Page 63 of Wild Tempest

“We’re out here investigating the disappearance of some filmmakers who were camping on the island. Have you been out here recently? Do you remember seeing anyone that fits that description?”

The ringleader laughed. “No. I don’t remember seeing anybody like that.”

“Are you sure?”

“I got a good memory. And I don’t remember anything like that.”

“Maybe they saw something they weren’t supposed to see, and you and your friends got rid of them,” I suggested.

He laughed again. “I think you have an active imagination.”

I shrugged. “I’ve been told.”

“Maybe you have seen something you aren’t supposed to see. Maybe I should get rid of you two.”

Teagan shifted even closer to me.

38

“Right now, you’re trafficking drugs,” I said to the ringleader. “A lot of drugs. Enough to put you behind bars for the next 30 years. But I haven’t seen your face. I don’t know who you are. You and your crew could just disappear into the night, and I would have no way of tracking you down. As you said, my friends aren’t around. They’re not coming. But if you kill a cop… that’s a world of pain. You will have every officer in the department hunting you down.”

“Relax, Gringo. I don’t care about you or your pretty little girlfriend,” he said, ogling Teagan’s perky form. He said to her in a lecherous voice, “You should come with us. I can guarantee you we’re much more fun.”

“I doubt that,” Teagan sassed.

The ringleader chuckled. “Spunky. I like her.”

He shouted at his crew to hurry up with the transfer. “¡Apúrate!”

They hefted bricks of cocaine from the semisubmersible to the boat.

When they were done, the ringleader said to me, “Remember I did you a favor.”

He nodded at his men to return to the boat, then backed away from me.

“How can I repay the favor if I don’t know who you are?” I asked.

He looked at my badge. “Deputy Wild. I should be able to find out a lot of information about you.”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

He gave me a mock salute, then stepped into the surf.

“My stuff,“ I shouted. “That phone is evidence in another case.”

He considered it for a moment and looked at the items in his hand. After a beat, he tossed them to the sand with the exception of the keys to the Raptor. “That’s two favors you owe me. Someday, I will collect.”

He tossed the Raptor keys to a compatriot, then waded through the surf and climbed into his boat.

A few of his goons pushed the Raptor into the surf, boarded the tactical boat, and fired up the outboards. The scoundrels motored out of the bay. The semisubmersible followed, and the vessels disappeared into the night.

Teagan and I exchanged a glance and breathed a sigh of relief.

I hustled down to the waterline, grabbed my badge, wallet, keys, and both cell phones. I still had the hoop earring in my pocket. They’d missed it somehow.

I made my way back to the tree line and retrieved my gun.

“Remind me not to come on these little excursions with you,” Teagan said.