The Hunters

‘So,’ Papineau said to break the ice, ‘I’m sure you’re wondering why I invited you to Florida instead of paying for the item in New York.’

‘Not really,’ Cobb said. ‘I assume you brought us here to officially team us up and ship us out-of-country for something even bigger.’

The Frenchman smiled. ‘The team-up was obvious. Why do you assume the rest?’

‘Why? Because we’re in Fort Lauderdale, the Venice of America, a city known for its extensive system of canals. The location gives you quick access to international waters, but keeps you away from the drug cartels in Miami. Based on your car and clothes, I know you have money to burn, which means you probably took advantage of the real estate collapse and bought yourself a nice estate — or three — near the beach. Not because you like playing in the sand, but because you need water access for, um, business.’

Papineau stared at him. ‘And what business do you think that is?’

‘I’d hate to be presumptuous. That would be rude.’

‘Indeed.’

An uncomfortable silence filled the limo for the next several seconds as Sarah and McNutt waited to see Papineau’s reaction to Cobb’s analysis. Although they had spoken to him on the phone, this was the first time any of them had met Papineau, so they were anxious to see what kind of man had hired them. Was he a vicious tyrant like Vladimir Kozlov, or was he a tough-but-fair leader like Cobb himself?

Papineau continued to stare. ‘I see you’ve given this a lot of thought.’

‘More than a little, less than a lot.’

‘And what conclusions have you reached?’

‘No conclusions. Just observations.’

‘Don’t undervalue observations, Lieutenant. I learned quite a bit about you by observing you from afar. Not only did I tap into the FBI feed in New York, but I also watched you conduct countersurveillance in the airport. I didn’t want to miss a thing.’

Cobb smiled. He had been right all along.

Whoever watches the watchers was the key to everything.

He reached for the crackers, which looked like saltines but were probably baked in tandoor ovens in India somewhere. He hadn’t eaten all day. Hunger kept him alert, but he needed sustenance to keep up his strength. ‘Do me a favor. Don’t call me “Lieutenant”. It’s a bad habit to get into. You might slip up, do it around secret police in a foreign land, and earn us a set of eyes we don’t want.’

Papineau nodded. ‘Good to know.’

‘That is, if I decide to work for you.’

‘You’re already on the payroll.’

‘I am?’

‘You are,’ he assured him. ‘Unless, of course, you’re here to let me know that you don’t wish to be paid for services rendered. Is that why you’re here, Mr Cobb? To refuse my money?’

‘No,’ Cobb admitted, ‘I’m here to learn more about your plans for us. Once I know the details, I’ll let you know whether I intend to work for you ever again.’

Papineau smiled. He loved Cobb’s experience, intelligence, and directness. He had everything he was looking for and more. ‘Trust me, Mr Cobb. Once you hear my offer, I am quite certain that you and your team will sign on for more. Offers like these are rare indeed.’

Cobb studied his face. ‘Then why wait? Why not tell us now?’

‘Why?’ the Frenchman teased with a devilish smile. ‘Because you still have to meet the rest of your team.’

12

The limo slowed and turned off the scenic highway, leaving the paved road for a dirt path that had been cut through the overgrown marshes. McNutt saw WARNING and NO TRESPASSING signs as they drove toward a twenty-foot-tall gate in the middle of the jungle. It reminded him of the entrance to Jurassic Park.

‘Hey, Papi!’ McNutt said as he put his nose against the window. ‘Please tell me you have dinosaurs. I want to play with some.’

In this part of the country, ‘Papi’ (which sounds like pa-pee) is a slang term that literally means ‘father’, but can also mean ‘boyfriend’, ‘big daddy’, or many other things. McNutt intended no disrespect by using it. He liked it simply because it was easier for him to say than his other options.

Papineau shook his head in frustration. ‘Joshua, in the future, please address me as Mr Papineau or Jean- Marc. Not Papi. Never Papi.’

‘Sorry,’ McNutt mumbled, ‘I prefer Papi.’

Cobb tried not to smile. He prayed that McNutt’s childishness was just an act. Otherwise, there was a decent chance that he was mentally challenged. Nevertheless, he did his best to protect McNutt by quickly changing the subject. ‘Despite the size of your fence, I’m assuming you have other security measures in place. Or do you actually use raptors?’

Papineau shook his head. ‘There is electrified mesh netting comprised of twenty-eight AWG, heavy poly nylon one-five-five magnet wire behind the fence, reaching to the base of the marsh. It encircles the entire six-acre property within the reeds.’

Then he added, ‘It cannot be cut.’

‘There is nothing that cannot be cut,’ Sarah said.

‘That may be true — if you’re willing to accept several fatalities en route to that goal.’

‘So, is the high voltage to keep people in or out?’ Sarah asked.

‘Objects in, people out,’ he answered vaguely.

The chauffeur touched the right-side frame of his sunglasses. Then he pressed an eight-button combination on another remote control. The gate swung in slowly.

‘The combination changes every hour,’ Papineau bragged. ‘It is beamed from security central to a heads-up display in his eyewear. Very high-tech.’

A cobblestone road greeted them on the other side of the fence. The car continued along an extended, stretched-out ‘S’ curve until the flat top of a single-story ranch house could be seen. It was surrounded, as far as they could see, by an artificial inlet.

‘Damn,’ McNutt said. ‘Not what I was expecting.’

Cobb saw his point. The unassuming structure was made of concrete block stucco with a tile roof. He guessed it to be about four thousand square feet. On the surface, it appeared no different from the other homes they’d passed on the highway — which was the point. There was a practical side, too. A low house would be better equipped to handle the ubiquitous Florida storms — and easier to armor, since impact-resistance diminished exponentially the higher from base a wall reached. If the grounds were electrified and the windows were bulletproof, he had a hunch the walls would be designed to withstand a rocket-propelled grenade, at the very least.

Cobb noticed a wellhead in a patch of land; that meant the place maintained its own water supply. He also saw an Echelon-class Signals Intelligence (or SIGINT) satellite dish. Except for a slight size differential — it was about twenty percent larger than a standard home dish — no one would know it was the same kind used by the military for highly secure SIGINT transmissions.

As they rounded the driveway in front of the house, Cobb saw that they not only had a moat but also their own canal and marina.

The chauffeur parked outside a four-car garage, then hustled around the limo and opened the door. Papineau, their host, took the lead in exiting the vehicle. He helped Sarah from the car, then turned his back on Cobb and McNutt. Cobb was impressed by his actions. The first was a show of chivalry; the second was a show of trust.

So was bringing them to his home.

‘Welcome to La Tresorerie, my friends,’ Papineau said as he opened the heavy, crystal-inlaid, carved wood door. The latch had popped open an instant before he grasped the handle thanks to facial recognition software in