Unleashed

by Patrick McLaughlin

  Chapter 45

  Deep Surf’s pilot landed skillfully between the palms on Shawn’s property and Sally instinctively ran to the helicopter looking for Shawn. “Shawn, are you okay? Did they hurt you?” Sally asked as she helped him across the lawn.

  Last night, Ben had told Sally, “If my plan works, expect a surprise in the morning.” To Sally that could only mean one thing, he was going to rescue Shawn. Frisco had heard the helicopter and bounded out of the house. He now slathered Drake and Shawn with copious helpings of tongue and saliva.

  “My illustrious Frisco, I love ya buddy! Man, we have to stop doing this. First I die, then you die, then we both come back…what the hell are we? Brah’s just dying to see each other?” Drake said to Frisco. “Give me another smooch, my pooch!”

  Shawn already had both arms wrapped tightly around Sally. Glancing over his shoulder at Drake and Frisco, he casually suggested, “Hey, now it’s your turn to get a room!”

  “We don’t need a room, me and Frisk would do it right here out the open!” Drake came back and he then started to lick Frisco’s face.

  “Ugggh, stop, too much!” Sally called out. That’s just gross! I mean I love Frisco too, but the germs!”

  As the helicopter rose to leave, Shawn ran into his home and grabbed the Sentient, explaining, “These pilots love to have their photos taken in their birds.” Shawn clipped off over thirty-five images as the pilot left over the mountain.

  “Shawn, can you ever not take a photo?” Sally asked.

  “Sally, you get what you get, get it?” and he gave Sally a wet kiss on her lips.

  As the joyful reunion went on, Wairua walked out from a well-worn path into the forest. For Shawn, it was a flashback to the day on her home island, the look the tribal leader showed after Shawn took the photograph of the young girl, Wairua. “Uh oh,” Shawn said. “Sally, guess you haven’t talked to Wairua yet about Drake. I am in deep shit.”

  Wairua walked right past them all down to an opening in the palms and sat on a boulder she would visit when she wanted quiet, and to think about her family.

  Shawn put down the Sentient and went to sit on the grass next to Wairua. “Mmmmm, you always find the best fruit…couldn’t find any to swipe today? That would make me want to sit on the magic stone too ya know.”

  Wairua did not lift her gaze, and in a moment she said, “My grandfather, the Chief who chased you, taught us things people laugh about now. You call them superstitions, but I saw Drake’s ashes come from your hand, and make a cloud in the sea. How is he here with us now?”

  “Wairua, we did not mean this to happen, but from this there is a lesson. Your faith in your grandfather, your tribe and your gods should be strengthened. What they have handed down for centuries is now known to be true. For your people, the images were a curse, making them less than who they were, but we have found a way to preserve their souls, even a way to bring back their spirits.”

  Shawn did his best to reassure Wairua. “Wouldn’t you love to see your grandfather again, here, alive, body and soul next to you? To bring back those we love. You must see this, you must speak to Drake. Can you not feel the love we have for each other as brothers?”

  “Shawn, all of life is regeneration: water, soil, plants, animals and even the energy of our spirit. What is called back to the spirit world must remain until nature brings it round again.” Wairua paused a long minute. “You do not know what you have spoiled, what sin of the earth you have committed, and when you do find out, it may be more than you want.”

  Then looking straight into Shawn’s soul Wairua declared, “They will fear him, shy away from him as they should. He is not the Drake Powers who walked with us days ago. This Drake Powers comes from the other side, from another world where the outcome is different. How will you help him overcome all this? You say you are his friend.” She looked away again.

  Shawn answered, “Sure, your beliefs were right the first time, but Sally, and her friend Ben, they know things about the physical science of this world. You’re educated now, getting smarter every day. Can you see how we sailed around the earth, or reached other planets, and returned? This used to be the stuff of superstition. You’ve taught me not all myth and mysticism is impossible. Your people were right all along: if you photograph someone, take an image of them, some part of them comes with it. What they did not know is how it could be used. Please, come over to see Drake. Speak to him, touch him. He is real, he can love”.

  “Shawn Pérez, you are my guidance while I am here with you so for this reason I will show you respect and do as you ask, but please do not make me change the way I see the world. My people have existed in harmony for thousands of years; it is your new world which is filled with hate and war. But I will come.” And Wairua held out her hand to Shawn and he led her to the others.

  With the slightest reluctance, Wairua walked up to Drake. Frisco was still in his arms and he placed him down on the ground. Wairua ran her long slender fingers softly against Drake’s face, and for the first time in his life, Drake was speechless. Shawn whispered to Sally, “There’s a lot more going on here than a simple inspection.”

  Drake still did not speak and Wairua reached for his hand with hers and held it tightly. She then closed her eyes and in a hush, said something in Drake’s ear. Frisco lay silently at both their feet on the damp grass and let out sigh and a low whimper.

  Wairua, with eyes still closed, said to Drake, “Did you miss the taste of fruit on your tongue, the cool breeze on your face?”

  Drake had no words; no one had ever treated him this way; with such respect and reverence for who he was.

  “I saw you; you were in the make-believe image in Shawn’s lab. You looked at me. Could you see me from within?” Wairua asked Drake.

  “Yes, I didn’t know where I was. I thought I had died, that you were an angel. Was that you Wairua? I thought I was having a dream.”

  “It was a dream. I felt you and knew your yearning for peace and love in your life. You were trapped. I was sad for you, and yes, very afraid.” Wairua now placed both her hands in his. “Let us go for a walk, now, together.” Wairua pointed to the trail she had just come from, “Our spirits need to be near, to touch.” They walked in the direction of the valley, Frisco by their side.

  Shawn looked at Sally. “What just happened?” he asked.

  Sally took Shawn’s hand and answered knowingly, “Well, you know I don’t have experience with romance except with you, but I think we just saw too people fall in love. Guess we’re going for a walk.”

  They all walked into the woods until they reached a secluded opening with a waterfall. Drake and Wairua separated from the group and moved to the opposite sides of the deep pool of water. This really confused the shit out of Frisco who couldn’t make up his minds who to pester.

  Wairua then lifted her sarong, exposing her breasts and allowing her wrap to fall to the ground. “Come, and swim in Na-Maka’s waters. Nothing in our world will make us feel more alive.”

  Drake had been completely under Wairau’s spell up to this moment, but then the old Drake filtered through. He looked to Shawn, raised his eyes, and with a simple thumb up, politely invited Shawn, Sally, and Frisco to leave. Shawn got the hint and said, “Sally, I’ve seen that look before. It’s high time we leave these two alone. C’mon, let’s head down the trail to the beach.” They rose together and Shawn led them down the few hundred yards to the edge of the sea where they sat together in silence. Frisco must have known he wasn’t welcome above so he joined them at the water, offering them entertainment as he dashed up and over the crashing waves.

  After a while, Sally got up and strolled to where Frisco was playing, amazed by how he always found ways to amuse himself. She picked up a stick and made him dash around her and try to take if from her grip. She finally let him snatch it from her hand and pretended to chase him down the beach and Frisco pretended to let her. While they played, Shawn kept focus with the Sentient and clicked away. In onl
y a few minutes he had captured hundreds of wondrous images of the woman he loved…and, oh yeah, Frisco.

  When Sally felt Frisco had had enough, she called him to her side for the walk back to Shawn. “Shawn, you’ve been photographing me, haven’t you?’

  “Yes ma’am. Sally you’re the most beautiful women in the world, why wouldn’t I photograph you?”

  Her modest nature made Sally uncomfortable, but with Shawn it was different. Sally accepted the compliment and added, “Guess I better get used to it!”

  “Yes, you better. Let’s head to the house, but walk in front of me twenty feet or so. The lighting is perfect for a silhouette of you along the shoreline. She obliged and went ahead, doing her best to walk naturally.

  Sally started up the trail and called back, “Shawn, that’s plenty. You have the real me, you don’t need so many photographs.”

  “Shawn, Sally, Frisco!” Drake came tearing down the path, “Get up, I hear propellers! Get up, get up! Fuck, I’m tired of being killed and chased!” Drake was wearing only swim trunks and Wairua appeared seconds later still trying to tie up her dress. “We have to get out of here. This can’t be a coincidence; it must be that Craig guy. Bet he’s pissed we got away!”

  Then Sally saw the black drone and recognized it immediately as one of the prototypes she used. “Drake, you may be right. That’s the craft we used to fly the Sentient.”

  The UAV threaded its way through the trees and came to a hover fifty feet above them. The Sentient pointed straight down, close enough they could hear the shutter clicking. “Damn him, it’s Craig and he’s using my own invention against me. Head to the deeper jungle, he can’t get in there with a drone that big,” Sally said and they all charged towards the dense foliage.

  Wairua knew these trails best and led them deeper into the forest in the direction of Hono Onopali Natural Reserve. Although the trail was completely covered, it didn’t stop Craig from trying as the drone followed just above the tree line. But with Wairua breaking trail, they made good progress to the valley beyond the ridge.

  Sally and Shawn both knew the Sentient was capable of switching to a thermal imaging mode which still offered Craig visual tracking of their every move. Sally assured them all as they moved further into the jungle, “Keep in mind, he can follow us for a while but the fatal flaw of the technology is the batteries die really fast. He can’t keep it up there much longer, especially since he’s using the thermal mode which sucks down the battery life. Wairua, are there any caves around here? If we can get in one, we can stay there until nightfall which is when we can lose him. He’ll have to replace the batteries, but that only takes a few seconds. If he brings her way up, the thermal sensor can detect us within in a five-mile radius at one thousand feet.”

  Wairua nodded, and motioned for them to keep up with her. She was the only one not breathing heavily.

  Wairua brought them to a clearing and froze. Sally called to her, “It’s alright, he can’t hurt us with that thing. He’s only following us taking pictures with the camera. He has no weapons on it.” At least Sally hoped so. “We only need to get into the next group of trees.”

  Wairua nodded and sprinted across the opening. Sally held Shawn’s face for a moment, “Shawn, if I wasn’t so exhausted and scared, I would stop and tell you how beautiful the view is. But I can’t, so instead, I love you.” She gave Shawn a big kiss before it was their turn to cover the clearing.

  “Yeah,” Shawn yelled as she took off, “maybe one day when we’re not running to save our asses we will come back!”

  Sally was halfway across the meadow when a bright orange tour helicopter came in from the ocean and set down right in front of Sally, leaves and debris flying everywhere. Wairua had reached the jungle and Drake, Shawn and Frisco were still waiting their turn. The doors on both sides of the aircraft slid back. Murad and three others emerged.

  With one look, Murad knew it was Dr. Evans. The terrorists surrounded Sally and the larger men forcefully held her forearms and lead her to the helicopter. Shawn and Drake charged across the open space to get to Sally. The men with Sally had their hands full as she kicked and screamed, dropping her body weight so they would have to lift her. “Shawn, run, they only want me!” A fist shut her up for good as she fell limp, now twice as heavy as before.

  Shawn kept coming. “Sally no!”

  Murad swung round and brought up his gun, when Drake suddenly tackled Shawn before Murad fired.

  “I’m sorry, my brother, I can’t let you go,” said Drake as he wrestled to keep Shawn down. “They will shoot you dead, and I don’t know any fancy bullshit photography to bring you back. I will hate myself every day of my new life, so I can’t let you go!”

  Wairua fought with Frisco as well as he tried to break free and get to Sally. Murad and the others who were holding Sally were only fifteen feet from the open doorway and ready to heave her unconscious body into the helicopter.

  Shawn pleaded with Drake to let go, and Frisco yelped frantically on the other side. Then a shot rang out and the terrorist who had already boarded fell from the open door. Over the horizon came two Blackhawks, with one turned sideways and holding steady to create a platform for the snipers. In the other was Craig, who Shawn and Drake could see seated beside the pilot.

  Craig had been perplexed. Regardless of his success with El Sharrad he still felt he had another opponent who had yet to show himself. He sensed his presence and knew the guy was good, maybe as good as he was. Craig was aware the pace of events had doubled, and, as skilled as he was, he had not planned for that. But he anticipated that his invisible adversary would soon make a mistake.

  Previously, Craig had all police radio calls routed through a special filter at NSA and key words or suspicious activities were forwarded to him. Robberies, stabbings, carjacking and other crimes made their way to his PDA, but none seemed unusual until he heard of a triathlete murdered early this morning. Throat cut and the body hidden — something he would do if he needed a car in hostile territory. This was his ghost!

  Confirmation of his hunch came when the triathlete’s car was reported entering and leaving the Hilton Resort north of Kona. Also found there were the bodies of the two FBI agents who were guarding Jarrard. Both were found shot and killed, one bullet each to the head. The killer also took out Jarrard, but not at once. He had his throat slit approximately thirty minutes after the agents and all his fingers were broken.

  So the man knew where Sally and the others were in Kona, but how was he getting there? Craig only had to think as if he were in the other man’s shoes. Through the police, he had an alert issued to all airports, private aircraft charters and helicopter tour operators. If I was determined to get somewhere and had no qualms about leaving bodies behind, I would have an aircraft by noon. It was also obvious to Craig that Ben was behind the breakout. Very clever, he thought. Shawn with Sally couldn’t go back to Ben’s — that place was too close and easy for Craig to drive up and pick them up again. Upon checking, he learned a helicopter owned by Deep Surf flew from Kona around the same time the escape was taking place, and if Jarrard knew the location of about Shawn’s home, then so does his ghost.

  Craig would have to get to Shawn’s first if he was going to save them. He put a call into the General at Hickam AFB to see what kind of equipment they had on hand. He was more than satisfied when he told Craig he could borrow a pair of Blackhawks. “Thank you, General. Fuel them up if you could. You won’t mind if a Marine aircraft lands on your base, do you?” Craig joked. “They’ll be bringing me over, leaving in ten.”

  The Marine Captain told Craig to take what he needed; he’d clear it with the higher ups later on, so Craig hand-selected two Marines who were the platoon’s assigned snipers. Then on the flight over to Honolulu he received an alert which sealed the deal. The owner and staff of an Island helicopter tour company had been killed along with the pilot and their helicopter was flown off by four men.

  Craig’s choice of Marines to b
ring along was fortuitous. Once above the terrorists, from the Blackhawk they picked off the evil bastards like roosters buried with only their heads showing. Within minutes the four terrorists were terminated and Craig ordered cease fire. “Bring me down; we need to find out who these bastards are.” Maybe if he was lucky, one would still be breathing.

  Sally was coming out of it, the side of her head swollen from the blow. She tried to rise up, but fell again with her one good eye open. Her vision was starting to come back and she could make out the open door of the helicopter, the windows shattered, the pilot slumped over the controls, blood pouring from his mouth. Then she saw the man in the doorway, at first she thought he was dead with his head against the landing brace beneath the rear door. Half his jaw was torn from his head but his eyes opened and he stared right at her. He was still alive. She tried to rise again, to call out, but she was still in shock and passed out again. The last thing she saw as she passed out was the gruesome face or Murad with something in his hand.

  “I will take these non-believers with me to the gates of hell!” Murad had uttered when he took the grenade from his bag, realizing they were under fire…and his mission had failed.

  Craig saw Sally gesture, and knew it was a warning, but what was she telling him?

  He then saw something fall from Murad’s hand as he died. The grenade fell beside Sally.

  “No!” Shawn yelled as he ripped free from Drake’s grasp and ran towards Sally. Craig had the same idea as he took off towards the helicopter.

  They were both blown backwards by the concussion when it detonated. A shard of shrapnel embedded itself into Craig’s left leg, and he realized his body armor had saved his life when he looked down to see a chunk of metal lodged in the protective vest. At this moment, something changed for Craig. His ears were still ringing, yet he could still hear Shawn’s cries. Craig felt a sadness he had not felt since childhood. When he regained his footing, ignoring the gash along his thigh, he approached them slowly. Shawn was next to Sally, his head down against her open chest, praying in Spanish, the only language he knew to speak to God. Craig’s men stood back. Wairua, with Drake beside her, knelt next to Shawn and wept. Frisco came up and lowered his ears and lay down against Drake’s leg.

  From Shawn, in the softest voice Drake had ever heard,

  Dios te salve, Maria.

  Llena eres de gracia:

  El Señor es contigo.

  Bendita tú ere entre todas las mujeres.

  Y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre:

  Jesús.

  Santa María, Madre de Dios,

  ruega por nosotros pecadores,

  ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.

  Amén.

  Craig and his men bowed their heads in respect, and Thomas Craig, once more a little boy, recited the Hail Mary under his breath.