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  “Back… back there,” he stammered, moving as if to gesture in the direction he meant, but I took two steps toward him briskly, my gun growing ever closer to him.

  “Don’t. Move,” I growled.

  “I… I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes wide with terror. “I was just going to show you where. He is back there, way at the back of the camp.”

  “He’s alive?” Muñoz asked, arching an eyebrow at him as if daring him to lie to her.

  “Yes, yes, I think so,” he said quickly, his voice full of air as if he was struggling to gulp it down and speak at the same time.

  “You think so?” she challenged, taking a step toward him herself now.

  “I… it is not my job to look after him,” the Jamaican man said, shaking his head slightly. “Johnny, do you know anything about their missing man?”

  He glanced across the firelight at the American man, who was still sitting shocked and slumped over the log he had been sitting on.

  The man did not speak, still just opting to stare back at Holm, who looked like he wanted to slice the guy open right then and there.

  “He doesn’t know either, he doesn’t know either,” the Jamaican man said quickly, setting his gun slowly to the ground and holding his hands up in the air now. “We’re just supposed to stand watch and do as we’re told. We don’t know anything about anything.”

  “You know enough to be here,” Muñoz snarled, clearly having no sympathy for this defense.

  “Heh-heh,” the man laughed nervously, looking around at the trees as if hoping someone would jump out of there to save him. “I… I do not know how to answer that.”

  “Of course you don’t,” Muñoz mocked, her tone scathing.

  Just then, the American man started hollering out of nowhere, and a shot rang out, taking me so off-guard that I flinched and moved my gun. Penny reacted similarly, lowering her own weapon and covering her ears because the sound had been so loud.

  Muñoz, in turn, whirled her gun off the Jamaican man and toward the American one, Johnny. She and Holm both let out shots of their own, and he crumpled to the ground before any of us realized that he had just shot up into the sky, no doubt to wake his slumbering colleagues from the gang.

  Johnny was dead, clearly, blood pooling around him, and his mouth still agape against the dirt with his chewing tobacco rolling out in front of him. But he’d done his job, and the whole campground was awake then.

  Goons were crawling out of their tents on all sides, guns in hand and alarm written across their faces.

  I exchanged another look with Muñoz. There were more of them than there were of us, to be sure, but we still had one advantage. They were in the middle of waking up, gathering themselves as they tried to figure out what was going on and who had been shot. We, on the other hand, were ready for them.

  Johnny’s Jamaican companion was another story, however. When Muñoz, Penny, and I had diverted our attention from him, he had scooped his gun back up off the ground and trained it right on us.

  “Don’t move,” he growled, as if imitating us from before, and none of us had time to raise our own guns again before realizing that he had us cornered.

  He didn’t have Holm, however, who was still standing further off to the side next to Johnny’s body, and my partner shot him right in the back right shoulder blade. He cried out in pain and stumbled to the ground before he could shoot, his gun tumbling back into the dirt as he fell.

  Penny swiftly stepped forward and scooped it up, unloading and pocketing it in one quick motion.

  I nodded to her in commendation. She really was resourceful, and I realized that we would’ve been idiots not to bring her with us.

  The other goons were surrounding us now, slowly but surely. I counted about ten of them in all, with more starting to stream in from the other clearing I had noticed before off to our left.

  One of them stepped toward us, getting ready to lift his gun, but I hit him in the chest with a fatal shot before he could get to us.

  A friend of his from the same tent jumped at the sound and stared down uncomprehendingly at the dead man’s form. As if on instinct, he whirled his gun up as if to shoot me in retribution, but I had already been anticipating this and shot him in the right side of his chest, sending him down on top of his companion.

  More goons swarmed Holm and Muñoz now, and more shots rang out, but I couldn’t focus enough on them to make out what was happening. Penny and I had to focus on our own side of the campfire, as more of the guys realized what was going on and came at us from their tents.

  Another shot rang out, and Penny ducked down to the ground, pulling me along with her. I glanced back just in time to see a bullet jam into the trunk of a tree right behind us, and it no doubt would’ve hit Penny had she not responded so quickly.

  From my crouching position, I shot back at the man who had shot at us, taking him out. Then two more who looked about to follow his example. That cleared out the original group of goons who had popped up on our side of the fire.

  There were more coming to replace them, however. About ten more men had made it from the adjacent campsite to us by now, and about seven of them piled on Penny and me while the remaining three went for Holm and Muñoz.

  I glanced over at the other two MBLIS agents briefly to make sure that they were both okay. They were, or at least I didn’t see anyone bleeding or anything. I only had the time for a quick look, so I didn’t make out any more than that about their situation.

  Penny and I both stood back up to meet the incoming gangbangers, who had their weapons drawn, though they mostly looked disgruntled and confused about what all the noise and fuss was about.

  We could take advantage of that, though we were outnumbered. Two of them in the front shot at us, and we had to dive and roll again, dirt falling between the buttons of my shirt and grating against my skin.

  I didn’t stop and just rolled back into a standing position straight from the fall, shooting the man closest to me right in the forehead while I was at it.

  The other two guys looked at each other then, as if they weren’t sure whether they should keep at it or just give in.

  “Hold that thought,” I warned them. “You saw what happened to the others. Think wisely before you make any more moves.”

  Penny was beside me again, then, having taken out yet another guy when she had dropped and rolled beside me. She trained her gun on the two men, as well.

  The guys looked at each other and then made as if to drop their guns and hold up their hands in surrender, but before they had the chance to do so, a broad-shouldered blonde man came running out from the other campsite, hollering at them as he went and shaking his fist in the air, a gun at his side in his other hand.

  “What are you doing!” he screamed at them. “Don’t give in. What do I pay you for, anyway?”

  Without having to ask, I instinctively knew that this had to be Chris Daniels, the head of the American side of this operation, based on what our witnesses had told us. His mop of blonde hair was characteristic of southern Florida, and the way he carried himself and barked at the other goons, there was no way he didn’t fancy himself in charge.

  The two men looked between Daniels, and Penny and me, and back again until they seemed to decide that they’d rather brave our wrath than that of their boss. I couldn’t say I blamed them. There was something in the man’s eyes that didn’t quite sit right with me.

  Both men raised their guns again, training them on Penny. Apparently, they saw her as an easier target than me. That was their first, but not their last, mistake.

  Before the one closest to her even had his weapon raised, she had shot him in the chest. The other one blinked at her, looking confused as if shocked that this was even possible.

  Then, bewilderingly, he turned on me, seeming to decide that if Penny wasn’t the weak link, I must fit that description myself. But I anticipated this also, shooting him right in the chest as well.

  He got an errant shot out as
he fell to the ground, however, and I had to grab Penny and duck and roll with her again.

  It barreled into the same tree behind us that had been shot before, a young oak with a thinnish trunk that just couldn’t stand it anymore after taking so much abuse. It creaked and bent until it fell forward, landing on one of the remaining goons, who cried out in pain as the bones in his legs were crushed from the force of the tree’s fall.

  The thinnish trunk was more than thick enough to do some real damage, it seemed.

  This left only the man I assumed to be Chris Daniels standing on our side of the campfire. He was just standing there, stunned, staring at the fallen tree and all of his dead and wounded men.

  This gave me the opportunity I needed to glance over and check on Holm and Muñoz for real this time, though I kept my gun soundly trained on Daniels as I did so. Penny, too, was unflinching as she watched him, her own weapon pointed straight at him as well.

  Two more shots rang out as I turned to see the other MBLIS agents standing over the crumpled form of a goon, bleeding and pleading and finally dropping his gun.

  It alarmed me to see that Muñoz was bleeding again from her shoulder, the wound from the night before either reopened or exacerbated by another shot she had taken tonight. Holm looked okay, though, but he was walking with a slight limp.

  “Are you guys okay?” I asked them, and it surprised me to find that my voice came out faint and panting. I’d exerted myself more than I realized.

  “Yeah,” Muñoz said, glancing over at me and nodding while speaking in a tone similar to my own. “Just a scratch.”

  She winced as she holstered her gun and tried to roll her shoulder again, but it didn’t go this time. She was done. There would be no more fighting for her tonight, and we all knew this. Hopefully, there would be no more fighting for any of us tonight.

  There were just Daniels and a couple of other guys left now. The other two were on Holm and Muñoz’s side of the still blazing campfire, pressed back against the trees with their guns deposited on the ground in front of them and looking like they wished they were anywhere else on Earth.

  Holm limped over and collected the men’s guns, emptying their chambers first.

  I turned my attention back to Daniels.

  “You Chris Daniels?” I asked him.

  He eyed me with more than a little suspicion, and something else, too. Was it interest? I couldn’t quite tell. There was a red glint in his eye that could’ve just been the firelight, but I wasn’t sure.

  “What’s it to you?” he mumbled, and I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

  “What’s it to me?” I repeated, incredulous. “You can’t be serious. You abduct one of our agents, nearly kill a teenager, and wreak havoc on an entire island or two, and you seriously don’t know why we care who you are?”

  “Okay, okay,” Daniels said, his shoulders slacking a bit, though he retained a firm grip on his gun at his side.

  “You’re going to want to drop that,” Penny growled, and he glanced over at her.

  “Aren’t you that sailor?” he asked, shaking his head and looking at her with something resembling disbelief.

  “Something like that,” she said dryly, repositioning her hands on the base of her gun as she spoke.

  “Do as she says,” I barked, gesturing with my own gun at his own.

  He looked from me to the gun and back again as if trying to decide what to do.

  “Come on, man, you’re done,” Holm sighed, shaking his head at the man. “You’re just done.”

  Daniels squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand, the one not holding the gun. When he reopened his eyes, he gave me a scathing look that even in my line of work, I didn’t see all that often. It was just blistering. But nonetheless, he knelt down and slid his gun across the dirt toward Penny.

  She bent down and picked it up, emptying its chamber.

  “Thank you,” I said curtly, lowering my own weapon, though I didn’t dare holster it. “Now, you didn’t answer my first question. Are you Chris Daniels?”

  We all knew well enough that he’d already all but admitted to this already, but I wanted to hear him say it out loud after his little quip earlier.

  “Yes,” he said bitterly, not looking at me anymore and instead opting to stare straight into the fire. I imagined that must’ve hurt, given how bright it was and how close he was standing to its heat, but they were his eyes.

  “And you’re in charge of this whole operation?” Holm asked.

  “Something like that,” he said dismissively.

  “Something like that?” Muñoz repeated, still clutching her newly re-wounded arm. “What’s that supposed to mean? Is there someone else behind all this?”

  “That couple, the ones who own the houses on Little Torch?” he asked. “I’m betting you found those already, given how you’re here.”

  “Yes, we did,” nodding slowly and remembering what Rollins and Martin had told us about that rich couple who owned investment properties all over.

  “Yeah, well, they’re the big shots, not me,” Daniels said, still staring straight into the fire, almost unblinking. “I just hold down the fort in this region.”

  “This region?” I repeated, raising my eyebrows. “This is a bigger operation than just in the middle Keys?”

  I glanced over at Penny, wondering if she had any idea what this meant, but she just shrugged at me, seemingly just as caught off-guard by this as I was.

  “Oh, yeah, all their investments are just fronts for this stuff,” Daniels said, waving a hand in the air as if this should be obvious. “If you look, you’ll find the rest of them.”

  I stared at him for a moment, trying to decide whether he was telling the truth. I wasn’t sure. He could easily be trying to pawn off responsibility for this whole thing on someone else. But either way, he was in huge trouble. What did he have to lose?

  “That’s a pretty heavy claim,” Holm pointed out, reading my mind yet again. “You’re going to have to back that up if it’s going to do you any good.”

  “Do me any good?” he asked with a shaky laugh. “Like I’m not already going away for life for taking your guy.”

  Muñoz jumped on this opportunity.

  “Where is he?” she asked sharply, her voice as hard as her demeanor. “What have you done to him?”

  “He’s fine,” Daniels said, waving a hand dismissively again. “He’s back in a tent tucked away in a corner. I can take you there.”

  “Not so fast,” I growled as he took a step back in the direction he had indicated. “You’ve still got some explaining to do. Why did you take Birn in the first place?”

  “Birn?” he asked, staring up blankly at me for the first time since he’s surrendered. “Oh, is that your agent? I never asked him his name. He’s just slept most of the time, anyway. He was a little sensitive to the sedative we gave him when we took him.”

  “You poisoned him?” Muñoz asked, taking a threatening step toward the man.

  “No, no, nothing like that,” Daniels said quickly, taking a step back in turn and holding his hands up in the air. “We just gave him a sedative, is all, something they’d give you to calm down at a hospital. And he was just a little sensitive to it, is all. He’s been sleeping a lot, but he’s fine. He’s probably sleeping now.”

  “So, why did you take him?” I asked again, through gritted teeth this time since I was tired of this guy avoiding all of my questions.

  “Because he was there,” Daniels chuckled, as if this, too, should be obvious. “He got in the way. Why else?”

  I blinked at him and met his gaze for a moment before realizing what this really meant and bursting out into laughter again despite myself.

  “You panicked,” I told him, shaking my head. “You went to collect the drugs, saw him there, and panicked. Then you took him and left the drugs because you were in such a hurry. You didn’t know what to do with him, and you didn’t want to kill him because you kn
ew you were already in way over your heads, so you kept him in a drugged stupor for days on end while you were trying to figure out what to do. And despite all this effort, you never went back for the drugs in the bay because you were afraid of running into another agent. So you went looking for the rest of the drugs and ran into us anyway because you’re just that unlucky. Am I on the right track here?”

  Daniels glared at me and then shifted his gaze to just stare down at the fire again.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” I chuckled, shaking my head again. “No, I reckon you aren’t the real brains behind this whole operation, after all. We’ll have to look into that couple you were talking about, see what we can find. Who knows, maybe there’s some connection to other MBLIS cases in there somewhere.”

  “Speaking of which,” Holm said, jumping on this opportunity. “Do you know a guy named Clifton Beck?”

  Daniels glanced up at Holm briefly before quickly returning his eyes to the fire, but not before I detected a hint of recognition there.

  “You do know, don’t you?” I asked, taking an eager step toward him, then. “You helped him find Lafitte’s ship? Where was it?”

  “Aw, man, you’re those agents,” Daniels complained, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “You’re right about one thing. I am unlucky.”

  “I suppose that’s one word for it,” Muñoz said slyly, pursing her lips, and I chuckled again.

  “Look, if this whole deal with the real estate mogul couple turns out to be true, and you tell us all about what went down with Clifton Beck and that ship, you can probably get a deal,” I told him, as much as it pained me. “You’ll still spend a good chunk of your life in prison, mind you, but eligibility for parole isn’t out of the question.”

  He glanced up at me again and grimaced.

  “Fine,” he said, shaking his head. “But look, I don’t know much. That couple, you’re going to have to talk to them. Rumor has it they’ve been chasing that ship for decades. Finally tracked it down here and then used it as a pawn in one of their business ventures. Some partnership with that guy Beck.”

  “Wait, you’re saying that your bosses were Beck’s bosses?” Holm asked, casting me a shocked look that matched my own feelings on the matter.