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

told them as she got up. Holm and I followed her out of the room. I could hear the women talking among themselves as the door closed quietly behind us.

“How did it go?” Officer Crowley stood up from his chair once the door was completely shut.

“Good,” I replied. “Well, relatively speaking, I guess. There’s really nothing ‘good’ about any of this.”

“That is true,” Crowley sighed bitterly. “So, what are we doing now?”

“We need to head to Cockburn Town,” I replied. “That’s where Samuel is, and according to Daniela, there are still five other victims there.”

“Cockburn is all the way on the southern island.” Crowley frowned. “We’ll need to take a boat or a plane there. It might take us hours to procure either.”

“Not necessarily.” I smirked. “I happen to know a guy who owns a boat. And it just so happens that he really, really hates the traffickers.”

28

Ethan

After we finished speaking with the women, I suggested that we call Raymond and take him up on his offer of help. He’d given us vital information at the beginning of our investigation here. He’d been so furious about the death of his brother at the hands of the traffickers that he’d offered to do whatever he could to assist us in catching them. I called him using the number he had left us, and I found him extremely enthusiastic about the idea.

“Are you certain that this man can be trusted?” Crowley muttered apprehensively as we made our way down the beach toward the boat docks.

“Honestly? I’m not sure,” I replied. “I barely know the guy. But I do know that he offered to lend us his boat, and considering he knows the traffickers and what we’re getting into, he probably won’t be surprised if his boat gets destroyed in the process.”

I flashed back to our previous mission in Scotland. We’d inadvertently damaged not one but two boats, both belonging to the same man. Raymond Johnson was so incensed by his need for vengeance that he probably wouldn’t care as much as the other guy had.

“After everything that has happened,” Hanks added, “I’m not sure who to trust anymore.”

Hanks, the only officer who had remained uninjured during the fight at the Oasis Lounge, was accompanying us instead of Olivia. She’d chosen to stay behind to figure things out as far as relocating the women. She’d also said that she wouldn’t be of much help, considering she was injured and down an arm. It felt odd not to have her around, but at the same time, I was a bit relieved. If she had come, I would have spent the entire time worrying about her.

“There you are!” Raymond called from the deck of his boat as he spotted us approaching. “Hurry up! We haven’t got all day.”

“He seems just a little too eager, I think,” Holm muttered uneasily.

“Can you blame the guy?” I replied. “Jerks shot his baby brother dead in cold blood.”

“Yeah, I guess I get that,” Holm mumbled. “I’d probably react the same way if it was my sister.”

That being said, Raymond did seem a bit too giddy as we boarded the fishing boat.

“Sorry space is so cramped,” he said as he stepped over to the helm. “I have bigger ones, but this one here is the fastest. Speed is what we need right now, right?”

“That’s right,” I answered as I sat on one of the seats behind the helm.

“Well, then hold on.” He grinned as he turned around and moved something at the helm. A moment later, the boat took off at a fast pace, causing the surrounding water to splash and spray up into the boat.

The trip from Kew to Cockburn would take about an hour by boat. It was a bit of a ride, but faster than taking a plane. Though a flight would have only been about half an hour, we’d have lost time going through the airport, not to mention actually driving to the location after landing. With a boat, we’d be able to go directly to where the main house was.

“We’ll hit the main house first.” I went over the plan one more time as we made our way there. “Our priority is getting the victims to safety. If Samuel isn’t there, then we’ll hit his house after.”

“You think they’re waiting for us?” Holm called over the sound of the boat motor and splashing water. “It’s been a few hours since the fight at the Oasis Lounge. The suspect that got away had plenty of time to warn them.”

“That’s possible,” I called back. “We’ll just have to assume they know we’re coming and go for a direct attack.”

Our faces had already been seen, so there was no point in trying to go for a covert approach. We needed to just move in as quickly as possible and secure the remaining women.

“A police escort will be waiting for us when we arrive!” Crowley yelled. “They’ll be waiting by the docks to take us straight to the house. I’ll call ahead and have them keep eyes on the building!”

“Good plan!” I yelled back.

We fell silent then, the anticipation growing more intense with every second that passed.

As we tore across the water, I couldn’t help but think about pretty the sea looked against the setting sun. Right now, the sky looked orange, and the part of the sea that met the horizon looked pink. We were far away enough from Western Caicos now that it just looked like a dark blotch in the distance. All around us were nothing but multicolored ocean waves.

It was admittedly kind of a strange thought to have when we were in the middle of a risky mission, but in a way, these were the kinds of things that helped me stay sane. Drugs, murder, trafficking, missing kids, the list of things we dealt with on a daily basis could go on and on. If I couldn’t take some time to appreciate something as simple as a sunset over the ocean, I would