Hunted in the Keys

by Matthew Rief

  The bullet rocketed through the air, exploding into the thug’s face and launching his body backward. Immediately after pressing the trigger I shifted my aim to the other massive thug and pressed the trigger again, shooting a bullet straight into his chest before he realized what was happening. Salazar yelled at the top of his lungs as he aimed his pistol my direction, firing rounds straight at me.

  I turned and performed a painful roll backward and to my right, narrowly avoiding his bullets as they slammed into the side of the lighthouse. Regaining my balance, I forced myself into a run, moving around to the other side of the lighthouse and hearing more bullets fired my way, including a few shotgun blasts from the skinny, crazy looking thug. When I reached the other side I knelt down, took a breath and popped out. The skinny thug was already sitting in the cockpit, his hands going to work, pressing buttons and grabbing hold of the controls. Salazar was freaking out, yelling and cursing wildly over the whipping sounds of the main rotor as he forced the young family to board the helicopter at gunpoint.

  From my angle, Salazar was behind the family so I had no other choice but to get closer. With my AK raised and with my sights panning back and forth between Salazar and skinny, I made my move, rushing towards the helicopter. When I was about fifty feet from the chopper Salazar spotted me, his eyes growing wide with the realization of who was trying to take them out. That’s right, I thought. It was me, the guy that you should have killed.

  I could see the panic in his eyes as he grabbed Cynthia, who was the nearest family member to him, wrapped his left arm around her neck and pressed a revolver against the side of her head. I tried to get the gang leader in my crosshairs but he did a good job keeping his body hidden behind the others.

  “Drop the fucking gun!” he yelled, staring into my eyes as he took a step backward towards the open side door of the helicopter. He grabbed Cynthia tighter, and though I could see the fear in her eyes, I also saw a hint of rage as he jerked her head side to side while he forced her back. “Drop it now or she’s dead.”

  For a split second, I debated pulling the trigger. I was confident in my aim, but I also knew that he could jerk her body at the last second, placing her directly in my line of fire as I was squeezing the trigger. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I killed her, even if it was an accident.

  “You’ve got two seconds!” he barked over the loud spinning rotors as the back of his legs hit the side of the helicopter.

  I gritted my teeth and narrowed my gaze as I bent my knees slowly, lowered the AK and then dropped it onto the sand at my feet.

  Seeing the rifle out of my hands, Salazar forced Cynthia to step up into the helicopter, climbing in right beside her. Once they were seated, with Cynthia on the end blocking my view, he looked over at me and said, “You just don’t fucking learn, do you, guy?”

  My eyes grew wide and my heart raced as Salazar pulled his revolver off Cynthia’s head and aimed it at Chris who was standing just to my right, barely able to stay on his feet with his broken right leg.

  “Keep her on the ground for another minute,” Salazar yelled at skinny who had his head turned back, watching the ordeal take place behind him. He nodded and with the barrel still aimed at Chris, Salazar continued, “You really fucked up.” Shaking his head, he added, “Now you have to watch them die. One by one.” He shot me an evil smile as he pulled back the hammer of his revolver. “And you,” he said, staring at Chris. “You brought this upon yourself. Well, I hereby sentence you to death by firing squad.”

  Just as Salazar started to squeeze back on the trigger, Cynthia slammed her head into his hands and bit down, clamping her front teeth into the loose skin between his left hand’s thumb and index finger. The bullet exploded from Salazar’s revolver, narrowly missing Chris as it whizzed past his face and made contact with the beach twenty feet behind him, spraying up a pile of loose sand. Salazar yelled in pain as blood flowed out from his hand. Before he could react to Cynthia’s act of bravery, I was already lunging towards the helicopter, my body acting instinctively.

  As I ran, forcing my body towards the helicopter, Cynthia was struggling with Salazar, trying to slam the revolver out of his hands. Skinny upped the speed of the rotors drastically and I reached the chopper just as its landing skids started to lift off the ground. Taking one final big stride, I forced my right foot into the sand, pushing as hard as I could and launching my body high into the air. I flew into the cabin, my body hurtling past Cynthia and into Salazar, knocking him hard into the glass window of the other side door. Grabbing his right hand, which was still gripping the revolver, I smacked it against the back of the seat in front of us, causing it to rattle onto the rubber mat under our feet and then tumble out of the open door beside us.

  As Salazar reached for his fallen weapon, I smashed his head into the wall, causing his nose to crunch and blood to flow out. His bloodied left hand was still wrapped forcefully around Cynthia’s neck and as I reached to break her free, I saw skinny in the corner of my eye. His upper body was turned around and he was arcing his shotgun straight for me. He was some kind of stupid to use a weapon like that in a helicopter, but I knew that wouldn’t stop the bullets from tearing a hole eight inches wide through the center of my chest. A fraction of a second before the barrel pointed at me, I grabbed hold of it and pried it free from his scrawny arms.

  “Logan!” Cynthia yelled and as I turned to look back at Salazar I realized that he’d snatched my dive knife from the back of his pants and was stabbing it straight towards me. Reacting as fast as I could, I deflected the blow, redirecting it away from its intended target of my neck. But I wasn’t able to deflect it completely in the compact space and it stabbed painfully into my left leg, cutting in about two inches.

  As I gritted my teeth in pain, I grabbed hold of his right hand and punched him two times square in the face. His head jerked back and as he loosened his grip on Cynthia, I ripped the knife from his hands and snatched her from his grasp. With her shaking body held tightly in my arms, I stabbed skinny through the side of his skull, causing blood to gush out and his body to shake violently. As I turned back to Salazar, his eyes were massive in his bloodied face. He yelled out barbarically and lunged at us. As I stabbed him in the chest with the knife, he pushed us both towards the left side of the cabin. Unable to stop our momentum, we tumbled out the open door and free-fell towards the beach below.

  Holding Cynthia in my arms, I landed in a way that would ensure that my body would take most of the damage as we crashed into the sand with a loud thud. It hurt, but not as bad as I thought it would and as I glanced up at the chopper I realized we’d only fallen about ten feet. My body screamed in pain from the wound to my leg as I watched the helicopter flying wildly just overhead. With a stern gaze, I watched as Salazar struggled into the cockpit and pushed skinny aside, taking over at the controls.

  “You’ve got to be shitting me,” I said as Salazar stabilized the chopper and started to gain altitude. Willing my body to move, I searched the beach around me for a weapon. Then, seeing Salazar’s revolver resting in the sand just in front of me, I crawled my aching body on my hands and knees over to it and grabbed hold of it. Lifting my head up, I took aim at the chopper that was now at least a hundred feet overhead and climbing fast. Squeezing the trigger I sent round after round into the tail section, aiming for the rear rotor assembly and trying to give him a taste of the same medicine his thugs had given the Coast Guard helicopter earlier that morning.

  The bullets rattled and sparked on contact and after the first four shots, it started to send out small plumes of black smoke. The final round in the revolver hit the rear rotor dead on, causing it to break off the tail section and fall lifelessly to the beach below. Without the rear rotor, it would be almost impossible for the helicopter to fly as there would be no counter torque for the main rotor. The chopper spun wildly a few times before, miraculously, Salazar managed to bring it somewhat stable. It was a few hundred feet up and moving west, bobbing
up and down and side to side but staying in the air as it cruised towards the open ocean.

  With the white smoke from the final round of the revolver still rising up from the barrel, I dropped it back onto the sand. My eyelids felt impossibly heavy and my body hurt so bad I felt like it could be the end for me. I’d lost a lot of blood, probably far too much to survive. After everything my body had been through, the racked-up hours without sleep, being shot and stabbed multiple times, and feeling as if every corner of my body had been bruised, it finally gave out. As Salazar piloted the damaged helicopter wildly into the western horizon, my eyes closed and my face fell into the sand.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-FOUR

  I woke up to the sound of rhythmic beeping and, after slowly opening my eyes, I saw that there was a heart monitor machine just a few feet from my face. Blinking my eyes a few times, I cleared the blurriness out of my vision and moved my head softly from side to side. I was lying on my back in a hospital bed with a white blanket covering my body and rubber tubes sticking out of my arms.

  Looking around, I saw that the room had two green padded chairs, a metal cabinet and a TV mounted on the wall across from me that looked like it hadn’t been used in a while. To my right, there was a door propped open by a black, rubber doorstop. I heard the faint sounds of chatter and a distant phone ringing, but it was quiet for the most part. To my left, there was a good-sized window with its beige, plastic blinds shut, allowing me to see only a glimpse of bright sunlight and green bushes full of colorful flowers on the other side.

  Hearing footsteps approach the door, I tilted my head back to the right and saw a petite nurse with short red hair walk by the open doorway, holding a clipboard in her hands and writing a quick note with her pen. She glanced towards me and, seeing that I was awake, turned on her heels and walked up to my bed.

  “Welcome back,” she said, shooting me a friendly smile as she set the clipboard on the counter beside my bed. She was pretty, and she looked to be in her mid-twenties. “Are you comfortable?” she added as she did a quick check of my vital signs. “Any pain whatsoever?”

  Though my side still hurt pretty bad, even considering the meds they probably had me on, and my head was dizzy I said only, “I’m fine. Thank you.”

  She smiled and said, “I saw your wounds, Mr. Dodge. And you’re either the toughest man alive or you’re lying to me right now.”

  I chuckled slightly, then stopped, realizing it was making the pain in my side worse. “I guess it hurts a little.”

  “Well now, that’s more like it,” she said. “Just let us know if it’s too intense so we can numb it down for you.” She grabbed her clipboard, penned in a few remarks and added, “Well, everything looks good. You seem to be healing nicely. I’ll let Dr. Patel know you’re awake.”

  She gave me one more smile before turning and moving with light feet through the open doorway. Less than a minute later a short Indian guy in his late fifties with gray hair, and wearing a white lab coat and glasses walked in.

  “Nice to see you’re awake, Mr. Dodge,” the man said, smiling at me as he looked over my body from head to toe. Standing at the foot of my bed he continued, “Thankfully, your vest stopped the bullets from doing any serious damage. But you suffered a pretty good blow to your head, a broken bone in your right hand, bruises all over your body and lacerations to both your side and your leg. The wound to your side was inches away from missing your kidney and the one to your leg narrowly missed your femoral artery. All told, you’re lucky to be alive, Mr. Dodge.”

  “Thanks,” I replied, my voice raspy and my mouth dry. “How long was I out for?”

  He turned around, opened the metal cabinet and pulled out a bottle of water. Untwisting the cap, he stepped over, handed it to me and said, “The five of you came in here on Tuesday afternoon and it’s now Thursday morning.”

  Suddenly, a fog lifted from my mind and I sprang into action, thinking about Chris and his family. As I sat up he placed a hand gently on my shoulder.

  “They’re fine,” he said, reading my mind. “A little flustered and banged up, but nothing time won’t heal.”

  My body relaxed a little and I dropped my head slowly back into my pillow.

  “Are they here?”

  He shook his head. “They checked out yesterday. The only one who was injured was the father and he wanted to be treated by his doctor in Miami. They wanted me to tell you how grateful they are that you saved them. And they really meant it, Mr. Dodge.”

  I smiled and said, “Call me Logan.”

  “Well, Logan, there’s a few people out in the lobby waiting to see you. Do you want me to let them know you’re awake?”

  “As long as it’s not the police,” I said, not knowing if I could handle both a hospital and law enforcement at the same time. He looked at me skeptically so I smiled and said, “Only kidding.”

  He gave a faint smile then patted me on the shoulder. “I’m glad you’re alright, and just so you know, I’d like you to stay another day. Maybe two, depending on how your wounds look. You did a good thing saving that family, for what it’s worth.”

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  “Call me Arjun,” he said and I nodded cordially as he turned and left the room.

  Another day or two? I thought as I was left to myself. I shook my head and remembered why I couldn’t stand hospitals. It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful for them saving my life, I just didn’t like being in a hospital any longer than I absolutely had to. Some people just aren’t meant for it, I suppose. I think it’s the smell more than anything else.

  A minute later, Scott appeared at the door wearing nice pants, a light blue dress shirt, and a black tie. He looked well-rested and relieved to see me alive and well. It was hard to believe that it had been less than a week ago that we were hunting pythons together in the Everglades. He looked focused as he entered, then seeing that I was alright he let out a deep breath and smiled.

  “You gave us quite the scare,” he said, moving up to my bed. “If it had been anyone else I might have been worried.” I grinned as best as I could and he continued, “Shit, I wish I could’ve been there to have your back, brother. I flew down from DC as soon as they received your transmission.” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “You did good, Logan. You did real good. Single-handedly taking out that many gang members is incredible, even for you. And, Lord knows there’s a young family that’s alive and well all thanks to you.”

  “Unfortunately,” I said, sitting myself up on the bed and propping a pillow behind my back for support, “I took out one gang member too few.”

  His eyes darted to the floor and he nodded slightly. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, another guy walked up to the open door. Here it comes, I thought as I glanced over and saw sheriff Wilkes walk through the doorway with confident strides and his eyes staring at me. He was wearing his full Key West police uniform he had a serious look on his dark, aged face. I’d dealt with law enforcement enough times to know that I was in for hours of questioning and stacks of papers a foot high for all of my statements after everything that had happened on Loggerhead. I knew they’d just be doing their job and I’d always respected the hell out of what they do, but man is it a hassle to deal with.

  “Nice to see you’re up,” he said with a serious tone. “Quite the heroic act you did saving that family. I’ve gotten all of their stories and we’re ready to hear your side of things as soon as you’re able.”

  “Yea, about that,” I said. “Doc says I need to stay here a few more days and recover.”

  He nodded, “Yes, I spoke with him as well.” Then, shaking his hand in the air he added, “I guess there will be plenty of time for statements in the next couple of days. Just don’t go anywhere until we’ve got everything figured out, alright?” Instead of waiting for me to answer he continued, “Now, Salazar is still out there somewhere. Most likely he’s shark food by now, but do you have any idea where he might’ve escaped to? We know that he couldn’t ha
ve made it back to Cuba. Their military has had ships scouring the waters between here and Havana for the past two days.”

  After a short pause, I glanced at him and said, “The hell if I know.” Then shrugging I added, “Probably dead. Like you said.”

  The sheriff eyed me with a narrowed gaze and then bit his lip. “Well, you get better now.” He gave a final nod to both myself and Scott then turned towards the door. Before stepping through the open doorway, he threw his head over his shoulder and said, “I’ll have one of my deputies in the waiting area just in case you decide you’re ready to make your statements.” I didn’t reply and he disappeared out the door and down the hallway.

  After a brief silence Scott said, “Once you’re up on your feet, I think a few dives and lunch at Salty Pete’s is in order. You can tell me all about why the IRS shouldn’t have your ass for destroying that house.”

  He laughed and I smiled and said, “That house was begging to be burned down.”

  We both sat and talked a few more minutes before he said, “Well, that nurse keeps walking by and eyeing me. Looks like they want me to let you rest. I’ll be in town a few more days. If there’s anything you need, anything at all, just let me know.” He placed his hand on my shoulder then moved to the door.

  “Well, there is one thing you could do,” I said, my words freezing him in his tracks. Turning on his heels, he waited a moment and then I continued, “You can get me the hell out of here.”