After The Solar Flare (Book 2): Adventures in the Apocalypse

by AJ Newman

  I asked, “What did Olivia whisper to you?”

  “She told me where the blind spot was at the end of the pool where no one could see us.”

  ✼

  Chapter 12

  Carlos Ortiz

  Northwest of Colombia.

  Patty had covered over 900 miles traveling during the day and sleeping at night. It took her a couple of days to discover that the strong northwest current was taking her backward every time she dropped sails for the night. She put her sea anchor out at night; however, it wasn’t able to hold the boat against the strong current.

  She began sailing 20 hours every day and resting for four before setting out again it the dark. Now she was making great time heading towards Colombia, but she was dead on her feet and just able to function on the third day of this endurance test.

  She fell into her bunk and slept until she felt something bump the side of the boat. She knew she should wake up and see if there was any danger, but she was exhausted, and her mind was foggy at best. She jumped to her feet when she heard someone walking on the top of the cabin.

  She grabbed her Glock 17 and her Keltek Sub 2000 and waited for the intruders to come down the steps. She backed into the front berth and waited in the dark for the men to join her in the dark. One man walked down the steps as he shined a flashlight around the cabin. He didn’t see Patty hiding behind several boxes stacked on the bed.

  “Come on down, the boat is deserted.”

  She waited until the second man was in the cabin and then shot the closest one in the chest twice, and then fired at the other missing her first shot but struck him in the head with the second. She finished him off with another two shots. The men fell with a thud as they bounced on the floor.

  “Go down there and kill the son of a bitch,” someone yelled from above.

  Patty heard footsteps and fired through the deck above wounding one of the men.

  She heard, “Back off the boat,” and then silence for ten minutes.

  Suddenly something fell down the steps clanging all the way down before there were a loud pop and a small explosion.”

  The cabin filled with an obnoxious smell that stung her eyes and made her choke. She quickly wet a towel and placed it over her mouth and nose, which helped her breathe, but her eyes were almost swollen shut.

  “Come on up, or we’ll start shooting through the deck.”

  The tear gas was horrible, and Patty knew that she couldn’t hold out, so she yelled, “Don’t shoot. I’m coming up.”

  “It’s a damn woman. A fucking woman killed three of my men. Bitch, you’ll pay for this. Men take turns with her.”

  “Ralph, stop! Jack wants the boat and the passengers unharmed. You know he about shot you the last time we abused a captured woman.”

  “Well, what Jack doesn’t know won’t hurt me.”

  “Dumbass, Miguel has already radioed in what we found and that there is a beautiful redhead on the boat.”

  “Shit.”

  They transferred her to their boat and took her back to the mother ship after making sure the team they left behind could sail the boat back to their home port. A man helped her wash her face and clean the teargas residue from her eyes.

  The trip took a couple of hours and was very uncomfortable since Patty’s hands and feet were bound, and one of her wrists was handcuffed to the boat. She pretended to be asleep as the men talked about their raids from Cuba down to Brazil.

  Soon she saw a much larger ship loom on the horizon as the sun rose in the east. They pulled up next to a cigarette boat tied to the larger ship, and her captors unlocked her handcuffs and forced her to climb into the cigarette boat.

  The leader pushed her over the side of the boat, and she tripped and fell to the deck.

  “You are one lucky bitch. Jack wants to meet you and find out why a woman is out on the ocean in a sailboat alone.”

  Arboletes, Colombia

  The boat traveled at a high rate of speed most of the trip occasionally slowing due to rough water. Two and a half hours later, she saw the coastline and a small city to the far west. The boat slowed as it entered the harbor and a man tied the boat to the dock. Two well-dressed men who insisted that her handcuffs be removed met them at the dock. They guided her to a Jeep and took her to an older building behind a nice office complex.

  “Sorry, but this is the only place that we can keep you until the boss gets back in town. Please take this candle, matches, and bottle of water. There is a five-gallon bucket if you need it.”

  She walked into the dark room, and the door closed behind her before she could light the candle. She fumbled with the matches before one lit. The brief life of the match lit the room just enough for her to spot something that scared her to the bone. There were two eyes staring at her on the far side of the room.

  Patty reached down, pulled her boot knife, and .380 Ruger LCP from her boots and said, “I don’t know who you are but stay on your side of the room, or I’ll slit your neck with my knife.”

  “You have a knife?”

  “Yes, and I hate to say it, but I have killed several assholes just like you with it over the past few months.”

  “I mean you no harm. If you do have a knife, then we can escape this shit hole. I’m Carlos Ortiz, and these damn pirates killed my crew, shot me, and stole my boat.“

  “I’m Patty, and they kidnapped me and stole my sailboat. I killed three of the bastards and wounded another before they tear gassed me, and I had to surrender.”

  Patty lit the candle and found the man was lying on the floor with bound hands and feet. She went over to him, gave him a drink of her water, and examined his wound. He had been shot between his chest and his left arm just below the armpit. The bullet had grazed the tissue above the ribs in the front and his arm as it exited. The bleeding had stopped and without medical supplies, there was nothing she could do to treat him.

  “You’re going to live unless a bad infection sets in. Now, what are your escape plans?”

  “We are in no danger until Jack gets back. He will direct them to kill me and probably kill you for the murder of his men. He normally would never harm an innocent woman, but you resisted and killed three of his men. So, we have two to three days to escape. When Jack and his number two are away, the guards and dock crew drink and chase the local women at night. There will only be one guard for this building and one at the dock after midnight. We will escape then. We must escape tonight.”

  “How will we escape?”

  “You will distract the guard, and I will kill him. Then the same for the dock guard. We will steal your sailboat and getaway.”

  “Have you ever sailed before?”

  “No, why?”

  “Sailboats only go about eight MPH at their best. We would be caught in a few hours.”

  “Damn, then we will steal that cigarette boat and get as far up the coast as possible until we run out of gas and then travel by land.”

  “Where are you going to go?”

  “Caracas is my destination. I can let you off along the way.”

  “Sorry, but I’m heading to Quito to find my friends. One was cast adrift below Cuba, and the others sailed from Texas to Colombia to head south to Quito.”

  “Patty, I hate to bust your bubble, bit it is a miracle that you made it this far yourself. The others are surely dead by now. You should go with me. Caracas is a great city that had its share of riots and upheaval but quickly got back together thanks in part to the drug cartels. They lost their entire customer base in the USA and Europe, and many turned their resources to the good side.”

  “You’re kidding aren’t you? Those guys were animals.”

  “Some were in their business, but others were family men who went to church, paid taxes, and supported law enforcement in their cities and villages. You only heard about the ones who cut people’s heads off.”

  “Which one were you part of?”

  “I was a policeman fighting the drug lords and gangs in Caracas. Th
ey killed my wife and two sons three years ago and if anyone has a reason to hate them it’s me.”

  “I’m going to stand watch while you sleep, then you keep watch until we need to kill the guard.”

  “So you are going with me to Caracas?”

  “Carlos, I don’t know or trust you. I will escape with you, but we will part ways when and if I decide.”

  “Please cut my hands and feet loose.”

  Patty cut the ropes binding him, handed him the knife, and went to her side of the room and tried to get some sleep.

  Patty never fell asleep as her mind processed the events since The Flare. She missed Mary and Matt; however, she felt that Carlos was probably right that they had been lost at sea or at a minimum, she would never find them again. She methodically thought through her options and just before Carlos shook her to wake up; she decided that Brazil was her best option for a safe life.

  “Patty, wake up. It’s show time.”

  “I’m awake and ready to go.”

  “Call for the guard and get him to come in the room. I piled up some stuff under a blanket so he will think I’m across the room sleeping. Offer him sex if he will let you go.”

  “I’m not screwing a guard so you can escape.”

  “No, he would get the sex and shove you back in this room. Just make the offer, and I will jump him when he opens the door to get to you.”

  “Okay, that sounds better.”

  Patty went over to the door and saw the guard half asleep in a chair about 50 feet from their cell. She knocked on the door until she got his attention, and he walked over to the door.

  “What do you want?”

  “I want out of here and can pay you to let me go.”

  “You have no money.”

  “I have money hidden on the boat.”

  “I want something else that you have?”

  “What do you mean? Oh no! I’m not having sex with you.”

  “Lady, if you want out of here you will have to give me what I want and the money. You can rot in here until Jack comes back and lets us all have a piece.”

  “Okay, but take me somewhere with a bed.”

  The guard grinned from ear to ear as he unlocked the door. Carlos stepped behind the guard and grabbed his head in one hand and his shoulder with the other arm. Carlos gave him a new red smile below his chin from ear to ear and shoved him in the cell. He tried to scream but could only make weird bubbling sounds from his wound. He was dead before they were 50 feet from the cell.

  They stayed in the shadows as they cautiously moved toward the dock. The second guard sat in a lawn chair that guarded the entrance to the walkway to the boats. He could be seen taking a long draw from a whiskey bottle every few minutes. They had only watched him for a few minutes when his head bobbed and fell to his chest.

  Carlos and Patty walked up to him and heard him snoring. Carlos placed the knife to his neck and then tried to wake him to no avail. They took the guard’s rifle and pistol, and Carlos took the rifle and gave Patty the pistol

  “Go to your sailboat and get your valuables so we can buy food and fuel.”

  Carlos jumped aboard the cigarette boat and checked it out while Patty went to her boat and retrieved her gear and valuables. She returned loaded down with a backpack two duffel bags and a small rifle. She handed the gear to Carlos and untied the mooring lines. She finished and joined Carlos in the boat.

  Carlos started the engines and slowly cruised out of the harbor in the dark with no running lights. Patty saw a few lights come on in the village, but no one stirred and they were quickly around the end of the small bay where Carlos sped up, and they cruised at 60 MPH for an hour before slowing down to a more fuel efficient pace.

  “Patty the original equipment gas tanks are full, and we should get about 300 miles from them at a reasonable cruising speed. There are two more tanks that appear to be 100 gallons each. We should get another 200 to 300 miles from them. They too are full. I plan to stop and fuel up about half way to Caracas. There is a small port at Media Luna where I hope to get gas and food. If we can’t find gas there, we will cruise on to Aruba or Curacao.

  “Aren’t you afraid of hitting something traveling at night?”

  “No the water is deep, and we can see pretty well by the moonlight. We make enough noise that small boats can hear us and get out of the way. I’m only worried about another boat like this catching up to us. If we see anyone, we need to haul ass away from them at full speed. Do you want to sleep first?”

  “No, I have some food in my duffel bag, and I’m going to eat and think about what I need to do with my life.”

  “I’ll sleep first and have a bite of your food if you can spare some. Keep the boat's compass heading and wake me up in three hours, and I’ll take over to change direction to a more southern direction to keep us online towards Aruba.”

  Carlos slept as the engines roared on taking them further away from the pirates who had captured them. Patty kept the boat on the heading Carlos gave her for four hours then changed the heading further south. She wanted Carlos rested when they switched drivers since he would have to stay awake as they approached Caracas. She piloted the boat for another four hours before she woke him up.

  “Damn I feel much better. Keep looking forward. I have to see a man about a horse.”

  “Don’t fall in at 50 MPH.”

  He finished and sat beside her watching the ocean fly by them. Then he noticed the sun was up and it was broad daylight.

  “Hey, it should be dark. Why didn’t you wake me up?”

  “You needed the rest. I turned south at four hours and have stayed on this course for another four hours. We should be about 80 miles northwest of that port where you hoped we could get fuel. If you turn the boat about 25 degrees further south, we will see the coast about 5 to 10 miles east of the port, and then we can follow the coast to the port.”

  He turned the boat in the direction she indicated and as she said, they saw land in about an hour and followed it to the small port. They turned south to enter the bay and saw a loading facility on the east side of the mouth of the bay and more docks further down that side of the bay. Carlos docked at the second dock because he saw several large fuel tanks and a smaller one that has gasoline painted on the side.

  “Patty, I need something to trade for the gas. Gold or silver coins would be the best trading items.”

  Patty picked up one of her duffle bags, turned her back to Carlos, and fished out two double handfuls of silver coins.

  She handed the coins to him and said, “Is this enough?”

  He placed half of the coins in his pants pocket and the rest in a small bag and replied, “It’s more than enough. I will offer them half and then have a reserve if they want more. I just have to find one greedy dockworker. Guard the boat, and I will be back soon.”

  Carlos barely got on the dock before an old pickup drove up and two armed men greeted him. Patty watched them talk and then Carlos reached down in the bag and showed the men some silver coins. One of the men waved his hands while shaking his head no

  The man then pointed at Patty, and Carlos shook his head no and waved his hands in anger. The other grabbed the bag and poured the contents into the first man’s hands.

  Patty was surprised to see them all shaking hands and slapping Carlos on the back.

  Carlos returned with one of the men while the other pulled a hose from a small shed and dragged it to the boat. Carlos filled the tanks and thanked the men. He got into the boat, started the motor, and raced away from the dock at a high rate of speed.

  “I guess they wanted our boat.”

  “No they have enough boats; they wanted something much more beautiful and valuable.”

  “What do we have that fits that description? They couldn’t see in the boat.”

  “Patty, they wanted you.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yes, oh.”

  “Well, I guess I’m lucky we had the silver to trade, or you would have trad
ed me for the gas.”

  “No, I would have killed them and taken the gas. I told them that you were my wife and four months pregnant. They lost interest after hearing that.”

  “Carlos thanks for being a good guy and keeping those perverts from me.”

  “It’s not a big deal. Anyone would protect a woman from men like that.”

  They left the bay and headed southeast. They would slip between Aruba and the mainland and then turn further south on a line toward Caracas, which was another 400 miles.

  Patty ate again and then fell asleep thinking about this tall, dark, handsome man that held her life in his hands. Her last thought before surrendering to sleep was that Mary and Matt were probably dead and gone.

  Patty never knew that she was only half a mile from Mary and 10 miles from me during her short stay in Arboletes.

  ✼

  Chapter 13

  On the Road to Quito

  Oscar’s Mansion

  I woke up at 7:00 am the next morning and lay in bed thinking about Mary and me. I could get used to waking up next to Mary every morning. I lay there looking at her face on my chest as she snored lightly. Her hair was shoulder length, raven black and tickled my chest when she moved. Her lips were smiling, and her face was very beautiful as she slept.

  I lay there knowing that I had chosen Patty over Mary initially and thought I was in love with Patty for months; however, I always felt deep inside that Patty liked me but needed me more than she ever loved me. My memory had returned, I felt more in love with Mary every minute, and knew we would have a great life together even if the world were shitty, and turned upside down. After all wasn’t life what you made out of it, not what it did to you?

  Mary’s eyes opened and caught me staring at her as she said, “I hope you never get sick of waking up beside me every morning. I love you, Matt Jones.”