by Matt Lincoln
I set my bag down on top of the table before leaning down to inspect the inside of the cabinet. On one side sat a mini-fridge stocked with drinks and snacks like cups of fruit, while the other contained a coffee-maker and several packets of instant coffee, cream, and sugar. Once I finished looking through everything, I closed the cabinet doors back up and gathered everything I might need for that day, namely my gun, a couple of sets of handcuffs, and my pocket knife. It wasn’t until I double-checked that it occurred to me that I most likely wouldn’t need any of this today, since all we were doing was meeting our liaison and going over our plan for tomorrow.
Better safe than sorry, I thought to myself as I headed back out, checking to make sure the door locked behind me. Holm was coming out of his room at the same time.
“Read to go?” he asked as he closed his room door.
“Ready,” I replied. The two of us made our way back down into the lobby and out into the parking lot. It was a sunny day, but the heat wasn’t too bad. On the contrary, the warm breeze that was blowing felt nice.
“What did Diane say was the name of the person we’re meeting with?” Holm asked as the two of us climbed back into the car.
“Lopez, I believe,” I replied as I pulled out of the hotel parking lot. “Captain Lopez.”
As we drove further from the center of downtown and closer to the police station, I noticed that the buildings looked markedly less bright and colorful. Gone were with pinks and greens, replaced instead by dusty yellow and tan. It wasn’t necessarily ugly or anything, just a lot more muted in comparison.
At least, that was what I thought until we reached the police station itself. My first thought upon seeing the building was that it looked haunted, like the kind of creepy place that would be the setting of a horror movie.
The building was square, made up of harsh, straight lines that gave the whole place an uninviting, utilitarian look. The beige paint was peeling in spots, revealing the muddy gray cement beneath. Metal bars covered the darkened windows, and the doorway stood in the shadow of a large overhang.
“This is the place?” Holm asked warily, as though he was thinking the exact same thing I was.
“This is it,” I replied. This was the address we’d been given, and there was a line of police cars parked along the street outside the building, so there was no mistaking it.
“Alright,” Holm replied as we stepped out of the car.
Unlike the center of the city, which had been bustling with people, this street was completely quiet. It struck me as a bit of an odd choice to put the police station way out here on the outskirts of the city rather than in the center. There was always going to be more crime where there were more people, and being so far away would increase the amount of time it took for police to respond to emergencies.
Then again, I thought to myself as we stepped into the station, the entire island is pretty small. It probably doesn’t make that much of a difference.
It pleasantly surprised me to find that the inside of the station was significantly less spooky than the outside. The doors opened into a small reception area that was sleek and modern. A tempered glass wall separated the lobby from the rest of the police station, as was standard in most up-to-date police stations, and benches lined either side of the lobby. An officer was sitting behind the glass, lazily flipping through the pages of a magazine. He looked up at us as we entered.
“Can I help you with something?” He asked as we approached the window.
“Yes,” I replied as I pulled my badge out of my pocket. “I’m Agent Marston, and this is my partner, Agent Holm. We’re with MBLIS. We’re here to speak with Captain Lopez.”
“Yes,” he mumbled as he set the magazine down and pushed his chair back. “I was told you would be coming. Just a second, I’ll open the door for you.” He disappeared from view, and a moment later, a door to the right of the glass window creaked open. “You can come through here.”
Holm and I followed him through the door, which led into a hallway inside the police station. To the left, I could see the entrance into the windowed area that the officer had just been sitting in.
“Do you know how to get to this office?” the officer asked
“No,” I replied. “We just arrived in Oranjestad today.”
“I’ll walk you down there, then,” he offered kindly before motioning for us to follow him. He led us down the hallway, past a few rooms, and up a flight of stairs. I could hear voices as we got to the top of the staircase, which opened into a bullpen on the second floor. Dozens of desks lined the entirety of the large, open space, the majority of which were occupied by officers.
“This way,” the officer said as he led us around the side of the bullpen and toward the back of the room. There were offices back here, the largest of which was marked “Captain Lopez.” The shutters on the window to this officer were closed, so I couldn’t see inside.
“Captain?” the officer called after knocking twice on the door.
“Come in!” a muffled voice called from inside. It was difficult to hear over the din of the office but still audible enough that the officer pushed the door open immediately.
“The American agents are here,” he announced as he stepped aside to let us through.
“Well, come on in,” Lopez invited us forward.
He was a stout man, with thick, dark hair and a thick, dark mustache to match. He had a ruddy, friendly face, and he stood up as Holm and I stepped into his office. The office itself was modestly decorated. Two filing cabinets pressed against a back corner next to a bookshelf. A plain, metal desk sat at one end of the room, in front of a simple black computer chair. A soft blue rug covered the majority of the floor, and aside from the desk, the only other furniture in the room was a set of identical chairs meant for visitors.
“Thank you, Officer Giel.” Lopez turned to the officer with a jovial, deep voice as he circled around the desk to walk toward us.
“Of course, Captain,” the officer replied. “I’ll head back to the front desk now.”
“I’ll see you later then,” Lopez replied as the officer left the room. Once he was gone, he turned to Holm and me before thrusting his hand out toward us. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Captain Alberto Lopez.”
“Likewise,” I replied as I took his hand. His grip was firm and heavy. “I’m Agent Ethan Marston.”
“Robbie Holm,” Holm introduced himself as he, too, shook the captain’s hand.
“Well, why don’t we all sit down instead of standing around?” The captain chuckled as he gestured for us to sit in the two chairs facing the desk. As we did, he circled back around the side of his desk to sink into his own chair. “Thank you for coming all the way out here. How was your flight?”
“It was fine,” I replied as I took a seat in one of the chairs. “And you don’t need to thank us. We’re only doing our job.”
“I do need to thank you,” he insisted. “I pride myself on my ability to keep this city safe. To think that something this--” He cut himself off as his face twisted into a disgusted grimace. “This abhorrent was going on here. It makes me ill. I want to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.”
I decided then that I liked this Captain Lopez. He seemed like a friendly guy, and he was very obviously concerned about the welfare of his city, which meant that Holm’s earlier fears about the possibility of the police here being corrupt were unfounded.
“I’m glad that you feel that way,” I replied. “We’ll be able to make a lot more progress working together.”
“Of course,” Lopez replied, his bushy mustache hiding the majority of the warm smile he gave us. “Oh, I almost forgot. I should call Officer Linden in here. He’ll be accompanying you on your mission, after all.” He stood back up before walking past us to the door.
“Gabe,” he called as he poked his head through the opened doorway. “Could you come in here, please?”
A moment later, the door opened completely as a young man with
curly brown hair and green eyes stepped into the captain’s office. He eyed Holm and me curiously as Lopez shut the door behind him.
“Agents, this is Officer Gabe Linden,” Lopez explained as he clapped a hand down onto the officer’s shoulder. He was pretty skinny, especially in comparison to Lopez, and he buckled slightly under the force of the larger man’s hand. “Gabe, these are the agents I was telling you about earlier this morning. Agent Marston and Agent Holm.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I replied as I stood up to shake the officer’s hand.
“You too,” he replied. “I was really excited when I heard about the case. Well, maybe ‘excited’ isn’t the best word. I’m looking forward to working with you, though.”
“Gabe here’s got a lot of experience dealing with the local gangs,” Lopez informed us. “I figured it would be a good idea to put him on the case with you, considering the circumstances.”
“What do you mean by experience?” I asked, both curious and a little wary about what exactly that entailed.
“Oh, well, I’m one of the younger officers on the force,” Linden responded. “I also just moved here recently, so my face isn’t all that well known. Because of that, it’s easy for me to blend in with the younger crowd that the gangs tend to prey on.” He frowned. “Rotten bastards always go after kids who don’t know any better. To be honest, I don’t know that much about the gangs, mostly just surface stuff. The captain thought it would be a good idea for me to go anyway, though, just in case we needed to do any undercover work.”
“That’s actually a good idea,” I replied. “We’re operating under the assumption that there’s some gang involvement here.”
Lopez suddenly frowned as he looked at the three of us and then at the two chairs in the room. “I’ll be right back,” he declared calmly before turning on his heel toward the door.
“Uh, it’s okay,” Linden attempted to stop him. “I can just stand--”
“Nonsense.” Captain Lopez brushed him off with a casual wave of his hand before continuing out of the office.
“That’s the captain for you.” Linden shook his head, a small smile playing at his lips as he turned to look at us. “He’s a really nice guy, always thinking about everyone else first. Probably the best boss I’ve ever had.”
“That’s nice,” I replied as I peered out through the open doorway. Lopez was already on his way back, pushing a rolling desk chair in front of him. It was always better when you got to work under someone like Lopez, or Diane, for that matter.
“Alright,” Captain Lopez announced as she shoved the extra chair into the room before walking back to his own chair behind the desk. “Now we can all sit and talk about what our plans are. If I recall correctly, our current plan is to wait for the incoming cruise ship the Diamond of the Seas to come into port, correct?”
“That’s right,” I replied as I took a seat again. “A man connected to one of the suspects we already arrested is currently on that ship, so we believe that another group of victims may be on board as well.”
“And you want to wait until he gets off the boat to intercept him?” Lopez asked.
“That’s the plan,” I replied. “According to the suspect we interrogated, someone always meets them at the dock upon arrival to lead them to the apartment where they force the women to ingest drugs. Hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, we can catch both parties in the act.”
“What about the other passengers?” Lopez asked, his eyebrows furrowing together in concern. “Won’t it be dangerous to carry out a mission like that with so many civilians roaming around nearby?”
“That is a legitimate concern,” I agreed, “which is why it will be important for us to move as quickly and precisely as possible. We can’t afford to make any mistakes. The second we spot the people we’re after, we need to strike in order to apprehend them before they have a chance to put anyone else in danger.”
“Assuming they do arrive,” Linden muttered. “I mean, I’m not saying that I doubt you or anything, but this is mostly speculation, right? We don’t have any confirmation that there actually are victims on board that ship. Have you spoken to the captain of the ship to see if anything strange is going on? Or maybe to ask about that particular passenger who is connected to the other suspect?”
“We thought about doing that,” I replied. “In the end, though, we decided it might be too risky to tip anyone off ahead of time of what our plans were, even the captain.”
“What do you mean?” Linden looked at me in confusion.
“Well, consider we do alert the captain,” I explained as I leaned back in my chair. “He’s going to start acting differently. There’s no way he wouldn’t. Unless he’s got a killer poker face or has the kind of military training that teaches you to remain completely calm under pressure, he would eventually start behaving oddly, which could tip off the traffickers. Or he might tell someone else. Even if we tell him not to, we can’t be sure he won’t confide in one of his crewmen or a friend. Word starts getting around, and eventually, the traffickers realize what’s up.”
“If that happens,” Holm added, “we might lose our chance to catch him completely. Say they find out we’re waiting for them and decide to just not come off the boat? Sure, we might be able to go on board and look for them, but it’s possible that they might attempt to harm the victims preemptively in that case, to get rid of the evidence, so to speak. Plus, we’d have no idea how to find the Aruban gang at that point, either.”
“I see,” Linden muttered as he looked down at the ground. He didn’t look satisfied by the idea, despite our reasoning behind it.
“I can’t say I like the fact that we won’t be informing the captain of the ship,” Lopez grumbled, clearly as conflicted about it as Linden was. “However, I understand the points you make, and I respect your decision. To that end, I will follow your lead on this. Tomorrow morning, when the ship is scheduled to arrive, I’ll send a group of plainclothes officers along with you to blend into the crowd until the opportune moment arrives to arrest the offending parties.”
“Thanks,” I replied. It was a relief that Lopez was going along with our plan so willingly. It would ensure that everything went as smoothly as possible once we were actually out in the field.
“Well, that’s all sorted out now,” Lopez declared cheerfully. “We can all meet back here tomorrow at five in the morning. The ship is scheduled to pull into port as six, so that will give us plenty of time to go over everything once again before heading out.”
“Great,” I replied as I stood up, sensing that the meeting had come to a close.
“I’ll go and get things wrapped up, so I’ll be ready to go tomorrow,” Linden said as he stood up as well before turning to look at Holm and me. “It was great meeting you. Like I said earlier, I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“Likewise,” I replied. Linden tossed us one last polite smile before hurrying out of the office.
“We’ll see you tomorrow then.” I turned to bid farewell to Captain Lopez.
“Tomorrow,” he replied, his mustache crumpling as it once again obscured the man’s smile.
After Holm had said goodbye as well, the two of us turned around and left the office. The way back down to the lobby was easy enough to remember, so it only took us a few minutes to make our way through the station and back out into the sunlight.
“What do we do now?” Holm wondered aloud as we ambled calmly toward the car, not in any particular rush to get anywhere.
“Let’s go get something to eat,” I suggested as I hopped into the driver’s seat. “I haven’t had anything since this morning.”
“Sounds good to me,” Holm replied as he got into the car after me.
As I pulled back onto the street and drove toward the center of town, I decided to make the most of the short reprieve we were getting now. It wasn’t often that we had a chance to just take a break, and something told me that things were only going to get more intense
as the investigation went on.
13
Ethan
Ultimately, we decided to park the car back at the hotel before finding a place to eat on foot. I hadn’t gotten a chance to have a good look at the buildings downtown as we drove past, and I wanted to take the opportunity to do so now.
As we walked through the main street, how unique the buildings here were struck me once again. It looked like the entire street was lined on both sides with giant gingerbread houses. Buildings in shades of pink, blue, orange, and green towered above us, accented with bright white balconies and window sills. It was whimsical, like something a kid might have made up in a crayon drawing. The large, shiny red and gold trolleys that roved up and down the street completed the effect, each car packed to the brim with excited tourists snapping pictures and pointing excitedly as they marveled at the landscape of the city.
“I wonder where we should go,” Holm muttered as he looked around at the various restaurants and eateries that beckoned visitors forward from either side of the street. I could understand his indecision. There was so much to look at and take in that it was almost overwhelming.
“Let me look,” I replied as I dug my phone out of my pocket. A simple Google search resolved our quandary.
Restaurants in Oranjestad, I thought to myself as I typed the same into the search engine. I would just pick one that looked good based on reviews.
“There’s a seafood place near here,” I informed Holm after taking a moment to scan through the results. “Says here that they catch all of their food fresh the same day they serve it.”
