by Karen Singer
Jenni got as far as the birdcage before she stopped. It was a larger area. Was her aunt hiding nearby? “Aunt Sally?” she called quietly, hoping to hear from her aunt, while at the same time praying no one else would hear her. No answer. Not here.
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“Aunt Sally?”
The sound made the two men stop.
“That way,” Rashid pointed.
Silently, they headed in the direction where they had heard the name being called. They came across a large cleared area with a big bird-cage in it. But they saw nobody there.
“The beach!” Rashid whispered. “Maybe she went back to the beach.”
Kavad nodded. As quietly as possible, they followed the path that led toward the beach.
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The two Islamorada policemen boarded the boat. One of them argued they should wait for backup. The other knew they had no choice but to head for the island and do what they could. Two killers. Two cops. Two cops who had never seen much more action than drunks, crazy drivers, and even crazier tourists. He checked and double checked his gun. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had fired it. And it certainly hadn’t been aimed at anyone when he did.
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It takes an hour and a half to drive from Miami out to the town of Islamorada. Never mind the frustration of having to wait for a boat to take him out to the island. It was still a long drive. Too long. An hour and a half! That fact alone kept pounding at Pierce’s brain as he pushed his car as fast as he dared. There were more police from Miami either ahead of him or behind. And just then, he wanted everyone he could get.
An hour and a half. One hour. Forty-five minutes. He mentally watched the clock in his car as he sped forward. How much time would it take at the speed he was going? He glanced down at his speedometer. Ninety-five. He pushed faster.
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“Aunt Sally?” Jenni called softly the moment she got to the front of the bar.
Inside the dark storage closet, Sally thought she heard someone call her name. “Jenni?” she said very softly, wondering if she had really heard her, or if it was just wishful thinking.
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“Stop!” the man yelled loudly as he saw Jenni now in front of the bar. He raised his gun and fired at her.
Jenni jumped, scared out of her wits again. She took off running as fast as she could, while another gunshot sounded behind her. She took the first path she could and ran for all she was worth along it, praying that the turns in the path would somehow protect her. She could hear the two men behind her as she turned and twisted with the path. Her bare feet couldn’t run as fast as she wanted, but she knew they were a lot better than the flip-flops she had worn for most of the trip. She would just have to do the best she could.
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Inside the storage closet, Sally let out a small scream at the gunshot. The bartender held her firmly and tried his best to keep her quiet. Sally started crying again. “Jenni,” she sobbed as quietly as she could.
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Once again, without thinking, Jenni dove off the path as silently as she could and hid behind one of the big plants. She held her breath, waiting. The men came running…right past her again. She stayed right where she was. She didn’t know where her Aunt Sally was. She had no idea where to go. She had checked everywhere she could and hadn’t found her.
The men had run right past her without finding her. She decided to stay right where she was until help arrived. It was the best idea she could think of. Hunkered down and doing her best to make herself as small as possible, she did everything she could to not cry – out loud. All she could think about were the men finding her…and her Aunt Sally.
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“Now what?” one of the two Islamorada cops said once they had gotten off the boat at the island. The boat was now heading back toward the main island again. Both of them felt abandoned and frightened watching it leave.
“The lobby,” the other one replied as he spotted the sign and the doors ahead.
They went in and found the manager just peeking his head up over top of the bar.
“Tell me you’re with the police. Please!” the manager begged.
The two cops looked at him strangely. “You can’t tell by our uniforms?” one of them asked.
“I thought the other two were with the police too.”
The cop frustratingly shook his head. “Where are they?”
The manager pointed toward the middle of the island.
“Keep your head down,” he replied, and watched as the manager’s head quickly disappeared.
“Come on,” he said to his partner.
They checked the gift shop and the restaurant. Both were locked. Cautiously, they made their way as far as the convergence of all the paths. They stopped there, unsure which way to go.
“Maybe we should just wait here for backup,” one of them suggested.
Looking at all the green vegetation in front of them, as well as all the paths, the other cop agreed. “Let’s get back toward the buildings. We can keep them from coming out easier from there. There’s better cover there too.”
The other cop needed no prompting. He wasn’t prepared to deal with gun toting killers.
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“Shit! This place is crazy! Where is she?”
“She’s got to be hiding in all these plants.”
“Yes, but where?”
Rashid shook his head.
“How do we find her?”
Again, Rashid shook his head. They both stared out at the surrounding tropical setting…until Rashied finally raised his gun.
“Do you see her?” Kavad whispered.
“Not yet!” He fired into the greenery. Nothing and nobody jumped. He chose another direction and fired again.
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Jenni flinched at the sound of the gunshot in the distance. Had they seen her? She listened as hard as she could but heard nothing. She dared not move. A few moments later, she heard another gun shot. Who were they shooting at? Her Aunt Sally? No! Once again, her fear forced tears from her eyes. She didn’t know what was going on or who was shooting at who. She forced herself to stay put and try to hide as best she could.
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There were five police cars in the parking lot by the time Pierce arrived, and two of them were from the local Islamorada force. He jumped out of his car and ran toward the cops waiting in the pavilion. In the distance, he could just see the boat returning. With his nerves on fire as they were, the boat seemed to crawl slower than ever. By the time it finally reached the dock, five more police cars from Miami were in the parking lot. Pierce and eight of Miami’s finest jumped into the boat. The boat turned around without ever tying up to the dock.
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Sally jumped again as another gunshot sounded. “Jenni…” she whispered desperately.
“Shh!” the bartender hushed her. He held her in his arms while Sally rocked back and forth in distress.
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Jenni mentally jumped as another gunshot sounded, then another one right on top of it. The gunshots sounded closer this time. Who were they shooting at? She didn’t hear anyone yelling. Were the police here or not? She had no way of knowing. And until she did, she had no intention of going anywhere.
Another gunshot sounded, then a second. Shit! They were still getting closer.
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The two Islamorada cops stared out into the lush part of the island as they each hid behind the corners of the buildings. They couldn’t help but hear the gunshots. They had no idea what was going on out there. Only that someone was bound and determined to shoot someone else. There were two different guns they could hear. Were they shooting at each other? They had no wa
y to tell. They both stood there and hoped someone would come along to help…so they wouldn’t have to deal with the problem.
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It…took…forever! Why did they have to put a hotel out on an island in the middle of the damn ocean? And then the only transportation out to that island was the proverbial slow boat to China! Someone needed their head examined!
They could hear the occasional gunshots now coming from the island. One of the cops held up two fingers indicating two shooters. The rest of them nodded and checked their guns.
“When we get there, what do you want me to do?” the boat captain asked Pierce.
Pierce considered the question. “Cast off and wait halfway. We’ll call you to pick us up. That way, they still have no way off the island if they somehow get past us.”
The dock loomed closer. Two more gunshots sounded. Pierce could now see the two Islamorada policemen, one outside the gift shop, the other by the restaurant. Useless! They weren’t the ones shooting.
The moment the boat touched the dock, two policemen jumped off. Another one grabbed the dock to keep the boat in place while the rest of them climbed off. A moment later, the boat was empty of everyone but the Captain, and was heading away from shore again.
The moment Pierce got off the boat, he saw the two local cops running in his direction.
“We’re sure there’s two of them out there,” the cop told him. “We don’t know where they are though.”
“How about Jenni? Where’s Jenni?” Pierce asked immediately.
“Not a clue,” the local cop replied. “We don’t know who’s out there or where.”
Useless! Pierce ignored him and ran past, heading for the paths ahead that would lead him further into the island. Six of the men he had brought from Miami were already ahead of him. He stopped and turned to one of the cops that had stayed with him. “The bartender said he and Sally Finch are holed-up in a closet in the back of the bar down on the beach. It’s that way,” he said as he pointed his gun in the direction he wanted them to go. “Be careful. Watch your backs!” In moments, two policemen were heading in that direction, their guns drawn and searching the area around them.
Pierce heard another gunshot. “This is the police,” he yelled as loudly as he could. “This island is now full of police. The boat is gone and you can’t get away. Come down the path with your hands up!” He waited for an answer, but got nothing. After a full minute of waiting, he yelled exactly the same thing again. Still nothing. “It looks like we’re going to have to do this the hard way,” he said to the men around him.
Very carefully, they broke into three separate groups, some going toward the beach, some going toward the back of the island, while Pierce and two others went to the right, toward building B.
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The soft curses Rashid and Kavad let out at hearing the police did neither of them any good.
“What do we do now?” Kavad asked.
Rashid considered it. “There were boats down on the beach,” he suggested.
As quickly as possible, they headed that direction. Once at the beach, they looked carefully around. They didn’t see anyone else. Keeping to the back of the beach near the vegetation, they hurried toward the boats. Once they arrived though, they were frustrated again. A steel cable ran through all the boats and the ends were attached to two different palm trees. The boats would be useless.
“Hey you! Stop!”
They turned and saw two policemen moving slowly toward them with their guns out and aimed. They both ran as fast as they could for the nearest path.
One of the policemen chasing them moved slower. As he ran, he thumbed the button on his radio. “They just left the beach and are heading inland near the boats. We’re following.”
Pierce heard the radio message through the radio of another of the policemen near him. The boats were at the very back of the beach. “This way,” he yelled as he took off at a run.
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Jenni had heard Pierce yelling that the police were here. She felt nothing but relief…to a point. Did she dare crawl out of her little hiding place yet? What if the killers were somewhere close? She decided to stay put.
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Sally heard the gunshots again, but this time she also heard the police shouting. Help had arrived – finally. But were they in time to save Jenni? She could only pray that Jenni was safe.
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The police were closing in and both men knew it. “What do we do?” Kavad asked.
“I don’t know,” Rashid replied. Then he made a decision. “Split up. Try to take as many of them as you can. If we die, then we do it in the name of Allah. We will join the sacred list of martyrs. We will be remembered for it.”
The two men looked at each other for a moment, then nodded to each other. Kavad took the path leading off to the right, Rashid continued on the same path they had been following.
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Pierce and the two officers with him moved slowly and cautiously, trying to keep low while still searching the jungle setting around them. With all the police split up as they were, they knew they had to be closing in on the killers. There were only two problems with that. The different paths that intersected with the one they were on that they couldn’t fully explore, and the dense planted areas that covered most of the island. It would be too easy to hide in that stuff and never be found.
A gunshot stopped everyone short. It was followed immediately by another, then more. The gunshots sounded like they came from the other side of the island. He took off toward the back of the island, running as fast as he dared.
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Rashid heard the gunshots and stopped short, staying to the edge of the path. He raised his gun, waiting for whatever police might come in his direction. “Die well my friend,” he muttered softly. “Allah protect us. I shall join you shortly.”
The sound of movement heading his way caught his attention…and held it. There! A spot of blue. Still crouching down, he aimed in that direction and fired. He heard a scream and felt nothing but satisfaction. Three shots were returned in his direction. None of them came close. They hadn’t seen him yet. Still keeping in a crouch, he ran back up the path a short way, then turned onto one of the side paths that he thought would lead him toward the far side of the island. So far, Allah was guiding him. He prayed that Allah would watch equally well over his friend Kavad.
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They had split up. Pierce had no doubt. He could still hear occasional gunfire coming from the left, but the shot that had come their way had come from slightly further up the path they were on. One of the men with him had been wounded in the arm. Another officer was tending to him. That left just him and one other officer to continue after the gunman. Cautiously, he crept forward, his gun aimed ahead and ready. Where the devil was he?
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Kavad had heard a single shot, followed by several others. Had his friend been killed? He hoped not. He had gone off the paths and was now trying to quietly worm his way through the thick plants. They were an irritation, but at the same time, they hid him from view. Slowly, he worked his way back toward the beach.
There! Another spot of blue. He didn’t even bother trying to aim around the plants. He figured his bullet would go right through the leaves. He pulled the trigger and was rewarded to hear the cry of alarm as the one he had shot at went down. Success!
The sound of another gunshot meant nothing to him. The sound meant nothing, but not the force of the bullet that slammed into his chest and drove him to the ground. He had been hit! Allah had finally abandoned him, at least for this life. As the last of his life leaked out of him, he prayed that Allah would protect his friend Rashid, somewhere else on the island.
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“We got him,” the message came thro
ugh on the radio, “but Sam is down. I don’t know if he’ll live. We’re doing everything we can for him right now.”
“Understood,” the officer with Pierce replied. He looked at Pierce and saw the angry set of his face. He agreed fully! “Let’s get this bastard!” he whispered.
Pierce nodded and moved cautiously forward again.
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Rashid was close enough that he was just able to hear the radio message. Kavad had died – may Allah hold him in his arms. He didn’t know how many policemen were left, but he thought he had killed one, and it sounded like his friend had killed another. Could he kill all of them and live to escape? He could only hope. He stayed crouched down on the new path, waiting. From it, he could just see through to the path the police were on. He waited patiently. A small flash of blue showed between the leaves. He slowly raised his gun and fired. Not waiting, he got up and ran.
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Pierce ducked at the sudden gunshot. He quickly looked around. Nobody was hurt. Good! He heard sounds in the distance. Too much sound. A moment later, more of the police that had come with them came from the opposite direction. He breathed a sigh of relief. “He ran off that way!” he pointed toward the side path.
After wandering around the island for a week now, Pierce knew where that path went. He turned around and ran back in the opposite direction with half of the officers now with him. At the convergence of paths, he turned to head towards building B. With half the officers chasing from one way, and the other half with him, they had the killer trapped. There was no way he could get past them.