by Matt Lincoln
“That makes sense. So, where do we go from here?” I asked my team. “We have the designer drug lab secured, and we have two of the three Yabut conspirators alive and able to talk. I don’t think any of us should be here when the MPD arrives, but I don’t know that we can trust that this is over just yet.” I looked around the area and shook my head. There could still be hidden spaces or reinforcements headed this way.
Rosa turned to address Xavier and me. I say that we tie these two up good and tight, bind and gag them and leave. But only to get to a safe distance and keep an eye on the place until the police get here to take over. That would be one of the best plays for us.
I nodded in agreement. “That sounds like the most reasonable thing to do right now,” I called out to LaShawn. “Hey buddy, old pal, can you disable all the van batteries really quick? I don’t want to take the chance of anyone sneaking in here and driving away with anything.”
“I’m on it!” He called out and headed for them.
“Xavier, let’s you and I take care of the chemist.” Together we went back over to where they’d left him. Voyda was struggling against his bonds but abruptly stopped as we neared him. LaShawn had the bright idea to tie a cloth around his mouth to keep him from making so much noise. I was very grateful for that action. He’d been tied to a steel support that separated this main room from the restrooms. Metal partitions had been used here, too, as a makeshift bathroom area. It was small and stuffed into the corner.
The support was central to the stability of the building by the looks of it, so he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Voyda eyed us suspiciously as I knelt to check the ties just for my own peace of mind. The ties were solid and wouldn’t be budging or shifting. “Good job here. I say that we tie his feet, too, though. Rather be safe than sorry.”
Xavier produced some coiled zip-tie-like items from his own gear and proceeded to tie Voyda’s legs together in two places, both the knees and the ankles so that the man wouldn’t be able to run and his overall movement would be greatly restrained.
Once that was done, I headed over to see how LaShawn’s task was going. I found him on the last van, disconnecting the battery cables and pulling random plugs and wires.
“A quick fix to a running vehicle,” he teasingly stated. “It should keep anyone from being able to drive away before the police get here, at least.”
“Any word on when that may be?” I asked. They seemed to be taking a long time to get here, not that I minded specifically. That left us more time to do what we could around here, but still…
“No word from Cecily,” LaShawn answered. “It may be one of those things where she has to convince the higher-ups to come down here and check it out. I don’t know how much sway or pull she has in that department, actually.” He shook his head. “I do know that she wasn’t going to mention anything about the Yabut, the DEA, or that Task Force. It was going to be an anonymous tip about a local matter or something like that. Something that they could move on without causing too much notice from the DEA.”
“Smart,” I replied, still worried about where to go from here. “Well, I guess if the Yabut people are all here and tied up, then we should go and watch from a distance. That’s what I want my team to do.”
LaShawn understood. “And since you guys are my ride, I guess that I have to follow along.” He was joking. I could tell by the tone and the smile in his eyes and on his face. “Alright then, let’s go. The vans are done, and I don’t think there’s anything else that we can do for now.”
Together, he and I went back over to where Rosa and Xavier had tied the dark-haired and still unconscious woman to the table she was lying on. Rosa had moved her onto her side, just in case she woke up and aspirated. She didn’t want her to choke if she happened to vomit. Her hands were tied together and secured to the table legs underneath the flat surface. Her feet were also tied but at the other end. Since she was out and the police would be here soon, Rosa didn’t want to overdo the binds.
With all of that done and with the tiny bit of evidence that I had been able to glean from upstairs, we headed toward the outside door. I was the last one out, looking the place over one last time. Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought that I could hear sirens headed this way.
We continued to stay in the shadows as we moved quickly and quietly to my parked Mercedes. It had taken us a few minutes to get back here, but I kept looking back at that building periodically. I don’t know why. I just felt that something seemed weird. Sure enough, though, I could hear police sirens heading this way, so I told everyone to hurry up.
And then, from behind us, we heard a roar and felt a blast of heat, with the smell of gasoline, burning metal, and the chemical stench rising up into the air. We four turned to see a blast of fire and smoke billowing out of the building that we’d just left.
LaShawn looked over at me with a shocked face. “What the hell…?”
“I don’t… know,” I breathed.
I glanced at Rosa and Xavier, and they looked as confused as I felt.
“How did… did we miss something?” I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer. With the police sirens nearing our location, I called out, “Get to the vehicle! We’ll worry about that later. Let’s go!”
We all made it to the alley where the Mercedes was waiting for us, and after I unlocked it, we climbed inside. I waited for the mass of squad cars to speed by us, and then I cautiously backed out of the alley and drove the other way.
We could all see the smoke rising high into the night sky as firefighters and their engines arrived on the scene to put out the fire. This mission had taken an unexpected turn, and I didn’t know how I felt about it. On the one hand, our involvement would be overlooked as the flames would destroy most of the proof. But that meant that the drug evidence was gone, too.
My mind shifted to the two people we’d left behind. Voyda had been secured tightly, and I knew that he wasn’t getting out of the ties that we’d placed on him. The unconscious woman, ‘Mirror,’ had to be the culprit.
“Could the woman have been faking her fainting the whole time?” I asked the team as I drove us away from the docks and back into the heart of the city.
“We all looked at her, Jake,” LaShawn replied. “She was out. We all saw it. I mean, I guess that she could have been faking it, but…” He stopped talking and turned to look out of the window. No one would have wanted to finish that sentence.
“Look, it doesn’t matter now, either way,” Xavier chimed in. “Both labs are destroyed now, and the Yabut agents or whatever you want to call them are dead or, at the very least, out of commission.” He sighed, and I knew he was hoping that we’d be seeing the bright side of this. “We took them out, Header. The chemist that was making the stuff is most likely dead in that fire, and if he’s not, then the police will take him, anyway. Astreya was the boss, right? Well, she’s gone, so is the muscle guy that shot LaShawn and was grabbing the people in the alleys. The only one that might have made it out was Mirror, right?”
I knew that Xavier was trying to help us by walking the team through all that we had accomplished tonight. I did feel good, knowing that so much of the Yabut threat had gone now and that the homeless and runaways of the city had one less predator to worry about because of us. I smiled. That was a win worth celebrating. And we would be after we got our gunshot wounds patched up by George.
34
Jake
The next few days, Xavier kept a close eye on all the local news and events that might have been connected to the warehouse fire down at the docks. The news channels and papers proclaimed that it was just a fire that had broken out at a storage building that had housed flammable industrial chemicals and apparently some combustible goods. A leaking delivery van, parked inside of the warehouse, is what had caused the fire and a small set of explosions that the fire departments had been able to contain.
They had discovered many bodies, no doubt those of employees trying to flee the fire, but mos
t seemed to have been overcome by the fumes and died. Funny how no gunshot wounds or lab equipment were even mentioned in the stories and broadcasts.
At first, I was a bit upset at that, having risked life and limb to stop the spread and the manufacturing of the designer drug that the Yabut were creating and testing on the populace of Miami. But the more I thought about it, maybe that was for the best. This would set Judge Fu back in her schemes with the DEA and the Task Force for sure now. We still had the evidence against her that could be sent to the right people within the MPD.
I had a feeling Detective Musik would be instrumental in that. As she was the one that had the red notebook in the first place, she had to at least have an idea of who could be trusted with the intelligence we possessed. It might take a little more time, but for now, I saw no further proof that the Yabut were creating killer drugs in this city, nor were they using the city’s citizens as Guinea pigs.
To celebrate, I had decided to throw a small get-together at my marina one Friday evening. With Lael’s help, I set up a bunch of buffet-style tables along the wooden piers. I went all out, with a table each of tacos, gumbo, three kinds of shrimp and dips, mofongo, plantain chips, and lots and lots of beer.
We strung lights along the rope rails and on every upright pole that we could find. I was close to making it my grand opening of the marina, but I still didn’t have an office employee to handle all the paperwork. That, I told myself, was the next step before I took on any more projects around the marina. Well, that, and naming the place.
At about 7 PM, I saw the first of the vehicles pull into the marina’s lot. Xavier was already with me, dressed in a tasteful yellow tropical shirt and jeans. Lael was hanging out around the barn, holding back as he didn’t know many of the people coming tonight. He had cleaned up pretty good, though. His hair was slung back in a ponytail. He also had on a pair of jeans and what looked like a brand-new Army tee shirt. He was already on his second beer, and I wondered how much of that was for liquid courage.
Rosa was the first to arrive. She had finally gotten a few days to move into her new place, but she wasn’t letting any of us see it yet. I could respect that, but I teased that I was going to just drop by one day to annoy her. Tonight, she was wearing a loose-fitting sundress in dark purples and reds. Her hair was down and twisted over her shoulder. She looked very much ready to relax and have a good time.
She carried with her several wine bottles, two in each hand. She smiled as she approached, and we hugged one another. Xavier took the wine, surveyed it, and may have grimaced a little at her particular taste, but he said nothing. The bottle went over with the chests of ice-cold beers, where someone who was braver than I would open one, eventually. Tonight, I just wanted to enjoy the company and bask in the joy of finishing a case worth working on.
The next to show up were LaShawn and Cecily, holding hands as they made their way toward me. I welcomed them both and noticed how they still couldn’t take their eyes off one another. LaShawn had donned a crisp, white dress shirt, and jeans, which somehow made him look more professional than usual. Cecily had dressed in a pair of tailored shorts and a white tank with a floral see-through shirt over that. Together, they looked happy, and that was the first time that I realized just how real this thing was that they had going on.
I made the rounds, making sure that this group all knew each other. So much had happened that I wasn’t sure if they’d all been introduced or not. I was almost done when the final pair arrived. George was in his light blue linen suit again, but this time without the matching hat. He was friendly to a fault and shook hands with everyone there like he was running for an election. I let him have his fun because I was too busy looking at Verity.
She’d come tonight in a pink maxi-dress with a shimmering belt hanging off of her hips. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she still looked fantastic. My resolve was being tested, but I knew the right thing to do. It was best for both of us. But that could wait for a while. There was too much of a sweet, light spirit among the crowd to move into the more serious elements just yet.
Xavier had worked up the music for us, and some lively Cuban tunes filled the air.
“It’s going to be a mixture of local talent tonight,” he called out.
“Sounds great.” I smiled at him as I spooned myself out a bowl of mofongo. “Everybody, help yourselves. I don’t want to deal with the leftovers.” I’d forgone the use of chairs, hoping that people would just sit along the docks and let their feet dangle off the side. I wanted this to be informal, fun, and enjoyable. I knew that I was going to do my part to make that happen.
I found Cecily and pulled her aside for a more private conversation. “Did the MPD ever find Jozie Chavira and get her back into protective custody?” It had been heavy on my mind for the last few days.
“We did.” Cecily smiled at me. “She was found safe and will be placed with a distant relative that came forward, finally. She’s going to be moving to Oklahoma and will be attending a special school for at-risk youth. Her aunt and uncle are pretty excited about her coming to live with them, so that’s something positive, right?” She was teasing in a joyous way. I knew that the MPD must not get very many happy endings for kids like Jozie these days.
“What about Nohemi? Any word from him?” I tentatively asked her.
“No, nothing good or bad,” she replied. “We just have to hope that he’s somewhere safe and being responsible now that he’s seen the worst of people.” Her tone was bittersweet, and I could tell that it bothered her, too, not knowing his end result. I wondered if I should tell her about his grandmother in Vera Cruz. Then again, if he was going to start a new, more accomplished life over there, he didn’t deserve to have his past in Miami hanging over him. I decided that for now, his whereabouts would be the team’s little secret.
As the night wore on, I noticed that Verity kept checking her phone. I was about four beers gone, and I’d even had a little of Rosa’s wine. I knew that I couldn’t put this off forever, so I walked up to Verity and tried to charm her with a smile. She returned it, so maybe that had worked after all.
“I haven’t had a moment to come and tell you how great you look yet, so here I am,” I said once I was in front of her. “Sorry that it’s so overdue.”
“That’s okay,” she assured me. “You have a lot of people here, and they all need individualized attention. I didn’t take it personally.” She sighed and looked out at the water. “Mind if we maybe go for a walk? There are some matters going on that I need to inform you about.”
I gestured out away from the food and crowd, back to the North bay. “I was going to suggest the same thing. And I have something to talk to you about as well.” For a brief second, I hoped that they might be the same thing. “Do you want to start, or should I?” We were far enough away now as to not be overheard.
“I guess that I should since I asked you to leave your party.” She attempted a half-grin, but she still looked nervous.
I didn’t want to give her a false idea about what I was going to be saying, but I took her hands in mine anyway, if for no other purpose than to bolster her mood. “Whatever it is, I’m a big boy. I can handle it. Just say whatever you need to. I promise to listen to you.”
“Okay.” Verity grimaced a bit but canceled that with a smile. “Jake, I really like you, but I don’t think I’m ready for a relationship with anyone right now. I’ve thought very diligently about this, about us being together, and with this new job and, as you said, new city, I just think that I jumped into this without a clear idea of what I wanted from it. From a relationship, I mean. Can you understand that?” Her eyes were pleading for me to get it, and I did. I couldn’t have been more relieved to hear her say any of that.
“I was actually thinking the same thing, well sort of.” Not exactly, of course. But the familiar sentiments were there for me, too. “I like you as well, you’re great, but I just don’t see us going in the same direction, future-wise, if you take my meaning.”
We were smiling at each other, and I could feel that we both understood what the other meant. “So, I completely understand you, and I feel the same.” I reached in and kissed her on the forehead as a sweet remembrance.
“No hard feelings then, no messy breakup fight?” Verity’s face lit up, and she looked even more charming than she had before.
“Not even if I wanted to,” I promised. “We’re good. And this is a weight off my mind.” I stopped, not wanting to dwell on this mutual decision or to push it too far. “How about we just go back and have some more tacos? What do you say?” I had let go of her hands at some point. I didn’t even remember when. But now, I reached out to offer one and lead her back if she wanted to go.
Verity was pleasantly pleased with this and took my outstretched hand. Together, we headed back to the party and my friends. I was surprised, however, to see them all standing around closely together and waiting for us. I gave Xavier a raised eyebrow in the form of a questioning look, but it was Rosa who signed at me and answered.
Since you’ve been putting it off and making this into ‘not that big of a deal,’ we have all pitched in and decided to take the burden of such a momentous decision off of your broad shoulders. That said, tonight we christen your marina… The group parted to reveal a giant metal sign.
Jake’s Marina. Congratulations! Rosa started clapping, and everyone else joined in with an added laugh or two.
The sign was brightly painted in reds, blues, and yellows, with small sun symbols, a boat, and some fish jumping out of the water. It was the cheesiest, most common looking marina sign anyone could ever hope to see, and it made me laugh right along with them.