“We’ll need to give him a pretty good head start so he doesn’t notice he’s been followed,” Mitch said. “But that won’t be a problem. We’ll still know what direction he’s headed.” He pointed to the computer.
“The boy and the other guy are getting in the boat,” Capper said over his cellphone. “Did you see what just happened?”
“Yeah, we saw,” Chunk replied. “The sign on the dock says Zunga’s Shipping.”
Mitch typed the name into the computer. “Says here they deliver supplies to the outlying islands along the coast of North and South Carolina and as far as Bermuda.”
“Okay, Capper, hang tight there. Once they’ve headed out, we’ll come pick you up.” Chunk turned to Mitch. “Call and make sure our boat is ready to go. Also, be sure it has food and water in case we’re out for a few days.”
“All set,” Mitch replied after calling the marina. “Hope you don’t mind but I also asked them to provide some fishing gear. It’s been ages since I’ve taken any time off for fishing.”
Chunk smiled despite himself. “Just as long as you remember the purpose of this mission is to save my little girl.”
“Oh, no problem,” Mitch replied. “That’s very much on my mind.”
Judgement
Willow had been disappointed when Ned had reported the boy had given him the slip, evidently checking out of the hotel while he was away from his post getting something to eat. Such an oversight required more than a tongue lashing so despite Ned being a good fifty pounds heavier than her, she decided to beat the stupidity out of him.
After he had admitted to his mistake, she turned away as though finished with him, so the roundhouse kick caught him by surprise as the sole of her boot landed hard against his jaw. Ned dropped like a two-hundred-pound sack of flour. Two or three well-placed kicks to the kidney and groin area completed the corrective lesson.
“Next time either call someone to get you food or go hungry,” she said as she walked away with a slight smile on her face. That felt good, she thought. Every now and then she just needed to kick the shit out of someone.
Ned’s losing track of the boy meant she had to be that much more careful to keep an eye on Chunk and his brothers while also keeping a discrete distance so as to not be noticed. It helped that the three brothers didn’t have any reason to suspect someone would be trailing them.
Willow broke her team into two parts with the twins in the black sedan and the other two riding in the transport vehicle with her. The navy blue van was a customized job compliments of her boss who believed in spending whatever necessary to be sure his associates had the best of equipment. While the van looked like any other family vehicle on the outside, the inside was plush and well equipped. One of the few things she enjoyed about working for the Sheik was how he did everything in style.
They trailed the Robinsons’ van along I-95, taking turns as the lead vehicle following within sight of their prey. They ended up at a marina in Beaufort, South Carolina where they once again picked up the trail of the boy as well. Willow had hoped they would end up somewhere on the coast which suggested the boy was headed towards a rendezvous with his sisters and not just sending them on some wild goose chase.
She turned around to the two men lounging in the back of the van.
“Time to get to work,” she said. She nodded to the man who called himself Tao. Being of some unknown Asian descent, Tao was smaller than the other men and was particularly skilled at snooping around while staying virtually invisible.
“When we get a read on which vessel that boy is getting on, I need you to get a tracer on it without being detected. Can you do that?”
“Sure thing,” he replied as he reached into the duffle bag of equipment under his seat and pulled out a small electronic device. Willow had noticed a renewed sharpness and alertness on her team in the last day or so. She suspected Ned’s beating had produced the desired result.
While Willow knew whatever boat the boy got on would eventually return to its home base, she still wanted to know of any other stops it might make. She glanced at the tall, slender man with the goofy crew cut sitting next to Tao.
“Widget, did you pack your new toy?”
“Yep, it’s in the back. Want me to get it?” Widget asked unable to hide his enthusiasm. The other men often made fun of Widget, who was more of a techy nerd than a true soldier-of-fortune. But Willow had learned that it helped to have more than just muscle on her teams. More than once, Widget’s technological expertise had saved her ass. Besides, despite his nerdiness, he still knew how to use a gun.
“We shouldn’t need it before morning,” Willow replied. “I doubt the ship will head out before daybreak. In case I’m wrong about that, how long will it take to get it ready?”
“Only about twenty minutes,” Widget replied.
Willow nodded. “Okay, get with the other guys and set up four-hour shifts to keep an eye on things. Everyone else, get some rest. No telling how long it’ll be before we get another chance.”
As she started to recline her passenger seat back, she added, “Tao, wait another hour and then set the tracker. Also, first thing in the morning, get in touch with our pilot and make sure he’s got the plane ready. I’ll give him further instructions where to rendezvous as soon as we have recovered the cargo.”
And with that, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a sleep mask. In less than five minutes, she was asleep, snoring quietly.
The boat that Mitch had acquired looked like a cross between a high brow’s yacht and a racer. Chunk glanced at the boat and back to his brother.
“You know how to drive one of these?”
“Yes,” Mitch replied with a laugh. “But you sail them, not drive them.”
“But it doesn’t have any sails,” Chunk said. “Anyway, it should do fine. I’m not even going to ask how much this is going to set me back.”
“No, I wouldn’t. Just remember it’s for your daughter. Besides, I didn’t know what kind of boat we’d be chasing. This one will do nicely. It even has sleeping accommodations if we need to stay out for a couple of days.”
He jumped from the pier onto the boat and pointed to the stern. “And fishing gear comes included.”
“All right,” Capper shouted as he trotted onto the dock to join his two brothers on the boat. “Nothing wrong with mixing a little pleasure with our work, right? Did you pack any beer?”
“No alcohol,” Chunk replied, as he slowly made his way on board. “That’s where I draw the line.”
“Sure thing, Cap’n,” Mitch replied, then catching Capper’s eye, mouthed. “It’s down below.”
“Were you able to attach a tracker onto the ship the boy will be on?”
“Yep,” Capper replied. “It was touch and go there for a while, but I finally got it on without anyone seeing me.”
“Good work,” Chunk said as he patted his brother on the shoulder. “That way, even if we lose contact with his cell phone, we’ll still know where he’s headed. Now, how about going back to the van and getting our stuff? Mitch, open up that laptop and let’s be sure we’re still tracking the kid.”
As Capper jumped back to the deck to return to the van, Chunk stopped him. “Before you go, I want both of you to know how much I appreciate you putting your lives on hold to help me out this way. I know I’ve not always been the easiest big brother in the world…”
Mitch held up his hand. “Enough, enough. You’re right, at times you’ve been a royal pain in the ass, but our folks taught us that when the chips are down, all that really matters is family. This is what brothers do for each other.”
He paused for a moment and smiled. “And boy, I’m going to enjoy the payback that’s coming.”
Two excruciating days passed without a word from Damba. No one else from the village approached either. On the afternoon of the third day, Damba finally returned with two of his friends to let the sisters know that the council had reached their decision. His mood was dark, and he spoke little, making
it a point to avoid looking at Alp.
The sisters followed Damba along the trail through the sand dunes that connected the village with the hut that had become their home. Tabitha immediately took the lead with Kirstin close behind. Mia and Heather walked on either side of Alp, occasionally reaching out to touch her in an effort to assure her silently that everything would be okay. The rest of the Kindred followed behind them with the other two villagers taking up the rear. No one spoke.
As they approached the village, they saw an increasing number of its inhabitants lining the trail, wondering what was taking place on their home island where very few things happened to raise their curiosity. Alp noticed several of them giving the same hand signal of protection she had seen Jenka perform the day before. Did they really think she and her sisters were evil? And if so what would some silly hand movement do to protect them from powers that arose from the devil?
Damba led them straight through the village and to a hut that stood beside the Circle of Shamans. “The council has been called in session to determine your fate,” Damba said simply, continuing to avoid any eye contact with Alp. “They reached their decision this morning and as it is our custom will now pass it on to you. Please enter but do not speak unless instructed to do so.”
“Wait just a minute,” Tabitha protested. “We don’t get any say in the matter? Are we automatically presumed guilty for the poor judgment of just one of us? And whatever happened to the notion of innocent until proven guilty?”
Damba turned to Tabitha. “You came here together and were informed that any transgression by even one of your party could result in punishment for all. That is our way. You are not in your United States of America here. Those laws do not apply. Now, unless you want your punishment to be more severe, I suggest you be quiet.”
Tabitha glared back at him, but then with a toss of her head, stepped through the door with each sister filing in behind her. The inside of the hut was unpleasantly hot and crowded. Across the way in the middle of the room sat three black men dressed in white sitting on the floor in a line. In the middle sat Khari cross-legged, his head down and eyes closed as though in prayer or meditation. Next to Damba’s father sat Babalawo, the shaman, and next to him Kambuji whose boat had brought them to the island. So the husband of the person she’d accidentally killed was one-third of the group that would determine her and her sisters’ fates? Come to think of it, she’d not gotten along with the other two that well either. Her situation was looking worse by the minute.
Damba instructed them to stand in front of the council for their verdict. As they did so, the crowd lining the wall fell silent. Damba’s father waited until you could hear the flutter of a hummingbird’s wing before looking up. For the first time, Alp could see Khari’s face clearly and was shocked by just how much the two looked alike. The village leader was a handsome man who looked to be in his early to mid-sixties, with graying closely cropped hair, deep set eyes, and wide nose. Gazing into his eyes Alp saw pain and remorse in the bloodshot whites. Clearly, he had loved his wife and continued to mourn her loss.
“My son has a large heart,” Khari began. “Sometimes his heart gets in the way. He acted irrationally by talking Kambuji into allowing you to stay on the boat. He compounded this error by then tricking Kambuji to bring you here. It was then my turn to make a grave error in judgment by allowing you to stay on this island. I thought by isolating you away from our village, it would be okay. My poor judgment has resulted in the death of my beloved wife, Malmu. I will go to my grave with that regret. However, as the leader of this village, I must do what I can to right these errors in judgment.”
He looked along the line directly into the eyes of each girl before continuing. “You are at this moment banned from the island of Geluk. You are to pack whatever belongings you brought with you and prepare to leave. Kambuji will take you to the mainland. You are never to return to this island. If I ever hear that you have talked about Geluk with anyone, I will see to it that your tongue is cut out, and your thumbs separated from the rest of your body. Is that understood?”
“But…but we didn’t do anything wrong,” Tabitha argued. She pointed to Alp. “She’s the one that caused this trouble, not us. Why should we be punished?”
Khari raised his hand for silence. “Enough. I have spoken.” He paused for a moment. “But you are right about one thing. This one…” He pointed to Alp. “Her sins are much greater. That is why she will remain in custody here on the island until we are prepared to complete her sentence.”
“And what will that be?” Mia asked almost whispering the question.
“She will be hung by the neck until dead,” the old man replied. “An eye for an eye…a life for a life.”
The sentence brought a collective gasp from everyone in the room. All except Alp, who quit breathing completely. She felt the words knife into her heart and take her breath away. As the death sentence hung in the hair, a disruption could be heard outside. Seconds later one of the young men who’d been standing guard at the doorway stuck his head in.
“It’s Zunga!” He shouted to everyone. “The supply ship has arrived.”
Lost Signal
Willow felt the light contact on her shoulder followed by the hoarse whisper from the man beside her. “Looks like the boat is about to leave port, Boss.”
She removed her sleep mask and looked around to get her bearing. She sat up and stretched, groaning as she did so. While she’d learned from years of experience to sleep anywhere, in recent years her body had started to rebel against sleeping in the field. However, she had to admit the front seat of the luxury van was far more comfortable than many places she had slept in recent years.
“I’m going to take a little stroll and see if I can find a public bathroom that’s open this early,” she said. She reached under her seat and pulled out her personal hygiene bag that had all the essentials including her toothbrush and a roll of toilet paper.
“Has the tracker been checked?”
“Sure thing, Boss,” Tao replied. “I checked it the minute I spotted movement on the boat.”
She turned around to find all the men already awake except Widget, who was sound asleep with his head resting against the side of the rear cab. “Wake him up and tell him to get his new toy ready.”
“Will do. I’ll also contact our pilot and give him a heads up,” Tao replied. “We passed a Dunkin Donuts a few blocks back that away.”
“Good,” Willow replied. “Get everything done by the time I get back, and I’ll bring back a couple dozen donuts for breakfast.”
“You can count on it,” Tao replied. “Why do you think I suggested the donut shop?”
As Willow climbed out of the van, she looked around. The docks were quiet this time of the morning, and especially this time of the year. In a few months, the area would be teeming with vacationers but not yet. They’d just have to keep an eye out for nosy locals, and as long as everything went as plan, that shouldn’t be a problem.
She found the donut shop a little farther away than she’d expected, but the walk helped her stretch out the kinks in her back, so she decided not to make a big deal of it. She took care of her personal hygiene and purchased two boxes of donuts for her men and a large black coffee for herself. Not much of a breakfast to start the day, but poor eating habits came with the job. She paid cash and jogged back to the van where she found Widget assembling his new toy.
It looked like a large model airplane with an incredibly long wingspan. It took two men to assist Widget in assembling the solar-powered drone, mostly because of its size. The weight itself was negligible, being made of some of the strongest and lightweight of materials known to man. The wingspan was important because that was where most of the solar panels were located. The drone could remain aloft for days at a time and could fly hundreds of miles from its home base with a cruising speed up to sixty miles an hour. With both a regular video camera and an infrared one for night viewing, they’d have eyes on their prize the
entire time the boat was at sea; all for a mere $150,000. Yep, working for the Sheik had its perks.
“Everything in order?” Willow asked as she handed the donuts off to her unofficial second-in-command?
“Everything’s moving like clockwork,” Tao replied. He opened one of the boxes and removed three donuts for himself before passing them around.
“Isn’t it a thing of beauty?” Widget said smiling so wide she thought his face might crack. He stroked one wing like it was a thoroughbred.
“I’m more interesting in how it works than its beauty,” Willow replied. “You sure it can stay out there as long as we need it to?”
“No problem,” Widget replied growing more serious but still not able to control his excitement completely. “It can fly high enough to avoid most cloud cover. During the day, it’ll store up the energy from the solar cells so it can remain in flight throughout the night. It has both a regular video camera and an infrared one, so we’ll be able to track the ship visually the entire time. Neat, huh?”
“If it works,” Willow agreed. She had an inherent mistrust of most technological equipment, especially new ones she’d not used on previous missions. She had learned from hard experience that if something could go wrong with technology it often did. Still, she wanted to keep a close eye on the ship, and the drone would certainly allow her to do that.
“Let’s get it in the air ASAP before we start attracting attention from the locals.”
Widget nodded. He stroked the wing once more before directing his flight crew to prepare for the launch. He picked up the control console that reminded Willow of some of the video gaming equipment she had seen on the internet. Within minutes, the drone’s engine was purring like a well-fed cat. Ted and Ned walked it out to the center of the parking lot, then stepped away as Widget gave the engine more power. The drone leaped forward, picking up speed quickly. It wasn’t long before it was making circles in the air as it climbed to altitude, its pilot dancing and prancing in circles below.
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