Free Deadly Coast by R. E. McDermott Page B

help.”
    “You’re welcome,” Ward said. “Now you can return the favor. You know Ray Hanley, right?”
    “I doubt there’s anyone in the industry who doesn’t. Why?”
    “Because he’s been crawling up my ass daily about the lack of progress of getting his people back, supplemented by calls from what seems like every elected official in the great state of Texas. I also have it on good authority that he’s inquiring about Somali interpreters and airstrips in Kenya and Somalia.” Ward sighed. “He’s about to do something stupid and there’s nothing I can do about it. He’s a force of nature.”
    “And you’re telling me this why?” Dugan asked.
    “Because your harebrained plan is orders of magnitude better than whatever harebrained plan he’s concocting,” Ward said. “And yours has the added advantage of taking place a long way from my plan. Let’s invite him to your party.”
    “He’s not exactly a team player, Jesse. He doesn’t want to lead the band, he wants to be the band. Besides, why join us? Our focus isn’t Luther Hurd .”
    “No, but I can sell it to him as a necessary diversion, and if I don’t do something, he’ll screw things up for both of us,” Ward said.
    “I don’t know,” Dugan said, “Hanley can be—”
    “Agent Ward, this is Alex Kairouz. Tell Mr. Hanley he is most welcome to join us.” Alex shot Dugan a pointed look. “And tell him to bring his checkbook.”
    Ray Hanley, force of nature, arrived in London the very next morning on a nonstop redeye from Houston, all five foot seven and 180 pounds of him. He sat now at one end of the conference table, an unlit cigar jammed in the corner of his mouth, as he glared at the speaker phone in the middle of the table. Dugan sat at the opposite end of the table, and Alex and Anna flanked them on either side, all listening to the latest intel update from Ward.
    “And there’s been a huge increase in traffic out of Eyl as well as Garacad and Hobyo, all main pirate ports,” said Ward’s voice from the speaker. “It’s beginning to look like some sort of major pirate offensive, and it’s very unusual for them to be coordinated to this degree.”
    “What does that have to do with anything, Ward?” Hanley asked.
    Ward’s exasperated sigh was audible through the speaker. “I don’t know, Hanley,” he said. “It may have an impact, so I think we need to stay on top of it.”
    “Maybe this ‘offensive’ is what the Luther Hurd snatch is all about,” Dugan suggested, ignoring Hanley. “To draw Western naval presence to a high-profile target and clear the field for more hijackings.”
    “Except that al-Shabaab and your regular pirates don’t get along,” Ward said. “Make no mistake, it’s the terrorist angle that’s drawing all the official attention. If Luther Hurd had been hijacked by garden-variety pirates, I’m sure the US Navy would be there alone.” He paused. “No, al-Shabaab is doing this for their own reasons. The others may be taking advantage of it, but that’s just a sideshow.”
    Hanley interjected himself back in the conversation. “Well, whatever’s causing it, having the damn pirates out in force will help our operation.”
    “Ah … I don’t think I want to hear about that,” Ward said.
    Anna smiled and reached across the table to the speaker phone. “Goodbye, Jesse. And thank you,” she said, and disconnected.
    Dugan looked down the table at Ray Hanley. “I think you need to tone down the attitude, Hanley. Ward is helping us, after all.”
    Hanley took the unlit cigar from his mouth and smiled. “He works for the government, and that makes him a bureaucrat in my book. And I have a standing policy of never cutting a bureaucrat any slack. They shovel BS on a daily basis, and you have to question everything that comes out of their mouths.”
    Anna stiffened.
    “Present company excepted, of course,” Hanley added. “Besides, Ward brought it on himself. He wasn’t telling me a damn