Caribbean Rage

by Clington Quamie

  The dusky rays accompanied a cool breeze that lashed against her natural curls. A queen bee entered the jeep from out of nowhere and bombilated out of control. Kaila hit the brake. It brought the jeep to a complete standstill. The sudden stoppage jolted Marielli forward. Thankfully, she was firmly tucked by the seatbelt. The bee brushed her face lightly then fluttered out of the window. Marielli slashed frantically through open air with both her hands. A barrage of incoming traffic honked their horns at Kaila.

  Thoughts of marriage circulated Kaila for many years. She had the perfect little family and marriage was all that was missing to make it complete. Many times she felt compelled to bring up the topic but doing so would only uncover her desperation. Kaila was head over heels in love with Robert and couldn’t risk causing unnecessary hullabaloos in their relationship. She acquiesced in the situation and waited impatiently for the day when he was finally going to make up his mind.

  Kaila’s day at work with her daughter was quite fulfilling. Before exiting work, she stumbled upon a premonitious document that by far superseded thoughts of Robert’s lack of imagination to propose to her.

  Potentially deadly tsunamis threaten the Caribbean given the region’s location along the junction of several major and minor tectonic plates. Many of the islands sit above a subduction zone, where two plates meet and one slides under the other, down into Earth’s mantle. Others straddle strike-slip faults, where plates slide side by side. Researchers are warning of a new mega-tsunami threat that could devastate Antigua and neighboring islands. The researchers say it could also wreak destruction across the rest of the Caribbean and coastlines from Florida right down to Brazil. The study suggests the mega-tsunami could come following a volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands. The warning is that the monster wave generated by part of a mountain collapsing into the sea would be the biggest ever recorded and it is estimated to accumulate enough unreleased strain to potentially create a magnitude 8.5 earthquake offshore of Guadeloupe. The experts warn it would be an unstoppable force, travelling at speeds of up to 500 miles per hour. The massive wall of water would likely make first landfall on the West Saharan coast of Morocco, where the wave could measure as much as 330 feet from trough to crest. The greatest destruction would be expected in the builtup coastal areas of the Caribbean, Florida and Brazil. The tsunami could reach heights of 130 to 164 feet throughout the region and travel several miles inland.

  The idea of a tsunami sweeping across the Caribbean islands brought about a pensive sadness to Kaila. She’d witnessed similar disasters in the past.

  ‘Are you ok mom?’ Marielli’s innocent voice brought her back to reality. Kaila quickly wiped the gloom off her face and fired up the jeep again.

  ‘Yes sweetie…mommy is ok.’ she eased the gear into drive and replaced her thoughts with Robert who awaited them at Shirley Heights.

  Twenty nine ……………

  Erik Barfknecht let go of his single piece of luggage and embraced S54B3 with open arms.

  His accompanying bodyguards were taken aback by the gesture. He seemed unusually thrilled in her presence; something that was out of the ordinary.

  S54B3 was indeed one of Erik’s most prized contractors. She had developed a history of following orders with ease and delivering on time which rendered her reliable and trustworthy. S54B3 released her boss and took hold of his suitcase. She hadn’t been in his presence over twenty six years. She fought hard to control the excitement that welled up inside her.

  ‘Any new developments on the mission,’ Erik wasn’t a man of niceties. His arrival on the island was going to be met with strictly results minus pleasantries.

  ‘I know one of the key locations that Franco owns but he does a very good job at making himself absent.’ It was pointless repeating the two million dollars in her possession. Besides, Erik was less concerned about the two million than finding the man himself. There was also more troubling information that needed to be brought to his attention.

  ‘We have a situation. Smallmoney and Little Kevin are dead. I believe their style of execution is undoubtedly The Shadow’s work. In my estimation, I believe he has been hired by Franco.’

  Erik maintained his impassionate deportment but S54B3 read right through him. The Shadow had served him for countless years. He wasn’t the kind of man you wanted on the other side of the fence.

  ‘Please take me to Franco’s mysterious location.’ Erik remained cool. He feigned his disappointment and fear of having to come against the brutal killing machine that had served him both in and out of prison.

  ****

  Franco Defreitas hung up the telephone’s receiver and couldn’t contain the indelible smile on his face. He’d just finished closing a deal on a major tourism project with the government.

  There were many other businessmen who’d wined and dined the Government with the sole intention of securing projects like those. Franco knew for sure that it really were those who delivered financially under the table that counted. Some of those who knew how the system operated but failed to succeed at it comforted themselves with the idea that the system was corrupt. In Franco’s world; it was a way of life akin to that on the animal farm. The fittest of the fittest survived.

  He spun around in his office chair and refocused on the monitor screens that revealed the entire operation in the Casino. He stopped breathing and gazed blankly at one of the screens. Five newcomers occupied a table close to the Casino’s entrance. A glittery pair of eyes penetrated one of the monitors.

  They were the unmistaken eyes of a man he remembered too well. A man he’d stolen from and was either going to have to escape or put up a war with.

  Thirty ……………

  There was a shared attentiveness among officers in the conference room as Inspector Cooper explicated the most recent crime scenes. Two particular suspects formed the basis of their conference.

  Inspector Cooper’s eyed Baptist Silver with keen interest. He was a common fisherman but a known smuggler who was spotted with one of the victims. His brother was also brutally murdered and in Cooper’s humble estimation, Baptist had to be involved in one way or another.

  Their focus was also set on an anonymous suspect that had fired reckless rounds of bullets after Baptist on the same night two of the murders took place. Reports had reached Cooper that this unknown figure went by the name, The Shadow but no one had yet to come forward with his true identity.

  Cooper endured Charlene’s stubborn opposition on the investigation to a point where he summoned her to have a sit and say no more. Charlene remained adamant. She held firmly on to her belief that the recent crimes weren’t the product of one individual. Either both suspects were involved and had subsequently turned on each other or one of the suspects had teamed up with a third assailant that they’d yet to identify as a suspect.

  Charlene’s analysis garnered much support among fellow officers. To a great extent, Inspector Cooper also bought into her reasoning but he felt deeply offended by the way she overshadowed him in the presence of his subordinate officers. He couldn’t help his admiration for her advanced way of thinking but he despised the attention she gathered from it.

  ‘Alright…here is how we’re going to handle this! I’m putting two teams together.’ Cooper instructed five officers to assemble on the left side of the room.

  ‘From now on, you will be called Team B and will be set on Baptist trail under my lead.’

  Inspector Cooper ordered the remaining five officers to the right side except for Charlene who sat solitarily at the back of the conference room.

  ‘You can call yourselves Team S and you will do all in your power to unveil the identity of this criminal called The Shadow. Find him and ensure that he is brought to justice!’ Cooper directed his attention to the second team.

  His eyes met with Charlene’s who remained nonchalant. She didn’t budge. Instead, she locked her eyes with his without a blink. The room fell silent for a few minutes. A discomfiting apprehension gripped eve
ry officer in the room. Somewhere in their minds, Charlene was about to be extricated from the investigation panel because of her insubordination.

  ‘And you!’ Cooper heightened the coarseness in his voice, ‘you’ll assume the role of lead investigator for Team S.You will report every detail to me in a timely manner. Do I make myself clear?’

  Team S prior apprehension for her dismissal turned into utmost resentment. They were about to be supervised by the only woman in the CID whom in their estimation was by far less experienced than themselves.

  Thirty One ……………

  Time progressed rapidly and still there were no signs of the big fellow. The Shadow eased himself away from the crowd of merry holidaymakers. He pitied them all. They went about living life on a one way street totally nescient of the true dark nature that life itself possessed. They would depart from this life without ever figuring out that they had never tasted true freedom and that their every move had always been monitored by people like him and other dark watchers in high and low places. The Shadow was also fully aware that in the heart of the crowd of revelers were other watchmen like himself who blended in perfectly as vacationers. The Shadow went unnoticed by the large contingent of revelers. He vanished into the darkness. He followed a path behind the main bar that led into the woods. He relieved himself of the fancy linen apparels that allowed perfect camouflage among tourists. He traded them with a pitchblack outfit that was hidden somewhere in the woods. As slick as he’d slid out of the crowd, he eased himself back in. He took up another spot on a heightened platform at a far end where every incoming visitor would become visible to him. He peeked around carefully, trying not to miss a face on the dance ground and just when he was considering patrolling Shirley Height’s entrance, the fisherman’s large figure loomed in the cavern’s entrance.

  At the very moment, the familiar face of a woman who attempted to dance with him earlier quickly approached. The Shadow began descending the platform but was abruptly intersected by the stranger. ‘Hey…I know you.’ she staggered out of control and almost collided with him again.

  The Shadow took his focus off the target in an attempt to avoid the annoying foreigner. By the time he refocused, he lost him altogether. The rage deep down inside his belly began to bubble up. He took two steps downwards but on the third, he was barricaded by the woman again.

  ‘Come on…don’t you like me?’ she lurch her hand towards him.

  Her breath was a rancid combination of strong liquors. The Shadow took a quick glance around him. When he was certain that no one was looking, he grabbed her already outstretched hand and hauled her towards him. Her tummy connected hard with a quick jab from his free hand. The intrusive stranger wobbled towards the dance ground. She clasped both her hands under her stomach in raw agony. The Shadow took a few measured steps over her coiled body. He stood tall to reconnect with his target. Moments later, different faces from all across the ground gathered around the inquisitive tourist in an effort to help. They were clueless what had befallen her.

  The Shadow redoubled his count from the area across by the bar where he’d spotted his target. It wasn’t too much longer that he spotted him.

  The unmistakably large form was entering the crowd but he wasn’t alone; He had a female companion.

  The Shadow encircled the curious gathering until he resumed his position on higher grounds. He couldn’t care less about the inquisitive stranger who was now being attended to by other foreigners. He had it coming for her from the first time she’d bumped into him. The Shadow trained his eyes on the target like a hawk. He wanted him to settle before the attack.

  A group of men lifted the physically hurt woman away from the unventilated crowd and carried her outside the cavern where she could breathe in some fresh mountain breeze. The big fellow appeared relaxed with his fresh mate. The Shadow remembered Blondie in a flash.

  If she only had a firsthand view of how comfortable her lover was with other women in her absence? That was a matter for them, the shadow thought.

  As far as he was concerned, when he was done with the big guy, he was going to pay her a visit.

  The time came for The Shadow to make his move. He reached inside his thick black jacket for the Glock. In the darkened sphere where he stood, he angled the firearm downwards. He then cocked the gun and replaced it in the jacket.

  With his hand still resting on the pistol in the jacket, The Shadow meandered his way through the crowd as he inched nearer the target. He was approaching from an angle where neither the target nor his companion would notice him. The Shadow stopped at a touching distance from the pair. He had the target exactly where he wanted him. He wasn’t going to get away this time. He was a large man which made him the perfect target.

  The woman had just finished whispering something to the target. They were both turning towards The Shadow.

  With lightning speed, The Shadow leveled the Glock in their direction and released a shot. The body dropped lifelessly among revelers who began scampering for cover in every direction across the dance grounds.

  Thirty Two ……………

  The medley of reggae rhythms had long subsided and given way to a nonstop sequence of Soca music at Shirley Heights. Baptist humongous figure was unmistakably visible to revellers as he descended the artificial cavern that led to the dance ground. He went straight to the bar to continue the spell of Hennessey he’d begun at Koconut Breeze. An intoxicated party animal that appeared single and available squeezed her way through the thick crowd until she found herself alongside him. Her admiration for the large Caribbean man was glaring.

  ‘Hey…’ her voice was audible enough despite the loud music.

  ‘Hey…what’s going on?’ Baptist managed a smile regardless of the lake of worries that circulated his mind. Shakira was foremost in his mind but there was another problem brewing that could not be ignored.

  Inspector Cooper had called earlier in the morning asking for him and that wasn’t something to take lightly. After the recent spate of murders, Cooper obviously needed a suspect in custody to quell the questions that flooded the media. Baptist had one of two options. He could either walk himself to the police station or be pursued by the police.

  Either way he was going to be arrested and thrown in the calaboose for a maximum of seventy two hours where he would be ruggedly interrogated.

  ‘What are you drinking?’ the attractive tourist threw another loose question at him.

  ‘Hennessy on the rocks!’ She ordered another round of Hennessy without his permission along with a coconut rum and cranberry for herself.

  ‘Wanna dance?’ each successive question was totally disconnected to the previous.

  Baptist considered the offer. One dance wasn’t going to kill him. Furthermore, dancing one’s trouble away was one of the main purposes for being at Shirley Heights.

  ‘Sure…why not?’ they both downed their drinks and headed for the dance area. The beautiful stranger placed one of her tiny hands in Baptist’s palm like they’d known each other for an eternity. They secured a spot away from the centre of the thick crowd. Straightaway, the semi-drunken vacationer snaked herself into Baptist. The expression on her face revealed in no uncertain terms that she was fulfilling one of her Caribbean fantasies.

  Four songs and a few drinks later, she popped another question.

  ‘You wanna fuck?’ the question struck Baptist with little surprise.

  He was used to these spontaneously naughty offers from strangers. He gave it little consideration before accepting. She was petite and sassy; similar to the new waitresses he met earlier at Koconut Breeze. It wasn’t like Shakira was completely faithful him.

  Baptist had one location in mind; the darkened sphere in the woods at the back of the main bar.

  ‘Yeah sure…why don’t you follow me?’ Baptist grabbed her tiny hand again and angled himself in a direction that would have led them away from the crowd and into the darkness but instead, he ended up staring down the barrel of a g
un. Reflex immediately kicked in. He shifted just in time before the gun went off. The petite brunette who escaped an unforgiving hammering from the large Caribbean man wasn’t fortunate enough to escape the bullet that pierced her skull. Her vacation reached its ultimate climax as her lifeless body wobbled towards the cold Shirley Heights ground. A few more shots rang out causing total mayhem among revelers but Baptist was already on the move.

  His worst nightmare had revisited him. There was no question whatsoever who was after him and what he was after. He ran as far away from the chaos as his feet could carry him. In his haste to escape, he spotted a familiar face andthere wasonlyone thinglefttodoincasehewasn’t going to make it out of Shirley Heights alive. He took one last peek behind as he reached for the envelope containing the map. His pursuer was gaining on him quickly with the gun pointed to the back of his head. Another shot and Baptist long-lived history on planet earth could be ended.

  Thirty Three ……………

  Kamilla returned from the dense crowd of revelers. She was an outlander taking absolute advantage of her stay in a new destination. She relieved me of her nephew who complained of a stabbing hunger. It wasn’t long after that they left for the restaurant.

  A session of jumpy Caribbean Soca replaced the reggae music. The already ecstatic crowd became even livelier. The changing of tunes seemed to have touched a nerve in their bodies and commanded them all to dance. Although Soca music seemed uniquely appealing to foreigners, I preferred reggae a million times. I simple excused myself and stepped outside of the cavern. The mountain breeze was welcoming. It was a while since Kaila called and she should have already surfaced on the mountain top. I sat on a bare rock and decided to observe incoming tourist while taking in the cool mountain breeze and awaiting my family.