Haitian Harbinger

by Lincoln Matt

  This frankly shocked me and, judging by the looks on their faces, it was strange news to Holm and Alejandra, too.

  “An American was the leader of your drug cartel?” Holm asked. “Your Haitian drug cartel?”

  “Well, the plan was to not let it be just Haitian much longer,” Ricardo said. “The plan was to expand. There was leader supposed to help in Puerto Rico, too. America was next. One what do you call it… state.”

  “Louisiana?” I asked. “Was that the state?”

  “I think so?” Ricardo said. “Not sure. City in that state. Lots of Haitian people.”

  “New Orleans?” I asked. “That’s in Louisiana.”

  “Ah, yes, this was it,” he confirmed. “I remember now. New Orleans. That is where he was taking drug.”

  “Taking,” Holm repeated. “You’re not saying it’s already there?”

  “Oh yes,” Ricardo said. “After airport incident, they take ships. Ship to America. There is another one going soon, I think.”

  “A ship,” I said, latching on to this word. “We’ve heard about a ghost ship. Is this it?”

  “Ah yes,” Ricardo said, shuttering at the mention of it. “This is what it is, I think. It is also where they take some people to make them take the drug. Easier to dispose of bodies this way. So we think badly of it. Do not want to go there.”

  “That’s understandable,” Holm said.

  “Do you have any idea why Wallace—I mean Abel—would turn up dead?” I asked. “Why would members of his own cartel kill him?”

  “I can’t help you on that, sorry,” Ricardo said. “But I don’t know, people in cartel kill each other all the time. Maybe he pissed someone off, and maybe someone wants to take his place. I do not know. No idea. Maybe he made mistake and they kill him, or he think they make mistake and try to kill them.”

  “Is there any reason why he would try to get in the Dominican Republic?” Alejandra asked. “He was trying to cross the border when he was killed.”

  “I don’t know anything about this, I’m sorry,” Ricardo repeated. “But this is strange to me. Abel have nothing to do with Dominican Republic sales.”

  “Got it,” I said. “Is there anything else you can think of that would be of use to us?”

  “Uh, the ship to America is to take off tomorrow, I think,” Ricardo said, thinking this over. “That’s all I know. I don’t know where to find it, sorry. I never got sent there, thank God.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “Do you know what time tomorrow?”

  “I don’t know, sorry,” he said. “That is all that I know.”

  “All right,” I said. “Thanks again, Ricardo. I think that’s all the questions we have for you.”

  I looked down at Holm and Alejandra, and neither of them had anything to add, so I rose to leave and signaled for them to do the same.

  “Wait,” Ricardo said. “I have a couple of questions for you.”

  We stopped and waited. I kept my hand on my gun just to make sure he still knew it was there, and I was watching him.

  “I want to know what will happen to me next,” he said. “I need to know that you will not just drop me in cell and walk away like nothing happened.”

  “Ricardo, we’ve already assured you…” I started to say, but he cut me off.

  “I want to hear it from you,” he said, addressing Alejandra.

  She bristled under his gaze but met his eyes and responded.

  “I will vouch for you,” she said. “And that goes a long way. I promise you that.”

  “You will do this even though you hate me?” Ricardo asked.

  “I don’t…” she started to say, but he cut her off, too.

  “Don’t try to tell me you don’t,” he said. “I see the way you look at me. You do not understand how I could end up where I did. Well, there aren’t many options where I come from, and yes, I made some bad choices. But I’m helping you now.”

  “Only out of self-interest,” she reminded him.

  “Isn’t that enough?” he asked. “I’m so busy worrying about myself in this business that I can’t even think about anybody else. It’s not like that.”

  “Well, that’s going to change,” Alejandra said. “I’ll help you, Ricardo, I promise.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Ethan

  Alejandra, Holm, and I didn’t have much time to talk after leaving Ricardo that night after he told us everything he knew. I just rolled into bed and got a couple of hours of much-needed sleep.

  But when I woke up in the morning, my mind was already racing, though I was still exhausted from the lack of sleep. There was so much he had told us, and so many leads we could follow in the new day.

  Alejandra was already waiting for Holm and me when we met her downstairs in the lobby, wearing simple jeans and t-shirt combination now that the official conference was over. She was standing next to Ricardo, who was in fresh street clothes of his own. He was flocked by three patrolmen, and all of them eyed him with weariness.

  There were several other men in blue policemen’s uniforms in the lobby, as well. I hadn’t seen anyone dressed like that since we left Santo Domingo.

  “They’re in from the capitol,” Alejandra explained, her eyes droopy with the same tiredness that I felt. “My father sent them. These men will escort Ricardo and me back to Santo Domingo. We’re still waiting for your escorts.”

  “Well, we’re sorry to see you go, but make sure to check in with our lab techs, Bonnie and Clyde, when you get there,” Holm said. “It’ll be good to have someone else on the ground back there.”

  “Yes, please do check in with us,” I reminded her. “We’ll want to know you made it back okay. And to hear what you find out when you get there.”

  “Of course,” Alejandra said, nodding to me. “I have to say, I’m sorry to be leaving so soon. Things were just starting to get interesting.”

  She flashed me a grin, and I smiled back at her.

  “Just now?” I asked. “It didn’t get interesting when the dead body turned up?”

  “Ah, that was just the beginning,” she scoffed. “And now you boys get to have all the fun of tracking down the culprits and figuring out what this so-called ‘monster drug’ is really all about. And I’m just getting shipped back home.”

  “Something tells me you’ll have more than your fair share of excitement back in Santo Domingo,” I assured her. “This thing isn’t done yet, not here and not there.”

  “Oh, I’ll make sure I’m in the center of the action,” Alejandra promised.

  “I’m sure,” I chuckled. “Just try to stay out of too much trouble, all right?”

  “Agreed, as long as you do the same,” she said.

  I gave her a brief hug before she shook Holm’s hand, and then she and Ricardo headed off after the policemen.

  “I hope he doesn’t try to pull anything,” Holm said, watching the gangbanger like a hawk as they left.

  “I don’t think he will,” I said. “Not because I trust him or anything, but because he’s right that the cartel would kill him on sight if they got ahold of him. After everything he told us, he knows he has to cooperate.”

  “You’re probably right,” Holm said. “But I still don’t like it.”

  “Neither do I,” I said, walking over to where a pot of coffee was brewing near the front desk and pouring a cup for each of us. “But it is what it is. And if anyone’s proven she can handle herself in a tough situation, it’s Alejandra.”

  “Fair enough,” Holm laughed. “I wouldn’t want to cross her, that’s for certain. Anything from Bonnie and Clyde?”

  “No,” I said, checking my phone to make sure. “Nothing from Diane, either. But it’s early in the morning. The sun’s still rising. They’ll get to us when they have something.”

  “I’d love to see the expression on Clyde’s face when you tell him you were right about the Haitian zombie powder,” Holm grinned. “An agent out-nerding a lab tech. You’re full of surprises, Marston.”
<
br />   “Am I?” I chuckled. “I have to say, I’m not exactly glad about this one. From what I remember, the stories about that stuff were grim. People with no control of their actions, practically rising from the dead and existing in a permanent state of sleepwalking. But then again, that lines up with what we’ve seen and heard.”

  “Anything about these lesions and the skin eating itself alive?” Holm asked, grimacing at the memory of the girl we’d seen back at the hospital.

  “Not that I remember, but then again, I’m not sure how well I was paying attention,” I remembered. “It was college, after all.”

  “So, what about our victim?” Holm offered. “This ‘Abel’ character. Ricardo seemed to know who he was. Feared him even.”

  “And he seemed surprised that he turned up dead,” I said, taking a sip of the piping hot coffee. “We need to remember not to get lost in the other details of the case. I’ve been guilty of that myself. Our main objective here is to find whoever killed this man and discover why. The rest will follow.”

  “Agreed, though it's hard when the victim was such a scumbag, and all the other victims are just dumb kids,” Holm sighed. “Why can’t we just investigate when one of the good guys gets killed? It really took a scum of the earth drug dealer to get MBLIS down here?”

  “Well, I’m glad it happened,” I said with a shrug. “Otherwise, we may never have caught this case, and what would’ve happened then? The Dominicans weren’t exactly handling this on their own.”

  “I don’t know, Alejandra looks like she’s getting a handle on things,” Holm said, sipping his coffee.

  “That’s true,” I agreed.

  Just then, my phone buzzed. It was Diane.

  I crossed back over to the couches and sat down, Holm following close behind me.

  “Ethan,” she said when I picked up before I even had a chance to answer. “I wanted to catch you before you left for Haiti this morning. Do you have a game plan?”

  I clued her in on everything that had happened the night before, and everything that Ricardo had told us.

  “Interesting,” she murmured when I was finished. “Very interesting. So you weren’t wrong about this zombie powder nonsense after all.”

  “Hey, those old rumors had to come from somewhere,” I said. “Have you spoken to Bonnie and Clyde?”

  “I checked in with them before I called you,” she said. “Clyde was laughing that you even brought up the Haitian zombie powder. Otherwise, nothing new.”

  I laughed. “Well, he’ll have another think coming soon. Alejandra should be there in a few hours. She told us she’s going to head to the hospital once she gets Ricardo settled and taken care of.”

  “And this vic of yours,” Diane continued thoughtfully. “There’s so much else going on that I’d almost forgotten about him. I wonder why his associates killed him, especially when he was bringing their whole operation to the States. That would open up a big market for them, and it would seem they just threw the whole thing down the drain.”

  “Yes, Holm and I were just talking about that,” I said, exchanging a look with my partner. “We need to stay focused on the task at hand, especially now that we know that the cartel has already branched out into the States. As much as I’m glad a man like Wallace is dead, figuring out how and why he died could be the key to stopping this thing from spreading to our own country.”

  “I’ll talk to my guy in New Orleans again,” Diane said. “See what I can find out. This is troubling, to say the least. We don’t want our own people to turn up with their own skin eating itself like these kids. Can you imagine the field day the press would have with something like that? It would set off a world-class panic.”

  “Agreed,” I said darkly. I’d thought as much myself. “We’ll work on tracking down this witch doctor or whatever he is and finding out more about this drug. Then, we’ll find this ship, whatever it is, off the coast of Haiti. That’s the key to figuring out how Wallace died and who killed him, I’d bet on it.”

  “Just be careful, Ethan,” Diane warned. “From how you told it, that gangbanger was terrified of ending up with that witch doctor, or on that ship. And probably for good reason. You’d do well to watch your backs even more than you usually do.”

  “We’ll do our best,” I chuckled. Holm and I didn’t exactly have a reputation for staying out of trouble.

  “I’m not kidding, Ethan,” Diane emphasized, and I could hear the sternness in her tone now. “I don’t want to have to send my lab techs to mop your skin up off the belly of some ship out there because they forced this drug on you. That’s not how your career ends, or Robbie’s.”

  “I understand,” I assured her. “We’ll be careful.”

  She hesitated for a moment before continuing, as if to make sure that I was serious. “Good. Now call Bonnie and Clyde. Tell them what you’ve found out. It may help them to figure out how to detect this drug in the mess of forensics the Dominicans have given us.”

  “Understood,” I said before hanging up.

  “The boss’s worried about us?” Holm gathered with a chuckle. “What does she think we’re gonna do, walk right into the voodoo shop and ask to try it?”

  “She’s not wrong,” I said, turning to him with a seriousness that matched Diane’s. “We might be in over our heads with this one, but no one else is here, and we have to do something. But our usual guns blazing approach might get us in more trouble than we can handle. We need to at least pretend to be someone else at first… tourists, maybe.”

  “Or friends of Wallace’s come looking for him,” Holm pointed out. “That could get us further. But it would be good to know more about him before we try to pull anything like that.”

  “That could work,” I said, crossing my legs as I considered this. “I’m not sure. I don’t know that I want to try that right away. Alejandra said that adventurous American tourists come over to check out these voodoo shops sometimes. We could start with that. Then, if we make it to the ship, we can try something else.”

  “Good call,” Holm agreed. “American tourists probably wouldn’t find themselves any place like that.”

  “Exactly,” I said as I nodded. “And by then, hopefully, we’ll have more info about Wallace. Diane has a contact in New Orleans she’s going to check back in with about him. She talked to him yesterday, too, and he said he was going to look into it. But now that we know the cartel was expanding into that area…”

  “Then he might have more to go off of,” Holm finished for me, leaning forward excitedly. “Strange incidents in different ERs that they may never have connected or even thought were criminal before could turn out to be overdoses on this drug.”

  “Not overdoses,” I reminded him. “Ricardo said that around a quarter to a third of the people who take this drug die from it. It doesn’t have anything to do with how much they took. That’s what makes it so deadly. And yes, since you really have to look for the drug in the victims’ systems, it could very well be that there are cases we don’t know about yet back in the States.”

  “Better call Bonnie and Clyde, then,” Holm suggested, motioning to my cell phone, which was still in my hand. “They’ll want to get in on all this. And they can talk to any hospitals or coroners back in NOLA if they need to.”

  I nodded, but just then, a longer, sleeker car than we’d seen around the area in a while pulled up front, and several officers, some in Santo Domingo police uniforms and others in camouflage military getups, stepped out and made their way toward us.

  “Agents Ethan Marston and Robert Holm from MBLIS?” the one at the front asked, holding out his hand for Holm and me each to take in turn. “I’m Deputy Chief Esteban Martínez. I’ll be accompanying you into Haiti today, along with these officers.”

  “Yes, thank you,” I said, standing to greet them. “I’m Agent Marston, and this is Agent Holm. We’re glad you’re here.”

  “You’re going to walk into Haiti dressed like that?” Holm asked them, arching a skeptical eyeb
row at their uniforms. “And flaunting those weapons around? So much for staying incognito.”

  “My partner’s right,” I said sympathetically. “Our plan was to pretend to be American tourists. This will… complicate matters.”

  “I understand, Agent Marston,” Martínez said, his face betraying no emotion. “But we’ve been sent here to protect you and aid you in your mission. You’ll be walking into dangerous enemy territory. We think, and Chief Pérez agrees with us, that it would be best to appear a united front, so they’re less likely to challenge us.”

  “They’re going to challenge us anyway,” I said with a chuckle. “That’s why they shot at us yesterday. You really think this is going to be that simple?”

  Martínez shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “I suppose not,” he said, his voice stiff.

  One of the military officers spoke to him in Spanish, and it seemed to me that they were arguing. Finally, Martínez relented.

  “We will go undercover with you,” he said finally. “We’ll just need a moment and room to get changed and reorient our plan for the day.”

  “Understood,” I said, nodding to him. “We appreciate your cooperation. And take your time, I still have a call to make to some coworkers at MBLIS.”

  “I’ll escort you,” Holm offered, motioning in the direction of the elevators. “You can use our rooms to change and regroup.”

  I pulled out my phone to call Clyde as I watched them walk away. He picked up on the first ring.

  “Marston,” he said. “I was wondering when I’d hear from you. I’m afraid we don’t have much to report back here. Otherwise, I would’ve contacted you myself.”

  “Still nothing?” I asked, a bit deflated. “No progress on figuring any of this out?”

  “Not since we last spoke,” Clyde admitted. “But it’s a new day. I’m confident we’ll get somewhere. And we got a fresh body in overnight, so that should help.”

  I winced at this. As much as I was glad that Bonnie and Clyde would have more to study, I wouldn’t wish this fate on anyone.

  “Well,” I said, recovering quickly. “We have some news to share.”