Devlin's Defiance: Book Two of the Devlin Quatrology (42 page)

“
The
plates can wait. C'mon.”

- 110 -

February
6, 2013
11:38
a.m. local time

Aboard
Defiance

In the Gulf of Aden

Jake
was awakened from a light sleep by the captain's voice on his
walkie-talkie.

“
What is it,
Captain?” he asked, glancing at his watch.

“
We've got
another fast boat heading our way. It got past our radar; must have
some kind of stealth technology to deflect our beam. It's very
close.”

“
From the Somali
or Yemeni side?”

“
Yemeni. I've
sent a drone out. But I think you need to come up here, sir.”

Jake ran up from the
foredeck to the bridge, leaving Pam lying on her lounge, studying her
journal and a stack of files.

Captain Zander stared
intently at the screen relaying the drone's observations, continuing
his running commentary.

“
Sir, he's got a
Stinger. Aiming it our way now – wait, where did that come
from?”

“
Where did what
come from? What happened?”

“
The whole boat
just exploded!”

Jake looked over the
captain's shoulder. “Couldn't be any survivors from that, could
there?”

“
Definitely not,
sir.”

“
Did we fire
that?”

“
No, sir, not
us.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Yes, sir, I'm
sure. I can double check with the FCO, if you want.”

“
No, Captain; if
you're sure, that's good enough for me.”

“
I'm sure. But I
think we ought to go up on the hydros, get out of here fast. There
may be others that our radar can't see.”

“
Sounds good to
me. Sound the horn and let's do it.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
And keep me
posted; I'll be back down on the foredeck with Pam.”

“
Will do, sir.”

Jake returned to the
foredeck, where Pam was looking over the rail to where the attacking
boat had been decimated.

“
Okay, Pam, we're
going up on the hydros. Brace yourself.”

As they held onto the
rail, three blasts of the horn echoed across the entire ship. A
moment later, the yacht lurched forward and up, then settled in on
the hydroplanes, nearly doubling its speed as it passed the eastern
tip of Somalia off to the starboard side. Jake and Pam both breathed
a deep sigh of relief.

“
Well,
Pam,” Jake said as they settled back onto their lounges,
“anything else you're finding in there?”

- 111 -

February
7, 2013
5:17
a
.m.
local time

Bonita
Springs, Florida

Gordy awoke
from a deep sleep as Rosemary gently shook his shoulder.

“
Gordy,
Gordy, wake up.”

“
Wha- –
whe-” –

“
You were
dreaming again, talking in your sleep.”

“
Wha- –
I was? Where-” –

“
It's
okay. You're right here in my condo. You're safe.”

“
Who”
–

“
It's
Rosemary, Gordy. Remember?”

“
I –
Rosemary?”

“
Uh-huh.
I'm right here.”

“
Oh, Ro,
uh, Rosemary. I was” –

“
Dreaming,
Gordy. You were having that nightmare again.”

“
Oh,
geez.”

“
And
flailing and thrashing. You almost pushed me out of bed.”

“
Oh,
geez; I'm sorry, Ro.”

“
No
problem. But you've never done that before. I got scared.”

“
Scared?
Of me?”

“
No, for
you.”

“
Oh,
geez, Ro; I'm sorry.”

“
No, no,
no; it's okay.”

“
Not if I
scared you, it's not.”

“
Let me
get you some water or” –

“
Did you
say I was talking in my sleep? Or did I dream that, too?”

“
No, I
said that, and you were.”

“
What did
I say?”

“
Um, you
– uh, first you said, 'I've been kidnapped,' and then, uh,
'Sorry 'bout that, Charlie,' then – oh, geez, I don't –
oh, yeah – 'No, no, Charlie, stay right there.' And there was
something else. I – no, it's gone. Who's Charlie?”

“
He was
one of the fake FBI guys, the old, fat one. But” –

“
But
what? Gordy?”

“
Uh –
nothing; it's gone. Anything else?”

“
Um –
oh, yeah. You said, 'You buttered your bread; now lie in it. Now,
that's
a mixed metaphor,'
and then – wait – you said – ah, you said, 'We'll
make do,' and then 'Just don't make it twice.' And then you mumbled,
'Guess that proves the truth of that old song. Waking up
is
hard to do.' What did all that mean?”

“
I don't
know. Weird.”

“
Hmm.
Well, maybe you'll figure it out sometime. But for now, how about
you try to get back to sleep? You kept me up pretty late
last
night.”

“
I kept
YOU up? I think you've got that backwards.”

“
Ah,
there's the Gordy I know.”

“
And
love?”

“
And
love.”

“
Me, too
– I mean, backatcha, Ro.”

- 112 -

February
7, 2013
11:54
a
.m.
local time

Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant
,
Wales

About
noon, the desk clerk, concerned at the unexpected absence of a
certain male guest, who had enjoyed a spectacular solo meal in the
hotel's lounge the previous evening and usually was up and about by
8:30 at the latest, rang his room and, getting no answer, went
upstairs, knocked and finally used his master key to enter the room.

He
was not at all pleased with the condition of that certain male guest,
which he confirmed when he found no pulse and which was later
confirmed by the local doctor and by the Welsh equivalent of medical
examiner.

The
investigation was begun by the local constabulary, at which point one
of
the four regional Welsh police offices took over jurisdiction, who
were then ousted from the investigation by Interpol, since the
deceased, whose autopsy determined the cause of death to be a massive
hemorrhagic
stroke,
was discovered to be a fugitive money launderer for a variety of
terrorist organizations. In the final analysis, despite the rarity
of strokes in 43-year-old males, and due primarily to negative tox
screens, the COD was ruled to be natural causes, so no criminal case
file was opened. However, 47 criminal case files in twelve different
countries were closed.

- 113 -

(
Author's
note: This chapter contains some profane and politically incorrect
language, but it accurately reflects the actual words that the
speaker used. I apologize on her behalf to anyone who is offended;
she, of course, will not.)

March
1, 2013
10:08
a.m. local time

Bonita Beach, Florida

“
I think
I'm getting the hang of it, Gordy.”

“
You're
doing fine, Norm. Now try just a little faster.”

“
I don't
know; I don't want to damage anything.”

“
Don't
worry about it; it's not like open heart surgery. You can play
around a little.”

“
Oh,
thanks; you just gave me a flashback.”

“
Sorry.
But seriously, you're doing fine.”

“
Okay,
okay. Here goes. Whoah!”

“
Yeah,
it's delicate. Just a tiny tweak. Ah, there you go. See?”

“
Oh,
okay. I think I got it.”

“
Good,
good. Yup, doing fine. Now, how about let's see if you can say hi
to Janet, okay?”

“
Okay.
Hmm. Slower, slower, forward, forward, slower, stop. Okay, now
what?”

“
Now just
slide that back a little so it comes down a little.”

“
Like
that?”

“
Great,
perfect. Now say 'Hi, Janet.'”

“
Hi,
Janet.”

Janet giggled
and said, “Hi, Norm,” and waved.

“
Now –
oh, I don't know – ask her if she wants to give it a try.”

“
You
wanna try it, Jan?”

“
Nah, you
go ahea- – oh, okay. Looks like fun.”

“
Okay.
C'mon over. Now what, Gordy?”

“
Just
bring it back here. Think you can do that on your own?”

“
Let's
find out. Okay, speed up, lift, good. Wait, how do I make it turn?”

“
That
dial next to the joystick.”

“
Oh,
right; got it. Turn, good. Stop. Okay. And now I just push
the
joystick forward? Ah, good. And here it comes; good. Stop,
hover,
slower, slower … and down.”