Mr. Powell’s man came through and on Wednesday morning a package arrived at the guesthouse addressed to Jesse, along with a note which said, ‘You owe me a minor fortune for these.’ It contained three XREP shells and a break-down twelve-gauge shotgun.
When Jesse relayed the message to the group, Tripp said, “I bet. Those shells weren’t cheap when they were available. One reason they were discontinued.”
That afternoon, Dirk and Maverick drove down to Portsmouth to rent their scuba gear for a week of diving—or so they told the man running the shop. There had been a brief debate beforehand about stealing what they needed in order to save money, but as Dirk pointed out they didn’t need the theft to make the news. “It’s probably unlikely, but it could give Northrop and his people a heads-up if
