by Matt Lincoln
“I’m glad to hear that,” Holm said, and he seemed genuine. “I wish you could’ve gone with them.”
“As do I,” Ajani sighed, staring down at his handcuffs again.
“Let’s dig into that last part a bit,” Muñoz urged gently. “What led you here? When did they bring you here?”
“Oh, I come here maybe… three months ago?” Ajani said, squinting his eyes shut as if trying to remember. “I’m not here the whole time, you understand. I come and go, bring cargo. I stay here without going back for the last maybe… three weeks, I think? Me and those other two, the ones you shot. Their names are Lloyd and Devon Reid. They’re brothers, I think. Maybe cousins. We don’t talk that much, you see.”
“You must’ve spent a lot of time together alone in that house,” I said. “It’d be hard not to get to know each other at least a little. How long were you there with them?”
“Oh, we are only alone for a few days,” Ajani said dismissively. “Though I do sail with them when we transport the drugs from Jamaica to here. We still don’t talk much, though. They like to… uh… take samples, I think is how you say it.”
“They sampled the product?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at this.
“That would explain why they acted so dumb today,” Holm chuckled.
“Oh, they are just that way,” Ajani said, shaking his head. “I never once see them make a good choice about anything. Then again, who am I to judge? I am here, after all.”
His shoulders slumped, and he stared back down at his handcuffs at this.
“Hey,” I said, getting him to look up at me again. “You’re better than those guys. You didn’t run or try to kill us. You came quietly, and now you’re talking to us. That’s what matters.”
“Thank you,” he said, smiling weakly at me.
“So they got you to come over with those two guys?” Muñoz asked, eager as ever to get to the heart of this conversation. “Why? What were you doing here on Little Torch?”
“The people I work for set up an operation here,” Ajani explained. “I guess Jamaica get too small for them. They want a… how do you say… bigger piece of the pie?”
“Yes,” Holm chuckled, nodding to him. “That’s the saying you’re looking for.”
“Good, yes, that is what they do,” Ajani said with a nod. “And so they say that these American islands, there are less authorities, as you say, on some of them, and this one smaller one is a good place to start. So they send the brothers and me here to deliver the drugs. And then we go back. And then we come here again. And it go on like that for weeks, until they want to train new people to bring the drugs from Jamaica, and tell us to stay here and wait for them to come.”
“That was how long ago?” I asked. “A few days?”
“More like a week,” Ajani said. “They don’t tell us who is coming, but then they never come. And so after a few days of this, the bosses, they tell us to stay in the house, and they leave to go find out what is going on with this. When they come back… well, that is when we find out they take your friend.”
“They brought him back to that house?” Muñoz asked, and I could feel her tense beside me as she leaned forward on the table in anticipation. “When? Where did they take him after that? Was he still alive? What did they do to him?”
“No, no, no,” the Jamaican man said quickly, shaking his head vigorously. “I never see him. I swear to you, I never see him.”
“Where did he go, then?” I asked. “Where did they take him?”
“I do not know this,” Ajani sighed, hanging his head as if he was ashamed he couldn’t tell us more. “I know the Americans and some Jamaicans they trust more. They leave the island sometimes and come back covered in mud and carrying fish. But I do not know where they go. They do not talk about it much, and they almost never talk to us, except to give orders. We are just to sit and wait for the new supply to come. And then when it did not come, we are just supposed to sit and wait for nothing, it seemed.”
“I don’t get it,” Muñoz said, sounding a little suspicious. “It sounds like these men went camping. But there’s nowhere to camp on Little Torch. So where did they go and why? And why take Birn somewhere away from the gang’s main base at the house where we found you?”
“Main base?” Ajani asked, shaking his head in confusion at these words. “Oh, no, miss, this is not where the gang works most of the time. This is just where the drugs are delivered. I am not nearly important enough to go to the main base, I promise you. If I knew anything about that, I would tell you, I swear it.”
“So this wasn’t the main base?” I asked, trying to understand. “Where was it then?”
“I don’t know,” Ajani sighed with a shrug. “I know they keep some dealers in rooms on this island, but I get the feeling that they don’t stay on this island much. This is just the beginning, I think. Spread their business to the other American islands, I think, is their main goal. So I imagine they stay there for some reason. But I cannot tell you for sure. When they come back with the fish, I assume they get them on this island. But you tell me they do not, so I don’t know anymore. I’ve never been anywhere else on this island other than here and at that house.”
“Okay, Ajani, I believe you,” I assured him, looking around at Holm and Muñoz. “We all do. Do you know who these other men were? Does the name Chris Daniels mean anything to you?”
“Daniels, yes!” Ajani cried excitedly, clearly recognizing the name. “This is the man I’m told to meet when I first deliver here. He is in charge, I think. He does not come much. I haven’t seen him in some time, though I hear that he was supposed to be there when the drugs come from the new team, to make sure they do their job. But they do not come. I think he was there the night your friend was taken because I hear the others talk about him, but I don’t see him, and I stay out of it. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Ajani, you’re giving us a lot of good information,” Holm said with a smile. “Have you heard anything from your bosses since they took our friend, anything at all? Or did they just abandon you there?”
“They abandon us, yes,” Ajani confirmed with a nod. “Though I must say, I am glad you find us. I like my chances much better with you than with them. I wish to see my family again and not worry they will come to kill me.”
“We’re glad we found you, too, Ajani,” I said, smiling at him. “So you don’t have any idea where they went when they left? Did they often leave you alone there for extended periods of time?”
“No, not very much, not like this, anyway,” Ajani said, shaking his head. “Groups would leave, and then come back, and sometimes I don’t even see the same people at all anymore. The faces in the house, they’re always changing. Sometimes they would come back, but it wouldn’t be for a while. It is like they did not want the same people around for much time without moving new ones in, in case they are recognized. Except for the brothers and me, but we don’t leave the house at all. They bring us food, though it is always food that is bad for you. Except for the fish, I guess.”
I remembered all those empty pizza boxes and cringed. Everyone loved pizza, but I couldn’t imagine having it for every meal. I’d feel gross all the time.
“Did they say anything about where they might have gone?” Muñoz asked, her tone almost desperate. “Anything at all about my partner?”
“I do not know where they take him or anything else about this. I am very sorry,” Ajani said, hanging his head again and avoiding looking at her eyes.
“That’s okay,” I assured him. “But any hints about where they might have gone when they left the house? Anything at all, even a little hint?”
“I know they are very upset about the missing drugs,” the Jamaican man said, scrunching up his face as if trying to remember. “And I know I hear them promise someone on the phone, maybe Daniels, that they look for it every single night here until they find it.”
21
Ethan
After handing Ajani over to the care o
f two police officers who were back from patrol, Holm, Muñoz, and I went to grab lunch at a nearby taqueria with outdoor seating and a view of the ocean.
“I could get used to this,” Holm grinned for what felt like the millionth time as the waiter brought us our orders at a small green table sitting right by the sand.
I looked out at the rolling waves and the peaceful shore myself, with only a few tourists in sight, and had to agree. If you were going to do the Keys, Little Torch was the way to go. It was quiet and soothing, without very many visitors to ruin your day. Other than all the drugs, it was the perfect vacation spot.
“Thanks,” I told the waiter, accepting my shrimp and pineapple tacos from him and digging in. It was an odd combination, but I had to say that I loved it. The pineapple added a soft tang to the seafood that made it all the more appealing. It was like a little taste of the beach itself.
“So what are we thinking?” Muñoz asked when the waiter was gone, wasting no time before getting straight back to the point of our visit to the Keys. “If Ajani was right that these guys are going out looking for the drugs every single night, that must mean tonight, too. We know they haven’t found the drugs yet. They’re still in the cave, and the Coast Guard was going to come to clean it up tomorrow.”
“You talked to the Coast Guard?” I asked since Muñoz had neglected to mention this before.
“Oh yeah, with everything going on, I forgot to say before, sorry,” she said. “I called them last night after you guys went to the bar. I realized we’d forgotten to do it before, and someone had to. They’re coming tomorrow.”
“Tell them to stand by for now,” I said. “This gang, they’ll have to find the caves eventually if they’re looking for their missing product. It’s a natural place to look; that’s why Penny took us there, after all.”
“You think we should do a stakeout!” Holm said excitedly, some steak juice from his tacos dribbling down his chin.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking,” I chuckled, gesturing at my own chin to show him that he needed to wipe his face. “You’ve got a little something there.”
“Whoops, sorry,” Holm said, grabbing a little paper square napkin and dabbing at the wrong side of his face with it.
“Other side,” I said, rolling my eyes and exchanging an amused look with Muñoz, who was snickering. “There you go.”
“A stakeout would be good,” Muñoz said once we were all done laughing at Holm, including Holm himself. “That’s as good a way as any to get to them that I can think of. They’ll have to find their way to the cave eventually, as you said.”
“I just wish that wasn’t so time intensive,” Holm said, scrunching up his eyebrows thoughtfully. “They could come to the cave tonight, sure, but they could come tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day, for all we know. And where might Birn be then?”
“Yeah,” Muñoz sighed, and I could literally see her shoulders tense at this thought. So did mine, for that matter. “But what other option do we have?”
“I agree that it would be better to find one of them and have them lead us to their home base right away,” I said with a nod. “But clearly, that’s not an option right now. Besides, they’ve been looking for these drugs longer than we have if Ajani is to be believed. I bet they show up tonight. And if not tonight, tomorrow. It can’t take them much longer to land on the right spot.”
“You’re not wrong about that,” Holm said, nodding slowly. “I mean, Penny probably helped us out more than we realized, getting to those caves the first time we went looking. She seems to know the area pretty well, judging by how much time she spends out on the water. But Ajani said some of these guys are American, and we know at least Daniels is local to the Keys. I’ll bet they’ll figure it out about the caves pretty soon here.”
“Yeah, Penny does seem to know what she’s doing,” I said, smiling as I remembered that I was supposed to meet up with her for dinner that day.
“Oh, I bet you think that,” Holm grinned, elbowing me in the ribs playfully as I felt heat rush to my face again. I quickly buried my face in my soda cup, gulping down the refreshing cola to go along with the tacos, to cover it up.
“Are you going to meet up with her again while we’re here?” Muñoz asked. “She might have some pointers for navigating the caves on our own.”
“Yeah, I’m having dinner with her tonight, actually, if we aren’t too busy,” I said, focusing on my remaining tacos so I could avoid meeting Holm’s no doubt mocking expression at the continued topic of Penny.
“Of course you are,” he scoffed, and I could almost hear him shaking his head in disbelief beside me. “Like I said, why don’t I ever meet any of these interesting women on missions?”
“It sounds to me like you both meet them. They just don’t give you the time of day,” Muñoz mocked, and I had to stop myself from spitting out some of my cola on the table as I tried to contain my laughter.
“Har, har, har,” Holm teased, his voice deadpan.
I buried my face in my cola again, though my partner could no doubt see my shoulders shaking as I laughed at his expense. I decided that I could get used to having Muñoz around.
“We’re going to need a boat if we’re going back to the cave,” Muñoz pointed out. “Unless you two hauled that old pirate ship of yours down here with you.”
I nearly spit out my drink again.
“We don’t have a pirate ship,” Holm pointed out as if this was a very serious conversation. “The government has it, and they keep refusing to tell us anything about what they’re going to do with it. And all that treasure.”
“They’ll let Diane know eventually,” I sighed. “I’m not sure it’s a huge priority of hers, though.”
“Oh, God forbid the head of a federal law enforcement agency spends her valuable time hunting down buried treasure,” Muñoz scoffed, rolling her eyes, but she shot me a grin to show that she was just kidding.
At that point, everyone at MBLIS in Miami knew just how serious I was about finding the Dragon’s Rogue, and none of them would dare criticize me for it. It wasn’t like I would ever let it interfere with my actual work. I had the best case record in the entire organization, the last I heard. Except for maybe Diane back when she was a regular old agent like us.
“Anyway, yeah, we will need a boat,” I agreed. “I can ask Penny about that. She’ll know where we can get one, I’m sure. She can also give me directions. I’m pretty sure I can remember how to get there, but she’ll know the best way.”
“Maybe she can come with us,” Holm suggested, waggling his eyebrows at me and elbowing me in the ribs again. “You guys can make a date of it.”
“We can’t take a civilian on a stakeout with us,” Muñoz said, rolling her eyes at this suggestion. “You know that, Holm.”
“She’s not exactly a civilian,” I reminded her. “I mean technically, yeah. But she wasn’t until very recently.”
“I don’t know. She didn’t seem like a civilian in that cave to me,” Holm chuckled. “I think she’s probably the reason that smuggler got out of that cave alive. We would’ve had to shoot him, otherwise.”
“You’re probably right,” I relented with a nod. “But Muñoz is right. We can’t drag a civilian along unless it’s absolutely necessary, even if she is former military.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right,” Holm sighed. “That would make things interesting, though.”
“Things aren’t interesting enough for you already, with a mysterious international drug den and a missing agent?” Muñoz asked, raising her eyebrows at him, though judging by the twinge on the corner of her lips, she wasn’t serious and was still poking fun at us.
“Well, you know,” Holm said, waving his hands in the air with his mouth full of steak and cilantro tacos and his voice muffled as a result. “After the whole real-life zombie thing, everything else seems to be a bit boring.”
“You’re not entirely wrong about that,” I laughed. “But again, they weren’t real zombi
es. They just kind of acted like them.”
“Same difference,” Holm scoffed. “You know what they say. If it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck… well, it might as well be a duck.”
“I don’t know that this applies to supernatural monsters straight out of horror movies,” I pointed out, rolling my eyes as I ducked down to bite into my last taco.
“So what should you and I do while Marston’s having his date tonight, Holm?” Muñoz asked my partner. “I’d hate to waste our time.”
“Well, you’ll need to eat,” I told her, noting that she had already finished all three of her tacos. I was glad to see this after how little she’d eaten the day before out of her worry for her own partner.
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll grab something from the restaurant at the resort, probably,” she said, waving away my concern. “But I don’t think we’ll yab as much as you will on your date, so we’ll need something else to do.”
“It’s not a date,” I said, a little defensively. “But yeah, we need to do something this afternoon.”
“You did promise the chief that we’d check in with that bartender,” Holm pointed out.
“Oh, yeah,” I sighed. “It can’t hurt to stop back by the resort after this and see if he’s there. We can ask him to keep an eye out if he sees any of these guys come into the resort today, though I’m sure he will be already, after talking to him last night.”
“Yeah, there’s no doubt,” Holm agreed with a low chuckle. “After you told him who we were, he’s probably huddled up behind the bar with a notebook writing down descriptions of everyone who walks in the place.”
“That bad, huh?” Muñoz asked, cringing because she no doubt knew the type.
“No, we’re exaggerating,” I laughed, shaking my head. “But he did give off sort of that vibe, and I’m sure it’s even worse now that he knows there’s actually something going on instead of just some wild story he’s concocted in his head.”
