, just moving
away from the sailboat in the dinghy, pitched over the side and into the ocean.
"I'll start the engines."
* *
* * *
If you have any questions about the Miami Spy Games series, I'd love to hear them: armandrosamilia@gmail.com
Armand Rosamilia
Miami Spy
Games on Amazon Kindle only $3.99!
http://www.amazon.com/Miami-Spy-Games-Russian-ebook/dp/B00ATCH11U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358000900&sr=8-1&keywords=Miami+Armand
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