by Matt Lincoln
“Good.” I breathed a sigh of relief and saw the stress melt off Alejandra’s shoulders as she took in the news.
“As for you guys,” she continued, “get Alejandra and her brother back to the Dominican Republic and make sure Maria gets back to her mom. I have a flight booked for the four of you to come home, but it’s a few days out, unfortunately.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” I grinned, looking over at Holm and Header. Holm was smiling too, and I knew he was looking forward to being able to appreciate this island as much as I was.
“I didn’t think so,” she admitted. “Be safe and don’t get into any trouble.”
“No promises,” I chuckled. As I hung up the phone and looked around at the crew surrounding me, I couldn’t help but smile. Yeah, we were all pretty banged up, but we all made it through the other side. It had been no small feat, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled.
Chapter 33: Ethan
The warm Caribbean sun hit the deck of the Coast Guard cutter at full strength, without a single cloud to dull the rays. I felt beads of perspiration at my hairline and was grateful for Holm’s recommendation that I wear the light blue polo shirt instead of the dark gray one. It was still hot as hell out here by the railing, but it could have been worse.
After a few phone calls back and forth between Diane and the Coast Guard, Linda had insisted on giving us a ride to the Dominican Republic to hand-deliver the three men to their own government to face the consequences of their crimes. Alejandra and Miguel were also on board, although Miguel had said goodbye to Maria before they boarded. Rosa and Bonnie had elected to drive her back to San Juan for us in order to ensure she made it home safely.
“Hey, are you alright there, Ethan?” I turned to see Linda poke her head around the corner.
“Yeah, just taking a moment to myself,” I replied airily. “It’s a bit stuffy in there.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry,” she said apologetically. “The air conditioning broke after we got underway. It’s going to be a miserable few days, but luckily you two won’t have to endure it for too long.”
I chuckled to myself. It would be our luck to be on board while their air conditioning was broken. “It’s not a big deal,” I shrugged, thinking back to my days with the SEALs. “I’ve been through worse.”
Linda flashed me a grateful smile before continuing up to the bridge. I knew it was only a matter of days before we were back home in Miami, so I wanted to soak up as much as I could for the remainder of this trip. Standing out here was a thousand times nicer than sitting inside, cooped up on the mess deck.
“Ethan.” The small, soft voice had my ears perking up, and a smile crept across my face as I turned to see Alejandra standing there. After a long shower and a few laps in Header’s pool, she looked refreshed and downright gorgeous. Her long, thick dark hair cascaded loosely over her shoulders, and her bright yellow sundress highlighted the golden tones of her skin perfectly.
“Hi, beautiful,” I replied as smoothly as I could muster. She walked up beside me and pushed herself up onto her toes, planting her lips firmly against mine. When she pulled back, she had a small, familiar-looking package in her hands, which she placed delicately into mine.
“What’s this?” I asked as I accepted it.
“I needed to get Linda’s help when we were in San Juan,” she admitted sheepishly, “but I couldn’t leave without buying it for you.”
I thought back to our trip to San Juan, and the small package tucked underneath Linda’s arm. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what this would be. I opened the wrapping, carefully unfolding each layer until the gift sat exposed in my palm.
It was the small wooden carved coquí with the Taíno symbols painted on it.
“You didn’t,” I breathed, an appreciative smile growing on my face. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“I know,” she shrugged. “I figured it was the least I could do since you saved my brother.”
I looked up suddenly. “You bought this before we saved your brother.”
“I had faith in you,” she admitted, smiling back at me.
“Thank you.” I welcomed her in for a hug, holding her close to me as I inhaled the scent of coconuts and flowers in her hair.
“Thank you,” she mumbled into my shirt, not letting go right away. When she did pull back, I caught her blinking away a rogue tear. She turned to place her elbows on the railing, and after re-wrapping my new figurine, I propped myself up beside her.
We watched the water dance beneath the sunlight for a while in silence. When she broke the silence, her voice was small and melancholy.
“I will miss you,” she confessed, looking up at me with her soulful dark eyes. “You will always hold a special place in my heart.”
It didn’t need to be said, but we both knew that despite whatever had happened between the two of us, there was no future there. She had her life in the Dominican Republic, and I had mine in Miami. We would go our separate ways, but I hoped to be able to hear from her every now and then.
“I feel the same way,” I admitted. “This is a hard goodbye.”
She nodded silently and turned back to the water. We stood there in silence together, not talking, but simply enjoying each other’s company one last time. That is, we were until we heard footsteps coming around the corner, and a loud, cheerful voice cut through the silence.
“There they are!” I recognized Debra Slade’s voice immediately and regretfully peeled myself away from my moment with Alejandra to face her. I locked eyes with Alejandra for a moment as I did so and saw the same look in her eyes that I felt in mine. We had just silently said goodbye to each other.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I saw Debra walk toward us with Holm and Miguel on her tail. Miguel went up to Alejandra and began speaking excitedly to her in Spanish, leading her away and inside the boat.
“Jones made these amazing mofongo balls, and everyone is going nuts over them,” Debra cheered excitedly. “You should go in and snag some before they disappear.”
“They’re pretty great,” Holm agreed. “I ate way too many.”
They ended up convincing me to head inside to the mess deck, where swarms of crew members were jostling for position by the entrance to the galley to get their hands on some mofongo balls. Jones slipped me a small plate of them with a wink.
“Some have a spicy surprise. Good luck!”
Getting out of the crowd was almost as difficult as maneuvering my way into it, but eventually, I broke free, finding an empty booth in which to sit down and eat. Holm slipped in across from me, and a few minutes later, Debra returned with a couple of cups of coffee.
“My secret stash of coffee,” she whispered conspiratorially. The mofongo balls were so delicious that it didn’t take me long to eat them all and shift my focus onto the coffee, despite the spicy surprise, which turned out to be a piece of chicken in the center with just the right amount of heat at the end of it.
The rest of the ride to the Dominican Republic seemed to fly by, and when we pulled into the pier and got ready to leave the boat, I noticed a small collection of sleek, black government vehicles waiting for us. As soon as Abreu, Gonzalez, and their accomplice disembarked, men in dark suits emerged from the vehicles to collect them. This wasn’t a surprise to me, as Linda had told us that this was the arrangement that we would run into, but it still struck me as odd. It wasn’t often that we worked this closely with either the Coast Guard or another country’s government, so relinquishing our captors not once but twice felt a bit odd to me.
After the three men had been taken away, Miguel and Alejandra met us on the pier, and Holm called us a cab to take us to the National Palace. It was a quick ride, and Miguel spent most of it talking to Alejandra, mostly in Spanish, about what their father should do in response to everything that had happened. I was barely listening, though. Instead, I stared out the window and watched the buildings whiz by as we got closer and closer to the Palace.
When the cab dropped us off outside the wrought-iron gates, we were greeted with much more enthusiasm than we had the last time we visited. The gate guards recognized Miguel and Alejandra as they emerged, and when the siblings greeted the guards in Spanish using their first names, the guards bent over backward with excitement as they ushered us through. They even bypassed around the metal detectors on the way up to President García’s office, and we had barely stepped out onto the hallway when he emerged from his office with the expression of a proud father on his face.
“Papa!” Alejandra yelled, rushing forward to hug him. Miguel was close on her tail, and the President wrapped his arms tightly around both of them. When he looked up, Holm and I noticed tears in the corners of his eyes.
Thank you, he mouthed as he held them tighter. I waved him off.
“It was our pleasure,” I assured him.
After exchanging some tear-streaked goodbyes, President García interrupted the hugs to give us a couple of bottles of what looked like rum.
“This is from my private collection,” he grinned mischievously. “The best Dominican rum I can get my hands on.”
“Whoa,” Holm muttered as he accepted the bottle. “Thank you!”
“Of course,” he replied, his smile genuine and unrelenting. “It’s the very least I could do. If either of you ever wants to come to visit my country, you reach out to me personally. I will make sure you are taken care of.”
I glanced over at Alejandra, and she beamed hopefully. I knew right then that I would be taking the President up on his offer, and soon. When the final goodbyes were said, and Holm and I walked out of the National Palace with our rum in our arms, I was surprised to see a wistful look on my partner’s face.
“Are you alright?” I asked as we stepped through the wrought-iron gates again. He shrugged noncommittally.
“It’s weird,” he admitted. “I kinda grew attached to her.”
“Who, Alejandra?” I asked, even though she was the only person he could be referring to.
“Yeah,” he nodded, not noticing my dumb question. “She toughed it out with us until the end. This entire case was a pretty wild ride, and my own head was spinning. I can’t imagine what she must have been going through, but she didn’t slow down.”
I nodded in agreement. “She’s stronger than anyone could have guessed.”
As we waited for our cab to bring us back to the pier where Linda and her crew awaited us, I reflected back on the entire case and realized that Holm had described it accurately. It really had been a wild ride, and it wasn’t a case I could forget any time soon.
Chapter 34: Ethan
When we returned to Puerto Rico, Linda stopped off the shore of Isabela and had the small boat bring us in toward Header’s house. The cliff face loomed before us, and up above, the foliage and scattered clusters of palm trees held the promise of beauty and tranquility. Debra was running on pure caffeine by that point, and her energy was infectious, especially as we got closer to his hidden dock. The door lifted as we closed in on it, and inside the cave, Header awaited us at the end of the pier.
“Whoo!” Debra shouted, her voice echoing among the stone, causing her to laugh. “I miss you, Jake!”
Header laughed a full-on belly laugh as we came to a stop. “I miss you too, girl!” he shouted back cheerfully. I chuckled as I hopped out of the boat and onto the pier. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who thought her personality was contagious.
Holm hopped off after me, and we both said our goodbyes as they maneuvered their way back out to sea.
“Well, that wraps everything up,” Header announced, clapping his hands together with finality. “Your two nerds are comparing notes with my nerd. I think they’re both learning a lot from each other. MBLIS should send me a bill for their additional learning.”
Holm laughed out loud. “Yeah, with these budget cuts, you’ll be waiting a long while for that check.”
Header looked over at me, the smile on his face faltering a bit. “Have you gotten any closer to an answer there?”
I shook my head. “We know a few things, but not enough to move forward with. We’re still working on it.”
“That sounds frustrating as hell,” Header admitted. I shrugged helplessly.
“I’d rather not stress over it until we get back to Miami,” I confessed. “I want to enjoy the island for a bit.”
“Yeah,” Holm added. “We have two days before our flight. We want to explore.”
“Hey, I get it,” Header replied, his hands up in surrender. “I won’t bring it up again. Come upstairs. Rosa’s cooking.”
We followed Header up to the house, and sure enough, the entire space was filled with the aroma of Puerto Rican food. My mouth watered, and my stomach grumbled. They’d fed us on the Coast Guard cutter, but once the smell hit my nose, I was immediately hungry all over again. Header ushered us over to the kitchen island, where Rosa had laid out serving plates piled high with rice and beans, tostones, bacalaítos, and alcapurrias.
Behind that, a couple of trays held steak and chicken, and beside the meats, a large carafe of sangria sat half-empty. Bonnie had a full glass of sangria before her as she chatted with Xavier and Clyde, both of whom had plates piled high with a variety of foods. Doc was sitting at the island across from Rosa, a small sampling of everything on his plate, and Rosa was setting out a bowl of mayo ketchup beside the tostones for everyone to help themselves to.
“Damn,” Holm gushed. “This is amazing.”
“When we complete a mission,” Header replied proudly, “we celebrate with food. Dig in. The island will be yours to explore in the morning.”
The food tasted as heavenly as it smelled, and both Holm and I went back for second helpings of everything. After saying goodnight at the end of the meal, Bonnie drove the four of us back to the hotel rooms in Aguadilla to crash for the night.
“So, you two were so wrapped up with Xavier that I didn’t get to ask you something earlier,” Holm piped up from beside me in the back seat of the glossy blue Mustang. It was definitely snug back there, but as I’d been the one to request the sports car, I knew I would never hear the end of it if I tried to complain.
“What did you want to ask us?” Clyde called back to us. I saw Bonnie peering at us through the rearview window as they awaited the question.
“How did it go with Maria’s mom?” Holm leaned forward in a fruitless effort to hear the answers better.
“Great!” Bonnie nodded enthusiastically. “It was a tearful reunion.”
“That’s great,” I added, truly glad to hear it.
“Yeah, there were a few choice words saved for her father, though.” Bonnie stole another glance at us through the rearview mirror as she drove. “Let’s just say that they are not a fan of the guy.”
“Yeah, I’m not surprised,” Holm muttered.
When we pulled up to the hotel and went to our rooms, I went immediately over to the bed and collapsed. I hadn’t realized how heavy the weight of this case had been on my chest, and now that I knew everyone was safe, I felt so much lighter. As a result, I slept deeper than I had since the case had begun.
Holm and I spend the next couple of days traveling the island with Bonnie and Clyde. We explored a few of the historic sites on the west side and then headed over to the San Juan area, stopping at a few different beaches along the way. We drove through El Yunque, the expansive rainforest near the east coast, and even took a trip down to Ponce. By the time we were leaving for the airport, I was exhausted again, but it was a happy kind of exhausted. We had seen so much of the island, and I knew I would miss it immensely. It had been easy to become accustomed to falling asleep to the sound of the song of the coquís, and it had been a joy to visit so many different kinds of beaches in a single day. Miami had its fair share of palm trees and beaches, but it looked so bland compared to the richness of this island, and I was sad to leave it behind.
I knew that I had budget cuts and new cases awaiting me at wo
rk, and as I stared out the small airplane window, I clung to my little island escape long after the garitas of El Morro faded from view.
Epilogue
“Whoa,” Jeff gushed, sitting back on the barstool. “That was way cooler than my Puerto Rico stories.”
“Yeah?” Mack teased. “What does yours entail? A day off the cruise ship?”
“Actually, yeah,” Jeff muttered, eliciting some laughs from his friends.
Charlie leaned forward with excitement. “Did you ever see Alejandra again?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “We’ve stayed in touch,” I replied vaguely. Charlie pouted slightly at my non-answer, but he moved on quickly.
“Mom!” Claire bellowed from beside me. “You were pretty cool back in the day!”
“I mean, I like to think I’m still pretty cool,” Linda replied hopefully. Claire giggled and gave her mom a half-hug while facing me.
“You’re the coolest mom,” she sang.
Linda’s eyes met mine, and I shrugged. “Hey, we were all cool once.” Linda chuckled and looked back at her daughter, who beamed back at her mom with pride.
“So, wait.” Rhoda came back over with a plastic pitcher to refill Linda’s water cup. “You knew Jake Header?”
“Now, that’s the question,” Mack echoed. “Did you ever go out on Wraith?”
Linda laughed again as everyone’s attention turned to her. “Yes, and yes,” she nodded. “Wraith is pretty sweet. Jake did a lot of his work in Puerto Rico after I roped him into the first few.”
“Do you have any good Jake Header stories?” Ty piped up for the first time since the story ended, and I could tell he was searching for the next story.
“Oh, I have a ton of them,” Linda admitted. “That’s what most of the stories we’ve been telling have focused on so far this trip.”
“I’d definitely want to hear more of those stories,” Mack grinned widely.