Caribbean Rescue (Coastal Fury Book 16), Matt Lincoln [best book recommendations .txt] 📗

with her. I’m trying to make a living here, and this girl just takes off with one of my three boats!”

“So you actually witnessed her taking it?” Olivia jumped in.

“Of course I did!” Kenneth scowled. “I was just about to rent it to this nice British couple when she jumped right in and stole it! So, what, was she trafficking drugs or something? Why’s the FBI involved in some stolen property case? I knew that girl was into something bad.”

“We’re involved,” I replied curtly, “because that girl was a trafficking victim, and we believe that she stole your boat while attempting to flee from her captors.”

Kenneth’s face went white at my words, and he stuttered for a moment before speaking again.

“I-I didn’t, wow. That’s crazy,” he stammered quietly.

“What did you mean when you said she was into something bad?” Olivia asked.

“Huh?” he replied dumbly.

“You just said ‘I knew that girl was into something bad,’” Olivia clarified. “What made you think that?”

“Oh, well…” he muttered as he shifted his eyes down toward the ground. “Something weird happened right after she took it.”

“What do you mean by weird?” I asked.

He looked up at Walter before flitting his gaze back down to the ground.

“Look, I don’t want to get in trouble,” he mumbled.

“Why would you get in trouble?” I asked. “Did you do something wrong?”

“No!” he replied vehemently. “Well, not really. It’s just… I didn’t mention this to the police when I first reported the boat stolen.”

He was carefully keeping his gaze away from Walter as he spoke.

“That doesn’t matter,” I insisted. “Just tell us now. This girl was a victim for years. Whatever you saw might help us get her some justice.”

“There was some guy after her,” he finally revealed.

“What do you mean?” Olivia snapped, probably more angrily than she’d meant to. “You saw someone trying to hurt her?”

“Yeah,” Kenneth mumbled, unable to look her in the eye. “Right after she took off, this psycho came running up and started shooting at her.”

“Shooting?!” I exclaimed, alarmed at the idea of someone opening fire in the middle of a crowded beach like this.

“Did you see what he looked like?” Olivia asked.

“No.” Kenneth shook his head. “He just came out of nowhere and started shooting. I got on the ground, and when I looked up again, he was gone.”

“And it didn’t occur to you to mention any of this to the police?” I asked him incredulously.

He swallowed and glanced over at Walter again before answering.

“I didn’t want to get involved in anything shady,” he replied nervously. “I figured that girl must have been deep in drugs or something if someone was trying to gun her down in broad daylight. Why else would she steal someone’s boat like that if she wasn’t up to no good?”

“Maybe because she was trying to escape the people who were trafficking her!” Olivia growled.

“Look, I didn’t know, okay?” Kenneth retorted. “You have to understand, though, around here…”

He looked around nervously, as though checking to see if anyone was listening.

“What is it?” I prompted.

“Look, to be completely honest, I’m not really surprised,” he revealed. “It’s awful, what happened to that girl, but it’s not exactly a rare sight around here.”

“Prostitution, you mean?” Olivia asked.

“Yeah.” Kenneth nodded, still glancing around hesitantly. “And the people in charge of those girls, the ones who run the bars and brothels? They’ve got eyes and ears everywhere.”

I suddenly realized why he was acting so skittish.

“You think they’re around right now?” I asked.

“Oh, I know they are,” he replied as he took a backward step away from me. “Look, like I said, I’m sorry about what happened to that girl, but it’s not really any of my business. Just forget about the boat.”

“Wait!” I called as I took a step toward him.

“I don’t want to end up like that girl,” he snapped back at me, his eyes wide and frantic.

“I get that,” I replied. “But we can make sure that doesn’t happen. We’ll get you somewhere safe until we can figure out who’s behind this.”

“I don’t know…” Kenneth muttered.

“Her son’s name is Eddy,” Olivia suddenly chimed in. “She gave her life to get him to safety. He’s all alone now. All we want is to get some justice for him and his mother.”

“What, she’s dead?” Kenneth gaped.

“Yeah, she is,” I added somberly. It had been smart of Olivia to go for an emotional appeal. It had really seemed like we were about to lose him. “She didn’t survive the boat journey. Right now, you’re the only one who might know anything about who’s responsible for this.”

“Come on, man, you can’t put that responsibility on me,” Kenneth grumbled. “Okay, fine. I’ll tell you about what I know. But look, you need to promise--”

I saw the red mist first, so suddenly and unexpectedly that my brain didn’t immediately understand what it was. I was so focused on hearing what Kenneth was about to say that I didn’t even realize at first that he’d stopped talking.

It hit me then, just a split second later, that the red mist was coming from Kenneth. It was his face, exploding into a burst of blood and mangled flesh.

Someone had just shot him, I realized at the exact moment that I registered that the loud bang I heard was the sound of a gunshot.

I’d just watched our primary witness get shot to death right in front of me.

For a long, surreal moment, it felt as though time stood completely still. Then everything began moving again, violently and all too quickly.

“Get down!” Walter shouted as he drew his gun from the holster at his hip.

A second later, panic broke out all over the beach.

12

Ethan

I drew my own gun and spun around to find the source of the gunfire. It felt like time had stopped for just a moment right after the shot, but now it seemed like everyone on the beach had realized what had happened. Some people dropped to the ground, covering their own heads or attempting to shelter children and