Free Gray Ghost (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 1) by C.L. Swinney

“Thanks. Now how about something to drink? I can talk better if I’m not parched. Besides, isn’t providing sustenance to captives required?”
    Dix shook his head. “That only applies during wartime. Since it appears you’re a mercenary, whoever hired you won’t be contacting local law enforcement to report you missing.”
    The prisoner sighed. “Well, if you’re going to kill me, just do it. I’ve been in worse situations. This contract was supposed to be my last. I was going to retire.”
    Dix raised an eyebrow and stared at the man. “You retired once before I bet. Why are you doing contracts at your age?”
    “ Two daughters in college.” He eyed Dix and smirked, “And I can still get the job done.”
    “ That may be, but now you have major problems.”
    The shooter looked at the room, his hands, and his legs. “Maybe.”
    Dix watched as the sniper slowly slumped over, and he motioned for Roger to get the man a drink.
    Roger left and returned with a glass of water and a large piece of bread which he fed to the prisoner.
    When he was finished, he turned to Roger. “Was it you who got me good? What did you use, a piece of wood?”
    Roger smiled. “Yes and yes.”
    “ Snuck up on me. Didn’t think it was possible. I watched you and your family and dismissed you as a threat. Apparently my judgment failed me.”
    Dix wanted to get on with the interrogation. They’d already wasted valuable time. “Let me tell you what I know. Stop me when I’m wrong.”
    “ What? You’re not going to ask my name, and who I work for, and what I was doing?”
    Dix grabbed another chair from the corner and sat opposite the suspect. “I know most of that already. You were hired, most likely by the Caller, to hijack a large shipment of coke. It probably belonged to one of the Caller’s competitors. You took the job and came to Andros Island intending to disable the boat and secure the cocaine. Unfortunately, you allowed the speedboat to get underway before you could intercede. So you figured you’d kill the occupants to stop it. I’m not sure if that was part of the contract or not. ”
    Thomas tried lying first. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I came here last night. I did take a contract from the Caller, but it was to fix someone else’s mistake. All I was told was there was a vessel underwater containing precious cargo. I was provided GPS coordinates for the vessel and was scouting out the location to see how to retrieve the boat when I was smacked across the face.”
    Dix thought for a moment. “As you fired on the occupants, you accidentally disabled the vessel, and it sank. You jacked up the mission. To make up for your mistake, you offered to fix the situation quickly and quietly, which the Caller agreed to. You monitored the location and saw a flats boat arrive. After a while, one of the occupants left the boat and dove down to your sunken speedboat. As he came up, another boat arrived. So you were going to eliminate the people on the boats. For some reason, you moved around too much underneath your ghillie suit. That’s what gave you away.”
    The prisoner remained in eye contact with Dix. “You keep saying I killed two people. It’s not true. I admit I was going to kill the guys poaching in the area I thought the speed boat was in.” He shrugged. “Business is business.”
    Thomas motioned with his head to Roger. “I paused, which enabled him to capture me.”
    Dix asked, “Where did you deploy from?”
    “ I was in Nassau diving. The details were sent to my iPhone.
    Arrived here about an hour later by boat.”
    Dix spoke quickly. “Where were you diving?”
    The guy hesitated, then replied, “The Tongue of the Ocean.”
    Roger cleared his throat. “Dix. He’s full of shit. The Tongue is about a mile off of the island we’re standing on.”
    Dix stared at the suspect. “Thanks, Roger. As far as I’m concerned, unless he wants to tell us who the Caller is, you and your friends can