Havana Hustle (Coastal Fury Book 6)

by Matt Lincoln

  The night sky outside the windows lit up, and a massive thunderclap shook the building. I hadn’t noticed a storm building, but it seemed like a fitting end to a tumultuous day.

  “We’ll meet tomorrow over lunch,” Diane announced. “Ethan and Robbie, you two lie low with Yoani and Arturo. We don’t want the González brothers to know you’re asking around.”

  “Copy that,” I affirmed.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, the next two weeks will mostly be slow, but don’t let your guard down.” Diane eyed every person in the room. “Get some rest, keep your eyes and ears on, and stay out of trouble. That means you, Ethan and Robbie.”

  We saluted in unison. Telling us to stay out of trouble was like telling a kid not to open a cookie jar.

  On our way out to the parking garage, Yoani pulled me aside.

  “You’ll show us around Miami?” she asked. “Maybe more? I would love to see the Everglades.”

  “And alligators,” Arturo said with a laugh.

  “We’ll do the rounds,” I promised. “Maybe we’ll even learn what's in that box from my shipwreck.”

  Muñoz came around and collected them. She drew the first shift and wanted to get them to the hotel before the storms. They had to clean out Philippe’s things and move Yoani and Arturo to different rooms.

  I watched them leave and waved Holm off as he left in his blue Lancer.

  The next two weeks promised to be equal parts boring and exciting. Me? I couldn’t help wanting the latter. After all, what was wrong with a little excitement?

  CHAPTER 41

  The first week passed with lots of sight-seeing. As much as I yearned to get closer to Yoani, it was the wrong time and place, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t hit all the best sights with her, Arturo, and whoever was on detail from MBLIS. During that time, there was little word from all quarters. The only significant news came from Warner. I brought Yoani and Holm in five afternoons after Philippe disappeared.

  “Someone didn’t want our guy’s identity revealed,” Warner told us. “I had to crack some files that someone tried to delete. Oliver Garcia was a small-time criminal, nothing big as far as I can tell.”

  “What do the Havana investigators say?” I asked.

  “They’re nosing around.” Warner showed me a screen with a bunch of coding that made no sense to me. “Here’s the thing. Whoever tried to erase Garcia’s file has access to government systems. They have decent hacking skills, but nothing to write home about. I wrote a little program to trace when and where the attempt was made. I’ll let you know when that breaks.”

  I turned to Yoani. “I hate to ask, but could Philippe have done this?”

  “He’s never been good with computers.” She bit her lower lip for a second. “Then again, he hid a lot from me, didn’t he?”

  “We can’t rule it out. Or can we, TJ?”

  Warner’s mouth twitched at my question. “I can’t tell you that. Speaking of Philippe…” Warner pulled up a different window and then showed it to me. “You told me that he worked in a shop with Javier González at one time.”

  “Yes.” Yoani leaned closer for a look at the screen. “He reported González for stealing.”

  “I found a report from the shop owner, also buried, that showed it was the other way around.” He brought up a hand-written complaint from the shop owner. An English translation was printed below it. “The note in the file says that the matter was resolved but not how.”

  Yoani slouched in her seat and folded her arms across her chest. She blinked a few times.

  “I wanted to believe he was trying to do good,” she told us. “Now, I don’t know what to think.”

  “Whatever he’s up to, he hasn’t riled things up,” Holm said.

  “As far as we know,” I pointed out. “I’d give anything for intel on Manny’s crew. Enrique still won’t wear a wire because he’s afraid. We can’t send Cody in because he’s a minor.”

  “And that old fart JJ lawyered up faster than we could spit,” Holm finished.

  We never did get to speak to Jorge Jiminez, the old-timer who took the boys in after Mike. He was moved to the county jail and denied bail for his part in the fiasco at Mike’s bar. The other two were in protective custody.

  “Well…” Warner grinned. “I got taps on two of the guys Cody named after he talked to you. These dudes haven’t said anything incriminating on the phone, but earlier today, they did mention a newbie. He’s going by the name ‘Julio.’”

  I sat straight up. “Why didn’t you lead with that?”

  “And spoil dinner with dessert?” Warner opened a window on his tablet. “They talked about hazing Julio and seeing if he had what it takes to work on the ‘bigger projects.’ These guys are smart enough not to specify what those bigger projects are, but I think we can guess.”

  “He wants to get to that list.” For Yoani’s sake, I didn’t bring up other possible business interests. At that point, I didn’t put anything past Philippe. “I bet he isn’t happy that Manny is posing as a Delgado.”

  “You gotta wonder how unhappy he is,” Holm suggested. “What’s he willing to do about it?”

  I swore under my breath as the implications hit me. Why hadn’t I seen it sooner? Philippe wasn’t the person we thought we’d met, which meant we didn’t know how far he’d go to get what he wanted. That was a conversation I didn’t want to have with Yoani.

  “Well, there’s not much we can do about it right now.” I gave Holm a look, and he nodded. We’d talk about it once we weren’t around Yoani or Arturo. “On a brighter note, TJ, we’re going to see a friend of Bill Meyer’s. Want to see what they found in that box from the shipwreck?”

  “Dude, that would be awesome, but I have a pile of work.” Warner stretched and yawned. “I need to grab a Dew and dive back into the ones and zeros. I’m still working on that special job our friend sent, so I’ll be up late again tonight.”

  “I’m sure you can take a night off.” I stood and put a hand on Warner’s shoulder. “You deserve it.”

  “Nah. It’s a challenge, and I love challenges.”

  “Okay, okay.” I smiled at him. “Just be careful.”

  He nodded. “Gotcha.”

  I admired Warner’s tenacity. Ever since Donald Farr set the kid on the electronic trail of the senator who was dogging MBLIS funding, Warner had run with the new obsession. His enthusiasm worried me, though, as Bradley Whittington was a powerful man. If Whittington or his people found out Warner was digging into data about him, things could go sideways for all of us, and of us all, Warner was the softest target.

  “Let us know if you need anything,” Holm told him.

  Warner regarded us for a moment and then smiled. “I got this, you guys.”

  For Warner’s sake, I hoped so.

  CHAPTER 42

  Yoani rested her head against the window of Ethan’s car as he drove to a local university to look at the box he found in the shipwreck. Sunken treasure wasn’t her favorite subject, but she needed the distraction. Reality was sure to hit again later, as she had to tell Arturo what TJ Warner had discovered about Philippe.

  “It’ll help if you could gloss over the part about TJ rooting around in the computer networks,” Ethan suggested. “I’m sure it’ll come up eventually, but it’ll be easier to smooth it over after all is said and done.”

  “Like the expression, ‘better to ask forgiveness than permission’?”

  “Do you mind?” His voice had a tender note that had grown on him over the past few days. “We’re still sharing information, just not exactly when.”

  “We’re not suppressing intel,” Robbie added. “Right now, it’s safer for everyone to keep it to ourselves for a bit.”

  Yoani’s duty was to report anything untoward. Technically, she ought to inform Sanchez, but she understood Ethan and TJ’s perspectives. Her superiors, however, wouldn’t see it that way. She bit her lip as she considered the consequences, which included losing her job. On the other ha
nd, the case was personal in a way she’d never imagined. She had a feeling that if that weren’t the case, she never would’ve known about TJ’s intel.

  “I am not aware of any network infiltration.” Her heart pounded as the decision settled in her chest. “You three had a meeting. I had coffee.”

  “Much appreciated,” he said.

  They pulled into a half-empty parking lot outside the university building where Bill Meyer’s friend had Ethan’s treasure, whatever it may be. After the absurdity of the pebbles in the leather bags, she had to admit she was more curious about the box than she expected.

  Bill and Mike met them on the stone steps in front of the anthropology building as the agent with Arturo dropped him off. Bill led the group to a room with half a dozen tables and bright lights overhead. The tables ranged from clear to covered in debris or boxes. A thin man jumped up from a table at the end of the room and waved them over.

  “Hello, everyone!” The man peeled off a pair of gloves and went around shaking hands. “I’m Doctor Silver, as I’m sure Bill has told you. Where’s Ethan? Oh, there you are, and you must be Ethan’s friend, and oh, you’ve brought other friends!”

  Yoani felt breathless even though she hadn’t been the one talking. Dr. Silver’s enthusiasm was as heartwarming as it was overwhelming.

  He took them to the table where he’d been working and showed them the wood box that Ethan had found in a desk drawer below the one where he had found the leather bags. Yoani glanced at Mike. He was touching the healing scar where he’d been impaled by a spike of wood, as Ethan had told her. Mike smiled and nodded at her in acknowledgment. She returned it with a tight smile of her own. Her first impressions of Mike were difficult to overcome. For Ethan’s sake, however, she was trying to see the man how Ethan saw him.

  “My box looks a lot better than when we found it,” Ethan said as they crowded around Silver.

  “This box is in remarkably good condition,” Silver told the group. “It didn’t take much effort to clean it up. You said the ship was buried under sand for a long time, yes?”

  “Yeah. I don’t know how long, but it was a while.” Ethan stared at the box as though he was a hungry child in a bakery. “The captain’s quarters didn’t have much sand, so I think it was protected by the door and windows.”

  “Ah.” Silver rubbed his hands. “Did you find evidence of bodies? Bones, perhaps?”

  Ethan’s lips twitched as Robbie shook his head.

  “The only body would’ve been me if the boys hadn’t been there to free me,” Mike said in a cheerful tone. “I don’t recall seeing human remains, but I didn’t make it past the door.”

  “They must have been somewhere else on the boat.” Ethan shrugged. “Or they got away. Hard telling.”

  Silver donned a clean pair of gloves and touched an edge of the box. “I want to find out whether Winston Marcus survived the wreck. The man liked keeping records of his activities.”

  Yoani leaned in as Silver opened the lid with a gentle touch. One of the corroded hinges creaked in protest, but it held. Inside the box was a leather-wrapped object in the shape and size of a book. Such a thing was far more exciting to her than gold and jewels, as she was fascinated by writing in the hands of the people who lived during earlier eras.

  Ethan pressed in close, and his eyes lit.

  “Is it his log?” he asked.

  Silver grinned. “We opened it yesterday.”

  He pulled the wrapped book out of the box and set it on a special mat next to the box. The leather covering had a clasp that operated with surprising ease. There was no hint of seawater despite the slight damage to the box.

  Yoani held her breath as the book’s cover was revealed. The book’s cover was crafted out of a light-brown leather. An intricate cross had been burned into the cover, as well as the name “Winston Marcus” on the bottom right.

  “Hot damn,” Ethan whispered. Yoani had noticed he liked to use the phrase when something excited him, usually when he wasn’t on duty. “This seals the deal. This is the bastard who chased the Dragon’s Rogue after Grendel escaped in Charleston.”

  Silver raised his brows and turned toward Ethan.

  “Interesting,” he said. “You arrest modern-day pirates, yes?”

  Ethan cleared his throat, and Yoani thought she saw his cheeks redden a little. She loved when badass men showed their more vulnerable, sometimes childlike selves.

  “Well, this was a long time ago.” Ethan crossed his arms but smiled. “My ancestor commissioned the ship, and Grendel stole it.”

  “I should think you’d be happy if Grendel had been brought to justice.” Silver chuckled. “But I have to agree with you that Marcus was a bastard.”

  Silver opened the book’s cover. Thick script filled the cream page, but Yoani couldn’t begin to read it. Marcus had a sloppy hand compared to the elegant writing that she had seen in photos of old documents.

  “This is in English, right?” Holm asked. “I can’t read a damn thing on that page.”

  “It is in colonial English.” Silver eased the book open and turned to a page halfway through where the script ended. “One of my students spent half the night transcribing the section that began with Grendel’s arrival in Charleston. The last two dozen or so pages focus exclusively on his pursuit of Grendel and the Rogue.”

  Silver plucked a stapled packet from the end of the table and handed it to Ethan.

  “This is the transcription?” Ethan flipped through the pages, and his eyes widened. “Amazing.” He stopped close to the end. “Oh, wow. This guy was slightly obsessed.”

  “What’s it say?” Robbie asked.

  “This section is about the bags we recovered.” The space between his eyebrows creased. “Marcus definitely had a thing for Grendel. Those black stones were meant for him. Marcus planned to catch Grendel, tie him up, and then cram his mouth with stones until he choked.”

  “That’s horrible,” Yoani blurted out. “Why would Marcus do that instead of shooting or hanging him?”

  “Yeah, Marcus was quite the zealot,” Ethan murmured. “He believed Grendel was the Antichrist because he was charming and stole from wealthy people and treasure ships.” He raised a brow. “Marcus complained that Grendel gave part of his loot to laborers and, well, he uses some strong language for poor people.”

  “Your Grendel was like Robin Hood or Zorro!” Yoani clasped her hands together and bounced on her toes, realized it, and dropped her hands to her sides. “Someone left a box of Zorro books to me when I was a girl.”

  Her father had inherited the books from his father. Her grandfather had brought them from America, and she still had them under her bed in the original box. Those books were what had encouraged her to develop a love for reading, but given what she had learned, she wasn’t ready to share that part of the tale.

  Ethan’s mouth twisted into a grin. “Wouldn’t that be something?” He held the packet out to Silver. “Maybe this is why I can’t hate Grendel. There’s always been something about the story that spoke to me, but never this.”

  “You keep that,” Silver said. “We have plenty of digital and print copies. When the transcription is complete, I’ll be happy to create a special login for you to access its files, since you are the owner.”

  Ethan grinned. “Thanks, I appreciate that.”

  “I guess this is worth my near-death experience.” Mike used his good arm to elbow Ethan in the side. “How about we celebrate at the bar with drinks on the house?”

  “I’m in,” Robbie said.

  The others agreed, even Dr. Silver. Ethan hesitated.

  “What do you want to do, Yoani?”

  His blue eyes had a tender look that matched this softness in his voice. If only he knew how that made her feel… but that was a dead end. She looked away. She wanted to go, but only to be near him. That alone was why she couldn’t. There was no future in falling for Ethan. She needed to remind herself of that when she and Arturo next went sight-seeing or to the
MBLIS office with him.

  “It’s been a long day,” she demurred. “Arturo, we should go back to the hotel.”

  The former special ops officer met her eye and then glanced at Ethan. Arturo hadn’t said anything, but Yoani had a feeling he at least suspected that she was beginning to have feelings for Ethan. At some point, she was sure, Arturo would feel duty-bound to step in.

  “Sorry to hear that,” Ethan said after a moment. “I’ll let you know if anything new comes up before tomorrow.”

  Robbie called a car for her as they all walked out from the anthropology building. The men stayed and chatted about sports other silly things while they waited, but Yoani didn’t have the heart to listen in. When the MBLIS car pulled up, Ethan started over to her. Yoani pretended not to notice, and she and Arturo were in the car and away before she released a long breath.

  “Everything okay?” the driver asked.

  She was a young agent who wore crisply pressed clothes that Yoani felt would be too warm during the day at that time of year. Maybe the young woman was from another region.

  “Yes.” Yoani put on a smile for the agent’s sake. “I’m tired, but thank you.”

  The drive lasted less than ten minutes. Once they were settled into the adjoining suites for Yoani and Arturo, the agent excused herself to check the main areas of the hotel for anything out of the ordinary.

  “You’re not fine,” Arturo said in Spanish after the young agent left. “It’s Marston, isn’t it?”

  Yoani nodded and slumped into the hotel couch.

  “I’m an idiot,” she told him. “I know better than to let my feelings get in the way of work.”

  “The heart wants what it wants.” Arturo pulled a chair over from the suite’s desk. “It is possible to have more than one love in your life. People think you get one true love, but that’s a myth. Very few people are that fortunate.”

  “What do you mean? There are people who have been married their entire adult lives to their true loves.”