“How about the captain of the yacht?” I asked. “According to Spence, this guy Campion’s lifelong dream is to take down a pirate on the high seas. I don’t want him to go all Steven Seagal on us.”
“Rothlein radioed him on the NYPD frequency and told him to prepare to be boarded. As far as Campion knows, you’re just doing some routine follow-up on the shooting at the funeral home, and you couldn’t wait for the boat to dock tonight—nothing that would set off his cowboy genes.”
“MacDonald says there’s a swimming platform at the stern,” I said. “Can you arrange for us to board there?”
“Rothlein thinks it’s too visible,” Cates said. “There’s a cargo hold door on the starboard side. It’s harder to see from the top deck. Once you get close, the yacht will slow down, but not enough for Benoit to get suspicious. A couple of crewmen will open the cargo door and extend a ramp. The three of you will have to jump while both boats are moving at a pretty good clip.”
Making a sideways leap from a moving boat onto a narrow ramp was not nearly as easy as jumping forward onto a low-hanging double-wide swim platform would have been, but Cates was right. This had to run like Special Ops.
“Getting on board won’t be a problem,” I said.
“Once you’re on board, get Ordway to the engine room. Benoit is smart—he’ll know that’s where he can do the most damage. Odds are he plans to jump ship and set his bombs off by remote. Your job is to keep him from getting off that boat, because I guarantee you that as soon as he’s a hundred yards away, he’ll blow it up and laugh while it burns. I’ve got fireboats and EMS units tailing you, and I’ve got choppers and a chase team, but I’ve only got the two of you to keep him from pushing that button.”
“We can handle it, Captain,” I said.
“I’m counting on you, Jordan. Me and a hundred other people,” she said. “Put MacDonald on the horn.”
I held the cell phone close to Kylie. “Right here, Captain.”
“I’ve got a message from your husband. FDNY cut him out of the floor, he’s on his way to NYU Medical, and he loves you.”
“Tell him I love him, too,” Kylie said.
“I have a better idea,” Cates said. “Make sure you get your ass back here in one piece and tell him yourself.”
Chapter 85
EXT. HUDSON RIVER—NEW YORK CITY—DUSK
Helicopter shot of SHELLEY TRAGER’s yacht as it sails quietly up the river. And there in the background, we see her, standing tall and proud as the sun sets—THE STATUE OF LIBERTY.
MUSIC UP: We hear THE RAT-A-TAT-TAT OF SNARE DRUMS, followed by HORNS, and then the track is filled with the unmistakable sound of the Greatest Musical Genius of All Time—THE LATE, GREAT RAY CHARLES, singing the best fucking version of AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL ever recorded.
RAY CHARLES (SOUND TRACK)
O beautiful, for heroes proved,
In liberating strife,
Who more than self, their country loved,
And mercy more than life.
The camera drifts in on the yacht, and we see a ramp slowly being lowered from the stern like a giant tailgate. As we move in closer, we see The Chameleon as he prepares to get off the moving ship.
RAY CHARLES
America, America,
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine.
The camera is in tight now as The Chameleon unties one of two Zodiac Bayrunners, a fifteen-foot pontoon boat Trager uses when he anchors offshore.
RAY CHARLES
O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
The Chameleon slides one Zodiac off the ramp and into the water. He jumps in and starts it.
RAY CHARLES
For purple mountain majesties,
Above the fruited plain.
The Zodiac slowly edges away from the yacht.
RAY CHARLES
America, America,
God shed his grace on thee.
Long shot as we see the Zodiac separating even farther from the doomed yacht.
RAY CHARLES
He crowned thy good,
In brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.
Cut to a close-up of Lady Liberty as she looks down approvingly on the scene below.
RAY CHARLES
You know, I wish I had
somebody to help me sing this.
The CHORUS joins in, and now the music and the emotion build.
CHORUS
America, America,
RAY CHARLES
America, I love you, America
CHORUS
God shed his grace on thee.
Cut to a close-up of The Chameleon as he removes his CELL PHONE from his pocket.
RAY CHARLES
God shed his grace on thee.
Cut to a wide shot. Slowly the Zodiac slips out of the picture.
RAY CHARLES