by Matt Lincoln
“We’ll worry about that when the time comes,” I replied. “If we can track a pair of drug kingpins halfway across the planet, I’m sure we can find this guy. Meanwhile, we should focus our attention on the bar.”
“Why don’t we head back to my office to talk?” Morris suggested. “So we’re not discussing all of this in the middle of the hall.”
“Sounds good to us,” Holm agreed.
We followed Morris back to his office in silence.
“Right, where were we?” Morris muttered once we were all seated in his office again. “Oh, yes, I’ve been wondering. What will you do now about Turner’s liaison?”
“Well, working with him isn’t ideal,” I answered, “but our organization has extraterritorial jurisdiction in Turks & Caicos as part of our case. We prefer to have a member of local law enforcement with us--”
I faltered at the sour look Olivia tossed me.
“Well, MBLIS prefers to have a local liaison, though I can’t speak for the FBI, to ensure we don’t run into any international snags. Still, technically, we should be okay.”
“That will not do.” Morris shook his head disapprovingly. “I would hate for your investigation to fall apart as a result of a legal technicality. No, I will assign you one of my own officers.”
“Really?” Holm asked, surprise evident in his voice.
“Of course.” Morris nodded. “This is my country, and I want to keep it safe. I have just as much authority as Turner does. Just hold on for a moment, please.”
He stood and stepped out of his office.
“Wow.” Olivia smiled. “Total night and day difference from Captain Angry, huh?”
“Leagues,” I replied. “Why couldn’t we have been assigned here to begin with?”
“Because it’s a tiny police box located in a strip mall?” Olivia shrugged. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, small or not, it’s better than having to deal with that total nut Turner, but I can see why it wouldn’t be the first choice.”
Captain Morris returned a few minutes later with another taller man in tow.
“Agents, this is Officer Crowley,” he said as he sat back down behind his desk. “Officer Crowley, these are Agents Marston, Holm, and Hastings.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” the tall man said stiffly. “The captain has informed me of the situation. I’m ready to get started whenever you need me.”
The man had a serious expression on his face, and he spoke in a stern, straightforward manner.
“Why don’t you come back here tonight before you head to the bar this evening?” Morris suggested.
“That sounds great,” I agreed before turning to look at Crowley. “We’ll meet you here at eight then so we can head out together.”
After thanking Captain Morris once again for his assistance, the three of us headed back out of the police station and to the car.
“There’s still a few hours until sundown,” Holm noted after we settled into the rental and pulled out of the police station parking lot. “What should we do until then?”
“Oh!” Olivia exclaimed immediately. “There’s a national park nearby!”
“Really?” I asked. “Here?”
“Yeah!” she replied, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Literally right here on the Western Island. I was reading about it on the car ride down here. We can take a boat there. We’d definitely be done in time to get to the bar by eight.”
“We have to take a boat to get to it?” Holm asked.
“Yeah, isn’t that cool?” She grinned. “It’s an island within the island. The only ways to get there are by plane or by boat, and a boat tour seems like it would be more fun anyway, right?”
She was so excited by the idea that I couldn’t keep from smiling.
“I’m down for it if you are!” I called up to Holm from the back seat.
“Sure.” He shrugged. “Could use a little ‘R and R’ before we head into the lion’s den.”
“Exactly.” Olivia nodded. “I’ll plug in the directions to the ferry port now.”
Honestly, part of me felt a little bad about running off to play when we were in the middle of a case, but Olivia was so into the idea that I didn’t have the heart to say no. And anyway, I’d learned a long time ago that this job could easily break a person’s spirit if they didn’t learn to go with the flow and have fun while they could. With all the danger and stress we dealt with, a little boat ride to blow off some steam would do us all a world of good.
21
Ethan
Our short detour to Chalk Sound National Park turned out to be worth the time. It was known for its untouched greenery and striking turquoise-colored water, as the guide who took us out helpfully explained. Because it was a national park, large vessels like ferries weren’t allowed, so we had to take a small pontoon boat out to see it.
The tour guide operating the boat also emphasized that many visitors enjoyed kayaking and paddle-boating around the park before mentioning that anyone interested could rent the necessary equipment directly from them. The idea actually sounded really fun, and had we not been busy with the case, I might have been tempted to take him up on the offer.
Because so many of the plant and animal species that inhabited the island were rigorously protected by the government, we were only allowed to step onto some of the islands in the park, and we were warned multiple times to be careful to not disturb or feed any of the animals.
The beach of the island we stopped off at had a rocky, uneven shore. As I was helping Olivia down off of the boat, she tripped on the loose rocks and fell into me. She apologized and smiled up at me sheepishly, but I noticed that she didn’t make a big effort to move away from me.
The entire excursion had only taken about an hour and a half, but it was enough time for me to feel relaxed and recharged by the end of it. The grin on Olivia’s face afterward had been the icing on the cake.
We’d headed back to the hotel afterward to prepare and wait for nightfall before heading over to the bar that Frank had mentioned. After we all got settled, we gathered in Holm’s room, going over our plan for the night.
Since we would be the ones to go in undercover, Holm and I had changed into our most touristy-looking outfits. In my case, that meant a pair of shorts and a t-shirt I purchased from the hotel gift shop. Not my usual style, but I wanted to give off the impression of a clueless, and therefore harmless, vacationer looking for a good time.
Holm, meanwhile, had changed into a pair of jeans and a slightly oversized t-shirt with a picture of a band I’d never heard of.
“Who are they?” I asked as I sat down on the edge of the bed.
“What? Oh, the shirt?” he asked as he looked down at his own clothes. “This band a girl I once dated was into. They ended up being pretty good. I actually kept following them even after we broke up. They’ve been disbanded for a while, though.”
“Awesome.” Olivia smiled as she took a seat next to me. “Now that the two of you look like a pair of frat boys on vacation, let’s go over the plan one more time.”
“Holm and I will pose as prospective Johns,” I reiterated. “Once we manage to convince them, we’ll try to get the girl alone and see what kind of information we can get.”
“What if you can’t convince them to talk?” Olivia countered. “I’ve worked these kinds of cases before. A lot of the time, these women have spent so long being abused and brainwashed that they won’t speak up against their captors even when the opportunity presents itself.”
“That’s a good point.” Holm frowned. “But what else can we do? It’ll be way more suspicious if you come in with us.”
“I know,” she sighed.
She hadn’t been pleased when I’d suggested she stay outside as backup. On the one hand, she had a lot of experience and expertise in working with special victims. She was also a woman, which might have made it easier for her to connect with the victims. However, a woman walking into a bar looking for a prostitute would have thrown
up a truckload of red flags. It would be far less conspicuous for Holm and me to go in undercover. It was a messy situation all around.
“We’ll just have to play it by ear,” I declared. “Worst-case scenario, Holm and I will retreat and meet you back at the meet-up point.”
“One other thing, though.” Olivia pursed her lips. “What if you get recognized? I mean, I know we’ve only been here a few days, but we have caused quite a stir, what with the whole ‘shoot out in the middle of a crowded beach’ thing. And one of the suspects got away. What will you do if your cover gets blown?”
“Go down swinging?” I joked.
“Very funny.” She frowned at me as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Seriously, though. Shouldn’t we have a backup plan?”
“That is the backup plan.” I shrugged. “Obviously, I hope it doesn’t come to that, but if we get made and run out of options, what else can we do? We’ll try to locate one of the girls and get her alone for long enough to speak with her. If that fails, we’ll confront the men directly. That being said, we’ve already seen that their preferred method of conflict resolution is to shoot first and ask questions never, so if it does come to that, we’ll probably end up having to fight our way out.”
“And you’re just… okay with that?” Olivia stared at me in disbelief.
“I wouldn’t say ‘okay.’” Holm shrugged. “Can’t say we’re not used to it, though. Getting into and out of scrapes is pretty par for the course for us.”
“That sounds insanely stressful,” Olivia groaned. “And I thought I had it rough.”
“We’ll be fine,” I assured her, though it did feel nice that she was worrying over me. “Holm and I have faced down a lot worse.”
“Okay.” Olivia nodded, though I could tell she wasn’t convinced by my reassurances. “Let’s go, then.”
The three of us left the hotel room and headed down to the lobby. The sun was just starting to go down as we left the hotel.
As I drove us back to the Grace Bay Police Station, I noted that the streets were still as empty as they had been earlier in the day. Though it seemed like there were always locals and tourists milling about along the boardwalks and pedestrian walkways, the actual roads seemed perpetually void of cars. It was a pleasant change from the never-ending traffic of Miami and probably explained how the air was so fresh and the skies so clear and blue.
The drive back to the Grace Bay station took no time at all, and before I knew it, we were back in Morris’s office, getting ready to head to the bar with our new liaison, Officer Crowley.
Holm, Olivia, and I settled into the seats in front of Captain Morris’s desk, and as ridiculous as I felt in my getup, I was buzzing with energy and ready to head out. We quickly recapped our plan that we’d discussed in the hotel, and Morris nodded agreeably as we finished.
“I’ll wait outside with Agent Hastings,” Crowley declared from where he was standing by Morris’s side. “The island is not very big, and there’s a good chance that someone might recognize me. Our whole plan will fall apart if anyone realizes I am a cop.”
“So it’ll be Holm and me, then,” I concluded with a nod.
“Keep this in your pocket,” Morris instructed as he handed me and Holm each a small electronic device. “It’s a basic one-way transmitter. Officer Crowley and Agent Hastings will be able to listen, though unfortunately, they won’t be able to respond. But at least this way, they can provide aid if it seems like things are becoming dangerous.”
I would have preferred something like an earpiece since putting the thing in my pocket would probably muffle sound and make it difficult for them to hear us, but wearing something so obvious would be a dead giveaway when we were trying to be discreet.
“Thank you,” I replied regardless. “Let’s get moving.”
“Why don’t we all take one car,” I suggested as we left the building and stepped outside. “If we want to keep a low profile, it might make more sense to take our rental instead of a police cruiser.”
“Alright.” Crowley nodded after a moment of thoughtful silence.
Once the four of us were inside, I drove back to Kew, to the address Frank had given us. The place really was close to the dock, where we’d met with Kenneth a few days prior. It was a small, kind of kitschy-looking bar right on the boardwalk. As we parked out front, I could see locals and tourists alike meandering in and out. Being so close to the beach, it was probably a popular spot. I suddenly thought back to our first trip down this way and realized that we’d walked right by it. Something about the place had felt off at the time, and now I understood why.
I hadn’t even stopped the car yet when I noticed a young woman standing just a few feet from the entrance, leaning against the front wall of the building. She was wearing a thin tank top and a pair of shorts, which, in and of themselves, didn’t look all that out of place here by the beach.
What really stood out about her was her hunched, tense posture and the way she deliberately avoided eye contact with almost everyone passing by. She almost looked like a statue there, standing perfectly still. If I hadn’t specifically been looking for her, I might have missed her entirely.
“The girl by the window,” I remarked to the others in the car. “There’s something off about her, right?”
“I think so, too,” Olivia replied. “I noticed as soon as we pulled up. Her body language screams discomfort.”
“That might be a good place for us to start then,” Holm added.
I made sure to drive past the bar before pulling the car to a stop a few buildings away. We didn’t know who might be watching.
“Okay,” Crowley replied. “We will wait here. The transmitter should still work from this distance, so if you need us, just give us a signal, and we’ll move in.”
“Got it,” I replied before getting out of the car. Holm followed out after me.
I tried to put myself into the mind space of a dumb, horny tourist as I approached the girl. If she was a prostitute, then her pimp would no doubt be nearby, and playing dumb was one of the best ways to keep a suspect in the dark.
“Hey.” I grinned oafishly at the young woman. She flinched and looked up at me with wide, startled eyes. “What are you doing out here all by yourself?”
“Um…” the girl muttered as she looked around, as though searching for someone.
Now that I got a closer look at her, I could see that her hair was tangled, and she had faint cuts and bruises along her arms and legs in various stages of healing. Something was definitely up with this girl.
“Do you, uh, work here?” I asked suggestively, lowering my voice the way some sleazy guy on vacation trying to pick up a hooker might.
“Y-yes,” she mumbled, still glancing around nervously.
“Cool,” Holm chimed in, making an exaggerated show of looking around as though he didn’t want anyone to see us. “So, how does this work, exactly?”
Before she could answer, a tall man suddenly rounded the corner of the building and stepped rapidly toward us.
“Can I help you two?” the man asked us quietly.
“Got you,” I thought to myself. Just as I’d suspected he would, the pimp had made an appearance right after we made initial contact.
“Oh, we were just wondering where a couple of guys could have some, uh, fun around here,” I replied with a chuckle. I felt incredibly slimy, and the words I was saying tasted like bile on my tongue, but I needed to keep the act up, at least for now. I had to convince this guy that I was the type of creep who would be interested in something like this.
“Yeah,” Holm added, leaning close as though sharing a secret. “You know what we mean, right?”
I tried not to flinch as I heard how awkward Holm sounded delivering that line. It was clear that he was just as uncomfortable as I was. I only hoped that the man wouldn’t notice it as well.
“Yes, I think I do,” the man replied, grinning darkly. “Why don’t we get a drink inside? You, come on.”
&
nbsp; He called the young woman over with his finger like a dog. She followed behind him quietly with her head lowered, and I had to force myself not to react. It was infuriating having to just stand by and watch while he treated her that way, but I couldn’t blow my cover.
The bar didn’t seem all too different from any other one I might have found in any popular vacation spot. I could hear voices chattering happily all around us, the steady thrum only occasionally interrupted by a trill of laughter.
The smell of fried food permeated the air, and I could hear glasses clinking and silverware scraping against plates as people dug into their drinks and late dinners. The normal, cheerful atmosphere just made the entire situation we were engaged in feel that much more awful.
The man led us to a table in the rear of the bar. The four of us sat down, and the man yelled something at the bartender. A moment later, a different young woman appeared with a tray full of beers.
“Drink up,” the man said after the woman had set the drinks down and walked away.
I put the bottle up to my lips but didn’t actually drink any of it. The guy seemed like he was buying our act, but I wasn’t going to chance being drugged.
As I pretended to drink, I glanced back at the girl out of the corner of my eye. She was still sitting completely still, her eyes cast down at the table in front of her.
“So, what exactly were you looking for?” the man asked after taking a big swig of his own beer.
“Oh, you know,” Holm snickered like some frat boy as he glanced over at the young woman.
“Of course,” the man replied as he eyed us warily. “And how did you hear about our services?”
“Hear about your services?” I asked innocently. “We were just looking for a place to have a few drinks when we noticed her standing outside. Wait, were we wrong? Is this not what I think it is?”