Now It Begins

by Gary M. Chesla

  Dave sat up as the noise continued from out in front of the motel.

  He wasn’t concerned but decided while he was up he would go take a look to see what was causing all the noise at this time of the night.

  This was Saturday morning. He had been awakened by a loud noise on Tuesday morning. When he got up to see what was causing the racket, he discovered that Tuesday morning was garbage collection day on the island.

  He didn’t know why they had to make all that noise in the middle of the night when people were sleeping. Back in Starke the garbage men collected the garbage in the middle of the day.

  The next morning Nicole informed him that they collected garbage on the island at night so they wouldn’t interfere with the tourists during the day.

  It made sense, Dave guessed, he hadn’t seen one garbage truck all week during the day as he and Maggie enjoyed the beautiful view of the beach and the island.

  As Dave made his way to the curtains on the front window, he thought he should have confirmed with Nicole that garbage was only collected one day a week.

  Dave pulled back the curtain, expecting to see the garbage truck back over by the office, emptying the dumpster into the back of the truck.

  Instead, Dave stood confused as he looked out the window.

  An army truck was parked in front of the office. A half dozen soldiers were standing in front of the office as two other soldiers were using the butts of their guns to break in the door.

  Dave watched and listened as Adam came running out of unit one and started to yell at the soldiers.

  Dave opened the door a crack so he could hear what they were saying. He was prepared to run out if Adam needed some help, however he didn’t know how much help he would be against all those heavily armed soldiers.

  For now he was planning on just listening to find out what was going on.

  “Hey, what the hell are you doing?” Adam yelled as he ran up to the front of the office.

  The soldiers that were watching their two friends break down the office door, raised their weapons and ordered Adam to stop.

  Adam stopped and held up his hands.

  “What is your name?” one of the soldiers yelled.

  “My name is Adam,” Adam said nervously, “My wife and I run this motel. Why are you breaking into my office?”

  The soldier in charge told his men to lower their weapons.

  “We didn’t think there was anyone here to help us,” the soldier said, “and we needed some information on two of the guests staying here at the Pelican Post.”

  “What kind of information did you need so bad that you had to bust up my office,” Adam asked, “Couldn’t this have waited until morning?”

  “We understand that there are two men staying here that worked at the construction site up near the Anna Maria Island Pier,” the soldier said. “The Major would like to talk with them.”

  “In the middle of the night?” Adam asked.

  “The Major wasn’t in the mood to wait until morning,” the soldier replied.

  “Is the Major going to pay for the damage to my motel?” Adam asked.

  “You can submit a bill for the damages,” the soldier replied, “now we need the information on the men staying here from your office.”

  “Are they criminals or something?” Adam asked.

  “No, nothing like that,” the soldier replied, “the Major just wants to talk with them.”

  “I’d hate to see what you guys would have done if they had committed a crime,” Adam complained.

  “Will you get us the information now?” the soldier asked, starting to get impatient.

  “I don’t need to go in the office to find the information,” Adam replied, “They are the only two people staying at the motel this week. What did you need to know?”

  “What units are they staying in?” the soldier demanded.

  Just as Adam was about to answer, Carl swerved into the parking lot. His truck hit one of the posts that acted as a barrier between the parking lot and the grassy lounge area in front of the long building containing the seven main units.

  Carl shut off the engine, opened the door and fell out into the parking lot.

  Adam laughed, “This is one of them. His name is Carl Willis.”

  The soldier motioned to his men. They quickly ran over and dragged Carl to his feet. They secured his hands behind his back and roughly tossed him into the back of their truck.

  “Now what unit is the other guy staying in?” the soldier demanded.

  “He is in unit seven,” Adam replied, “but don’t go breaking down the door. Give me a minute and I’ll get a key to the room.”

  Dave closed the door quietly and ran back to the bed and woke up Maggie.

  “Maggie, wake up,” Dave said as he shook Maggie, holding one hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t make any noise.

  When she started to struggle and began to mumble into his hand he started to talk.

  “Maggie, I don’t know what is going on, but we have to get out of this room fast,” Dave said as Maggie calmed down. “I’m going to remove my hand. Get dressed fast, grab as much of our things as you can carry, I’ll get Joey. We are going out the back window. We only have about a minute. Understand?”

  Maggie shook her head to show that she understood.

  Dave quickly slipped on his shirt, pants and shoes. He made sure his wallet with what money that had remaining form the bonus he received for taking the job was in his pocket, and then he ran over and scooped up Joey off of the couch.

  Maggie was now right beside him.

  He led her through the darkness and into the bathroom.

  Maggie held the sleeping Joey as Dave pried up the bathroom window.

  Dave sent Maggie out first, and then he handed Joey out to her before he followed out the window.

  He heard the key turning the door lock to the room as he quietly pulled the window shut.

  “Follow me,” Dave said.

  He ran out behind the motel and crossed the side street. They ran into the bushes in front of the house across the street and got down to watch the motel.

  “Dave, what’s this all about?” Maggie asked.

  “I don’t know,” Dave replied. “I heard someone breaking into the motel’s office. I got up to take a look. It was some army guys. Adam came out to see what was going on.”

  “What did they want?” Maggie asked still confused and disoriented by what had just happened.

  “They were looking for us,” Dave whispered.

  “They were looking for us?” Maggie replied.

  “They got Carl,” Dave said. “They tied him up and tossed him in the back of their truck. Adam went in and gave them the key to our room so they wouldn’t break down the door. That’s when I woke you up.

  I heard them coming into our unit as I was closing the bathroom window.”

  “Why?” Maggie asked.

  “I don’t know,” Dave answered, “but after I saw how they treated Carl, I decided we weren’t going to just sit there and wait for them to take us too.”

  How did they know we were even here?” Maggie asked.

  “Remember that soldier at the road block?” Dave asked, “He asked me where we were staying. I knew I should have given him a fake address.”

  “Quiet,” Dave said, “I think they are coming back out of our room.”

  Dave and Maggie looked at the motel from behind the bushes and listened.

  “They aren’t here,” one of the soldiers shouted.

  “Where are they?” the soldier in charge asked Adam.

  “I don’t know,” Adam replied, “Once they pay, as long as they don’t trash the room I don’t keep track of what they do. Maybe they left.”

  The soldier looked around.

  “Whose car is that?” he asked Adam.

  “That’s their car,” Adam replied, “but I have no idea where they are.”

  “Sarge, you want to post someone here to wait for them to come back?” on
e of the soldiers asked.

  “No, we are short of men right now, besides we don’t have the time,” the Sergeant replied.

  “Should we take the car?” the other soldier asked again, “so he can’t leave.”

  “No, the island is on lock down, he can’t go anywhere,” the Sergeant replied. “Put a GPS tracker under the back bumper. That way we will know when he moves the car and we can go pick him up then.”

  The soldier retrieved a tracker form the cab of the truck and attached it under the back bumper of the Focus.

  The soldiers then all piled into the back of the truck as the Sergeant walked over to Adam.

  “When they come back, don’t say a word to them about this,” the Sergeant instructed. “When they move that car we’ll know and we will pick them up. I would ask you to call me when they come back, but there won’t be any phone service on this island for a while.”

  “What is going on?” Adam asked, “And when will the bridges be open again? I live in Lakeland and I have some things at home I have to take care of.”

  “Just sit tight,” the Sergeant replied, “This should all be over in a few days.”

  “A few days,” Adam repeated.

  The Sergeant turned and jumped in his truck.

  The truck then sped away.

  Adam walked over and looked at the damage to the door of the office.

  When the truck sped away, Nicole came out and walked over to stand beside Adam to look over the damage to the office.

  When the truck left and Nicole walked out to join Adam, Dave could see them standing under the street light staring at the office.

  “Come on,” Dave said to Maggie, let’s go talk to Adam and Nicole.

  “I heard what those soldiers were saying,” Maggie said, “I don’t know if they are going to be too excited to see us.”

  “I don’t know what else to do,” Dave replied, “come on.”

  They stood up and Dave took the still sleeping boy from Maggie. He was amazed Joey had slept through all of this, but he was glad he did. Joey had a knack for asking questions. His loud voice would have led the soldiers to where they were hiding.

  They walked slowly towards the front of the motel.

  Adam heard their feet crunching in the gravel and turned to look their way as they walked out of the shadows and into the light given off by the street light.

  “What the hell have you gotten yourself into?” Adam asked, still sounding annoyed from looking at all the damage done to the door of the office.

  “We have no idea,” Maggie replied.

  “Why would the Army be looking for you and your friend?” Adam asked.

  “Honestly we don’t know,” Dave replied. “All I can think of is that it is because I was working at the construction site up near the pier.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Adam asked.

  “I was running the bulldozer on the site yesterday. My dozer blade uncovered some coffins that were buried on the site. We found twenty-eight coffins. We called the police to inform them about what we had uncovered. They called in the government to inspect the bodies,” Dave continued. “We were required to report it in case the site had been some Indian burial ground or something. The government sent in a team to inspect the site. The next thing we knew, they had the Army blocking off the entire north end of the island. Then as you know they closed all the bridges to the island. Did you know there is an aircraft carrier sitting out in the Gulf about a half mile off the beach?”

  “An aircraft carrier,” Adam repeated, “What was in those coffins you dug up?”

  “Only three of the coffins were damaged,” Dave replied. “All that was in those three were dried up skin covered skeletons. I assumed they all contained the same thing.”

  Adam scratched his head, “Damn I haven’t heard a word about any of this. But that still doesn’t explain why the Army wants you. Are you sure you aren’t wanted for something else?”

  “I am a little behind on my electric bill,” Dave laughed, “but they said they are willing to wait until the end of the month to get paid. I wouldn’t think they would send the army after us for $300.”

  “Dave thinks I’m crazy,” Maggie said, “but I think the government is trying to cover all of this up for some reason.”

  “But why do they want us?” Dave asked.

  “The first rule in any cover up,” Maggie said, “is to eliminate the witnesses.”

  “That makes sense to me,” Adam said.

  “It does?” Dave asked.

  “That’s how things work where I’m from,” Adam added.

  “What are we going to do?” Maggie asked, “We can’t stay in our room. Those guys might come back.”

  “I don’t know,” Dave replied. “We certainly can’t get off the island and go home. Besides they have my name, they would eventually come looking for us there too.”

  “We can let you stay up in the cottage,” Nicole said. “They will be looking for you in unit seven but they won’t expect you to be in the cottage. With all the bridges closed it’s not like we will be having anyone wanting to rent the cottage.”

  “I’m surprised you still want us here,” Dave said.

  “We’ve been paid to put you up for two months,” Adam smiled, “Besides I believe you. I don’t know what is going on but whatever it is, I don’t think you did anything to cause this.”

  “Adam just doesn’t want to give the rent money back,” Nicole laughed.

  “Just keep your heads down and don’t lock the door,” Adam said. “If they come back the door won’t stop them anyhow. I don’t want to have to replace another door.”

  “What about Carl?” Dave asked. “

  “I’ll worry about what to do with Carl when he comes back,” Adam replied.

  “If he comes back,” Maggie added.

  “Yesterday I would have said you were being paranoid,” Dave said, “but honestly right now I don’t know what to think.”

  “Maybe we should park the car down by the marina, so they think we came back and took a boat out of here from down at the marina,” Maggie suggested.

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Dave said, “It might get the Army to go look somewhere else.”

  Adam walked over to the Focus and pulled the GPS unit out from under the back bumper.

  He walked across the street and put it up under the fender of a mail truck that was parked behind the post office.

  “Let the Army go follow the mailman around for a while,” Adam smiled.

  Dave walked over to the Focus, pulling the keys out of his pocket as he walked.

  “Take Joey up to the cottage,” Dave said, “I’ll move the car and pick up Morris on the way back.”

  “OK,” Maggie said, “grab our extra clothes too while you’re there. I don’t think there is much else in the room.”

  Dave was just about to get into the car when they began to hear the far off sound of guns shots and explosions.

  The sounds and the flashing bursts of light began to light up the sky towards the north end of the island.

  “Go on up to the room Maggie,” Dave said.

  Maggie turned and carried Joey up the two flights of stairs to go into the cottage.

  Dave got in the car and drove it down to the marina. He kept the lights turned off and drove using the street lights to see so he wouldn’t attract any attention.

  After Dave parked the car, he turned off the engine and looked around before deciding to open the door. The dome light would come on when he opened the door and he again did not want to attract any attention.

  All he could see was one drunk, passed out and sleeping near the curb.

  Seeing the drunk made him think about Carl.

  He wondered what was happening to Carl right now.

  He envisioned Carl being tortured to make him talk.

  Dave knew Carl would not say anything.

  First of all Carl was too drunk to say anything, but more importantly, what
did Carl know that the Army would be interested in?

  Dave had no idea what information the Army was looking for. They were digging the footer to put in the new concrete slab to build the new center. They ran into the coffins buried there. End of story. There was nothing else to say.

  The Army already knew all of this, what else could they be looking for?

  Maggie said they were trying to eliminate all the witnesses.

  Unfortunately that was the only thing Dave had heard today that halfway made any sense.

  But if that was the case, how would the military be able to explain the aircraft carrier, the barricades and now the gun fire and explosions.

  It seemed to Dave, that witnesses would be the least of what they would have to cover up.

  None of this made any sense.

  Dave looked around, opened the door and stepped out of the car.

  There had to be something logical to explain all of this.

  Maybe he had made a mistake crawling out the bathroom window. If he would have stayed and talked to the soldiers, maybe all of this would have been cleared up by now.

  Dave just wasn’t sure.

  On the other hand, he now could be tied up and in the back of a truck somewhere.

  The soldiers hadn’t treated Carl very nicely when they took him. Seeing that had made Dave panic.

  But maybe he had made a mistake.

  Dave turned and started to walk back up to the motel.

  Maybe tomorrow he would go find the soldiers and ask them why they had wanted to talk to him. Maybe they would answer his questions. He might even be able to find out what was going on.

  Dave had only taken a few steps when a spot light began to sweep over the marina.

  Dave ducked down behind one of the parked cars.

  The light was coming from a ship out in the inter-coastal waterway between the island and the mainland.

  The light swept over the boats in the marina, then began to scan the surface of the water between the island and the mainland.