Amy Maxwell's 6th Sense

by Heather Balog

  “Well, um thanks, I guess,” I manage to stammer.

  “You don’t sound very thankful,” Jason says grumpily. Geez, does he want a medal?

  “Well, it’s just rather convenient that you happened to be around. I mean, don’t you have anything better to do with your time? You just stalk me?”

  “Uh, no. I’m not stalking you, but what else would I do besides come to your rescue? It’s a rather common theme in our relationship, wouldn’t you say?”

  The tips of my ears start to flame from Jason’s use of the word relationship.

  “I don’t know, Jason. Shouldn’t you be busy enjoying your law enforcement conference? How was it? Did you learn fun and interesting facts about law enforcement?” I retort, sarcasm oozing out of my pores.

  Jason steps closer, and I can definitely see that smirk. If I wasn’t so damn relieved to see a gun toting law enforcement member, I think I’d smack that expression right off of his face. “You know there wasn’t any conference,” Jason remarks, narrowing his eyes at me.

  “Oh really?” I plant my hands on my hips and purse my lips together. “I would have never guessed. Why are you here then?” I shoot a quick glance at River who is lurking in the bushes, trying desperately to stay out of my line of fire, while wearing a sheepish grin on his face. I know he secretly enjoys the banter between me and Jason. He says it reminds him of an old married couple on a sitcom.

  Since he is also guilty of following me (although it is MUCH appreciated), I wave my pointer finger at him, too. “And you my friend…what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in school? The semester cannot possibly be over yet.”

  River lowers his head and mumbles something completely incoherent.

  I cup my hand to my ear. “What was that? I can’t hear you.”

  “I dropped out,” River mutters, staring down at his feet shuffling in the dirt.

  Appalled, my inner mother comes shooting out. “What? Why would you do something like that? You were one of the smartest people in that place!”

  River plunks down on the ground, his gangly legs folding underneath him. “I just got burnt out. Jason got me a job, and I was working nights because I thought I could do both—”

  “A police job?”

  River nods. “Yeah.’ Then he turns scarlet. “Well, he didn’t actually get me a job. I had to take the test and no matter what people say, I earned that job.”

  “Of course you earned that job,” I say, puffing out my chest with the possessiveness of a mother bear. In the few months we were together in college, I felt like River was one of my kids. “Don’t you let anyone tell you otherwise.”

  “A lot of the guys at the precinct think that just because Jason is a DEA agent, I got an unfair advantage,” River tells me, hanging his head. “All he did was tell me when the test was and that I should take it because there was an opening. I still had to jump through all the hoops everyone else did.”

  “I’m sure you did,” I coo, patting River’s head—he’s almost as mangy as the dog. Don’t cops need short haircuts?

  “Enough!” Jason shouts, waving his hands in the air. “This is not the time nor the place for a heart to heart. We’ve got to get moving to get Amy out of here before those cretins come back.”

  “Oh yeah,” River remarks, bouncing to his feet, suddenly remembering our location and his apparent purpose.

  “Let’s go,” Jason instructs as he does an abrupt about face and starts off in the direction he came from.

  River takes my arm. “Do you need help, Amy? You look like you got scraped up pretty bad.”

  For the first time since I escaped from the hut, I actually glance down and take a look at myself. My wrists bear the marks from the rope, red and angry welts rising up. I can’t really see them in this light, but I’m assuming my ankles look the same way. There are long scratches dotted along both my arms and legs, several which are bleeding. My clothes are dirty, torn, and hanging off of my body in places. My hand wanders to my head and my fingers get stuck in a tangle; I can tell my hair is like a rat’s nest even without the benefit of a mirror. I can only imagine what my face looks like.

  “I’m fine, River,” I tell him, forcing a terse smile. I wave his arm away and struggle to my feet. I’ll be damned if I have him rubbing my rescue in my face, along with Jason.

  River shrugs his bony shoulders and gallops along ahead of me. I can’t help thinking that he walks a lot like Lurch. The mangy dog trots by his side.

  “Where’d you get that dog anyway?” I ask as I push branches out of my way. River is oblivious to the fact that when he pushes through the path, he causes the foliage to whip back at me with such velocity that it nearly knocks me over.

  “Oh, he was hanging around the back of the resort. That guy Dennis, the one with Jason?” River waves his hand toward his cousin and the man with the boat. “He says the dog’s been there for ages. He feeds him and makes sure he has water. Calls him Grover. I asked him why he didn’t take him home and make him his pet. Said it’s because he lives on his boat.” River shrugs.

  “Oh. So how did you get him?” I ask, just as a branch hits me in the shoulder.

  “I figured if he didn’t have a home, I could take him home and make him my pet,” River explains.

  “No, you cannot,” Jason calls over his shoulder. “I’m allergic to dogs!”

  I catch up with River. “Wow, he’s bossy. What does it matter to him if you have a dog or not?”

  River frowns, his expression sheepish. “Well, I’m kind of living with him at the moment…”

  I wrinkle up my nose. “Really? Ugh, that’s gotta suck.”

  “Well, I’m making peanuts now and Jason’s got an extra room, so…” River trails off, eyes widening. His eyes dart around nervously, like he is hoping I didn’t hear what he said.

  Confused, I ask, “Why does Jason have an extra room? He’s only got a two bedroom condo. One room for him and one for Sean.”

  River grits his teeth and closes his eyes. “Awww, man. Me and my big mouth,” he mutters.

  Panicked, I grab his arm and he stops walking. “What happened? Why does Jason have an extra room?”

  River opens his eyes and glances around. Jason is now so far in front of us, all I can make out is the top of his head bobbing up and down through the bushes. We might even lose him if we don’t start walking, but I don’t care. I want to know why Jason has an extra room. “River, you better tell me.”

  River sighs and leans down by my ear. “Okay, but you better not tell him that you heard it from me. Sean’s dad showed up and took him.”

  “What?” I screech. My yelling causes Jason and Dennis to whirl around and River to clamp his hand over my mouth.

  “Shhh! Jesus, Amy. I told you not to say anything!” he hisses.

  I push his hand away from my mouth. “How is that even possible? He’s been gone for ages! Jesus he didn’t even show up when Sean’s mother died.” At least I don’t think he did. I didn’t know Jason and Sean then. “And besides, Jason adopted him. He can’t take him away just like that. Jason’s Sean’s father—he’s the one who raised him.”

  “Minor technicality. Stacey—Sean’s mom—never actually put that in writing. Jason just applied for custody, and since his father never contested it, he was granted temporary guardianship until the adoption went through. Jason thought everything was fine and never got around to the formal adoption process,” River explains.

  My eyes widen. “Holy shit.” I can’t believe Jason neglected such an important detail. It seems very unlike him. But he probably never thought it would be an issue considering Sean’s father never had anything to do with him. Jason has raised Sean and has been there for him for seven years when his father had been nowhere around.

  “Yeah, no kidding,” River says with a shake of his head. “Gary, Sean’s dad, showed up about a month ago wanting him all of a sudden. Saw his picture in the paper.”

  “What? Why was his picture in the paper?” Crap,
I hope he didn’t do anything illegal. Sean is a really great kid, but he has Asperger’s so sometimes his actions are not exactly what one might expect from a sixteen year old kid. People can get very bent out of shape by the way he acts, not realizing that he can’t help it. In fact, the first time I met him…well, I was one of those people.

  “He patented an app that helps parents keep kids safe on social media—”

  “Wait,” I interrupt. “He has a patent?” I knew Sean was smart, but this is exceptional, even for him.

  River nods proudly as we begin walking again. Jason is waiting for us…impatiently. He starts to walk back toward us. “Yeah. He won an award in school and—”

  “Hold on.” I shake my head. “Allie didn’t say anything about it.” Sean and Allie are in the same grade at Roger’s school. “And Roger didn’t say anything either.”

  “Well, Jason put him in Helmuth Academy over six months ago, so I wouldn’t think that they would have known about it,” River says.

  I stop again and grab River’s arm. “I didn’t know that! Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?”

  By this time, Jason has reached us. I glare at him. “Why didn’t you tell me about moving Sean to a different school? Or the fact that his biological father is screwing you over?”

  “Jesus, River,” Jason scoffs with disgust. “You weren’t supposed to say anything.”

  Hands on hips, I stare up at Jason. “And why not? I could have helped you.”

  Jason snorts. “Oh, really? You’re a lawyer now?”

  “Well no—” I stammer.

  Jason shakes his head and grabs my arm. “Then what were you gonna do about it, huh, Amy? Go sneak around and poke your nose where it doesn’t belong again? Isn’t this little adventure enough for you?”

  “I could have been there to listen,” I explain. “When you needed a friend.”

  Jason peers down his nose at me. “A friend? Really? I’m a guy. Or have you forgotten?”

  I am instantly reminded of our kiss on the beach and I blush. Crap. Everything that Roger did for me and I’m still remembering kissing Jason. God, what horrible wife I am. I hope he’s not too mad at me.

  “Whatever,” I say, following Jason who is now practically dragging me. “Was Roger okay? God, I hope he’s not too mad about everything.” Thirty minutes later and you’re finally asking about him. You’re certainly not going to win any wife of the year awards.

  “I guess,” Jason says. “He didn’t mention anything about being mad at you. Why would he be mad? Were you snooping again?”

  I ignore him and shake off his arm and storm ahead, nearly catching up with Dennis, the guy I still haven’t been properly introduced to.

  The hut is comes into view and I can hear the gentle lapping of the waves against the dock and the beach. The sun is higher now—it must be around six o’clock in the morning. I don’t see a boat docked though. What I do see is a freaking yacht.

  “Wow,” I whistle under my breath. I turn to Dennis. “That’s some boat you got there. I was feeling a little sorry for you when River said you lived on your boat, but man, I wouldn’t mind living on that.” I slap his arm playfully, and he stares at me as if I have just told him that I’m married to my second cousin.

  Ignoring his weirdness, I turn around and ask Jason. “Is Roger already on the boat?”

  Jason is now rushing at me full speed with a panicked expression. “Why would Roger be on the boat, Amy?” He starts to pull me back toward the path, his eyes darting around nervously. Confused, I try to pull him off of me, but he’s much stronger than I am.

  “Well, because you rescued him from the hut, didn’t you?” I’m really confused. “And then you put him on the boat and went looking for me?”

  Jason shakes his head. “No. I didn’t even know Roger was with you.”

  “And that’s not my boat,” Dennis says.

  ~Twenty-One~

  I open and close my mouth so many times before speaking that I think I have swallowed all the mosquitoes in the Caribbean. “What? What do you mean? Didn’t you get Roger out of the hut?” My voice is dangerously high-pitched—Grover lowers himself (herself?) to the ground and covers his (her?) ears with his (her?) paws. “We’ve got to go get him!” I practically shriek and go storming toward the hut.

  “We had no idea he was in there!” Jason hisses in my ear as he drags me back to the bush.

  “How could you not know? You said you followed us—”

  Jason shakes his head. “I followed you. I didn’t realize Roger was with you.” He pinches the bridge of his nose and inhales sharply. “I would never have thought in a million years Roger would have let you get caught up in something like this. He’s so reasonable.”

  “Well it’s his fault! Or mine,” I stammer. It’s not the time or the place to be pointing fingers. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is…didn’t you see him when you followed me?” I cannot believe my trusty law enforcement agent didn’t realize my husband was with me when he actually saw us get in the boat. How could he miss Roger?

  “I saw you get into the boat with three men. When we docked here, we hid the boat behind the brush over there,” he points to the area on the other side of the yacht, “and we saw three men leave. We assumed they all left and you were by yourself.” Jason lowers his eyes. I can tell he is mortified by his mistake and furious with himself at the same time.

  “Didn’t you notice that they were different men?” I cannot believe this is the man I was counting on to save my sorry ass. And Roger’s, too. Oh my God…poor Roger! All this time I thought he was safe! Who knows what Waynedell and his spear could have done to him by now! He could have been skinned alive! Can you skin someone with a spear?

  My overactive imagination is leaping all over the place. But Roger was the one had the spear when I left. And he could fend off Waynedell…right?

  “We have to go help him!” I squeal, trying to fight Jason off. He has both his arms wrapped around my body in some sort of hold that I imagine they use in the looney bin to calm down patients during a full moon. It feels oddly relaxing.

  “We will,” Jason says calmly. “You need to stop. We have to come up with a plan.”

  “Yeah, we can’t just go charging in there,” River adds.

  “Well, why not?” I ask, craning my neck to gaze up at Jason.

  Jason purses his lips and peers down the bridge of his nose at me. “You took half a semester of intro to criminal justice…you should know I can’t just go in there, guns a-blazing.”

  “We’re not even in our own country, Jason! I’m pretty sure rules are different here!” I screech, causing Jason to clamp his hand over my mouth. I resist the urge to bite his fingers.

  “Will you shush? We have no idea whose boat that is! It could be the guys who brought you here,” he hisses in my ear.

  “No, it’s not them,” I mumble through his fingers. “They had a dinky little row boat.”

  “Actually, it was a speed boat, but that’s okay,” River corrects. Both Jason and I glare at him.

  “Really?” Jason shakes his head with disgust.

  “Well, the point is…it’s not the same boat,” I say.

  “They could have gotten another boat when they went back to shore,” Jason points out, hand slowly slipping off my mouth, but not completely. It’s resting on my chin.

  I ponder his idea for a moment. “That could be true. The one guy said the other guys missed the exchange. Do you think it could have been a boat?”

  Jason wrinkles his brow and casts a sidelong glance at River. “Maybe.” His hand completely slides off my face before he spins me and places both hands on my shoulders, staring me in the eyes. “You need to tell me everything that happened from the time you got into the boat until we found you. And how did you run into them in the first place?”

  Fighting back tears, I begin to explain that I had been tailing Roger, suspecting him of having an affair, just like I had confided in Jason in the night before.
Or two nights before—time was beginning to blur.

  I take Jason, River, and my new friend Dennis through the timeline of the last twelve hours. When I get to the part about the hut and the passports, River jerks his head toward Jason.

  “Could that be?” he asks his cousin, eyebrows raised.

  Jason purse his lips and his eyes darken. “I’m not sure. But it definitely seems highly suspect.”

  “You think we should call Gary?” River asks.

  Jason shakes his head. “No. We need to look a little closer. Gary hates to be disturbed about things if people aren’t absolutely certain.”

  “Should we go in then?”

  “Probably. But then again, we don’t know what we’re dealing with. And if it is what we think it is…well, that’s a whole ‘nother ball game.”

  River and Jason volley comments back and forth, while Dennis and I are forced to stare at them, clueless to what the hell they’re talking about.

  Finally, I shout, “What the hell are you two talking about? Could be what? What ball game? And for God’s sake, who the hell is Gary?” I start jumping up and down like a spoiled toddler. Jason grabs my arm and pulls me down. He crouches next to me.

  “Amy, you need to be quiet!” Jason warns as he jerks his head toward the hut. “They can probably hear us, and we don’t want to give them any advance warning that we’re coming in.”

  “Okay, so we are going in?” I ask.

  Jason and River exchange glances again. “We’re not sure,” Jason tells me. “We need to do a little bit of a recognizance mission first.”

  “Okay, so let’s go,” I say, standing up. Jason, who is still crouching, pulls me down again.

  “No! Not yet.”

  “Jason, do you realize that every second you waste, my husband could be dying? Or dead already?” My voice is quivering. Roger’s life is in Jason’s hands, and for some reason, he’s not moving quickly enough. “We need to get to him.”