by Matt Lincoln
“We spoke on the phone,” Crowley said as he stepped forward. “Has there been any movement at the house?”
“None so far,” Stevens replied. “A pair of officers are stationed there now, but so far, it’s been totally quiet.”
“We should get down there ASAP and see for ourselves,” I replied.
Stevens nodded and began to lead us back to where the van was parked.
“I’ll uh… wait right here,” Raymond called after us as we began to walk away.
I turned around to look at him. There was something off about the way he’d said that, but I needed to focus on the mission first. I put the thought aside for the moment and followed Stevens over to the van.
The drive from the docks to the address that Antonio had given us was scarcely five minutes. It was an ordinary-looking building if a little run-down. There was nothing about it that stood out in particular from among the rest of the houses in the area. We drove a little ways past it and parked on the side of the street next to a police cruiser. From here, the house was still visible, though the cars were obscured enough by trees and other foliage that someone looking out from a window probably wouldn’t spot them at first glance.
Two different officers stepped out of the patrol car just as we got out of the van.
“Anything?” Stevens asked.
“Nothing.” One of the officers shook his head. “No movement since we got here.”
“Isn’t that a little strange?” I wondered out loud. I was sure that word would have gotten back by this point, so why wasn’t anything happening?
“Maybe it’s a trap,” Holm suggested.
“That may be the case.” Crowley nodded thoughtfully. “Regardless, we knew that was a possibility from the beginning. I think we should stick to the plan. Direct attack.”
“I think so too,” I agreed as I pulled my gun out of its holster. “No point in standing around here.”
Holm and the other officers drew their weapons as well. Then we moved in.
“Remember,” I warned as we stepped quickly toward the front of the house. “Daniela said the women would most likely be upstairs, but we can’t be sure. Their safety is the priority, do not shoot unless you’re sure they’re not in the crossfire.”
My heart beat faster the closer we got to the house. Once he was just a few yards away, Crowley broke into a run and headed straight for the door, kicking it in with an intense blow.
“Everyone freeze!” he roared as he stormed into the house, his gun held aloft. “This is the police!”
Holm and I raced in after him, followed by the other officers. As we spilled into the main foyer of the house, our weapons drawn and adrenaline pumping through our veins, one thing became abundantly clear.
The house was empty.
“Stay alert,” Crowley cautioned us before looking at the other officers. “They might still be here. Hanks and I will take the right if you two will clear the left.”
They took off to clear the few rooms on the main floor of the house, but I had a feeling that they wouldn’t find anything. Years of trusting my instincts to survive had taught me how to hone in on signs of life. The house just felt devoid of that.
Aside from a few couches and chairs, there was so little furniture that the place didn’t seem anything like a home. The walls were bare, with no photos or decorations of any kind. The floors were covered in a dingy brown carpet that looked like it hadn’t been vacuumed or washed in a long time. The walls might have been white, but in the darkness, without any interior lights on, they were a sinister blue shade.
I could see into the small kitchen from the main entryway. It was just as sparsely furnished and just as empty as the rest of the house. Really, the house was so open and devoid of furnishings that it would have been impossible for anyone to hide anywhere on the main floor. If someone was here, then they had to be on the second floor.
“Let’s head upstairs,” I suggested to Holm as the officers finished clearing the first floor.
“Okay,” he replied as he followed close behind me.
I stayed on high alert as we ascended the stairs. Though the house seemed empty, it was always possible that my hunch was wrong.
The upstairs seemed just as quiet as the first floor, though.
I turned to look at Holm before slowly placing my hand over the doorknob of the door nearest to us. After confirming that he was ready with a silent nod, I threw the door open and rushed inside, my gun at the ready.
“Empty,” I muttered as I took a quick look around the room. There wasn’t much to see, only a set of beds and a worn-out-looking chair in one corner.
I moved to the other side of the hall to the room just opposite this one. This time, Holm was the one to open the door, only for us to be met with the same result.
“Everything good up here?” Crowley asked as he and the other officers came running up the stairs.
“So far,” I replied. “It’s looking like the place is totally empty.”
“They might have fled when they realized we were coming,” Crowley replied as the other officers went on to search the rest of the rooms on the second floor. “Dammit. What do we do now?”
“There’s someone in here!” Hank suddenly yelled.
I spun around at the sound of his voice. One of the doors at the very end of the hall was open, and I rushed toward it, Holm, Crowley, and the other officers right behind me.
Hanks was leaning over one of the beds as I burst into the room, and I realized the ‘someone’ he had found wasn’t one of the traffickers but rather one of the victims.
The woman lying on the bed looked deathly pale. The thin tank top she was wearing was damp with sweat, and her eyes were half-lidded, as though she wasn’t completely conscious.
“She’s in rough shape,” Hanks muttered as I came to stand beside him. “Looks like she might be on something. Or coming down from something.”
It looked to me like he was right. The girl was shaking so much that her teeth were chattering, and her skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Her eyes were unfocused, and her breathing was shallow and labored, as well. She was either extremely sick or going through some kind of withdrawal.
“The rest of the house is empty,” one of the local officers noted as he came to stand beside me. “I can’t believe they just left her here alone like this.”
“You can’t?” I scoffed. “They don’t exactly seem like upstanding people. They view these women as property rather than human beings. They probably cleared out as quickly as they could and decided to just ditch her here rather than deal with the dead weight.”
“They must have left before we got here,” the officer replied. “We’ve been stationed right outside ever since we got the call from Captain Morris. No one entered or left this house in that time.”
“There’s no telling how far they might have gotten by now, then,” I replied angrily before turning to Crowley. “We need eyes on the water. The women mentioned that they were always transported from Cockburn to Western Caicos on a private boat. Unless they’re hiding somewhere on the island, it’s possible they fled that way.”
“Alright,” Crowley replied. “I’ll get on it as soon as we secure medical attention for this woman.”
“Good,” I replied before turning to Holm and the other officers. “We need to head straight to the address we have for Samuel’s place now. That’s where they’re most likely to be.”
I waited impatiently as Crowley called for an ambulance. I knew that making sure the woman got medical attention was important, but I was starting to get anxious now that we’d discovered that the men weren’t here. Every second that passed was another that Samuel and the traffickers might be using to get that much further away.
I was jarred out of my thoughts by the sound of my phone ringing. I pulled it out of my pocket and frowned at the name on the screen.
“What’s up?” Holm asked.
“It’s Raymond,” I muttered back before answeri
ng and putting the phone to my ear. The moment I did, I jumped as the bang of a gunshot rang through the line.
“What the hell is happening?” I yelled into my phone’s speaker.
“Agent Marston,” Raymond’s pained voice groaned. “I have a bit of a problem.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” I snapped back as I heard more gunshots. “What did you do?”
“I found the men,” he rasped. His voice sounded airy, as though he were struggling to draw breath. “I came to the house. I overheard you talking about it when you were discussing your plans on the way over. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t just wait around while the people that killed my baby brother walked free.”
“Dammit, Raymond!” I yelled.
“What’s going on?” Holm stared at me in confusion. Crowley and the other officers were also staring at me with similar looks of horror and bewilderment.
“Hold on,” I said as I pulled the phone away from my ear and put it on speaker so they could hear the chaos as well. “Raymond, where are you now?”
“Right outside the house,” he coughed. “I caught them as they were getting ready to leave. I managed to shoot a few of them, but there were too many. They’re getting on the boat now.”
“The address we had for Samuel’s house was right on the beach!” Holm exclaimed. “You were right, Ethan. They’re trying to flee by water.”
“You go,” one of the local officers suddenly spoke up as he tossed Crowley the keys to the police van. “We’ll stay here with the girl until the ambulance arrives.”
“Okay, let’s go,” I said to Holm and Crowley before turning on my heel and quickly leaving the room. It wasn’t ideal to split up like this, but we didn’t have time to spare right now.
“Raymond!” I yelled through the phone. “How many men are still there? I can hear the gunshots.”
“Ah… two, I think,” he gasped. His voice was getting more strained every time he spoke. “I’m inside the house now, taking cover. I’m not too sure.”
“Okay, just hold tight,” I called as I raced down the stairs and through the front door of the house, Holm and Crowley hot on my trail. “We’re coming to you now.”
“I’ll try not to die before then,” he laughed brokenly before hanging up.
“How long until we get to the address?” I asked Crowley as we piled into the police van.
“About four minutes by car,” he replied as he turned the ignition.
“I hope Raymond can hold out for that long,” I muttered bitterly in response as the car took off. Outside, the sky was beginning to darken with foreboding storm clouds. I hoped the sudden unexpected storm wasn’t an omen of things to come.
29
Ethan
Even though the drive to Samuel’s house only took a few minutes, it felt like an eternity had passed when Crowley finally pulled the car to a stop with a loud screech. The house we’d arrived at was larger than most of the ones I’d seen around Turks & Caicos before. It was a little bigger than the one we’d just left but significantly more well-maintained. The exterior walls were coated with a crisp, fresh coat of paint, and the windows were decorated with fancy, brightly colored wooden shutters. At least, the ones that hadn’t been shot to bits were.
The three of us got out of the car and immediately rushed forward. We were almost to the front door when it suddenly burst open. A man wearing a dark blue bandana over his head stepped out. He looked extremely shocked to see us.
“Freeze!” I shouted, but the man was already lifting the gun he was holding in his hand.
I jumped to the side and unholstered my own gun in one swift moment. The man fired, but his bullet missed and struck the side of the police van. I fired my own pistol, and the man fell backward as he was hit in the arm.
Holm and I both rushed forward to restrain him before he could get back up. As we did, I noticed a blur of movement from around the corner of the house. I snapped my head up and found a second man quickly coming around from the side of the house, his gun pointed right toward us.
“Holm, get down!” I yelled as I lifted my gun.
He dropped to the ground immediately. Before the man could fire, both Crowley and I shot at him, and he fell over with a short cry of pain.
“Go find Raymond,” Crowley huffed as he bent down to handcuff the man that Holm was restraining. “I’ve got this one.”
I nodded before rushing into the house. I was wary about the possibility that there might be even more men inside, but I didn’t want to take too long clearing the house when I knew that Raymond was somewhere in here, very obviously injured.
Several pieces of furniture were overturned, and a few things had clear bullet holes through them. It was evident that Raymond hadn’t gone down without a fight.
“Raymond?” I yelled as I ran toward the rear of the first floor. As soon as I called his name, I heard what sounded like a banging noise somewhere to my left. I tried the door nearest to me and found that it was locked.
“What was that?” Holm asked as he ran up to me, having obviously heard the banging noise as well.
“Raymond?” I called again. “Are you in there?”
There was a shuffling sound from inside, and I braced myself, gun ready to shoot just in case it wasn’t actually him in there. A second later, the door handle wiggled and unlocked with a click before the door finally opened.
“I was worried I’d be a dead man before you got here,” Raymond wheezed as he pushed the door open wider. He was hunched over and pressing one of his hands to his bloodied side. His nose was crooked and swollen, and he had a black eye as well.
I glanced behind him and realized we were inside a bathroom. He must have taken cover there once the men started gaining the upper hand.
“How badly are you injured?” I asked as I slung his arm over my shoulders so I could help him walk.
“They got me good,” he replied with a mirthless chuckle as he glanced down at the wound on his side. “Starting to feel a little dizzy, actually.”
“Just take it easy,” I replied as Holm and I helped him out of the house.
“I’ve got the suspect in the car,” Crowley informed us as he came jogging up to assist. “And I’ve got another ambulance heading this way. How bad is it?”
“Something like this isn’t gonna take me out,” Raymond slurred weakly. He said that, but his eyes were becoming unfocused, and he was wobbling more with every step he took.
“Here, sit down for a minute,” I suggested as I helped him down onto the grass in front of the house. “Try not to move too much until help arrives.”
“Not sure I could if I wanted to,” he wheezed as he reached into his pocket. His hand emerged clutching the boat key, which he held out to me. “You need to go after them. Don’t let the bastard who murdered my brother get away.”
“I’ll stay here with him,” Crowley spoke up immediately. “The suspect is handcuffed and secure inside the back of the van. We’ll lose too much time if we all wait.”
“Alright,” I replied as I took the key from Raymond. “Which way to the beach?”
“Just there,” he said as he lifted his arm shakily to point toward a throng of trees that bisected one half of the neighborhood from the other. “The beach is only a few hundred meters from here. Just keep going straight. I docked the boat there. I saw them heading in that direction with the girls.
“Okay.” I nodded before getting to my feet. “Come on, Holm, we don’t have any time to lose.”
Together, we took off toward the trees. The moment we cleared them, I could see the beach in the distance. The buildings here were all on the larger side, brightly colored in shades of turquoise, green, and pale yellow. Just like Western Caicos, there weren’t a lot of cars on the road, though there were plenty of locals and tourists alike, even despite the unpleasant weather.
Some people tossed us curious expressions as we ran by. Everyone was moving at such a relaxed, leisurely pace that we must have looked extremely out-of-place bo
oking it through the street like this.
“Do you see it?!” Holm yelled as we raced onto the sandy beach. The rain had finally started to come down, and it was difficult to see. I scanned my eyes across the shoreline until they finally landed on something white in the distance.
“There!” I shouted back before taking off in that direction. It was definitely Raymond’s boat. I recognized the distinctive blue stripe across the right side. It was also the only boat docked next to what was more of a small pier than a proper docking area. Raymond must have just chosen the first place he could find to leave his boat on his quest to find Samuel and the other traffickers.
“How did he even climb up here?” Holm grumbled as we ducked beneath the railing of the pier and down onto the boat. It was a good question since the floor of the pier was a good four feet above the deck of the boat.
“Never underestimate a man intent on revenge,” I muttered as I moved quickly to the helm. It was a familiar system. I’d driven countless boats in my life, many more complicated than his simple fishing vessel.
“I see something out there.” Holm tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. He pointed at something through the glass window at the front of the helm.
Sure enough, I could see another boat in the distance. It was difficult to tell just how large it was from so far away, but it was definitely bigger than ours.
“Think that’s them?” I muttered as I rummaged through the shelves and drawers beneath the helm. Maybe Raymond had a set of binoculars or a spyglass somewhere in here.
“I don’t see anyone else on the water,” Holm replied as he stepped toward the side of the boat to undo the line.
“We’ll assume it is, then,” I decided as I pushed the throttle to get the boat going.
It had only been a few minutes since Raymond had called us to let us know that the men were escaping from Samuel’s house. If that were the case, then it was possible they hadn’t made it very far yet. I only hoped we weren’t chasing after the wrong boat and wasting even more time.