Primary Valor by Jack Mars (booksvooks TXT) 📗

“A place to escape the law?” Edsaid.

“Indeed,” Trudy said. “Darwin Kingprefers to live outside the lines. St. Simon’s Saw isn’t claimed by anycountry. In a technical sense, international law prevails there, but in realityno one is there to enforce it. Honduras is the country most nearby, but thegovernment is utterly corrupt and King has close ties with several people inthe government and the military. They do not interfere with him.

“On his own private island, to alarge degree, he is the law. When he’s in hot water in the United States, suchas the ongoing investigation in Florida, he retreats to St. Simon’s. He’sthought to have been living there for the past six months, with occasionalvisits to Honduras, the Cayman Islands, and possibly, Colombia and Venezuela.”

“Who’s the woman with him?” Edsaid.

“In the photos we sent?” Trudysaid.

“Yes.”

Ed was holding a photograph of ayounger Darwin King and staring at it intently. In the photo, King was dressedin a nicely tailored black sports jacket, his hair only a bit gray, at somesort of cocktail party. On his arm was a thin, lovely short-haired brunette ina green dress, which matched her striking green eyes. They were both holdingdrinks. On the counter there was another photo of King with the same woman,this time on a boat. In that one, the woman was wearing a green windbreakerjacket.

“That’s Elaine Sayles, fifty-one yearsold. An heiress to the old Sayles furrier fortune from the nineteenth and earlytwentieth century, long since diversified into cosmetics, high tech, defense,and real estate.”

“Furs,” Swann said.

“Yeah,” Ed said. He had not takenhis eyes off the photo. “Out of fashion.”

“She grew up in New York, London,and Paris. She ran with a fast crowd when she was young, movie stars,musicians, artists. She did some magazine modeling, and appeared in low-budgetavant-garde films. She took up with King sometime in the 1980s, and began toappear on his arm at charitable events, dinners, shows. Maybe she was hisgirlfriend in those days, maybe she wasn’t. Now she’s thought to be a procurerof sorts for him, bringing teenage girls into his orbit. She is also thought toplay den mother and disciplinarian to the girls, keeping them organized and inline.”

“She’s a pimp,” Ed said.

“If you like,” Trudy said. “Eitherway, she is definitely a member of his household, and is his longtime friendand partner in crime.”

The look in Ed’s eyes was very,very dangerous. Luke flashed back to the way Ed looked when he was dealing withLouis Clare.

“You planning to kill somebody?”Luke said.

Big Ed shrugged. “I don’t have anyfirm plans right now.”

“In any event,” Trudy said, “asfar as we know, Darwin King is on St. Simon’s Saw. Our best guess is thatCharlotte Richmond is there as well, likely along with several other abductedor trafficked teenage girls, any number of household staff, a squad of personalbodyguards, and possibly a dozen or more rank and file Honduran soldiers. Andalso Elaine Sayles.”

“Do we know any of this for afact?” Luke said.

“Stone,” Swann said, “I’ve beenflying a gossamer drone, very light, up near eighty thousand feet, in that areasince before dawn. Although I’m way up high, I have pretty good optics. Therewas thick fog around the island this morning, but it has mostly burned off. Skiesare clear and I’m looking at it right now, almost in real time. I can see thewhole island and the compound around the house in detail.”

“Let’s hear it,” Luke said.

“There are troops present at boththe house and the airfield, hard to say how many. There is a small modern jetand two military-style jeeps parked at the airfield. There is a checkpoint andguard station near the entrance to the house, along with a couple more jeeps,at least one of which may have a rear-mounted gun. Also, there is what lookslike security fencing around the entire house compound. Inside the compound,there are four or five people at the pool. There are other people millingaround, what I would guess are servants or bodyguards.”

“Terrific,” Luke said. Not onlywere there soldiers to fight, there were all kinds of civilians to get in theway. He stared down at the map.

“Would you say that’s about a milefrom the airfield to the house?”

“A mile and a half, closer to two,”Swann said. “And bear in mind the road goes straight up the hillside.”

“Okay.”

“Here’s the best part,” Swannsaid. “Along that perimeter fencing, there’s something moving, which I’m going toguess… Hold on, let me see if I can pull in a bit. Yeah, it looks like what you’vegot there is two fences, with a bit of a gap between them. And there are dogsin the gap.”

“Dogs?” Luke said.

“Either that, or small ponies. Somethingon four legs. Bear cubs? I think probably dogs. Dobermans, Rottweilers,something along those lines. Four, five, I count at least six. Could be more.”

“How about something friendly,like Labradoodles?” Luke said.

“Sure,” Swann said. “If youprefer. It’s a security dog run filled with friendly, happy dogs. Bring somechewy treats.”

“And a Frisbee,” Trudy said.

Luke sighed. “So what’s the plan? Wego there by airplane, ask for permission to land, hitchhike two miles up to thehouse, waltz right past all his people and his killer guard dogs, and arrestthe man?”

It seemed far-fetched, at best.

“This is a rescue operation,” DonMorris said. “Not an arrest. It’s an extraction.”

“An extraction?” Ed said.

“Yes,” Don said. “We have oneobjective. Infiltrate, find, and extract the Richmond girl, and get her backout safely. Everything else is superfluous. You are not there to arrest DarwinKing. You are not there to go to war against the Honduran army.”

“What about the other girls?” Edsaid.

“It’s tricky,” Don said. “We don’tknow how long those girls have been there. We don’t know why they’re there. Wedon’t even know for sure who they are. Many people who are being trafficked don’tknow they’re being trafficked, or have forgotten how they came to be in thesesituations. Many will take the side of the traffickers. It’s going to be hot inthere, and you do not want to waste time trying to drag people out who do notwant to leave. If you encounter evidence of human trafficking, acquire it, andwe’ll go back in there with