Coastal Fury Boxset (1-3)

by Matt Lincoln

  “I’m going to get some shuteye,” I told the women. “You all behave.”

  “Go away, Marston,” Muñoz shouted. “Girls’ night!”

  “C’mon, Lamarr, I can tell when we’re not wanted,” I said with a laugh. Once in our own room, I had to ask him, “Is that what women seriously do? Sylvia and Abbie are so uptight at work.”

  Birn shook his head. “And just when I think you’ve learned it all, man. There are no rules for a girls’ night, not other than kicking the menfolk out.” He cleared his throat. “We’re flying out before lunch. Ramsey wants you and Tessa on the plane.”

  I looked at the floor, which suddenly got a lot more interesting.

  “My partner is here.”

  “Your best friend is here,” Birn said. “He’s going to be out for a few weeks at a minimum. This would be a good time to take a trainee.”

  I looked at the wall as if I could see through to the other room. “Stark? Hell, she could be a trainer in no time herself.”

  “Maybe, but here’s the interesting part. She’s going to be assigned to Meisha’s field office.”

  “Griezmann?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “She’s out in Honolulu.”

  “Abbie doesn’t know that part yet,” Birn noted. “Diane wants it to come from you. The two of you will train for a while, and then you’ll deliver her to Hawaii.”

  I blinked. “Since when do we hand-deliver Special Agents?”

  “Since the director of this particular office knows a guy with an interest in a certain pirate ship.”

  I blinked again. “This has what to do with Hawaii?”

  “Meisha happened across an interesting display at her library. It was about pirates and the Caribbean. Obviously, she decided to check it out. Turns out the display was mostly about the Dragon’s Rogue.”

  “A lot of people know about the legend,” I told him. “I’d expect that to be more about Blackbeard, but Grendel made a name of his own.”

  Birn grabbed a tablet off of the dresser. He pulled up a webpage and handed the tablet over to me.

  “Check this out,” he said with a hint of excitement.

  The webpage showed the display at the library. In the middle of the case was a book that looked older than sin. The article stated that the book was the personal log or journal kept by Grendel himself and passed down from father to son for several generations. While it started in the Bahamas, the book moved to Hawaii with one of Grendel’s great-grandsons almost a century later.

  “I’ve done hundreds of online searches,” I mused. Well, dozens. “I’ve never come across this.”

  “That’s because the owner just found it last year.”

  “This is great.” I looked up at Birn and grinned. “This is fantastic, man.”

  It felt like Gramps was leading me on in a way he never could during his life. Some people would say that the way the clues were stacking up since Gramp’s death was a coincidence. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I felt like wherever he was, he knew and was happy.

  “Oh hey, one other thing.” Birn took the tablet back and put it on the dresser. “I didn’t know Robbie’s sister was in Hawaii.”

  I stilled. “What?”

  “Yeah, Meisha saw her at a mall.” The way Birn said it so casually meant that he didn’t know what I did about the disappearance. “Ronnie didn’t hear Meisha call out to her, but it was definitely her. She has that tattoo behind her ear, y’know?”

  “Yeah, the one that covered that birthmark.”

  I’d forgotten about that. When she was old enough to get a tattoo, Ronnie marched right into a shop and had the artist turn the somewhat flower-shaped birthmark into a cute little tiger lily.

  “That’s the one.” Birn shook his head a little. “Meisha was sure Ronnie should’ve heard her, but maybe she was thinking about other things.”

  Or maybe Ronnie didn’t want Holm to find out where she was.

  “Hey, do me a favor and don’t mention it until he’s better,” I said. “I’ll explain eventually, but right now, it’s not a good time for him to know that. Let Meisha know, as well.”

  Birn frowned but nodded. “Okay, but you owe me that explanation.”

  “Thanks, man.” I sighed, as much out of exhaustion as worry. “Honestly, I just want to see Robbie awake and himself again.”

  As luck would have it, Holm was plenty awake the next morning. He cracked a few bad jokes and made me swear to miss him every day that he was away from the job. I didn’t have the heart to tell him right then about his sister. The guy didn’t need the extra stress, especially when he was recovering. I did, however, text him a photo of a gift left at our desks from Bridget Lemon… the entwined diving masks from their home.

  Tessa lingered in Miami, and she talked about the possibility of staying, and that she might get a condo. That changed three days after we got back to the houseboat.

  “I have to go back to New York,” she told me out of the blue.

  “What?” I was toweling my hair after a great shower and had the bathroom door open. I hoped I hadn’t heard her correctly. “You said something about New York.”

  She looked at her cooling breakfast. “I have to go back. Uncle Donald needs me. Besides, it’ll be better to write up the feature without certain… influences right near me.”

  With a calm I did not feel, I set my towel on the bathroom counter and pulled on my sweatpants and t-shirt. I walked over to the table.

  “Why does he insist on you going?” I asked in as nonjudgmental of a way as I could manage. “I thought you didn’t want him to run your life anymore.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t, but the thing is, something is going on with him. I love him, I really do. I just—”

  “There’s something wrong, and you want to know what.”

  She nodded and bit her lip for a few seconds. “I have to know. He was the fleet admiral and a Joint Chief. I get that he knows things we will never imagine, but there’s something odd about his reaction over Kelley.” She looked up. “I still don’t know what Mike told you, but the fact that he got spooked, also, that was creepy. If Kelley was out there with all these guys knowing, who else is and why?”

  A cold lump formed in my stomach. “Tessa, be careful. Please, be careful.” I took her hands. “You should let it go, but I know you won’t. If I can ever help, reach out.” I thought for a second. “Tell me a color and flower you hate.”

  “What?”

  “Just do it.”

  “Okay. I hate the color cranberry, and I hate roses.” She pulled her hands back and crossed her arms. “There.”

  “If you ever get in over your head, call me and ask for cranberry roses.” I walked around to where she sat. “Then, give me a location.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll ask how soon you want them,” I explained with utter seriousness. “If you say ‘now,’ I’ll send someone. I know people all across the country, and they’d bust a few asses to help any of my friends. Say ‘as soon as you can,’ and I’ll be there within twelve hours, less if possible.”

  I hugged her for all I was worth, and she hugged back for all she was worth. By the next day, she was gone, and I went to Mike’s for a few shots of Four Roses. Birn, Muñoz, and Stark went along to keep me from harassing Mike over the tango music. And to keep me company. Mostly to help Mike put up with me.

  Tessa’s feature turned out to be a hit. She talked Donald into letting her be vague about the agency involved. That was great for keeping us under the radar, but it didn’t help the funding issue.

  “He’s right,” Diane told me a few days after Tessa’s article went to print. We were in her office with the door shut. “This could’ve helped us get funding. People are going to think this was all the Coast Guard and CGIS.”

  “Why’d they give us the money for the plane if they were going low on funding?” I paced her office. “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Yes, Ethan, it does.” Diane tapped her pen on the desk. “The p
owers that be look at expenses. The plane hiked our expenses and annual budget. Someone is making it look like we’re too big for our britches.”

  There wasn’t much more to discuss, because we had no proof. Donald Farr’s warning was the only concrete word we got, but life went on. All we could do was keep proving our worth.

  Holm was on medical leave for three months. The doctors wanted four to five, but some people can’t be contained. So, when Stark and I flew out to Hawaii a month after the raid, Holm tagged along for some R&R.

  Funny thing about life, though. It throws screwballs at you, and that R&R ended up being a hell of an adventure.

  But that was a story for another time.

  Epilogue

  That story took a good three shots of Mango Fest to tell, and my mouth was dry as hell. The kids, though, looked happy. Mostly.

  “Hey, you didn’t say what happened with all those weapons Kelley made,” Jeff pointed out. “Did you guys find them? Are they still out there?”

  I licked my lips. Not enough drinks in the world could cover that answer. The group waited more patiently than I’d give them credit for.

  “Some of the details are still classified.”

  I glanced at Mike, and he shrugged. The kids had conveniently left him alone. Yeah, that dude was a bigger badass than me, and his glower kept them off his back. Only I knew there was no menace behind that. And I hadn’t told the kids that Mike Birch wasn’t his real name. He didn’t need that heat.

  “I’ll just say that Charity was helpful. She’s in prison still, and she has a lot of physical challenges because of the bullet she took. Greer’s family and our department got her a shorter sentence because she’s taken a hell of a punishment and she’s cooperated. She’s a different person now.”

  “But did you find the weapons?” Jeff pushed.

  “Charity helped. That’s all I can say. I wish I could tell you more.”

  He shrugged and seemed to give up. I understand. If I were one of these youngsters, I’d want to know too. The truth was that we only found a few stashes. Charity hadn’t been privy to all of Kelley’s secrets. I didn’t want to encourage treasure hunts of that nature.

  “What happened in Hawaii?” Ty demanded. I silently thanked him for changing the course of that conversation. “Come on, you can’t leave us hanging.”

  “Shut up, Ty.” Charlie play-punched the guy in the shoulder. “It’s hard enough to get Marston to tell one story.”

  I looked at Mackenzie. The swelling in her ankle hadn’t gone down much, but it wasn’t worse, either. Her ankle, however, wasn’t what stole her attention. She pointed to something special behind the bar and on a shelf above the liquor shelves. A hand-carved tiki took that place of honor, and it always gave me a warm feeling.

  “Is that from your trip to Hawaii?” Her face softened.

  “It is.”

  “My mom is from the big island. Dad met her when he was assigned to Pearl Harbor.” The guys looked over at her, and she lifted her chin. “Yeah, I’m a Navy brat. Proud of it, too.”

  “You never told us that,” Ty complained.

  “You never asked,” she countered.

  “Ensign Shore,” I intoned.

  “Sir, yes, sir.” She straightened in her seat and tried to stand, but I put a hand in the way of her leg.

  “I have an offer for you.”

  “Sir?”

  “Two things. First, for the love of God, stop calling me ‘Sir.’”

  “Yes… Mr. Marston.”

  That was the best I’d get from her, I had a feeling. She’d grown up in the life, and those manners wouldn’t change.

  “Mackenzie, go take care of your ankle. I’ll get you tickets to see the band at your next leave. And to sweeten the pot…” I grinned at the lot of them. “If you fellas make sure she does what the doctors say, I’ll tell you the Hawaii story. Without complaining.” I winked.

  “I can live with that,” Mackenzie conceded, “but one other question.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You talked a little bit about Agent Holm’s sister,” she reminded everyone. “Did he ever find her?”

  “Funny thing about coincidences,” I told them. “The next time I tell a story, you might find out a thing or two about Ronnie Holm. And that’s all I have to say.”

  Author’s Note

  Hey, if you got here, I just want you to know that you’re awesome! I wrote this book just for someone like you, and if you want another one, it is super important that you leave a review.

  The more reviews this book gets, the more likely it is there will be a sequel to it. After all, I’m only human, and you have no idea how far a simple “your book was great!” goes to brighten my day.

  Also, if you want to know when the sequel comes out, you absolutely must join my Facebook group and follow me on Amazon. Doing one won’t be enough because it relies on either Facebook or Amazon telling you the book is out, and they might not do it.

  You might miss out on all my books forever, if you only do one!

  Here’s the link to follow me through e-mail.

  Here’s the link to my Facebook Group.