Aruban Nights (Coastal Fury Book 19) Page 26

  “That’s about where we are.” Linden nodded. “Sorry, agents, it looks like this is going to be a tough one.”

  “Eh, it’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before,” I replied confidently. “We’ve dealt with hard-headed criminals before, and we’ve always found a way to break them.”

  “I’m happy to hear that,” Linden replied. “In any case, I’m assuming you’ll want to resume tomorrow? It’s been a pretty long day. Of course, if you wanted to interrogate him now, I could most likely arrange it.”

  “Nah,” I replied as I got slowly back up onto my feet. “To be honest, my head is killing me. I’m not sure I’d really be able to concentrate on the interrogation if we did it right now, and if it’s going to take a while like Ruiz suggested, then I think we’d be better off going to get some rest, so we’re ready for it tomorrow.”

  “Okay,” Linden replied as he and Holm stood up as well. “I’ll let the captain know then. Do you need me to walk you out?”

  “No, we know our way around by now,” I assured him.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he replied before hurrying out of the room. Holm and I followed after at a much slower place as we headed back toward the entrance of the station.

  “You want to hit up that bar we went to last night?” Holm asked as we stepped outside. The sun was still up but was gradually making its exit, casting the sky into shades of orange and purple as it left. “It’s not that far from here. We can fill up and then head to the hotel to get some sleep.”

  “That doesn’t sound bad at all,” I replied as we walked to the car. I hadn’t had any time to think about it before now, but now that the day was done, I suddenly realized just how hungry I was. We’d headed out so early that we hadn’t been able to eat anything that morning. After the chaos, I’d spent several hours in the hospital, and when I’d finally been discharged, I’d been so eager to confront Ruiz and see if he had tricked us that we’d rushed straight back to the police station.

  After everything that had happened, I could really use a bite to eat and a good night’s rest.

  27

  Ethan

  The drive down to the little bar by the beach took no time at all, and it was luckily still early enough that there was plenty of parking left.

  I noticed as I got out of the car that the dull throbbing in my head had started to ease somewhat, likely as a result of the fact that I was no longer feeling stressed over the case.

  The bar wasn’t empty when we stepped inside, but it wasn’t crowded either. It was definitely still too early for the party-goers to have arrived, but that was fine with me. What I wanted was to grab some food and then head back to the hotel. Honestly, the less noise and commotion, the better.

  Holm and I sat down at the same table that we had before, just outside the restaurant and overlooking the water. Despite the fact that it was already early evening, the temperature was mild and pleasant, and the salty sea breeze was doing wonders to ease the tension I still felt. Like before, a server arrived to take our order almost immediately. Holm and I both ordered beers again, and the server rushed off to get our drinks while we looked through the menu.

  Since I’d stuck with the safe option of wings last time, I decided I’d try something a little more interesting and went with the lobster rolls. Once the food arrived, Holm and I dug in, almost voraciously devouring our meals in relative silence. We were both tired and hungry, and right now, the last thing on either of our minds was idle chitchat.

  “Oh man, that’s good,” Holm finally spoke up when he was about halfway through the massive burger he’d ordered. His voice seemed so loud as he cut through the silence we’d been sitting in for the last twenty minutes or so that I nearly jumped in surprise. “Stuff always tastes better after a mission.”

  “That’s true,” I agreed. It wasn’t just the physical fatigue that made eating a nice meal so much more worth it afterward, but the feeling of elation and accomplishment as well. Of course, this time, I didn’t feel all that accomplished after we’d been tricked and I’d been taken hostage, but I supposed that having survived the ordeal at all was a sort of accomplishment in and of itself, so I allowed myself to feel successful about it, nonetheless.

  “It’s still early,” Holm noted about fifteen minutes later, once we’d both finished off most of our food. “You want to stay and grab another drink?”

  Half an hour ago, I would have said no, since my only goal when we’d arrived tonight had been to stuff my face and then go pass out back in my hotel room. Now that I’d actually gotten some food in me, though, my headache had subsided significantly, and I was feeling a lot more energized.

  “Sure.” I shrugged. “Might as well enjoy the rest of our evening if we’re going to be dealing with Gek tomorrow, or whatever his real name is.”

  “Guy so pleasant that his own cohorts call him a psycho,” Holm mumbled sarcastically. “I can’t wait to interrogate him.”

  I just chucked as I flagged the server down so we could order some more drinks. I wasn’t really looking forward to it either, truth be told, but he was our only lead at that point, so we at least had to try. That time around, I forwent the beer and ordered something stronger.

  “Whisky and coke,” I informed the server.

  “I’ll just have another beer,” Holm added. The server nodded before turning and heading back toward the kitchen. Hold turned to look at me as the server left. “Going for the harder stuff, huh?”

  “Eh, just one,” I shrugged. “I figure it might help with the headache. Bastard hit me pretty hard.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Holm asked, his voice suddenly serious. “Maybe we should just head back now if you need to get some rest. We can have drinks later.”

  “I’m fine,” I insisted. I’d noticed earlier that Holm seemed extra anxious. Ever since he’d helped me off of the boat and gotten me to one of the ambulances, he’d hovered around, checking on me and asking if I was sure I felt okay. I guessed, in a way, that I could understand his concern. If the roles had been reversed, and Holm had been the one taken hostage and almost shot, I probably would have been pretty anxious myself.

  “What did the doctor say?” Holm asked, his eyebrows scrunching together in concern.

  “Oh, the usual,” I replied with mock irreverence. “Mild head trauma, definite concussion. He didn’t want me to leave, actually, which is why it took so many hours for us to get back to the station.”

  “I’m assuming you whined and insisted until they agreed to discharge you?” Holm raised an eyebrow at me.

  “As if you would have done any different,” I retorted as the server returned with our drinks.

  “No, I would have done exactly the same.” Holm shrugged as he lifted his glass up to take a sip. “I have done exactly the same actually, occasionally.”

  “Naturally,” I replied flatly. “It’s not like we have much of a choice. This isn’t like a desk job, where we can call in sick if something hurts. We’re in the middle of a mission. People will die if we decide we’re too sick or wounded to continue.”

  “You don’t have to tell me, brother,” Holm replied. “I know exactly what you mean.”

  I steered the conversation in a more light-hearted direction after that. The last thing I wanted to do was put a damper on the evening by getting too heavy.

  “So, how did things go with that girl yesterday?” I asked after taking a swig of my drink. Whoever had prepared it had made it strong, and the amber liquid burned pleasantly as it slid down my throat. “What was her name?”

  “Amanda,” Holm replied, his face growing just a shade redder as he answered. “And it was nice. We spent a little while walking along the pier and talking. She was really interested in hearing about what it’s like working with MBLIS.”

  “You spent all night talking?” I smirked at him. “You didn’t come back until four this morning.”

  “Not just talking,” he replied vaguely before quickly taking another sip, his
face getting even redder.

  I snickered at his reaction. For someone who was always teasing me about women, he sure seemed to clam up and get shy whenever I turned the tables on him. I was about to continue messing with him when a woman wearing a short dress approached our table.

  “Excuse me.” She smiled at me as she spoke, brushing a strand of her long, honey-blonde hair back over her shoulder. “Is anyone using this chair?” She placed her hand on one of the two empty chairs at our table.

  “No,” I replied. “Go ahead.”

  “Thanks.” Her smile grew wider as she leaned down to grab the chair with both hands. It was actually kind of awkward position, but I noticed that doing that caused the neckline of her loose dress to slip down slightly, revealing the swell of her cleavage as he pulled the chair away from the table. Her gaze lingered on me for a few seconds longer before she took the chair away.

  “Wow,” Holm deadpanned once she was gone. “That was pretty bold.”

  “You think?” I asked as I turned to sneak a glance at the woman. She sat at a table with several other girls, all of whom were laughing and seemed to be in good spirits. Her eyes slid over to mine, and she smiled again before flipping her hair over her shoulder and refocusing on her friends.

  “Uh, yeah,” Holm snorted. “She came on pretty strong there. I mean, she practically gave you a full view of her chest. There was no need for her to pick up the chair like that.”

  “I guess that’s true,” I replied, resisting the urge to turn around to look at her again. I needed to focus on the case. Now wasn’t the time to be messing around with women, no matter how pretty they were.

  “You’re not going to go talk to her?” Holm asked, sounding genuinely surprised. “Really?”

  “You sound so shocked.” I glared at him, feeling a little insulted.

  “Because you’re Ethan Marston?” Holm smirked at me. “Isn’t that what you do? Solve international crimes and flirt with pretty girls?”

  “I don’t always have to chase after every woman that gives me a nice smile,” I retorted even as I chanced another look back at the woman in question. She really was pretty, with long, blonde hair and warm, sun-tanned skin. She was wearing a loose, flowing beach dress that somehow emphasized her slim figure despite how baggy it was.

  “Uh-huh,” Holm replied sarcastically. “Is that why you’re staring at her right now?”

  “Shut up,” I grumbled as I took another long swig of my drink. Maybe it was the alcohol, but the more I allowed myself to consider it, the less it seemed like a bad idea to actually go and speak to her. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to ditch you here by yourself. That would be rude, especially since you’ve been fussing over me and my head injury all day.”

  “Really?” Holm raised an eyebrow at me, pretending to be offended. “I try to be a good friend, looking out for my partner’s well-being, and this is how you throw it back in my face? That’s low, Marston.”

  “Besides,” I continued, choosing to ignore his melodramatic accusation, “I don’t have time for that now. I need to focus on the case.”

  “Well, now you’re making me feel like a jerk,” Holm grumbled as he gulped down the rest of his beer. “Since I ditched you yesterday and then stayed out the night before the mission.”

  “Guess I’m just a better agent than you are,” I taunted him, prompting Holm to launch an empty straw wrapper at me.

  “Seriously though,” he looked straight at me, “if you want to go, it’s fine. If what Ruiz said was true, then it’s not like we have anything extremely pressing waiting for us, just a bunch of time sitting in that interrogation room.”

  “All the more reason to make sure we get a good night’s rest,” I replied, feeling a little disappointed even as I spoke. “I need to be at the top of my game if I’m going to figure out a way to break Irvin tomorrow. There’ll be other women.”

  “If you say so,” Holm replied with a shrug.

  I would have been lying if I’d said that I wasn’t disappointed as I knocked back the rest of my drink. The woman was pretty and very obviously interested. But what I’d told Holm was true. We were on a mission right now, one in which several lives hung in the balance. There was no telling how many other victims we still had yet to find or how many more might be forced to become cheap drug mules if we didn’t stop all the people behind this. That was more important.

  Holm and I continued to chat in the bar for a while as the sun set. Once it started to get crowded inside the bar, we decided to head back to the hotel. As we walked past the table where the group of girls had been sitting, I noted that they were already gone, a pair of older couples in their place.

  “I can see why people come here,” Holm remarked as we stepped out of the bar and began to walk down the street toward the hotel. “To Aruba, I mean. The food’s amazing, and everything is close to the water.”

  “Yeah, it’s nice,” I replied. It was natural that virtually everything was within viewing distance of the ocean. It was a fairly small island, after all, which meant that no matter where you were, you were almost guaranteed to have a good view. “Hey, do you think--?”

  I stopped short as I heard something strange.

  “Huh?” Holm turned to look at me. “What did you say?”

  “Wait a minute,” I shushed him, going completely still and straining to hear. It was hard to pick out individual noises since by now, the crowd on the street had grown thick and lively, and the sounds of everyone’s laughter and chatter were all conglomerating into one loud cacophony. Still, I was certain that I had heard something like a scream. It had been short, as though it had been suddenly cut off before it could fully form.

  After a few seconds, I started to relax, thinking maybe I’d just heard someone yelling in excitement and mistook it as a scream of terror. I was about to tell Holm it was nothing when I heard it again.

  “Help!” It was definitely a scream, muffled and difficult to hear beyond the noise of the crowd, but it was there.

  “Did you hear that?” I asked Holm as I looked around frantically for the source of the noise.

  “Yeah,” he replied, his eyes alert and his voice serious. “I think it came from over there.” He nodded toward a narrow and dark alleyway tucked right between the bar and the next building.

  Most of the buildings in Oranjestad were pressed tightly together and didn’t have any gaps between them at all. The small space between the bar and the store next door was extremely small, wide enough for only a single person to pass through at one time. It was also completely dark since practically no light managed to make it down through the shadow of the buildings.

  “Let’s go,” I replied as I eased my way into the narrow opening.

  It was truly small, not even big enough for a trash can, and I couldn’t imagine what someone might be doing back here. As I walked toward the end, however, I realized that the alley opened into the parking lot behind the bar. There was only room for two cars back here since the next building was only a few feet behind the rear wall of the bar.

  As I stepped out of the alleyway, I heard a loud thump and a pained howl.

  “Help me! Someone please!” the voice cried out again, much louder this time, and I could tell it was a woman’s voice. It was close, but I couldn’t see anyone. There was only a single car back here, and as I looked at it, I noticed a shadow moving on the ground behind it. I rushed to see what was back there, pulling my sidearm from its holster as I went.

  “Freeze!” I yelled as I got to the other side of the car. It surprised me to see the blonde woman I’d spoken to earlier. She was lying on the ground, struggling against a man who was holding her down from above. The man snapped his head around to look at me, his eyes wide with shock. “Get up, now!” I pointed my gun at him, indicating for him to move away from her with my head.

  He looked at me and then looked away as if trying to figure out his chances of escape. He jumped to his feet quickly, and it seemed like he was about to make a break
for it when Holm caught up to us, blocking his only means of escape.

  “Put your hands up!” Holm barked at him as he, too, pointed his gun at the assailant.

  The suspect gritted his teeth as he looked between the two of us before slowing doing as Holm had instructed.

  “Back against the wall, now!” Holm exclaimed as he took slow, careful steps toward the man. He continued to give the man suspect instructions, and once he was away from the woman, I quickly put my gun away and knelt down to help her.

  “Are you okay?” I asked as I held my hand out to her.

  “I-I’m fine,” she stuttered, her voice trembling as though she was about to cry. She took my hand, and I gently helped her up off the ground.

  “Let’s go talk over here,” I suggested as I guided her away from the car, making sure to keep an eye on Holm as I did. He seemed to have everything under control and had already secured the man into a set of handcuffs.

  I led the woman over to the other side of the small parking lot, as far away as I could get her while still maintaining a visual on Holm and the suspect.

  “Thank you,” she muttered quietly. “I… Nothing like that has ever happened to me. He was so nice one minute, and then-- I don’t understand.”

  “It’s alright,” I replied calmly. She was stammering and jumping from one thought to another. It seemed like she might be in shock.

  “Oh,” she suddenly yelped as she looked up at my face. “It’s you. From the bar. Are you a cop?”

  “Uh, something like that,” I replied with a short nod. “I’m a federal agent. We’re here working on a case. I am a member of law enforcement, though, so don’t worry. We’ll take him straight to the police station. Is there someone I can call for you? Your friends, maybe?”

  “Yeah.” She nodded as she reached for something at her side. She looked down in confusion when her hand closed around empty air. “My bag.” She started to shake as she looked around on the ground. “I don’t know what happened to my bag. He must have taken it. I need to call my friends. They’ll be worried. I need to--”