Sandy looked down, and then let go. It was only about eight feet, but it looked a long way. Paula and Jake did their best to catch him, but although they had all seen stunts like this done on TV and in the films, in real life, it was much harder than expected.
Sandy crashed into them from above, with so much force that Paula and Jake gave way underneath him, and they ended up in a heap on the ground. Sandy swore loudly as he hit the ground, his right ankle twisting violently to the side and a surge of pain shooting up his leg.
"Shit!" he swore loudly, then immediately regretted it, scared that everyone for miles around would have heard him.
"Can you stand?" Paula asked, concerned.
"I think so..." Sandy replied, pushing himself up, and putting some weight on his right leg. "Aargghhh!" he shouted loudly again. "Fuck...I think I've broken it!"
"What are we going to do?" Paula asked.
"We'll carry him and once we get into town, we'll wave down a taxi and go straight to the airport. We'll be okay. Come on. Sandy's probably woken up everyone in the resort. We have to hurry!"
Sandy put one arm around Paula and the other around Jake, and together they hurried through the trees, Sandy hopping along between them.
The blanket of trees around this side of the resort was not very thick, and it only took them a minute before they emerged out into the clear ground on the other side.
It was dark now, and as they began to cross the open ground in front of them, they could not see the barbed wire, the sand-bags and the gun emplacements, or the temporary wall of plastic, wood and steel sheeting that was being assembled around the complex, and was now almost complete.
Sandy, Jake and Paula smelled freedom. They were almost there. They had escaped.
In the relief of the moment, the excitement and the nervous tension, Jake laughed out aloud.
Thirty yards away, Specialist Trueman adjusted the sights on his night vision goggles and searched for the source of the sound he had just heard coming from the Kill Zone. Immediately he spotted three green images coming directly towards him from out of the trees.
The three figures stopped, and the one in the middle bent down, touching his foot.
For a few brief seconds Trueman hesitated, allowing a thought to enter his brain and question the action he was about to take: Specialist Trueman had never killed anyone before, and this was not Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran. This was Puerto Rico.
But then his military training took over, and he went into autopilot. His breathing changed, became more controlled, his thoughts dulled, and he flicked the safety catch off his M240 Machine Gun.
Surveying the rest of the area he established that there were no other targets in his field of view. There were three targets. Directly ahead. Coming towards him quickly.
Specialist Trueman lined up the sights on his machine gun, depressed the trigger and fired.
Trueman was nervous, and he held the trigger down for ten seconds, far longer than was necessary. In that short period of time, resting on the M192 tripod, the belt-fed, gas-operated medium machine gun spewed out just over one hundred and thirty rounds of 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges.
Jake and Paula were ripped apart and were dead before they hit the ground.
Sandy Weiss was luckier. The force of the bullets as they hit him spun him around, and he was propelled into the ground behind, the bullets tearing through his arms, shoulder and the left side of his chest.
Thirty yards away, Specialist Trueman stood up from behind his gun emplacement and stared at the three bodies on the ground in front of him.
He had done his job well.
--------------------
The Tennis Courts
Blue Emerald Bay Resort
Puerto Rico
10:45 p.m.
James Silver had regained consciousness, and was furious to find that he was restrained, his arms and legs bound up in leather thongs that prevented him from moving. He called out in frustration and anger.
The last thing he could remember was lunging for the captain. Now his head hurt, but apart from that he did not seem to be bleeding, and surprisingly he was still alive.
Why had the Captain not killed him? Why was he, James Silver, still alive?
Silver cursed to himself.
Captain Rob McGregor was not like any other pirate captain that he had ever met. He had known and sailed with him for several years now, but in all that time the man remained an enigma. The men loved him, and he was the best pirate captain in the Caribbean, of that there was no doubt, but Silver was sure that there was something more to the man, a secret that he was hiding. What it was, Silver did not know, but one day he would find out.
For now though, all Silver could think about was why the captain had let him live. Any other pirate captain would have run him through and chopped off his head, and then hung it high above the ship so that all the others could see the price of treason.
"Aha!" a voice caught him by surprise. "The dead have risen! How are you Mr Silver?"
It was the Captain himself. Smiling. And behind his white mask, Silver could see that he was laughing. He walked into his tent, pulled up a chair and sat down beside him.
"Mr Silver, it is good to see ye alive. For a while there, I feared that I may have split yer skull wide open -which would have been a shame and a great loss to us all. I will tell ye this one more time, Mr Silver, and that is all. Ye are a good man. Ye are a good quartermaster, and one day ye will be a good captain of yer own ship. But it will not be my ship, and I swear to you that if ye ever try that again, I will have yer life. Do ye understand?"
Silver grunted.
"Good. I will take that as a 'yes'. Listen man, and listen ye good. I know that ye are scared. I know that ye are bewildered by this new world. I am too. But we have no choice but to welcome it and accept it. We are in a different world now. The days of piracy and living the life we used to live on the high seas are now long gone. There are no pirates any more, and no ship can outrun the bailiffs or the navy of this world. You saw it with yer own eyes, man! What would have become of ye and the Sea Dancer and all the booty on board if ye had succeeded in yer mad quest, and ye had killed me and taken the Sea Dancer back out to sea? I'll tell ye, lad. Ye would have been blown apart by their cannon, or sunk by their flying metal birds that spit fire and brimstone. Ye would have lasted less than a few hours, before ye met yer maker. We talked of this before, and this is the last time I will talk with ye of it again. Do ye understand?"
Silver nodded, and looked away. When he turned around to face the Captain again there was a tear in his eye.
"What will become of us, Captain McGregor? How will we live?"
Captain McGregor reached forward and put his hand on Silver's shoulder.
"First we survive this plague. More men have died, and others have become sick. We are falling like flies. I need ye Mr Silver. I need ye to live and stand by me so that we can look after our men in this new world. We may not be pirates any more, but I swear to ye now, that if I live, I will look after the men, and I will look after ye. Do not forget, James Silver, that we are rich. Live, Silver, live - and we shall live like kings! But if we die now, it has all been for nothing. So Mr Silver, do not die, and do not try to kill me ever again, and then, perhaps the day will still come when ye and I can be friends. What say ye?"
Silver smiled.
"You offer good counsel, Cap'n, sir. But it would be better still if I were not tied like a goat to this bunk. Please, set me free."
Without a moment's hesitation, the Captain leant forward and undid the thongs that bound him.
Silver sat up, lowered his legs over the side of his bunk, stood, and walked out of the tent.
A few moments later, as Captain Rob was walking around the tent paying respects and speaking with others of his crew who had fallen ill, Miss Sally came running in.
"Captain McGregor. Come quickly, I need your help!"
"Are you well?" the Captain asked, immediately concerne
d that perhaps Miss Sally had caught the sickness.
"I'm fine, but some of our employees-the people that work for me- were attacked. One was killed. Some hotel guests took their uniforms and they are now missing... I think they have tried to escape!"
"Escape? They will take the sickness with them! They will spread the plague and people in your world will die..."
"Exactly. Come quickly. We need to find them before it's too late."
"Where do you think they have gone?"
"I don't know."
"Where is the last place you would want to go...the place where fewest people go?"
"The back of the hotel. Beside the wasteland...you're right! Come...quickly, follow me..."
No sooner had she finished speaking when the loud sound of automatic gunfire ripped through the night.
"We're too late! Oh bloody hell... one of the guests that is missing is the nephew of the most powerful man on the planet. If he dies, there will be hell to pay!"
Together they hurried out of the tennis courts, around the back of the guest buildings and over to the wall that surrounded the complex.
As soon as they reached it they saw the food cart parked beside the wall, and they ran straight over to it.
Captain McGregor was a tall man. Once they had both climbed up on top of the cart, he helped Sally climb up onto his shoulder, and from there she was able to reach up and pull herself to the top of the wall.
"Jump up and grab my leg, then pull yourself up!" she shouted down.
"I might pull you down."
"You won't. Trust me. I'm holding on tight."
Captain Rob smiled, unstrapped the cutlass from around his waist and lay it down on the cart. He then jumped, grabbing hold of her leg. Pulling on it, he scrambled up the wall and was soon sitting beside her.
"I can't see anything. It's too dark."
Together they strained their eyes, looking out onto the black space where the wasteland was.
Suddenly they saw the flare of fire.
"Oh shit...they've got a flame-thrower! They've already shot them and now they are going to torch the bodies. We have to get over there and stop them."
Sally was about to attempt to scramble down the other side of the wall when Captain Rob reached out and grabbed her.
"Stop, Miss Sally. Surely, if you leave the resort, they will do to you that which they have done to the others? As you cannot see them, they cannot see you. They will not know it is you. They will simply kill you!"
"We can't just sit here and do nothing. They will burn them!"
"If they are dead, they will feel nothing. And burning the bodies is the right thing to do to cleanse the ground. It is what we are doing to my men on the beach. Do not go, Miss Sally. You are needed here. Those who have escaped have chosen their own fate."
Sally looked up at the pirate captain. She felt the strength of his grip on her arms, the power of the man beside her. There was something in the way that he said what he did, that made her listen. She knew he was right. They could do nothing.
"I left the radio in my office. Perhaps we can make it back to the office and call the Governor and tell him to stop, at least to check that they are dead before they incinerate them..."
"A good plan. Let us hurry." The Captain agreed.
In the middle of the wasteland, Sandy Weiss lay on his back staring up at the stars.
He knew he was dying. He could feel the life draining out of him, his life force escaping and becoming one with the universe.
He tried to move, but his body did not respond.
He tried to call out, but his mouth would not open.
Above him, high in the sky, he saw a shooting star streak across the heavens.
"Time to make a wish," he thought to himself.
He thought of his mother, and he felt a sudden longing to be back home with her. And then he made his wish.
He wished that he could see her just one more time, and apologize to her for being such a waste of space all his life. He wished that he could say he was sorry. He wished he could tell her that he loved her.
Sandy heard a strange whooshing sound, and suddenly the sky lit up.
Slowly he turned his head and saw two soldiers coming towards him in silver suits, carrying flame throwers.
Sandy was not an idiot. He knew what they were going to do.
Once again he tried to open his mouth, to shout out loud, to tell them that he was still alive. To scream at them that he was the nephew of the President of the United States of America!
But he couldn't move.
Then, in an instant, the world turned white. An incredible heat engulfed him, followed swiftly by the most incredible pain, a wall of suffering that washed over him and engulfed him, and took him in an instant from one world to the next.
On top of the wall, Sally and the Captain heard the 'whoosh' of the flamethrower, and turned just in time to see two sheets of flame sweep over what looked like three bodies lying on the ground. In frustration and fear they watched the illuminated figures of two soldiers pass the flames over the bodies, back and forward, focusing the flames on the bodies and incinerating them until there was nothing left but smoldering ash.
Then all of a sudden, the flames stopped, and there was silence and darkness once again.
Sally turned to the Captain and buried her face in his chest, sobbing quietly. Slowly the Captain raised his hand and placed it gently on her head.
"Come now, Miss Sally. I fear the dying has but just begun. Do not grieve until it has all passed and you are left alive. Let us return now to the land of those that remain living. You are their Captain, and you must steer them all to calmer seas."
Slowly Sally pulled back, breathed deeply, wiped her eyes and feigned a smile.
"You are right. There is nothing for us here. Let's go..."
For a moment she looked into the eyes of the Captain, and their eyes met. He smiled back, nodded, and then offered her his hand.
She took it, and he lowered her gently down over the wall and back onto the food cart.
A few minutes later, they were back in the resort and the land of those that remained alive.
For now...
Chapter 37
Blue Emerald Bay Resort
Puerto Rico
Tuesday 11.55 p.m.
When Sally and the Captain returned to the center of the resort, they discovered that the news from the 'hospital' on the tennis courts was not good. There had been two further deaths in the past half hour.
Up until then all those that had been taken ill and died had been members of the Captain's crew, but now, with the deaths of Sandy Weiss and the two other Americans, and the hotel employee killed by Sandy's group, the situation had just escalated.
They walked slowly back to Sally's office.
"Would you like a drink, Captain McGregor. I have some fine brandy in my office. I know I could do with one."
"Thanking you kindly, Miss Sally, that would be appreciated."
When they got to her office, she closed her door, waved the Captain to a seat opposite her desk, and fetched some glasses and a bottle of brandy from a drink's cabinet.
She poured the drinks and passed one over the table to the Captain, sitting down in her normal office seat. Raising her glass to her mouth, she realised that she was still wearing the white face mask, and she hesitated for a second. She looked up at the Captain, and thought for a moment, debating whether or not to take the face mask off so she could drink.
In the end, she just raised it slightly, took a drink, then put it back in place, deciding that was the only way she could drink and be safe.
"Nothing personal, Captain, but this infection is coming from your crew. And you could be carrying it."
Captain Rob nodded, "True. I may likely be a 'carrier', but you will likely not, so given that I may already be infected, or that I can't yet catch it from you, I think I will drink this brandy without this damn thing!" he laughed, and swept the face mask off and placed
it on the desk in front of him.
"To your continued good health!" Sally said, raising her glass.
"Cheers!" the Captain replied, downing the brandy in one and winking at her.
She poured him another.
"You said that one of the guests who was killed was an important man?"
"Yes, he was the nephew of the most powerful man in the world."
"That is not good. But it is not your fault. Do not feel guilt for his reckless and stupid actions."
"They are fine words, Mr Captain, but probably not realistic. I should have been stricter. As soon as we have finished this drink, I am going to make an announcement over the tannoy system, telling all the guests what has just happened, and warning them all not to go and get themselves killed like the others did."
"And will you tell the Uncle of this man, what has happened?"
"I think I must."
"Perhaps, if I may advise against it, you would best choose to avoid doing that."
"Why?"
"Simply because it occurs to me that it is best to let those outside this place believe that he is still alive."
"Why?"
"Once, many years ago, a sickness, not the plague, but something just as deadly, infected a ship that was sailing from the East Indies and was en route to England via Gibraltar. When the ship, the 'Piras', arrived in Gibraltar, the townsfolk refused them access into the city, and bade them stay aboard their vessel. Those aboard were already dying or waiting to be infected, and now they were desperate for food and water. A couple of the sailors decided to jump from the ship at night and swim to the shore. They were caught, and killed, and their bodies were burned on orders of the harbor master, lest the infection spread to the townsfolk. It reminded me of what happened tonight."
"And what happened to those left on board the ship?" Sally asked, fearing the answer.
"The council of the city feared that others would leave the ship and swim to the shore, so they ordered the burning of the ship in the harbor."
TIME SHIP (Book Two) - A Time Travel Romantic Adventure Page 13
