Back during Fidel Castro’s takeover of Cuba, many people fleeing oppression and poverty had sought a new life in the States. As it was less than one hundred miles between Cuba and Key West, “boat people” often used the islands as stepping stones to the mainland. Now, all these years later, illegal immigrants still chose this route into the U.S.A. People with the necessary cash could purchase entry via any number of men willing to smuggle them ashore. Ordinarily I’d balk at using men who profit from the suffering of others, but in the circumstances I just had to keep my opinion to myself. Desperate times, as they say.

“We’re taking a chance out here,” Bryce said. “There was no other way you could think of?”

Because of the problem of illegal immigrants, the U.S. Border Patrol was very active in this area, watching for suspicious boats or seaplanes. We were running the risk of being hailed by a patrol boat. But that wasn’t what Bryce was getting at.

“There are many agents based here,” he offered in a whisper. The Keys were also a staging post for people entering Communist-controlled Cuba. “People who might recognize me.”

“Just keep your head down, Bryce.”

“Want my shades?” Rink asked.

We were on the boat for over an hour, and during that time, I brought Rink up to speed with everything that had happened. He checked out the photographs that Bryce had brought along. Rink had worked with Schilling, Hillman and Muir on a few missions and I could see the sadness in his eyes as he studied the photos. The sadness was replaced by anger when looking at the innocent dead: the women and children. His shoulders tightened and I knew that my friend was thinking bad thoughts about the people responsible.

“And now they have Imogen.”

“I’m trying not to think about that,” I said.

The Florida Keys are an archipelago of more than seventeen hundred islands, many of them inhabited, but others merely nameless limestone mounds on the surface of the sea. Depending on the hurricanes that roar through the area, some of these islets disappear and reappear like Brigadoon of the fables. A large number of islands have been colonized by plant life but have no natural fresh water and in general, people avoid these as dwelling places. We were headed for one such island now.