Missing Person

by Matt Lincoln

  How long would it take to find a single ship out there? The gulf was a huge stretch of water, and one boat would barely take up any space on it. Even with a team, it was a daunting task, and my heart slowly sank as I disconnected my phone from the speaker. Maybe our new information wasn’t actually good for very much.

  Rachel, surprisingly, was the only one in the room who was still upbeat. Maybe she was bolstered by her win over Graham, or maybe she simply had to cling to something to make sure she didn’t crumble, but either way, she stood and clapped her hands to gather our attention. She planted her hands on her hips and looked at us each in turn, meeting our eyes for five seconds before she turned to the next person. When her gaze left mine, I felt better than I had in a long time, as if she’d somehow managed to suffuse me with her own confidence. Her daughter was in sight now. She wasn’t going to let anything slow her. And we shouldn’t, either.

  “Right,” she began after she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “We need to be ready as soon as Linda and Meg call with news on the Wandering Heart.”

  “Wait, who are these people?” Graham interrupted, forcing Rachel to stop mid-breath and change directions.

  “Our contacts in the Coast Guard,” I explained.

  Graham looked at Cal. “You said you didn’t have any water contacts.”

  Cal grimaced and shrugged. “Sorry?”

  Rachel cleared her throat and waited until everyone was looking at her again. “Can I continue?”

  Everyone at the table nodded.

  “As I was saying, we need to be ready the moment we receive information we can move on. Someone will need to be in the office at all hours, ready to take Linda’s call. If you’re not on phone duty, be ready to move at a moment’s notice, no matter where you are, until this thing is done. We can’t risk Ward catching wind of our search. He’ll run, and we’ll probably never find him again. Clear?”

  “Clear,” we agreed, the chorus running around the table.

  Rachel nodded and pursed her lips. I could tell that she was trying to say more, but she couldn’t quite find the right words. Her mouth opened and shut twice before she finally figured it out, and when she spoke next, her voice was softer, having lost some of its authoritative edge, but just as powerful.

  “I want to thank you all for how hard you’ve worked on this. I know it hasn’t been easy. I know I haven’t been easy lately, but thank you for sticking by me through it all.”

  I rose from the table and walked over to her, opening my arms. Rachel half fell into them, and I held her tightly, the scent of her shampoo in my nose as I felt the way she trembled against me. Rachel released the hug first and smiled at me, her eyes watery. The next thing I knew, Cal, Lex, and even Ramirez were beside us, dogpiling into a large group hug until I could hardly breathe from all the arms around me. Rachel huffed out a shaky laugh, buried in the middle. Graham stood to the side, watching it all, with an unreadable expression on her face.

  When the group hug finally broke, I looked up and saw the picture from our last case hanging on the wall. We took it right before we left for the gala to go after Blair Haddow, and we were all dressed to the nine, though I would soon ruin that suit leaping off the roof of a building. We grinned at the camera, arms slung across shoulders, and though the angle wasn’t the best, it was still pure and true. Come what may, we were in this together, which was the best feeling in the world.

  23

  It was two days before Linda and her team turned anything up. They were the worst, most stressful two days I’d ever experienced. We all lingered at the office or prowled the various marinas around town, though we never managed to link up with one of the boats at the right time to join them on the water. My phone felt like a lump of coal in my pocket as I waited for it to ring. I got three spam calls in that time and almost had a heart attack each time and then almost flung my phone at the wall when I realized it wasn’t the call I wanted.

  Rachel insisted on staying at the office overnight, keeping watch over the phone. Though the rest of us offered to take a shift, she refused. I suspected that she’d be unable to sleep even if she wanted to because I was having the same trouble. The waiting was terrible. It felt like being helpless, and each moment that went by was another moment that Malia was in Ward’s clutches, another moment for him to decide that Rachel wasn’t going through with the blackmail, another moment for him to realize that we were closing in on him and disappear.

  The call finally came at five o’clock on Thursday evening. I was the only one in the office at the time as Rachel had gone home to change, Lex was out grabbing dinner, and Cal and Ramirez were on their way back from monitoring the marinas with Graham. I was in the restroom when my phone rang, having left it on my desk so it could charge. I was washing my hands when I registered a sound just on the edge of my hearing. I’d been hearing phantom ringing for the past two days, so I was a little slow to head for the door. But as soon as I opened it, the ringtone solidified into something solid and real, and I bolted for my desk, heart in my throat.

  I snatched up the phone. It was Linda’s number on the caller ID, and I almost dropped the device in my haste to answer it, the cord catching as I tried to jerk it to my ear.

  “Linda?” I said as I ripped the cord free and flung it aside.

  “Jace, good. I was worried you weren’t going to answer.” Linda sounded flushed, excited, and my own heartbeat rose in anticipation of her next words. “My people spotted Ward’s boat. We’ve got him.”

  It took me a moment to answer because there were too many things trying to bubble up in my throat all at once. I swallowed them all and sorted through them to find the right one. “I’ll gather the others. Where should we meet you?”

  “Come to the Coast Guard base. Meg and I were just about to head out when the call came in. I’ll have my people out at sea keep an eye on the boat but keep their distance until we get there.”

  “Good. Okay. We’ll see you soon.”

  My heart hammered within my chest as I hung up, and I had to take two seconds to lean against my desk and shake. I gathered myself quickly, though, knowing that there was no time to waste, and began to dial the team one by one as I collected my things. I called Rachel first, of course.

  “Yes?” she said when she picked up.

  “We found Ward.”

  Rachel dropped her phone. I heard it hit the floor with a great clatter and winced, the sound loud in my ear.

  “They did?” Rachel said after she’d snatched her phone back up. Her phone shook as if she barely dared believe it.

  “Yup. We’re going to meet Linda at the Coast Guard base. I’ll call the others.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  She hung up, and after I checked on my gun one last time, I raced for the door, calling Lex next, relaying the information. She didn’t drop her phone like Rachel had, but there was that similar excited tightness in her voice as she promised to hurry. Cal, Ramirez, and Graham were all together, so I only had to make one more call as I unlocked my car and flung myself inside.

  I dropped my phone to the shotgun seat after Cal and I hung up and took another moment to wrap my hands around the wheel and breathe deeply. Things were about to move very quickly for the next few hours, and this might be one of the last moments I had to breathe. I thought I should take advantage of it while it was there.

  Nerves sufficiently settled, I started the car and peeled out of the parking lot. I’d been to Linda’s base a few times now, so I didn’t have to plug it into the GPS to find my way there. I drove swiftly, every red light, every stop sign, every slow-moving car like sandpaper against my nerves.

  It felt like it took ages to reach the base, though I knew that it was really only about ten minutes. Even that felt far too long. I was the last one there since I was the furthest one away, except for maybe Rachel, who had probably sped like a demon to get there. I parked next to Ramirez’s Jeep and climbed from my car, squinting against the sun to figure out where ev
eryone had gone.

  I spotted Meg leaning against a streetlamp just off of the parking lot, waiting for me. She raised an arm when she saw me get out of the car, and I hurried over, stepping right in front of a car trying to pull out of its spot without realizing it. They jerked to a stop, but I carried on without giving it a second thought.

  “Everyone else is here,” Meg said once I’d reached her. “Come on, I’ll take you to them.”

  I nodded, my throat bunched up again. I looked out at the water, where it sparkled beyond the rows and rows of boats, and I thought of the Wandering Heart out there amongst the waves, waiting for us with its cabins filled with who knew what—guns and muscle-bound goons, most likely, and at the center of it all, a frightened little girl.

  Meg led me past the large command ship to a small office building nearby. The base was much quieter now that the hour had turned toward evening, but all the boats felt a little eerie without so many people buzzing around them. They bobbed in the water silently, like white ghosts trapped within the waves.

  Meg held the door to the office open for me, and I ducked inside. My entire crew was crammed inside, along with Graham and Linda. With Meg and me inside, there was hardly enough room to crowd around the foldable table that Linda had set up in the center of the floor. It was covered in maps and little markers.

  Meg shut the door, and I looked around the room, reading the moods there. Rachel was easily the tensest, and it was like her very skin was buzzing with energy, making her clothes tremble and the loose strands of hair dance about her head. Lex, Cal, and Ramirez clustered around her, making sure she had support if she needed it, and each had a slightly different brand of anxiety and nerves on their face. Graham stood slightly behind the group, still uncertain where she fit in with us now that Rachel had taken over things so unequivocally. Linda was the only one who seemed completely calm, standing where she could see the map all at once, one hand lightly stroking her chin as she looked the markers over.

  “Alright, we’re all here,” Linda said, drawing herself up to her full height and pulling the attention of everyone in the room to her. “We can get started. Ward’s boat is here.” She pointed to a black marker out in the gulf. I wasn’t sure how to judge distance on that map, but it looked pretty far out from shore. “I’ve got people keeping an eye on it, radioing in every fifteen minutes with its new position, though it seems to be under anchor right now. I’ve made sure that they keep their distance, so they don’t tip Ward off too early.”

  Rachel nodded, absorbing all the information. I could tell by how her face kept twitching that she was having a hard time keeping her personal feelings out of the briefing. The mother in her probably wanted to rush right out there as soon as possible, while her professional side knew that we needed a plan of attack first.

  “How long will it take to get there?” she asked Linda.

  Linda did a quick calculation, moving her fingers over an invisible calculator. “Two hours under full speed, I think. The sun usually sets around nine. I guess the first question is, how much light do you want?”

  “We need to be stealthy. Best to have the cover of darkness,” Rachel decided after a moment of thought.

  “I thought we’d split into two teams and take two boats,” Linda said, placing two blue markers on a point that I was pretty sure was the marina we were at.

  “Lex, Jace, and I will be the attack team.” Rachel covered one of the markers with her fingers. “Cal, Ramirez, and Marshal Graham, I want you on the other boat to chase anyone down who tries to flee. We don’t know how many of them there are. It might just be Ward, but if there’s more than we can handle, we’ll call you in.” She looked up at Linda. “Is there any way for your people watching the boat to tell how many are on board?”

  But Linda shook her head. “They’re too far out to make any details. They got just close enough to make out the name on the hull and then moved out to keep suspicion down.”

  That was unfortunate, I thought, looking over the map. I never liked going into a fight blind. If the luxury yacht was as large as I suspected it was, then there could be dozens of people sequestered in all the nooks and crannies, far more than we could handle. And they would know the lay of the land better than us. It would be so easy for them to lay a trap for us. Hence the need for stealth and surprise.

  “Meg, you go with Rachel’s team,” Linda continued, drawing me out of my thoughts. “Get them all close enough to swim over but stay far enough away that you won’t be spotted by any sentries. We’ll get you all scuba gear. Have any of you used it before?” Linda directed this last question toward Rachel, Lex, and me.

  Rachel and I shook our heads, but Lex nodded.

  “Once,” she admitted. “Quite a while ago. I’m not sure it really counts.”

  Linda waved her worry away. “It’s not like you’ll actually be diving. You just need to swim deep enough to stay out of sight. I’ll stay with the other team. We’ll make sure we’re close enough to jump in if there’s any trouble. Is there anything I’m missing?”

  “I should go with Director Bane,” Graham said, asserting herself by pushing closer to the table. She looked right at Rachel as if daring her to argue. “You promised me Ward. I should be there to arrest him.”

  “Fair,” Rachel agreed with a nod. “We can pair off and approach from different sides. That works better, actually, thanks.”

  Graham smiled, though it was a reserved expression, and a new degree of respect passed between the two women.

  “Alright,” Linda said, a fierce determination on her face. “It’s a plan. We’d better get ready. I want to leave within the hour to get into position while there’s still some light left. You’ll need to change. You don’t want to wear your street clothes under the wetsuits. Meg, will you take everyone to the supply room while I start prepping the boats?”

  “You got it.” Meg nodded. “Come on, guys.”

  She turned and opened the door while Linda got to work folding up her maps, and the rest of us filed out of the room after Meg, following her down the hallway to the back of the small building.

  We stopped in front of a set of double doors, and Meg fished a set of keys out of her pocket to unlock it, shoving the heavy doors open to reveal long rows of metal lockers and towering shelves filled with supplies.

  “There are some athletic clothes over there to change into,” Meg said, pointing toward the side of the room as she moved into the room and flicked on the lights. “You don’t want much under the wetsuits. Then we’ll grab the gear and get out of here.”

  I led the way, picking carefully through the tightly packed shelves until I found several plastic boxes labeled “CLOTHES.” The first was full of extra uniforms, and we hunted through the others until we found the athletic clothes that Meg spoke of. We did our best to not dump everything on the floor, but it didn’t really work since there was so much to sort through. I found a pair of long underwear and a matching dark shirt, gathered my selections up, and moved deeper into the room so I could change away from the others. I was glad that I’d been wearing my running shoes earlier, and I left those on, the fabric of the new clothes soft against my skin, though they were just slightly too large.

  Everyone else was changed and ready when I returned to the front of the room. Most of us were dressed like we were about to go out on a run. Rachel had on tights, Lex knee-length spandex, Graham loose shorts, and Ramirez had found long underwear like mine. Cal was the only one not prepped for the assault, since they would be operating the radios rather than waiting to provide reinforcements. Cal had found a dark rain slicker and matching hat that was probably unnecessary but seemed to amuse them.

  I felt like we needed some black paint under our eyes, but I figured it would just wash away as soon as we got into the water, so we went to find Meg instead. She was on the far side of the supply room, piling wetsuits and scuba gear on the floor. She’d also found time to change, wearing black tights and a tight sports bra, her hair pulled u
p in a neat bun atop her head.

  “Help me with this,” she said, indicating all the gear.

  We each gathered up one of the tanks and wetsuits, and I heaved the extra one for Linda over my other shoulder. It was all surprisingly heavy. Meg paused at the door, causing a traffic jam for the rest of us, and looked back into the room, a questioning look on her face.

  “What is it?” I asked, the strap of the second tank digging into my shoulder.

  “Do we need anything else?” she wondered. “I got some dry bags. There are already flares on the boats… Anything else you can think of?”

  I shrugged. “Not that I can think of.” We had our guns, which I supposed we could keep in the dry bags until we needed them, but other than that, I didn’t know what else we might need.

  “I’m sure we’re good.” She shrugged. “Linda will probably send me back for something, but she always does that. Let’s get this stuff down to the boats first.”

  We lugged our gear back through the building, moving a squad through the tight corner, and when we finally stepped back out into the open air, the sunset was starting to bleed its first long fingers across the horizon. It would set slowly at this time of year, so I figured there was still plenty of time to make the journey. I didn’t really fancy trying to swim in the ocean in the dark, but it was our best chance at stealth. We would just have to make it work.

  Meg led us toward the docks. I went last, walking carefully with my extra burden. I felt like one wrong step would tip me right over into the grass surrounding the concrete. I shifted my grip and tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Meg paused at the start of the docks, looking around for the boats Linda had selected, and then set off toward shore. We passed by three docks before Meg turned. The wood thudded dully beneath my feet, and we didn’t speak as we walked, all thoughts on the upcoming mission.

  Linda moved between two speedboats at the end of the dock, similar to the one we had chased the drug dealer down in. They didn’t appear to be Coast Guard boats, and I wondered briefly where Linda had procured them. There was a small, open-backed cabin covering the steering console, a pointed bow, and a lowered square in the back for us all to sit in. Both of them were white, as most boats were, and I worried about how visible that would be in the dark. I supposed so long as no lights hit us, we would be okay.