Riley Barron sat staring across his desk at the man seated on
the other side.
“Now what?”
Flip Workman sighed. “Well, Mister Barron,
you gotta get him, no matter what it takes. We can’t recover this cargo without
him. He’s the most experienced deep-water diver I know of and we’re gonna need
someone of his caliber if you wanna recover those 'items'. I mean, I can do it,
but I’m gonna need help….help you can’t openly advertise for. If the wrong
people were to get wind of this little operation, we could all end up in prison, at best…or dead.”
Barron grunted. “You’re right, of course,
when you say we can’t just go out and get a qualified deep-water guy. This
entire operation…location and target…cannot
be made public. When you say ‘no matter what’…”
Workman leaned back in his chair, propped
his worn cowboy boots on Barron’s desk and lit a cigarette. “You’re better off
not knowing.”
“Why?”
Exhaling a cloud of smoke through his nose,
Workman answered, “It’s called ‘plausible deniability’. If I were to
employ…’unsavory tactics’, let’s say…you’d be protected. You wouldn’t know what
was occurring because I’m a private contractor.”
Barron’s face reddened. “I WILL NOT engage
in any activity that will damage the reputation of this company, Mister
Workman. None. If I get even the hint of something…”
Workman didn’t let him finish. “Save it,
Barron. We both know what you want to
do is illegal…yet you were willing to take the risk of broaching the idea with
me. The payday will be worth the risk, as long as we can recover the target.
I’m telling you, to recover this target we need a diver who’s been in deep
water more than a few times. We can’t advertise or make our need public because
of what it is we want to do. I can do it, but I need someone with Sam Wade’s
experience. I know him, I dove with him in the Navy and I know what he’s done
in the past. He’s a specialist in saturation dives and this is right up his alley,
since we don’t know a whole lot about the condition of the transport vessel. If
you don’t let me find a way to get him on board with this, I’m out…and your
sixteen million dollars will stay on the bottom of the ocean.”
Barron stared at the man for
a full ten seconds before he spoke, weighing the risk versus reward.
“ ‘Plausible deniability’. It better be
air-tight, Workman, or you’ll end up on the bottom inside a padlocked freezer.
Just let me know when you’ll be ready to dive. Make it soon.” Riley Barron
swiveled his chair to face the large window immediately behind his desk,
signaling an end to the meeting.
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