by Cap Daniels
“I want the same I have always wanted. I want honeymoon with you, and to give you children and see Great Canyon and Liberty Statue.”
“Anya,” I said painfully, “I watched you die. I saw your body in the morgue of the VA hospital.”
“No, my Chase. You saw me get shot and fall to floor, but if you saw my body in hospital, I was not dead. Maybe somebody wanted to make you believe I was dead.”
“But where have you been, Anya. What’s going on?”
I smelled her skin and felt her long hair across my chest as she pressed her face against mine.
She whispered, “I have been healing, like you, and I am strong now, like you.” She took my hand again and placed it against her chest.
I felt the scar where the bullet had left her body.
“Is scar from saving Skipper. She is safe, yes?”
“Yes, she is safe.”
“Why did you lie?” she asked.
“Why did you lie to Dr. Richter?”
“Pochemu ty solgal professoru Rikhteru?”
“Chase! Chase! Wake up!”
“What?” I leapt from my sleep. “What is it?”
“Chase, are you okay?” Penny appeared terrified.
“Did she hurt you?” I asked.
“What? No. Nobody hurt me. Are you okay? You were talking in your sleep—and not in English.”
The hatch above my head was open and I could still smell Anya’s skin. She had been there. She was alive.
I tried to gather my wits and say something to Penny, but I was overwhelmed.
She stroked my hair and kissed my cheek. “You were dreaming. It’s okay.”
I scanned the cabin, trying to make sense of what was happening, but it was too much. It was too real.
“I’m sorry, Penny. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“You didn’t frighten me. It was just weird. It sounded like you were speaking Russian or something. Do you actually speak Russian?”
“Yeah, I speak a little. My German is okay, and my Spanish is good enough to get by.”
“Why?”
“My mother spoke German and both of my parents spoke Spanish. We traveled a lot when I was a kid.”
“But why Russian?” she asked.
“It sort of happened along the way.”
“You just sort of happened to learn Russian?”
“Yes,” I admitted.
“Nobody just happens to learn Russian. There’s more to you than you’re telling me.”
I was embarrassed. Maybe it was Fred’s sleeping pills that brought Anya to my boat and into my cabin where I was sleeping with another woman, but we were only sleeping—nothing more.
Why do I feel like I have to justify my actions to a woman who lied to me every time she opened her mouth, and who is most likely dead?
My watch showed that it was almost six. The sun would be making its appearance soon, and we’d be headed for Wilmington.
I kissed Penny’s forehead. “I’m very sorry for waking you. Go back to sleep. I’m going to make some coffee.”
She held my face in her hands. “There’s a lot going on behind those eyes, but it won’t always be like that. You’ll heal and you’ll be stronger, Chase. Stronger and better.”
I closed my eyes and pulled her close to me. “Thank you.”
I inhaled the scent of her hair and imagined what she must be thinking about the man lying beside her—the man who’d been talking to a ghost. The man who never believed he’d be better, or stronger, or whole, ever again.
19
Hatteras Astern
I couldn’t shake Anya from my head as I motored from the anchorage and headed northeast for Wilmington. Her voice and skin were so real. It had to have been Fred’s prescription coupled with Penny’s psych analysis that brought her to my dream. That was the only reasonable explanation.
Instead of emerging from the eastern horizon, the sun burst across the surface of the North Atlantic and obliterated the darkness as if it were angry or afraid of being late. Dolphins leapt from the waves, and birds of every species and size soared through the morning sky and dived into the ocean for their morning meal, or perhaps just for fun. The Earth had come alive with a vengeance on that windy, hot summer morning off the coast of North Carolina.
As always, Aegis was sailing as if she were alive and longed to do nothing else. She cut through the growing waves and obeyed my every whim. She was a magical and magnificent boat. I doubted if I’d ever see her equal.
By the time Clark and Penny crawled out of their bunks and made it on deck, I’d finished my second cup of coffee and settled into the routine of another day’s sailing.
“Good morning, guys. There’s a fresh pot of coffee and French toast ready to be grilled if you’re hungry.”
“Well,” said Clark, stretching and yawning, “you’re chipper this morning. It must have been a good night for you.”
He was expecting me to play along, but he didn’t realize Penny was behind him.
Penny jumped in. “Oh, it was some kind of night. I had him speaking in tongues. I hope we didn’t keep you awake.”
Obviously embarrassed, he shook his head and didn’t look back at her. “You could’ve warned me she was right behind me.”
“Yep, I could have, but what fun would that be?”
He headed for the coffee pot and mouthed “I’m sorry” to Penny. She slid through the doorway onto the aft deck with an enormous grin on her face.
We sailed through the day with a much-appreciated southeast wind pushing us along at thirteen knots. We arrived in Wilmington late afternoon and found a spot to tie up, in front of a waterfront restaurant that looked promising.
“Does this mean I don’t get to cook for you tonight?” Penny asked when Clark and I finished tying up to the dock.
“Yep, that’s what it means,” I said. “Dinner’s on us tonight, and someone else can do the dishes.”
By the time my first night in Wilmington was over, I didn’t want to leave. The town was incredible. It was a college town with amazing restaurants, shops, and nightlife. The sidewalks were booming with folks from eighteen to eighty and everything in between.
* * *
Sleeping off the excitement we had the night before, I didn’t get to watch the sun climb into the morning sky. I don’t know what time we went to bed, but it was almost nine in the morning before anyone was stirring aboard Aegis. Thankfully, there were no headaches, but none of us was eager to get back out on the blue.
We took care of a few minor maintenance issues and finally set sail midafternoon with a plan to sail through the night and arrive at Cape Hatteras by the following afternoon. We’d decided to bypass Oriental on the northbound leg, and considered spending a couple days there when we headed back south after hurricane season.
During Penny’s turn to sleep, Clark and I sat on the deck and talked about what lay ahead.
“What do you think Fred has in mind for us when we make it to Virginia Beach?”
“I really don’t know,” said Clark. “I don’t think it’s possible to predict what that little guy is going to do next. I’ve never met anyone like him.”
“I agree.” I understood what he meant. Fred was the most unique character I’d ever known. “So, I’ve been considering what Padre told us about Anya. Do you think he knows what he was talking about?”
“I’ve been thinking about that, too, and I’m not sure you’re going to like what I’m thinking.”
“Let’s hear it,” I said. “There’s no reason to hold back.”
“Well, I’m honestly worried about what you’re going to do. I know she worked her way inside that head of yours and left some pretty nasty scars. I want to know what your plans are.”
“Yeah, she cut pretty deep. To be honest, I don’t know what I plan to do. I have to go after her. I have to know if she’s alive, but I don’t know what I’m going to say to her. I don’t know if I’m going to want to kill her, kiss her, or cuss her . . .
maybe all three.”
“I was afraid your answer was going to be something like that. You know I’ll follow you into Hell wearing gasoline underpants. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again, but I’m going to need to know the plan this time.”
Clark had saved my life more than once, and he’d proven his willingness to take a stand beside me when no one else would. I owed him more than I’d ever be able to repay, and I treasured his friendship. I liked that we could be honest with each other and disagree, but still come out the other side more determined to survive together. I doubted I would’ve survived without him.
“That brings up another point we need to discuss,” he said. “What are we going to do with Penny?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to put her on a plane when we get to Virginia Beach. I can’t include her in whatever Fred has in store.”
“Yeah, but she’s nice to have around. I think she’s good for you, and she’s a lot of help on the boat.”
“Yeah, she is great on the boat, but you’ll never believe this. We’ve not slept together yet. I mean we’ve slept in the same bed because you wouldn’t give up your cabin, but we’ve never done more than sleep.”
“Are you serious? You’ve slept in the same bed with that beautiful, feisty woman twice, and you’ve never. . . .”
“Nope, we’ve never.”
“Why? Is it Anya?”
“I don’t know. I mean, don’t get me wrong. She’s amazing, and I’d love to do a lot more than just sleep, but it’s a subject that hasn’t come up.”
“Well, if you’re not going to . . .”
“Don’t make me shoot you.”
He raised his hands in a “don’t shoot me” gesture. “Hey, hey! I’m messing with you. She’s way out of my league.”
“Mine, too. But she is very good for me.”
“What about Tornovich?” he said, abruptly changing the subject.
Hearing his name boiled my blood. “If that son of a bitch is still alive, I’ll find him and turn him inside out.”
Clark smirked. “There it is. There’s the drive. I knew I’d find it. I was afraid it was Anya. But it’s Tornovich . . . that’s excellent.”
“What are you talking about?” I was still raging.
“I’m talking about where your head is. I thought you’d been planning every step of the mission to find Anya if Padre’s information was good, but you’ve been steaming over the comrade colonel. Now we can get down to business.”
It was true. I had too many things dancing around in my mind, but finding and killing Tornovich was the white-hot center of the fire in my skull.
“Here’s how I see it.” I focused my hatred for the man. “If Tornovich is still alive, and we have no reason to believe he isn’t, he has one solitary goal: to either kill or recover Anya. I think he’s rogue. I don’t think he’d be in the States with the blessing of the Kremlin. They’re not that stupid. They’d never dispatch a high-level colonel when a team of younger, faster, stronger operators could do the job undetected. He has to be on his own, and that makes him weak.”
“That also makes him dangerously unpredictable. If you’re right and he’s gone rogue, he’s not playing by any rules, and he’ll do anything to find Anya and get back at you for the stunt we pulled with the sub.”
“We need someone who thinks like Tornovich. We need a ruthless, deadly, Cold War thinker,” I said.
It hit us simultaneously. “Gunny!”
Gunny was the fifty-something, or maybe sixty-something, tactical training officer from The Ranch. He was the most deadly and tactically minded person I knew. If anyone could sniff out Tornovich, it was Gunny.
I leapt to my feet and programmed the chart plotter and autopilot.
“We don’t have time for a stop at Hatteras. We’re going to the Chesapeake.”
With a fresh plan and a new course, Clark headed for bed. He’d need his rest when his watch started in six hours. Penny would be up and at the helm in two more hours, and I had lot to do before then.
When Penny arrived on deck, she didn’t question the new plan. She simply listened as I explained that we’d be continuing on to Virginia Beach instead of stopping at Cape Hatteras.
“The new course is programmed into the chart plotter already. We’ll be staying offshore and taking advantage of the southeasterly wind. It’s three hundred miles to our new destination with nothing in our way.”
She stuck out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“What?” I furrowed my brow in confusion.
She gave me that flawless smile of hers. “I knew you were in there somewhere. Whatever happened in the last four hours has brought out the real Chase Fulton, and I like him.”
She ran her fingers through my hair and kissed me seductively beneath my ear. “Get some sleep. You’re going to need your strength for the things I’m going to do to you when we pull into wherever we’re going.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” I said after I’d kissed her once more.
“Oh, before you go, I talked to Kip and Teri and she’s getting better every day. Kip says the insurance came through for the boat, so they’re going to order another one, but they’re thinking about a trawler instead of another cat.”
“I’m glad she’s improving,” I said, but I couldn’t imagine trading the freedom of a sailing catamaran for the slow, cramped living of a trawler.
I took one of Fred’s sleeping pills and crashed the instant my head hit the pillow. I needed to focus, and I needed a mission. I had both, and I was unstoppable.
It took another day and a half to make Bay Point Marina in Norfolk, Virginia, working four-hour watches each with eight hours off between them. We’d settled into the routine and arrived well rested and anxious to hit the ground running. At least Clark and I were anxious to hit the ground; Penny had other plans.
I called Fred to let him know we’d arrived, and I insisted that he bring Gunny with him when he headed for Norfolk. He reluctantly agreed and promised to be there by noon the following day, even if he had to drag Gunny by his heels.
“Don’t try that,” I told him. “It won’t go well for you.”
“I’m not afraid of that cranky old curmudgeon,” he said.
“Then you’re crazier than I thought.”
“That’s certainly true,” he said before hanging up.
I hadn’t even pressed the end button on my phone by the time Penny grabbed my shirt and forcefully urged me toward my cabin. She spent the next two hours showing me what years of yoga had done for her flexibility and endurance. I’d spent months in the arms of one of the most beautiful women in the world, a Russian SVR officer who’d been trained to seduce and take a man’s body on a journey he’d never forget, but Penny had eclipsed any skill I’d known any woman to possess. I was mesmerized by the things she’d done, and I was left in awe imagining how anyone could make my body do the things it had done. I was exhausted and exhilarated, amazed and enamored.
We fell asleep in each other’s arms, and I slept like the dead, even without Fred’s sleeping pills.
20
Young Jedi
“You must be Penny.” Fred opened his arms to embrace her on the aft deck of my boat—the boat on which he didn’t ask permission to come aboard.
Penny placed one hand in the center of his chest. “And you must be some person I don’t know.”
“It’s okay, Penny,” I said as I walked through the doorway. “This is my psychiatrist and spiritual advisor, Doctor Fred.”
With enough vinegar in her tone to leave Fred momentarily speechless, she said, “It’s nice to meet you, Doctor Fred, but I have a policy against hugging spiritual advisors who board without permission.”
“Oh my. Clark was right. She’s more than a match for your wit, Chase. It’s good to see you, my favorite student.”
I shook Fred’s hand and accepted the hug Penny had shunned. “Have you had breakfast?
”
“I have, but I’d love a Bloody Mary,” he said, looking past me into the galley.
Penny turned for the interior of the boat. “Would you care for anything, Chase? You may need to replenish your carbs.”
“No, but thank you for asking.” I was unable to avoid the accompanying grin I was certain Fred would notice . . . and note.
Penny returned shortly with a Bloody Mary fit for any country club in the world.
I admired her creation. “I didn’t know we had olives aboard.”
“There’s a great many things you don’t know I bring with me everywhere I go. So far, you’ve only had a sampling.”
Fred laughed, and in his best Yoda voice, said, “Your hands full with this one you have, young Jedi.”
Clark came through the doorway making some sort of guttural attempt at sounding like Chewbacca. Fred stood to greet him.
“Ah, it’s good to see you again as well, Mr. Johnson. Thank you so much for your help recently. I see our treatment protocol is working exactly as intended.”
“Welcome aboard, Doc. I’m an old soldier. If there’s one thing I can do, it’s follow orders.”
“What are you two talking about?” I demanded.
“It will all come together nicely for you in a few moments, Chase. For now, sit back, relax, and listen closely.”
Fred had always been weird, but I’d never known him to be wrong, so I was willing to play along for the time being. I sat back on the cushions of the aft deck settee and listened as he spoke in metered cadence.
“Listen closely, Chase. You’re perfectly safe among friends who will protect you at all costs. You have nothing to fear and nothing to dread. Relax, breathe in, and exhale. Relax and close your eyes.” He clapped his hands together like cymbals right in front of my face.
I felt the wind escaping his palms as the sharp crack of his colliding hands penetrated my mind, and left me perfectly and wholly asleep, entranced, and hypnotized.
I’d learned hypnotherapy techniques in school, but I’d never been hypnotized. I doubted, in fact, that it was truly possible. I was at rest, yet I knew everything that was happening around me. I heard sounds I’d never before heard. I detected smells I’d never smelled. Although my eyes were closed, I pictured everything in my world in soft pastels, and I felt a breeze I hadn’t noticed before my trance. It was the most peaceful and magnificent state I’d ever known. I imagined that must be what Heaven is: perfect safety and absolute awareness. I never wanted it to end.