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

I ended the call and walked back into the bar. The women were all huddled at one end of the main floor. Crowley and Daniela were standing over them as though guarding them. I was just about to go back into the stairwell when the door leading to it suddenly popped open, and Olivia stepped through. Just behind her was the girl that had hit her head on the edge of the stairs, being supported by Holm.

“I tried to tell her not to move,” he explained. “She insisted. Said she wanted to see Daniela.”

“Danny!” the girl yelled as soon as she spotted the woman.

Daniela turned at her nickname and stretched her arms out to the girl. The girl’s eyes welled up with fresh tears as she pulled away from Holm and went running to her.

As I watched them embrace, some of the earlier fury I’d felt after watching the suspect get away ebbed. Things hadn’t gone exactly as planned, and we’d incurred a lot of injury in the process, but the women were safe now. Ultimately, that was what mattered.

27

Ethan

A few hours had passed since the mission to rescue the women from the Oasis Lounge. Holm, Olivia, and I were in the hospital, getting ready to head back to the Grace Bay Police Station to speak with the victims.

We hadn’t had a chance to speak with any of the girls up until now because we’d been too busy dealing with the aftermath of the fight. Three of the officers who had been assigned to assist us had been hurt. Luckily, they’d all been wearing standard bulletproof vests, so although they’d sustained injuries, none of them were life-threatening. On top of that, three of the suspects had died during the battle, and one had managed to escape. Even though Morris had sent officers out to look for the car, by the time they’d arrived, he was already long gone.

However, my main concern had been Olivia, who’d been shot in the arm in nearly the same place that the antique shop owner had shot her a few days prior. As a result, the stitches on her old wound had opened up. This time, the doctor had told her that it was imperative that she not use her arm to give herself a chance to recover fully and had even recommended that she stay in the hospital for a few days. Olivia wouldn’t hear a word of it.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” I asked her once again. I was genuinely worried about her. She’d taken two bullets to the arm in less than a week, and this injury had been significantly worse than the last one, enough so that she was now confined to a sling.

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” she sighed as she looked down at the bandages on her arm. “It’s that I can’t. Look, it’s not that I don’t trust you and Robbie to be able to handle this, but the fact is that things will probably be a lot smoother if I’m there. These women have spent years being victimized by men, possibly for their whole lives if any of them have been here for as long as Allison was. I know that you and Robbie are good, decent people, but they don’t. All they’ll see is that they’re suddenly in a police station, surrounded by more men that they don’t know. On top of that, I’ve already built a rapport with Jenny. That’ll really help when it comes to connecting with the other victims.”

I knew she was right. After all, she was the expert in this field, but I still wasn’t all that happy about it. I could tell from the way her lip would suddenly twitch and her voice would catch as she spoke that she was in pain. She should be taking it easy for the moment, but she was too focused on the victims to think of herself.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I muttered as the three of us made our way out of the hospital and into the parking lot. “Just, don’t do anything too crazy, alright?”

“Aww, are you worried about me, Ethan?” She smirked as she bumped her uninjured shoulder against mine.

“Of course I am,” I retorted. “Seems like you can’t go a day without getting shot.”

“Funny,” she chuckled. “I was just thinking the same thing about you yesterday.”

“Oh, were you worried about me, then?” I grinned at her.

“Eh, maybe,” she mumbled with a slight shrug, her cheeks reddening as she spoke.

“Guys, I am right here,” Holm groaned good-naturedly. “Not that this whole exchange wasn’t adorable, but could you maybe not make eyes at each other when I’m standing two feet away?”

Olivia cleared her throat with embarrassment as I reached over to swat at Holm, who ducked out of the way of my attack smoothly. Now that we’d accomplished our mission and gotten the victimized women to safety, we felt a little more at ease, enough to joke around like this at least.

We couldn’t get too complacent, though. We still needed to find the leader of the group, Samuel, and though we’d rescued several women, Jenny had told us about a house in Cockburn Town where they stayed while they weren’t out working. We still didn’t know how many other victims there were out there, still waiting for our help.

That was what weighed on my mind as we made the drive back to the Grace Bay Police Station.

“Remember,” Olivia cautioned us as we parked and made our way inside. “These women have been through a lot. They might react with fear or hostility, just like Jenny did. If that happens, just back off. We won’t get anywhere by pressuring them.”

This actually wasn’t the first time we’d dealt with something of this nature. I could distinctly recall a similar case we’d handled involving a group of trafficked women who’d hijacked the boat they were being transported on. Several of them had reacted to the