On the Prowl

by Matt Lincoln

  30

  Junior

  I was gobsmacked when I arrived in Symi only to discover that, rather than a group of officers, I’d be boarding the ferry with only one police partner. I tried to convince myself that this wasn’t a big deal and that everything would turn out fine, but I couldn’t help but think about the last time I boarded a boat. I’d ended up with a concussion and partial amnesia, and that time, I’d had Hills and two other police officers with me.

  At least the police officer who’d been assigned to me seemed nice. She’d met me outside the small airport I’d flown into and had seemed apologetic as she explained the changes in the plan. Her name was Angelique, and apparently, our plan was to board the ferry undercover and pose as tourists until the opportune moment presented itself, and we could apprehend the suspect. It wasn’t a bad plan, and it allowed us a better chance to catch the suspect unawares, but it seemed a little counterintuitive considering the ferry staff had been preemptively made aware of the mission. If word got to one of the smugglers, it wouldn’t matter how covert we were.

  Nevertheless, it wouldn’t do any good to worry about it now. With that in mind, we drove over to the port that the ferry would be departing from and mixed in with the rest of the tourists taking pictures and waiting for the boat to arrive. Angelique already had tickets, so now it was only a matter of waiting.

  To be honest, it wasn’t that difficult to stand around, pretending to admire the sights. Symi was a beautiful island full of brightly colored buildings and surrounded by fishing boats. No matter which direction you looked, there was something lovely to admire. I took up time by actually taking pictures of the sights, only stopping when I could see the ferry approaching in the distance.

  “Are you ready?” I asked Angelique quietly with a smile on my face.

  “I’m ready,” she said casually while fanning herself with a brochure.

  People started to load onto the ferry slowly as it finished pulling into the dock. I looked around at all the smiling families enjoying the day and was struck with a sense of horror at how, beneath all the smiles and laughter, a criminal organization had been moving undetected for months. I wondered grimly how many other families like the Galanis family were out there, pulling off elaborate crime schemes, but before the thought could overtake me and distract me from the mission, I shoved it away. If those people were out there, we’d catch them sooner or later. For now, though, I needed to focus on this task.

  The process of getting onto the ship was slow and tedious, but once we were on, we jumped into action. Unlike on the cruise ship, where we’d had one of the captain’s stewards escorting us, the objective here was to remain undetected as long as we could. Therefore, we weren’t as free to move around as we had been on that ship. Our plan was to make our way down to the cargo hold and locate the animals. Once we were certain they were, in fact, onboard, we would hide and wait to see who would approach the crates once the ferry docked again. This way, we’d have proof of the smuggling as well as catching them in the act.

  We moved through the boat as inconspicuously as we could, acting as if we knew where we were going. If we seemed confident enough, we probably wouldn’t be stopped, and on the off chance someone did notice us, we would pretend to be lost tourists and play it off as a mistake.

  The layout of this ferry was similar to the one that Hills and I had boarded two days earlier. My memory of that day was still a little hazy, but as I moved through the boat, I found that I could remember the path we’d taken fairly well. We got lucky, and even though a few crew members shot us confused looks as we passed through areas we were likely not supposed to be in, no one stopped us until we got to the door that led down to the cargo hold.

  Just as we were approaching it, the door swung open, and a man emerged from the other side. His eyes went wide when he saw us, and he said something in Greek. Angelique answered back, and I waited tensely as I watched for the man’s reaction to whatever she was saying. I hated not being able to understand and vowed that on my next mission, I would at least learn the basics of that country’s language.

  The man said something back, and even though I couldn’t understand exactly what he was saying, I could sense hostility in the tone of his voice. Angelique raised one hand in a placating gesture and said something calmly, but I noticed she was moving her other hand slowly toward the gun concealed on her hip. Unfortunately, the man noticed the movement too, and a second after his eyes roved down to follow the movement, he reached behind his back and produced his own gun.

  I didn’t have a lot of options in the narrow corridor we were standing in, so I leaped forward, tackling the man to the ground. Above me, I heard the gun go off, followed by a short scream of pain. My blood ran cold as I realized it was a woman’s voice. I locked one arm around the suspect’s neck and used the other to pin his forearm to the ground so he wouldn’t be able to shoot again. I twisted around as far as I could to try to check on Angelique.

  “Are you okay?” I shouted as the suspect struggled beneath me, using his free hand to strike my side.

  “I’m fine,” I heard her say as she limped over to me, and although I could tell by the strain in her voice and her difficulty walking that she had gotten hurt, I still felt relieved to hear her voice.

  Angelique stepped down hard on the suspect’s wrist, causing him to drop the gun, and then she kicked it away as she knelt down to help me turn him onto his stomach so that we could restrain him with handcuffs.

  Once we had restrained him, we both collapsed against the walls of the corridor, in pain and out of breath. Now that I didn’t have adrenaline rushing through my veins, my side was radiating with a painful heat where he’d punched me repeatedly. I looked over at Angelique and saw blood staining the top of her jeans and pooling around her on the ground.

  “Bastard shot me in the leg,” she said, pulling a bottle of antiseptic and a roll of gauze out of her bag. Now that the struggle was over, I could hear a commotion from the floor above, and an intercom system was playing a message I couldn’t understand.

  “They’re asking the passengers to remain calm,” Angelique said as she gritted her teeth and poured antiseptic over the wound. “They must have heard the gunshot. Not a great sound to hear when you’re in the middle of the ocean with no way off the boat.” She tore off a piece of gauze and wrapped it tightly around the bullet wound.

  “That should hold until we get back to shore, and then I can see a proper doctor,” she said, placing the items back in her bag and standing up slowly, taking care not to put too much pressure on her injured leg.

  I hoped she was right and that the alarm was only a result of the gunshot. It only just now occurred to me that if we got seriously injured, there was no way to get immediate medical attention out here at sea, and I hoped that the man with us really was the only suspect on board.

  I pulled the suspect up into a seated position, pushing him a little too roughly than was necessary against the wall of the corridor. Normally, it wasn’t my style to be so brusque and aggressive with suspects, but my temporary partner had just had to bandage her own gunshot wound, and the growing pain in my side was making it difficult for me to maintain my usual composed demeanor.

  “Where are the animals?” I asked him directly, and before I could worry about him not understanding me, Angelique repeated the question in Greek. The man just sneered and spit at me before saying something in Greek.

  “Tell him we know about the ferry in Lavrio and about the garage in Port of Piraeus,” I said to Angelique without pulling my eyes away from the suspect’s. “Tell him we’re going to search the cargo area anyway, so he might as well just make this easier for all of us and tell us where exactly they are now.” She translated everything I said to the man, who became paler with each word. For a moment, he seemed to be having an internal battle as he alternated between scowling at us and looking around the small corridor as if trying to find some means of escape. Eventually, he gave up, his entire body deflat
ing as he said something to Angelique.

  “He said they’re down there,” she said triumphantly, a small smile breaking out over her freckled face. “To the right and all the way against the wall, hidden behind a passenger’s vehicle.”

  “Let’s go see, then,” I said, hauling the suspect up onto his feet and pushing him through the door and into the cargo hold area. He probably couldn’t do much damage with his hands cuffed behind his back, but I didn’t want to take any chances, especially with Angelique injured. Once we were a few feet away from the car that the crates were supposedly tucked behind, I had him sit against the wall again so Angelique could keep an eye on him while I went to investigate.

  Sure enough, hidden behind the car in a dark corner where they’d be completely undetectable unless you knew exactly where to look were two large crates. These had a picture of fruits on the outside, as well as some kind of Greek brand name, but the small flower symbol burned into the top, right-hand corner of each crate told me all I needed to know. I moved toward the bigger of the two, which was about as tall as my waist. There was a small lock on one side that was keeping the top of the crate latched shut.

  “Angelique, could you ask him if he has the key to this crate?” I called, emerging from behind the car to look in her direction. I could hear her saying something in Greek before she knelt down to rummage through his pockets. After a few seconds, she produced a small, shiny key.

  “Catch!” she yelled, tossing it in my direction. I snatched it out of the air, moving quickly back toward the crate. I could feel my heart pounding with anticipation as I clicked the key into the lock, wondering what might be inside. The lock popped open, and I pulled it off of the latch and placed it to the side. I slid my hand into the narrow gap between the latch and the edge of the crate, straining as I lifted the heavy lid off of the crate.

  The first thing my brain registered as I pushed the lid up and off of the crate was a blur of shocking bright orange. The second was a deep, guttural roar that rapidly grew in pitch until it almost sounded like a scream. The third was an intense, sharp pain in my arm as the tip of a black claw ripped through my skin. I yelled in pain as I threw myself to the ground on instinct, landing on my left side. I scrambled toward the wall of the cargo hold area, unsure what direction I was going but desperate to move away from the crate.

  I heard the same low rumbling growl from before, and I felt the hairs on my arms stand on end at the sound. I looked up slowly, trying my best to stay calm and remember what it was people needed to do in this situation. Angelique screamed something, but I didn’t pay attention to what she said. My attention focused entirely on the mammoth beast in front of me. Just a few feet away, its jaw hanging open and slowly dripping saliva, stood a tiger, its black stripes standing out in sharp contrast against its bright orange fur. I could hear my own heart pounding inside my ears, and that was the only thing I could hear as the tiger slowly began to approach me.

  31

  Miranda

  I stepped out of the shower and into my hotel room, feeling much more relaxed now that I was clean, and I’d had some time to think through the current situation. Having a team of just two would definitely make the mission more difficult, but not impossible. It might even be beneficial since it would definitely make us more inconspicuous. In any case, I didn’t mind at all being paired up with Augustine, who had spent the entire drive over to the hotel chatting amiably with me, pointing out all the tourist destinations and places to eat as we went. He’d seemed disappointed when I told him I’d probably only be here for a day or two at most, so I wouldn’t really be able to see much, and he had convinced me to agree to at least join him for dinner that evening after the mission.

  I threw my towel over the back of a chair after I finished drying off and began digging through the contents of my duffel bag for something to wear. I settled on a simple pair of slacks and a deep red button-down before remembering that we were going to be posing as tourists, and opted instead for a tank top and jeans. I always thought it was kind of dumb that they expected us to wear suits and other office wear while on the job. Sure, we were federal agents, but a lot of our work was very physical and often involved chasing and fighting. Honestly, a tank top and a comfortable pair of jeans made more sense than a stuffy button-down blouse and a pair of slacks, or a skirt like Naomi typically wore.

  I glanced down at my phone and saw that there was still about half an hour left until I needed to meet Augustine down in the lobby. I decided to brew a pot of tea in the meantime to help settle my nerves. I’d always been a coffee person until Naomi brought that electric kettle for the office break room and badgered me until I finally tried it. Honestly, it wasn’t bad. Even though it was caffeinated, it actually had a calming effect on me, unlike coffee, which left me feeling wired and nervous.

  Honestly, I was nervous about this mission. I’d been with MBLIS for almost a year, and I’d been in some pretty harrowing situations as both a federal agent and a Marine, but sudden changes rattled me. I was a planner, so having the plan that I’d so carefully memorized changed at the last minute completely threw me. I’d just have to suck it up, though. Being able to improvise and think on your feet was part of the job.

  A little while later, I made my way down to the lobby with a small backpack filled with necessary equipment such as evidence bags, extra ammo, and a spare set of handcuffs just in case there turned out to be more than one suspect on board.

  Augustine was waiting for me by the entrance to the hotel. He had changed into a simple black polo and a pair of black slacks. Honestly, he still looked like a cop to me, but most people probably wouldn’t spare him a second glance. The clothes fit him well, though, and my first thought upon seeing him was that he actually looked really good.

  “Are you ready to go?” He asked as I approached him.

  “Ready as I’ll ever be,” I answered. We made our way out of the hotel and toward a different car than the police cruiser he’d dropped me off in. It was an ordinary-looking gray sedan and was the kind of car you drove when you didn’t want to stand out. He opened the door for me as we approached, and I climbed in. I told myself not to read into it since I was here for work. That being said, the chivalrous gesture did leave me smiling. He circled the car and got in on the driver’s side, and a moment later, we were off toward the dock.

  The ferry was crowded with people, mostly tourists, from how everyone seemed to be taking pictures of everything. The thought of something going wrong with so many people around made me nervous. It was so stupid of the ferry company to not want more police on board, but there was nothing we could do about it now.

  Once we were on board, neither of us was entirely sure where to go. Our plan was naturally to check out the cargo area first since that’s where Junior and Charlie had found the crates on the last ferry, but we didn’t actually know how to get there, and we figured that poking around would have called a lot of attention to us.

  Ultimately, we decided to head to one of the dining areas, which was at the center of the interior part of the ship. From here, we’d be able to make our way further down gradually without drawing suspicion. The ferry ride would last a little over an hour, so we had that much time to make our way down, find the suspect, and make an arrest.

  We sat at a table in a crowded area and discussed our plan quietly. To tell the truth, I was actually enjoying pretending to be a tourist on a date with Augustine, and I found myself wishing that all my missions could involve good-looking gentlemen.

  “There is a stairway behind that door at the end of the galley,” Augustine said, taking a sip of the drink he’d bought and smiling at me as if we were having a conversation about our favorite sight-seeing locations. “I could see it when one of the crewmen came up. I think that’s a pretty safe bet, considering the cargo hold is sure to be somewhere at the bottom of the ship.”

  “That seems like our best way down so far,” I said, pretending to look at a map of the area. I wondered if I really
would have time to walk through Lavrio after this. It would definitely be nice, especially if Augustine joined.

  I looked at him and was about to suggest we make our way over there when we heard a shrill scream from somewhere nearby. Augustine and I both froze and looked at each other for a moment before standing up, plans cast aside as we moved quickly toward the source of the sound. As we moved into the interior deck of the ship, we heard more screaming and realized the sounds were coming from the adjacent dining room.

  We fought against the current of terrified people streaming out of the room and pushed our way through the double doors. Once we were inside, though, we stopped short at the sight that greeted us. Thrashing around inside the room was a huge white bird with a bright yellow face and beak. Its wingspan was about as long as I was tall, and with every flap, it knocked glasses, plates, and abandoned food off of tables as it attempted to fly. Something was definitely wrong with it, though, because instead of just taking off, it kept fluttering in the air for just a second before crashing down again.

  “What do we do?” I heard Augustine ask. I truly didn’t know. I didn’t know anything about animals or how to restrain them safely, but it wasn’t like we could call animal control to come to get it while we were out in the middle of the sea. I could try to catch it to minimize the damage it was causing, but I might end up hurting myself or hurting the bird, and I really didn’t want to deal with either of those outcomes.