Missing Person

by Matt Lincoln

  “I--” She tried to look past me at the woman’s body, but I moved my head so that it was in the way.

  “I know it’s hard, and I know how awful it feels, but I need you to stay with me right now. This thing’s not over yet, okay?”

  I tightened my grip on her hands for a moment, trying to ground her more firmly in physical reality, and then I got my fingers under hers and pried the gun away. After a moment’s resistance, she let me take it, and I tucked it into my belt alongside my own. Then I pulled her close to me, wrapping my arms around her, letting her tuck her head into the crook of my neck for a moment, feeling the way her entire body shook.

  Rachel’s loud and violent stream of expletives, echoing around the enclosed room, turning into an incoherent scream of rage at the end, forced me to let go of Lex and turn to see what the new trouble was.

  Rachel stood before the door at the back of the engine room, open now to reveal an empty storage space. There was no sign of Malia and nowhere left to look.

  Rachel dropped to her knees, staring into the dim space. Graham stood beside her, a hand on her shoulder. She glanced over her shoulder at me, eyes asking what we did now.

  What did we do now? I thought furiously, trying to find a solution, any next step that would keep us moving forward instead of breaking down in the metallic bowels of the luxury yacht. My eyes fell on the man with the pipe and the kevlar vest. He was still conscious, clutching his shattered knee with bloodstained hands, his face white with pain. He would know what was going on. He had to.

  I stalked toward him, allowing my anger to swell within me until it was a coiled beast, threatening violence. The man raised his head to look at me and grew even paler, if that was possible. I’d left Lex with a clear view of the dead woman, but I couldn’t deal with the two things at once.

  I crouched down in front of the man so that I was uncomfortably close, and he was unable to scoot away with his injured knee. I drew my gun very slowly and dangled it over his other knee as I stared him right in the eye to make sure he knew that I meant business.

  “Where’s Ward?” I asked. I spoke carefully, enunciating each word.

  He licked his lips, hesitating even with the threat of violence hanging over him.

  “Ward’s not here,” I reminded him. “I am. Which would you rather worry about? The threat far away from you? Or the one right in front of you?” I lowered the gun until it pressed into his knee, digging it into the skin until he flinched. I smiled at him. It was a chilling expression.

  “I--” he began, but I was still talking because I really wanted to hammer the point home so he wouldn’t waste my time with his protests and feeble excuses.

  “See her over there?” I said, tilting my head toward Rachel. I didn’t look at her, but I figured she was still on the ground, lost. The man’s eyes slanted over my shoulder to take her in. “That’s Rachel Bane. The mother of the kid Ward snatched. I’m not going to try to appeal to your better nature—reunite the mother with the child, yadda yadda yadda—because I figure you don’t really have one, and I don’t care to try to find it. Instead, I’ll just tell you that if you don’t tell us where Ward and Malia are right now, then she’ll end you in the most painful way possible, and I’ll let her.”

  The man continued to look over my shoulder at Rachel, and I could see the gears turning in his mind. “I want immunity.”

  I shook my head. “Not going to happen. Best we can do is keep you away from Ward.” I dug my gun into his knee a little harder. “Need I remind you that you don’t really have any chips to bargain with right now?”

  He gulped, face contorting with a wide spread of emotions. He stared into my face, saw how I wouldn’t yield, and then finally nodded, his eyes dropping to his lap. “We’re a decoy, obviously. Ward’s on a yacht fifteen miles northeast of here. As far as I know, the girl is with him. You should hurry, though. We’re supposed to check in every hour. We last called him maybe fifteen minutes before y’all busted in here.”

  “You swear that’s all true?” I demanded, leaning in until we were practically nose to nose.

  He nodded emphatically. “Yes, it’s all true. I swear.”

  I stared at him for a few more seconds, trying to read in his eyes any indication that he was lying, but as far as I could tell, he was sincere.

  “Okay then,” I said and stood, knees popping as I rose.

  My pain hit me then, finally pushing free of the barrier my adrenaline had built around it, and I had to pause and sway for a moment. There was the line across my bicep where a bullet had grazed me. It was no longer bleeding, but it burned something fierce. My back was a steady, pulsing ache, though I didn’t think any of my ribs were broken, and the rest of my muscles clamored for me to collapse, exhausted by the long swim and all those bursts of quick exertion during the fights.

  I only allowed myself that single moment, though, because there were still things to do, and now we were on a time limit. Lex still stood where I’d left her, so I arced over and grabbed her hand, pulling her with me as I walked over to Rachel, who remained on her knees, curled into a ball atop them. Graham knelt beside her, rubbing circles on Rachel’s back. Graham looked up at me as I approached and cocked her head to the side, questioning.

  I crouched down in front of Rachel, though all my joints protested.

  “Rachel,” I said, trying to walk that line between soft and sharp. “I know where Malia is.”

  Rachel looked up immediately. Her eyes were red, and there were tear tracks in the dirt smeared on her face. She didn’t seem to know whether she should believe me, and I didn’t blame her. We’d run into a lot of false leads and dead ends.

  I jerked my head toward the man I’d questioned. “He says Ward’s on a boat fifteen miles northeast of here. We have to hurry, though. We have less than a half-hour before Ward realizes we're onto him.”

  Rachel’s eyes widened, though it took a second for my words to reach through the fog around her brain and settle somewhere she could process them. But once they did hit her, they hit her hard, and she launched herself to her feet, almost knocking right into me on the way up. Her eyes were still wet, but the tears only magnified the determination and anger that lay behind them.

  “Then what are we standing around here for?” she demanded, though I thought I maybe detected a bit of hysteria in her words.

  She cast around for her radio, but it was lying on the ground in two pieces. I passed her mine, and while she called Linda, I went to check on Lex.

  Lex was staring at the woman’s body. She’d even moved a few feet closer to it. I put my hands on her shoulders and spun her until her back was to the corpse, and she was forced to look at me instead.

  “We know where Ward is,” I told her. “Rachel’s calling Linda to come to get us.”

  “We need a lift,” Rachel was saying into her radio to prove my point. “Ward’s not here, but we know where to find him. Bring that other boat and have them secure everyone here while we go after Ward.”

  “You don’t have to come,” I continued. “You can stay on Meg’s boat if you want, but we could really use your help.”

  Lex shook her head. “I’ll come with you. I’m—well, I don’t know. But I can help.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” I said, clapping her on the shoulder and smiling. “And I promise that once all this is over, I’m here for whatever you need. To talk, to just hang out, anything, alright?”

  “Alright,” Lex agreed and offered me half a smile that quickly fell off her lips again. “Thanks.”

  “Linda and Meg are on their way,” Rachel announced, putting away the radio and approaching Lex and me with Graham behind her. “She’ll have some of her people escort this boat back to shore where Barrett will be waiting. The rest of us will go after Ward.”

  “Let’s get up top,” I suggested, and we left all the goons where they lay to return to the main level of the yacht.

  It was a relief to step out into the night air again. The engine
room below had started to stink of sweat and gunpowder and blood, and the sea breeze cleared all that away in an instant. Even Lex relaxed some, sucking in a deep breath and turning her face toward the open water.

  We moved to the back of the yacht since that would be the easiest spot to step down onto the other boats from, and I stepped up to the railing and looked around for our rides. The water was black as ink, only visible in a few foot radius around the yacht as it lapped against the hull. My ears rang after so long beside the heavily droning engine, and I stuck my finger in my left ear and shook it, trying to clear the sound out. It didn’t work.

  “There,” Graham said, pointing to our right.

  Our little group swung to look in that direction, almost in unison, and I saw that there were three sets of lights rapidly converging on our location. I did some mental calculations and tried to guess how long we’d been fighting for, then set a timer for twenty-five minutes on my watch while we waited for them. I wanted to know when or if we ran out of time for a surprise approach, and I set the cut-off point well under the thirty-minute window the pipe man had given us since I didn’t know how exact his guesstimate was.

  It took the boats a couple of minutes to make their approach. A couple of minutes that felt like an hour as I shifted from foot to foot, all too aware of each second that brought us closer to the end of the countdown.

  The boats slowed to get in close to the yacht, one on either side of the back deck. Ramirez and Cal stepped up to the railing to throw a line to Rachel, and I crossed to the other side of the boat to secure Meg’s since I knew that she was alone. I snagged one of the ropes lying on her deck and looped it around the eyelet nearest me.

  Lex reached for the tanks that we’d stashed when we’d arrived, but Linda appeared from the cabin and shook her head. “Leave those. They’ll be fine.”

  Lex let go of the tanks and hurried over to where I was crouched at the edge of the yacht. I held onto the rope while she jumped down, and then I swung myself over the railing and jumped down onto the much lower deck of Meg’s boat. By the time I looked up, Rachel and Graham were safely aboard Linda’s vessel. Rachel looked over at me and gave me a thumbs-up that I returned, and with that, we were ready to go.

  Linda gunned it as soon as she had enough room between her and the yacht, and it didn’t take Meg long to turn around and follow. We left the third boat there to secure everyone on board and begin escorting the ship back to shore. Lex and I joined Meg within the cabin, and I immediately dropped to the ground, stretching out my legs with a groan.

  “Are you two okay?” Meg asked. She spared only a moment’s glance for us before she turned her attention back to speeding after Linda. We were going at max speed, and I could hear the wind whistling around us, whipping through the cracks in the canvas covering over our heads.

  “We’re in one piece,” I said, tipping my head back against the wall. I didn’t close my eyes, knowing that I would immediately fall asleep if I did so.

  “You’re bleeding,” Lex said, crouching down beside me.

  “Bleeding?” Meg demanded, snapping her head around to look at us again. The boat bobbled slightly as her hands jerked on the wheel.

  I waved her concern away, offering her a tired smile. “It’s just a graze. Nothing to worry about.”

  Meg squinted at me like she didn’t believe me, but turned her attention back to driving. The boat bounced each time it hit a wave, and Lex almost jammed her finger right into my wound as she pulled the ripped fabric away from it just as we hit a particularly big wave.

  She cringed and looked at me apologetically. “Sorry.” Moving more carefully, she finished peeling the sleeve away to get a better look at the cut. It was only about three inches long, and though it had stopped bleeding, there was a definitive groove in my bicep. “Doesn’t look like we’ll have to amputate.”

  I snorted out a short laugh. “That’s good. I was worried about that.”

  “Is there a first aid kit?” Lex asked Meg.

  Meg kicked one of the cabinets under her console, and Lex shifted so that she could reach it, leaning back until she could open it up and pick through the contents. She pulled out a white first aid kit, riffling through it until she found some antiseptic and a roll of gauze. She used the scissors at the bottom of the box to cut my sleeve off above the wound. I winced and huffed out a breath as she began to rub the antiseptic into my arm. The cream was cold and immediately began to sting.

  “Sorry,” Lex said again.

  I watched her face as she began to wrap the gauze around and around my arm. Her eyes were closed off, shadowed, and though she’d made a joke earlier, the words had sounded more than a little hollow. She wouldn’t meet my eyes as she worked, and I bit my lip, trying to think of something to say or do to comfort her.

  “I--” I began, though I didn’t know what I was actually going to say.

  “Not right now,” Lex interrupted. “We’ve still got a job to do.”

  I nodded, though I worried about her. I knew how easy it was to say not right now and then just continue to say that.

  Lex tapped the end of the gauze down and then pulled back to put the first aid kit back where she’d found it. Once she was done with that, she rose, and I held out my uninjured arm for her to help me up. Her hand was cold when she grabbed mine and hauled me upright, all my muscles protesting the movement after sitting for a couple of minutes.

  Lex and I crowded around the center console beside Meg, and I peered out the windshield, scratching at my arm below the gauze. I could only see the lights coming off Linda’s boat, and they wrecked my night vision, turning everything else around it to pitch black. The compass on the dash before the steering wheel was pointed solidly to the northeast.

  The boat’s radio crackled, and I leaned forward and grabbed it out of its holder. “Yeah?” I said into the microphone.

  “I’ve decided we should dispense of any attempt at stealth,” Rachel said through the speaker. “We hit the boat hard and fast, and we get his ass. Over.”

  “Got it. Over,” I said quickly.

  “I’ll let you know when we spot his boat. Over and out.”

  The radio went quiet, and I put it back where it belonged. I took my gun out and checked the magazine, finding it half empty. I found the pile of our clothes and extra gear that we’d left on before we jumped into the water, rooting through them until I found two extra magazines. I gave one to Lex and tucked the other into my belt.

  I still didn’t know how to judge speed and distance on boats, so I had no idea how long it would take us to travel fifteen miles or how far we’d already gone. I drummed my fingers against the console, checking the countdown on my watch. We were already down to fifteen minutes to go.

  I hated the waiting. I wanted to be doing something. At least Meg could drive and keep herself occupied that way. Lex and I simply had to stand there, staring out the windshield, trying to keep our adrenaline levels up so we’d be ready whenever we reached Ward’s boat.

  It was another five minutes before Rachel radioed us again, and I almost dropped the radio as I reached for it too quickly. I fumbled for it, clutching it to my chest, and then pressed the button.

  “We’ve spotted a boat,” she informed us. “We’re pretty sure it’s Ward’s, over.”

  “How close? Over.”

  “Linda says two minutes. Have Meg cut her lights. We’ll approach from opposite sides. Over and out.”

  Meg heard the instruction and hit the switch that would turn off her lights. Linda did the same a moment later, and we were plunged into darkness but for the bright, silver moon overhead. Once my eyes adjusted, I spotted a sprinkle of lights up ahead of us that could only be Ward’s boat.

  Despite the darkness, Meg and Linda didn’t reduce their speed, and after a couple of moments, Meg split away from the other boat, swinging us in an arc that would take us around to the other side of Ward’s ship. My stomach tightened as we drew closer, and my heart began to pound within my
chest, making my bruised ribs ache all the harder.

  Lex and I left the cockpit and stood by the railing so we could board Ward’s boat as soon as we were able. It resolved into view slowly as the moonlight fell across it. It was another yacht, though not nearly as massive as the Wandering Heart. I strained my eyes, searching for shapes on the deck, and I spotted a couple of shadows moving back and forth across the stern. It wouldn’t be long before they heard the hum of our engines, but hopefully, our lack of lights would hide us even after they knew we were coming.

  Meg cut toward the boat, and I swayed against the railing as I caught my balance. I could feel my palms grow slick with sweat, though my hands were cold and stiff from the constant wind beating against me. The top line of the railing could unhook from one of the metal posts, so I undid it and moved it out of the way to make it easier to cross over when the time came. I lost sight of Linda’s and Rachel’s boat in the dark, but I couldn’t worry about them because it was time for our final approach, and we were racing toward Ward’s yacht head-on.

  I took a deep breath, but it was shaky and uneven. The yacht began to loom taller and taller in front of us. I could hear someone shouting in the wind, and though I couldn’t make out the actual words, I knew that we’d been spotted.

  A gunshot ripped through the air, and I flinched, but I had no idea what it was aiming at or if it hit anything. I drew my gun from my belt again, keeping a tight grip on it since my hand was still pretty slick and we were jouncing violently across the water. That was the only shot that came since the shooter probably knew that we were too far away to hit.

  Then we were close enough to see the three people standing on the stern of the boat, staring at us, two of them raising their arms while the one in the middle watched. I knew they were about to fire before they actually did, and Lex and I crouched down to make ourselves smaller and more challenging targets. Two gunshots cracked through the night but, again, didn’t hit anything.

  Floodlights clicked on, aimed directly at us, and I squeezed my eyes shut against the sudden shock, blinded. Lex grabbed my arm and pulled me down into the lowered seating area so we could crouch under cover while we waited for our eyes to adjust. A few more shots went off, but they petered out quickly when the shooters realized that there was nothing to hit.