by Matt Lincoln
As I was slowly moving around with my Ruger at the ready, I edged nearer to the partitions. They were brushed metal, not heavy enough to block sound or hurt anyone if they fell against or on top of them. They weren’t bolted or connected together in any way that I could see, at least from this side.
I stopped to listen, and now I could hear a soft, constant humming or whirring noise. It was definitely coming from the hidden side of the metal partitions. I was going to have to walk a good three or four yards to get around them to see on the other side.
I thought for a moment that I’d heard a noise behind me, but when I turned, I didn’t see anything out of place from where it had been when I’d come through before. So, I continued on, and after what seemed like an excruciatingly long time, I made it to within a foot of where I could peer around the partitions. That’s when I heard a gunshot behind me, and someone on the other side of these metal barriers called out, “We’re breached!”
I had to trust that my team and LaShawn could and would handle whatever was happening back behind me, so I moved up and around the partition’s edge to see around it. There was a large set of tables and lab equipment, just like at the other place in the city. The lighting was harsher on this side, as it glared and reflected off and back on the metal partitions and equipment. There were piles of those clear bottle containers like I’d found on that boat all those days ago. At that moment, I knew for a fact that we’d found the Yabut’s waterfront manufacturing facility, finally!
There was a newer constructed set of wooden stairs running directly to a second-floor landing that had been obscured from my sight until now. A cluster of big plastic bins was lined up and stacked three high with their lids open nearby. My guess was that they were all going to be filled with the drug and then loaded up the vans for transport. What worried me was whether this was going to the water for boat travel and transmission or being shipped by land to places unknown? Whichever it was, we had to stop it.
The lab area was empty, and there was no heat being generated from the machines that I could feel. I put my hand out and close to one of the centrifuges just to make sure when I heard and felt the gunshot pierce my arm. It was sudden and intense, but I pulled it back and spun to see the gunman on the high end of the stairs. It was like he came out of nowhere.
I’d neglected to watch my back from up above on the darkened and shadowed staircase, too interested in the machines in front of me. But I recovered quickly and fired back and hit nothing but the wood. From the other side of the metal partitions, I could hear movement and the sounds of a scuffle or fight. I re-scanned this area hurriedly, and after finding no one, I headed for the stairs.
I stopped to tie off my wound, making a quick and easy compression bandage from what I had packed in my gear. It hurt, but I was going to have to just work through it for the time being. Once I had it in place, and contained the blood to the bandage, I moved up.
With positive contact that I knew was above me, I tested the first few steps. I was expecting them to be solid and to hold me, but I certainly didn’t want to go charging up them and fall through if there was a false board or trigger step. It was unnervingly dark up above me as if all light on the platform was being blocked. I thought that they had a door closing off their location or something like that.
I swiftly glanced back down at the area with the vans, and I saw LaShawn checking the pulse of a guy on the ground. Rosa and Xavier were moving inside as well, with her covering their backs and keeping an eye on the door leading back outside. I looked back at the stairs that I was climbing, and it filled me with some dread. The two landings met up here, so I didn’t have to worry about getting ambushed on the other steps. A few more, and I could see the hinges of a heavy, wooden door just feet away from where I was.
Below, I heard hushed voices amplified by the sparseness of the space. They were LaShawn’s and Xavier’s, and that eased my mind a bit. I assumed that they had secured the vans and the rest of the area, meaning that at least one of them could be following me up. I would appreciate the cover and help, no doubt about it.
I halted as I could hear movement up above me, nearing the door. I raised my gun, maneuvering for a better position to fire if I needed to. Whoever was behind it was analyzing the risks of opening it and showing themselves again. I wasn’t going to let a stalemate go on for too long, though. I could bide my time, but only long enough to find the advantage that I needed to end this.
LaShawn was moving up close behind me, and I could sense it. Once I felt that he was ready and in a good position for us both, I gestured that I was going for the door. We moved slowly, and now I didn’t hear any sounds coming from the other side. Mt thought was that they’d taken up hiding spots in an attempt to ambush us.
With my gun at the ready, I reached for the doorknob and turned it. It was unlocked and opened freely. Yep, they were waiting for us. I pushed it wide but was careful not to be within the target area. I pushed myself up against the doorframe and wall, which gave me a very narrow view of the room inside.
It was dark in there, too. The floor looked to be open for the first ten feet or so, but that’s all that I could see from where I was. I had to make a decision about going up and in or staying here and waiting them out. I felt a tap from behind me, and I turned briefly to look at LaShawn.
He was holding out a small object that I recognized as a type of smoke bomb. That couldn’t have been more perfect if I’d asked for it. I flashed him a big, old appreciative grin and took it from him. I pressed the activation button that had a three-second delay. I then tossed it into the middle of the room and heard it bounce off a few metal objects.
Within seconds, a gray smoke filled the darkness, getting illuminated by the residual light from the first floor drifting upward. We could hear people start to cough and choke on the noxious fumes. LaShawn tapped on my arm again, this time offering a small mask that would cover my nose and mouth.
I took it and secured it quickly to my face. He also pulled his on, giving us an edge in what was to come next. A small man in a long doctor's or lab coat stood up and fumbled around in the smoky dark. He was moving toward a window, probably to open it and neutralize the air. He tripped over one of the larger objects, and I heard him cry out in pain and what was most likely a few curse words in his native language.
With him prone, I found this to be the best time to take him out of the game. So, I fired at him, hitting him in the hip and keeping him from moving or walking anymore. He screamed, and that got the next mark up and active. A woman bounded into view and fired at me, missing only by an inch or two.
I flinched as the bullet hit the wooden door frame and splinters burst near my face. The mask protected much of me, and I’d reacted quickly enough to close my eyes this time, unlike that fight in the alley and the brick fragments. LaShawn fired from my left at the woman, and I heard a thump as she hit the ground.
My eyes flew open to see her laying on her side, on the floor with her gun even now raised at us. LaShawn and I both fired center mass, and we both hit. She slumped to her back and didn’t move again. The small man, the Croatian chemist, was moaning and yowling because of his wound. He’d crawled up onto something that I couldn’t identify in the dark.
The smoke was stagnant, and the plumes had amassed in the center now. I took a few steps to get inside the room. I felt around for a light switch or something to give us an idea of what we had up here. My fingers grazed a cord, which I followed up until I found a wheel switch. I thumbed it up until a light on the ceiling turned on. Now we had our first view of what was really here.
This appeared to be the living quarters of the Yabut living and working from this dock area lab. Old metal bed frames similar to the ones they used in archaic hospital wards jutted out from the walls, several feet apart and lining the walls. It almost looked like an overstuffed dormitory. Wooden crates were being used as nightstands in between the beds. The beds themselves had a motley variety of pillows and blankets, some ne
atly folded and in their places as they should be, and others were crumpled and lying in piles atop the mattresses.
Clothes and shoes were placed on more crates, and probably inside of them as well. It looked to me that people had been living here for quite some time, weeks, if not months. My eyes now adjusted to the lit room, I scanned for more contacts hidden and waiting to attack or run.
The woman on the floor was not the same one that I’d seen at the city lab. I hoped that this was Astreya, the Colombian agent of the Yabut, and not another unknown asset of theirs. The chemist continued to moan and beg us for help. LaShawn, not holstering his weapon yet, advanced to check on him. I moved to my right to clear the room.
It was not as large as the ground floor, only about half of the size, with the rest being walled off from the looks of it. I’d want to check that out as well, but for now, I had to deal with what I could see in front of me. I rounded the wall on the right, moving around the bed frames and crates. I took my time, wanting to be thorough and consistent.
Xavier appeared at the staircase door. “Everything okay up here?” He looked a little paler than usual, but I could understand that. He still had his weapon at the ready, and I was proud that he’d remembered to do so.
“Clearing it now,” I answered him. “How is it down there?” I knew that Rosa could handle things on her own, but I still didn’t like the thought of her being alone and covering the whole of the ground floor.
“Secure, I think,” he replied. “I mean, it is secure, but I don’t know if there’s going to be more coming as backup or what.” The idea made Xavier shudder, and I knew the feeling. As he was standing there, I saw him lean down just a little and stare at something off to the side of the dark corner in the furthest end of the room. I saw his eyes grow wide, and I knew that look.
I raised my Ruger to the spot he was watching, and I advanced. LaShawn saw our reactions, too, as he responded in the same way. We slipped off our masks as the smoke was dissipating with our movements. With our weapons raised, he and I walked forward to the corner. Xavier was aiming, but he’d used it more to gesture us in the right direction. LaShawn and I took one step at a time until we were too close to do more. I called out to whoever was in the corner, still hiding. “Come out now. Leave your weapons on the bed and show yourself.”
There was no change for a few seconds, and it seemed like we all were holding our breath to see what would happen next. Xavier still had his eyes on that particular area, and I didn’t think he was even blinking. I took the gamble and stepped forward twice.
“Last chance before we open fire. Stand up so that we can see you. Now!” I yelled out.
I heard a small whimper from the darkness. A woman stood up, and I could see her visibly shaking all over her body. Her hands raised to show her surrender to the situation. I didn’t see a weapon on her, at least not one visible at this time. I got a good look at her, and I smiled to myself.
This was the dark-haired woman that I had seen at the other lab days ago. She seemed nervous and frightened to be here alone. Her eyes darted to the other woman who was dead on the floor behind us. Her eyes rose to meet mine, but I couldn’t read anything from them except the fear of being caught up here and by herself.
“Who are you?” I asked her forcibly. There were still three guns trained on her, and she had to know that there was no way out for her. I gave her a few moments, and then I asked her again, more powerfully this time, “Who are you? What is your name?”
She swallowed hard, then she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I saw her sway on the spot, and before LaShawn or I could react, she fainted and fell to the floor. I rushed forward to drag her into the lit area of the floor so that we could keep an eye on her and also remove any weapons that she might be hiding on her person.
Xavier let out an audible sigh of relief and lowered his gun. “That was intense. Is she out?”
I was checking her pockets and stopped to feel for a steady pulse. “Looks like it. I don’t think that she’s a threat anymore. Can you go let Rosa know?”
Xavier seemed happy to get out of there. I grinned over at LaShawn, who had seen it too.
“That’s all the group, the trio we had pegged, right?” LaShawn asked. “I mean, I’m just assuming from the pictures you sent me.” He stopped over to look at the fainter. “Yeah, that sure looks like her. The one you never got a name for, right?”
“Well, we have a name, but it’s definitely not a real one.” I didn’t want this Voyda guy to hear that we had talked to a living witness or two, so I stopped myself from saying more about that. “But that one,” I pointed to the dark-haired woman, “she was absolutely there at the other lab. She was talking on a phone, but she vanished before I could do anything about it.”
LaShawn was binding Voyda’s wound while the small man whimpered and fussed over it.
“You are doing that wrong!” Voyda barked. “Do you want me to die here?”
LaShawn, for his part, ignored the man and did the first aid that they had trained him to do. He kept a bemused smirk on his face the whole time and never responded to the chemist.
“That is too tight!” Voyda bellowed.
I crouched over the dead woman and sifted through her pockets. She had been wearing a stylish pair of slacks and a blouse, both in shades of browns. I found a second weapon tucked away under her torso, attached to a chest holster. But there was no ID anywhere on her. I guess that would have been too much to ask for.
“Mr. Voyda,” I addressed the chemist who was still struggling against LaShawn’s best efforts to help him. “Is this Astreya?” He had no good reason to answer me, but as he was the only one of them able to speak right now, maybe he’d see the benefit of being cooperative with us. “It will help you in the long run if you’d tell us. The police will be along soon, and I can mention that you were willing to help us out. Your buddies wouldn’t even have to know about it.”
He sneered at me, and if he’d been able to, I think he would have spat at me.
“I will tell you nothing. Now leave me alone!” He shouted, but that didn’t have the effect that he probably wanted.
LaShawn sighed at this and shook his head. “Want me to walk him down there?” He nodded at the stairs. “He can move on the leg. It’ll just be painful for him. But I’d feel better if we were all down there on the same floor.”
I agreed with him about that. “Yeah. I’ll stay with her until you get back, just in case.” I waved at the fainted woman.”
While LaShawn took the very vocal and unhappy Voyda down the staircase to Rosa and Xavier, I began to poke around and look for evidence, or anything, really, that would help us out with the case.
33
Jake
The place up here had been a living space for several people, but I couldn’t tell exactly how many from what I saw. I counted ten beds, but some still didn’t look to have been slept in recently, if at all. I went by what I could see on the crates being used as nightstands.
One, in particular, had unmarked prescription bottles with some pills inside of them. I looked around for something to put them in, but I didn’t see anything suitable. So, I pulled a pillowcase off of one of the pillows and started to put items I wanted my team to examine inside of it. The pill bottles were the first to go in. I knew that the MPD would need the evidence as well, but I was more concerned with finding out what I could about the Yabut that had been here.
I was leaving all the drug paraphernalia downstairs for the police. I only wanted to know who we were dealing with and what their connections were to Judge Fu and the corrupt DEA agents and Task Force. For that, I needed names and proof of who they were, are, and who they knew.
Most of the personal stuff was just clothing and toiletries. It wasn’t exactly a goldmine of information. Once LaShawn came back upstairs, we carried the fainted, dark-haired woman down the steps. He grabbed her feet and legs, and because she was wearing pants, he carried her with them tucked at his wais
t and looking forward. I had her under her shoulders, kind of holding her cupped by the armpits with her head adjusted up against my chest.
There wasn’t much dignity in this at all, but we tried. She was still alive, after all. Once we got down to the ground floor with Rosa and Xavier, LaShawn and I placed her on one of the cold metal tables. One of my team had cleared it off, and I guessed that LaShawn had explained the situation to them. The lab equipment hadn’t been touched, which was good—all the better for the actual police to examine and take care of.
The metal partitions were all still up, and that blocked us from seeing the door leading outside. LaShawn took over Rosa’s watch, standing just so that he could keep an eye on that door and us. She walked over to assess the passed-out woman on the table.
What happened to her? Rosa inquired of me, looking her over and not seeing any visible injuries present.
“She fainted if you could believe it,” I chuckled humorlessly. “Didn’t say a thing to us, just trembled a little and passed out.” I moved away to give Rosa the room and privacy she might need in checking the woman.
Xavier turned his back but asked, “Is that the Mirror woman, you think?”
“Yeah, I’m betting so. I think LaShawn and I killed Astreya, the one we left upstairs. This woman here I recognize from the first lab. And I know that I never saw the Colombian agent, so by process of elimination…” I trailed off, not needing to explain more. I turned my attention to Xavier at that point. “What did you find down here?”
“Definitely a drug manufacturing laboratory,” he answered with some authority. “We found more of those powder cube things like you gave to George a while back. And the liquid bottle ones, too.” He stopped and pointed to a stacked tower of plastic bins away from everything else. “Those have some other kind of chemical in them, but none of this stuff is labeled. I get the feeling that it's quite volatile, though, and they keep it separated from all the rest.”
