Thunder Storm

by Matt Lincoln

  Tears welled up in Miguel’s eyes. “They were really about to kill me. I was just a pawn to them. A means to an end. They’re furious now. My poor sister, she will have it even worse than I did.” He sputtered on his years. “I can’t lose my sister.”

  “We’re doing everything we can,” Holm replied smoothly, his voice reflecting an even, calm demeanor that I did not possess for myself.

  “Rosa,” Header called out over his shoulder. “How’s it going?”

  Rosa was wrapping Miguel’s leg, and when she looked up and Holm and I, she must have realized neither of us could read sign language because her eyes narrowed slightly as she gave us a thumbs-up.

  “She’s good,” I relayed to Header. “She’s wrapping him up.”

  “Good!” he bellowed. “When you’re done there, gorgeous, can you set my boys up with the rifles?”

  She nodded distractedly as she finished up, and after loading up her gear and putting everything away in the hidden compartment off to the side, she stood up and walked up to me.

  With the push of a button, small windows vented open on either side of the boat. Rosa then pushed another button, which opened to reveal the small armory Header kept on board. She pulled out a rifle and carried it over to the open window, propping the end of the barrel through the gap while she pressed the other end into her shoulder.

  “Concealment while we shoot,” Holm muttered with an impressed tone, and Rosa turned to look at him with a confirming smile. She came back and handed the rifle to Holm before pulling a second one out for me.

  As she returned to the armory panel, I looked down at the solidly built machine gun in my lap. This thing dwarfed the rifle that hung strapped to my chest, and the same could be said about the ammunition that she set in front of me. Header was not playing around when it came to his firearms, and given what was at stake, I was very grateful for that.

  I stood up from my seat, and Rosa pointed me over to the port side window before guiding Holm to the same position on the starboard side. Once she was comfortable walking away from Miguel and leaving him in his girlfriend’s arms, she headed up to the helm and took her spot beside Header, the same spot I had just vacated. It made me realize how temporary that position had been for me. Despite my history with Header, he had a team now, and his loyalty and dedication to them ran deep. I couldn’t compete with that, nor did I want to. We may have gone in two separate directions after our time together in the SEALs, but I was damn proud of the work he’d done.

  I watched for any sign of Hector’s boat, the seconds ticking by painfully slowly until I finally began to make something out on the horizon. The sky was darkening now, making it harder to see, but it was definitely Hector’s boat. Header saw it too, inching the throttle forward a bit more as he raced toward it.

  “Get ready, boys!” he hollered as he closed the distance between the other boat and ourselves.

  We approached the port side, which was great news for me, as I had a clear shot from my side. Not wanting to harm Alejandra in any way, I aimed at the engine and shot it out, listening for the sputtering as it died, leaving the boat dead on the water.

  Abreu laughed and stepped up behind Alejandra, who still looked utterly terrified. He slipped one arm over her shoulder, pinning her up against him, and used his other hand to raise a pistol to her head.

  “Wait, I’ve seen this before,” Header quipped, but I couldn’t bring myself to crack any jokes at the moment. I couldn’t see where Gonzalez went, but a gasp from Holm caught my attention.

  “He’s at the aft end of the boat. I think he’s getting five gear on.” I peeled my eyes off of Alejandra for a second to glance aft, and sure enough, I caught a glimpse.

  “I guess we’re going swimming,” I proposed. Rosa opened the side hatch with the dive gear and began getting her gear out. She offered a set to Holm, but he refused.

  “No,” he asserted. “I’m staying up here. Marston is going in.”

  “What?” I snapped, not wanting to step away from my post. “Why not you?”

  “One word,” Holm declared. “Objectivity.”

  “Marston is still injured,” Header reminded us, but Holm dismissed his comment with a wave of his hand.

  “He’ll recover,” Holm muttered. “He’s more dangerous up here.”

  I would have argued, but I trusted Holm to keep a level head, and I trusted both men to do the job as well as I could. I met up with Rosa, and we quickly donned our dive gear while I made a mental note to try not to injure myself further down beneath the water.

  “He’s in the water,” Header announced suddenly before we were ready.

  “What is he trying to do?” I demanded to know. “There’s nowhere to go!” Rosa slid my K-bad over to me, and I strapped it to my leg as I tried to make sense of what was happening.

  “We don’t know if that is Gonzalez,” Holm pointed out. “We’re assuming. If he gets away, we can’t prove much.”

  “Abreu, on the other hand, we already know.” Header stared out at Hector’s stolen boat. “Even if he escapes, we know all about him. There’s no question he is involved. We can track him down and bring him in. Since he has nowhere to go, it makes sense for him to stay with the hostage.”

  “And separating us increases the odds that one of them can get away,” I concluded.

  “Right,” Header nodded, “but they don’t know just who they’re messing with.”

  I was ready now, and so was Rosa. She nodded to me, and with a final wave toward Header and Holm, I dropped into the water.

  Once again, we were night diving, which made visibility especially tough. I had to assume he was heading away from us and out to sea, so I turned and headed in that direction. Rosa was beside me for a bit, but waved to me and indicated that we split up, which I agreed with. In these conditions, it’d be wise to split up and cover more ground.

  I pushed forward, my dive light doing little to illuminate much out in the distance. I was beginning to feel a bit defeated at my lack of progress when I saw it, a bobbing light in the distance. I headed right toward it, trying to pick up as much speed as possible. We weren’t that deep below the surface, but I still had no idea what was going on up above us. I hoped beyond hope that Header and Holm would be able to get to Alejandra before it was too late. If Miguel had been a great pawn, Alejandra was even better, as she had been working directly with us.

  Shoving those errant thoughts aside, I focused on closing the distance between myself and the moving light before me. A diver’s body came into view, but they were still unaware of my presence behind them. Since there was no way Rosa would have made it this far in such a short period of time, it had to be Gonzalez.

  As I closed in on the final stretch, my dive light must have given me away, because Gonzalez turned around and spotted me. He immediately began swimming faster to get away from me, but he wasn’t as comfortable under the water as I was. I was able to catch up, and I grabbed him by the ankle to pull him backward. He kicked, hard, shaking my hand loose, but I managed to grab on a bit higher up his leg, keeping my grip firm to prevent him from shaking me off again. He twisted and pulled and kicked, catching my shoulder in one attempt and grazing my injured side in a second attempt. I tensed my jaw as I gritted through the pain the best I could, but I didn’t let him shake me loose.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted another dive light heading toward us and knew it was Rosa. She swam over the top of us and tried to grab his arms, but he managed to pull out a knife of his own, swinging it in her direction. She pushed back away from him to stay out of range, but she wasn’t quick enough, and he tore through her suit. I watched as crimson bloomed around her in the water. Her eyes widened, and she reached up into her collar to do something. I saw a red blinking light inside her collar and realized that the homing beacon was also a distress signal.

  She met my eyes and then turned back to Gonzalez, who was still wielding a knife at us. I pulled out my K-bar, and she swam around to his other side s
o that he was surrounded. I waited until he looked at me and I darted forward with my blade. He pushed back from me, landing right within Rosa’s grasp, and she quickly grabbed his knife hand and jammed her elbow down onto his arm, forcing his fist open as his body dealt with the pain. With his knife floating unattended in the water, she was able to cuff him safely. He was still kicking and flailing, but I slid my K-bar back into its sheath and helped to hold him in place. We pulled him up to the surface, and within seconds, Wraith was pulling up to get us on board.

  Holm helped to hoist the three of us up, but one quick look around told me that Alejandra wasn’t on board, and therefore was still in danger. As soon as we were all on board, Header wordlessly closed the hatch and took off while Holm secured Gonzalez to the deck. I quickly began shedding my dive gear as Rosa stumbled over to her medic kit and began ripping through it, but when I went to help her, she shoved me away.

  “Damn, sorry,” I muttered. “I can help you.”

  She shook her head adamantly as she ripped her suit open to tend to her own wounds. This woman was her own brand of badass. She would most likely need stitches. Was she going to do that, too?

  “Marston.” I looked up to see Holm waving me up to the helm. I quickly finished changing out and rushed over to meet him. He pointed to the radar screen. “There’s a second boat. We believe that’s where Gonzalez was headed. It’s where Abreu is now.”

  “I already called Linda,” Header announced. “Her cutter was on the way back into San Juan, so she redirected the crew toward us. She’s heading our way. I can’t hold all of these people on Wraith. We’re running out of room.”

  I knew it had been the most sensible move, but I was once again struck by Header’s willingness to work with the government and the military. This wasn’t the rebellious freelancer I knew. I stifled a chuckle as I nodded.

  “Good,” I admitted. “We will need a bit of help. How did Abreu and Alejandra get off Hector’s boat?”

  “They came by and picked them up. Abreu must have been in communication with them.” Header was talking to me, but he didn’t take his eyes off the water.

  “Leaving Gonzalez out in the water was risky,” I shrugged. “They left him swimming with no backup.”

  “It was,” Holm agreed, “but on the other hand, Abreu was in more immediate danger. I don’t think they expected you two to dive into the water after him.” Holm gestured toward Rosa, and when I turned around, my eyes widened in surprise. There she was, sitting cross-legged on the deck, her dive suit pulled clear off her shoulder with needle and thread in her hands.

  “She really is stitching herself up,” I muttered. I looked over at Header, who had a small smile on his face.

  “Rosa can do anything,” he said simply as he continued to look out over the water.

  We were still driving forward toward the blip on the radar, and we were closing in quickly. Suddenly, Header’s phone rang. He took one look at it and tossed it to me.

  “It’s Linda,” he barked.

  I caught the phone and answered it quickly. “Hey, Linda, it’s Ethan.”

  “Ethan!” she called out cheerfully. “We are closing in on your position.”

  I gestured quickly for Holm to change the radar screen, and sure enough, once we zoomed out, we could see something about the size of Linda’s cutter heading our way.

  “Wow, that was quick,” Holm announced cheerfully. Header glanced over quickly, and his smile widened.

  “We see you,” I acknowledged. “Do you need anything from us?”

  “No, we can handle it,” she replied confidently. “Do me a favor. Have your people call my people so that we can work out the chain of custody for these guys.”

  “Sure thing,” I agreed. After I hung up, I turned to meet the expectant faces of both Holm and Header.

  “We need to have Diane call the Coast Guard to work out the chain of custody. I also want Linda’s cutter to take Gonzalez. We may as well get this all done at once.”

  Holm nodded firmly. “Do that. I’ve got this up here.”

  I turned and walked to the aft end of the boat, past Maria and Miguel on one side and a handcuffed Gonzalez on the other. In the corner, Rosa was doing some fine work on her stitches, and I knew better than to interrupt her. I pulled out my phone and dialed Diane’s number.

  “Ramsey,” she answered distractedly.

  “Hi, Diane,” I replied shortly.

  “Marston!” she bellowed into the phone suddenly. “Why haven’t I heard from you?”

  “Diane, I’m sorry, I should have kept you more informed,” I began. “I need you to call the Coast Guard and work out the chain of custody for the men behind this entire debacle.” I gave her a quick rundown of everything that had just happened.

  “Okay,” she replied briskly. “I’ll do it right now, but Marston? Call me as soon as you two are safe.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I assured her before hanging up.

  When I reached the helm, I saw that we were quickly closing in on the boat in question. A smaller blip had also broken free of where the Coast Guard cutter was.

  “Looks like they launched their small boat,” Header observed, and sure enough, past the bland gray hull of the boat before us, we saw a bright orange rigid-hulled inflatable boat cutting through the water toward us. Header dropped the hatch as we approached them, and I heard shouts coming from the small orange boat.

  At least one of the shouts involved Header’s name, and I recognized Debra as one of the crew members on board. Beneath her helmet and her body armor, her eyes lit up with excitement. I knew she was thrilled to be part of our case, and while one hand remained planted on her rifle, the other punched the air as she looked our way.

  When the Coast Guard boat pulled up alongside the gray boat, the entire crew fixed their rifles on Abreu and his accomplice. I saw Alejandra seated in the corner. She looked absolutely terrified, and I couldn’t blame her. She had four rifles aimed in her direction with nowhere to hide.

  “This is the United States Coast Guard! Drop your weapons and put your hands above your head!” Debra’s voice rang out through the air as we approached with a fierceness I hadn’t heard before. The men slowly lowered their weapons to the deck and raised their hands up, and while a couple of rifles remained fixed on the men, Debra and one of her crew members climbed overboard and cuffed them. Within a matter of minutes, the gray boat had been searched thoroughly, and the two men had been taken over to the small boat. When that was all done, Header’s phone rang again, echoing through the silence.

  “Hey, Lin,” he answered, a small smile escaping his lips before he could catch it. “Sure thing, we can handle it.” He hung up and waited until the small boat moved back toward the cutter, and we moved into where Alejandra waited by herself.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, and a message came through on my phone as I asked. I looked down to see a message from Diane Ramsey.

  Give kidnappers to USCG. Get the kids back home to DR. Call when things calm down.

  “Linda wants Gonzalez and wants us to grab Alejandra,” Header announced. He pulled up alongside the boat, and Alejandra stood up, still a bit shaky.

  Her eyes expressed a mixture of fear and relief as she watched Wraith draw closer. I rushed over to the hatch where I grabbed onto the side as Header nestled us up against the other boat.

  “Hey, beautiful.” I flashed her my most comforting smile, and she let out a long, relieved breath as she grabbed onto my outstretched hand. I pulled her over onto Wraith’s hatch, and as soon as she got her footing, I felt a rush of air as her brother tackled her in a hug.

  “Miguel!” she squeaked, throwing her arms back around him. She began sobbing loudly against his shoulder, and it took me a minute to realize that he was sobbing, too.

  “Hey, kids, step inside, we’re moving,” Header announced. I gently placed my hand on her back and ushered the two of them off the edge as Header accelerated smoothly toward the cutter.

  We’d se
en the cutter at the pier on base, but it looked a lot more imposing out on the water at night. The substantial white hull seemed overwhelming from our position flush with the water, towering over us as we pulled close. The crew was lined up along the upper railing outside, looking down at Wraith in awe and excitement as we passed, a sea of navy blue against the stark white background. When we reached the aft end of the main deck, Debra and her crew met us there, and Debra deftly climbed down to Wraith’s open hatch, jumping the last few feet to land on the deck.

  “Hello, boys!” she greeted, her contagious smile lighting up her face. “Is this for me?” She pointed down to Gonzalez, who was staring daggers at her.

  “Yeah, special delivery,” Header quipped, winking at her.

  “How kind of you.” Debra laughed heartily and went to work, releasing Gonzalez from where we had secured him to Wraith’s deck and hauling him up to standing. “We’ll take it from here, boys.”

  With the help of a couple of the guys up on the main deck of the cutter, she transferred Gonzalez over to Coast Guard custody. Hoots and hollers came from the rest of the crew as Gonzalez joined Abeu and their accomplice. The ship’s horn blew, and when I looked up at the bridge, Linda was standing against the railing, smiling down at us. I looked over at Header, who smiled proudly back up at her before guiding Wraith away from the cutter and into the darkness.

  My phone rang a minute or two later, and when I glanced down, I saw that it was Diane. I immediately answered it and hit the speakerphone button. With the hatch raised again, the ambient noise had dropped to a bare minimum, so we could all hear her.

  “You have good timing,” I answered, looking back at Miguel, Maria, and Alejandra. They all looked exhausted as if they’d just ran a marathon, and I could understand why. Now that the excitement had died down, I was just relieved that they were safe.

  “It wasn’t a coincidence,” Diane responded warmly. “I just heard from CO Morris at Sector San Juan. He said the men are in Coast Guard custody. They will be bringing them back to the Dominican Republic to face the consequences of their actions. This time, Abreu isn’t skating around the laws.”