by Dale Mayer
“But what if they do?”
“Then we might have a bit of a skirmish,” he said. “I’m looking for our ride right now.”
She sucked in her breath and almost held it.
“Relax,” he said.
“But they are coming up behind us.”
He walked to the side of the pier, where there was a bench, and positioned himself where he could turn and defend her behind him. He also saw their ride approaching from the side.
What they needed was a few moments to get on it quietly and calmly, without suspicion. He studied the layout of the pier, noticing the military police were about one hundred yards away and closing in. There was no pause in their walk. There was no determined look on their face.
“I don’t think they even know we’re here,” he said.
“I really don’t want to take that chance,” she said nervously.
He gripped her fingers and said, “I need you to stay calm. I need you to not let them know anything is different. We can’t alert their attention to us.”
She took a long slow deep breath. “I guess that’s what happens when you’re kidnapped and taken captive,” she said almost bitterly. “You become forever worried about what’s … when it’ll happen again.”
“It won’t happen on my watch,” he said.
“You don’t know that,” she said. “You can’t hold both of them off.”
He looked down at her, his lips turned in a crooked smile, and said, “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. But I don’t want them to be aware that we are, in any way, anything other than tourists.”
At that, her gaze was caught by something in the water.
He looked over and smiled. “Yes, watch the fish,” he said and pointed a little farther out to another swarm, a school of fish that he couldn’t name.
“Mother Nature’s beautiful,” she said, with a murmur.
“Not only is she beautiful but she’s also very good at what she does.”
“What, kill?” she asked, almost a snarl to her voice.
“There are always predators in this magical kingdom,” he said. “The trick is to make sure you’re not at the bottom of the totem pole.”
“Maybe,” she said, “but I was put at the bottom, so it’s a little bit odd to even be thinking that I’m trying to get out of it.”
“I get it,” he said. “Hold strong.”
She nodded slowly. As the men came closer and then walked past, she slowly let out her breath. “That,” she said, “was not very comfortable.”
“They’ll have to turn around and come back as well,” he said, turning her in his arms and pointing out more fish that were brilliant works of art. Up along the water, several junk boats were coming, some full of wares to peddle to the tourists and locals alike.
She smiled. “It must be an interesting life to live on a boat like that.”
“I don’t know about interesting,” he said. “It’d be fun for a while. But I think you might get a little more feeling of being closed and hemmed in.”
“Do you think so?”
“Well, in your room, you couldn’t get out,” he said, “but, when you’re out in the water in one of those, you really have no place to go either.”
She thought about it and nodded. “I guess you always think that you’re in a big wide-open sea, under the blue sky, and you won’t feel that same feeling. But, because you can’t get off, maybe you do.”
“It’s exactly how it feels, yet, on the other hand, it is home for many, many thousands of people.”
She nodded. One junk boat in particular pulled up in front of them and pointed at his wares. She smiled and shook her head.
As it was, Diesel smiled and gently pushed her down one of the ramps and said, “Let’s take a closer look.” And leading her down the wooden steps, they approached the area, where all the junks were lined up. He said, “Don’t look around.”
“Now I just want to,” she snapped.
“Doesn’t matter if you want to or not,” he said. “They’re watching us.” They walked up to the first boat, and he studied the fruit. “Do you want a piece of fruit?”
“I don’t think I could eat anything,” she said.
He nodded and smiled and dickered for a piece and quickly picked it up and handed it to her.
She looked down at the pineapple and smiled. “Well, I do happen to like these.”
“Good,” he said. He kept walking, as if toward the other boats, as if wondering what the other boats might have for sale.
“I guess you can get anything here, can’t you?”
“Literally anything,” he said.
She sighed. “Have they left yet?”
“They’ve walked past, yes,” he said.
“Great. Now what?”
He pointed at the junk boat ahead of them. “Now we’re getting on this one.” He stopped and turned to watch the two military police, but they were at the beginning of the dock and were talking to a group of men. He quickly ushered her inside the junk boat and had her sit under the overhang. She tucked inside, and he was beside her. The junk pushed away from the dock in a slow, gentle movement, just like all the rest, and very quickly they were milling around in the water, one of many junk boats.
She looked at him and said, “So Marge gets to go on a Zodiac, and we’re on a junk.”
“Yep,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that nobody would have any reason to look for another Zodiac.”
“I get that,” she said, “but we’ll never get anywhere at this speed.”
He just smiled at her and said, “Oh ye of little faith.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
He said, “Sit down, relax, and just enjoy.”
Chapter 7
Eva couldn’t believe how her world had flipped, and here she was now, sitting in a Chinese junk boat out in the harbor, casually floating along. She didn’t know who the pilot was. All she knew was that Diesel was right beside her, completely unconcerned. It took time, but slowly she felt some of the tension easing off her shoulders.
When she finally took a deep breath, he smiled at her and said, “Feel better?”
She nodded. “I’d feel better yet again if we were farther away.”
“Well, surprise, surprise,” he said, “that wish is about to happen.”
She looked up at him and looked around and said, “I can’t see anything.”
“But you didn’t see the junk boat coming at you either, did you?”
She smiled. “No, that’s true.”
As it was, they pulled up to a powerboat, as if selling wares again. Instead she was escorted onto the powerboat, and he joined her. She watched as the junk boat then pulled away, and she was seated a little bit lower than normal height, had she sat on deck. Not quite down below but where nobody saw her. And the boat fired up and took off at a fast speed out toward the ocean. “Now where are we going?”
“The same place that Marge is,” he said.
“I hope so,” she said quietly. “I want to make sure she’s okay.”
“Well, we’re working on it,” he said.
She nodded. And it wasn’t very long, and they saw a destroyer—a huge naval ship—in front of them. “Wow,” she said. “Am I going on that?”
“You are,” he said cheerfully.
She shook her head. “Almost nobody gets to go on these.”
“No, they don’t, not unless there’s a purpose.” He said, “In this case, you have a purpose, and we are cleared to go on board.”
Getting on board wasn’t as easy as it sounded, but she made it, and, by the time they were led through a series of small narrow hallways and stairs, they came to a door. With a hard rap, the door was opened. She was nudged gently inside, and Jerricho waited for them.
She smiled up at him. “Hey,” she said, “I still don’t quite understand how we got here, but we’re here.”
“And you should be feeling much more secure,” he said. “You’re on a US Navy destroyer.
It won’t be easy for anybody to take you off here.”
She thought about it, nodded, and said, “You know what? That’s one of the best pieces of news I’ve heard in a long time. Where’s Marge?” she asked.
At that, his smile fell away.
“Please tell me that she’s okay,” she cried out.
“Well, it’s not so much that she’s okay or not okay,” he said. “She certainly arrived here safe and sound. However, I don’t know if you noticed, but she’s got some health issues. So she’s in the medical center right now, getting checked over by the doctor.”
Eva took a long slow deep breath. “I thought I saw a couple lumps, but, when I asked her about them, she wouldn’t talk to me.”
“No, and she’s been pulling that same silent treatment and wouldn’t discuss anything with me. In fact, I think she felt like I was a bit of a turncoat for taking her to the medical clinic.”
“But it would make sense to have her checked over,” Eva argued. “I mean, we have to think about how long she was a captive there.”
“Exactly,” Diesel said. “And, on that same note,” he said, “we’ll take you in and get you checked over.”
She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t there all that long.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “We’re also checking for subcutaneous tracking devices.”
She looked at him in shock. “In that case, shouldn’t you have checked us at the apartment?”
“We actually did,” he said, “but they have better software here.”
“Great,” she said. “Because, if they’ll track us here, isn’t that seriously bad news?”
“You might want to think about exactly where you are right now,” he said.
“True.” She turned to follow Diesel back out again. As she walked, she asked, “Do I have to?”
“In the spirit of cooperation,” he said, “absolutely. They can force you, but remember. You’re a guest, and they have allowed us on board as part of your rescue.”
“Right,” she said, “and it is probably the right thing to get done.”
“It absolutely is,” he said. “You have no idea what you might have been fed or given or injected with, when you were out cold. We just don’t know.”
She shivered at the thought. “I really don’t like the idea of a tracking device. I was just hoping to be as far away from that nightmare as possible.”
“All it’ll tell them, if you’re here at this point, is that we have successfully rescued you,” he murmured. “That might make them pissed, but they can’t come up against a destroyer to get you back.”
She nodded slowly. “No, they won’t,” she said. “Honestly I’m not all that big a deal in this whole research mess anyway. I’ve never quite understood why me.”
“Did you do the research alone?”
“No, I had a research partner.”
“And who is this other person?”
“Her name was Allie,” she said, “but she died in a car accident a few days before I was kidnapped.”
At that, Diesel turned to look at her. “A car accident?”
She nodded. “It was terrible.”
“Did you actually see her body?”
“No,” she said. “Why?”
“Just wondering if she actually died.”
As they walked alongside and headed toward another set of stairs, he let her go up ahead. She quickly ran up the stairs, happy to feel her muscles moving as well as they were. She glanced back at him and said, “I know it doesn’t seem like all that long since we had any food …”
“After your checkup,” he promised.
She nodded and saw the medical center up ahead. As she walked inside, a woman stood and smiled at her, and Diesel quickly introduced them.
“Good,” the woman said. “I’m Dr. Cavanaugh. Come on inside. We’ll give you a quick check over.”
At that, Eva followed the doctor into a small room, but the first thing out of her mouth was, “How is Marge?”
“We’ve done a bunch of lab work and are running some tests,” she said. “We don’t have confirmation of what’s going on yet.”
With that, Eva had to be happy. “I hope she’s okay,” she fretted.
The doctor had Diesel wait outside, while Eva took off her shirt and pants, where Dr. Cavanaugh did a full exam. “And how’s your strength? How are you feeling?”
Eva answered all the questions as best she could. “I’m not bad,” she said, “but Marge’s pretty rough. She’s been there a lot longer, and she’s in shock after what they did to the other scientist.”
“And how are you feeling?”
“Well, I’d like to get the guy who kidnapped us all, but, other than that, I just want to go home,” she said quietly.
The doctor smiled and said, “We’ll take your blood work and run some tests, just to make sure everything’s okay. You can get dressed now.” And the doc walked out.
Quickly donning her clothes again, Eva stepped out of the exam room to find Diesel still waiting there. She walked over immediately. He wrapped an arm around her, tucked her up close, and said, “You okay?”
She nodded slowly. “Just feels odd.”
“Lots of oddness right now,” he said. “Just push through until it feels more normal.”
She smiled up at him.
The doctor came back into the waiting room and smiled and said, “You’re good to go.”
“Thank you,” she said, “and please let me know when you hear anything about Marge.”
“She’s asleep right now,” the doctor said. “I’ll tell her that you’re here, when she wakes up.”
“Thank you.” She looked at Diesel, looked at the doctor, and asked, “Do you know how to contact us?”
“I do,” she said.
As Eva walked out, she said, “Nobody seems to be terribly forthcoming.”
“It’s the military. You’re a guest. You’re not one of them,” he murmured.
She nodded. “Coffee?”
“I can get a coffee,” he said. “I don’t know how long the next stage will take.”
“And what is that next stage?”
Following Diesel, she was led to what seemed like the far end of the ship and back again. But it took another solid twenty minutes plus to get to where they were going. And finally he walked into a room, where she was asked to be seated at one of several tables in front of her, with all kinds of electronic equipment. Diesel sat calmly at her side. She stiffened and looked over at him. “Is this the electronic tracking device stuff?”
“Among others, yes.” He reached over, laced his fingers with hers, and said, “Stand strong.”
She nodded, swallowed. “I’ll be fine.” Just then her name was called. She turned to look at somebody standing in a doorway and hopped to her feet. “Yes, that’s me.”
He nodded and smiled and said, “Come this way, please.”
She looked back at Diesel and asked, “Are you coming?”
He looked at her gently and said, “Not this time.”
Diesel watched as Eva walked hesitantly forward. The bond between them was growing. He wanted it to be strong so that she would listen, in case he needed her to move very quickly. Yet, at the same time, he didn’t want her to become too dependent on him. And that felt wrong too because she was a hell of a lot of independent woman. … Besides, he liked her almost a little bit too much. He’d been on a lot of rescue missions but rarely with this kind of connection. It was usually a group of them, and the mission was fast in, hard out. This was a very different thing. There was a connection between him and her that he had been denying this entire time. When the seat beside him was suddenly taken, he turned to find Jerricho here. He smiled and said, “Hey. Did they find anything on Marge?”
“On Marge, no. Although there’s some suspicious things in her blood that maybe the Chinese lab might have been experimenting on her with.”
“The doctor just said that she was getting a bunch of lab tests done.”<
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“Exactly.”
“But nothing electronic?”
Jerricho shook his head.
“Good,” Diesel said. “In that case, Eva should be fine too.”
“And, of course, that matters, doesn’t it?” Jerricho said in a teasing voice.
He just smiled and nodded. “To a certain extent, yes,” he said.
“Getting hooked?”
“Nope. Obviously she’s an interesting person, and I’m happy that we got her out safely.”
“Yeah, that’s part of it,” Jerricho said, his grin wide.
“I’m not going anywhere else,” he said.
“Good.”
He nodded toward the doorway. “How long was Marge in for?”
Jerricho paused, frowned, and said, “I’m not exactly sure. I left her here and then came back and got her.”
“Hmm. An hour?”
“No, not that long. Maybe twenty-five minutes.”
“Good.” And he settled in to wait. “Have you done a debrief yet?”
“I did. And you’ll probably still have to go through one too.”
“Of course. I was hoping that you could do it.”
At that, he laughed. “And I may have. Still not exactly sure how this system works.”
“No, and nobody knows. And we don’t have to report to anybody, which is great.”
“And yet we’re visitors on this ship.”
“Exactly,” he said, “so courtesy demands a certain amount of information. Eva’s looking for coffee and food as well.”
“That’s a good sign,” Jerricho said. “If she’s hungry, she’ll be regaining her strength.”
“Her temper’s doing just fine too,” he said.
Jerricho grinned. “She does seem to have one of those, doesn’t she?”
“Absolutely. And that’s good. It’ll keep her in good stead.”
“I’m also hearing a hint of admiration.”
“There’s nothing not to admire,” he said calmly. “She’s handled herself very well.”
“They both have. I was afraid, after seeing their colleague killed, that it would have a really negative impact on them.”
“I think Marge more so than Eva,” Diesel said, “but then Marge looks like she has been through an awful lot.”
