Ian and Jacques sailed back to Acre with Jeremy. They felt fortunate to be able to embark prior to Serena, or Pierre, or Louis. Both were depressed over the separations, even if only temporary, with the loves of their lives.
Jacques kept to himself during most of the voyage. Even though they made stops to let off, and pickup, cargo and passengers in Rome, Catania, and Athens, Jacques refrained from enjoying the cities’ delights. Jacques did assist the cook throughout the voyage after the first day’s meals proved almost inedible.
Ian assisted Jeremy as an informal mate on the Rose Verde, and kept busy with whatever tasks needed to be done, helmsman, navigator, and deck hand. He considered idleness to be the devil’s playground.
Eleven
Current Day
Kurt looked up from his meeting agenda and spotted Aloisia two rows ahead of him. She had completed her internship a couple of months ago, and was probably considering enrolling in a specialist program. He would complete his internship in less than a month and wasn’t sure what specialty he would pursue. Kurt knew his father had had plans for his future, which were very different from his own.
He knew Aloisia was the girl his father had intended for him to marry, but that was all behind him now. For courtesies’ sake he could be friendly to her. There was no reason he should have to avoid her, and she may choose to avoid him if she feels he is tainted by his past. Whatever she knows, or doesn’t know, whatever his father, or maybe even her father might have planned, he was married, soon to be a father, and the past was the past.
Aloisia was beautiful, brilliant, and athletic and as a newly minted female doctor would have no difficulty finding any number of men in this nearly all male medical college hospital. She would make someone a great partner in whatever endeavors they pursued together. Kurt doubted that Aloisia was unaware of her family’s involvement in the Select, or, for that matter, his family’s involvement in the Select. Of course, he had discovered what being a member of the Select entailed only recently himself.
With his grandfather dead, his father in prison, and his turning the day to day running of the pharmaceutical company over to the Board of Directors, Kurt needed to focus on completing his internship and taking care of Leora in her pregnancy.
The voice of the University President faded in and out of Kurt’s muddled attention. Kurt tried to settle down and listen. President Schmidt said all the right career motivating words for ‘the future doctors and nurses. . . and if you choose to enroll in one of our specialist programs, we have the finest mentors and instructors for nearly every specialty. You will be the best qualified graduates the world has ever seen and will be able to serve in the finest hospitals in the world . . . those who desire to pursue specialties will have no difficulty continuing at this University . . .’ President Schmidt’s voice droned on and on.
Kurt, exhausted by his intern schedule of twelve-on, six-off for three shifts, then eighteen-off for a break, then repeat, over and over again, was having difficulty staying interested in any of the speakers. He needed to make some critical decisions for his future, now that his father was not driving his decisions. He needed to decide for himself which specialty, or specialties, he wanted to pursue. He didn’t want to be a student forever, although he had the funds in his mattress to do so for at least the next couple of years.
As the next two speakers continued on in the same vein, Kurt thought how he could have skipped the Specialist Indoctrination Meeting, but he was a serious intern close to completing all of his requirements, and determined to do everything required of him to the best of his ability. He had been a star student and crossed every ‘t’ and dotted every ‘i.’ His father would have praised his accomplishments, but probably would have chalked them up to good genes and family background, and not given him full credit for his hard work and dedication.
If he did specialize, he had several areas of interest, Infectious Diseases, Emergency Services, Oncology, etc. There wasn’t anything about medicine that didn’t fascinate him, even his father’s obsession with developing a ‘fountain of youth’ serum, but he wanted to focus on the skills necessary to run a clinic. Although he lacked interest, he was also obligated to obtain enough business acumen and expertise to fulfill his responsibility as seventy percent owner of Tridente Pharmaceutical.
The Indoctrination ended with the re-introduction of the Chairperson of each department, and applause from the students and interns.
Kurt strode upstream, past the students rushing to exit the hall, to where Aloisia was putting a folded up program into her purse. “I’m surprised to see you here, Aloisia.”
Aloisia looked up from her purse at Kurt, and said, “I’m not surprised to see you. I knew you’d consider specializing at one of the finest medical schools in the world.”
She gave Kurt a hug which lasted longer than he felt comfortable engaging. He could feel her firm braless perky breasts beneath her sheer almost, but not quite, see through blouse against his chest. She released him slowly and looked up into his face.
Kurt felt a flush of embarrassment and didn’t know what to say.
“We haven’t kept in touch. How are you doing? I hear you’re married,” she blurted out in staccato fashion.
“Yes, I married a girl I met at the beginning of my internship. She works part time as a nurse for the hospital. We’re going to have a baby in mid-February.”
“Congratulations. I’m considering enrolling in the genetics program with a minor in microbiology. I want to do research rather than continuing to develop my bedside manner now that I’ve received my shingle. How about you?”
“I’ll complete my internship in less than a month. I don’t know which specialty to pursue, so I’ll probably return to Brazil and start my practice until I can decide.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your grandfather and father. When has doing research become a crime?”
“When it’s misused,” Kurt stated with a flat tension in his voice.
“Oh, I see. From what little I knew about them, they seemed to be decent, intelligent, dedicated men. My father always spoke very highly of them. They’ve been friends for many years. My father has some very capable lawyers working for his company, and he tasked them to help your father with his legal troubles in any way possible.”
“Thank him for me the next time you see him. I’ll be grateful for any help he can provide.”
“I will. So, maybe we’ll see each other around the hospital now and again.”
“I’d like that.”
“Congratulations on your marriage. I have to be going. Maybe we can have lunch, or dinner, one day and catch up.”
“That’s a fine idea. When Leora feels up to it, maybe we could invite you and your boyfriend over for dinner.”
“I don’t have time for boyfriends, but a dinner invitation would be appreciated. I’d enjoy meeting your wife.” Aloisia took a pen and a note pad from her purse, wrote her phone number, and handed the note to Kurt. “Call me when it’s convenient.”
Kurt accepted the note, and said, “Thank you.” He turned slightly to avoid another overly friendly hug, and said, “I will, soon.” As he walked away he thought, she’ll be a fine catch for some lucky man.
Twelve
Jacques settled back on the sofa in Desiree’s living room. Her Dolby 7.1 sound system was playing Christina Perri’s, A Thousand Years, a popular song from the Twilight movies, broadcast from radio station WIHT 99.5FM. The irony was not lost on Jacques, who had loved Desiree for over 900 years, but because she loved Ian, and Ian loved Serena and Serena loved Jacques, the four of them had never been able to resolve their romantic dilemma. No matter how they tried they had not found happiness, so most of the time, they avoided the issue and focused on their covenant to protect mankind. Romantic liaisons with normal people only ended in heartache when they had to break up after a few years, and bringing children into the circumstances was not an option. Achmed had done them no favors when he didn’t explain how difficul
t living for a thousand years would actually be.
Jacques took a sip of his Budweiser, and called out, “Desiree, have you checked your refrigerator settings lately? This beer is almost frozen.”
“No,” she shouted back from the kitchen. “Can you adjust it for me?”
Jacques got up from the sofa and strode to the kitchen, taking sips of his beer along the way. He pressed the buttons on the door until he found the temperature adjustment. He set the refrigerator to 36 degrees and the freezer to plus 2 degrees Fahrenheit. “There, that should do it.”
Desiree came to Jacques’ side and stood next to him so their sides touched. “Show me what you did.”
Jacques was aroused by Desiree’s closeness, and he knew better than to try to escalate their connection. Ian and Serena would arrive in a few minutes, so he mentally checked his emotions. “This is the temperature indicator for the freezer and the fridge. Press it once and you can adjust the freezer and twice and you can adjust the fridge. Two degrees is good for the freezer and thirty-six degrees is good for the fridge. . . got it?”
“Got it.” Desiree moved away from Jacques and continued preparing the food for the lunch.
‘Dong . . . Ding . . . Dong,’ the front doorbell rang.
Relieved to have another task to do, Jacques said, “I’ll get it,” and rushed to the front door. He threw open the door and found Serena and Ian standing on the doorstep.
“Welcome,” Jacques gave Serena a long gentle hug and fist bumped with Ian. Jacques led the way to the kitchen.
Desiree stopped checking on her food long enough to hug Serena and Ian. “Why don’t you boys take the hors d’oeuves into the dining room . . . grab a couple of beers and let us girls finish fixing lunch?”
Without hesitation, Jacques grabbed the hors d’oeuves platter off the kitchen counter, Ian took two ice cold twist top Buds from the fridge, and they headed for the dining room. Neither of them sat down to the four person dining table, choosing to hover over the hors d’oeuves instead.
Jacques dipped two of the sushi rolls in the wasabi sauce, popped the rolls in his mouth and washed them down with his Budweiser. He let out a long low, “Wee. . . uww, that’s hot.”
Ian ignored the food and drank half his beer down in two long swallows. “Wow, that is one cold beer.”
“Enjoy, it warms up fast. Desiree had the fridge and the freezer both set too low. I adjusted the temps. Did you two ride over here together?” Jacques asked.
“No,” Ian replied. “I may have to leave on a moment’s notice.”
Good, Jacques thought, if Desiree presses Ian, like Serena presses me, Ian will not take any action. I’m glad they haven’t given in to our difficult quadrangle. It hasn’t worked in the past. “What’s going on now, another Seal alert?”
“Yes, I have to be able to report for duty within an hour after a call. I have all the gear I think I might need in my car just in case.”
“I keep telling you, brother, you need to become a merc like me, so you can pick and choose your missions and have some kind of a life.”
“My current hitch is up in six more months, and I may have to resign. I’ve been a Seal for ten years and according to my paperwork, should be thirty-two years old, so someone is going to get suspicious before much longer. Even buffed up Seals age.”
“Right you are. Even at your beat up twenty-five, you still don’t look thirty-two,” Jacques gave Ian a playful shove almost knocking him down.
Ian set down his beer and retaliated by trying to get Jacques into a headlock. Jacques gripped Ian around the waist and lifted him off the floor. Ian twisted away and lost the headlock. They bumped into the chairs knocking them against the table and both of them almost fell down.
Hearing the ruckus, Desiree poked her head into the dining room and shouted, “Knock it off, you nitwits. I swear if I didn’t know you were over 900 years old, I’d guess you were nine years old . . . even less than nine years old.”
Ian picked up his beer, Jacques popped another hors d’oeuves into his mouth, and both tried to put on their best, ‘I didn’t do anything, Mom’ faces.
Serena set a casserole dish of steaming chili rellenos on one of the trivets, and said, “Sit down and behave yourselves for five minutes.”
Jacques and Ian sat across from each other at the table. Ian asked, “What have you been up to for the past couple of weeks?”
“Believe it or not, I spent a week in Aruba.”
“Interesting assignment?”
“Vacation. I did eight dives. Five aircraft and ship wrecks, one drift dive and two night dives. My favorite dive was a night dive on the Antilla, a 400-foot-long wreck at about 60 feet.”
“See anything interesting?”
“The Antilla is covered with beautiful coral and plants. I saw a couple of Southern Rays, a couple of turtles, and lots of fish. It was nice to just relax and not have to worry about saving the world for a few days.”
“Meet any interesting girls?”
“I had dinner with Yvette, one of the dive instructors.”
“Is that all.”
“Just dinner.”
“I envy you.”
“Don’t envy me. Join me. Ameridi would be happy to hire you, even on a part time, as available, basis. Plus, I get a bonus when you sign on. We need to relax sometimes. My hitches in the French Foreign Legion were like your time in the Seals. You can’t have any personal time.”
“I thought we’re not supposed to have personal time, or lives.”
“All work and no play can lead to physical and mental breakdown, and a dull boy.”
“I know you’re right. Let me know the next time you go off on a dive vacation.” Ian got up from his chair, “Let’s see if we can help the girls with the food.”
No sooner did Ian and Jacques enter the kitchen when Desiree handed them two trays of delicious smelling Mexican food; tacos, burritos with lots of sour cream, avocado dip and pico de gallo sauce, a large bowl of brown rice, another of black beans, and a basket of chips. Ian and Jacques set the trays on the table and took their seats, eager to dive into the food.
Serena and Desiree took their seats at the table, and Serena asked, “Ian, can you give us a blessing on the food?”
“I’d be honored.”
They all joined hands around the table and Ian said, “Dear Creator, we are grateful for this food and the preparation that lovingly went into it. Amen.”
Ian and Jacques wasted no time filling their plates with food and liberally dousing their tacos and burritos with pico de gallo salsa. Serena went to the kitchen and brought back three more frosty Budweisers and a glass of iced tea.
“These tacos and burritos are delicious, Desiree,” said Serena.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d guess you were Mexican,” Jacques said with a twinkle in his eye.
“Scrumptious,” added Ian, working on his second shredded beef taco.
“I’m glad you’re all enjoying the food. And now that your initial ravenings are satisfied, we need to talk a little about our last mission,” said Serena.
“OK, so what have you learned from observing Kurt Brandt these last few months?” Ian asked.
“Since he returned back to Munich, we decided to keep tabs on Kurt, even though he doesn’t seem to be a threat, as long as he’s too busy completing his internship. I’d still like to find out exactly what he removed from his father’s safe in Sao Paulo . . . Our examination of the safe led me to believe he took a large sum of cash and maybe a secret binder that will reveal details of his father’s conspiracy.”
Serena opened a folder and began adlibbing some of the contents. “He’ll be completing his internship at the Medical Center of the University of Munich, otherwise known as LMU, in three more weeks. His wife, Leora, works part time as a nurse there. She took quite a few sick days when they first arrived, morning sickness and cramping, but is doing much better now that she is about seven months along. She works 24 hours a week as a nurse, keeps
up with the apartment, cooks the meals, does the laundry, and makes Kurt’s breakfast and a brown bag lunch every morning. Kurt is earning high marks from his resident mentor. He should get a great recommendation when his internship is complete. He may consider a specialty like emergency room surgeon or infectious diseases. He will probably return to Brazil, but Leora will be in her eighth month when he completes his internship, so he might start a specialty in Germany and return to Brazil when the child is slightly older, or he may stay on as a consulting doctor until Leora is able to travel with the baby.”
“Isn’t he being pressured by the pharmaceutical company to return to Brazil?” asked Jacques.
“Yes, but not too much. The company is being run by the board of directors and they don’t seem to be in a hurry to have Kurt return.”
“How do you know so much about all their daily activities?” Jacques asked, but before she could answer he said, “Of course, I know, I shouldn’t ask.”
“Kurt pays for everything in cash. Crisp Euro notes.”
“The cash Kurt took from his father’s safe in the jungle house?” Ian asked.
“That would be my guess. Kurt placed an ad in the campus newspaper for an Au Pair girl to assist Leora for three months after the baby comes.”
“It’s too bad he has seen both you and Desiree.”
“I have just the right girl for the job, Moira.”
“Mossad, I assume.”
“Yes, but Kurt will not be able to resist her. She’s young, beautiful, good with children, and could help us find the binder Kurt took from the safe.”
“When is the baby due?” Desiree asked.
“Early February, about a month after Kurt has completed his internship. Moira would try to be so helpful they would depend on her for more than a normal Au Pair girl. She could become an essential part of their household, driving Leora to her pediatrics and doctor’s appointments, taking care of the apartment, and so forth. She’s a natural.”
The Noble Mercenary Page 15
