Cayman Crackdown (Coastal Fury Book 18)

by Matt Lincoln

  I remembered what Vargas had said about each ship having its own set of bosses, and I lunged toward the man. If this man was some kind of authority, he’d likely have useful information. I needed to apprehend him.

  The men he was speaking to scattered away before I could reach where they were standing, but it wasn’t them I was interested in. The man in the camo shirt spotted me just a second too late, his eyes going wide with shock as I crashed into him, tackling him to the ground.

  He yelled as we both fell but recovered quickly and swiftly brought his leg up to knee me in the stomach.

  I winced at the pain as the blow knocked the wind out of me. For a moment, the pain made my grip go slack, and he slipped out of my grasp, rolling away and jumping to his feet in the blink of an eye. This guy was definitely skilled in combat. That much was evident from the way he moved.

  He aimed a kick at me, but I rolled away before he could make contact. I scrambled to my feet and barely had a second to react before he was on me again, throwing a punch directly at my face. I managed to dodge to the side and returned his blow with one of my own. I struck him in the nose with my fist and was pleased to hear a satisfying crunch at the impact.

  To my surprise, however, he barely reacted to the hit, baring his teeth and lifting his leg up to kick me again. I moved my hands down to block, but he changed tack at the last moment and threw a punch instead.

  I barely managed to bring my arms back up to block his punch. My forearm vibrated with pain where he’d hit me, but I pushed through the burning ache and punched him twice more in quick succession, once in the stomach and once more in the face again.

  He grunted with pain but still didn’t let up. He lifted his arm up as though he was going to hit me, but this time I was ready when he suddenly kicked at me instead. This guy wasn’t afraid to play dirty. Unfortunately for him, I had caught onto his feigning tactics. I wouldn’t be fooled a second time.

  He swung his leg toward me, but I was ready and swiftly veered out of the way, causing him to lean the force of his kick into empty air. The failed kick left him unbalanced, and I took advantage of the situation by quickly sweeping his other leg out from under him. He let out a surprised cry as he fell straight backward and struck the back of his head on the rough deck of the ship.

  As he fell, a strong gust of wind mercifully blew across the ship, breaking up the clouds of smoke and making it possible to see again. The moment it did, beams of lights began to shine all around the ship, illuminating it from below.

  “Finally!” an angry, gravelly voice yelled from behind me. I recognized Hill’s voice, but I couldn’t focus on that now.

  I looked back down at the man in the camo-print shirt. He was unconscious, his eyes only half-open as he groaned on the ground. The blow to his head must have given him a concussion.

  Nevertheless, I wasn’t any less gentle with him as I shoved him over and yanked his arms behind his back. The guy hardly deserved gentle treatment after everything he and his crew had just done. Once that was done, I turned back around toward where I’d heard Hills’s voice coming from.

  I could see him now that the smoke had cleared. He and Chapman stood over a pair of men who were on the ground, handcuffed and, from the looks of it, unconscious. Gabriella stood near them, her gun trained on a man who was kneeling on the ground, his hands up in the air. Holm was all the way on the other end of the deck, helping one of the Military Police officers handcuff one of the pirates.

  I followed their line of sight down to the water beside the ship, where an entire fleet of Coast Guard boats was now positioned.

  I sighed with relief as I realized that help had finally arrived. The pirates seemed to realize it as well because they suddenly stopped fighting and lowered their weapons as the Coasties began to bark commands over their PA systems.

  Now that I knew we had won, I stood up straight and allowed myself to relax as the Coasties began to climb on board. My body felt like it was on fire. I was coming down from a massive adrenaline high, the sudden withdrawal making my muscles ache. All the smoke inhalation probably hadn’t helped either.

  “Took them long enough,” Hills continued to rant even as the Coast Guard officers rushed around. “Showed up after the battle was already over! Where the hell were they?”

  I could hear Chapman admonishing him for yelling about that while they were right there within earshot, but Hills didn’t seem to care and continued to berate the Coasties for taking their sweet time.

  Honestly, I couldn’t blame him. Regardless of who had dropped the ball here, we’d almost ended up meeting a watery grave. I understood why he was angry, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at how he was grumbling at the officers.

  I turned back to where I’d seen Holm helping one of the officers. He was putting his gun back into his holster, his shoulders slumped with relief as he walked toward me.

  “That sure went to hell fast,” he muttered as he came to a stop next to me. “That crash sent me flying all the way to the other side of the ship. Had one of those pirate bastards on me in a split second.”

  “You okay?” I asked, visually checking for any sign of injury.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied. “Someone shot the guy before he could get a single punch in. My throat hurts from all that smoke, though.”

  “I’m glad we’re all okay,” I muttered as I looked around. It had been scary, suddenly being separated and not finding my partner or the other agents.

  My eyes landed on Gabriella, who was breathing heavily now that the man she’d been monitoring was being taken into custody by the Coasties, her shoulders trembling slightly. Her eyes met mine a moment later as she looked up, and a small, tired smile broke over her face as she slowly walked toward us.

  “That… did not go as planned,” she chuckled, her voice raspy as she came to a stop in front of me.

  “No, it didn’t,” I replied as I looked out over the deck. To my surprise, I didn’t see as many bodies as I’d thought I would. Several people were injured, but it didn’t seem like anyone on our side had died. That was a relief.

  Now that I stopped to think about it, the entire thing had lasted only a few minutes, though it had felt a lot longer.

  “I’m gonna go… help Hills yell at the Coasties.” Holm cleared his throat and tossed me a smirk before walking away. I could have done without the smugness, but I’d have to thank him later. He always knew when to duck out gracefully.

  “It looks like everyone’s mostly okay.” Gabriella breathed a sigh of relief as she took a look around the deck. A few of the officers were injured, but it looked like everyone was alive, at least.

  “You’re right,” I replied, still feeling a little shell-shocked. Even the fight with Camo Shirt had only lasted a few seconds, but my mind seemed to be moving in slow motion at the moment.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Gabriella asked as she looked up at me, her hand stroking my cheek. She pulled her hand away and blushed as though she hadn’t realized what she’d just done.

  “I’m okay.” I smiled down at her, reaching over to brush a strand of hair out of her face. The cut she had there had dried now, no longer trickling blood like it had been earlier.

  She opened her mouth as though to say something but then closed it again, the blush on her cheeks growing darker as she looked up at me through half-lidded eyes. I wasn’t sure who moved first, but a moment later, my lips were against hers, her hands tangled up in my hair.

  After the intensity of the fight we’d just survived, just kissing her made all the tension evaporate from my bones.

  25

  Ethan

  I rolled my shoulders as I fell onto the metal bench outside the Naples police station. We’d spent the last few hours dealing with the aftermath of the fight. As I’d suspected, the post-adrenaline crash was hitting me hard. My neck was stiff, and my arms hurt from the fight with the man in the camouflage print shirt. Once things had begun to settle down, I’d snuck out to get a bit of fresh air.


  It was well into the night now, and the area outside the station was empty. Though light was still shining through the windows of some of the buildings along the street, for the most part, everything was dark and quiet. After the intense situation that we’d just been through, it was soothing to just sit down and relax for a moment.

  After the Coast Guard had arrived to lend their assistance, it had become a matter of getting everyone under arrest and back to the nearest shore. By the time the pirates had attacked, we had ended up being closer to Naples than to Sorrento, so we’d docked there. Some of our own had received minor injuries, including Gabriella, so they’d needed to go to the hospital to get tended to. Between that and dealing with the literal boatload of apprehended pirates, several hours had passed.

  I yawned as I dragged a hand through my hair. I’d gone almost forty-eight hours now with very little sleep, and the fatigue was beginning to get to me. Part of me had considered just calling it a day and resuming with the interrogations tomorrow, but I knew that as tired as I was, I wouldn’t have been able to relax knowing that there were still pressing matters to see to.

  I stood back up and stretched. They were supposed to be getting Camo Shirt ready for the interrogation now, so I couldn’t afford to stay out here for too long. As I turned to head back into the police station, the main doors opened, and Gabriella stepped out.

  “Hi,” she greeted me, a small, bashful smile slipping onto her face for just a moment before it was gone again. “We’re ready to begin the interrogation.”

  She cleared her throat lightly before stepping aside and gesturing for me to come back into the building. I smiled back at her as I stepped through the doorway.

  The kiss we’d shared on the deck of the boat after the battle had, unfortunately, been very brief. We’d needed to jump to action immediately after, helping to round up the pirates and do some basic triage of the injured. We’d been so busy since that we’d barely had any time to even speak to each other, though I noticed she would smile and blush every time we did. I thought it was cute, honestly.

  “What do we know about the suspect?” I asked as we made our way through the station, back toward the holding area where the detainees were.

  “Rosalio Sanchez,” she replied, her tone serious. “Your hunch about him being the leader was right. From the preliminary reports that police were able to get from some of the more loose-lipped men, he’s the man in charge.”

  “Criminal record?” I prodded further as we made our way up the stairs to the second floor of the station.

  “None, actually,” she sighed. “Agent Chapman and Agent Hills had their analyst do a search, but she was only able to come up with an old address and an employment file from about five years ago. He used to work as a janitor in a hospital.”

  “Janitor to drug smuggler,” I scoffed as we arrived at the meeting room we’d been using to prep for the interrogations. “I’m sure that came with one heck of a pay increase.”

  “He’d be a free man right now if he’d just stuck with his honest job.” Gabriella shook her head in disapproval as she pushed the door open. Holm and the Vegas agents had gathered inside, as well as Captain Vitale. Holm raised an eyebrow at me as Gabriella and I stepped into the room, then shot me a knowing smirk. It surprised me that he hadn’t yet made a comment about what had happened back on the ship, though I was certain he was bound to bring it up, eventually.

  “Okay, we’re all here now,” Gabriella declared as she walked up to the table that the men were standing around. “Have we decided on our tactic for the interrogation?”

  “Actually, I have some bad news,” Vitale sighed, his mouth twisting into a displeased grimace. I felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach at hearing that.

  “What?” Gabriella frowned as she placed her hands on her hips. “Has something happened?”

  “Yeah,” Hills grunted with annoyance, “Sanchez lawyered up.”

  I clenched my jaw in frustration. This was definitely going to make our jobs that much harder. Of course, no lawyer was going to be able to weasel him out of this situation, not when he’d been caught red-handed by dozens of Military Police and federal agents, but it was certainly going to delay the process. The time we spent going through the motions of playing by the book was all time that would be wasted while the rest of the Viboras made their next move.

  “What does this mean for the investigation, Captain Vitale?” Chapman asked. “We’re not as acquainted with the Italian court system as we are with the American one.”

  “It means we can’t speak to him,” Gabriella groaned. “Not without a lawyer, at least. And of course, they’re just going to tell him to keep his mouth shut and not answer any of our questions! Mannaggia!”

  She clapped a hand to her head and took a long, steadying breath.

  “Sounds like it’s pretty much the same as how it is in the States, then,” I muttered bitterly before looking back at the captain. “So, what do we do now?”

  “Well,” he replied as he stroked his chin thoughtfully, “his lawyer will be here tomorrow morning. You can speak to him then, with his lawyer present, but my hands are tied until then. If you try to speak to him without his legal aid, anything he says might be thrown out in court.”

  “Great,” I grumbled sarcastically.

  “I know it’s not ideal,” Vitale sighed, “but there is not much else we can do. Even the best lawyer in the country wouldn’t be able to get the charges against him dropped. This is just a stalling tactic.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” I nodded. “I thought as much myself, honestly.”

  “Let’s keep our chins up,” Vitale suggested encouragingly. “Everything will work out. For now, why don’t you all head out and get some rest? It’s been a long night. I’m sure you must all be dead on your feet.”

  He wasn’t wrong about that. Up until now, I’d been running off of the last vestiges of adrenaline and determination that I could muster. Now that the possibility of interrogating Sanchez tonight had dropped to zero, all the weariness from the past two days suddenly hit me like a truck.

  “That’s a good idea,” I replied.

  From how everyone else trudged out of the meeting room and backed down to the main floor in relative silence, it seemed I wasn’t the only one who was tired. Everyone aside from Chapman, that was, who still seemed to be miraculously full of energy.

  “You think anything is open at this hour?” he wondered out loud as we all stepped out into the parking lot. “Other than bars, I mean. I’m really hungry.”

  “I don’t think so,” Gabriella hummed as she pursed her lips in thought. “Most things around here close at about nine at the latest. Some of the bars might even be closed by now.”

  “Really?” Chapman asked, deflated. “That’s a shame.”

  “It is,” Gabriella agreed with a nod. “I could use a drink after today, to be honest. I don’t think I have the energy to go looking for an open pub, though.”

  “Why don’t you come have a drink back at the hotel?” I suggested. “I know they have a little store in the lobby that sells things. I think I saw some alcohol in there when I went in a few days ago.”

  “That sounds nice, actually.” She smiled up at me, the blush returning to her cheeks. “Of course, if you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all,” I replied as I led her over to the car. As I opened the door for her, I caught Holm flashing me another smirk. I pointedly ignored him as I circled around the car to climb into the driver’s seat.

  “We’re gonna get that parking space this time!” Chapman called before climbing into the van he and Hills were driving. It took me a moment to remember what he was talking about. The first day we’d arrived at the hotel, he and Hills had to walk several blocks from where they’d parked their car because of the lack of street parking outside the building.

  “Crap,” I muttered to myself as I started the car and pulled out of the lot. They’d gotten a head start on us, so if the p
arking situation was the same as before, we’d probably be the ones who would end up having to take a hike to get to the hotel.

  Five minutes later, we arrived at the hotel, and I frowned with dismay to see that there weren’t any free spots available. I did spot the Vegas Agents’ car, though they were nowhere to be seen. They’d probably gone inside already.

  I sighed as I continued down the street for several more blocks until I finally spotted a free space.

  “This is even farther than the Vegas agents had to walk,” Holm grumbled as we stepped out of the car. I could barely even see the hotel building anymore.

  “It’s alright,” Gabriella insisted optimistically. “It’s a nice night.”

  “I guess,” Holm replied as we began to make our way up the street, back to the hotel.

  It was a pretty nice night. The stars in the sky were incredibly bright, and a warm breeze blew between the tall, brightly colored buildings. It would have been a pretty romantic occasion if Holm hadn’t also been there.

  “Okay, well, I’ll head upstairs now,” Holm declared the moment we stepped through the doors of the hotel. “I’m not really feeling the idea of drinking, so you two go ahead.”

  He smiled at us before turning and making a beeline straight for the elevators. I thanked him in my head, even though I knew I was in for some teasing later.

  “That’s too bad,” Gabriella muttered, though she was smiling and didn’t sound disappointed at all. “Where did you say this shop was?”

  “Over here,” I replied as I led her to the little nook in the lobby where I’d gotten my coffee two mornings earlier. The boy from before was gone. This time, a girl stood behind the register. Her hair was woven into twin braids, and she was typing something into her phone so fast that I was shocked her thumbs could move so quickly.