Coincidence - Alan May [23]
He’d had to invent a story, and a pretty darn good story it was, too, he thought, to have been hatched on the spot like that. He said he was filming a TV commercial and needed the vinyl to cover up the side of a building. The strips would come right off after the shoot, he’d said, warming to his theme. His film crew used it all the time.
Then the guy wanted to know why he hadn’t just brought it with him from the States to begin with, in that case. He replied with something about all the hassles involved in bringing it through customs. The little man seemed satisfied at this, nodding and grumbling about the troubles the government caused with its silly regulation of this and that, and said that, as long as Phillip paid cash in advance, he’d be glad to order whatever he wanted. And if he should need any extras for the TV commercial, any locals maybe, for a crowd scene—No? Well, if not himself, he had a wife, mother, sister, nephews, nieces …
Before leaving San Jose, Phillip located a small self-storage company and rented a medium-sized unit. It was larger than he really needed, but it was the only one available. He rented it for three months, paying in advance for the whole period. When the vinyl arrived, he would pick it up in a small rented van and deliver it to the storage unit until the day before they planned to steal the boat.
Philip went over the plan on his flight back to Medellin, examining it over and over for any problems unaccounted for, any ends untied. Two weeks before the heist was to go down, he, Juan, and Esteban would fly to San Jose and rent a small van in an assumed name. They would pick up the vinyl at the storage unit and drive to Puntarenas, arriving about four in the afternoon. That would give them time to buy food for the trip and observe both the harbor and the boat, making certain that everything was okay. Around eight o’clock they would drive the van to the boat, unload the vinyl and food, and leave the van in a parking lot close to the harbor. It should take them no more than half an hour to load the vinyl, break into the boat, start the engines, cast off the lines, and take off for Buenaventura.
What else? Was there anything, any detail, no matter how tiny, that—God forbid—he had overlooked that could trip them up? Anything at all he could add that would help—help them with the plan, and, most especially, help him get back into Juan’s good graces?
Goggles. Night-vision goggles. What if they could slip out of the harbor without turning on their lights at all? What if they could just glide right past the fishing boats, through the breakwater, and out into the open sea, with no more light than the moon and the stars provided? It was an idea, one that just might quell Juan’s anger at him a little.
He hated to think about being out in the Pacific Ocean with the man if it didn’t.
9
The day before the Inspiration’s departure, parents arrived to see their kids off. Of the thirty-two students on board, fourteen had family members present to bid them farewell.
Carol and Craig Jordan, Melissa’s mom and dad, arrived early in the afternoon and checked into the Holiday Inn Harbor View, directly across the street from the Inspiration’s dock. Running straight to the window of their eleventh-floor room overlooking the water, her carry-on bag still in hand, Carol yanked the curtains open, eager for her first view of the ship that was her daughter’s new home. She was horrified to find it nowhere in sight. Had they somehow come to the wrong place?
To the right, she could see planes taking off and landing at the San Diego airport. Looking across San Diego bay, slightly to the left, planes were taking off and landing at the North Island U.S. Naval Air Station. Several navy ships, including an aircraft carrier, were docked at the naval station. The