CIA - The Slave Traders

by Joe Bob Newman

Beatrix International Airport. They landed and taxied to a waiting truck. They all climbed in the back and took their gear. The truck took them to a building in San Nicholas. They found beds and places to store their gear. There was no privacy at all, only one restroom with a shower. It had curtains around it. The guys all went outside and let the girls shower. Then they all switched places. They went to bed and all slept uneasily.

  The next morning they were briefed by the local operative. The last known place the three girls were was “Baby Beach.” Ted and Lynda were assigned to a room as a newlywed couple. The reservation had already been made by Tom. They rented three cars and split up. Marilyn and Bobby were to go to Bachelor Beach, and Wayne and the local operative would man the phone lines. Lots of tips were coming in.

  Ted seemed very happy with the arrangement, but Lynda was not. The room had only one bed, but it was king-sized. Ted teased her about sleeping together.

  They put on their swimsuits and headed down to the beach. Lynda wore the white bikini that she had worn with Billy. Again, she felt like she was walking around naked for all the stares that she got. Then Ted took off his shirt and wrapped it around Lynda.

  At the beach, they started asking simple questions. They noticed a big yacht sitting out in the water. Several persons on the beach said that they had seen and heard mysterious things from the yacht. Everyone appeared to be afraid of it.

  It seemed that everyone they interviewed believed that the girls were on that boat. Some witnesses even said that they had seen young girls on the yacht. However, the witnesses were not credible enough to do a full search of the boat.

  They rented a large sea-doo and took off in the water. Lynda took off Ted’s shirt and threw it in the glove compartment. She was hanging on for dear life.

  The yacht turned out to be about three miles out from the beach. They made it to the yacht, and were warned to stay clear. Lynda leaned back so that the man on the yacht could see her better. It didn’t help any: the man still warned them off. They noticed that the boat was making ready to leave. They both wanted to see what or who was on the yacht.

  Alarm bells were going off in Lynda’s head. “I think those girls are on that yacht,” she said.

  They returned to the beach and ran to their car. They got Lynda’s cell phone and called Wayne. Wayne said that he would notify harbor patrol and see if they would stop the boat. Wayne rented a helicopter, and the team met at the operatives’ center. They all dressed as rapidly as possible. They each got their weapons and then took off in the helicopter.

  When they got to the beach, the craft was gone. They increased their altitude and flew in a big semi-circle.

  They finally spotted the boat. It was moving toward Jamaica.

  They flew the helicopter back to Aruba and took the company jet to Jamaica. They rented the largest cabin cruiser that they could find. They loaded it up and made ready to head out to sea. A local operative had rented another helicopter. Ted and Wayne went up in the helicopter. Ted had a sniper rifle that he took. Bobby, Marilyn, and Lynda all went on the cruiser.

  Wayne radioed down that he had spotted the yacht. He gave the boat’s location to Bobby. They should intercept the yacht in about four hours. Wayne came back on. “Guys, they spotted us and have turned to a new course. You need to turn to heading two seven zero, and you should still catch them.” Bobby was driving the boat. He went to full throttle, and the two engines responded. The helicopter had to go back to Jamaica and refuel.

  Bobby looked at the two women. “Well, I guess we are on our own. I wish we had Ted’s rifle. We don’t have much firepower!”

  Marilyn was checking the radar screen closely. She said, “Guys, I got something. Come look. It has to be the yacht.” They made a course correction and stayed behind it.

  The yacht was actually headed for Belize. Wayne came on the radio again; he was now in the company jet flying high above the ocean. Ted and Wayne were now going to land in Belize and rent a power boat and cut the yacht off.

  It seemed to happen suddenly: the sun went down and it was dark. There was no moon. No one seemed to know if it would come up or not. Lynda was driving the boat. Bobby and Marilyn were both lying down when she first saw the lights of the yacht. She slowed down and tried to match pace with them. She turned all the big lights off, including the running lights.

  She could see a second bright glow on the horizon. She did not know what it was. Then the moon “popped” up. Bobby and Marilyn had been asleep for six hours when Lynda began to doze off. She woke Marilyn up, and switched places with her. About two hours later she woke up. The sun was up. So was Bobby. Lynda went back to sleep.

  Bobby took over from Marilyn, and she went and made breakfast. The next time Lynda woke up, she could smell food. She was hungry and got up. They could no longer see the yacht, just locate it on radar.

  Lynda was eating breakfast when she felt the cruiser lurch. It was slowing down. Bobby yelled down, “The yacht has stopped. We have to go around it.”

  He started the cruiser back up and changed course. He called Wayne on the radio. They were still two hours away at full throttle of the speedboat. Bobby told Wayne, “We need Ted’s rifle or we can’t stop them. We are going around them and we will make a frontal assault when you guys get here.”

  Bobby looked at the two women and said, “Hey, you two go put your swimsuits on. I have an idea.” The both went below and put their bikinis on.

  They drew even with the yacht, and Bobby yelled, “Are you okay? Do you need any help?” Lynda and Marilyn were waving furiously.

  The men on the yacht waved them over. Bobby slowed way down and pulled up next to the yacht. Bobby was standing up; he had their three guns on his seat.

  The men threw a rope over, and Marilyn caught it and pulled the cruiser up to the yacht.

  Suddenly all the men pulled out guns, and pointed them at the three agents.

  “Uh oh,” Bobby said, “we messed up.”

  The tallest of the men pointed his gun at Lynda and said, “You, come over here.” Lynda crossed over to the yacht.

  While all the men were watching Lynda struggle across, Bobby handed Marilyn her gun. Bobby took both his and Lynda’s.

  Two of the men grabbed Lynda and roughly pushed her to the cabin.

  Bobby and Marilyn opened up on the four remaining men, who were still watching Lynda. Three of them went down. The fourth man turned and shot Marilyn at nearly point-blank range. Bobby shot the last man. He ran to the edge of the boat and leaped across.

  When Lynda heard the first shots, she spun around and knocked both men down. One of the men dropped his pistol. Lynda picked it up and held it on the two men. Bobby picked up all the other guns and threw them overboard. The last man with a gun looked down the barrel of the gun that Lynda was holding and decided to give up. He dropped his gun.

  Of the six men, two were dead, two were injured, and two had given up. Marilyn had been shot in the side. She was bleeding badly. Bobby held his gun on the four men, and Lynda went below and found the three young girls. They were all sixteen years old. They were terrified. They had no idea if pirates had attacked or what. They looked at Lynda like she was the devil. When they realized who Lynda was, they treated her like an angel.

  While below, Lynda could hear a loud noise coming at them. It was the speedboat. Lynda freed the young girls, and took them out onto the deck. They locked the men in the cabin where the young girls had been, and Bobby stood guard over them. Wayne and Ted both worked on Marilyn, but decided that she had to get to a hospital. So they put her in the speedboat and took off. Lynda tied the cruiser to the back of the yacht, then started the yacht back up. She pulled the cruiser all the way back to Belize.

  The young girls were very excited to have been rescued, but had no idea where they were at. They continually raided the refrigerator on the yacht. They were so happ
y to be back out in the sun. They had no idea that he could see them through the darkened windows. It seemed like it took forever. But even at the slower speed, Lynda guided the two boats into a harbor in Belize.

  Wayne and Ted were waiting on them with the local authorities. Wayne, Ted and Bobby escorted the four men out onto deck. The three young girls ran and jumped onto the dock. Lynda corralled them before they could run off. She had her hands full with them.

  Once the four men were confirmed to be in secure custody, the four agents all went to see Marilyn. She was released from the hospital and immediately driven to the airport, where they were all reunited and boarded the company plane.

  The trip back to Dallas took almost three hours. It was a bumpy trip, and Marilyn was in terrible pain. Wayne was able to give her a shot of morphine from their extreme first aid kit. The three young girls flew with them. Their parents were to meet them at Love Field in Dallas.

  As Marilyn’s condition had deteriorated during the flight, an ambulance met them at the terminal and carried her to Saint Joseph hospital in Dallas.

  Three days later she was released, in good condition.

  The three young girls all hugged Lynda like she was the only one who had saved them. The rest of the team was okay with that. The parents of each one of the girls came and shook hands and hugged the team. They had