Marauder (Oregon Files 15)

Juan shook his head. “Something is wrong. Wilbanks, you were in Nhulunbuy two days ago, yes or no?”

“No,” Wilbanks said.

MacD frowned. “That doesn’t make a lick of sense.”

“Is he lying?” Raven asked.

“He can’t,” Juan said. “Not with this drug.”

“Then why is he giving us such screwy answers?” MacD asked.

“Maybe he hasn’t understood because I’ve been asking the questions with the wrong assumption.” Juan turned to the captain. “What is currently in your cargo bays?”

“Nothing. They’re empty.”

“What is your port of origin?”

“Brisbane, Australia.”

“Why are you going to Jakarta?”

“To pick up a load of lumber to bring back to Australia.”

“That matches the online manifest,

” Raven said.

Eddie called on the comm system.

“Chairman, Linc and I are down here in cargo bay five. It’s as bare as a bachelor’s refrigerator.”

“Check the others to make sure,” Juan said, “but I think you’ll find the same thing.”

“Acknowledged.”

“What’s going on here?” MacD asked. “The Nhulunbuy harbormaster confirmed that the Shepparton was docked there.”

“And when we approached this ship, Parsons said it looked like the one he’d seen in Nhulunbuy,” Raven said. “Do you think they unloaded the cargo en route?”

Juan shook his head. “Transferring cargo from ship to ship in the middle of the ocean is a delicate process that would take a significant amount of time. They would never have gotten this far if they’d stopped on the way.”

“Besides, Wilbanks here would have spilled his guts about it,” MacD said. “You didn’t transfer cargo at sea, did you, Captain?”

“No,” Wilbanks said.

Raven sighed. “Then there’s only one other possibility.”

“The freighter in Nhulunbuy wasn’t the Shepparton,” Juan said as he stood, banging his hand on the desk in frustration. “We’ve got the wrong ship.”

THIRTY-SIX

THE CORAL SEA

Five hours after leaving Nhulunbuy, Captain Gabriel Rathman had the name Shepparton painted over and replaced with the ship’s true name, Centaurus. The need for secrecy had been made abundantly clear by April Jin, backed up by the million-dollar paycheck he was getting for transporting this shipment.

He didn’t know what cargo he was carrying, and he didn’t want to know. All he had to do was bring it to Sydney in time for New Year’s Eve. If he was late, he would forfeit his fee. The storm and heavy seas they were plowing through right now were threatening the schedule, but Rathman planned to make his date no matter how big the waves got.

Lu Yang had hired him for this job more than a year ago, even going so far as to supply him with a Chinese crew that was to follow his orders to the letter, though by the weapons they were armed with, they seemed there primarily for security.