by Matt Lincoln
There was a very loud sigh from Xavier, but I didn’t hear anything from the other two. I was thankful.
“I know that you’re disappointed in that, Xavier, but nothing has changed from the other day.” I was determined to be upfront about it. “That’s just how it’s going to be. But I do want you to know that I understand what you were trying to do. That you were, in your way, trying to help. Just maybe next time, ask me about that much of a change to our situation first.” I grinned at him, hoping that he’d see that I didn’t have any true hard feelings over it.
“Agreed,” Xavier commented with a relieved posture and tone. “I am sorry that it came off as… awkward as it did. It made a lot more sense in my own head, I guess. But I do apologize.” He smiled in his goofy, unsure way. “We’re okay, though, right?”
“Yeah, we are.” And I meant that.
“Why don’t we just talk about something else entirely until we get back to the marina? What do you all say?” Doc requested, and I appreciated the attempt. “Here’s something. I will be closing on my new house in a few weeks’ time. I do think that a housewarming will be in order, and I hear that the custom is that you must all bring me and Zaid gifts in exchange for a meal. Or something like that.” There was a lighthearted nature to his tone.
I laughed and turned back around to address this. “Now we know why you really bought a house. You wanted a bunch of new stuff, and you wanted to force us to come to one of your parties.” I smiled, and they all joined me in the joke.
“I’ve been found out,” Doc teased back at me.
I already bought you and Zaid a bunch of items this whole time, Rosa signed, but it was in fun. Now you’re telling me you demand more compensation for a free meal? It better be a really good meal.
“Speaking of free meals,” I had a great idea, “everyone come over to my place tomorrow night. There’s supposed to be a big block party on the beach just down from the condo. They’ve been plastering flyers in the garage for days now. Maybe we’ll grab a hot dog and just mingle around for a while.”
“I detest such affairs, but Zaid has wanted to go swimming in the ocean, so we’ll be there.” Doc glanced over at the boy and smiled at the mere mention of him.
“Yeah, I guess, maybe.” Xavier sounded less than enthused about it.
Rosa nodded. He’s going to pout about Eve leaving, but I, for one, am fine with this arrangement. And I could use a beach day… or evening. Rosa corrected herself. So, I’ll come along as well. What time?
“Let’s say five o’clock. That way, Zaid can get in some decent swim time.” I was already looking forward to this. And I needed something to look forward to.
“Oh, crap!” Xavier fumbled around in his shirt pocket and produced three credit cards. “Claude gave these to me earlier. I already checked all of them out, and the full payment has been credited to each of us on those cards, as of yesterday, when I delivered the cases of statuettes to him.” Xavier hid his procrastination behind a smile as he handed us each one of the cards. “Not a bad payday, if I do say so myself.”
“New house, here we come,” Doc laughed as he pulled out a wallet and stashed his card inside.
“I’m doing some upgrades to the yacht,” Xavier informed us. “Already have them all planned out.”
We all looked to Rosa, who simply signed, no comment.
“What about you, Header?” Doc inquired of me.
I just smiled and teasingly nodded at Rosa. “What she said.”
35
Jake
The beach was packed the next day, even at five o’clock in the evening. People had really turned out for this party, and no one even knew who was throwing it. There were massive amounts of grilled food cooking all around us, games being played, live music to dance to and enjoy, and a lot of new faces to socialize with.
Rosa had come dressed in a red mini-dress and bare feet. She was already dancing up a storm with some of my neighbors from the condo. Doc was playing with his grandson and teaching him proper beach swimming, along with some other kids his age. They had just gravitated toward one another. That was good to see.
Xavier was milling around and had gotten called upon to help set up the lighting so that the party could continue into the night. The air was warm and smelled like summer. I noticed a woman watching me from her spot by the bonfire. She was low-key flirting by twirling her blond hair around her finger and sipping on a straw in a cola can through a constant smile in my direction.
I didn’t react at first, but after a few beers and the fact that she was still watching me, I headed over. Her smile grew as I got closer, and I took in her appearance. She was dressed in cutoff shorts and a white bikini top that complemented her tanned complexion. Once I got close enough for her to hear me over the music and the other loud kinds of fun, I offered her my hand and introduced myself.
“Hi,” I grinned. “I’m Jake.”
The skin on her hand was soft as we shook hands, and she moved in a little closer. “Pleased to meet you, Agent Batin.”
I jumped back in alarm. That name had a history to it, and it wasn’t one I wanted to deal with again. Kippy had given my team and me fake names to keep our identities safe when we got detained at the airport once. But that had been a while ago, back when we’d worked the Fu case and needed to rescue Arik Fu from the Yabut and his mother.
“Sorry,” I pulled back my hand from hers, “I think you have the wrong guy.”
The woman got very close to me and whispered in my ear. “Not a chance. Montrose is waiting for you by the ice cream machine.” And then, the woman moved away and faded into the crowd.
“Dammit,” I said out loud. Agent Montrose had been the one in charge at the airport that day. I hadn’t even given her a second thought since then. I guess she couldn’t say the same. I checked to see if any of my team were within distance for me to get their attention, but that was a bust. So, I made my way over to the ice cream machine to find out what this was about.
Sure enough, I saw a familiar face. Agent Montrose was sporting a short and sharp looking haircut, with the silver and white tresses gleaming in the firelight. She was blending in pretty well, with a tee-shirt and jeans, flip flops, and a big, floppy sun hat. Her eyes widened as I approached, but she wasn’t looking at me. I followed her gaze, and that led me to a man in a blue ball cap headed for her with something shiny and glinting in his hand.
I rushed forward, trying not to trip in the sand. Montrose raised her arms to protect herself in a defensive Krav Maga position. The man saw this, too, and picked up his speed. He swung out with his knife to attack Montrose, and people screamed and ran away in fear. I immediately grabbed the man’s forearm to keep the blade from making deep contact with Montrose.
Her arm got a small wound, but it could have been much worse. The man and I struggled on the beach for a few moments, punching and kicking at one another, trying to gain the upper hand in the sandy battle. I got him in a chokehold, only to have him elbow me in the gut, which forced me to loosen my grip on him.
I shifted my weight and thrust my shoulder into his chest, hoping to knock him down. It only made him step back a few times to regain his balance, but I took advantage of that and ran my upper body at him, grabbing him around his waist. We both latched on to whatever limbs we could, still punching and fighting to finish this. It wasn’t until I’d forced him onto his knees with his arm back behind him that I knew I’d gotten the better of him.
He tried to head-butt me, and I dodged quickly enough to avoid that pain. Montrose jumped in close and aimed a small-caliber handgun directly at his neck as I worked to maintain my control over him. Once he felt the cold metal barrel on his skin, the man stopped moving and modified his tactics. He kicked out, hitting me in the leg but not taking me down. I grunted as I strained to subdue that part of him now. “Oh, no, you don’t.”
I forced him to the ground and made him kneel in the sand as I saw my team running up to us and everyone else sprinting away.
“Wh
at’s going on?” Xavier called out, battling to move quickly on the sandy beach.
Montrose stepped out to show herself and nodded as they all approached. “I had to make sure that you’d help me out. You can release him now. He’s one of my men.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “What do you mean he’s ‘one of yours?’” I was not in the frame of mind for this kind of absurdity.
“Agent Batin, I set this little attack up to make sure that you hadn’t been compromised. I had to be sure that you were still clean.” She placed her hand on my shoulder in an attempt to reassure me of her intentions.
I eased up on the man I was detaining and looked Montrose directly in the eyes to answer her statements. “My name’s not Batin. And you have the wrong guy if you think I like having my reliability tested.” I let go of the man and helped him to stand. “What’s this all about?”
Montrose bowed her head, and I could see that she was scared enough to still talk to me even now. “Batin, or whatever your name is, someone has taken my daughter, and I need your help to get her back.”
Epilogue
That was when I had to stop talking. “Sorry, that’s all that I can tell you. The rest is classified.” I smiled at them all and started to pack up the fishing gear.
“Ah, hell no! You can’t do me like that, Header!” Francine protested loudly as Lael followed suit and began to clean up his fishing gear too.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I really can’t tell you any more about that part of the story. It turned out to be a matter of national security, and I won’t breach that for anyone.” I knew that I was letting them down by leaving it like that, but I’d gotten a little carried away in my storytelling. I should have ended it sooner.
“Hey, but you never explained why or how Lael got the money for this place,” Griego reminded me. That had been why I’d started telling the tale in the first place.
“Oh, come on. Haven’t you guessed yet?” I played with them all as Lael and I packed the truck back up and got ready to leave.
“I’m still going with the drug dealing aspect,” Owen replied teasingly.
I stood before them and grinned, enjoying this little game we were playing. But it couldn’t last. I needed to head out and on to Virginia, where an old friend of mine was waiting to make my dinner. And she was a hell of a good cook.
“If you’d listened closely, you’d have picked up on it,” I teased.
“Well, we know that he didn’t marry into money,” Francine commented a little too boisterously and boldly.
“He took that job with the rich, old man, didn’t he? Speirs,” Kansas spoke up finally. “So, you left your friend to manage the marina all by himself, and you took off for greener pastures?” She glared at Lael as she said this.
“No, it wasn’t like that at all.” Lael laughed a little and looked over at me. We both knew what had really happened, and it was hard to talk about it even today.
“It wasn’t anything that could be helped, not at the time.” I tried to smile about it. “Just a risk I took doing what I was good at.”
“He’s like Shahrazad. Telling his stories and leaving us wanting more.” Francine reached out to shake my hand as Lael and I had to get back to the lodge. “It was good to meet you, though, Header. You take care now.”
I said goodbye to all of my afternoon fishing buddies before climbing into the truck with Lael.
“That was a good story,” Lael admitted as we drove off. “Thanks for clearing up all those misconceptions about the money. I never do know how to tell people that I was named in the Speirs will. That name still carries a lot of weight in certain parts of Florida. And I hate answering those kinds of questions.”
“I understand,” I assured him. “Everyone has a preconceived idea of what someone else was like in their past. It usually takes an outsider that was there to clear it all up.” I looked over at Lael. “Just glad that I could help out an old friend one more time.”
We were quiet until we got back to his driveway, and I moved all of my own gear back into the Rover. Then, as we both knew it was coming, we faced one another for this specific goodbye.
“So, Virginia?” Lael asked a little hesitantly.
“Yeah. I owe Melody a visit. It’s been a while.” I sighed as I explained this to him. “Besides, it was her idea. She offered.”
“Maybe there’s still hope at a reconciliation yet.” He was teasing me, as the universe itself had to know that ship had sailed long ago. “Hey, I have to ask, and no, you don’t have to tell me but, are you doing this trip thing to… I don’t know, to say your goodbyes, or is there more to it?”
“I’m not sure how to answer that, Lael,” I admitted. “Yeah, I’m taking a giant leap of faith with where I plan to go after this road trip, but maybe… I don’t know. It’s a little cathartic, too. Knowing that this next mission might be my last is making me realize just who I used to be and who I am now. And that’s a good thing. Not everyone gets to train elite forces in special tactics.”
“And not many people would be okay with going off the grid for a couple of years, but I guess you’ve found something more interesting than retirement.” Lael then reached out and hugged me. It was a nice kind of surprise from a guy like him. And to think, I used to say he was a man of few words. “You take care now, and when you come up for air, give Mallory and me a call.”
“Will do. Thanks for everything, Lael.” With that, I got into my Rover and drove away, headed for a very special reunion in Virginia with a very special woman.
Author’s Note
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Special thanks and credit to Moonstruck Covers Design & Photography, the studio responsible for all my Coastal Vigilante covers!