There was a pause, but I didn’t hear the tell-tale click of her hanging up. Even if she were on a cell, there would be an audible click as the landline connection broke.
“Mr. McDermitt, I have a sixteen-year-old niece that I absolutely adore. She’s one of the brightest, most ambitious, talented girls I’ve ever met or known and I’m terrified that she and her family might be targeted and killed by MS-13.”
There was a pause. Then, as if she were not just asking but admitting something to herself, she added. “I need some help. I’m fearful of what these animals might do to them.”
MS-13? I thought, sliding my empty beer bottle toward Rusty.
He picked up the bottle with a questioning look. I nodded that I’d have one more.
“Are you still there, Mr. McDermitt?”
“I am. I was thinking. I’m not a big fan of the gang. Tell me a little more about your situation.”
“Thank you, thank you!”
“Slow down, Nancy. I’m not saying I can help, but you’ve piqued my interest. What’s the story with the niece and why are they after her?”
“I gather from what she told me that she interrupted an attempted kidnapping one evening about ten days ago. In the process, she beat up two of the gang members, grabbed the girl from them, and escaped with her on the back of her motorcycle.”
“I thought you said she was sixteen?”
“She is.”
“How big is she?” I asked, a bit incredulous.
“Tiny, maybe five feet, if she’s lucky.”
“I’m missing something here, Nancy. This doesn’t jibe with what I know about the gang.”
“I know, I know,” she said. “I had the same questions, and I would have dismissed what she’d told me out of hand if I hadn’t seen what she’s capable of myself.”
“What did you see?”
“As I mentioned, we’re in Boston right now looking at colleges. Yesterday we stopped at a friend’s jewelry store to have something appraised. While we were in there, a masked man wielding a shotgun broke in, disabled the armed guard and held all of us at gunpoint.” She paused dramatically. “For about one minute.”
“Why just a minute?”
“That’s how long it took for my niece to disarm him, knock him out, and then get him in cuffs.”
“Miss Liddell, no offense, but that sounds like what we used to call a sea story in the Marines. Others might use the term bullshit.”
“Swear to God. She disarmed him, hit him in the jaw with the butt of his own gun, and when that wasn’t enough, she drew some sort of telescoping pipe out of her jacket and cracked him alongside the head and he went down.”
“Sounds like a police baton. Has she had martial arts training or something?”
“Yes. Something happened to her last year—an altercation. After she told me about it, I introduced her to an Israeli friend who teaches self-defense. She was excited about it, so I paid for her membership for a year. She went almost every night. I gather she’s gotten quite good at it over the last several months.”
Israeli? I knew of only one martial art form from that region of the world, and the term martial art could only be applied to it in a very loose way. It’s a combat fighting technique; not really for self-defense, but used to kill the enemy with whatever is available, including bare hands.
“Krav Maga.”
“Yes, exactly. How did you know?”
“You said the instructor was Israeli. I know a little about it.”
“Anyway, since she took down those two gang members, they’ve been actively looking for her and have already made three attempts to try and capture or kill her. I’m terrified that they’re going to succeed.”
“Where do you and she live?”
“I live on Boca Grande and Callie lives just outside Fort Myers on the Caloosahatchee.”
“That’s about 120 miles from me by boat.”
“You’ll help me!”
“No, sorry. I was thinking out loud. I need to give this some more thought. You said you’re in Boston right now?”
“Yes, we’re looking at colleges and we’ll be here till Sunday.”
“You said your niece was sixteen. Isn’t she kind of young to be looking at colleges?”
“Not really. Callie’s a high school senior right now. She started school young and she also skipped a grade.”
“So, she’s a brain, too. Why is it so important that she and her family be protected without their knowledge? It’s much simpler to protect someone if they’re compliant and following some basic rules.”
“Is why really important?”
“It is to me,” I replied, nodding to Dink as he headed for the back deck. “I never work with anyone unless all the cards are on the table.”
“The main reason is that I’m afraid my sister and her husband will blame me for getting Callie involved with martial arts in the first place and forbid me from seeing her or allowing her to go off to an out-of-state college. They’re prideful people and would resent the rich sister thinking she can buy their protection. From Callie’s point of view, I just don’t want to undermine her self-confidence.”
“I see. Listen, I need to think about this. Your niece sounds like a good kid and she’s likely in considerable danger. I want to do some research on MS-13 in Fort Myers. I want to know what I would be up against before I give you an answer.”
“What would you typically charge for an assignment like this?”
I grinned. She seemed honest and didn’t dodge around. “I don’t do assignments like this,” I replied. “I’m sort of retired. If I were to somehow help you out with your problem, I would simply ask that you pay it forward and help someone else who needs it at a later date.”
“I can’t thank you enough, Mr. McDermitt.”
“As I said, I’m not sure I can help, due to some other obligations, but I’m not without resources and contacts with others who might be able
