Aruban Nights (Coastal Fury Book 19) Page 28

  “Well, sometimes,” he replied to my surprise. It seemed like such a stupid and reckless move that I assumed he must have only done it in response to the fact that they’d lost the rest of their available mules. “Lately, at least. We never used to find girls on our own, but the boss has been acting really weird lately…”

  “What do you mean by ‘weird’?” I prodded.

  “Paranoid, I guess?” Thiel shrugged. “He started saying that we needed to secure some of our own girls in case the Americans tried to pull something sneaky. I didn’t really understand what he was talking about, but I went along with it. It’s not like I could say no.”

  “What would happen if you did?” I asked, though I already had a good idea of what he would say.

  “I wouldn’t live for very much longer,” he replied, swallowing nervously as he did. “He’ll probably kill me if he ever finds out I talked to you. Maduro doesn’t like being betrayed, and these days, it seems like he thinks everyone is out to get him.”

  “That’s why he told you to attack that woman?” I asked.

  “No,” he replied. “That was because we lost all the other girls when the cops found the apartment.” He snuck a glance up at Linden before looking quickly away again. “He found out this morning when we got to shore, and he went crazy, saying we had to find more to get the drugs over to the US fast before our buyers got angry.”

  So Maduro is here, I thought to myself. That meant that he probably sent the boat we saw that morning as a decoy.

  “Who are your buyers?” Holm asked.

  “I dunno,” Thiel replied quietly. “I don’t ask questions. Like I said, it’s better to just keep your head down around the boss.”

  “You didn’t dock at the usual spot this morning,” I noted accusingly. “And the men who did come attacked us on sight, including a man I’ve heard is called ‘Gek.’ How did Maduro know we would be there?”

  “Oh, that was because of Ruiz,” Thiel replied. “When he called, Maduro realized something was up.”

  For a second, I saw red. After all that whining and pleading, had Ruiz really been behind the leak all along?

  “Ruiz tipped you off?” I asked, still confused as to how he had done that when we’d been listening in the entire time.

  “Not really,” Thiel replied. “We were getting ready to head back when Ruiz called and asked when we’d be coming back to Aruba. It didn’t seem like a weird question to me, but the boss went nuts. He kept saying that it must be some kind of trick and that Sandoval had probably bribed Ruiz to spy on him.”

  “Sandoval?” I narrowed my eyes at him in confusion. “What exactly does he have to do with anything? Where did Maduro get that idea?”

  “Hell if I know,” Thiel scoffed. “I told you, the boss has been acting crazy lately. He thinks everyone is out to get him. He’s even killed some of our men when he thought they were acting suspiciously. That’s why we’ve all been keeping our mouths shut and our heads down. He thought Sandoval was ripping him off, too, skimping out on the amount of drugs he was sending or something. I don’t know why he would even think that, but it’s what he thought.”

  “That’s why Maduro went to Venezuela this time around,” I surmised as I recalled what we’d been told about infighting between the two gang leaders.

  “Yeah,” Thiel replied. “Usually, me and the guys would go by ourselves to pick the drugs up, but this time, Maduro said he wanted to come too. When Ruiz called, he panicked and said it must be some kind of trap.”

  “He wasn’t wrong,” Linden muttered, clenching his fist on top of the table. “He was just wrong about who was waiting for him. So that’s why he sent Gek and those other men to attack us?”

  “That’s right,” Thiel confirmed. “Gek was happy to do it too, the freak. He got all excited when the boss said he had a special job for him to do, even though it was practically a suicide mission. He sent them to go to the usual spot while the rest of us landed a few miles up the shoreline with the product.”

  “We’ve heard that Gek has a strong affinity for your boss,” I replied, a shiver running down my spine at the thought of someone so blindly devoted to their boss that they’d be willing to kill others or even risk their own life. “You’re obviously more level-headed than he is since you’re telling us all of this.”

  “I just don’t want to die,” he mumbled as he stared back down at the floor. “I’m not a fan of the boss like Gek was. I was just trying to get by. Maybe it’s good that I got caught.” He chuckled bitterly, his voice flat and devoid of any humor. “Three meals a day behind bars actually sounds a lot nicer than walking on eggshells all the time, hoping I don’t do something to piss off the boss enough to make him shoot me.”

  For just a second, I felt a sliver of pity for Thiel. He was a bad person who had done bad things, and he undoubtedly deserved to go to prison for what he’d done, but the more I learned about Maduro, the more convinced I was that he was the real threat here.

  “Tell me where to find Maduro,” I demanded firmly. Thiel looked up slowly to meet my gaze.

  “Okay,” he replied, his eyes full of determination.

  29

  Ethan

  The place that Thiel pointed us to was a picturesque little cottage overlooking the ocean. It was painted a pale blue color, topped with cream-colored shingles, and encircled by a matching cream fence. It was nestled on a small patch of grass just feet away from the sand, at least a mile away from the nearest house. Though the paint was faded and even chipped in a few places, it still looked like a cozy and adorable vacation house.

  Being as secluded as it was meant that it was the perfect place for Maduro and his crew to hide out. No one would come looking for a gang of drug traffickers here. It also meant that it was impossible to sneak up on them since there was nothing but open fields and sand around for quite some distance.

  As a result, we needed to be ready to jump into action the moment we arrived since there was no doubt that the men would see us coming long before we got there. Holm, Linden, and I were leading the charge, with two other teams of officers following closely behind. Thiel had told us that there were seven men in total, including Maduro.

  “Everyone ready?” Linden asked as he sped toward the house.

  I double-checked that the straps were secure on my bullet-proof vest before drawing my gun from its holster. Usually, it would be inappropriate to pull a weapon unless there was an active threat in front of me, but considering the current circumstances, I couldn’t be too careful. I had a feeling we weren’t going to be given any grace period before we had to move.

  My hunch turned out to be correct as men began to run out through the front door of the cottage before we even got close. Some of them turned guns on us even as the car was still moving, while others simply scattered, fleeing toward a couple of cars that were parked next to the house.

  I tried to get a quick headcount to gauge how many were still inside, but I had to duck down before I could as the windshield suddenly shattered.

  “Hold on!” Linden yelled as he slammed on the gas. Voices shouted outside above the roar of the engine as the car swerved sharply to the side. Linden jumped out a moment after the car came to a screeching halt.

  “Freeze!” he yelled.

  “Come on,” I said to Holm as I kicked the passenger side door open and jumped out myself, holding my gun out in front of me as I scanned the area.

  There were four assailants in my immediate field of vision. Two were several yards away, making a break for it as they sprinted down the beach away from the house. Two of the officers were hot on their trail, so I decided not to focus on them for now.

  The other two were more concerning. One was partially hidden behind the side of one of the cars, firing wildly toward us, while the fourth was running toward where Linden was grappling with a different man. I decided this suspect was the most pressing, so I took off after him.

  “Stop!” I yelled as I lifted my gun. He was between Li
nden and me, so I couldn’t get a clean shot.

  “Dammit,” I gritted out as I urged my legs to move faster. “Hey!”

  Finally, the man turned to look at me, his face twisted into a furious grimace. He pivoted and pointed his gun at me. I threw myself to the ground just as he fired, narrowly avoiding his shot. I pulled the trigger of my gun as I did, now that I had a better angle. The man cried out in pain as my shot hit him in the side. I expected him to fall, but to my surprise, he just clenched his jaw and fired his gun at me again.

  I rolled to the side, but just a fraction of a second too late. A burning sensation tore through the side of my arm, and I hissed in pain. Still, I jumped to my feet as the man continued to fire his revolver, unable to stop for long enough to inspect the damage. If I didn’t keep moving, the man was going to kill me.

  The suspect kept shooting as I circled around him in a wide arc. I pushed the muscles in my legs to their limit, running as fast as I could until I heard the telltale click of a spent cylinder. I smirked as I realized that the man was out of ammunition and immediately changed course, running straight for him instead.

  He looked up at me with a surprised expression as I tackled him, slamming him into the ground. Though he tried to punch me, he couldn’t put any effort behind the strike in the position he was in, and I was easily able to block it. I returned his punch with two of my own, blood spurting from his nose and mouth as he coughed up a tooth.

  I pushed him roughly onto his stomach as he groaned with pain, the sound coming out wet and muffled because of the blood that was rapidly pouring from his broken nose. As I pulled the perp’s arms behind his back, I looked around at my comrades. Linden had managed to get his suspect under control as well, and it looked like the two officers had managed to grab the pair of escapees as well. I was feeling satisfied by how well things were going until I realized that I didn’t see Holm anywhere. My heart dropped as I frantically looked around the outside of the cottage, unable to see him anywhere.

  “Holm!” I yelled as I looked over at the cars by the house in time to spot one of the men climbing inside.

  “Dammit,” I grumbled as I shot to my feet before turning to look at Linden. “Hey, watch him!” I pointed down at the man I’d just apprehended before taking off toward the car. I would have preferred not to leave the suspect unattended. Even with his hands cuffed behind his back, he might still be able to get up and run away.

  However, I needed to prioritize the most pressing issue first, and right then, my main focus was stopping that suspect from getting away in the car. Linden nodded as he guided the suspect he was currently holding over to where I’d left my opponent bleeding on the ground.

  “Stop!” I yelled at the man who was pulling open the car’s driver-side door. He snapped his head around to look at me, his scraggly blond hair falling across his eyes as he did. “Don’t even think about it!”

  My words didn’t sway the guy, and he jumped into the driver’s seat without giving me any kind of response.

  “Dammit,” I muttered as I skidded to a halt, pulling my pistol back out of its holster just as the man started the car. He revved the engine threateningly as he stared me down through the windshield of the car, then smirked viciously.

  I stood my ground and lifted my gun up in front of me. I wasn’t about to let him get away, not when we’d come this close to catching them. The smirk on his face melted away, replaced by an angry sneer as he suddenly stepped on the gas, the tires screeching loudly as they spun in place for a moment.

  I fired my gun directly at the windshield, once, twice, and then a third time before jumping out of the way of the vehicle, landing hard on my side as it sped past me.

  As I scrambled back onto my feet, I looked back at the car. At first, I thought my shots had missed the driver, but a second later, the car suddenly swerved violently to the right, then again to the left before slamming directly into a large palm tree that was a few yards from the house. The front of the car caved in completely, the metal hood crumpling like a flimsy aluminum candy wrapper. Smoke rapidly poured out of the smashed windows, and I could just make out the slumped-over body of the suspect through the gray haze.

  I was about to rush over to see if the man was still alive when I heard the sound of more gunshots. Spinning around to find the source of the noise, I realized with a start that it was coming from inside the cottage.

  Of course, I thought to myself as my heart began to race with worry. The reason I hadn’t seen Holm earlier was that he hadn’t been outside. He’d already gone inside the house. I ran toward the house and through the open doorway, skidding to a halt as I realized what kind of situation I’d just inserted myself into.

  There were three men on the floor of the living room. I could tell that two of them were cops, while the other was wearing street clothes and must have been one of the suspects.

  “Marston, get down!” Holm screamed frantically from my left.

  I did as he bade without questioning, trusting in my partner enough not to hesitate. It was good that I did because someone started shooting from my right a split second after I hit the ground.

  “Over here,” Holm called from behind the couch where he was crouched. I rushed over there, careful to keep myself low to the ground as I moved. I flinched as another shot tore through a table leg just beside my head and leapt to the back of the couch as fast as I could.

  “Are you hit?” Holm asked as I took cover next to him.

  “Yeah,” I replied, taking a moment to regain my breath, the steady thrum of pain in my arm a consistent reminder of the graze I’d received earlier. “It’s not bad, though. What’s the situation? How many are we up against?”

  “Just one, I think,” he replied.

  I quickly did the math in my head. Thiel had said that there were seven in total, including Maduro. Two had tried to flee, I’d fought one, Linden had fought one, and then there was the one that had tried to run in the car. That was six total, which meant that there should be the only one left if Thiel had told us the truth.

  “I think you’re right,” I replied as I got to my feet, crouched behind the couch, and primed to jump up as soon as the opportunity arose. “We should rush him. We can take him between the two of us.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Holm muttered back, grinding his teeth together angrily as he did.

  “What?” I frowned at him. “Why not?”

  Before he could answer, someone else did.

  “Please don’t hurt me!” a woman’s voice sobbed from the other side of the room. “Please! I won’t tell anyone! Just let me go!”

  “Shut up!” a much gruffer male voice replied. A moment later, there was a thump, and the woman cried out in pain.

  I now understood why Holm was hesitating back here. “Crap,” I groaned. “He’s got a hostage?”

  “Yep,” Holm replied. “I’m assuming another girl who was picked up like Thiel tried to do with Monica, except this one wasn’t so lucky.”

  “We need to move before he hurts her,” I insisted.

  “The hell are you whispering about back there?” the man roared. “Come out and face me like men, you pathetic little cowards!”

  “Let the woman go first,” I called back, swapping the spent magazine in my pistol for a fresh one quietly as I did. “Then it’ll just be us men. We can have a nice long talk.”

  “Ha!” The man cackled. “And lose my bargaining chip? Like hell, I will!”

  I gritted my teeth in frustration. We were in a terrible position. We couldn’t just go out guns blazing because we might hit the hostage if we did. We couldn’t just sit here either, though.

  “Let’s just talk about this,” I yelled, stalling for time as I tried to figure out what we should do. “You got a name? I’d like to know who it is I’m speaking to.”

  “I’m going to call Linden,” Holm whispered as he dug his phone out of his pocket with his free hand. “Fill him in, so no one else tries to rush in here.”

&nbs
p; “You can stop with the nice guy act,” the thug spat back at me. “I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to get me to drop my guard, act like you’re my buddy, so I’ll let this little skank go, and you can arrest me. It’s not going to work!”

  The woman screamed again, and I had to restrain myself from leaping out from behind the couch to help her. I needed to keep a cool head, or we might both die.

  “That’s not true,” I replied as Holm talked quietly on the phone beside me. “All I want is for all of us to get out of here safely. All you have to do is let her go, and we can--”

  “You’re lying!” the man roared, his voice cracking as he did. “You’re trying to trick me! That’s all anyone does, they try to trick me. I bet it was that little snake Thiel that told you where I was, right? I knew something was up when he didn’t come back earlier. That sneaky little traitor!”

  The more he spoke, the more certain I was that this was Maduro, the leader of the Aruban gang. The way he was ranting about everyone lying to and tricking him perfectly coincided with what everyone had told us about his recent behavior. The guy was paranoid for sure, and that made him extra dangerous. It meant that we might not be able to reason with him since he was so unstable and unable to think clearly.

  “I’m not lying to you,” I yelled back. “I don’t want anyone else to have to die. We can all walk out of here right now.”

  “Linden is at the back door,” Holm hissed in my ear. “He’s going to use himself as bait to grab the suspect’s attention. Once he’s distracted--”

  “We can move in and grab the hostage,” I finished for him.

  It was a risky plan, insanely dangerous. There was a lot that could go wrong, but we didn’t have another option. We couldn’t shoot him, so we needed to get in as close as possible instead.

  “Bull!” Maduro yelled. “All you pigs are the same. You pretend to be all buddy-buddy until you get a confession, and then your true colors come out. You’re not going to trick me.”