by Diane Rapp
Natalia agreed, “Let’s round up help, perhaps that couple who works for Homeland Security.”
Jason thumbed through numbers on his cell phone. “I’ll initiate a call to Interpol and arrange cooperation with the Americans. They can’t very well turn us down if orders come from their superiors.”
Natalia’s head ached. When she delivered the ghostly message from Jim Jones, she opened herself to extreme danger from ghosts on the other side. Keeping her mental barriers shut might not prevent ghosts from touching her now, but Grandma Natasha and Celeste could help keep them contained. She shivered, hoping those spirits could be prevented from reaching her.
*****
Timothy and Shirley Kingston sat in the bar sipping drinks. Timothy looked worried and his pudgy fingers tapped the arm of the chair. “Stop that infernal tapping, Timothy,” Shirley ordered. “You’re making a tense situation unbearable.”
“Well, I’m not so sure about this whole plan. Rose is going off the rails, and I doubt we’ll ever get our document signed now.”
“When the first set of twins held that news conference, I felt despondent.” Shirley shook her head. “But now I’ve seen the real twins up close. They looked like spitting images of Drew when he was young, so I’m sure the plan will work. Kate is bound to connect with Drew now that she’s found her boys, and we’ll force the man to sign.”
“Rose is too dangerous. If she hurts one of those boys, Drew may never cooperate with us. When we reach Grand Cayman, I’m phoning our attorney. We need a backup plan in case Rose goes berserk.” Tim downed his drink and waved at the waiter for another.
“You’ve always been a coward. Rose will get her revenge but she promised to help us secure our inheritance. We’re all working toward the same goal. You do realize that?” Shirley stood and smoothed her skirt. “I’ll meet you back in the suite so don’t get too drunk. You might spill information we can’t afford to spread.”
Timothy glared at his sister’s back. When the waiter arrived with his new drink, he signed the bill and sat back to enjoy his bourbon. “I’ll show you! When Rose screws this up, I’ll have another plan in the works, and spring it on them all. You’ll see who is a coward.”
Chapter 8 ~ Sting Ray City, Grand Cayman
The Sea Mist anchored in the harbor and used tenders to ferry passengers ashore. Since scheduled tours warranted priority on the tenders, departing groups gathered in the Starlight Theater and waited to be summoned for departure times. Amanda Spears and Esteban Hernandez, the American agents, sat in the back row speaking in low tones with Jason. Natalia wandered down the theater’s rows, noting who grouped together for the tour.
The collection of twins had dwindled to eight individuals, but they behaved like fast friends. Felix and Matt thumbed through cell-phone photos as they bragged about their wives and children to the Chinese twins, Melany and Penny, who operated a childcare center and loved kids. As they warmed up with stretches against the back wall, Abby gave her brother Paul pointers about snorkeling without damaging delicate coral reefs.
Natalia was surprised to find Kate’s daughters, Kimberly and Patsy, chatting with Suzanne and Tania, the artistic twins. The foursome wore stylish beachwear and eagerly discussed fashion designers. Natalia noticed that the girls shared cell phone numbers and Facebook pages, behaving like sorority sisters attending a pledge party.
When Emily and Kate arrived together, Kim jumped up and hugged her mother. She gushed, “You can’t believe the adorable handbags that Tania designs.” Kim presented a series of handbag photos already stored on her cell phone.
Undaunted by Kim’s eagerness, Patsy shoved her own phone before her mother to share watercolors painted by Suzanne. Patsy stated, “Tanya and Suzanne plan to print textiles with Suzanne’s watercolors. They’ll establish a jazzy new clothing line that’s sure to be a big hit.”
Kim blurted out, “We volunteered to sponsor a fashion show in Houston when the line is ready. Isn’t that fabulous?”
Hugging her excited daughters, tears glistened in Kate’s eyes. “It’s fantastic to see you both so captivated by a new project.” She turned to the artistic sisters. “Genetics Ultra will become a corporate sponsor for the fashion extravaganza, my dears.” The four young women bounced and clapped at the welcome news.
Jason joined Natalia as boarding for the tour was announced. He murmured, “The Yanks are eager to help us today.” He hefted a portable cooler off the floor. “I ordered an assortment of sandwiches from the kitchen and watched attentively as the staff prepared them. We won’t suffer from poisoning on this trip.” He grinned. “Esteban is carrying a supply of domestic beer in his cooler.”
Natalia slid a beach bag strap over her shoulder. “Since you are taking care of our stomachs, I brought sunscreen and towels to keep our skin protected. We’ll be well prepared.”
The tour group piled into a covered tender, lining up across wooden benches for the short ride to shore. The turtle farm tour group boarded the tender last, and sat just behind their group. The diesel motor revved to clear the choppy waves leading to the dock.
“This port is often skipped by captains if the weather turns nasty,” Natalia said. “I’m glad we have a sunny day for our excursion.”
At the dock CCL employees guided tour groups to their respective buses, holding placards high above their heads to ensure orderly progress. Emily and Natalia counted heads as they boarded the bus while Jason scrutinized nearby vans for dodgy characters. From the front of the bus, Amanda and Esteban peered outside with equal intensity.
The driver maneuvered the air-conditioned bus through traffic and crossed busy intersections before turning into a residential neighborhood. The large bus wound its way through narrow streets and Natalia wondered if something might be amiss. Abruptly the vehicle pulled into a small parking lot next to a canal, where a rectangular dive boat bobbed gently on the waves. Everyone climbed off the bus and boarded the boat without incident.
During the forty-minute ride along the canal and into open water, the captain explained how to touch the stingrays safely by handling a plush stingray toy. He dispelled anxieties about the stingers with jokes and demonstrated how to don yellow life vests properly. The tour schedule allowed for snorkeling along the reef after petting the stingrays.
He explained the history of Stingray City. “The rays learned that fishermen would anchor along this shallow reef to clean their catch, dropping tasty entrails overboard. As dive boats noticed how clusters of rays gathered like clockwork, they commandeered the site for tourists. Now we use stingrays as bait to capture tourist dollars.”
The shallow reef teamed with various types of tour boats, catamarans, sailboats, small pleasure craft, and large tour vessels. Together, they formed a loose circle around the white sandy area. People stood in small groups around bait buckets manned by boat captains in the shallow water. After several attempts to back into the circle, the captain finally set his anchor and the crew helped everyone climb down the steps in their bare feet.
Emily and Kate remained aboard the boat, taking pictures of the activity. Crew members reminded eager tourists to shuffle their feet slowly through the powdery white sand to avoid stepping on buried stingrays. Gentle waves lapped against wobbly humans as dark round shapes darted past groping hands.
“The large rays are female and the small ones are male,” the captain said as he stationed a feed bucket near the stern of his craft. “I’ll attract a female by feeding her squid, so let me calm the ray before you all start touching her. Be patient and I’ll make sure everyone has a turn, but please don’t jab her eyes or grab that stinger.”
Within moments he held a dark grey female flat across his hands like a large dinner tray, coaxing her to float as he fed her pieces of squid. Eager hands stroked the velvety pale underside and compared it to the sand-paper texture on the darker upper portion of the ray’s hide. Natalia enjoyed the experience as much as the passengers. Small male stingrays brushed against her legs as the
y snatched stray morsels from the captain’s hand.
An hour sped by quickly, and soon everyone was back aboard the boat. The crew helped tourists prepare for snorkeling along the reef’s edge. The captain announced, “We’ll anchor along the reef, but while you snorkel avoid getting too close to the open-water side. It drops off abruptly and goes hundreds of feet down.”
Emily helped the crew distribute fins and masks and giggles erupted as everyone waddled like ducks around the boat’s deck. Natalia noticed Jason speaking quietly with Amanda and Esteban before he slipped into the turquoise blue water. All three wore knife sheaths strapped to their legs, and Natalia shivered as Esteban pulled a wicked-looking blade out to examine the edge before inserting it into the sheath.
The water felt cool and silky as Natalia slipped off the dive platform located at the stern of the boat. Ignoring the taste of salty plastic as her teeth gripped the mouthpiece, she quickly adjusted her mask and blew excess water from the snorkel before peering underwater.
White sand gleamed from the top of the reef between chunks of living coral growing just twelve feet below. A corona of tiny neon-colored fish hovered over a domed coral head like a living rainbow. Larger fish swam lazily through an underwater fairyland by wiggling tails and fins. Fan corals waved gently in the current while tiny flower-like creatures opened from stalks of coral like delicate flowers. She knew the polyps would shrink out of sight if a predator came too close.
A loud crunching sound drew her attention as a teal and orange parrotfish crunched a slender stalk of hard coral with its blue-rimmed mouth. Parrotfish chewed coral to consume the animal inside, discarding the hard exoskeleton through their digestive systems as pure white sand. A green turtle shot past, moving faster through water than most fish. She remembered trying to get close to a turtle with an underwater camera, but she never caught up with the speedy creature.
A bright blue tang lured Natalia to follow it into a valley framed by staghorn coral reaching toward the light, but a hand tapped her shoulder to gain her attention. Surfacing, Natalia stared into Jason’s hazel eyes, magnified by the glass in his mask.
He said, “Stay close to Felix and Matt. If the Red Brigade turns up, they’ll certainly be targets.” Using two fingers, he pointed to the right and ducked under the surface.
She felt embarrassed by her lapse of attention, submerged and spotted the bright red swim trunks Felix wore, followed by the blue and white stripes of Matt’s suit. She scissor-kicked to catch up with the twins, swinging her gaze from side to side to watch for trouble.
Kicking her neon green fins, she focused on her objective.
Matt and Felix stopped swimming, giving Natalia a few extra moments to reach their location. The men hovered over a craggy coral head as Felix pointed into a dark shadow. He motioned with his hand, like a mouth opening and closing, and Natalia realized a moray eel peeked out of the small cave. Matt gave Felix a friendly pat on the shoulder, and they both continued to swim along the reef.
A queen angel zipped around a large brain coral. Her shimmering golden scales rippled down her flat body like chainmail outlined by royal blue markings that stretched down her sides and under her belly. A dark blue spot atop her head gave the queen a regal appearance. Enchanted by the creature, Matt and Felix tried to follow her.
As the light blue water darkened abruptly, Natalia realized the twins approached the outside edge of the reef. She felt a cold chill tingle across her bare arms as the current swept toward dark blue water that plummeted into the depths.
Natalia saw black-clad divers float up over the edge, pointing spear guns directly at the twins. She screamed a warning but it burbled through her snorkel like a garbled squeal. She frantically waved her arms to attract the brothers’ attention and wished she could yell underwater.
Jason appeared at her shoulder and shook an underwater rattle. The sound drew Matt’s attention, who patted his brother’s leg and pointed at Natalia and Jason. She motioned for them to come back from the edge.
They failed to comprehend the danger, so Natalia struck a pose that resembled a shooter holding a rifle and pointed toward deep water. The brothers turned to find two divers with spear guns swimming rapidly in their direction.
Frightened, Felix and Matt quickly joined Jason and Natalia. As the divers bore down on them, Jason yanked Felix behind him, propelling the twin toward the dive boat. Matt followed his brother as Jason shook the loud rattle again to summon Amanda and Esteban.
As Matt and Felix power-kicked toward the dive boat, Natalia huddled against Jason’s shoulder. She noticed one diver aim his spear gun at the retreating men and shouted, “No!” into her snorkel.
She frantically waved her hands.
A whirlpool of bubbles erupted from the sand, surrounding the two divers. The first diver released his spear, which shot erratically past Natalia. It struck the dive boat with a loud thud. The bewildered SCUBA divers twirled in confusion as water swirled in a vortex around them.
Astounded, Natalia held her hands out like a crossing guard and watched the spectacle unfold. While the others saw a burst of bubbles and a whirlpool, Natalia saw the ghostly image of a beautiful woman wearing a dark green dress. With slender translucent hands Celeste twirled the confused enemy before abruptly tossing them to the surface like toys.
Bobbing to the surface, Natalia watched Amanda and Esteban disarm the divers, grip them by their throats with bent elbows, and drag them toward the boat. Arriving at the ladder, Esteban brandished a large knife to control the captives. The captain stripped the attackers of tanks, fins and face masks, while Amanda climbed into the boat first. Inside the boat she waited with her own weapon ready as Esteban shoved the divers onto the ladder.
They climbed dejectedly.
Waiting while the prisoners were secured, Natalia floated on gentle waves. She removed her snorkel and whispered, “Thanks, Celeste.” A familiar laugh echoed inside her head, and she felt comforted. Grandma Natasha was also watching over them. She heard the motor of a nearby red-hulled boat roar and the speedy-looking craft whooshed away, churning waves in its wake.
“The rest of their team is taking a runner,” Jason growled. He helped Natalia remove her fins and climb the metal ladder into the boat, where snorkelers huddled together in wet towels and dour expressions.
Amanda and Esteban secured the attackers to the metal legs of nearby benches and noticed the fear in onlookers’ eyes. Amanda opened her bag and displayed official credentials to crew and passengers, who visibly relaxed. The boat’s captain pried the deadly spear from the side of his boat and handed it to Amanda as evidence.
Esteban peered into the faces of the two men and proclaimed, “Both men are de fugitives on Federal watch lists. Me, I recognize dis one. I saw Thomas Peters shoot Congressman Ryan thirty-nine years ago and we track him ever since dat day.” He asked Jason, “Can you call de police to come take suspects when we reach de shore?”
The captain of the boat stepped forward. “I radioed for help when that spear hit my boat. The patrol should meet us within half an hour.”
“Good,” Amanda said as she yanked a deadly-looking blade out of the second suspect’s leg sheath. “As you can see, they’re both dangerous.” She checked the blade before slipping it into a plastic evidence bag. Esteban secured the weapon.
Shivering, both men appeared dazed. The second man mumbled incoherent phrases and Natalia heard the word “ghost” several times. Alarmed by the sounds of his partner speaking, Thomas stiffened and jabbed the man with his elbow. He hissed, “Silence, amigo. We say nothing to cops.”
Esteban shoved Thomas aside and growled, “Leave de man alone. If he talk it be better for him. We already know you have de blood on your hands.” He turned to the second man and asked, “What is your name?”
The man mumbled, “Pedro Gomez.” He cast a nervous glance at Thomas and cringed at the dark stare he received. “I no kill anyone.”
Amanda jotted the name into her satellite phone and nodded
. “Pedro is a known associate, but he’s not wanted for murder, yet. Today might have been his first kill.” She examined the spear that hit the boat and pointed it at the suspect. “Since Thomas’s spear gun was still loaded, you were the one who fired this bolt. Right, amigo?”
“It was accident. I no mean to shoot, but de ghost she gave me much fear that I squeeze de trigger!” His eyes filled with tears and his voice quavered.
Esteban shook his head. “You pointed at de men and discharged a dangerous weapon, so you face many charges. If you tell us about de Red Brigade, it might help your case.”
Pedro sobbed, “I tell all I know, but keep me safe from him.”
“You’re dead, Pedro! No matter how long it takes, we’ll get you!” Thomas shouted.
Emily stepped forward and handed Amanda a silk scarf from her bag. The agent fashioned a gag to cover Thomas’s mouth. “Now, now, Thomas. You have the right to remain silent, and I insist you exercise that right.” She laughed and placed her hands on her hips. “Esteban, since we missed catching the gang in that red boat, maybe Pedro knows where they’re holed up.”
Thomas’s face turned red as he sputtered noises through the gag. Pedro nodded and turned his face away from Thomas. “I tell you much. Please to write it down quick, quick.”
Natalia and Jason sat together watching the interrogation. She whispered, “I saw Celeste in that whirlpool.”
“The ghost Kayla helped to cross over last year?” he asked.
Natalia nodded. “When I passed out last night, I saw my Grandma Natasha and Celeste working together. I felt Grandma here with Celeste, just now.”
“It’s nice to have invisible help when a gang is intent on murder. We’re not out of danger yet.” He glanced at the twins and said, “We’d better have a serious conversation with Kate and her boys.”
