Hung Out to Dry

by Hadford Howell

  Power recognised the now familiar female’s voice that had been with him over the past thirty-six hours. He had heard her voice barely a couple hours earlier when she’d wished him, “Good night, sleep well.” His head was now clear and he was enjoying the sensations generated by the tip-toeing fingers up and down his back so he reached out and touched her leg.

  Huey jumped back slightly at his touch, resulting in her stopping what she was doing. As she moved away, Power took the opportunity to sit up and swing his legs out of the hammock where they could touch the floor. There was no light in the hut, but Power could not miss Huey’s scent standing very close to him in the darkened confines of the hut.

  “Don’t be afraid,” said Huey.

  “I’m not,” responded Power.

  “I couldn’t sleep. The night’s chilly up in these hills, so I’m looking for something, someone, to warm me up…” she was explaining.

  “Well, girl, you’ve found it. I’m available …”

  Nestling closer to him, Huey answered, “I can tell that you are,” as she reached out for his body. Power knew from her slightly quivering voice and her increased breathing that she was not going to stand on any ceremony. Her aroma filled his nostrils. Clearly Huey was ready for sex. Power reached out to touch her and found that she was naked.

  “Good. Let’s do this. We have a few hours until morning…”

  Huey took Power’s hand and led him from the hammock to the single bed where she’d earlier slept.

  They then made long and passionate love once, twice and then for a third time coming onto morning.

  Six o’clock found them fast asleep, totally spent and entangled in each other.

  ***

  JJ’s phone alarm woke him at 6:30 a.m. He showered, shaved and dressed in order to meet Gomez in the hotel lobby just after 7.00 a.m. They made the short journey to RTF unit’s operation centre at SVGPF HQ where a cooked breakfast and fresh fruit was waiting for them and the rest of the RTF unit.

  ***

  Following breakfast, Gomez’s RTF unit reviewed the information and conclusions they had come to the previous night. This led them to reduce the number of areas they would concentrate on that day. Four specific areas were chosen, two in the countryside and two villages closer to Kingstown. They considered tackling the Kingstown villages after dark that evening but felt that though it would give them an element of surprise, darkness might also work against them.

  Hence their decision to visit all areas during daylight. Today’s actions might help to ‘flush out’ Power into a more open and vulnerable space where it would be easier to recapture him. These three zonal areas selected were where serious Vincentian gang activity had historically been known to take place. RTF unit members believed shielding Power from Vincentian law enforcement officials after his escape from Barbados would fall into this category. Whoever was running the show had probably employed a known gang to operate the Power ‘safe house’ routine.

  ***

  After showering, Motby and Jackie had taken a late breakfast before dressing for their official morning engagement. They left Ilaro Court at 9:10 a.m. to attend a special BDF anniversary service at St Matthias Anglican church at 9:30 a.m.

  ***

  Back in St Vincent, RTF’s overnight review had shown up no recent (past forty-eight hours) unusual or heightened uptick in local gang activity. Had RTF unit members missed a red flag? They did not think so. None of their informants had mentioned anything specific, although there was a vague report that a well-known Rastafarian leader had been seen coming down from one of the hillier sides of the island in an old black vehicle late on Thursday afternoon.

  Gomez’s RTF unit and JJ made a few more deductions before Gomez broke them up into three search teams. Two teams would visit out-lying country areas, while the third team would visit the two villages lying just outside of Kingstown.

  ***

  Inspector Byron Moss wasn’t quite sure what to make of the call he’d just received from Vickers this Sunday morning. Not one for church, he’d laid in bed and watched his wife Pearle get dressed and head off to the local church in St James that she’d been a member of since childhood and where they had also gotten married three years earlier.

  Moss just wasn’t a church-going person. Weddings, funerals, christenings (he was a god-father but not yet a dad) he could do and oh yes, Christmas and Easter mornings. Otherwise, count him out. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in God, he just could not get into the habit of going to the same place every Sunday, to hear practically the same thing and see the same people. When he’d explained this to Pearle a couple of years earlier, she’d reminded him that he went to work five and sometimes six days a week in the same place at RBPF HQ. Moss had two counters. First, he got paid for going to work, whereas he had to pay when he went to church. Second, because of the nature of work he now did, he was seldom in the same place every day and if so, he was seldom there for as long as any of her two-and-a-half-hour church services. Since then, Pearle had given up trying to reason with him about attending church with her.

  Moss hadn’t long nodded back off after Pearle’s departure when his official phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s Vickers.”

  “Good morning, sir, you’re early!”

  “Do you know what time it is? I’ve got a job for you Byron. I need you to run down something for me. Can you meet me at HQ in thirty?”

  “I’ll try sir, but it’ll be more like forty-five. I’m still in bed!”

  “I thought so! You’re a lucky boy. I thought Pearle had broken you out of that habit and was getting you out to church more often, especially on Sunday mornings?”

  “She’s tried, sir, believe me but I’ve resisted.”

  “Well you can’t resist me today! See you in forty-five. Bye.”

  “Alright.”

  Moss wondered if something had cracked on the Deputy Governor’s case. He knew Vickers was getting some pressure on this case from all round.

  In forty minutes, after a quick shower but no breakfast, Moss arrived at RBPF HQ and went in search of Vickers in his office to see what was so important for him to have to work on this Sunday.

  Vickers confirmed that there was indeed a new lead on Dr Lewis, but it was not why Vickers wanted him at work. He explained to Moss about the room key card that had been found in the former Deputy Superintendent of HMP Dodds’ vehicle. Vickers presented the card to Moss. No DNA but a smudged fingerprint had been found on it. The lab had not yet come up with who it belonged to, so neither had been of much help to RBPF investigators. Moss’ task was to identify the hotel that the card belonged to and then visit it and look through the guest registry to see if anything jumped out at him. Also, he might just pick up if any guest had made any recent connection with George Telford.

  Moss went to his desk and picked up a Barbados telecommunications directory. He would make a list of all the south coast hotels from Bridgetown right up to the St Christopher/Silver Sands districts in Christ Church. He estimated these numbered around thirty hotels of all classes and ten guest houses of varying sizes along or close to that coastline. He decided not to look at rented apartments just yet – that would be done if he drew a blank with the hotels and guest houses.

  There goes all of my Sunday, thought Moss. Vickers had instructed him to work on this until he found ‘something’. Moss knew what that meant. He would need to put in a very long day, hell maybe an a near all-nighter too if he had to visit all of these properties.

  Moss hoped Pearle would understand. He’d sent her a WhatsApp message on leaving home, explaining why he’d not be home when she returned and that he couldn’t start the Sunday cooking as he had to get cracking on a new assignment.

  ***

  Jackson Bright, BLA Director had compiled the information requested by Samuel late on Saturday night, but had not bothered to forward it to Samuel until mid-way through Sunday morning.

  Samuel did not arrive at BIB
HQ until 10:35 a.m. He saw Bright’s submission and immediately started to review the information received. There were 259 Subaru Impreza cars registered, with 203 of them being saloons. Of this latter number, seventy-five were either black, dark blue, red, green or brown, leaving 128 that could be white, light grey or silver grey. As the Subaru Impreza captured by the CCTV camera in Speightstown was clearly not dark in colour, this narrowed down the cars that he would need to start looking for to 128.

  Margaret soon joined him. Samuel showed her Bright’s information. She agreed with Samuel’s analysis. They dug deeper to see which of the remaining 128 cars had a X or M letter that the CCTV cameras had been able to capture when Dr Lewis was being transferred.

  Ten minutes later, Samuel and Margaret had narrowed down the search to persons, companies and organisations with addresses in the parishes of Christ Church (X) and St Michael (M). These totalled 67, with 28 being registered in Christ Church, and 39 in St Michael. After deleting the six and fifteen cars from the final list because they were registered to companies or organisations, 22 and 24 cars respectively were left to be tracked down.

  It was the 22 and 24 persons in the parishes of Christ Church and St Michael respectively whose details Samuel later passed to Commissioner Jeremie for his RBPF officers to start checking on. Did any of these Subaru Imprezas have a Garfield hanging from its rear-view mirror and a school tie hanging from the coat hook by the car’s right-hand side’s back seat?

  Of course, Samuel duly alerted Colonel Burke prior to taking his proposed action and gained approval.

  “Thanks, sounds good. I agree. RBPF have enough vehicles on patrol that should be able to get these checks done within three or four hours without too much trouble. But there could be a problem in that not all the cars will be at the addresses they are registered at, so it might be wise to request Commissioner Jeremie to also issue an APB to all patrolling vehicles to look out for the specific features you’ve identified on any relevant parked cars at picnic spots, beaches, churches, at the airport, seaport and of course, around Kensington. Keeping a sharp eye out will be the key,” said Colonel Burke.

  “That’s true but gosh, doesn’t that make the exercise a lot more difficult?” asked Samuel.

  “Not really. Look, just pass on what I’ve suggested to the Commissioner. Do you have his mobile number?”

  “Yes, I have it here somewhere on my wall,” answered Samuel.

  “Fine. Good luck and thanks again, Samuel,” said Colonel Burke signing off.

  “You’re welcome, sir.”

  Colonel Burke did not hear him.

  Samuel shook his head. Margaret found the number and he made the call.

  ***

  Following the service, Motby had taken the obligatory salute during the march-pass of soldiers. Two days earlier Motby had advised Tenton that he would not be able to attend the traditional lunch that followed at BDF HQ, citing the need to attend to urgent matters of state over the weekend which he knew he’d not be able to get to before mid-day Sunday.

  Tenton was disappointed, but understood there was nothing he could do to change Motby’s mind.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Pursuit

  Gomez acknowledged that access to the first of the two country areas he had chosen had a rough road which extended well up into the hillside, where a few overnight huts were known to be. That might have been the area where the vehicle had reportedly been spotted coming from, but his unit member had been unable to reach his informant the night before to clarify this. A six-member SVGDF detachment allocated to the RTF unit for Sunday was therefore dispatched by Gomez to see what (if anything) suggested that there had been some recent human activity in the area. This would include signs of recent tyre tracks, foot prints, or evidence of empty food or snack containers that would suggest persons had visited within the past forty-eight to seventy-two hours.

  The other country area and two near-Kingstown villages would be visited at the same time, with the intention being to meet back at RTF’s operational centre by 3:30 p.m.

  Throughout the various morning discussions, JJ had chosen to observe. Gomez had noticed this and so, just before the three search teams had departed for their targeted areas, he’d invited JJ to speak to them. After all, Power was JJ’s to recapture and return to Barbados, with their help.

  “Thanks, Terry. Gentlemen, Jasper Power nicknamed ‘Stabs’, is a longstanding and dangerous criminal. He’s been in trouble with the law since he was seventeen (at school in sixth form when he was caught selling drugs). He’s served two relatively short custodial sentences in the past, back in February 2002 and January 2013. Once we recapture him, I anticipate the courts will ensure that he serves a lengthy sentence this time around. His crimes over time have been for selling a variety of drugs, importing and selling firearms and ammunition, and beating up people. He once shot his girlfriend but no one would come forward to press charges.”

  JJ could see that those he was addressing were getting the message.

  “How did he get the nickname ‘Stabs’?” asked Corporal Mitch Papos, a SVGDF soldier.

  "In Power’s early years of criminal activity, he tended to stab up people. Those he did not like, who disagreed with him or had something that he wanted that they would not give up when asked to do so. Possessions and women generally. His stabbings usually took place in night clubs or at private parties. Power got away with many of these attacks because the persons hurt never pressed charges against him.

  “If given the chance, he’ll not think twice about harming you. He’ll probably kill to escape arrest. So, be careful out there. If you come across this man, have backup with or close to you,” concluded JJ.

  Gomez backed up JJ on this warning, being careful to remind his fellow Vincentians that their intention should be to recapture Power in the first instance, not kill him.

  “Like Mr Johnson has stated, if it’s a choice between you and him and you feel that you are in mortal danger, save yourself. I’ll back you up,” Gomez concluded.

  JJ had no problem with Gomez’s assessment or the instructions he had given to members of the three search teams.

  “We hear you, sir,” said Sergeant Casper Arnold, Gomez’s second-in-command in the RTF unit and leader of search team #1.

  Search team #2 would be led by Corporal Montgomery ‘Monty’ Conway, third-in-command of the RTF who was being supported by a second batch of six SVGDF soldiers. Gomez would lead search team #3, comprised of JJ and the remaining members of his RTF team.

  Just as the search teams left the compound in a variety of four-wheeled drive vehicles, Gomez spoke to them on the radio.

  “Okay, boys and girls. Remember to stay on your toes at all times. Good hunting and try not to make any mistakes. I want to see everyone back here at our operational centre in one piece.”

  It was clear that if any of the three search teams contacted the Barbadian criminal and his Vincentian protectors, fireworks could result. That was why the leader of each search group was a RSVGPF officer. They would take legal charge of any incident, including Power’s recapture and arrest. The soldiers were there to help with securing the escaped Barbadian criminal. Everyone involved knew that on their own the soldiers had no legal authority to arrest and detain Power.

  ***

  Search team #3 were first to arrive at one of their designated areas. The first village was only a ten-minute drive from central Kingstown. The team would spread out around the village with pictures of Power, asking if anyone had seen him and conduct searches for him if necessary.

  Residents resented being picked on and raided by armed RSVGPF officers and SVGDF soldiers. Most shook their heads to indicate that they had not seen or even heard of Power. This was the second raid by Vincentian law enforcement personnel of their village within a four-week period, so communication was never going to be great. Finding drugs had been the target back then, but none had been found in the six homes searched.

 
Returning this morning to this village was not welcomed, even though the reason for the authorities’ visit on this occasion was completely different. Residents did not see it that way. One elderly man spoke with Gomez after being shown Power’s picture.

  “No, I’ve not seen that man.” He quickly added, “Nor are there any drugs in this community. Why can’t you people just leave us alone? We’re a God-fearing and peace-loving people around here so please stop harassing us,” was his plea.

  A young woman in her twenties who was standing close by added, “The old man’s right. Most of us are tax-payers and law-abiding citizens, so why don’t you stop persecuting us and go look elsewhere for what you’re searching for, as you’re never going to find any strangers or contraband here.”

  JJ waited in Gomez’s vehicle, watching and thinking as the questioning went on. Somewhat surprised, he observed that not one person – man, woman or child, had acted suspiciously. They had spoken with Gomez or other members of search team #3 who were in JJ’s view. They appeared to be just a group of people who were frustrated at being turned over by the law. JJ was at the time unaware that the local authorities had visited this community a few weeks earlier.

  He also observed that for a Sunday morning, most of the persons were not dressed as if they were going to or had already been to church. Their actions appeared to be of innocence, certainly not trying to protect a known criminal from Barbados who was hiding in their midst.

  After an hour, JJ was not surprised to see Gomez gather his team together. There was no trace of Power. Speaking with JJ, who had now exited Gomez’s vehicle to stretch his legs and had even heard a couple of the more ‘salty’ and foul-mouthed language responses from residents, he could only nod and agree with Gomez about concluding the search team’s visit.