by Matt Lincoln
“Yes, we’ll take Wraith down here. I’ll make sure the bar is stocked.” I thought back to the empty corner. I knew just what I was going to put there.
“Good man,” Xavier chuckled. “Consider it done.”
The line disconnected, and I walked back out to my balcony. In two weeks, I would have my crew and my boat here, ready to tackle whatever the Caribbean… or Linda… threw my way.
8
Linda
Before I knew it, I was getting underway again. Part of me was itching to get some more island exploring done, but I had to admit, I loved the adventure of being out at sea.
I already knew that I’d be heading back out to El Yunque, preferably by foot. I knew there was much more of the rainforest to see that my Jeep couldn’t possibly reach. Then there was the food I had stumbled across. How could I not go back?
I got settled and booted up the computer in my office. As I was finishing up with my emails, GM2 Slade poked her head in.
“Good evening, XO,” she said with a huge grin.
“Hey, good evening!” I turned to face her and saw two coffee cups in her hand. She extended one out to me.
“I noticed you’re the other huge coffee drinker on board,” she chuckled. “I figured you wouldn’t say no. I know we are both on the schedule tonight, so I thought this would help.”
“I never say no to coffee.” I held the cup close to my nose and let the rising steam warm my face. I glanced up at her. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied, taking a sip of her own coffee. “Hey, I know you’re just settling in, but a bunch of us usually get together during our downtime to check out some cool spots around the island. I can let you know when our next excursion is if you’d like.”
“Yes, absolutely!” I lifted my head up away from my cup. “I’m totally down to explore. I was just at El Yunque yesterday.”
“Ooh, did you hike it?” Slade’s eyes widened in excitement.
“Nah, I just drove through it. I’d love to go back and hike it, though.” I took a long sip of coffee and felt myself immediately waking up. “Holy crap, this is strong coffee.”
“Oh, yeah,” Slade grinned widely. “It’s called Boricua. It will keep you energized forever. It works like a champ.”
“I feel like I could run a marathon right now,” I joked. Seriously, I felt it coursing through my veins. I needed to buy some of this for myself. “Thank you! I definitely needed this.”
“Glad to help! I know how long the night shift feels,” Slade said. “Also, I know you’re getting set up to join the Boarding Team, which is awesome. BM2 Murphy is going to be a dad soon, as you know, so we will need a new PMC when he goes on paternity leave. It’s always nice to have an officer on board that’s willing to get their hands dirty with the rest of us. I’m excited for the change!”
“Thank you!” I really couldn’t wait. “I’m excited, too. Also, let me know in advance what kind of excursion is coming up. I’ll try to write it off as a morale trip for us if funds allow.”
“That’d be great, thank you!” Slade spun around to walk out of the room and then turned back toward me. “Careful with that coffee. Also, I have more if you need it.” With that, she winked and walked out.
Now that I was more awake than I’d ever been, it was time to get out of the office and see what else I could get myself into. I headed up to the bridge to find CO Watson and Ensign Driscoll looking very seriously at each other.
“What’d I miss?” I joked as I reached the top of the ladderwell.
Watson turned to me. “You either know something, or you just happen to have perfect timing.”
“Perfect timing, I guess,” I shrugged. “What’s going on? You guys both look too serious for having just gotten underway.”
“Yeah, about that,” Driscoll turned to me. “We got another tip on a drug interception. CO was about to make the pipe.”
“I was,” Watson replied quickly, “but I was hoping to find you first. Glad to hear your spidey senses were already tingling.”
More than my spidey senses were tingling, but this wasn’t the time to discuss my new favorite coffee.
“Where are we headed?” I asked as I walked forward to see the screens more clearly.
“Straight south from here, actually,” Driscoll informed me. “If CO does the pipe now, we should have perfect timing.”
I looked over at Watson. “Let’s do this,” I smirked, and Watson went over to his chair and sat down to make the pipe.
“Now, set the go-fast bill.”
Watson’s voice echoed throughout the boat, and I knew that once again, the entire crew was coming to life. He waved me over and showed me what information they had gathered. It sounded like this was the same source the last bust came from. If so, it would be the same group with the same packaging stamp. That uneasy feeling washed back over me as I realized that this would probably keep happening unless something different were done.
“What a coincidence, huh?” Driscoll spoke up. “Two busts from the same source within one week. I wonder if they are trying to recoup their loss from our last bust. Sucks to be them, they’re about to pull the short straw again. Whomp, whomp!”
Driscoll smirked and looked at us both. Watson looked too tired to engage with him, and I was too distracted. Driscoll rolled his eyes, laughed to himself, and went back to take his seat next to Watson. I walked up between the two of them and looked over the charts and screens before us.
Our Boarding Team members were geared up and ready in no time.
“Hi, team,” I turned to face them all. BM1 Perez was the new face this patrol, as he had just joined our crew not long after I’d arrived. He had just come from another boat as well, so he fitted in seamlessly so far. He was short but stocky and kept his head shaved bald. “We did great on the last bust, so I know we are a smooth team. This is the same source, so I’m hoping this one goes just as smoothly. We should be arriving within the next twenty or thirty minutes, so hang tight, and we will get this done!”
For the late hour, my team definitely looked energetic and ready to go. I wondered if Slade had distributed some more of that Boricua coffee amongst the rest of the crew as well. If so, I wasn’t going to complain. Their high spirits instilled confidence that they would get the job done quickly.
There was a lot of chatter and small talk being made amongst the crew as we reached our position. With all the lights out, I took notice of the full moon.
“Crap,” I heard from behind me. I turned to see Slade gazing out the window up at the moon.
“What?” I hedged.
“Oh,” she looked around and saw the entire crew staring at her. “Sorry. I was hoping this in-port I could hit Fajardo and see the bioluminescent bay there, but I heard it’s best during a new moon. This… looks like the opposite.” She looked up once more and then turned back to us with a shrug. “Oh, well. Next time.”
“Where’s Fajardo?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s by the rainforest! Kinda,” she said thoughtfully. “It’s not far from there, anyway.”
“I heard Fajardo is the worst one,” BM2 Murphy chimed in. “Apparently, if you really want to see a bioluminescent bay, Mosquito Bay is the place. It’s in Vieques, though.”
“How many of them are there?” I asked incredulously. I didn’t know there were any at all, let alone more than one.
“Well, there’s five in the world!” Slade yelped excitedly. “Three of them are in Puerto Rico! The third one is on the southwest part of the island.”
“Oh, damn,” I replied in awe. I had no idea.
“If you’d like, let’s make that one of our excursions!” Slade was really looking forward to seeing this, I could tell.
“Definitely!” I nodded vigorously. “I’m all for it, let’s go.”
“Now that’s a morale trip!” Murphy exclaimed, a huge grin growing across his face. A round of laughter erupted from the crew. I was beginning to gather the last XO was worse than
I’d been led to believe.
Suddenly, Driscoll spoke up. “Sir, TOI about 5 miles out.”
Shifting gears, I quickly walked over to the radar screen to see what he had noticed. “Oh, wow,” I uttered.
Watson glanced over at us. “What’s going on?”
“Judging by the size of this target,” I cleared my throat. “This is not just another go fast. This is a mothership.”
“Oh, hell, yes,” Slade jumped up and down in her spot. I could tell the coffee had kicked in hardcore for her.
“A damn mothership?” ET2 Rogers’ blue eyes sparkled with anticipation. “This is going to be a long night.”
“Thank God for good coffee, am I right?” Slade was bouncing, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and rubbing her hands together in excitement. I let out a chuckle. Long night or not, these guys were going to give it their all.
“Alright, you know the drill. Get down there, let’s launch for intercept!” I clapped my hands together once for effect and got a chorus of Roger that from the crew as everyone took their places.
As we approached, we once again slowed the cutter down and turned before launching the small boat. We then turned back and took off in the same direction the small boat was headed. Rogers ran a hand through his bright red hair as he began plotting everything at the QMOW station beside me. Driscoll had the radar.
“Two miles out,” Driscoll reported over the intercom.
“One,” he reported.
Before he could give another update, we heard Murphy’s voice fill the bridge. “Eyes on contact,” he said clearly.
We were all still sitting in the dark, but the small boat had their lights on this time, making it easier to see their progress from up on the bridge. We were still relying on the charting and Murphy’s reports for accuracy and to help guide the team if they needed it.
We sent the cutter a bit closer in case they needed backup, but for a small boat, they pretty much had it handled. Once they were right on top of the mothership, they began climbing on board the larger ship.
“United States Coast Guard,” Slade said by way of introduction to the ship’s crew.
I listened through the intercom as the ship crew started yelling something in Spanish. Slade and her team remained calm and collected.
“We are here to inspect your boat,” she replied crisply, and then our team dispersed around the ship.
Our team was quickly clearing all of the areas to ensure their own safety and to search for contraband. The people that had been on the vessel were clearly upset about this turn of events. I saw a lot of unfriendly hand gestures, and there was plenty of yelling. I registered more than a few curse words among the commotion. Our guys were going through the boat systematically, and just as I was about to get that feeling that things were going pretty well, the lights went out.
For a brief moment, there was silence. Then Murphy’s voice came through, barely audible.
“Damn, I can’t see a thing,” Murphy whispered into the intercom. I could not make out much more than the bouncing beams of a few flashlights.
CO Watson promptly spun on his heels and left the bridge. When he came back moments later, I saw a few crew members running out front, manning the .50 caliber machine guns that were mounted on both sides of the cutter. I knew immediately that he had sent the crew into their positions as backup for our team, but seeing the crew standing ready by those guns put everyone on guard, and the tension on the bridge was palpable. I began to break a sweat around my hairline, and I took a few calming breaths as I typed out the updates to send to Sector.
“What the--!” Murphy’s voice suddenly snapped through the intercom.
My heart leapt into my throat, but his voice quickly came back onto the intercom.
“False alarm, it’s just Jackson.”
I allowed myself to relax a bit, as I listened to Murphy talk to ET3 Garrett Jackson. Jackson was the youngest member of our crew, a tall, lanky kid with the least amount of experience. He was very enthusiastic about diving in and tackling our missions head-on with the rest of the team, but I could understand his absolute terror in a situation like this.
“You gotta calm down, bud,” Murphy whispered through the darkness.
“What the hell just happened?” I could hear the sharp pang of panic in Jackson’s voice. “Are we being attacked?”
“We don’t know yet, but you need to stay calm and ready, man. You can’t panic. We need you to keep it together. Deep breaths, deep breaths…”
I heard Jackson take slow, trembling breaths. The breathing faded away, and I heard Murphy’s muffled footsteps as he walked away.
“ET3 is worrying me,” Murphy mumbled for our benefit.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Rogers mumbled from the QMOW station behind me.
I heard a loud clang, followed by a series of crashes, and I glanced up to see the bobbing flashlights converging onto one spot on the port side. The beams pointed down one at a time into some type of opening in the floor. I could not see well enough to know what they were looking at, but I knew from experience that the entire team had their guns drawn.
The silence was deafening until Slade’s voice cut through.
“Geez, Jackson, way to announce our location,” Slade snarked.
“Looks like Jackson fell down a ladderwell,” Murphy reported.
I heard a sharp laugh that could only belong to BM1 Perez. “Way to go, Jackson,” he jested, before taking a sharp inhale. “Holy…”
“What is that?” Slade pressed.
I heard something incomprehensible that must have been from Jackson.
“Contraband found,” Murphy confirmed, and I heard some rustling as I watched the flashlights disappear from view one at a time. Whatever was under there, my team was going in for it.
“We’ve found the motherlode,” Murphy chuckled.
“You got the kit?” I heard Perez’s voice come through.
I heard some more rustling and then Slade responded. “Yeah, here it is.”
The kit that Perez was referring to was what we used to test potential contraband. If the test is positive for cocaine, then we move in. If not, we keep looking. Based on my team’s reactions, I knew exactly what the results would be.
“Yup,” Perez confirmed. “Positive. Let’s round these guys up.”
I looked up and saw the flashlights reappearing one at a time before they split up to find the boat crew. In record time, they had everyone gathered together on the main deck. I was already in contact with Sector to get the right people over here to take over.
I heard multiple voices yelling in Spanish, and I gathered that the crew aboard the mothership knew that they were in trouble. I saw a couple of them run toward my team, but they were quickly stopped, their hands zip-tied together.
After what seemed like forever, we heard the intercom crackle. “Situation secure.”
Watson grabbed the intercom. “Stand by for orders.” His voice was sharp and urgent.
“Yes, sir.” The crackly voice eased the tension in all of our shoulders.
Watson sent the cutter forward to retrieve our crew as I waited for my heart rate to slow and my breathing to steady. My relief was quickly replaced by anger, however, as I realized that not doing more about the drug problem here in the Caribbean would only allow situations like this to keep happening. I needed to do more to protect my crew. It was my job.
It was time to light a fire under Jake. Something had to change, rules be damned.
9
Jake
Linda’s voice was sharp and insistent over the phone. “Jake, the stamp on the packages was identical. Same rabbit, same ears. This is going to keep happening.”
The blood-soaked rag hung limp in one hand as I held my phone to the other.
“Well, what do you propose we do about it?” I immediately cringed. I knew I had just opened a door that I wanted to stay shut.
“I’m so glad you asked,” she quipped. “I have a plan.”<
br />
I hobbled over to the rusty metal bar stool and hopped up onto it, placing the phone down on the bar and putting it on speaker. I needed two hands for this. When this bar had asked me to step in as security for the night, I didn’t think much of it. It was a quick gig, nothing I hadn’t done before. I was expecting it to be a relatively laid-back night. Then a knife fight broke out in the middle of the dance floor, and suddenly, I had a large gash in my leg, and the entire bar was closed down.
“It better be a plan that involves you staying the hell out of it.” I propped my right leg on the closest bar stool and examined the gash in my thigh. It was deep, but I’d survive. I’d seen worse.
“Well, it has less to do with me and more to do with you.” Linda’s voice filled the empty bar. Although I was quickly tending to my own wounds, my mind was stuck on what she’d just said.
“You’re roping me into this?” I asked, surprised she wasn’t trying to convince me to let her handle this herself. Her dad may have asked me to keep her safe, but damn, she didn’t make it easy.
“Yes,” she replied slowly, her voice calming a bit. “If I pursue this directly, I lose my career. I’m afraid my dad might come back to haunt me if I do that. Plus, you’d come after me too. Isn’t this the kind of thing you do anyway?”
“I don’t seek out major drug lords,” I quipped. Although I could. I had the technology and the team in place for it. It was a major undertaking, though, and one I felt was better left to organized law enforcement groups.
“Yeah, but you help people. You’re out there doing what law enforcement can’t or won’t do to make this world a better place. I think this counts.”
I couldn’t argue with her. “Alright, so tell me this plan of yours. I’m already completely sure I’ll say no, but I want to hear it anyway.” I wrapped the rag around my leg, tying it tight across the wound. I hoped that’d help until Doc got here. What was taking him so long? I applied as much pressure as I could while listening to Linda. At the very least, she’d keep my brain occupied and off my injury until Doc arrived.