Caribbean Rescue (Coastal Fury Book 16) - Matt Lincoln (reading tree .TXT) 📗

the car yet when I noticed a young woman standing just a few feet from the entrance, leaning against the front wall of the building. She was wearing a thin tank top and a pair of shorts, which, in and of themselves, didn’t look all that out of place here by the beach.

What really stood out about her was her hunched, tense posture and the way she deliberately avoided eye contact with almost everyone passing by. She almost looked like a statue there, standing perfectly still. If I hadn’t specifically been looking for her, I might have missed her entirely.

“The girl by the window,” I remarked to the others in the car. “There’s something off about her, right?”

“I think so, too,” Olivia replied. “I noticed as soon as we pulled up. Her body language screams discomfort.”

“That might be a good place for us to start then,” Holm added.

I made sure to drive past the bar before pulling the car to a stop a few buildings away. We didn’t know who might be watching.

“Okay,” Crowley replied. “We will wait here. The transmitter should still work from this distance, so if you need us, just give us a signal, and we’ll move in.”

“Got it,” I replied before getting out of the car. Holm followed out after me.

I tried to put myself into the mind space of a dumb, horny tourist as I approached the girl. If she was a prostitute, then her pimp would no doubt be nearby, and playing dumb was one of the best ways to keep a suspect in the dark.

“Hey.” I grinned oafishly at the young woman. She flinched and looked up at me with wide, startled eyes. “What are you doing out here all by yourself?”

“Um…” the girl muttered as she looked around, as though searching for someone.

Now that I got a closer look at her, I could see that her hair was tangled, and she had faint cuts and bruises along her arms and legs in various stages of healing. Something was definitely up with this girl.

“Do you, uh, work here?” I asked suggestively, lowering my voice the way some sleazy guy on vacation trying to pick up a hooker might.

“Y-yes,” she mumbled, still glancing around nervously.

“Cool,” Holm chimed in, making an exaggerated show of looking around as though he didn’t want anyone to see us. “So, how does this work, exactly?”

Before she could answer, a tall man suddenly rounded the corner of the building and stepped rapidly toward us.

“Can I help you two?” the man asked us quietly.

“Got you,” I thought to myself. Just as I’d suspected he would, the pimp had made an appearance right after we made initial contact.

“Oh, we were just wondering where a couple of guys could have some, uh, fun around here,” I replied with a chuckle. I felt incredibly slimy, and the words I was saying tasted like bile on my tongue, but I needed to keep the act up, at least for now. I had to convince this guy that I was the type of creep who would be interested in something like this.

“Yeah,” Holm added, leaning close as though sharing a secret. “You know what we mean, right?”

I tried not to flinch as I heard how awkward Holm sounded delivering that line. It was clear that he was just as uncomfortable as I was. I only hoped that the man wouldn’t notice it as well.

“Yes, I think I do,” the man replied, grinning darkly. “Why don’t we get a drink inside? You, come on.”

He called the young woman over with his finger like a dog. She followed behind him quietly with her head lowered, and I had to force myself not to react. It was infuriating having to just stand by and watch while he treated her that way, but I couldn’t blow my cover.

The bar didn’t seem all too different from any other one I might have found in any popular vacation spot. I could hear voices chattering happily all around us, the steady thrum only occasionally interrupted by a trill of laughter.

The smell of fried food permeated the air, and I could hear glasses clinking and silverware scraping against plates as people dug into their drinks and late dinners. The normal, cheerful atmosphere just made the entire situation we were engaged in feel that much more awful.

The man led us to a table in the rear of the bar. The four of us sat down, and the man yelled something at the bartender. A moment later, a different young woman appeared with a tray full of beers.

“Drink up,” the man said after the woman had set the drinks down and walked away.

I put the bottle up to my lips but didn’t actually drink any of it. The guy seemed like he was buying our act, but I wasn’t going to chance being drugged.

As I pretended to drink, I glanced back at the girl out of the corner of my eye. She was still sitting completely still, her eyes cast down at the table in front of her.

“So, what exactly were you looking for?” the man asked after taking a big swig of his own beer.

“Oh, you know,” Holm snickered like some frat boy as he glanced over at the young woman.

“Of course,” the man replied as he eyed us warily. “And how did you hear about our services?”

“Hear about your services?” I asked innocently. “We were just looking for a place to have a few drinks when we noticed her standing outside. Wait, were we wrong? Is this not what I think it is?”

I rubbed the back of my neck and pretended to laugh nervously.

“So it was just a coincidence?” he asked, not sounding totally convinced. “What brings you to the island?”

“Family vacation.” I shrugged. “The wife decided to tuck in early. Long day at the beach and all that, you know? I told her my brother Dean and I here were going to head out for a drink, and we just happened to notice