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

storm clouds. I hoped the sudden unexpected storm wasn’t an omen of things to come.

29

Ethan

Even though the drive to Samuel’s house only took a few minutes, it felt like an eternity had passed when Crowley finally pulled the car to a stop with a loud screech. The house we’d arrived at was larger than most of the ones I’d seen around Turks & Caicos before. It was a little bigger than the one we’d just left but significantly more well-maintained. The exterior walls were coated with a crisp, fresh coat of paint, and the windows were decorated with fancy, brightly colored wooden shutters. At least, the ones that hadn’t been shot to bits were.

The three of us got out of the car and immediately rushed forward. We were almost to the front door when it suddenly burst open. A man wearing a dark blue bandana over his head stepped out. He looked extremely shocked to see us.

“Freeze!” I shouted, but the man was already lifting the gun he was holding in his hand.

I jumped to the side and unholstered my own gun in one swift moment. The man fired, but his bullet missed and struck the side of the police van. I fired my own pistol, and the man fell backward as he was hit in the arm.

Holm and I both rushed forward to restrain him before he could get back up. As we did, I noticed a blur of movement from around the corner of the house. I snapped my head up and found a second man quickly coming around from the side of the house, his gun pointed right toward us.

“Holm, get down!” I yelled as I lifted my gun.

He dropped to the ground immediately. Before the man could fire, both Crowley and I shot at him, and he fell over with a short cry of pain.

“Go find Raymond,” Crowley huffed as he bent down to handcuff the man that Holm was restraining. “I’ve got this one.”

I nodded before rushing into the house. I was wary about the possibility that there might be even more men inside, but I didn’t want to take too long clearing the house when I knew that Raymond was somewhere in here, very obviously injured.

Several pieces of furniture were overturned, and a few things had clear bullet holes through them. It was evident that Raymond hadn’t gone down without a fight.

“Raymond?” I yelled as I ran toward the rear of the first floor. As soon as I called his name, I heard what sounded like a banging noise somewhere to my left. I tried the door nearest to me and found that it was locked.

“What was that?” Holm asked as he ran up to me, having obviously heard the banging noise as well.

“Raymond?” I called again. “Are you in there?”

There was a shuffling sound from inside, and I braced myself, gun ready to shoot just in case it wasn’t actually him in there. A second later, the door handle wiggled and unlocked with a click before the door finally opened.

“I was worried I’d be a dead man before you got here,” Raymond wheezed as he pushed the door open wider. He was hunched over and pressing one of his hands to his bloodied side. His nose was crooked and swollen, and he had a black eye as well.

I glanced behind him and realized we were inside a bathroom. He must have taken cover there once the men started gaining the upper hand.

“How badly are you injured?” I asked as I slung his arm over my shoulders so I could help him walk.

“They got me good,” he replied with a mirthless chuckle as he glanced down at the wound on his side. “Starting to feel a little dizzy, actually.”

“Just take it easy,” I replied as Holm and I helped him out of the house.

“I’ve got the suspect in the car,” Crowley informed us as he came jogging up to assist. “And I’ve got another ambulance heading this way. How bad is it?”

“Something like this isn’t gonna take me out,” Raymond slurred weakly. He said that, but his eyes were becoming unfocused, and he was wobbling more with every step he took.

“Here, sit down for a minute,” I suggested as I helped him down onto the grass in front of the house. “Try not to move too much until help arrives.”

“Not sure I could if I wanted to,” he wheezed as he reached into his pocket. His hand emerged clutching the boat key, which he held out to me. “You need to go after them. Don’t let the bastard who murdered my brother get away.”

“I’ll stay here with him,” Crowley spoke up immediately. “The suspect is handcuffed and secure inside the back of the van. We’ll lose too much time if we all wait.”

“Alright,” I replied as I took the key from Raymond. “Which way to the beach?”

“Just there,” he said as he lifted his arm shakily to point toward a throng of trees that bisected one half of the neighborhood from the other. “The beach is only a few hundred meters from here. Just keep going straight. I docked the boat there. I saw them heading in that direction with the girls.

“Okay.” I nodded before getting to my feet. “Come on, Holm, we don’t have any time to lose.”

Together, we took off toward the trees. The moment we cleared them, I could see the beach in the distance. The buildings here were all on the larger side, brightly colored in shades of turquoise, green, and pale yellow. Just like Western Caicos, there weren’t a lot of cars on the road, though there were plenty of locals and tourists alike, even despite the unpleasant weather.

Some people tossed us curious expressions as we ran by. Everyone was moving at such a relaxed, leisurely pace that we must have looked extremely out-of-place booking it through the street like this.

“Do you see it?!” Holm yelled as we raced onto the sandy beach. The rain had finally