Escape, the Complete Trilogy

by David Antocci

  The barkeep set a rocks glass in front of him filled with ice, gave him a heavy- handed pour from the rum bottle, and slid it forward under his face. As the intoxicating smell of rum hit the man’s nose, he lifted his head and nearly shouted with a jovial voice, “Sammy! Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” Abby assumed he was talking to the barkeep, but the man smiled at the drink as he spoke.

  The barkeep walked over to Abby and beamed, “That is Captain Frank.”

  Oh! Abby thought. Well... interesting.

  She watched him for a few minutes. He stared into his drink for a long time, as if contemplating it. Finally, with a nod of approval, he took a sip and looked toward the silent television above the bar.

  Well, it can’t hurt to at least talk to him, right?

  Abby made her way down the bar and stood behind him for a moment, unsure what to say. “Um... Captain Frank?”

  Still facing the television, he slurred, “There’s no such thing as a free ride, honey. It’s gotta be cash, grass, or ass, no one...” As he turned around, he stopped mid sentence, “Whoa.”

  Abby smiled.

  Captain Frank stared a moment, taking her in before apologizing. “My apologies,” he said, standing up. “Captain Frank, at your service.” He tipped his straw hat, which was somehow endearing and made her smile.

  “Nice to meet you, Captain.” She gave a little curtsey in return.

  “Young ladies are always asking me for a ride to one island or another. I’ve never met one quite so lovely as yourself, though. If you need a ride, I’d be honored. The typical rates don’t apply to you, my dear.”

  Abby examined his face. He was probably a decent-looking man when sober. He was older, yes. The tanned skin and wrinkles around his eyes told the tale of a great many years spent in the sun. And even through the slurring, there was a certain charm about him. Abby couldn’t place it at first, but then decided it was his eyes. They were a bluish gray, like the sky before the dawn. They were the eyes of a good and trustworthy man, albeit one who has made some poor life decisions, but a good man none the less.

  Still standing, she replied, “Well, Captain, it turns out I don’t need a ride. But I am trying to figure out how to get somewhere, and I’m hoping you can help me out.”

  “Absolutely,” he said, motioning for her to sit down in the chair next to him. He took his seat once Abby was seated, and gave the bartender a big smile. Looking at Abby, he asked, “So, where you trying to get to?”

  Abby originally had been concerned that she might be recognized, or possibly run into one of the investigators JJ said were out here looking for her. However, none of the locals in here seemed to know who she was, and with the Captain half in the bag already, she was less than concerned about him. “Have you ever heard of the show Trial Island?”

  Captain Frank let out a short laugh. “Seriously?”

  Abby nodded.

  “Of course I have,” he said with a smile.

  She looked around; making sure no one was listening to their conversation. “Do you know where the island is?”

  The captain was curious now. “I sure do. You looking to go there?”

  Abby nodded. “Yes.”

  Frank stood out and shouted to the barkeep, “Sammy, put this one on my tab, and this lovely lady’s, too.” He turned to Abby, “I’ll have you there in two hours. Let’s go!”

  “Whoa, uh... Captain... slow down.” She indicated for him to have a seat. “I’m actually looking to go to the island next to it. You said it’s only two hours from here?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Frank looked at his watch. “I can have you there by eight if we leave now. Just gotta put some gas in the tank.” He began lumbering toward the door.

  “That’s very nice, Captain Frank...”

  “Just call me Frank.”

  “Thank you, Frank. I’m A... Annie, by the way.”

  Abby held out her hand, which he took gingerly in his and kissed it. “Nice to meet you, Annie.”

  Abby almost blushed a bit. “You’re very nice, Frank. I can’t leave tonight, though. Would we be able to make the trip in the morning?”

  Frank studied her face as he thought. “I have a charter in the morning, but I’ll reschedule them. As long as you wear another beautiful dress like that one, then I say absolutely!”

  Abby giggled a bit, playing along. He was being very accommodating, and Abby was sure it was because he was more interested in finding out what was under her dress than in just having a companion at sea for a few hours.

  She asked, “Can I take a friend?”

  “It’s a tight squeeze, but if she’s as cute as you, then most definitely.”

  Abby decided not to let him know that her friend wasn’t another cute and diminutive woman, but her six-foot-something boyfriend. They could sort that out tomorrow. “Sounds wonderful. I can’t believe we’re so close. I figured it would be further away.” Abby pulled out a map that she had printed off the computer back at the coffee house. “Can you show me where it is?”

  Frank took the map and set it down on the bar, trying to get his bearings. He pointed at an island, “This is where we are now.” As his finger traced the map, it came to a stop at two islands several inches to the northeast. “That’s where you want to go.”

  “That looks pretty far away. It will only take a couple hours?”

  “Absolutely. Stick with me. I can get you anywhere you need to be in no time flat.”

  Abby finished her drink. “Well, it was great meeting you, and I can’t wait for tomorrow!”

  He looked genuinely disappointed. “You’re leaving so soon?”

  “I’ve got to get ready for our trip,” Abby winked at him playfully and gave him a kiss on the cheek for good measure. He seemed to be the type to spend most of the night drinking, and she didn’t want him to forget her. She asked, “How early can we get started?”

  “Nine o’clock sound reasonable?”

  “Sounds great.”

  “Alright then, I’ll meet you at the boatyard at nine tomorrow morning. Thank you again.”

  “No,” he smiled, “thank you!”

  Captain Frank watched Abby leave, then turned to the barkeep. “Sammy, you got any coffee back there? I gotta sober up.”

  * * *

  Eric had finished cleaning up and was walking down the street just outside the harbor when he found Abby.

  “Hey, I was just going to look for you.”

  Abby smiled and gave him a quick kiss. “Well, you found me, sailor.”

  “How did your meeting go?”

  “Oh, not bad I suppose. I just got us a ride to the island in the morning, that’s all.”

  “You got us a ride?”

  “Well, if we want one. But even better, I confirmed where we’re going.” She pulled the letter-sized map from her satchel and unfolded it. “Look, right here.” She pointed out where they were, then, as Frank had done, traced her finger up to the islands where they were going. “Captain Frank says he can have us there in a few hours tomorrow morning!”

  Eric looked skeptical and took the map to examine it closer, “A few hours?”

  “That’s what he said.”

  “Abby, I think that’s a lot further than a few hours. That’s got to be three hundred miles away. That’s either one very long day at sea, or a couple days at least.”

  It was Abby’s turn to look skeptical. “He said just a few hours. Are you sure?”

  Eric nodded, “I’m pretty sure, but let’s go compare it to the chart back on the boat.”

  They walked around the corner of the boathouse to go back down the dock toward the boat. Just then, the bearded man from QUEST II came around the corner, and they almost ran into each other.

  Abby smiled and said, “Excuse me,” as she walked around the man to continue down the dock.

  “Sorry,” the man said as he moved to let them by. He tried to avoid eye contact, but Eric locked eyes with him.

  The man nodded and conti
nued past them.

  As the man passed, Eric decided that he had enough and was going to find out what exactly was going on. If he was one of those investigators looking for them, which Eric was reasonably sure of, he probably didn’t expect them to be aggressive. Well, he was about to get a little wake-up call.

  Eric grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around. “What the hell are you doing following...”

  That’s as far as he got with his line of questioning.

  The man grabbed Eric’s arm, spun it behind his back, and pushed him up against the side of the boathouse.

  “Take is easy, I’m not here to...”

  And that’s as far as the bearded man got before his words stopped short in his throat. He felt the swift breeze of Abby’s knife as it sliced through the air just a breath beneath his beard as it came to rest at his throat.

  “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I suggest you let go of him.”

  The man let go of Eric, who immediately turned the tables by grabbing him and pushing his back into the wall. Eric put his elbow and forearm into his chest to hold him while Abby held her knife on him from a few feet away.

  “Back to my question,” Eric said. “What the hell are you doing following us?”

  At that moment, a voice came from behind. “It’s OK, he’s with me.”

  13

  ABBY AND ERIC both turned to see JJ standing behind them.

  “This is my brother, Ace.”

  “Your brother? Why didn’t we meet him when you found us?” Abby asked.

  “He stays in the background. An insurance policy, so to speak.”

  Abby turned back toward the man Eric was holding against the wall. He did look like JJ. He was tall, curly hair, but also different. Where JJ was lean, like a swimmer, this man was broad, like a football player. His curly hair was much longer than JJ’s, down past his ears and shaggy, with an unkempt beard. As she studied their eyes, she saw they both had the same beautiful blue eye color, and shape. They looked very different, but there was no doubt that in seeing them together, they were brothers.

  The man with the beard spoke up. “It’s about time.”

  JJ shot back, “What the hell are you doing off the boat?”

  “I found them, so I was following them, because I had no idea where the hell you were!”

  “How about you pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, bro, guess who I found?’”

  “Yeah, because that worked out so well last time. I was standing on the boat like an asshole watching them cruise right past me while you were off dipping your wick in the local talent pool.”

  “Ace, there’s a lady here. Mind your mouth,” JJ said, indicating Abby.

  She spoke up next, “Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” She looked at Eric, who still had his arm across Ace’s chest. “Eric, what’s our problem with him?”

  “I’ve seen him in the last three harbors we’ve been in. I thought he was following us.”

  “We are,” JJ said. “Or at least we were trying to, since Ace spotted you in the last one.”

  “You mind?” Ace asked Eric.

  “Oh, yeah, sorry,” Eric said as he eased off Ace so he could stand upright.

  “My brother and I work together. He saw you pulling out of the last harbor. I couldn’t get back to the boat in time. We tried following you, but we were hours behind, and with the storm coming, we had to turn around and stay put for the night. Finding you here was just our best guess.”

  Abby turned to Ace with a bit of a guilty look. “Sorry about that,” she said, indicating his neck.

  He waved her off. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “No, but you’re bleeding a little. I got a little carried away there.”

  Ace felt his neck. Abby’s blade had given him just the tiniest cut. It was as thin and fine as a paper cut, and her blade was so sharp he never even felt it. As he wiped his hands on his pants, he made a mental note not to tangle with her in the future.

  He smiled. “Really, don’t worry about it. No big deal.”

  “Sorry anyway,” Abby said before turning to JJ. “We’ve been chasing you since you left.”

  “You’ve been chasing us? Why not just call? I could have turned around and saved you an awful lot of trouble.”

  “Somebody,” Eric said, staring at Abby, “trashed your card. We thought we could catch you at your first stop, but we missed you by a couple hours. Fortunately, we got pointed in the right direction. Same thing happened, though, and well, we’ve been playing that game for a few days now.”

  “Unbelievable,” JJ said. He looked at Abby, “So, I assume you decided you want to go back and see Robert?”

  “Absolutely,” Abby said.

  “Well, he sure will be happy to hear that. When I told him that we finally found you, he flew down here right away. He was pretty disappointed that you weren’t coming, but said he’d stick around a few days, hoping that you’d change your mind. Looks like he was right. Good thing we found each other, you’d never make it there without us.”

  “Believe it or not, we actually know where we’re going now. It’s funny that we finally found you, but we don’t need you anymore.”

  JJ looked skeptical. “You know where the island is?”

  Abby recapped her story about meeting Captain Frank, and how he showed her the location. “He said he can have me there in a couple of hours.”

  Eric spoke up. “I’m not so sure about that, though. We were just going to compare her map to the charts back on the boat. Looks more like a couple of days to me.”

  “Let me take a look.” JJ took the small map from Abby and studied it for a few moments. “Well, I’ve good news and bad news. Your Captain Fred...”

  “Frank,” Abby corrected.

  “Captain Frank knows where he’s going. Those are the islands all right. Bad news is there’s no way that it’s just a few hours. We’ve got another two days underway before we get there. We’re returning to Robert’s boatyard and have the whole thing charted out.”

  “Well, he said a few hours,” Abby said. “He seemed pretty sure of himself.”

  Eric asked, “Where did you meet this guy, anyway?”

  Abby hesitated a moment. “At The Shantyman’s.”

  “The Shantyman’s? Is that what it sounds like?”

  “What does it sound like?”

  “Like a crusty sailor’s bar.”

  “Then it’s exactly what it sounds like.”

  “So you met some guy in a bar that calls himself Captain Frank and you’re ready to hop on a boat with him because he claims to know where he’s going? Abby, I realize you want to get back and all, but that doesn’t seem like a good decision.”

  Abby chuckled. “Eric, first off, he’s harmless, and second, you’ll be with me. If he had any bad intentions, I’m sure we could take care of things. Heck, if you’ve got our boat running, we don’t even have to wait for him. We can go ourselves.”

  “Or come with us,” JJ spoke up.

  Abby thought a moment, “He was very sure of himself. I’d like to at least have you meet the guy.”

  “I’ll meet him,” Eric said, “but we’ll get there ourselves.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Abby said. She turned to JJ, “Would it be possible for me to talk to Robert?”

  “Sure thing.” He pulled out his phone and put the call through.

  Abby took the phone and said to the men, “I’ll meet you back at the boat, OK?”

  Eric gave her a kiss on the cheek, and they left her to make her call.

  After a couple of rings, Robert picked up the phone. “JJ, please tell me you’ve got better news than last time.”

  “He does!” Abby said, her smile beaming through the phone.

  “Is this Abby?”

  “It is!”

  “Fantastic! So you changed your mind. I’m so happy. When will you be here?”

  “Well, soon. I’m just not sure how soon. JJ s
ays we’re a few days away, but I met someone else who says it’s no more than a few hours.” She recapped her discussion with Captain Frank.

  “I don’t know, Abby.” Robert sounded concerned. “As always, you can do what you want, but if I were you, I’d stick with JJ. He knows what he’s doing.”

  “Well, don’t worry, I’m meeting up with Frank tomorrow, and we’ll decide then. I’m just so excited to see you, and to get my memory back. By this time tomorrow, I could know the answers to everything I’ve been questioning. I don’t expect you to understand, but that’s very exciting to me.”

  “Oh, I do understand. Trust me, I do. But about getting your memory back – it’s not going to be a quick and simple procedure like Eric’s was. I’ll explain the details when I see you, but it’s going to take much longer than Eric’s.”

  “Well, that’s another reason to get back sooner rather than later, wouldn’t you say?”

  “You’re a smart girl. Trust your instincts, but promise me you’ll be careful, alright?”

  “I will.”

  “Bryce may be dead, but I don’t know what kind of history you have with his people. I don’t want to alarm you, but you need to be practical.”

  Abby hadn’t considered that angle and was thankful for Robert’s advice. “I’ll be safe, I promise. I hope to see you tomorrow.”

  “Very good, Abby. Travel safely, and be smart.”

  14

  IT WAS NINE on the dot, and Abby, Eric, JJ and Ace were on their boat when a sober and chipper Captain Frank came strolling down the deck. He was whistling between sips on a strong coffee from a paper up. He wore his trademark outfit, similar to what he was wearing last night – a straw cowboy hat, Hawaiian shirt, and khaki shorts. However, Abby thought he looked significantly more crisp and put together than he had at their first meeting.

  Abby called out to Frank with a smile and a wave. “Captain Frank! Over here!”