Beyond Life (21 page)

‘I’m fine, Fi, and I wouldn’t miss this for the world.’

Fiona felt the stiffness leave her and knew that Marion meant every word of it. She gave her a squeeze and a smile and they walked the rest of the way chatting about the events of the following day.

The inside of the restaurant was on the strip and the outside opened onto the beach. Diners could choose whether they wanted to eat outside or in and they’d decided to eat inside, as the autumn breeze could feel cool once the sun had gone down. Val arrived from the opposite direction as the twins and Libby arrived and they said their hellos before going into the restaurant and meeting Graham, Carol, Mel and Fiona’s parents.

Marion and Fiona arrived shortly after, arms linked and in animated conversation. To any onlookers it appeared that neither had a care in the world.

‘Your ex-wife,’ said Carol from her seat at the bar as she looked at the happy go lucky woman entering the restaurant with Fiona. The woman looked nothing like the stern individual that Graham had shown her a photo of years before. Graham could hear the incredulity in Carol’s voice and he wasn’t surprised. Marion looked years younger than she had when they were together and something about her made her attractive to men of a certain age. It wasn’t her looks, which were average except for her intelligent blue eyes which took in her surroundings in a matter of seconds, maybe it was her air of confidence and the impression was of a woman who was entirely happy in her own skin. Or it could have been the fact that Marion wasn’t aware that she was attractive to the opposite sex, that was always appealing, thought Graham. Her eyes now landed on him and he noticed the flicker of surprise with satisfaction, before she was able to hide her feelings. He had an unexpected tremor in his gut and tried to make sure it didn’t show on his face.

‘Ow!’ Graham reacted to the elbow in his side and looked at Carol.

‘Remember me?’ she asked.

Despite the ups and downs of their relationship, they’d recently decided to give it another go and the newer, more sensitive Graham sensed his partner’s insecurity. He turned her head toward his and kissed her full on the lips. Mel cringed with embarrassment and Marion thought that thumping his fists on his chest might have been less obvious. She took in his new improved physique and reminded herself that it was still the same deceitful bastard under the newly formed muscles, as she walked confidently toward the bar accompanied by Fiona with a smile stuck on her face.

Chapter 14

After his chat with Gary the captain had called for the leader of the mercenaries to come to his cabin. He explained his plan and asked the man if he wanted to earn extra money. He knew he couldn’t trust him, but also knew that he could be bought by the highest bidder. The mercenary had seen Captain Saul behead the pirate and knew that if he took his money and deceived him afterwards, he could expect a similar punishment. He wasn’t surprised when the captain had told him he was keeping the two girls. Anyone who’d seen their relationship develop during the weeks on board would be aware of the fondness and the bond that had been forged. The only one not aware was Gary as he’d spent the majority of the time in his cabin.

‘Daniel could be a problem,’ said the mercenary. ‘Shall I talk to him?’

Christ knows what that
talk
would involve thought Saul as he shook his head. ‘After you search the ship and inform me publicly that you’ve found nothing, all he’ll have is suspicions that he’ll be able to report to his master. He may even be too frightened to tell him if he has no proof. Whereas if we warn him off...’

He let the words sink in and the mercenary nodded in understanding, gaining a new respect for the man he’d previously assumed was mostly brawn.

After dismissing the mercenary Saul spent some time wondering what to tell the girls. He knew that Mary was close to the one they called Tamara and might not be able to resist saying goodbye to her. Best if it was a surprise to all of them. He called a trusted member of his crew and explained his plan.

Tamara opened her eyes. It was very dark so it must have been a noise that had woken her. She couldn’t see a thing but neither could she sense anything wrong. She thought she’d felt a presence in the room and listened intently. The only thing she heard was the breathing of the other sleeping girls and she convinced herself that a dream had awoken her. She closed her eyes. They all knew that the following day the ship would arrive in port and it was probably worrying about what her future held that had woken her. Lying with her eyes closed all seemed well on the ship and she soon drifted back off to sleep.

Mary and Freya both tried to wriggle out of the grasp they were being held in. But each man had a tight hold on each girl’s body with one hand while their other hands were clamped respectively around each girl’s mouth. Mary stopped wriggling, trying to work out where they were. They appeared to be heading to the captain’s cabin and she knew that he wouldn’t hurt either of them. She calmed down and tried not to let her wildest hopes and dreams form as coherent thoughts. Frea looked at her, wide-eyed and terrified. Mary winked and saw the younger girl visibly relax. She knew if her friend and mentor wasn’t frightened, she had no need to be.

Arriving at the captain’s cabin the door opened and the men entered.

‘Shhh,’ said Captain Saul as the men put down the girls but kept their mouths covered. He put a finger to his lips and nodded to emphasise the point.

‘Okay?’ he asked and the girls nodded back. ‘Nobody’s going to hurt you so be quiet and listen carefully.’

They nodded again and so did the captain, but this time to his men. The men relaxed their hold on the girls and then released them completely. Mary opened her mouth to ask a question but Captain Saul whispered for her to be quiet.

‘You are not going ashore with the other girls tomorrow, you are coming with me.’ He smiled slowly and Mary put a hand over her mouth, stopping herself from voicing her delight when he’d just told them to be quiet. She hugged herself and then opened her mouth again. The delight quickly vanished from her face and the others in the room could see that she was trying to work things out, as if the news was too good to be true.

‘Quietly,’ said the captain as he hunkered down. ‘Freya walked into his circle as if it were the most natural thing for her to do and they both looked at Mary.

‘Have you bought us?’

He assumed her concern was because she thought he might sell her to someone else. He was disappointed that she may think that of him, but could understand after what she’d been through.

‘No. You’re coming with me and your boss will think you’ve jumped overboard. I have to hide you and you both have to be very quiet until I can get you off the ship. Do you understand?’

‘What are you going to do with us?’

‘I’m going to take you home and you’re going to be our granddaughters.’

He held out his arms and Mary ran into them, her quiet sobs ones of joy and relief.

*****

Fiona pretended to listen to her mother’s chatter as she watched the introductions. She thought that Marion and Carol sized each other up like two animals about to go into battle. They shook hands. ‘How do you do?’ said Marion and Carol inclined her head and smiled falsely without repeating the greeting.

‘This is my daughter Mel.’

Marion wasn’t hostile toward Mel. Acknowledging the fact that her parents' indiscretions weren’t her fault.

‘Pleased to meet you, Mel,’ the warmth in Marion’s voice was genuine. ‘The twins have told me loads about you and you do have Claire’s eyes. Look at this photo.’ Marion took the photo of Claire out of her bag and Mel studied it. Her stepbrothers had told her about her likenesses to Claire before but she’d only seen group photos, which hadn’t been particularly clear. This one was a head and shoulders shot of Claire in school uniform, at a similar age to what Mel was now.

‘Oh, her hair’s lovely. I wish I had curly hair,’ she hesitated, feeling slightly uncomfortable. ‘I’m so sorry for your loss, it must be awful for you.’

Marion appreciated that and said that yes, it had been and still was pretty awful even though Claire had been gone for over two years. The moment passed and she brought the conversation back to hair, telling Mel that Claire’s curls had annoyed her daughter. They discussed the fact that most women with straight hair preferred curls and vice versa. Carol looked on quietly, miffed by the fact that her daughter was getting along so well with her partner’s ex. She wanted desperately to dislike the real Marion as much as the one she’d imagined her to be, but was finding it difficult so far.

Graham was almost forgotten about whilst the women discussed the plans for the following day. He breathed a sigh of relief and watched as Fiona manoeuvred the conversation, ensuring they stayed on safe ground and keeping Carol and Marion away from each other. Val was happy to chat to Carol and tried to get inside her head so she could report back to Marion later on. Graham caught the eyes of his sons and they ostensibly made their way to the gents, but quietly stepped outside the restaurant.

‘That went better than expected.’

They could see that the earlier tension had left him and their father was now relaxed. They’d come to terms with what he’d done to their family and learnt to live with it, but since Graham’s breakdown they were concerned at how he’d react in emotionally charged situations. Despite his new size and strength, they knew he could be overly sensitive and prone to emotional relapse so had been watching intently, ready to intervene during any difficult conversations if required.

‘I’m all right, really.’ Graham felt more like the child than the parent but was glad to have his two strapping lads looking out for him. He had to admit that it was down to Marion and not him that they were able to talk about their feelings without getting embarrassed, something that had taken him a long time to achieve and he still wasn’t particularly comfortable doing so.

A round of manly arm punches ensued and the three made their way back into the restaurant. The twins entirely comfortable now that their parents were settled and able to concentrate on their next task, garnering as much information from Val as they could.

*****

Gary awoke to loud voices on the final morning of the journey. He could hear Saul shouting but there was no panic in his voice, just anger. He took a drink of water and sat down for a few minutes to ensure it wasn’t going to come back up. Feeling weak he dressed as quickly as he could and made his way up to the deck to see what the problem was.

As Gary was on his way up Captain Saul was making his way down to his cabin and they met on an unmanned deck.

‘The guard who messed up on duty has disappeared.’

‘What do you mean
disappeared
?’

‘Exactly what I say, Gary. Their leader woke me earlier and told me he’s missing. They’re searching the whole ship now, along with my crew to see if he’s hiding.’

Gary held his chin with his thumb and stroked it thoughtfully with his index finger. ‘Anyone or anything else...’

He stopped talking and they both looked up as they heard footsteps rushing down the stairs. Daniel appeared, breathless, and immediately behind him was the leader of the mercenaries.

‘Two girls are missing.’ Daniel didn’t wait for the invitation to speak. ‘Mary and her little sheep.’

‘Shit,’ said Gary and the captain tried his best to look surprised. He spoke to the mercenary leader then turned to Gary.

‘His man has definitely disappeared and he thinks he’s taken the girls with him.’

‘But how could he do that without sounding the alarm,’ Gary felt his blood boil and it gave him strength. He covered the short distance to the mercenary and punched the man with all his force. The man hit the deck, banging his head on the stair as he did so. Blood spurted out but he was still very much conscious and had murder in his eyes. He regained his composure and sat up, his hand moving toward the knife in his waistband. Daniel moved toward him and grabbed his hand before it reached the knife. Gary moved to pounce on the man but Captain Saul took hold of him and stopped him before he could do so.

‘Enough!’ his voice stilled them all for a second. Had Gary been at his normal size and strength Captain Saul would not have been able to hold him back, but the anger had left him feeling tired again and the captain could feel him slump in his hold. He spoke to the mercenary in his own language and the man shook his hand out of Daniel’s, pushing Daniel away at the same time. He put his hand on his head then looked at the blood on it. He said something to Gary who didn’t need to know the language to understand the meaning.

‘This will get us nowhere,’ Captain Saul said to all of them, then turned to Gary. ‘The others knew nothing about his disappearance. It seems pretty obvious that he’s taken the girls.’

‘I want compensation.’

So it was all about the money then, thought Saul. ‘May I remind you that you employed these men and if you think you can get a refund from him,’ he thumbed towards the man who was still sitting on the stair, ‘then good luck with that. Be my guest.’

Gary knew he was the meanest bastard on the ship. But he also knew that he couldn’t fight them all in his weakened state. He would put this one in the bag for another day, but return to it he would and get his revenge. He looked to Daniel who seemed to be about to say something.

‘What is it?’ that’s all he needed, another fucking problem.

All eyes turned to Daniel. Saul was pleased to see that the expression on Gary’s face had made him reconsider.

‘Shall I get the other girls ready to leave.’

Gary nodded. ‘Get rid of him too,’ he said to Saul and the mercenary disappeared after a few words from the captain.

When they could no longer hear footsteps Gary stood up to his full height and leaned into Captain Saul’s face, invading his space. ‘I will not forget this and I will find out what really happened here.’

It took an iron will for Saul to look him in the eye. He could feel the evil emanating from the man and if he let this go without comment Gary might figure out the truth. Even though he was ill, Saul was convinced that he’d come back for him and he tried to force down the bile that was making its way to his throat before replying.