by Matt Lincoln
“Maybe that, too,” I laughed. Damn, I did miss going out with my team. My new job was cool and all, but there was something about being down here where the action was that no promotion could replace.
We got back to the island with no issues, and Sanchez and Taylor waded back out to us to get their hands on some food. The hours dragged on, interspersed with sporadic conversation. Long after the burritos had all been passed out and eaten, law enforcement began to show up.
A few boats approached the nearby dock, and uniformed officers began to disembark. While some of them went deeper into the island to check the surroundings, the others hung back to talk to my crew. Slade, Sanchez, and I began wading in toward shore to meet them, leaving the other three men on the boat to wait.
“You’re the crew that found the body?” the man asked. His caterpillar mustache dwarfed Sanchez’s, and he was a little pudgy around the middle.
“We spotted the victim alive.” I stepped forward to establish myself as the point of contact. “I’m Commanding Officer Linda Reyes. I spotted the victim as they attempted to wave us down. We dispatched our small boat, but by the time we arrived, it was too late.”
“Hey, boss!” One of the uniformed officers that had gone through the trees had just resurfaced, a look of concern on his face. “You’re going to want to see this.”
Our mustache-laden acquaintance headed over toward the treeline. I exchanged a quick look with Sanchez and Slade and was glad to see that we were all on the same page. We were going in after them.
A small trail wove through the trees, and some of the terrain wasn’t the friendliest. My boots slipped a couple of times on stones that had been worn-smooth, but for the most part, we made it through without issue.
At the end of the trail, a clearing opened up, and the view was horrifying. My brain stopped working for a moment as I took in the sight before me. I counted close to a dozen dead bodies, all in different positions, poised to run. The water in the pond was crimson, and blood was splattered everywhere. Personal effects also littered the scene, including a few pairs of shoes. I guessed that they must have stopped here to dip their toes in the water when everything went wrong.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Slade gasped. She turned and ran back in the direction we came from. Sanchez took off after her, and after I took one last look at the scene, I followed suit. We found Slade on the beach, her hands clutching just above her knees, bracing for the nausea to do its worst.
“Are you alright there, GM2?” Sanchez called out as he ran up to her. He rested his hand on her back and rubbed it gently, but she seemed to be taking deeper breaths and collecting herself.
“Hey, Coasties!” I whipped around to find our interviewer at the treeline. “We’re going to be tied up here for a bit, but there is no need for you to stay for all of this. Please head straight to Mayagüez. We can meet you there when we are done to compare notes.”
“I’ll need to relay that to Sector,” I advised, but he was already approaching us with a creased business card in his outstretched hand.
“Have your people call my people,” he said lightheartedly. “Please.”
I nodded fervently. “I will,” I replied, “thank you.”
Sanchez and I helped Slade back to the small boat, even though she kept pushing us off. Murph took one look at Slade and didn’t ask any questions. We rode back to the cutter in silence as I tried to process what I had just seen fully.
As was routine, once we had docked the small boat, we made our way up to the bridge for a debrief. XO and Rogers were still up there, as expected.
“Hey!” XO shouted cheerfully as we ascended the ladderwell. “How goes it?” His enthusiasm faltered as he saw the look on our faces.
I stepped up beside him at the helm and turned to face my team,
“How are you guys holding up?” I asked gently. When I had gathered the team to go investigate hours ago, I never imagined something like this would happen.
Slade was the first one to speak up. “That was… brutal. We shouldn’t have followed them in. I did not need to see all of that.”
“I agree,” Sanchez added. “It was a grisly scene.”
“How many more bodies were there?” Murphy asked in surprise, speaking up for the first time since we had rejoined them.
“Eight,” Sanchez piped up from the back of the group. “Eight plus the one on the beach.”
“They were attacked,” Slade snapped. “Someone did this. Why? It looked like a bunch of campers.”
“Maybe they weren’t,” I wondered aloud. “Maybe this is drug-related. That wouldn’t be uncommon for this area.”
“Maybe,” Slade replied, but she didn’t sound convinced.
“Alright,” I decided, “all of you need to go change out and shower. Sleep if you need it. Get someone to cover your shift if you have to. We need to head to Mayagüez to touch base with local law enforcement about this, so things are going to be a bit last-minute with the shifting schedule. I need to know that you’re all rested and well taken care of.”
“I won’t argue with that.” Slade’s attempt at teasing fell flat in the aftermath of today’s discovery, and the team filed out in silence.
“Sanchez was supposed to relieve me,” Rogers pointed out, but he didn’t move toward the ladderwell.
“Would you mind working a double?” I asked, realizing that he didn’t have much choice in the matter.
He shrugged. “I’ll get us both some coffee.” He headed toward the ladderwell, which would spit him out right onto the mess deck within reach of the coffee maker.
“This is why you’re the best!” I called out after him.
I looked out over the bow at the crystal clear water. What had started out as a simple morning with a beautiful view had turned into a major case and one that I wanted to see through. I glanced down at the computer screen and pulled up my emails as I waited for Rogers to return with my much-needed cup of coffee. I opened up a new email and began to type.
Jake Header, we need to talk.
Chapter 3: Ethan
“Marston, Holm, in my office!” Diane’s voice cut through the idle chatter of the Miami field office and immediately got my attention. I looked over at Holm, who had just walked in with a greasy brown bag full of food. He groaned before abandoning his hot lunch, and I followed him over to her office.
The vibration in my pocket distracted me halfway there, and I glanced down to check my phone screen, finding a name I hadn’t heard from in a while. Jake Header was a good friend, but we normally didn’t cross paths in our respective lines of work. Based on some of his less-than-legal equipment and job responsibilities, I found I liked it that way.
I made some calls to get you onto this case. I need the best on it. I know that’s you.
Before I could wonder what case he was referring to, Diane’s voice snapped me back to the task at hand. “Ethan! Now!”
I hurried into the office, and she shut the door behind me. That was never a good sign.
“We have a case,” she informed us, pacing back and forth in front of us both. Diane Ramsey wasn’t the kind of boss to mince words, so I knew I was seconds away from getting the answers I was looking for. “I’m not sure how we received it so quickly, but it’s ours. More specifically, it’s yours. Marston, you were requested to work on this. I don’t know why.”
I started putting the pieces together and had a pretty clear idea of how that had happened. “I’m happy to help, boss.” I looked over at Holm, who rolled his eyes at me. Holm was my partner, so where I went, he went, but I knew he’d be teasing me about this later.
“Glad to hear it,” Diane quipped. “Anyway, pack your bags. You’re going to Puerto Rico.”
“Wait, what?” Holm snapped his head toward Diane. “Puerto Rico? What kind of case is this?”
Diane straightened the front of her suit jacket before responding. “They found dead bodies on Mona Island, which is about forty miles off the coast of Puerto Ric
o. There are traces of cocaine, and there is concern that this was drug-motivated. Mona Island is in a direct path toward the Dominican Republic, so it’s an easy stop to load and unload goods in either direction. Although, by the nature of the special request for Ethan here, I think it’s safe to say there is something more going on.”
“Yeah, I’d imagine,” I replied. I looked over at Holm and understood his concerns. With his parents still struggling to find a new sense of normalcy in the aftermath of everything that had happened in Hawaii with him and his sister, now was a bad time to pull him away from his family. “When do we leave?”
I looked back toward Diane, who was also looking at Holm. “Right now would be ideal, but I asked them to hold off until tomorrow morning. Hopefully, that allows you to get everything together before you leave.”
“Thank you,” Holm replied simply. I knew he was probably overwhelmed with how to handle this at the moment, and I didn’t blame him for not saying more than that.
“Well, I’m going to conveniently not get any of my paperwork done,” I teased.
“Why am I not surprised?” Diane rolled her eyes before focusing her attention on Holm. “I know this is a difficult time for you to leave, so tell me what I can do to help.”
Holm nodded. “I’ll let you know. It should be fine.”
“Alright,” she continued. “When you land in Aguadilla, you will be picked up by a member of the Coast Guard, who will drive you down to Mayagüez. There, you will talk to the Commanding Officer of the cutter that was on the scene when it happened, along with local law enforcement. The Coast Guard has promised their assistance to us, and she will get you out to the island to get a firsthand look at the crime scene. I’m sending Bonnie and Dumas with you.”
Rosa Bonci, better known as Bonnie, was half of our lab tech team, and Ethel Dumas was our Medical Examiner. Usually, Ethel never traveled with us, but it seemed that this situation called for it.
I nodded and looked over at Holm. “There could be worse places to go than Puerto Rico.”
“That’s true,” he admitted. “It’ll be a nice change of pace.”
I shrugged. “Maybe some time away from the tension in that house will be good for you.”
Holm’s mother, in particular, was struggling to adjust to the recent changes. Since his parents had to leave their home and move down to Miami for their own protection, Mrs. Holm had been having a particularly hard time of it.
“You’re probably right.” He looked over at Diane. “I’ll be ready to go first thing in the morning.”
“Glad to hear it,” she replied, looking at the both of us. “I’ll let you know once the flight is secured. Take the rest of the afternoon, and I’ll give you details as I get them.”
I followed Holm out of her office, and together we grabbed what we needed and headed down to the garage.
“So, do you have any idea why you were requested?” Holm asked as we walked. “Does it have anything to do with all of the secrecy recently?”
I groaned. The secrecy Holm was referring to had to do with the investigation into the MBLIS budget cuts. Our funding had been significantly lacking for quite some time now, and it seemed to be getting worse as time went on. Thanks to TJ Warner, our go-to guy in Cyber, we had made some headway on the reasons behind it, though. We had pulled him to be our specialist up here, but the damn budget cuts took him from us. Still, he was working with me to solve this funding issue on the side, and he was a huge help.
Between his skills and Admiral Farr’s connections, we had tracked the budget cuts to one particular senator. Now, all we needed to do was find out why. Unfortunately for Holm, I wasn’t at liberty to share any of this information yet, and although it pained me to keep this from him, I knew it was necessary.
“No, it’s not connected to that.” I dug the keys to my red Dodge Charger out of my pocket. Recent events had made me realize that red may have been a poor color choice for a department car, but I loved it all the same. It suited me much more than the gray one that I had previously. Getting it into flooded streets wasn’t so fun at the time, but the end result was this beauty, so I was okay with that. “I actually got a strange text from Header as I was heading into Diane’s office. Whatever is going on, he is involved somehow.”
“Jake Header?” Holm asked, even though he knew damn well we only knew one Header. “Why the hell is he involved?”
“I have no idea,” I admitted. “I’d like to find out, though.”
“I tell you what,” Holm muttered. “I’d like a buffer for dinner tonight with my folks. You interested? We can call Header while we’re there.”
“Your mom’s cooking? Of course, I’m there.” Mrs. Holm was damn good in the kitchen, and I didn’t mind being a buffer. Not for the Holms. They were like a second family to me.
“Alright, I’ll see you there.” Holm hopped into his bright blue Lancer and took off while I slid into my Charger. I turned up the volume on the radio, and Springsteen bellowed out of the speakers as I drove out into the humid Miami air.
Holm’s parents lived nearby, and it didn’t take long to get to them. I pulled up behind Holm’s car and parked, and when I stepped out, I could already hear the yelling from inside the house. This was going to be a long evening, I could tell already.
I rapped on the door as I let myself in. “Hello? It’s me.”
“Ethan!” Mr. Holm’s attitude shifted when he saw my face. “Come in, come in. It’s lasagna night.”
“Are you the reason Robbie is leaving Miami?” Mrs. Holm snapped, fixing me with a steely gaze.
I closed the door behind me and braced myself for the onslaught of questioning. “Well, it’s just for this case,” I reminded her.
“It’s their job, hon,” Mr. Holm pointed out. “Robbie can’t just stop doing his job.”
“Diane Ramsey is here if you guys need anything while we’re gone,” I assured them. “You guys are safe.”
“You keep saying that,” Mrs. Holm muttered. “I’m not sure I believe it.”
Holm shot me an apologetic look, but he didn’t need to. I understood what was going on, and I had agreed to come over.
“We do need to call Header and see what’s going on,” I reminded Holm. “Do you want to do that now?” I looked over at Mrs. Holm. “Do we have time before dinner is ready, or should we wait?”
She sighed, and I could tell she was trying to calm herself down and focus on the present. “No, go ahead,” she assured us. “Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes.”
“Perfect.” I grinned widely at her, hoping to further dissolve the tension that had built in the room. It was so thick, I could have cut it with a knife, but I hoped by the time the call was over, emotions would settle down a bit.
Holm gestured with his chin. “Let’s go out back.”
I nodded and followed him out through the sliding glass door. “I feel bad leaving your dad in there,” I half-joked once the door had closed behind us.
“I feel terrible,” he sighed. “I wish we could tell them more, but I know we can’t, for their safety. They know that too, but still… it’s frustrating.”
“Brother, I know exactly how you feel.” I gave him a pointed look, and he nodded grimly. He knew I was referring to keeping him out of the loop with the whole funding issue, and he also knew what I hadn’t said, which is that if I could tell him, I would.
“Well, let’s get this call going before Mom comes out here, berating us for being late to dinner.” Holm shoved his hands into his pockets. I pulled out my phone, dialed Header’s number, and hit the speakerphone button before setting the phone down on the Holms’ mosaic stone table.
“Header.” His gruff voice came through clearly.
“Hey, man,” I replied, locking eyes with Holm. “it’s Marston. Holm is with me. Touching base.”
“Are you on the case yet?” he asked pointedly.
“Oh, yeah,” I assured him. “We’re flying down tomorrow morning. The place starts
with an A, but I can’t remember the name.”
“Aguadilla,” he replied confidently.
“Yeah, that sounds right. How d'you know?”
He chuckled. “It’s the only place with an A to fly into down here. Good news is, it’s near me.”
“Oh, good.” It’d be nice to have a familiar face nearby. “One of the Coasties is supposed to be picking us up and bringing us back to their cutter, and then Holm and I will be checking out the crime scene.”
“Well, when you’re done with all of that, let me know,” he insisted.
“We will,” I agreed, “and not just because we haven’t seen you in a while. Why am I on this case? Why is this even a case? Diane had virtually no information for us other than the fact that I specifically was requested. I know there is more to this, but I don’t know why.”
“There is,” he replied matter-of-factly, “but I’m not discussing it over the phone. Let me know when you’re done with your crime scene. I’ll send you my address. We will talk here.”
I looked up at Holm, and he chuckled silently and nodded. We were on the same page here. Header wouldn’t talk to us over the phone because something about this wasn’t aboveboard.
“Header, are you about to get us into some hot water?” Holm added.
“That’s what I’m good at,” he replied, and for the first time in this phone call, I detected a hint of humor. “Don’t worry. I know you guys are rule-followers. I won’t get you into too much trouble.”
“Coming from you, that statement is worrisome.” I picked up the phone and hovered over the button to end the call. “See you soon, Header.”
“I’ll be glad to have you onboard,” he replied, and I hung up the phone and looked at Holm.
“Well, that was as clear as mud,” Holm snarked. “I’d like to have some idea of what I’m getting myself into down there.”
“Hey, if he gets us into enough trouble, we may get another ride on Wraith,” I teased.
“Yeah, and it would be even better if we didn’t get shot at this time,” Holm reminded me.
