by Matt Lincoln
Aruban Nights
Coastal Fury book 19
Matt Lincoln
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
2. Ethan
3. Ethan
4. Ethan
5. Ethan
6. Ethan
7. Ethan
8. Ethan
9. Ethan
10. Ethan
11. Ethan
12. Ethan
13. Ethan
14. Ethan
15. Ethan
16. Ethan
17. Ethan
18. Ethan
19. Ethan
20. Ethan
21. Ethan
22. Ethan
23. Ethan
24. Holm
25. Ethan
26. Ethan
27. Ethan
28. Ethan
29. Ethan
30. Ethan
31. Ethan
32. Ethan
33. Ethan
34. Ethan
35. Holm
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Prologue
I glanced out the window in mild confusion. It was a bright, sunny day outside. The beaches were fairly well packed with people right now, and yet the bar remained unusually empty.
Granted, the Rolling Thunder was a pretty laid-back place. For most of the week, it was usually only my regulars who hung around. The older, harder, retired veterans and former law enforcement officers came here to have a quiet drink and a moment of relaxation. The late evening and weekends tended to be livelier, but for the most part, the bar was easygoing, and I honestly liked it that way.
Today, though, things were a little too slow, even for my tastes. It seemed like only half of my regulars were around. Mike wasn’t here either, which was a shame since he was typically sharp-tongued and blunt enough to revive even the dullest conversations.
All of my bar girls were here today, even though it really wasn’t necessary. I didn’t have it in me to send them home, knowing that a few of them were saving for school and other things, but their presence in the empty bar just made it seem even emptier.
I sighed as I grabbed a glass off the counter and went to pour myself a cold beer. It was at times like these that I really missed my days as an MBLIS agent. Sure, I enjoyed retirement just fine. It was a different kind of adventure from the danger-filled ones I used to have back in the day, but still an adventure in and of itself. That being said, on days like this that were particularly slow, I missed those old days when nothing was ever slow or boring.
“I think I’m going to head out, Ethan,” Nadia informed me as she leaned against the counter. “Call me if you need me back, okay?”
“Yeah, alright,” I replied, though I was certain that I wouldn’t have to. It was a slow enough day for me to handle it all on my own.
With that in mind, once Nadia had left, I poured myself a tall pint of beer and took a seat behind the bar. I reached below the bar top for something I had stashed there, a cheesy fantasy novel that a customer had left behind a few weeks ago. It wasn’t really my cup of tea, and normally I would have just tossed it, but the image of the jade-green dragon on the cover had called my attention. I’d given it a read out of curiosity and quickly discovered just how silly and over-the-top it was. I’d been ready to just forget about it, but no matter how nonsensical the plot was, I found myself coming back to it over and over, curious to see where the main group of characters would wind up next.
The bar was so quiet that I heard clearly when the front door creaked open. I glanced up over my book toward the new arrivals and smiled unconsciously when I saw that it was my favorite group of kids. Well, some of them, at least. Mac and Ty were chatting animatedly as they walked into the bar, and I set the book down on the bar as they approached.
“Hey, Ethan,” Mac greeted me with a sigh as she took a seat at the bar.
“Why the long face?” I asked as I immediately got to work preparing her usual order. I was so used to their presence that I didn’t even have to ask what they wanted anymore.
“I’m bored,” she muttered as she leaned her chin down on one hand while she drummed lazily against the countertop with her other.
“Look, you’re the one who decided you didn’t want to go see that movie,” Ty retorted as he sat down next to her.
“Yeah,” Mac scoffed incredulously. “Because Charlie and Jeff had to cancel. We’re not going just the two of us.”
“Why not?” Ty asked, his entire face drooping, looking like a disappointed puppy.
“Because four people going to see a movie together is different from two people going,” Mac replied flatly, as though it should have been obvious to him.
“What?” Ty sputtered. “N-no, it’s not. We still could have gone.”
I smiled as I watched the two of them bicker. Ty, as clueless as he pretended to be, had a tinge of red on his cheeks as he insisted vehemently that it was perfectly normal for two people of the opposite sex to go see a movie as friends.
“What movie was it?” I cut in, if only to save Ty from further embarrassment. Frankly, he was no match in an argument against Mac’s cutting words, and he was getting redder by the second.
“This new horror movie that just came out,” Mac replied enthusiastically. “We were all planning on seeing it together, but then Charlie and Jeff bailed.” She pouted sourly.
“Where are they?” I asked as I finished up Mac’s drink and started to prepare Ty’s.
“Oh, they couldn’t get leave after all,” she shrugged. “I’m not sure exactly.”
“That’s not really ‘bailing,’” I argued.
“Yeah, well, it means that now I’m stuck with nothing to do,” she replied. “I tried to make plans with my friends, but they were already busy since it was so last minute.”
“Uh, what am I? A ghost?” Ty protested as he pretended to be offended. “Are you that bored hanging out with me?”
“Yes, definitely,” Mac replied without hesitation.
“Wow,” Ty chuckled in response as I handed the two of them their usual drinks.
“Anyway,” Mac ignored him, “we thought we’d come to hang out at the bar, but it looks like it’s pretty dead in here, too.”
“Yep,” I replied. “Sorry, kids, you picked a slow day to come by.”
“I can tell,” Mac replied as she took a sip of her drink. I saw her eyes narrow in curiosity as she spotted the book on the counter. “What’s this?” She picked it up. “I didn’t know you were into this kind of stuff, Ethan.”
“I’m not, usually,” I replied with a shrug. “A customer forgot it in here a while back. I was just going to toss it or donate it, but it’s actually not that bad. Corny, but it’s a fun way to pass the time.”
“You don’t say,” Mac mused as she read the back cover. “Did it remind you of the Dragon’s Rogue or something? Because it’s about a dragon?”
“No,” I replied. “Although the dragon did look pretty cool.”
“Speaking of the Dragon’s Rogue,” Ty cut in, “how about you tell us more about it? Come on, Ethan, the last couple of times you told us a story, you barely even mentioned it. I know there’s gotta be more, right?”
“You’re right,” I replied coyly. “There’s definitely more to the story. I don’t know if it would be fair to Charlie and Jeff to tell it while they’re not here, though.”
“Too bad for them,” Mac insisted. “They should have been here if they didn’t want to miss it.”
“Ruthless.” Ty turned to look at her. “It’s not like they wanted to have to stay on base. But yeah, too bad for them. Come on, Ethan, tell us. You ca
n’t even say that you’re too busy right now. It’s dead in here. Plus, it’ll give you something to do, too, right? You must be bored just sitting in here with nothing to do.”
“Alright, alright,” I replied. “I can tell you. I guess you two will just have to fill Charlie and Jeff in later. Now… where did we leave off last?”
“Pirates in the Cayman Islands,” Ty replied without hesitation. “Agent Hills came by to tell us about it. You worked with that other MBLIS branch to bring down some pirates that were sinking enemy ships.”
“That’s a helluva memory,” I complimented him. “Right, well, this happened not long after. And lucky for you, we ended up finding a pretty big part of the Rogue not long after that.”
“Really?!” Ty exclaimed excitedly. “What was it?”
“Wait,” Mac muttered suspiciously. “A big part of it? But not the Rogue itself? How does that work?”
“Stop interrupting, and I’ll get to it,” I scolded them good-naturedly. “Anyway, it all started with a cruise ship off the coast of Miami…”
1
Adrian rolled his eyes as his younger sister hopped off her chair to head back to the buffet line. Hadn’t she had enough? How could a little girl that small even fit so much food in her stomach?
It was completely unfair that his parents were forcing him to watch her while they went off to watch that lame comedy show or whatever it was they were doing. She was their kid. Why the heck did he have to babysit while they went and had all the fun?
Not like there was much to do on this dumb cruise, to begin with, but he could think of a hundred things he’d rather be doing right now than sitting in this dining room, surrounded by people stuffing their faces and chewing loudly. There weren’t even any cute girls his age on this ship. It was all old, retired people and little kids Kendra’s age.
The first few days hadn’t been so bad, aside from his dad insisting that they all stop whatever they were doing every ten minutes to take another family photo. How many pictures did he even need of the four of them just standing around? Adrian didn’t get it, but it seemed like his dad just couldn’t get enough pictures.
He turned his head toward the buffet line to find his sister. His parents would kill him if she wandered off and got lost or something. It wasn’t like she could go anywhere, though, since they were on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Still, she’d probably whine and cry, and he’d be the one in trouble, even though she was the one who walked away without him. His parents always blamed him when stuff happened to her, even when it was obviously her fault.
He finally spotted her toward the middle of the line, struggling to stand on her tiptoes to reach the tongs sitting in one of the trays. For a second, he felt a flash of guilt for not going up there with her. Kendra was pretty scrawny, and he didn’t want her to accidentally burn herself.
Whatever, he thought petulantly to himself as he turned his gaze back toward his phone. If she needed help, she should have asked for it. She couldn’t expect everyone to just follow her around, taking care of her forever.
Nevertheless, he was unable to focus and kept turning back to check on her.
“So useless,” he muttered to himself as he stood up, quickly walking over to Kendra before she had a chance to ladle hot soup onto herself or something like that. She was in the middle of trying to grab some spicy chicken wings when he caught up to her.
“What are you doing?” Adrian asked impatiently as he snatched the tongs out of her hand.
“I wanted some chicken!” Kendra whined as she pouted up at him.
“This stuff is spicy,” Adrian scoffed as he put the tongs back down before grabbing some of the plain fried chicken in the tray next to it. “It’ll burn your tongue if you eat it. Can’t you read?”
“The sign’s too high up,” she muttered sadly. Adrian just rolled his eyes and refused to allow himself to feel guilty over snapping at her.
“Okay,” he sighed as he finished putting a piece of the fried chicken onto her plate. “What else do you want?”
Kendra’s eyes lit up at his question as she eagerly scanned the entire line. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the very next tray.
“Steak,” Adrian replied flatly. “You won’t like it. It’s not the same way mom makes it for you.”
“How about that?” She grinned as she pointed at the next tray down.
“Shrimp,” Adrian replied impatiently. “You’re not going to like it--”
“That?” Kendra asked as she moved down the line.
“Uh… dumplings,” Adrian replied as he read the small sign above the heat lamp. “You’re definitely not gonna like that. Look, how about I just get you some sliders and fries?”
That should be safe, Adrian thought to himself. His sister was pretty picky, even at home.
“What’s a slider?” Kendra asked as she scrunched her face up at him. “Is it something slimy? It sounds slimy.”
“It’s just a tiny version of a cheeseburger,” Adrian explained as he moved past the rest of the trays until he got to the one lined with sliders. They had pickles on them, which Kendra wouldn’t like, but he could just take those off for her.
“Oh, yay!” Kendra cheered as he put two of the sliders onto her plate before moving to get the fries. Once it was full, he took the plate from her. The last thing he needed was for her to drop it and start crying or something.
“Thank you.” Kendra smiled at him as he set the plate down on their table.
“Uh-huh,” he replied with disinterest as she climbed back up onto her chair. “Hurry up and eat so we can go back to the room. My phone’s dying, and I need to get my charger.”
“But I wanted to go to the playground after this!” she whined.
Adrian nearly shuddered at the thought. The ‘playground’ she was referring to was a huge, indoor jungle gym for kids that was filled with slides and tunnels and stuff, and it was always filled with whiny, screaming kids running around and being annoying. It was a complete nightmare.
“No way,” he retorted. “That place sucks. We’re going back to the cabin after this.”
“But mom and dad said it was going to be awhile…” she pouted. “Please?” She was looking at him with big, watery eyes.
“Ugh, fine,” Adrian groaned. As much as he disliked it, he didn’t want to be mean. It wasn’t Kendra’s fault that their parents decided to ditch them to watch that dumb show. “But we need to go back to the room first to get my charger at least.”
“Okay!” She beamed as she dug into her food, clearly in a hurry to finish now that she knew they’d be going to the play area after this.
Little con artist, Adrian thought to himself with a frown as he watched Kendra. She had looked like she was about to burst into tears just a second ago, and now she seemed totally fine. He turned the brightness down on his phone while he waited for her to finish, hopeful that doing so would help to preserve the battery life at least until they got back to the room. He had a heavy-duty portable charger that he could bring with him to the playground.
“Okay!” Kendra declared happily as she finished chugging her soda. “I’m done. Let’s go!”
“Finally,” Adrian grumbled as he stood up. Kendra did as well and immediately reached for his hand.
“What are you doing?” he asked with annoyance as he jerked his hand away from her.
“Mom says I’m supposed to hold your hand when I’m with you,” she replied, confusion in her tone.
“That’s for when we’re crossing the street,” Adrian scoffed as he walked toward the entrance of the dining room. “And aren’t you in kindergarten already? You’re too old to need someone to hold your hand.”
“What if I get lost?” Kendra whined as she followed her brother out of the dining room.
“Just pay attention, and you won’t,” Adrian retorted, though there was a hint of hesitation in his voice. His mom would freak out if she got lost. Maybe he should hold her hand, just in case. Before he could de
cide, either way, Kendra suddenly stopped.
“I need to use the bathroom,” she informed him as she pointed toward the public restroom they were standing next to.
“Seriously?” Adrian moaned. “Can’t it wait until we get back to the cabin?”
“I can’t hold it!” Kendra replied, twisting her legs together as if to emphasize how badly she needed to go.
“Fine,” Adrian huffed as he leaned his back against the wall next to the restroom entrance. “Go ahead.”
“By myself?” Kendra stared at him in wide-eyed disbelief.
“What? You want me to go into the ladies’ room with you?” Adrian snapped back. “Just go already. Like I already told you, you’re old enough to handle things by yourself now. It’s just the bathroom.”
She wavered for a moment before finally rushing inside, as though wanting to get the ordeal over with more quickly. Adrian shook his head at her dramatics and turned back to his phone, but paused when he noticed a creepy-looking guy standing just on the other side of the open corridor. He was looking at his own phone, but Adrian noticed that he kept glancing up toward the bathroom.
Maybe he’s just waiting for someone too, Adrian thought to himself. Nevertheless, he couldn’t shake the weird feeling that the old guy was giving him. He turned back to his phone and perked up immediately when he noticed that he’d just gotten a message from one of the girls in his class, the creepy man all but forgotten. He started to type out a reply right away and was thrilled when she responded after only a few seconds.