by Matt Lincoln
I hadn’t noticed it before because I’d been so focused on going over the details of the mission, but now that I was actually at the helm, I realized just how fast Raymond’s boat was. The thing was tiny, but it was practically bouncing across the water at an alarming speed. We were catching up to the much larger vessel in no time.
“Aha!” Holm exclaimed when we were about a hundred yards away from it. “I found some binoculars back here.”
I glanced back at him and saw him holding the small, portable set of binoculars in one hand.
“Alright, tell me what you see!” I called over the sound of rushing water as I turned my focus back to steering. At the speed we were going, I didn’t want to lose control or crash into anything.
“It’s still kind of hard to tell through the rain!” he yelled back. “Oh, wait, no, I see men. And I see guns. I think these are our guys.”
“How many men?!” I called over my shoulder as the boat got ever closer. They were bound to notice us any moment now if they hadn’t already.
“I count three!” he shouted as he came to stand next to me at the helm. “But that doesn’t include whoever’s driving or anyone that might be below deck. See for yourself.”
He took over the steering so I could peer through the binoculars. The boat looked like it was about three times as big as the one Holm and I were on. It was a small yacht, and I could see three men wandering around on the main deck. They all had guns at their hips, and one even had a rifle slung over his shoulder. A second after I’d fixed the binoculars on him, he turned to look directly at me.
“Crap!” I yelled as the man whipped the rifle off his shoulder. “Holm, get down!”
He swore as he ducked down below the helm as far as he could without letting go of the wheel. We were still a few yards away from the boat, but we were close enough that we might crash directly into it in a matter of seconds if he lost control, especially with the storm making the water so rough and choppy.
I flattened myself onto the deck of the boat as bullets tore through. I flinched as part of the seat above me suddenly exploded into a cloud of vinyl and stuffing. As bits of dust and fluff rained down over my head, it dawned on me just how close I had just been to being shot.
“I can’t see where I’m going!” Holm shouted over the barrage of bullets.
“Hang on!” I yelled back as I crawled on my elbows to get better cover behind the seat. I peaked out over the edge to the deck of the larger boat. The man with the rifle was leaning over the gunwale of the boat as he shot at us. One of the other men was at his side, firing his pistol as well. I couldn’t see the third man anymore.
I lifted my gun and fired toward where they were standing. It was difficult to aim while the boat was moving so quickly and so erratically, but I still managed to hit the one holding the pistol, though I couldn’t tell where. I only saw him fall backward suddenly.
The man with the rifle stopped firing for just a moment to check on his buddy. I seized the opportunity and fired two more shots. The man screamed and dropped his gun directly off the side of the boat, though he didn’t fall as his friend did.
“Move closer now!” I yelled at Holm. “He’s lost the gun. Bring the boat in as close as you can.”
“Got it!” Holm shouted back as he stood up and began to steer properly again.
I got to my feet and climbed up onto one of the chairs before jumping up to grab onto the hardtop of the helm. Up there, I’d be at just the right height to jump onto the deck of the yacht.
I was just getting to my feet when a bullet tore through the metal just in front of where I was standing.
“Whoa!” Holm yelled from below. The bullet must have sailed clean through the roof and into the helm below.
I looked up and found the same man who’d been holding the rifle pointing a pistol at me. I lifted my own gun and shot back at him just as he fired again. His shot missed me, and this time, he did fall backward as my bullet hit him square in the chest.
I allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief now that both of the hostiles were down. However, it was short-lived as I realized an instant later that we were only feet away from the other boat now.
I swore as I got shoved my gun back into its holster and got ready to jump. I only had seconds until we made impact.
I leapt forward just as the fishing boat crashed into the side of the yacht. I barely managed to land on the deck of the larger vessel, and I stumbled to the ground as I lost my footing on the slippery, rain-soaked deck.
“Are you okay?!” Holm yelled. “Damn, sorry, I lost control when that bullet whizzed by my head. Are you alive? Ethan, say something!”
“I’m fine!” I yelled as I peered down over the edge of the boat. “Quit yelling and get up here. We’re not out of the woods yet.”
He climbed onto the hardtop in the same way I had earlier, though he had a much harder time since the boat was now quickly taking on water and trying its best to float away now that Holm had left the helm. I reached down to help him up onto the deck.
“Hope Raymond’s not too mad,” he remarked as we turned to look down at the sinking vessel.
“As long as we grab Samuel, I doubt he’s going to care,” I replied as I turned around. I couldn’t see the cockpit for the entrance to the lower cabin from where we were standing.
“Careful,” I cautioned Holm as he made our way carefully to the other side of the boat. There was still at least one man left unaccounted for, not to mention whoever was driving the boat.
I paused for just a moment before we made it to the cockpit where the helm was. I lifted my gun and then quickly rushed toward the stern of the vessel. To my surprise, no one was at the wheel.
“He must have gone below deck after the fighting started,” Holm guessed as we took a look around the helm. “Damn. Okay, let’s go.”
Together, we made our way down the steps and into the darkened cabin below. We’d just made it to the end of the staircase when I heard screams from a room at the end of the hall. I rushed forward instinctively, only realizing my error when it was too late.
I failed to notice an open doorway to my left until I’d already run past. I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye, but before I could turn around, something blunt hit me on the back of the head.
Stars burst in front of my eyes as I stumbled forward, almost falling to my knees as my vision swam and made it hard to stay upright. I spun around to face my attacker, but the movement only caused my dizziness to worsen.
The man had a crazed look in his eye as he lifted whatever he’d used to hit me above his head. Before he could strike again, though, Holm tackled him to the ground from behind, the two of them falling into a heap together on the floor.
“I’m going to kill you!” the man screamed as he thrashed around in Holm’s grip. I crouched down and punched the man in the face twice. The second blow caused him to hit the back of his head on the hard metal ground, and he groaned as his eyes drifted in and out of focus before finally shutting.
He dropped his weapon as he finally fell unconscious.
“What is that?” Holm huffed for breath as he reached for the thing he’d dropped. “A wrench!? How are you still standing after taking a blow from this to the back of the head?”
“He didn’t hit me that hard,” I hissed as I gingerly touched the back of my head. My hand came away wet with blood. “Still hurts, though. Guess I’m lucky it’s so dark down here. He probably couldn’t see.”
“Are you good?” he asked as he leaned down to cuff the guy to the stair railing. “You were looking a little out of it there for a second.”
“I’m fine,” I grumbled, though my head was throbbing. “Come on, we need to find the women.”
We continued our way down the short hallway again, more carefully this time. There wasn’t anywhere else for anyone to hide, though. All that was left was the door to the main cabin.
I pressed myself as close to the wall beside the door as I could be
fore turning to look at Holm.
“Ready?” I whispered as I slowly put my hand on the door handle.
“Ready.” He nodded, his gun gripped tightly in both hands.
I pushed the door open and ran inside, my gun held out in front of me.
“Freeze!” I yelled as I stepped into the room, Holm right beside me. The room was dark. The storm was in full force outside by this point, blocking out any chance of moonlight, so it was difficult to see in the small room. Several women were huddled on the ground at the rear corner of the cabin, their faces streaked with tears. They screamed as Holm and I burst into the room.
Standing in the center of the room, just in front of a desk, were two men. I instantly recognized one of them as the man who had managed to escape from the Oasis Lounge earlier in the day. The scar on his cheek was too distinctive for me to forget it.
Standing just beside him was a hunched man with graying hair who looked like he was about the same age as Richard, the antique store owner who had shot at us earlier in the week. This time, he was the one holding one of the women hostage while the man with the scar pointed a gun at us.
“Don’t come any closer,” the old man warned as he pressed a knife to the girl’s neck.
“Don’t be stupid,” I snapped at him. “What do you think is going to happen here, huh? We’re in the middle of the ocean, on a boat. You can’t run anywhere.”
“You’re right,” the man with the scar sneered as he took a step forward. “Which is why we’re going to kill you right here.”
For a few painstaking moments, nobody moved. We were at a complete standoff. Holm and I couldn’t shoot while the girl was still in danger, and the man with the scar knew that the moment he shot at either of us, the other one would take him out.
I gritted my teeth as I thought about what to do when I noticed one of the women slowly getting to her feet at the back of the room. I tried not to make it obvious that I had noticed her so I wouldn’t alert the two men.
For just a second, the woman made eye contact with me, and I watched as she silently raised a finger to her lips. She crept soundlessly across the carpeted floor behind the desk the two men were standing in front of. I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but I needed to keep their focus on me before they noticed her.
“There’s still a way out of this,” I blurted out the first thing that came to mind as the woman reached forward to pick up a heavy binder that was sitting on the top of the desk. “No one has to get hurt.”
“Shut up!” the man with the scar roared.
The old man said something too, but I was too focused on the woman behind him to pay attention to what it was. She held the binder over her head, a mixture of fury and fear and hatred burning in her eyes.
She suddenly let out a scream of anger as she brought the heavy thing down over the old man’s head.
Then several things happened at once. The old man let out a cry of pain as he fell forward, the girl shrieked as the knife he was holding cut into her neck, and the man with the scar spun around at the unexpected scream.
“Samuel!” the man snarled as he watched the old man crumple to the ground. He turned his fury onto the girl and spun around to point his gun at her instead of us.
I moved the moment the opportunity presented itself.
“Hey!” I yelled to distract him from shooting at her. He spun around to look at me, his face colliding directly with my fist as he did.
He roared in a mixture of pain and anger as he swung his own fist at me. I blocked him with my arm and punched him again. This time he fell backward onto the desk.
As he did, I turned around to check on the girl he’d cut. Holm was with her now, so I turned back to the suspect. He’d recovered more quickly than I’d expected, and I was just a split second too slow to block his next blow.
I hissed with pain as his fist struck the side of my chin. He grinned, clearly pleased that he’d managed to land a punch, and pulled his fist back to hit me again.
As he did, I swung around to punch him in the stomach. His eyes bugged out as he coughed and sputtered from the strength of the blow. I followed that hit up with another directly to his face. He fell backward again, this time slamming his elbow against the edge of the desk as he fell onto the ground.
He growled at me as he attempted to kick me from his position on the floor, but I returned his efforts with my own kick to his side. He groaned with pain, but I didn’t let up. I crouched down to deliver one final punch to his face, rendering him unconscious.
“Hey,” I called to Holm as I slowly regained my breath. “You got any more handcuffs? I used my last set on that idiot in the hallway.”
“Yeah,” he replied. “I’ll be right there. She’s bleeding a lot.”
I looked up and saw him still kneeling next to the girl. She was kneeling on the ground, rocking back and forth and clutching at her neck as blood trickled down from the wound.
I got up and walked over to where they were.
“Let me see,” I said gently as I tried to examine the wound without scaring or jostling her too much. It didn’t look very deep. The knife must have just nicked her as she fell. She might need stitches, but her life wasn’t in danger.
I looked around for something I could use to staunch the blood flow before settling on a thin curtain slung over one of the windows. A dirty old curtain wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do. I tore it off of the rod and shook it out to clear it of as much dirt as dust as possible before returning to the girl’s side.
“Press this against your neck, okay?” I instructed her as I placed the wad of fabric into her hand. “We’re going to get you all back to shore as quickly as possible.”
I looked up at the woman who had bashed the old man over the head. She was still standing in the exact same spot, her eyes wide and blank, as though she couldn’t believe what she’d just done.
The man in question groaned as he began to regain consciousness.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” I snarled as I quickly moved to restrain his arms behind his back.
“Ah!” he cried out as I forced his wrists roughly together. “You’re hurting me!”
“Good,” I sneered, unable to keep the venom out of my voice as I pulled a set of handcuffs from my belt. “After everything you’ve done, it’s the least you deserve, Samuel.”
I’d heard the man with the scar yell that name as the old man went down. Finally, we’d managed to track down the man we’d been looking for all this time. Finally, we’d be able to get justice for Allison Newark and her son, Eddy.
30
Ethan
I breathed a sigh of relief as we finally made it back to Cockburn Town. A line of police cars was parked along the beach, as well as a few ambulances. Their flashing lights were a welcome beacon after the storm we’d just endured. The sky had even started clearing up, and the heavy downpour from earlier was now a light drizzle.
I looked down at the three men we had handcuffed to the railing at the front of the boat. Holm and I had decided to move Samuel, the man with the scar, and the man who’d hit me with the wrench up here, both so we could keep an eye on them and so that the girls wouldn’t have to be stuck down there with them.
“Not much longer now,” I muttered smugly to myself as I turned back to the beach. I waited anxiously as Holm brought the massive vessel into the dock. No sooner had he stopped than several police officers began to climb on board to collect the men we’d apprehended. Several pairs of paramedics carrying stretchers climbed on board as well to retrieve the bodies of the men we’d shot.
“One of the victims was injured,” I informed them as they began to board. “She’s below in the main cabin. One of the suspects cut her throat with a knife.”
“We’ll see to it,” one of them responded before heading downstairs. I was glad. It only made sense, in my opinion, to focus first on the injured victim rather than the dead criminals.
“Ethan!”
A welcome and familiar voice
called my name. I turned around and found Olivia climbing onto the boat. I barely had time to react before she was throwing her uninjured arm around my neck in a one-armed hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Of course I am.” I smiled at her. “You didn’t have to come all this way, though. How’s your arm?”
“It’s fine.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Besides, I’ve been up and about since you left, so it’s not a big deal. I had just finished getting everything with the women’s living accommodations handled when I heard that something had gone wrong and Raymond had been shot. I called Crowley, and he said that you and Holm had run off by yourselves to chase down Samuel. I got a flight down here as soon as I heard that.”
She swatted me on the arm admonishingly.
“Well, we couldn’t just let him get away,” I countered. “They were taking the rest of the women who-knows-where. We needed to take the risk.”
“I know, I know,” she sighed as she fiddled with one of the buttons on my shirt. “Just… don’t make doing reckless things a habit, alright?”
“Too late for that,” Holm suddenly scoffed from somewhere behind me. “Ethan can’t even go on vacation without getting into trouble.”
“That was one time,” I grumbled as I turned around to glare at him.
“Okay, I want to hear that story,” Olivia snickered.
“Later.” I turned around to look back at her. “First, let’s get back to dry land and maybe into some dry clothes. Holm and I are soaked.”
“Fine,” she replied as she stepped away from me. I felt colder immediately, especially with how cold and wet my shirt was. “But I’m holding you to it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I grinned as the three of us got off the boat and onto the dock. A nice hot shower sounded amazing right about then, but I’d have to settle for a quick change of clothes. Though my body felt fatigued, my mind was still racing, and I didn’t want to put off Samuel’s interrogation any longer than I had to. As soon as everything was ready, I would finish this case, once and for all.
