Secrets of the Siren [Sirens and Sailors 5] (Siren Publishing Classic) (9 page)

Large drops of rain began to fall as they stood around in various groups, discussing the necessary work and tools for the job. It didn’t take long for a deluge to drench them as they chatted, and the men soon made their way back to the café for shelter.

* * * *

It was early evening before the men all finished their meetings and made their way to the tavern where they had planned to regroup to discuss their day. Dr. Jay and his faction were the first to arrive, closely followed by Rechavia and the men who had been to the CEBE. Neither group seemed to have had a very uplifting meeting, and they showed each other the copies of reports and estimates which they had received.

“This weather doesn’t look too good,” Rechavia said, as he got up to order another round of drinks.

“I hope Farris’s lot aren’t out in it,” Delmer said with a frown. “They were meeting near the harbor.”

“Don’t worry about him, I’m sure he’ll wangle his way under cover somehow,” Dr. Jay replied with a grin. He took a sip of the beer Rechavia handed him and nodded his appreciation. “These figures don’t look too healthy.”

“There’s been a big embezzlement operation over at the Central Electricity Board of Westland,” Aitan said with a moan as he took his drink. “All this is going to cost a lot more than we thought.
Apparently, even though they found out who the perpetrators were it was too late.
The money had already been stolen from
them.
It’s had a knock-on effect, putting the cost of electricity up all over the world.” He pondered over the bank statements in his hand. “The flowers are making good money though.”

“Wow!” Delmer shouted as a massive bolt of lightning lit up the entire tavern in a flash.

“This is set in for the night,” one of the locals informed them.

“I hope Farris isn’t too long, we need to get going,” Aitan said, gulping his beer.

“You won’t be sailing in this weather,” the man replied. “They’ve forecast gales within the next couple of hours, and storms all night.”

“Damn!” Rechavia slammed his glass on the table. “I was hoping with the new ship we’d be OK in bad weather but this is atrocious.”

They stared out the window at the blackening sky, as rain hammered the road outside.

“I hope the girls are OK.” Aitan pouted.

“They’ll be fine. They won’t have any of this weather on the island, and Blandon and Marinos are there to keep an eye on them.” Dr. Jay was quite confident.

“We’d best order some food.” Rechavia studied the menu in front of them. “Looks like we’re here for the night.”

Farris and the men arrived just as they were discussing what to have for dinner. They looked like drowned rats as they piled into the small, dark tavern, but they were smiling.

“We won’t get home in this,” Aitan announced as they grabbed some chairs and joined more tables together. The rest of the customers had gone home as soon as the weather closed in, so they had the place to themselves.

“It’s going to be uncomfortable on that ship tonight.” Rechavia frowned.

“I’ve got somewhere we can stay,” Farris announced with a grin.

They all stared at him.

“Yuli said we can bed down in the building they’re working on near the harbor. It’s got a roof and four walls. Might be a bit dusty but it’s sound and should keep us dry.”

“Will we all get in?” Aitan asked.

“Yeah, it’s a big office block. There’s plenty of room. We might need some blankets from the ship, though, if it gets any colder.”

“Great. Let’s eat.” Rechavia cheered up a little.

As they waited for the food to arrive, Aitan fired up one of the tavern’s computers. Every café and bar had access to the Super-Web and provided computers for customer use nowadays. “Best let the girls know we won’t be back tonight.” He frowned. No signal.

“It’s the storm.” Rechavia rolled his eyes.

Another crack of thunder roared overhead.

“They won’t know that though.” Aitan groaned.

Although Refrainia sometimes had rain at night, the weather was never really severe over there. It was always sunny during the day, so they were always aware of a slight chill in the air after dark, but they enjoyed a pleasant climate overall.

“We’ll have to try again later,” Rechavia replied as the waitress arrived with plates of piping hot food.

They enjoyed a good meal and more beer before deciding to brave the storm and find their shelter for the night.

“It’s not far,” Farris assured them as they ran up the road against the pelting rain.

He led them behind some metal safety fencing and into a large, brick building. It felt warm instantly and the men sighed with relief as they enjoyed their dry surroundings. The rooms were all quite large, and steps led up to even more offices upstairs. The construction was nothing more than an empty shell at present, but it was warm and dry, and most welcome in the circumstances. It smelled of paint and varnish.

“There’s even glass in the windows.” Delmer grinned at the luxury. The only house on Refrainia which had glass windows was the big house where Dr. Jay had his surgery. The rest of the islanders lived in stone huts with wooden shutters which could be used to cover the apertures in case of rain, but, given the climate, they usually preferred to leave them open to welcome the moonlight and gentle breeze.

The men split themselves into groups and chose which rooms they wanted to spend the night in. Aitan and Rechavia were in one of the downstairs rooms with Jay, Farris and Delmer.

“I’m not so sure about the project now,” Aitan admitted as they prepared for the night.

“I certainly think we need to discuss it with the girls,” Farris agreed. “There’s going to be a lot of upheaval if we do go ahead with it.”

“It’ll be a whole new way of life for them, that’s for sure.” Jay frowned.

“I think we’ve disrupted their way of life enough already,” Rechavia replied, thoughtfully.

“Damn!” Aitan scowled. “I was hoping to have another go on the computer before we left the tavern, but the weather has only gotten worse. I doubt we’d get a signal if we tried all night at this rate. The girls won’t know why we’re not back yet. I know Ligia will worry.”

“They’ll probably guess what’s happened, won’t they?” Delmer didn’t sound concerned.

“I sure hope so.” Aitan groaned. “Ligia’s more likely to think something bad happened to us.”

“I’m sure Blandon and Marinos will put them straight,” Rechavia assured his friend. “We’ve got the finest sailors and the best ship money can buy, we’re hardly likely to run into trouble.”

“I still wish we could’ve made it home tonight.” Aitan lay on his side to dream about his fiancée.
God I miss her!

The wind howled around the yard, and the rain thrashed the brickwork, but the men had all had a busy day and eventually managed to drift off to sleep.

* * * *

Bright orange sunlight streamed through the windows and woke Aitan early next morning. He took a minute to remember where he was. His surroundings were so different from the stone hut or any of the ships he was used to. He felt bereft not waking up next to his beloved Ligia, and then remembered that they were going back home this morning. He gave Rechavia a nudge and made his way to the window.

“Storm’s ended,” Aitan said with a grin. Although the ground was wet and there was evidence of rubble and shrubs being blown around in last night’s gales, it looked much more promising for their trip home to Refrainia.

“We’d best check on the ship,” Rechavia said with a stretch.

“Morning already?” Farris moaned as he rolled over.

“Yep. Time to get our baby back.” Dr. Jay smiled as he stood up.

Farris grinned. “Oh yeah!”

Soon all the men were stretching and yawning. Rechavia opened the front door to welcome in the new day, and shivered at the cold. “Give me Refrainia any day,” he grumbled.

Aitan stepped outside and took a deep breath of morning air. “Who’s for grabbing some coffee from that café down the road? I’m sure they do takeout.”

“Great idea.” Farris was right behind him. “A bunch of us can go fetch them while you lot check out the ship.”

The café was only just opening up for business when the crowd of sailors arrived. The lady, who recognized Farris and the construction crew from yesterday, made their coffee while her husband got busy with the display of freshly baked buns and rolls which had just been delivered. The smell was so welcoming, the men couldn’t resist. They took a couple of boxes of sticky buns and an assortment of freshly filled rolls as well as the coffee and headed for the
harbor.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” the lady said as Farris turned to go. “There was a lady here last night asking about you. I told her I thought you’d gone back to the island.”

“Who was she?” Aitan asked as the crowd sauntered back to the serving hatch.

“She said she was from the CEBE. I don’t even know if it was you she wanted, she just said she was looking for a bunch of sailors. They’d had a meeting there yesterday.”

“What did she say?” Farris asked, his heart beating a little faster.

“She had a message for one of you. She didn’t say what it was, just that it was really important.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Farris smiled at her. “We’d best get over there and see what she wants.”

“The office won’t be open for a couple of hours yet,” the lady informed them.

Aitan rolled his eyes. Of course, life on the mainland wasn’t like that on the island. On Refrainia everyone sprang into action as soon as it was light enough to see, but here they were slaves to a digital clock.

“Let’s head back to the ship.” Farris led the way.

“We nearly went without you.” Rechavia grinned as they hopped aboard
The Refrainian.

“
We’ve brought breakfast.” Aitan lifted up a box of buns.

“Someone from the CEBE came looking for y’all in the café last night,” Farris explained as they lay the breakfast on the bench.

“Yeah, said it was real important,” Aitan added, munching on a roll. “We didn’t leave any unfinished business, did we?”

“Nope. Last thing we said was we’d be in touch to let them know what we decide.” Rechavia shook his head with a puzzled frown.

“Should we go see what’s up?” Delmer suggested.

“You’re kidding. They don’t open for another couple of hours yet,” Farris sneered.

“We’ll be nearly home by then,” Rechavia said, taking the wheel. “I vote we get home and Super-Skype them later.”

Everyone agreed and they set off for the island. The men enjoyed a hearty breakfast before settling into their routine.

“I’ll check the ship’s computer,” Aitan said. “We should get through now.”

“Go ahead, bro,” Rechavia replied with a grin. He must have guessed that Aitan was missing Ligia every bit as much as he was missing Kalliope. Luckily, the new ship had every modern convenience they could ask for.

It took a while to fire up the machine, but eventually Aitan managed to contact the island. He was surprised to see Ademia’s face frowning back at him on the webcam.

“Aitan, thank God! We’ve been trying to get you all night. Where are you?”

“On our way back, darlin’. There was a storm and…”

“We’ve got pirates on the island! They had guns and knives but we stole them from them. We drugged them but they’re waking up now. Marinos has been shot in the arm, and Kally and Ligia are on the ship with two other pirates who are still armed,” she blurted out. Tears filled her eyes as Farris and Dr. Jay came into her line of sight over the camera.

Rechavia immediately sped up the ship even more.

“Has anyone else been hurt?” Dr. Jay wanted to know.

“No.” She shook her head. “But there’s loads of them and the causeway’s uncovered now so they’ll be coming over soon. We tied them up but I don’t think it’ll keep them there for long.”

“Keep them where, little lady?”

“Oh Farris. We got them all onto Destiny last night. We drugged them and got them drunk and then we tied them up and took their guns. We thought you’d be back before they woke up and you’d be able to deal with them.”

Delmer got on the ship’s radio and called the Eastland Police. “Someone’s tried to get through, they’ve left a message.” He pressed a button and Blandon’s voice came over the airwaves, informing them of the situation and asking them to get back immediately.

“Damn!” Rechavia cursed. He hadn’t thought to check the ship’s radio as there wasn’t a radio on any of the boats they had left behind. They were only small fishing vessels.

“Police are on their way, baby, and we’re coming as fast as we can,” Dr. Jay said calmly. “What’s the situation with the ones who are still armed?”

“We rescued some prisoners. They said the pirates had a gun and were planning to shoot them. Ligia took a knife and went to take a look with Kally. They haven’t come back yet. Blandon helped us get everyone back here and went back to the ship to find them but he hasn’t come back either. None of them have.” Ademia sniffled as she fought to control herself.