Thunder Storm

by Matt Lincoln

  Now, sitting just inside the dock door, drifting along at the tail end of the pier behind the pristine hull of Jake’s Wraith, Alejandra looked around at the rifles fastened on the mounts, and then down to the MBLIS agents’ hips, where large pistols sat snugly against their belts. Around their thighs, something called a K-bar was strapped outside their jeans, and the excitement and joy that had filled their faces not long before had now vanished, to be replaced by firmly set jaws and fierce looks of determination. Their blue eyes seemed darker now, and she was sure it wasn’t just the dim red lighting sending eerie shadows across the cave walls that made them appear that way.

  “Are we ready to go?” Jake’s deep voice bellowed, echoing through the confined space.

  “We’re set here!” a light, smooth voice called out from Xavier’s yacht, and she saw Doc standing at the helm wearing mirrored aviators and a flak jacket. Beside him, Xavier’s wild dark curls seemed wilder than usual. They both offered a thumbs-up in Jake’s direction.

  “How about you three?” Jake called in Alejandra’s direction.

  “All good!” Ethan shouted, gesturing vaguely at Jake to acknowledge him.

  “Alright, let’s do this! MBLIS out first, followed by Xavier.” Jake turned to the helm after his announcement, and Alejandra watched as the rear hatch raised, tucking both him and Rosa out of sight.

  Bonnie and Clyde would be staying behind for this one since the risk of danger was too high to warrant risking additional lives. Ethan and Holm had both pleaded with Alejandra to stay behind, but she outright refused. There was no way she was missing this important part of the case.

  After they had all maneuvered out of the man-made cave into the toasty warm morning sunlight, Wraith turned out toward the sea and took off, leaving the other two boats bobbing slightly in its wake. Ethan immediately cursed under his breath.

  “I knew it,” he grumbled to no one in particular. “He may want to make sure we’re prepared, but there’s no way he is okay with not getting there first.”

  Ethan went to work at the helm, and Alejandra’s weight was rocked backward slightly as Ethan accelerated in the direction that Wraith had taken off in. Alejandra knew there was no way they could catch up, but they could, at the very least, close the gap a bit.

  The water was clear and vibrant as usual, and the sun baked into her skin. She tossed her head back and did her best to soak it all in while she still could. Before long, Ethan would be shouting at her to close up the roof, and she wanted to enjoy the calm before the storm as much as she could. She wasn’t looking forward to a potential firefight, but if a reunion with her brother awaited her on the other side, she’d fire the damn gun herself if she had to.

  Although the three addresses on the list were all in Puerto Rico, one of them was out on the small island of Vieques. Vieques was off the eastern side of Puerto Rico’s main island, the furthest point from where they all were. Conveniently, one of the other addresses was tucked along the eastern shore of Puerto Rico’s main island, just a short hop from Vieques. This second address didn’t seem to be too far from the town of Humacao when she looked at a map, but that seemed to be the biggest town in the vicinity.

  The third address happened to be just past Ponce to the south, but Jake was heading there with Wraith. The plan was for all three of them to head south, but for MBLIS to charge on while Jake stopped to investigate. If all went well, Jake would catch up with the MBLIS agents before they were done by Humacao, and together they would head to Vieques.

  By following the same path, it would allow them to either push forward or fall back if anyone needed backup, or if someone was lucky enough to find the missing couple. It sounded like a solid plan in theory, but Alejandra worried that real life would throw them a curveball before they even got started.

  In the meantime, though, she sat back and appreciated the stillness and the gorgeous views before her. The sky was clear, with only a few small clouds scattered in the distance, and the sun’s rays reflected off of the calm water, causing it to shimmer. Off in the far distance, cliffs and palm trees assured her they hadn’t strayed too far from shore.

  The three of them passed the time with stories and anecdotes, and Robbie had dug up a few different snacks from Hector’s stores down below for them all to share as they spoke. Alejandra learned about an interesting character named Dollar Store, who sounded a bit peculiar, but the men seemed to like him. She also learned that Ethan had been on Wraith once before, although the trip ended a bit dramatically when Jake had gotten seriously injured. Alejandra told them about a family trip she had gone on with her brother a few years ago, that ended abruptly when her brother decided to dive off a cliff, breaking his arm in the process. The stories and the laughter made the time pass quickly, and before she knew it, they had approached Ponce.

  “Keep an eye out for Header,” Ethan shouted over to Robbie, who nodded and scanned the waters in front of them for any sign of the sleek black hull. Suddenly, she felt on edge again, as if nothing had changed.

  “There!” Robbie shouted suddenly, and Alejandra whipped her head around to follow in the direction he’d been pointing. Sure enough, there was a blip in the shimmering pattern of the water, and Wraith was in full-on stealth mode.

  “Wraith, we are coming up on your starboard side,” Ethan announced into his intercom. “Is everything okay?”

  “We’re fine.” Jake’s voice came through clear as a bell. The intercom was an addition to the boat that was set up by Xavier, and Alejandra was continually impressed by their easy access to high-end tech. “Keep pushing forward. We will let you know if anything pressing happens here.”

  “Roger,” Ethan replied, and Alejandra watched as they drifted past Wraith and headed further east.

  At some point, she must have fallen asleep, because Alejandra was nudged awake by Robbie sometime later. The roof had been drawn into place, shielding all three of them, and the sun sat much lower in the sky.

  “We’re coming up on our target,” Robbie said gently to Alejandra as she got her bearings.

  She sat up and looked around as she took a mental inventory on herself. She was more determined than anxious at this point, so her gut wasn’t tied in the knot she had grown accustomed to. The tightness of her skin indicated she was a bit sunburnt, which would be something she would need to address once they were back home.

  The sandy beaches along the shore seemed to stretch on forever, and pockets were cluttered with families and beachgoers, drinking and swimming and soaking up the rays. There were other parts of the beach that were pretty deserted, and she guessed that the waters were less kind in those areas. With the right landscape, the sea could come in close to land very violently, and Alejandra knew firsthand just how dangerous some of those beaches could be.

  Eventually, though, the beaches were overtaken by rough foliage that only seemed to grow rougher as they proceeded forward. Soon, she couldn’t make anything out past that first row of trees.

  “We’re getting close,” Robbie announced, and suddenly the landscape shift made perfect sense. Of all the places to construct a building that would need to be covert, this looked like it. This address could be just behind the first row of trees, right on the water, and they wouldn’t know. She was grateful that, thanks to Xavier, they had a map and a high-end GPS system to tell them exactly where this house was.

  Ethan eased up on the throttle, and as she scanned the scene before her, she caught Robbie’s movement out of the corner of her eyes.

  “There,” he pointed, “do you see the trailhead between those two trees? I bet that leads up, right to the building.”

  “Damn, Holm,” Ethan chuckled. “You’ve got freaking hawk vision. How the hell did you make that out?”

  Robbie merely shrugged.

  “The trail doesn’t necessarily mean that the building is close by,” Alejandra interjected. “It could just be a trail.”

  “It could be,” Robbie agreed, “but then look at the smoke.”

/>   Sure enough, a thin stream of smoke rose up from behind the trees, and Alejandra just knew it was from a chimney.

  “The fireplace is on?” Ethan wondered aloud. “In Puerto Rico?”

  “A lot of my family uses the fireplace often,” Alejandra replied quickly. “We use it for cooking stews and broth and chili because the electricity grid is unreliable sometimes, and it is easier to just use the fireplace. It is also cheaper.”

  Ethan nodded in understanding. She wasn’t sure what his childhood had been like, but she realized it probably differed wildly from hers.

  “So, what do we do now?” she asked. This was the part of the plan that confused her a bit. All she knew was that she needed to sit back and wait.

  Robbie pulled out a small drone. “This will give us a live aerial visual of what is going on in there,” he informed her. “It can also read heat signatures, even through structures, so we will be able to determine how many people are here.”

  She nodded as he set up the camera on top of the intricate device. “If they spot us, we can just take off. They’ll never be able to catch up to us.” Robbie turned back to her with a confident grin, but Ethan’s face looked a bit more worried.

  “If they spot us, we lose the element of surprise,” Ethan pointed out, “which could mean the difference between life and death. So let’s not let them spot us.”

  A chill ran down her spine as Alejandra let Ethan’s words sink in. Robbie maneuvered the drone up and across the water, lifting it higher and higher until it was barely visible in the sky. He turned to allow both Ethan and Alejandra to watch the video feedback on the remote, and as they passed the first few rows of trees, she saw a long, rectangular building come into view. A man stood outside, and as Robbie zoomed in, she could see that he was smoking a cigarette. He seemed unconcerned about intruders, and he appeared unarmed.

  “He seems to be the only one outside,” Ethan pointed out. Robbie zoomed out a bit and toggled the camera settings until the screen darkened dramatically. The man outside glowed a bright orange, and as he panned over the roof, she saw four other figures inside the house.

  “Oh, wow,” she gushed, watching the screen. “This is amazing.”

  “So, there are five people altogether,” Robbie pointed out. “We just need to find out if two of them are Miguel and Maria.”

  “How are we going to do that?” she asked, peeling her eyes from the screen to look up at Robbie.

  “Wait them out,” he shrugged. “That’s the only way we can get a true visual.”

  “That could take forever,” she gasped.

  “It could,” Ethan confirmed. “Luckily, we have two teams. Header is at the other one. If he gets the correct visual before we do, he can move forward without us. Try not to worry. Slow and steady will get us where we need to go.”

  The hours seemed to drag by as they waited for something to change. As the sun began to set, the knot slowly tightened in Alejandra’s stomach until she couldn’t stand it anymore.

  “We are wasting time,” she snapped suddenly, pacing the deck as Robbie and Ethan watched her with bewildered expressions. “My brother could be in danger, and we are waiting for… what, exactly? For someone to decide to step outside for some fresh air?”

  Robbie took a deep breath in preparation for a response, but he didn’t get a chance to speak. The intercom at the helm came to life, and Jake’s voice rang through the cabin.

  “Hey, brothers,” Jake announced, “we confirmed that our targets are not at our first location. We are en route to the third address.”

  Alejandra forced herself to breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, something was happening.

  “Sounds good, Header,” Ethan responded briskly. “We are still awaiting confirmation here. We will report back.”

  “Roger,” Jake replied, and the intercom fell silent. Alejandra sank back into the cushioned bench she had been perched on for most of this trip so far. She was tired, and she didn’t see that there was anything she could do to help speed things along. She stared out at the darkening water, letting time pass by undetected.

  “Marston!” Robbie’s voice took a sharp tone, and she bolted upright and raced to his side as Ethan peered over his other shoulder.

  Sure enough, all four figures walked out the front door. Robbie toggled through the camera settings again and then zoomed in on the faces.

  Five faces, and none of them were Miguel’s.

  “Ugh,” she mumbled, sinking back onto the bench.

  “No Miguel?” Ethan asked kindly. She shook her head.

  “No Maria?” Robbie asked, looking between her and Ethan. She shook her head again.

  “By now, Header has a head start on Vieques,” Ethan spat out. Robbie called back the drone as Ethan went up to the helm. “I’ll be damned if I let him get all the glory, or get himself into trouble without me there to help.”

  Whatever motivation propelled Ethan forward at this point, Alejandra didn’t care. Her brother had to be at Vieques, and the sooner they got there, the better. She just hoped beyond hope that they weren’t too late.

  Chapter 31: Ethan

  Header wasn’t slowing down to let us catch up, and I can’t say I was surprised. The man had always been a stubborn bastard. Nevermind that he had specifically called Holm and me down here for this case. Now, he was leaving us behind as he raced to where the action was.

  At least, we hoped that was where the action would be. If Miguel and Maria weren’t being held on Vieques, they didn’t have any more leads as to where they could be. With time running out, the chances of finding Miguel alive were getting slimmer and slimmer. I glanced back at Alejandra, who was staring out at the darkening waters with a worried expression on her face, chewing her bottom lip. With the amount of stress she’d been under, I just knew that losing her brother would devastate her, and I was determined not to let that happen.

  When the island of Vieques came into view, I was filled with mixed emotions. An eerie sense of danger and foreboding sat deep in the pit of my stomach, but I couldn’t help but notice the sheer beauty of the island. The coordinates that Header had left us had us pulling up to an unoccupied section of the beach surrounded by an overgrown forest. The sand was littered with stones and moss and broken tree roots, making it unsuitable for sunbathing and swimming, but the sporadic palm trees scattered across the sand lent an air of peace and charm to the small corner of the island.

  To one side was a shallow cliff face that dropped into the water, and there, tucked off in a corner, under the far-hanging branches of a nearby ceiba tree that towered overhead, was Wraith. The ceiba tree had obviously been there for quite a long time. Its buttress roots stood tall above the ground, and the canopy of leaves extended far beyond its large branchless trunk. I wondered how it had come to be planted so close to the water, but I had bigger things to concern myself with.

  I steered the boat toward Wraith. The engine was off, and the hatch was raised. I knew that Header and Rosa would have taken off by now, so I didn’t bother trying to make contact. I simply moored up beside it and shut down.

  “Alejandra,” I breathed as gently as possible, turning to face her once the boat was secure. “You need to stay here.”

  “Absolutely not,” she barked, standing up and crossing her arms defiantly. “I’m going with you.”

  “No, you’re not.” Holm stepped up and grabbed her elbows, looking at her directly in the eyes. “I know this is your brother, but we need to remain objective. This is the exact type of situation that ends poorly if we aren’t objective.”

  “To put it plainly, you’re a liability,” I pointed out a bit more firmly. “If we save your brother and they capture you in the process, what have we accomplished? What if they end up with both of you? Or use you as a bargaining chip?”

  “We can’t afford the risk,” Holm sighed. “You’re staying here. It’s for your sake and your brother’s.”

  Alejandra paused. “I don’t like this,” she whimpered.
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  “I know,” I admitted. “You don’t have to like this, though. You just need to stay alive.” Holm nodded his agreement.

  “So, what do I do?” she asked tentatively.

  “We will keep the roof closed. We’d prefer if you hid out below deck to ensure you aren’t seen.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the earpieces that Xavier had slipped us before we left Isabela. “These connect to the intercom system. You’ll hear everything, and you’ll be able to communicate with us. If you need anything, let us know.”

  “Only if it’s an emergency,” Holm added. “We will obviously have our hands full out there.”

  Alejandra gulped and nodded. “Okay,” she muttered quietly. I stepped forward and cupped her chin in my hands, giving her a gentle kiss on her forehead. Ignoring Holm’s raised eyebrow, I led the way to the side of the boat, and we climbed up the cliff face, using the roots of the ceiba tree to hoist ourselves up onto dry land.

  With Alejandra as safe as possible, I refocused my efforts on our rescue mission. Holm stayed on my six as we crept through the forest, and I followed the path toward the coordinates we were given.

  The clearing almost took me by surprise, since I’d been so focused on the coordinates. Holm grabbed me by the fabric of my shirt, pulling me up short of the final row of trees. We sank behind a thick branch as we took in our new surroundings, and I verified that we were indeed in the right spot.

  The makeshift building looked more like a glorified shed, and I couldn’t imagine it being very comfortable for a long stretch of time, yet all signs pointed to this being the holding place for Miguel and Maria. The long, metal structure had an arched roof, and two men with machine guns strapped to their chests stood at either end with bored expressions on their faces. It was a reasonable assumption that they’d been standing watch out there in shifts since the kidnapping had occurred, and if nothing exciting had happened in all this time, I could understand the boredom. I only hoped that with the boredom came a relaxed sense of comfort and security, which would work in our favor when we eventually moved in.