He brought more wine from the interior of the house, and we settled in for an evening of decision. We were stumped as to who was after us and what we could do to protect ourselves and the families of the team members.
I learned some more about how we ended up at this house in the Bahamas. On Sunday, J.D. had made the calls to police officials in all the towns where the surviving members lived, working from the list Doc had given her the night before. She discovered the deaths of Don Lemuel’s son in North Dakota and Conrad Dixson’s daughter on the campus of the University of Virginia. Neither Galis nor Wright, who lived in Kentucky, had suffered a loss.
J.D. called Doc before noon and gave him the information she’d found. Doc called each of the team members and using the code told them of the danger. Each of them had contingency arrangements in case something like this happened. They sent their families to the prearranged places and started making their way to Fort Lauderdale.
Doc had remembered Telson and called him at home on Saturday afternoon when things started coming apart. He told him he’d like to hire him for a few days to do some top-secret work. The work involved his company and secrecy was of the utmost importance. The job would involve flying, perhaps out of the country, but Doc couldn’t tell him anything else. The pay was equal to what Telson would earn in six months working regularly.
Telson had rented an executive jet in his name, telling the owners that he had a copilot lined up to help him fly the craft. He lied, but since he was paying cash and had all the proper licenses and certificates from the Federal Aviation Administration, they let him have the plane. Doc didn’t think anyone would ever connect him to Telson since their dealings had in the past always been through the company Telson worked for.
On Sunday, Telson flew the jet he had rented to Lexington, Kentucky, where he picked up Ben Wright. From there they went to North Dakota, to the airport at Minot and picked up Don Lemuel. Then to Charlotte to fetch George Brewster and back to Atlanta. It was late in the afternoon by the time they parked the plane on the tarmac at Charlie Brown Airport. Wright, Brewster, and Lemuel were put in separate hotels and told they’d be contacted by Doc later in the evening.
Conrad Dixson came by a more circuitous route. He left his home in Northern California on Saturday evening and took a bus to Medford, Oregon, paying cash. At the bus station in Medford he caught a cab to the airport where he checked into the private terminal using a false name. He was met by a man wearing a uniform of black trousers and a white short-sleeve dress shirt with the four stripes of a captain on his epaulets. “I understand we’re going to Fort Lauderdale,” the captain said.
“That’s right,” said Dixson.”
“Okay, sir. My name’s Miller. My copilot’s name is Nick. We’re ready to go.”
They walked to a small jet, the cabin constructed for groups of only three or four executives. “We’ll have to refuel in Denver and again in Memphis, but we’ll have you there by about ten in the morning Eastern time.”
The plane had been chartered by Doc using one of his many companies, one that hopefully wouldn’t be traced to him.
Paul Galis had driven to Fort Lauderdale from Key West in his assigned unmarked police cruiser. He told his boss he was going to Miami to investigate a case he was working on.
Each of the men was staying at different hotels under assumed names.
Early on Monday morning, Telson picked up the team members stashed in the Atlanta hotels and took them to Charlie Brown Airport. Doc was there, waiting with the plane. The greetings were effusive, lots of hugging and backslapping. Old soldiers returning to the fray.
They flew directly to Sarasota, and Doc asked Telson to rent a car and go to the nearest convenience store and buy a disposable cell phone. When Telson returned, Doc drove to Longboat Key to J.D.’s condo. It was a little after six and J.D. was up, preparing to report to work at seven. She was surprised to see Doc at her door and concerned about the urgency in his demeanor. She invited him into the condo.
“We’ve got to get you out of here. Right now,” he said.
“What’s