Catching Kate (Scenic Route to Paradise)

by Andrea Aarons

  So Mac made crude jokes in French, praying to God in the heavens to help him out of this predicament, as he poured drinks for the seven pirates.

  Mac was the only one in the galley that saw the panel open under the settee and Junior crawl out. It was a good thing Junior got out when he did, because the men moved into the salon only minutes later.

  Outside, Junior warily looked about but not finding any of the invaders above decks, he went to Tino. Tino had a smashed and bloodied lip. He was not conscious. He was tied fast and Junior had no knife. Going to Zeff and Merry, he told them what was going on below, but they too were tied tightly; their hands blue from lack of circulation.

  Merry said, “Get Kate. She’ll know what to do.”

  Junior looked aloft. He could see nothing but a boat light flickering in the mist at the very top of the mast, several feet above the crows nest. Up he went.

  Junior found Kate shivering in her cramped perch. “Kate, we need you on deck,” he said after announcing his approach.

  “All right,” she responded with conviction. Kate had known minutes after the pirates swarmed the deck below that she would have to get over herself and descend the mast to help. She prayed but could not grasp a doable plan. Surprised to see Junior coming up the mast, Kate realized that she wouldn’t have to act alone. “What can we do?” she asked.

  Junior replied, “I don’t know but we can start by untying Zeff and Merry. I suppose Mac is getting those guys drunk so we can jump them... I don’t know. I couldn’t get the knots untied. We’re going to have to cut Zeff’s ropes.”

  Kate pulled the knife from its sheaf which Mac had stowed in the crows nest. Junior’s face lit up as he had forgotten all about the blade. “You better take it,” Kate told him but as he reached for the six inch knife the boat lurched from a swell and wind. Kate dropped the knife and it fell below. There was a loud groan from the captives tied on the deck.

  Kate looked wide-eyed in the dark. “Oh no!” she squealed. Junior started down and Kate came precariously behind him.

  Once on the deck, Zeff said urgently, “Junior pull up that knife and get these cords off me!” The knife had landed inches from his leg and was embedded in the deck. Above them Kate was making wild noises of distress. One loud exclamation caused Junior and Zeff to look up in fear. After the knife’s near miss, Zeff expected Kate to fall next, taking them both out as she landed. Twenty feet or more above them, Kate seemed to be hanging by her heel but a moment later she straightened herself again. Zeff anxious to be in control barked at Junior, “Hurry up!”

  A minute later, Kate hit the deck with a grunt, feet first. She was alone. The three had gone to help Mac. She could see Junior standing with a club in his hand just outside of the companionway astern. Kate decided she needed a weapon too. Remembering various maritime tools stowed on deck ahead of the helm’s station, Kate went forward.

  Meanwhile, Mac had three men so drunk as to be useless while he talked nonsense with their lieutenant. The others were eating and smoking and drinking and arguing. When Mac saw Zeff signal him from the starboard walk-through, Mac gave him a nod. Pouring another shot of the Tungi Spirits into the brigands’ cups, Mac persuaded the lead pirate to go above decks via the walk-through.

  “Let’s take a look at the captain’s woman,” Mac suggested to his companion and he readily agreed. With this decision made, Mac positioned the third bottle of spirits loudly on the center table and said to the others, “Wait here. We’ll be back!” Mac led the way and as he began to climb the steps, the villain behind him fell under Zeff’s blow. He crumpled. A moment later, he was pitched over the side of the sloop. One after another, the men were lead above decks and knocked on the head and tossed over. The last three were so intoxicated they put up no fight and were simply thrown over the stern rail in their drunken stupor.

  There were two pistols found on the intruders. The others had only long knives and one machete. Mac left these but confiscated the pistols.

  Mac had Zeff take Tino below decks so Merry could tend to him. Junior was instructed to haul in the anchors the pirates had dropped to stabilize boat movement.

  When Zeff returned to the helm, Mac had turned the engine. “We need to get as much distance from these guys as we can before their mother ship comes looking for them,” he told Zeff. “Set their dingy adrift,” Mac said with a motion toward the stern of the sloop.

  “I thought there must be more!” Zeff said as hurried astern, realizing the dingy had been sent out from another larger boat.

  Mac checked his electronics. The radar showed no movement in the area besides a super-sized vessel moving south; hardly a pirate’s ship. To be on the safe side Mac headed out to sea as they continued north.

  Below decks, Tino was sprawled on the double berth in his and Junior’s cabin. His lip and nose had been bloodied and his right eye was swollen shut. There was a goose-egg knot on his skull and he had been kicked a number of times about his torso. Merry didn’t think he had any broken ribs. He had been conscious for some minutes.

  “Crazy,” he murmured.

  “You are very fortunate to be alive. You could have been knifed, shot or thrown overboard,” she told him as he lay quietly under her ministrations. “It appears we were all very fortunate... Or should I say, God with His protecting hand kept us from evil.”

  She left Tino and went above decks to Mac’s side. The throttle was wide open and yet the sloop was not built for engine speed but for wind speed. Mac stood at the controls. Merry wrapped her arms about his waist from behind and he pulled her around and gave her a reassuring hug. She was trembling.

  “Mac, I was so scared and then you went below with them and I kept wondering what was happening. I was praying for you,” she said. Now that the danger was behind them, Merry was on the verge of tears.

  “I’ve been in some tight situations before,” Mac shook his head. “I was praying too.” His arm continued firmly about her waist as he scanned the multifunction display console before him and the sea beyond the jackstaff at the bow. Mac had turned off his running lights although he was not too concerned about that. The visibility was poor but the wind and swell were moderate and they were making excellent headway. Mac said, “You know sweetie, it seems God does nothing without purpose and I am wondering about this mishap. I cannot put my finger on it but I know eventually I will. At that point my dear, I’ll say, ‘Aha... So that is what God was up to!” He gave her a squeeze and then said, “They weren’t very professional... I’m sure they were to follow some protocol but instead they got diverted. I never thought I would thank God for Tungi Spirits.” Mac mulled the recent events while Merry climbed into a helms chair, falling asleep within minutes. When Junior checked in with Mac a quarter of an hour later, he was sent below to get a blanket for Merry.

  Returning with the coverlet, Junior said, “We cleaned up below. What pigs! They burnt holes right into the wood on the counters and tabletop. The place smells like a drug house.” Mac had seen them snuffing out the redhot cigarettes tips into the teak that paneled most of the interior and sloshing drink about as they became increasingly inebriated. It would smell for some days.

  “You should be glad you got out from under the couch when you did. One of those rodents began foraging underneath the settee as soon as we moved in there from the galley. They would have been putting their cigarettes out on you!” Mac said with quiet force. He didn’t want to wake up Merry. He had forgotten to ask her about Tino and so now he questioned Junior.

  “He’s okay. He is going to be hurtin’ for certain tomorrow!” Junior told Mac.

  Mac grunted. “That is what prayer and aspirin are for. Get some sleep but let Zeff know he needs to come up to relieve me at 3am for a dogwatch. As for you - dawn.” Junior went below but Mac let Merry sleep where she was. He glanced up at the crows nest, assuming Kate was still up there, glad she had been out of the way when the boat had been overrun. He would like to have her well rested and down on deck as an extra pair of ey
es for tomorrow but it couldn’t be helped, he decided - not now.

  It wasn’t until breakfast the next morning that Kate turned up missing. Mac stomped about. Merry cried. Zeff and Junior looked at each other helplessly while Tino slept, oblivious.

  Chapter 13 A Dime a Dozen

  Kate woke up. She lay with her eyes closed. The air smelled foul and she wondered why she her neck, shoulders and gut ached. Her head swam with strange pictures. She remembered the crows nest. Hours of tense, cramped fear; and now she was stiff and sore. That smell!

  Kate opened her eyes. Where am I? Kate wondered afresh. There was a grimy glass portal allowing opaque light into the boxy cabin. She sat up, slamming her head against the overhead. I have to think... I have to think. She rubbed her head gingerly as she tried to remember what was happening.

  Snapshots of clinging to the crows nest and a maritime hijack taking place below, popped into her head. She had descended the mast, almost falling two or three times. Next she remembered... nothing.

  Turning her head painfully, Kate saw piles of clothing and blankets, either on the floor and two atop the bunks that were adjacent to hers. There was a magazine opened on one of the beds. Continuing to finger her head where a bump was forming, Kate assumed the Serendipity’s occupants had been taken captive. Where were the others? Kate slid sideways and pulled herself around so her head was now at the other end of the bunk. The cabin window was just off the foot of her bed. She looked out but it was so scratched and filmy from dirt and age that there was nothing to be seen.

  Kate needed to use the bathroom. Climbing down from the narrow bunk, she stood weakly for a moment before going to the cabin door. Lifting the latch, the door creaked opened at her pull. This was a bigger vessel than the little sloop they had been sailing. The walk-through was lit by globular sconces going both ways and alternating on either side just below the overhead. Kate saw no one and so she stepped through and went right. The head was several doors down of which all were closed but it. She pushed the door open and went in, closing it behind her. There were two urinals and a commode besides an open shower. After relieving herself, she used the sink to wash her hands, shaking them dry as there was no towel or paper.

  Kate felt better and yet she wondered why she was allowed to roam about. She thought perhaps, the others were free too. The shiny metal plate on the wall that the head used as a mirror, showed a pale and disheveled Kate. She was running her fingers through her hair when she caught sight of the heart shaped locket laying against her shirt. Tears sprung up in her eyes. Sighing, Kate realized she had weighed up a future with Roger but gambled that there was something else, maybe something better ahead of her. Dismissing any second thought of a possible future with him, she had blithely sailed away into this mess. She dropped the locket inside the T-shirt that she wore under a lightweight hoodie, puzzling uncomfortably about what actually did lay ahead of her. It was stuffy below decks but she zipped the hoodie up to her neck.

  She heard feet running along the walk-through outside the door and expecting a half dozen crazed terrorists to burst through into the bathroom at any moment, Kate called out to God. The noisy feet went by and again only the ship groanings and the distant churning of the motor could be heard. Kate opened the door and went back to the cabin she had awoken in.

  Sitting down on the lower bunk, her head bent because the top bunk was right there, she heard the feet again accompanied by voices. The cabin door flew open. Two men, very dark and somewhat surprised were staring at her. They smiled, teeth missing, at one another reassuringly and at Kate before one came in speaking something very much like French. He motioned for her to come and would have grabbed her arm if she hadn’t responded.

  “All right. All right. I’m coming,” Kate said putting her hand up to stop his advance. Pushing off from the bunk, she followed the men past the head. Not much further and to the left was a short flight of steps leading to the deck. The bright light hurt Kate’s eyes. The fresh damp air was exhilarating. Putting her hand in her pocket, she remembered she left her sunglasses in the cross nest. She felt chapstick or lip-ice as the South Africans called it and a tissue... I could have used that tissue a few minutes ago! She applied the chapstick.

  As she stepped out of the gloom, one of her two escorts took her by the arm hurrying her across the deck before the stares and grins of several dark and dangerous looking men. The poem Kate memorized in middle-school about 20th century pirates cavorted across her mind. The last words scrolled by as she was presented to two men in the pilot house...

  Coldblooded surprise

  despicable deeds

  Calculating sea thugs

  stinking sea weeds

  A slim man dressed better than the others, dismissed Kate’s escorts. He nodded and smiled at her. Kate had seen evil, mean-spirited people before. Phoenix, Philadelphia,Marseilles and Johannesburg besides a few other cities had more than the average despicable types per capita but this man emanated a murderous and unclean element that Kate was positive she had never encountered before. Her lips trembled, a swirling began behind her eyes and Kate’s knees disobeyed her. Oh no! Don’t pass out now! Kate lurched for a handrail. The captain stepped forward seeing her pale face and gripped her upper arm. His words were foreign to Kate but he firmly placed her down on the floorboards before letting loose of her arm.

  “Sit there for a moment,” he said in a thick French sounding accented English. He turned to the other man and said something in another language and they both laughed. Kate pushed her hand across her eyes. She prayed silently and thought to stand again but the captain began speaking and so she concentrated on his words.

  “Tell me about yourself. First your country... You are an American, no?” he asked.

  Kate nodded. Swallowing, she said, “Yes. I am an American. I lived in South Africa but boarded the sloop a few weeks back... What else? I don’t know what to tell you.” She did not want to explain everything but just state the simple truth so there would be no discrepancies among the Serendipity shipmates. Kate assumed the others were also on board... somewhere.

  “I don’t need to know everything but what you do tell me must be correct. You see I am a businessman. I am in business to make money. You and your friends have cost me quite a lot. I am angry about that. I had hoped to make a few dollars but last night was an expensive venture,” he said. He took a toothpick from his shirt pocket and began poking about his teeth. Kate tried not to examine the dark man before her but she could see that he must have made some money while pillaging at sea as he wore several pieces of gold and she saw glimmers more than once come from his mouth that she decided were either gold caps or gold teeth.

  Sitting down had made her feel less woozy but she remained quiet as the captain didn’t seem to expect an answer from her at the moment.

  Kate couldn’t feel God but she knew He was there. He would help here when she needed it.

  The captain was nodding and Kate surmised, he was thinking. Finally, he stopped picking and he said, “So I am a businessman in business to make money much like your father... or perhaps, your husband. Do you understand?”

  No. Kate said, “Well, you planned on taking our valuables and maybe the sloop too so you could sell them or ransom them back to us if we have the wealth to do so. I suppose... Is that what you mean?”

  He laughed. In North African French, he said, “Yes... Almost, but instead my chief and his men do not return and all we end up with is you!” He turned to the other man and spoke vehemently but Kate’s French was all but nonexistent and she couldn’t understand him. She understood he was livid about something.

  He turned to her and said angrily, “Now tell me, does your father or your husband make money to buy you nice things? To pay for your food and cell phone bills? Tell me!”

  Kate knew she must somehow answer him but she wasn’t sure what information he wanted. Then, it came to her. She knew! Ah, God was here. She said, “My father is dead. He died a few years ago and my husband
... I am not married and I have never known a man.” Kate remembered overhearing the men, Mac, Roger and Zeff speaking about pirates and the value of virgins as they drove back to the docks from Roger’s home. She had slept most of the way but the conversation had made its way to her ear, even as she drifted in and out. Mac had said something that women sold into slavery were a dime a dozen unless the woman was a virgin. Pirates and modern slave traders made big money on virgins.

  Kate knew her words were exactly what the captain had been fishing for. He quickly said, “You are not the captain’s wife? I heard the captain of the Serendipity was married.”

  Kate wondered at his information. How did he know? She answered truthfully, “He is married to my younger sister. She too was a virgin when she married.” Kate wanted to emphasize the normalcy of virginity in their home... Not one, but all the children in the family remained virgins until the marriage was consummated.

  The captain nodded, knowing that the information he had received was the same as this woman’s. “For your sake and mine, I am happy to hear that. You know, if your purity turns out to be false... You will hate the memory of this day, as I will... But you will hate it more. So, if you are not speaking correctly - now is the time and it won’t be so bad. Later, you will wish you were dead but you will not die. Is your information correct? Are you pure? A man has never had you?” He asked grim faced.

  There was something else she must say besides this truth but she could not think. Kate bobbed her head, saying confidently, “Yes, it is correct.”

  The captain smiled brightly and spoke to his comrade. The other smiled too and then the captain called and one of the two men whom had come to her cabin earlier, trotted to the doorway.

  The captain pulled Kate up from the floorboards and gave the man instruction. To Kate he said, “You follow him. He will take you to your quarters and bring you some breakfast.”