by Bob Blanton
“Sure,” Marc said. “Hundreds, okay?”
Catie looked at the guy, “I’ll have change in thirty minutes.”
“We’re happy to take your money in any denomination.”
“Kiwis or US?” Catie asked.
“US,” the guy said.
Catie sent a quick text to Betsy, their local administrator, asking her to send five hundred dollars in ones, fives, and twenties. Marc quickly counted out ten $100 bills and gave them to Catie.
“We’ll be leaving in a couple of hours,” he said. “Do you think you’ll be ready by then, or will I have to send the plane back?”
“I think I’ll be ready,” Catie said as she sat down. Liz took a seat at a table in the corner and started working in her HUD.
“Yeah, I don’t think it will take us that long to take her money,” one guy joked.
“See you later,” Marc said. “Have fun.”
Catie sat down and handed her money to the first guy, he started counting out chips. “Whites are one dollar, the blues are five, the greens are ten, and blacks are one hundred. By the way, my name’s Bill.”
“I’m Catie. What are you playing?”
“I’m Gary,” the guy next to Bill said. “We’re playing Texas Hold ‘em. Pot limit. And you need to take those fancy glasses off.”
“No problem,” Catie said as she took her glasses off and hung them around her neck with the lenses pointing backward.
“I’m Jalin, and that’s Howie. Do you know how to play?”
“Sure,” Catie said. “I play with my uncle all the time.”
“Good,” Gary said as he shuffled the cards, “Ante’s ten bucks, minimum raise is five.”
Catie nodded her head as she watched him deal the cards.
◆ ◆ ◆
When Marc and Kal stopped by two hours later, Catie was sitting there with most of the chips. Only Gary still had any, and he looked like he was down to about fifty dollars.
“It looks like you’re about ready to go,” Marc said as Gary finished dealing the cards.
“Yep,” Catie said. “I think just this hand.”
Gary just shook his head as he picked up his cards to look at them. He smiled at Catie and said, “I might be ready for a comeback.”
“I don’t think so,” Catie said. “I’ll bet twenty.”
“Call,” Gary said as he matched Catie’s bet. He flipped over the flop, an ace of hearts, a two of diamonds and a five of clubs. He smiled. “Would you mind if I bought some more chips now?”
“That or use cash,” Catie said. “I don’t mind.”
“Alright, your bet.”
Catie pushed a small stack of chips into the pot, “Sixty.”
Gary pushed his pile in and pulled some money from his wallet. “I’ll see your sixty and raise you a hundred.”
“I’ll see your raise and raise you another hundred,” Catie said.
“Call.”
Gary showed the turn, a five of diamonds. He really smiled at Catie now. “Still your bet.”
“I’ll bet five hundred,” Catie said as she gave Gary a steely look. “You can declare all-in if you want.”
“I’m good,” Gary said. “I’ll call.” He peeled five $100 bills off of his roll and tossed them in the pot.
“Now for the river card,” he said as he turned over the last card, the four of diamonds.
“I bet five hundred,” Catie said.
“I see your five and raise you one thousand,” Gary said as he peeled off a wad of hundreds.
“Call,” Catie said. “I don’t want to take all your money.” She pushed a stack of black chips into the pot.
“I don’t think that flush of yours is going to be good enough,” Gary said. “Full house, aces over fives.” He flipped his two cards over with a flourish and leaned back with a big smile. “Told you I was ready for a comeback.”
“I’m confused,” Catie said.
“We’ll let me explain it to you,” Gary said. “Hands go, one pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush and then a full house. A full house beats your flush.”
“But where I’ve played, a straight flush always beats a full house,” Catie said. “And I knew you didn’t have four aces since I have the ace of diamonds and the three of diamonds.” Catie flipped over her two cards.
Gary’s face fell. “You had to wait for the river to fill that hand. What … why did you bet so much?”
“I felt lucky,” Catie said. “Now I need to cash my chips so I can catch my ride home.”
Gary popped all the money out of the card box and threw it into the pot. “There you go.”
“You’re mean,” Marc whispered to Catie as they made their way out of the cafeteria.
“He was kind of an ass,” Catie said. “The other two were at least polite.”
“Well, he’s a much poorer ass right now,” Marc said. He gave Catie a hug as he laughed. “Our very own Ms. Manners.”
Chapter 28
Jungle Paintball
“Kal, how are your new legs?” Catie asked, “I mean besides letting you chase Russian spies.”
“They’re good,” Kal said. “I’ve been training, and I think I’m back up to the same performance I had before I lost them.” He looked around to see if Fred or Samantha were close by since they weren’t supposed to know about his new legs yet.
“They just left for Sydney,” Catie said. “Some contract thing Sam’s taking care of there.”
“Oh,” Kal relaxed. “They left early.”
“Shopping.”
Kal laughed, “Should have guessed. Where’s Liz?”
“Right behind you,” Liz said as she smacked Kal in the back of the head. “What’s up with your situational awareness?”
“There is nothing wrong with my situational awareness,” Kal said. “I could sneak up on you and put a cap in your ass before you knew what was going on.”
“You wanna bet?” Liz demanded.
“Oh, any day, girl, and twice on Saturday,” Kal shot back.
“You want in on this Catie?” Liz asked.
“I just want him to teach me how,” Catie said. “But I’ll take your bet.”
“You mean you’re betting on Kal?” Liz asked with surprise.
“I’m pretty sure he’s going to win,” Catie said.
“Ooh, I’m wounded. When, cowboy?” Liz asked.
“Pick a day,” Kal said. “If we take Catie with us, then we can have the rest of the team guard Marc and the compound.”
“You’re on, how about Thursday? Catie has a soccer game on Saturday. Where do you want to play?” Liz asked.
“Manuae,” Kal said. “You get a thirty-minute head start from the dock.”
“Wait, wait,” Catie said. “I want Kal to teach me how to do it.”
“Not a problem,” Kal said. “After I take care of Liz, I’ll show you both how to track and hide.”
“Paintball pistol, no fair using a sniper rifle,” Liz set the rules.
“You’re on, night or daytime?” Kal asked.
“Daytime if you’re so hot,” Liz snapped.
“See you at 06:00,” Kal said. We’ll take the Mea Huli there.
“We should go the night before,” Catie said, “We can sleep on the Mea Huli. It takes almost four hours to get there.”
“Okay, check with your father,” Liz said.
“I already have,” Catie said.
“We’ll head out at 22:00,” Kal said. “I’ll get one of my guys to drive the boat, so we can all sleep. We might as well time it, so we hit Manuae at 06:00 since we’re not in a hurry.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Liz and Catie had elected to wear their shipsuits under their cammo. With the hood, it would provide an extra layer of protection from insects as well as avoid some problems that might arise from too much coffee. Liz literally did not want to be caught with her pants down.
“Okay hotshot,” Liz said as she prepared to leave the Mea Huli in her quest to evade Kal.
“How long do you want?”
“Make it two hours; no using alerts on your HUD; no using the surveillance drone; physical tag or pistol paintball ends the game; you get a thirty-minute head start.”
“Surveillance drone?” Liz looked puzzled.
“I’m putting it up so I can watch,” Catie said.
“And no communication either,” Kal added.
“As if,” Liz said. “What’s the bet?”
“One thousand!”
“You’re on. See ya in two hours,” Liz headed out toward the trees.
Catie went up to the sun deck so she could watch while Kal sat down and waited.
Catie watched as Liz started out with an easy run into the trees, she obviously wanted to create as much buffer between her and Kal as possible. She made her way along a dry streambed that she came across. After ten minutes, she paused and cut off a branch from a bush; she started sweeping her footprints as she walked along the streambed, while she tried to stay on the larger rocks that presented themselves.
After another five minutes, she passed some larger rocks that came out of the ground to the left of the streambed. She continued on for a few minutes then doubled back, carefully trying to avoid any sign that she was retracing her steps. When she got to the big rocks, she hopped onto the closest one. After inspecting the streambed for any signs of her leap, she moved on, hopping from rock to rock until she reached the end of them. She then worked her way between the trees until she found a small clump of bushes that had a space between them where she could lie in wait. There she settled down to wait.
After the thirty minutes, Kal headed out. He jogged along the same streambed as Liz had, stopping every minute or so. He was a few hundred yards from the rocks Liz had used to leave the streambed when he stopped for a long time. Catie watched as he just sat there. Then Kal gathered some twigs and branches from the nearby bush and stuck them in his hat and out of his cammo in various places. Then to Catie’s surprise, he started off very quietly to the left of the streambed. It was hard to follow him as he moved along; eventually, Catie lost sight of him. She couldn’t bring the drone in closer since it might tip off his position to Liz. She decided just to watch the area around Liz and also put up a few windows showing the output of Liz’s and Kal’s spec cameras.
Kal’s camera just showed the bushes and indicated when he paused for long periods as he made his way along. Liz’s camera just showed her looking around the area where she was hidden.
Twenty minutes after Kal left, Catie noticed a small motion on Liz’s rear spec camera. It was barely perceptible, and she didn’t think Liz had seen it since she would have to have been looking at that part of the display to notice it. Then she saw Kal’s hand reach from behind a tree and tap Liz on the shoulder. Liz jumped about two feet in the air.
“Shit! How did you do that?”
“Skill, girl, pure skill.”
Catie talked into the comm. “That was so cool! I want to try.”
“Which one?” Kal asked.
“I bet you can’t sneak up on me before I catch you,” Catie said.
“You sure you want to make that bet?” Liz said.
“Sure, you don’t learn without putting something on the line. Same rules, Kal?”
“Same rules; same bet?”
“Sure,” Catie said. “Liz, you want to get in on this?”
“How about it, Kal, you wanna bet you can tag Catie?”
“You’re taking her side of the bet?” Kal asked incredulously.
“We girls have to stick together, and besides, I make it a policy to never bet against her.”
“Okay, it’s your money.”
“Time starts now,” Catie said. “I’ve got plenty of head start on you.”
“One point, you can’t go in the water,” Kal said.
“No problem, I plan to stay dry,” Catie said. “See you in a few.”
Catie turned off all the displays on her HUD, closed her comm, and hopped off of the Mea Huli. She headed to the left and jogged into the woods. She only went about ten minutes before she found the spot she was looking for. It was a small clearing in the trees, with a few big chunks of lava rocks in the middle. Obviously what little soil had once covered this area had been eroded away, leaving the clearing and the rocks. She settled down against one of the rocks and waited. She figured Kal should be there in about fifteen minutes. She turned on the infrared channel on her spec cameras and raised her head up. She’d pulled her hood down and covered it with some grass to disguise herself. She started turning her head slowly from side to side, so her cameras covered the entire area.
Right on time, she saw a heat signature approaching her from the east. She dropped down and arranged herself so she could track the signature. It approached very slowly and circled to the north. She had selected this spot because Kal would have to try and take a shot at her from the bushes. There wasn’t enough cover for him to get close enough to tag her without her seeing him. Her plan was simple, she would know where he was, but he wouldn’t know she knew. So, when he was preparing to take a shot, she would roll to the ground and start blasting at his location. She figured she could get off at least four shots before he had cleared his weapon.
Kal surprised her again. Instead of preparing to take a shot from the edge of the clearing, he was slowly moving the edge of the clearing toward Catie. He’d constructed a blind out of the branches from local bushes and was moving it into the clearing an inch at a time. Even a foot would dramatically improve his shot angle. But to Catie’s advantage, the tedious work tied up his hands. She waited until he was moving the blind again, then she rolled out of her sitting position, her gun was already in her hand against her chest. She extended her arm as she rolled and fired off shots continuously.
“Okay, you witch, I’m hit,” Kal yelled.
“Sore loser,” Catie shot back.
“How did you cheat?” Kal asked indignantly. Both of them could hear Liz laughing into their comms.
“I didn’t cheat,” Catie shot back. “I followed the rules.”
Let me rephrase, “What did you see that Liz and I missed?”
“You concede?”
“Yes, I concede,” Kal said. “So, what did we miss?”
“Infrared.”
Kal rolled his eyes and sighed, “Don’t tell me the cameras on our specs have an infrared channel?”
“Okay, I won’t, but they’re super sensitive.”
Liz laughed, “I thought you wanted to learn from Kal.”
“I do, but I thought I should give you a chance to get your money back.”
“What about my money?” Kal asked, trying to look all hurt.
“I’ll buy us all dinner,” Catie said. “Now show us how you can be so sneaky. How did you know where Liz was? You went to the right way before she did.”
“I listened,” Kal said.
“I wasn’t making any noise,” Liz said.
“Not much, I suspect,” Kal said. “I listened to the sounds of the forest. Birds, even insects, make different sounds after they have been disturbed. You just have to listen to find where the sound is different.”
“Really, show us.”
Kal spent the rest of the day and into the night showing Catie and Liz how to make stealthy approaches. He showed them how to detect slight variations in sounds; to spot telltale signs that showed what someone was doing and how they were walking. Catie immediately found ways to use their specs to supplement their natural senses. They allowed them to do an even better job of detecting where someone was. Of course, the infrared was one of the best things once you were relatively close.
Chapter 29
Emergency Aid
Liz was watching Catie and the twins playing soccer on Rarotonga. The twins had taken to playing soccer with gusto. Aalia had regained all her muscle mass, and it was impossible to tell the twins apart anymore. Catie had just scored a goal, and the twins were giving her a high five when there was a loud pop from the adjacent
field where the under-ten kids were playing.
Liz rushed over to see what had happened. She ran toward the small crowd that was gathered in the middle of the field. They were surrounding a young girl lying on the ground writhing in pain. Another girl was kneeling down next to her, crying, “I’m sorry, I was tackling the ball,” she whined as tears ran down her cheeks.
Liz could tell immediately that the girl had a compound fracture of her tibia. “Let’s take her to the Virginia Henderson. Dr. Sharmila will be able to fix her right up,” she said once the stretcher arrived.
“Are you crazy, she’s got a broken leg,” the ambulance attendant said.
“I’m sure it’s just sprained,” Liz said. “But Dr. Sharmila is an orthopedic surgeon, so either way, she’ll be able to take care of her.”
The ambulance attendant just shook his head as they loaded the girl onto the stretcher and into the ambulance.
“Where are her parents?” Liz asked the second girl.
“She’s with me,” a woman said. “I just called her mother and told her to meet us at the ship. Are you sure Dr. Sharmila will be able to take care of her?”
“Of course, she will,” Liz said. Catie was standing next to Liz by this time with the twins right behind her. She nodded her head to confirm what Liz had said. Everyone knew Catie, and with her confirmation, the woman gave a sigh of relief.
“What is her name?”
“She’s Sefina Marsters.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you at the ship.”
Liz signaled for their car, and she, Catie, and the twins climbed in. Liz instructed the driver to get to the Virginia Henderson before the ambulance, then called Dr. Sharmila on her HUD.
“Dr. Sharmila, we have an ambulance heading your way, a little girl was injured at the soccer field. Leg’s broken, but I want everyone to think it’s just a serious sprain. That way, you can fix her up. Her name is Sefina Marsters if that’s any help.”
“I understand,” Dr. Sharmila said. “Quick thinking. I’ll go down to meet the ambulance and see if I can avoid any misconceptions. I’ll just use her fingerprint to pull up her records. Half the people on the islands are named Marsters.”
