by Dan Kelly
That’s as far as he got with his dialogue as the door to his office was flung open with such force it banged against the wall and a voice dripping with malice said, “Brody, you and your brother should have minded your own business.” Seeing no one there the voice then mumbled, “What the hell?”
Paul knew immediately that something was terribly wrong. That wasn’t Damien’s voice, but things were already in motion so he had to go through with the plan. He heard Frank come crashing into the office yelling, “Put your hands in the air and get down on your knees.” so he burst into his office saying, “Do it or die.”
When he got a look at the petrified man who was standing in the middle of his office with a gun in his hand, he didn’t have a clue who the guy was that was planning to kill him, but he wasn’t going to give him time to recover and belted him in the kisser with his Glock. As the guy collapsed and dropped his gun, Paul was on his back pulling his hands behind him to cuff him with some plastic ties they had found in the kitchen which were normally used to cinch up trash bags. Paul’s thinking, “There’s all kinds of trash and these are ideal for this piece of garbage.”
Before he could get the ties on him though another voice said, “Let him up, now!” Paul knew that voice. It was Damien’s. “Oh shit. He was way ahead of us. He anticipated a trap and sent in this guy to trip it so he could come in and catch us unawares. Shit, shit, shit!”
The man on the floor started to get up and grabbed his gun while doing so. He was about to shoot Paul, but Frank shot him first and he fell back down again, but this time he wasn’t going to get back up under his own power. Frank had put two bullets dead center in his chest. Paul had laid down his gun on the floor to tie up the dead guy so he was unarmed. Damien wasn’t and grabbed Paul around the neck and stuck his gun in his ear. “Drop it or your buddy gets it.”
Frank said, “Do I look that stupid to you? I do that and you’ll kill the both of us.”
Damien said, “He’s a dead man no matter what you do. This gun has a hair trigger and it most likely will still go off even if you shoot me. I’ve got no quarrel with you. Take off.”
“But I’ve got one with you.” Before the words completely registered in Damien’s brain, it was shut down by a wallop to the head from a baseball bat. Damien dropped like a dead weight to the floor, his gun quickly following and it did have a hair trigger. When it hit the floor it went off, putting a hole in a picture of him and Pete in a fishing boat. Ironically, the bullet clipped Paul’s right ear, the same ear Damien had stuck his gun in.
When Paul heard his mother’s voice, he was so stunned he was speechless. The last person he expected to show up tonight was his mother. Turning to face her and seeing the bat in her hands, his emotions started to do battle with themselves. He was angry that she was here, knowing what might go down, but he was glad she was here because she had probably saved his life. When he was able to speak all he could think of to say was, “Mom, how many times do I have to tell you? Don’t choke up on the bat. You lose power when you do that.”
Laughing, she dropped the bat and threw her arms around him. “Boy, I’m glad I showed up when I did. I was arguing with myself all the way over here about my not heeding your warning to stay away from your office until this whole mess was put to bed. I just couldn’t stay away any longer. The suspense of not knowing what was going on was killing me.”
Frank said, “When I saw you appear in the doorway and look at the bat Paul had left leaning against the wall in the corner, I was torn between I hope she doesn’t do what I think she’s going to do and I hope she does and really clobbers this… whoops.”
Cassandra, laughing again, said, “I’ve heard the word before, Frank, and asshole is a perfect description for him. I never would have thought that the nice kid that was always hanging out at our house would turn out like this.”
Paul said, “I’m surprised Nicki let you come?”
“She doesn’t know I came. She and Cassie are over at the Lindauers playing Aggravation. I left a note on the kitchen table telling her that I went to the store and was going to stop at a friend’s house on the way back to talk about taking one of the pups her Golden Retriever Duchess just had. That part is partly true. I’ve talked to her about taking one of her pups, but haven’t gotten around to following through yet.”
Paul said, “Well, saying thank you hardly seems to cover it, but thanks, Mom. Everything is under control here now, so why don’t you go back home and let us attend to the tidying up here.”
“Is that what they call removing bodies from a crime scene these days? Don’t you two do anything that we’ll need a lawyer for later.” She abruptly turned and walked out of the office.
Pete said, “We’re not fooling her. She knows nothing about Sea Wasp, but she knows we’re involved in something very hush-hush. She’s quite a lady my mom, quite a lady.”
Paul called Dave to let him know what happened and he said he’d send folks over to take care of things. Cassandra hadn’t killed Damien with the blow to the head as they first thought. After Cassandra left, he started to come around, moaning softly and mumbling incoherently. They trussed him up just to be on the safe side and waited for Dave’s cleanup crew to show up. The local police will never know what happened here. Phil and Dave have a knack for that.
Chapter 52
- Miami, FL -
Six weeks later the successful conclusion of a key chapter in the annals of Sea Wasp is being celebrated at the home of the senior Brodys. It’s a beautiful balmy evening in Bal Harbour and everybody is in a festive mood. Pete, Abby, Paul, Nicki, Cassie, Frank, Phil, Dave, Manny and the members of his team, Aloncia and Julio Mendoza are all stuffing their faces with Rosa’s kitchen magic and washing it down with liqueurs only seen at the Brodys on special occasions and there’s lively conversation and laughter everywhere.
The veil of secrecy surrounding Sea Wasp has been removed as far as the twins’ folks are concerned and they now know everything Pete and Paul have been up to. Abby’s hair has grown back enough to cover the scar left by Fuentes’s bullet and Paul’s shoulder has completely healed.
Abby is now sporting a two carat pink diamond form the Argyle mine in Australia which would have put Pete in hock for a very long time and then some if Phil’s friend, the owner of the Vuelta de Lujo, hadn’t lent a helping hand in the negotiations.
When Phil found out that Pete had popped the question to Abby and she had accepted, both of which he had an inkling might happen and it delighted him, he asked Pete what he was going to do for an engagement ring and Pete said, “I haven’t had a chance to think about that yet. I’ve been too damn busy trying to muster enough guts to ask the question.” Phil offered to approach his friend to ask for his help in finding something nice at a price Pete could afford and Pete gave him the nod. Leave it to the Scrounger. He out did himself again. He got a $200,000 gem for only the cost of an appraisal, insurance and shipping. The guy belongs in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. Abby still hasn’t come down off cloud nine.
It looks like the senior Brodys are going to have a pair of junior Brodys as neighbors since Abby really does own the house next door which she bought with inherited money. She needed a place to live and it fit in with what she was trying to do for Sea Wasp, so she threw out a counter offer that she just grabbed out of the air and it was accepted. Pete’s going to sell his condo which is a lot smaller and buy a fixer upper yacht with the proceeds so they have something to roam the Mediterranean in when they’re in the mood. They figure staying out of the Caribbean for a while will be a smart thing to do.
Pete’s giving up being a seafaring chauffer and is going to finally put his oceanography degree to work at a research firm focusing on the worlds’ oceans for new medicines and healthier foods. He’ll be starting next week. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Phil knew someone who knew someone who knew someone that had an opening for an oceanographer. The guy is simply uncanny when it comes to finding things.
Abby’s
resigned her position with the Department of Special Investigations and will be joining the firm of B & D Investigations as a new partner and the firm will change its name to BDK Investigations. The new firm will continue to carry on as usual, with one addition. They will now be an international firm with ties to a clandestine network of very special people, taking on the occasional assignment to assist in the identification of human pollutants endangering the lives of law abiding citizens throughout the Western Hemisphere.
When the opportunity presented itself Pete asked Phil, “What’s going on with Juan Fuentes and Damien Christensen?”
“Juan has seen the wisdom in taking us up on our offer and is being cooperative. Damien is another matter. Apparently, your mother has quite a swing. When she conked him in the head with that Louisville Slugger of yours she really scrambled his brain. He’s talking nonsense and acts like he’s not aware of what’s going on around him. The shrinks have their suspicions and are trying to determine if it’s all an act or if there really has been some brain damage. The initial physical examination, including brain scans, showed he had lump on his head the size of a baseball, which I thought was very appropriate, and a severe concussion, but didn’t give us any reason to think any permanent damage has been done. But look what happened with Abby. The brain is still very much a mystery. We’re just going to have to keep at him and see what happens. What has us concerned is he’s had access to some very sensitive information and we’d like to know if he’s shared it with anyone besides Fuentes for his personal gain. The man certainly had us fooled.”
“All I can tell you is Damien’s not the same guy Paul and I knew growing up. He’s always been clever, so he could be putting on an act. Paul thinks he’d rather die than rot in prison and if the opportunity presents itself he’ll try to provoke one of his guards to shoot him if he can’t find a way to get away.”
“Thanks for the input. I’ll pass that along. Now, on to a happier subject. Have you and Abby set a date yet?”
Before he can answer his eaves dropping brother comes over and says, “I’ve been trying to give them some great advice for weeks now. I keep telling them, mayday, mayday. So what do these two do? They pick May 1st as their wedding day. Shaking his head and walking away he says, “I can’t believe two smart people can be so dumb when it comes to getting hitched.”, but he had a big mischievous smile on his face when he said it and Pete and Phil broke out laughing.
Abby was taking all of this in and her curiosity got the best of her, so she sauntered over to find out what that was all about. When they told her she said to Pete, “So you haven’t told them we picked April 1st as the date to do the unthinkable, if one agrees with Paul’s assessment of marriage.”
Phil said, “April 1st?”
Abby answered with, “Yeah, April Fools’ Day is the perfect day for a marriage ceremony. You know, Fools rush in where angels fear to tread? Paul will love it.”
Phil with mouth opening in disbelief said, “You can’t be serious. Can you? Your folks are going to wig out.”
When the look of realization that she was putting him on spread across his face, they all burst out laughing.
As their laughter died down, Manny came over and asked, “Have you two set a date yet?”
With a straight face Pete answered with, “Well, we’ve narrowed it down to two dates, May 1st and April 1st.” This brought on another fit of laughter, leaving Manny totally confused trying to figure out what was so funny. When the three of them couldn’t stop laughing, he walked away mumbling to himself, “I’ve got to find out what they’ve been drinking. It’s got to be the hooch of all hooches.”
This gave another boost to their laughter and they were soon turning blue in the face and gasping for breath. When they finally got themselves under control, Phil drifted over to talk with Dave, leaving Pete and Abby alone by themselves for the first time that evening. Looking at Abby the way all guys look at their special lady when they’re in a romantic mood and want to say something mushy and are afraid they’re going to screw the moment up Pete took the plunge and said, “Whatever date we set, Wonder Woman, it will be the luckiest day of my life.”
Looking back at him the way a special lady looks at her special man she said, “Back at you, Brody, back at you.”
Pete’s thinking, “Hey, Paul, we were both wrong. She’s not trouble with a capital T and I’m in her league after all. Miracles do happen!!!
