by Matt Lincoln
“I’ll be right down,” I heard a low voice crackle over the radio in response.
“He’s on his way.” The officer smiled at us as he set the radio speaker back into place.
“Thanks,” I replied as I took a few steps back, away from the window. Scarcely a minute had passed before the door at the end of the reception area opened to reveal Leeland standing on the other side.
“I’m glad that you’re here,” he stated as he gestured for us to come through the door. “Everything is just about ready. We can go over the details in my office.”
We followed him back through the station and up the stairs to his office. The rooms we passed by were all empty, save for one. Several uniformed officers were inside, gathered around the desks and speaking in low voices.
“That’s the team you’ll be going in with,” Leeland explained as we passed the room. “I’ll introduce you to them in a moment. First, I want you to meet your new liaison. Unfortunately, as Officer Burke is still in the hospital, he’ll be unable to continue accompanying you during your time here in Grand Cayman.”
“How’s he doing?” I asked as we finally made it to his office.
“He’s alright,” Leeland replied as he opened the door for us to head inside. “Thank you for asking. He’ll have to take some time to recover, but he’s a strong man. I’m sure he’s going to be just fine. Officer Rebecca Finch will take over his duties from now.”
He nodded toward someone sitting in one of the chairs as we stepped into the office. She stood up as we entered. She was a tall woman, but slight, with wispy brown hair and dark brown eyes.
“Nice to meet you,” she greeted us all politely.
“Likewise,” I replied as I stepped forward to shake her hand.
We spent a minute going around the room as she introduced herself to the rest of the agents. Once the formalities were done, Leeland spoke back up again.
“Well, now that this is settled, we can get down to it,” he declared as he walked back around toward the door. “Why don’t we go back and speak with everyone at once? We can hash out what our exact plan will be.”
We followed him out of the office and back down to the room we’d passed earlier. I did a quick headcount and came up with two dozen people in total, not including us. I assumed that meant the teams would be dividing into two groups of twelve each.
Leeland took the time to introduce everyone by name, but I honestly had almost no chance of remembering all of them out of twenty-four people. Instead, I focused on committing their faces to memory. In the heat of the moment, it would be important to be able to distinguish between friend and foe. Even if they were wearing police uniforms, I wanted to make sure I at least recognized them.
Once the introductions were over, Leeland moved to the head of the room and began to go over the details of the plan.
“We’ll only have a very small window of time in which to act,” He explained. “Because we need to prioritize the safety of all the civilians at the resort, we’ll first send a team in to get as many people to safety as possible. Of course, once they do that, it’ll only be a matter of time before the pirates are alerted to what’s going on. Because of that, Team One will have to move very quickly.”
“Okay,” I replied. “What will the breakdown be? Who’ll be on which team?
“I had intended for you and the other agents to work as part of Team Two,” he replied. “Between the two, the second team will take on the greater risk, which means that I need people who are extremely skilled on it. Aside from that, I figured you would want to be part of the team that actually confronts the pirates, seeing as this is your case. If you’d prefer to be one Team One, however, that can be arranged as well.”
“Nah.” I shook my head. “You were right. We’d rather be part of the attacking force.”
“Perfect,” Leeland replied with a short nod. “Then, along with another group of officers, you’ll move in about two minutes after Group One. That will hopefully be enough time for them to sound the alarm to guests to get to safety and clear a path to the basement before the pirates catch on to what’s happening. Team Two will have to move quickly as well, though. The longer it takes us to get the threat under control, the higher the probability that a bystander might get hurt. This operation is all about speed.” He picked something up off his desk and handed it to me. “Take this walkie-talkie. Once everything is in position, at around the two-minute mark, you’ll get the signal to move in. Officers will be standing by on the base floor of the hotel to guide you to the basement once they’ve established where it is and have cleared a path to it.”
He looked around at everyone in the group as if to make sure we were all on the same page.
“Well then, if no one has any questions, let’s go get geared up.”
Once we were all geared up in our bullet-proof vests, Holm and I, the Vegas agents, and Officer Finch split off from the larger group. She seemed like a nice woman, currently engaged in a spirited discussion with Chapman about the history of the island.
“At least it’s not the busy season,” I muttered to Holm as we walked back out of the station. “That’s what Leeland said earlier, right? Can you imagine if there were even more tourists to potentially get in harm’s way?”
“Lucky us,” he chuckled sarcastically before lowering his voice. “So, you planning to hit on Officer Finch, too?”
“What?” I hissed at him. He was speaking quietly, and the woman in question was busy talking with Chapman, but she was still right there just a few feet in front of us.
“Don’t act shocked,” he snickered. “She’s cute. And she’s working with us on a case. Aren’t those pretty much your only standards?”
“I’m going to punch you,” I replied flatly as he smirked at me. “Whatever, you’re just sore because you have no game.”
“That’s not true,” he protested indignantly, and it was my turn to smirk. It could be so easy to push his buttons sometimes.
The banter died off as we got into the car. Chapman was driving this time while Holm, Finch, and I sat in the back seat. Holm gave me a smug look as she climbed into the car beside me, but I pointedly ignored it.
She was pretty, that much was true. But I didn’t actually sleep with literally every woman I came across, especially not when we were in the middle of a major crux in the case.
“Hey, are you sure about this?” Hills suddenly murmured to me, quietly enough that only I could hear him. His voice was unusually serious, especially in comparison to the teasing way he’d been speaking to me just moments ago. “About being part of the mission, I mean?”
“What?” I scoffed at him, genuinely confused. “Why would I not be part of the mission?”
“You’re hurt,” Holm replied simply, as though the answer should be obvious.
“It’s not that bad,” I insisted. “It’s not like it’s broken. I just got cut.”
“Come on.” It was Holm’s turn to scoff. “That’s not just ‘a cut’. Your muscle is lacerated. What happens if you go in there and hurt it worse? You were giving me grief earlier about working when I had the bends. Aren’t you being too reckless?”
“I’m fine, seriously,” I replied. “I can use my left hand to shoot. And in any case, there’s no way I’m going to just sit back and not participate in the mission.”
“Alright…” Holm muttered, apparently unsatisfied by my answer.
I could understand his consternation. I was kind of a hypocrite here. Like he’d said, I’d pushed him earlier when he was suffering from decompression sickness, and yet here I was, working when I was injured myself. On the other hand, though, I wasn’t about to miss one of the most important leads in our case so far. As I’d told him, it wasn’t broken or anything. I hadn’t even been shot. I’d be fine.
The hotel was only about a five-minute drive up the coast from the station, and, unlike the Velasquez home, we didn’t need to park far away in order to stake the place out. Since it was a hotel and cr
awling with people, we were able to drive right up to the doors without arousing any kind of suspicion.
The hotel itself was pretty grand. The main building was huge, painted white, and lined with large balconies furnished with plush outdoor chairs and hammocks. There were a few adjoining buildings on either side, marked with signs that read things like Tours, Gym, and Boutique, and even what looked like a restaurant.
We’d only been parked for about a minute before several of the cars in the lot burst open, officers spilling out and into the parking lot. A few of the hotel guests standing around the exterior of the main building gasped or called out in surprise at the sudden influx of uniformed officers. A couple of them stayed outside to calm the guests while the rest rushed inside, presumably to get as many people as possible away from the action site and to clear a path to the basement.
I looked down at the clock on the car’s dashboard. Leeland had said that he wanted Group One to have everything done in the span of two minutes. That seemed like an unreasonably short amount of time to expect them to accomplish what they needed to do, but on the other hand, a lot could happen in two minutes. When I thought about it conversely, two minutes was enough time for the pirates to cause a lot of damage.
One minute gone as the clock moved forward, and I tensed, primed, and ready to go as soon as we got the signal. The clock hadn’t yet changed again when the walkie-talkie crackled to life.
“Go, now!” Someone’s voice called out through the speaker.
I didn’t hesitate before throwing the door open. Holm and the Vegas agents did the same, as well as the officers still remaining out in the parking lot. By now, there weren’t any bystanders out here. The two officers who had stayed outside must have guided them to safety.
I rushed toward the entrance of the hotel, the sound of running footsteps echoing all around me as the entire team stormed into the main building.
“That way!” one of the officers from Team One called out as we entered. He was pointing to the left. “At the very end of the reception area, there’s a door marked, ‘Staff only.’ The stairway leading to the basement is through there!”
“Got it!” I replied as I raced past him. The building was huge, so it took us a minute to run all the way down to the end. There was another officer standing just inside an open doorway.
“Here,” he indicated as he beckoned us forward. “All the way down the hall, turn right, past the kitchens. Turn right again. There are two other officers keeping watch there.”
“Okay.” I nodded quickly.
He took off as soon as he finished relaying his message, likely to help make sure all the guests were safe. As much as we wanted to catch all the bad guys, ultimately, our main priority needed to be keeping people safe.
I followed the path he’d indicated. It was a bit cramped, with nearly twenty of us all running through the narrow hall. As we passed the kitchens, I caught movement through one of the large windows in the doors. I froze and snapped my head around, my hand flying to the gun at my hip.
I relaxed when I realized it was just a pair of cooks wearing white uniforms and aprons. Another officer was inside. It looked like he was arguing with them. By the looks of it, it seemed like maybe they didn’t want to leave.
I frowned before continuing back down the hallway. I couldn’t focus on them now, but I’d have to keep them in the back of my mind as we carried out the mission. If any of the pirates managed to escape, those cooks would be the first ones in danger.
As the previous officer had stated, two other men were waiting just outside a door at the end of this hallway. Their guns were drawn, and they were watching the door intently. They turned to look at us as we approached.
“We’ve confirmed that there are voices coming from inside,” one of the officers stated. “As soon as we open the door, we’ll rush inside and catch them off guard.”
“Okay,” I replied as I drew my own gun.
The officer put his hand on the thin, metal door handle, swallowing nervously as he slowly turned it. Before he could get it opened all the way, though, there was a quick thumping noise on the other side, like the sound of footsteps and the sound of laughter.
Before he could react, the door burst open, and a man stepped through.
“I’ll go and--” He stopped short as he caught sight of us, the laugh dying in his throat and his eyes going comically wide as he looked around at the gathered group.
It only took a second for the surprise to shift into anger, and his mouth twisted into a snarl as he let out a yell. The beginnings of one, anyway.
Before he could really get started, one of the officers leapt forward and knocked the man to the ground, wrapping his arm around the man’s mouth as he did, effectively muffling his scream before he could let it out.
“Alex?” a low voice called from down the stairs. “You good, man?”
The man who had come up struggled in the officer’s hold but couldn’t actually free himself enough to call out a response.
“Now!” one of the other officers whispered urgently.
We rushed through the doorway and down the stairs, the sound of our footsteps thundering as we ran.
“Police!” the officer at the head of the pack roared as we made it to the base of the stairs and spilled out onto the basement floor. “Everyone, freeze! Put your hands up!”
I looked around as I made it out onto the floor. The area was big, and the floor was filled with large round craters that had probably once been pools and hot tubs. Now they were filled with crates and boxes that I could only assume were brimming with drugs, guns, and all other manner of illegal goods. There were a few tables in the center of the room, covered in old fast-food wrappers, stacks of money, and a few folders and notebooks. Further down, at the end of the room, several worn down, mismatched chairs had been set into a vaguely circular shape around a small TV stand.
That was where the majority of the men were sitting when we arrived, drinks and cigarettes held in their hands as they turned to look at us. Their eyes blew wide open with shock, one of them so surprised that the cigarette that had been dangling from his lips slipped onto the floor as his jaw dropped open.
There were a few men scattered around the room as well. One was organizing boxes while another took down some notes on a cracked clipboard. Another was sitting against the left wall of the basement. There was a small pile of needles on the ground beside him, and he was wrapping a length of stretchy material around his bicep. At a quick glance, I counted around six other men just meandering around the basement for a total of about twenty.
For just a second, there was a moment of stillness in which no one moved. Then, several of the men abruptly reached behind their backs or toward their waistbands, and the battle was on.
I lifted my gun toward the man who was standing nearest to me as he pulled a gun from behind his back. It felt a little awkward in my left hand, but I took a focusing breath and held it steady. I fired before he could, and he stumbled backward with a pained grunt, tumbling into one of the open craters in the floor.
The man who was standing in there ducked out of the way as his comrade fell, then looked up at me with a hateful sneer before reaching behind his back.
“Stop!” I yelled, but of course, my warning didn’t do any good. He pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans, and I fired the moment I saw the glint of metal. My shot struck him directly in the chest, and he shouted as he collapsed.
I gritted my teeth as I looked at the chaos erupting around the basement. Holm was standing just a few feet away from me and had just shot one of the other smugglers. Everyone else seemed to be having a similar experience. The pirates were on the offensive, so we had no choice but to return in kind. It wasn’t ideal because aside from the massive loss of life, it wouldn’t do us any good if we were unable to get any information out of them. I needed to find some way to diffuse this situation before all the pirates were dead.
“Put your weapons down!” I shouted, skept
ical that it would actually do much. Above all the noise, I wasn’t sure any of them had even heard me.
I swore as I rushed further into the room. I’d barely gotten more than a few steps when something moved in my periphery. My body moved on instinct, and I tumbled to the ground, twisting as I did in an attempt to not land on my injured arm. A bullet whizzed by overhead just seconds later, exactly where I’d been standing just a moment before.
I turned my head to the side and spotted a man standing inside the empty pool that the other two pirates I’d shot had fallen into. He must have been hiding just out of sight.
I rolled frantically away as he shot at me again, hissing with pain as the action caused me to put pressure on my right arm. Behind me, someone yelled as the bullet that had been intended for me struck someone else. I turned and spotted one of the officers kneeling on the ground, gripping his right arm tightly with his left hand, a gush of bright red blood escaping through the gaps in his fingers.
I turned back to the assailant, who was now attempting to climb out of the pool. I quickly holstered my gun and shot to my feet before lunging at him, knocking him backward into the empty tub. He yelled in surprise as I crashed bodily into him, dropping his gun in the process. It clattered as it skipped across the tiled floor of the empty pool.
The man groaned as we hit the ground hard. The pool didn’t look like it was very deep, maybe four feet, but that was still quite a distance to fall, especially for the suspect, who had landed directly on his back.
However, rather than being incapacitated, it seemed like the hit only served to make him angrier because he growled up at me as he swung his fist at my face. I tried to veer out of the way, but it was impossible at the angle we were laying in inside the pool, especially with one of my arms awkwardly shoved in front of me in the sling. His fist glanced the side of my face, and I bore the brunt of the blow with a grimace as I steadfastly refused to let him free. Instead, I punched him in the jaw with my left hand. Again, a little awkward, but I was skilled enough in hand-to-hand combat that I could land a good hit even with my non-dominant arm.
