Dead Calm (32 page)

Uneasy at this thought, he suddenly stopped. The
figure in front of him turned and said, “What's wrong, Randy. It's
just a little bit further. We're almost there. We'll grab the radio
and get out before anyone knows we've been here. It's early, so the
Faithful are all passed out. We still need to hurry though.”

Trusting his companion, and excited at the prospect
of having a radio they could use to contact the military, Brain
steeled his resolve and moved forward again. They had only
travelled a short distance further when the person leading him
stopped in front of a cabin and said, “In here,” before slipping
through the door. Excited at being so close to the object of their
expedition, he didn't hesitate.

As Brain entered the room, rough hands grabbed him
from both sides and slammed him face down onto the floor. His arms
were roughly pinned behind his back and his pistol was wrenched
free of its holster. He tried to struggle, but a kick to the side
of the head took the fight out of him.

Barely conscious, he heard Reverend Ricky say, “Don't
hit him too hard, I need him,”

Hearing the screech of duct tape being pulled quickly
from a roll, Brain felt his hands and feet bound. Once he was
secure, he was lifted up and deposited into a chair where more tape
was used to secure him to it. Brain shook his head to clear the
cobwebs from the kick and faced his captors.

Reverend Ricky and two of his men stood in front of
him. Ricky held Tim's wrists pinned behind his back. Brain felt
anger rush through him at seeing Tim manhandled.

“Let him go,” he said through clenched teeth. “He's
just a kid.”

Ricky only laughed and handed Tim to one of his men
who led the boy out of the cabin. When they were gone, Ricky said,
“He might be a kid, but he's my insurance policy. If you don't
cooperate, I'll have one of my men start cutting his fingers off
one joint at a time and send them down to his sister. Think she'd
like that?”

Brain deflated slightly at this threat. Connie loved
her brother. After the loss of her parents, something like that
would crush her. Not to mention Tim would be maimed for life. The
situation wasn't looking good.

“You don't need to do that,” Brain said calmly as he
struggled to keep his anger under control. “I'm sure we can work
something out. Just tell me what you want.”

“That's simple,” Ricky said. “I need you to accompany
me and some of my men on a trip. As you know, the Calm of the Seas
is sinking, and it’s time to move on. We're going to Cozumel. Once
we're there, you'll help us start a new life.”

Ricky saw the confusion on Brain's face and
explained, “Cozumel is free of the dead and the perfect place to
settle in until this thing blows over. But once we get there, we'll
need to get things up and running. Generators and wind turbines and
any number of other things will need to be set up. I have it on
good authority that you're some kind of savant when it comes to
machinery and electronics.”

Brain stayed silent as he searched for a way out of
this mess. He didn't want to be kidnapped and dragged off to
Cozumel; he wanted to stay with his friends. Trying a quick con job
in the hope he could get his hands and feet freed, he said,
“Alright, that sounds like a good deal. I’m tired of Steve running
things like a dictator. I’ll go with you and help. You can let me
go.”

Ricky laughed and said, “I'm not stupid, Randy. Until
we get on the sailboat and are well away from the Calm of the Seas,
you will remain restrained. Don't try to fool me with your pathetic
attempt at a con job either. You can't con a con.”

Brain was prepared for his attempt to fail and wasn't
surprised. He didn't react to Ricky catching on to his attempt to
con him, but at the mention of the sailboat his eyes grew wide.
Seeing this, Ricky said, “Yes, we'll be taking The Usual Suspects
when we go. It's the only way to reach Cozumel.”

“They'll never let you take the boat,” Brain said
forcefully.

“They won't have any choice but to give it up after
they're dead,” Ricky gloated. Seeing the alarm on Brain's face, he
reached down and patted his cheek as he added, “Don't worry, we
don't plan on killing everyone. We’ll save your little senorita for
you. And if you behave, I won't have her passed around to be used
by the men, but if you resist me...”

Anger and defiance welled up in him again on hearing
Ricky speak of Connie like that. “Fuck you!” He spat out.

Ricky made a tsk-tsking noise, turned and called out,
“Brother Seth, we need an example set.”

Immediately, the sounds of a series of slaps and
blows interspersed with Tim's cries of pain came from the
hallway.

“Stop it!” Brain screamed as he struggled against his
bounds.

Moments later, the beating ended as quickly as it had
begun, leaving no sound except Tim crying. This faded as the
youngster was dragged down the hall.

Ricky tilted his head back in an arrogant posture and
said, “The next time you curse at me or show any sign of rebellion,
I’ll tell Seth to cut off the first joint of the little finger on
Tim's right hand and send it to Connie.”

Knowing that any overt acts of defiance would get Tim
hurt and Connie gang raped, Brain decided to act like he was beaten
until he could figure out a way to escape. He let his shoulders sag
and said in a dejected voice, “You win. I’ll go with you, but I
want your word that Connie and Tim won't be hurt.”

Ricky thought about this and said, “I promise they
won't come to any harm, but you need to do as I say. One deviation
and...” Ricky made a scissoring motion with two fingers before
walking out of the cabin followed by the other man.

Brain waited until they were gone before testing his
bonds. Duct tape had been wrapped several times around his hands
and feet and several more loops were used to bind him to the chair.
He knew it was futile but he had to try. He had to get free and
warn the others. The door remained open a crack. After fifteen
minutes of struggling, he heard a low murmur of voices coming down
the hall. As he eyed the opening, Ricky suddenly popped his head in
and said, “I know the urge to warn your friends is overwhelming,
but I want you to know that Brother William will be right out here
in the hallway. Don't even think about trying to escape.”

He turned off the lights and shut the door, leaving
Brain in the dark.

Ricky entered the bridge of the Calm of the Seas and
said, “Brilliant performance, young Tim.”

Standing near the wheel, Tim replied with a sob,
“What do you mean, performance?” He pointed at Brother Seth and
said, “He was really hitting me.”

Ricky tsk-tsk'd and said, “We had to make it seem
real. If your friend Randy hadn’t been convinced by your act, I
would have been forced to start cutting you up into little chunks.
We don't want that, now do we?”

Hanging his head in shame at what he'd done, and in
fear of what Ricky might do to him, Tim said, “Okay, I get it. Now
I’ve held up my end of the bargain. You have Randy, so where's my
dad?”

Dead somewhere, but you don't know that, Ricky
thought. Instead of voicing this, he said, “He's safe, just like I
told you, but he’s going to stay with me for a while because I
might need you to do one more thing for me.”

“I can't!” Tim cried. “They'll know it's me if I do
anything else. If they even find out what I’ve done so far, there's
no telling what they'll do to me. Besides, we had a deal.”

Ricky said sternly, “And the deal was of my making,
so I can change it anytime I want. If you ever want to see your
father alive again, you'll continue to do as you're told.”

Tim's mind was in turmoil as he realized he was
trapped. There was no way he could deny anything Ricky asked of
him, especially now that he'd lured Randy up to deck ten so he
could be kidnapped. He was torn by his decision to set Randy up but
didn't have a choice. They were holding his dad. Instead of turning
his anger on Ricky though, he rued the day the people from the
sailboat came on board. It was their fault he was in this mess in
the first place.

He hadn't planned on being caught sneaking around the
ship. It just happened. One of Ricky's men recognized him when he
was up on deck nine looking around for a sextant for Steve and
Tick-Tock. The man had been one of the watchers on deck five and
had seen Tim with the people from the sailboat. He put two and two
together, and they grabbed him. At first he thought they'd kill
him, but instead he’d been brought to Reverend Ricky.

Ricky recognized him from when he had seen him and
Connie on deck four. He remembered that his dad was missing and his
mom was dead and told Tim that his dad was alive and would be held
hostage unless he worked as an informer. Tim was elated at the news
of his father and had been more than willing to spy on the
newcomers in exchange for being reunited with his dad. It had been
easy at first, like playing a game. But when Ricky told him of his
plan to kidnap Randy, he'd balked. Ricky threatened to have his
father tortured, so he had no choice. But now that he'd delivered
Randy to Ricky, the Reverend wanted something else.

When would it end? Tim's mind wailed. I’m
trapped.

Ricky motioned to Brother Seth who handed Tim a radio
and a three-foot long pair of bolt cutters. Tim looked dumbly at
the objects so Ricky said, “Like I said, I may need you to do one
last thing for me. Let me explain.”

***

Steve steered The Usual Suspects back toward the Dead
Calm on the way back from the second trip to get a clear view of
the sun.

Tick-Tock had gone below fifteen minutes earlier to
use the table so he could lay out the chart and calculate their
position. As Steve made a slight adjustment to their course, he
came on deck and said excitedly, “I got it! I know our
position.“

Hearing this, Steve felt relief wash through him. He
trusted that Tick-Tock could get them to land and eventually to a
port by using dead reckoning, but being able to sail directly,
without the fear of the unknown hanging over them, lifted a huge
burden.

“Where are we?” Steve asked.

“It's not exact, but its close. I’ll need to take
some more sightings at sundown and sunrise to get it perfect but I
know I’m within a couple miles,” Tick-Took said.

“Where?” Steve asked again.

Tick-Tock unrolled the chart on the deck and pointed
to a spot in the Gulf of Mexico. “Right here.”

“Holy shit!” Steve exclaimed, as he saw how far away
from Florida they were.

Tick-Tock nodded and said, “We’re a long-ass way from
Kansas, Toto.”

Studying the chart, Steve said, “It looks like the
closest port we can head to is Galveston.” After a moment, he
asked, “Can we even make it back to Florida? I mean, that was our
original plan.”

“We could make it,” Tick-Tock replied, “but why
bother? Texas has a shitload of Army and Air force bases where we
can take Cindy. Why risk a long cruise to Florida? It’s not
hurricane season but the storm that blew us out here sure felt like
one. I really don't want to have to go through that again.”

Steve had to agree. Although the sailboat was an
excellent way to move around, their luck hadn't been too good so
far. First the storm before being becalmed and then finding the
Dead Calm prompted him to decide it might be better if they got to
dry land as soon as possible.

“So Galveston it is,” he said and then asked, “You
ever been there?”

“Nope, never,” Tick-Tock replied. “But the one thing
I’ve noticed about all port cities I’ve ever been to, is that very
few people live down around the docks. The Z’s congregate where
there's food, so that means the docks should be deserted. We'll
have a pretty easy time moving around when we hit land. We need to
find transportation first thing when we go ashore but that
shouldn't be a problem. There're all kinds of stuff lying around
out there. If I remember right, Texas declared martial law long
before Florida did. Maybe we'll get lucky and come across some
abandoned National Guard vehicles.”

“Another MRAP?” Steve asked with a smile.

“I’d settle for a two and a half ton truck,”
Tick-Tock replied. “All wheel drive would be nice too.”

“And we can hit the local library to find out where
the nearest military bases are,” Steve said.

“The hard part will be finding supplies,” Tick-Tock
added as Steve pulled The Usual Suspects up to the hatch at the
side of the ship. As he did this, both men gauged the distance
between the bottom of the opening and the top of the gunwale, but
neither could see any change from that morning.

Steve considered that they might be nearing the end
of their trek now that they had a solid direction to go in. Out of
curiosity, he asked Tick-Tock, “What do you plan on doing after we
drop Cindy off?”

“Explore,” he answered with a grin. “Dead or no dead,
I’m gonna check things out. I even thought about getting another
sailboat and cruising to Europe.”

Steve's brow lifted and he commented dryly, “Great,
you can check out Dracula’s castle while you're there.”

Tick-Tock laughed. “No I think I’ve seen enough scary
shit to last me a lifetime. I'll skip the land of Vlad. I’m
thinking of the Louvre and the British Military Museum.”

“Are you going to ask Susan to come along?”

Tick-Tock shrugged, “I’ll ask, but that's up to her.”
Then he asked, “What about you and Heather? What are you two going
to do?”

“She wants to go to North Carolina,” Steve replied.
“She's got family up that way and she wants to check up on them. I
guess I’m along for the ride. After that, who knows? North Carolina
is nice. Maybe we'll stay there.”

After tying up the sailboat, Steve and Tick-Tock went
to the kitchen in search of something to eat. As they were sitting
down to fried chicken left over from the night before, Heather
burst through the fire doors at the far end of the dining room.
Spotting Steve, she called out, “Is Brain with you? Have you seen
him? Please tell me he went with you guys.”