“Yes. He’s here beside me. But right now you’re going to load the cash and diamonds into the container at the rear of the boat. When you’re done, you’re going to shut the lid tightly. I’ll call you back in three minutes. Keep the cell handy.” He added, “Hurry or I cut your son right now.”

“Don’t you dare, you sonofabitch!”

“Then hurry!” Matt played the tape of Jimmy screaming. “Do it!”

Matt cut the line and reached for the binoculars, watched as David rushed to the rear of the boat and began to load the ten-gallon container. It was actually an old metal milk receptacle that he had found in the garbage at the back of a warehouse in Modesto. The container was heavy; it would sink. But it had another feature that was crucial to his plan. He had equipped the lid with a waterproof light that was rigged to go on five minutes after the top was shut.

Matt had experimented in this very water to figure out how bright the light had to be in order to be seen at night from a distance of fifty feet—but not a hundred feet. He needed the light to help him find the container in the dark, but it was essential that not a glimmer of the light reached the surface. He trusted the people at the FBI to figure these details out later, but in the heat of the moment, both the agents in the helicopters and the boats should not know what he was up to.

When they saw David drop the precious cargo overboard, they would simply think he had lost his mind. But it would be David who had lost millions.

Matt reached for the phone again. David had finished loading the money into the container. The boat was near, almost directly north of him. Timing was everything. Right now he needed David’s cooperation more than ever. Money was the center of the guy’s life. Matt knew it would be hard for him to throw the goods overboard.

“Hello?” David answered.

“Do you have the lid securely shut?”

“I think so. What … ?”

“Don’t think. Do you have it securely shut?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Good. Throw the container overboard.”

“What?”

“You heard me! Throw it overboard!”

“I’m not going to toss millions of bucks in the water. Are you nuts?”

The boat was directly across from Matt. Now, with each passing second, it was pulling farther away from him, toward Catalina. Matt dared not order David to turn and circle around. Nothing would alert the FBI to his plan more clearly. Indeed, as it was, the helicopter south of him had just pulled closer. Plus, there appeared to be another chopper farther north.

“If you don’t do what I say, I will hurt your son.”

“Fuck you! You’re bluffing!”