The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken (45 page)

He started
toward the couch on the bridge and she said, "No, you go to your quarters,
skipper.  You need at least several hours of sleep.  No argument.  Get off my
bridge."

Knowing he was
beaten, he wandered back to his bed, happy to find it empty.  He was asleep
within seconds of collapsing on the bed.

He awoke hours
later to the smell of steaks cooking.  When he entered the dining room, he
found Maria cooking and watching satellite television.  "So you're awake,
Sleeping Beauty," said Maria. 

He walked over
and kissed her.  "This smells wonderful.  Where did you learn to
cook?"

A smile came
over her face and she said, "My Grandma taught me.  She was amazing."

Kemp sat at one
of the swivel stools around the kitchen bar.  "I bet she was."

Maria just
smiled, lost in pleasant memories.  Kemp sat looking out the thick windows at a
peaceful ocean.  After some time he said, "I'm going to check on the
bridge and see if they want a break."

"Thank you
for everything." 

"You're
welcome.  I'll be back later."

He found Sandy
and Pam on the bridge.  Sandy said, "Skipper, we were about to call
you."

He looked at
the radar and saw a blip ahead.  Grabbing the binoculars, he watched ahead,
seeing a shipping container floating in the water about a half mile ahead.

He handed the
binoculars to Pam and said, "There's the problem.  Let's slow down to make
sure we don't get a surprise."

Kemp had Pam
steer about 50 meters to the side of the obstacle and asked, "Who's up for
target practice?"

In a short
period of time, he had most of the crew on deck taking turns with his AR 15
putting rounds in to the container.  After each of them had fired a ten round
magazine, the container slowly sunk under the surface on its way to the depths.

"Good
shooting!  Now how about some food?"  He stopped by the bridge to ask
Sandy to take the speed back up to eight knots and went back to the dining
room.

Maria took a
tray up to eat with Sandy on the bridge, and Kemp ate with the rest of the
women in the dining room.  The dinner was delicious.

Lisa asked
Kemp, "So what's the plan, Skipper?" 

"Few more
days into Rio then take things from there."

"What
about us?" asked Pam.

Kemp looked at
her and said, "That hasn't changed.  I'm not going to make anyone do
anything or force anyone to stay.  I'm also not deserting any of you, ever. 
How often do I have to keep repeating it?"

Pam kissed
him.   "At least once a day.  I just like hearing it."

Kemp said,
"I don't think I ever would have imagined something like this. It's not
going to make you crazy?"

"Look,
we've been over this before," said Sonya."  You like us.  We like
you.  We're keeping you.  You don't get any more say in the matter."   

Kemp laughed. 
"I know better than to argue. Let's clean up and go watch the
sunset."

In no time at
all they had the meal cleaned up and were out on deck watching a beautiful
sunset.  Kemp took in a deep breath at the beauty of the sky over the Atlantic
Ocean.  He loved this new life and he loved all of these women. 
If it's not
broke, don't fix it
, he mused.

LAS VEGAS

DECEMBER 12
^th

Rob, Jim, and
Speaker Larson were celebrating the news that all of the new territories had approved
their new constitutions and would be holding plebiscites deciding whether to
request statehood.

"Your
girls are magnificent," said Larson.  "The two of them are miracle
workers."

Rob clenched
his teeth at the choice of words, but said, "We couldn't be prouder of
them."

"We need
to get the approval through congress as soon as the plebiscites are done,"
said Jim. 

"That
won't be a problem."  Larson stood. "If you'll excuse me, I have to
get back to work.  It's been good seeing you."

"Anytime, Nick,"
said Jim.

After he left,
Rob said, "I just don't trust that slippery son of a bitch."

"He does
one hell of a job delivering the votes we need, though."

"That he
does."

RIO DE JANEIRO

DECEMBER 15
^th

Kemp awoke from
his surgery with Pam and Sonya there waiting for him.  The bandages remained in
place and his throat felt raw from having been intubated, but otherwise he felt
okay.  And drugged out of his mind. 

The nurse gave
him more pain medication and he slept again.   The next time he woke, he felt
like his face had been beaten to a pulp.  This time Lisa and Sandy were there. 
They squeezed his hands and asked how he felt.  He said, "Not so bad for a
punching bag." 

They both
laughed, relieved.  Sandy said, "The doctor says you can go back to the
boat as soon as you can swallow pills, or you can stay here for another couple
of days if you would rather."

"He just
wants me out of here before the bandages come off."  They both laughed." 
I'd rather be at home, but I'm not looking to screw up his plan."

Lisa said,
"How about if we go back to the boat and the doctor and nurses see you
there.  Sound good?  Now drink some water."

He swallowed
and the cold water felt wonderful on his throat.  They brought some soft food
and he made himself eat, even though he wasn't hungry.  It was good; he just
didn't have an appetite. 

On the boat
later, he was grateful to sleep in his own bed. 

RIO

DECEMBER 30
^th

It took a full
two weeks for the swelling to his face to go down and for him to get a good
look at the face he would be seeing in the mirror till the end of his days.  It
would take some getting used to, but he was amazed at how good he looked. 
If
I had to go through that much pain, making me look good is the least he could
do,
he thought
.  This is a lot more attractive than I've ever been.  I'm
not completely sure that's a good thing, but I'm sure the women will approve
.

The surgeon was
there for his final visit.  Kemp thanked him for his work and said, "I
know you keep your silence, but I just want to remind you anyway."  Pam
brought over a small physician's bag with a half million in cash, opened it for
the doctor to see, closed it up and handed it to him. 

Pam also pulled
out another bag with a smaller amount of cash and handed it to the nurse.
"Thank you as well.  The nurse flipped through the bundles of hundred
dollar bills and pocketed it. 

Kemp asked,
"May we send you more work in the future?"

The surgeon was
only too happy to agree and was visibly relieved to leave with his nurse/body
guard. 

Pam asked,
"Do you think anyone is fooled by the nursing uniform?  She had at least
two guns on her." 

Lisa said,
"More like three, but who's counting." 

"I'm glad
that's over," said Kemp.  "I'd rather not ever do that again.

"How are
the ID's coming?"

 Pam said,
"Just waiting for your picture.  Let's get some makeup on you and we'll
take care of that right now."  She took the pictures against a backdrop
that Kemp's contacts had provided, and loaded them onto a flash drive."
She put this into a small envelope and walked it out to a boy who was waiting
on the doc with his bicycle. 

A few hours
later, a restaurant deliveryman showed up at the dock with their new Brazilian
passports and ID's as well as the flash drive Pam had given the boy earlier. 
They gave him a bag to take back and thanked him.

They dug into
the documents and looked them over well. 

"These
look like the real thing, Skipper, excuse me, Mr. Gabriel Dias.  They did a
great job," said Maria. 

Laughing, Kemp
said, "Call me Gabe, and they are the real thing.  Even the addresses are
real with people there to forward mail to a trash can in Australia.  You are now
Brazilian citizens, just don't ever have both sets of ID in the same place at
the same time, and the Slippery Slope is now a Brazilian vessel." 

Sonya asked,
"So where do we go from here?"

"Let's start
with the living room."

They went to
the living room and bar area and Kemp sat down with them.  "It's time to
come up with a better plan.  The problem is that I made my plans for Brazil
back when it was just me, and the plans I made then won't work now because I
didn't plan for a family because I knew they wouldn't come.  My wife took our
kids and left me three years ago.  They died in Israel.

"You are
my family.  I need you to be safe and happy.  I want you to be comfortable and
to have everything you need.

"We can
stay in Brazil, but there's always going to be someone trying to take what we
have or kidnap one of you just because they think we have more.  We can hire an
army of mercenaries, but we're always going to stand out.  On the other hand,
we can own a good chunk of the country. 

"We can go
to Argentina where we can blend in better, but the concerns will still be there
for those who will steal everything as soon as they realize it's there.

"We can
keep traveling all over the world.  I speak fluent Portuguese so will keep my
new identity.  You can travel under your own names just as easily since no one
will be looking for you.

"My new
face makes it so we can go back to the States in reasonable safety, though I
will always have to be careful and have to avoid fingerprinting."

Lisa said,
"Let me stop you there.  We're rich.  We can make anyplace work.  Personally,
I like the idea of our own private island to raise our kids."

"Kids?!"

"Oh, you
thought Pam was the only one with a bun in the oven?"

"Who?"

"Well, I
have one working for starters."

"Me,
too," said Maria.

Kemp was
stunned.  He asked, "Anything else I should know?" 

Pam said,
"We bought an island while you were recuperating and we've already brought
in a South African security team, along with their families.  We're hiring
teachers, chefs, medical, and general staff now."

"I thought
you said you got the pill."

Maria said,
"Oh, we bought them but were kind of jealous of Pam, so we didn't take
them."

"What?"

Maria smiled,
"I told you he'd be happy!" 

Sandy said,
"Let's show him the Island!  I took mine by the way, so we won't all be
fat at the same time."

Pam said,
"He still thinks I'm sexy!"  She opened a door to the deck and
yelled, "Jack, time to go!"

She walked up
to the bridge and started the engines.  In a few moments, the boat was untied, their
five person security team was on board, and Pam was pulling away from the
dock. 

Kemp said to
the remaining crew, "Obviously, I'm not in control here."

Sandy said,
"Sorry, you were out of commission and we had to improvise."

Pam steered the
trawler out into the ocean at a steady six knots.  He had to admit that she
handled the boat like a pro.  He really was starting to feel extraneous.  With
a sigh, he thought, It's probably a good thing.

Just out of
sight of the city, Pam hit the horn as two speed boats full of men approached
the boat with automatic weapons firing into the air.  Kemp was reaching for his
pistol when he heard two rocket propelled grenades launched off the deck and
the two boats exploding shortly thereafter. 

Lisa told him,
"Relax, we told you we've got it covered."

They didn't
bother to stop to check for survivors.

The trip to the
island that they had purchased took three hours.  The island itself was over 40
acres with an enclosed harbor and helicopter pads.  Apparently it had been used
as a resort over the past few years, until the market fell out after the virus. 
Kemp saw that there was a large mansion and several smaller buildings around
the property, with more in the process of being built.  It was beautiful. 

"Okay, I'm
impressed.  What's the story with the South Africans?"

Sandy answered,
"Twenty three of them were here under contract with a mining company that
shut down after the world market collapsed, so they were stuck here.  Several
had their families with them, too.  They would only hire on if we took their
families, too."

"Perfect!"

"We've
hired a local business manager, too.  He's well known for helping foreigners
during and after the virus and has a reputation for being more honest than
most.  He's also connected to the gills with the political scene here."  

"What's
his angle?"

"We're
funding a real estate holding company for him with us keeping a 49% stake as a
silent partner.  It cost us three million.  The guy is good and will probably
make us some money, but the truth of the matter is that it's mostly just us
paying to grease the wheels.  We'll conveniently forget about the three million
later unless he pisses us off."

Kemp thought
about it and said, "Brilliant."

Sandy jumped in
and said, "But what you'll really love is our chef, Berta.  Let's go
eat!"

How the hell
did I manage to get this lucky
, he thought,
and when did they get so
damn competent?
  He followed Sandy and Lisa into the dining room.

SAN FRANCISCO

FEBRUARY 13
^th

Julie and Helen
were in at the Kunoichi Corp headquarters building working and hiding from the
crowds trying to almost worship them.  

They met with
the mayor and other civic leaders in the morning to discuss further needs of
the city.  It was a productive meeting, but they handed the details over to the
local team to be worked out.