Freedom Earned

by J D Stone

“Yeah, well… be careful out there.”

  He nodded, then turned to me with wide eyes. “Oh, shit, I heard something. Not quite the same, but… one of the islands around here, they call it ‘Death Island.’ Something about a local mafia, and tourists winding up dead from time to time. Bodies washing up on shore elsewhere, stuff like that.”

  “No shit?”

  The stoner nodded. “Yeah, man. Everything I know about Koh Samui says that stuff shouldn’t reach us here, but… damn, maybe it’s spreading. Mafia getting balls the size of coconuts, yeah?”

  “Something like that, I guess.”

  He grunted, stuffed the rest of the brownie into his mouth, and watched the fight as he chewed. I appreciated the silence, since it gave me the chance to think and consider what he had said. It was entirely possible this group had some connection to a local mafia. They had matching clothes, typical of a group trying to make a statement, to show others who not to mess with.

  Finally, the fight ended and I used that as my opportunity to call it a night. I wished him well, then headed back to my room with fingers crossed for Jason being done. Everything I knew of him told me he wouldn’t be able to last this long, but it had been a while since we’d last been in any sort of similar situation—and since there were two ladies, I had no idea what to expect.

  A pause at the door revealed no more grunting or other noises, so I pushed it open an inch to check inside. This time, I wanted to be sure I didn’t see anything not meant for my eyes. At least one form was lying in the bed, light highlighting an ass with a leg wrapped over another. That was enough to tell me there were at least two sleeping there, maybe a third. It wasn’t my place to see more, so I simply snuck in, locked the door, and made my way to my bed.

  As soon as I was on it, I passed the hell out.

  8

  My dreams had been a mix of me and Kosum going at each other wearing only Muay Thai boxing shorts, then her tackling me and the two of us making love on the beach. I awoke with a jolt, my head swimming and pounding, Jason on the other bed without a blanket on, completely exposed. No signs of the ladies.

  As that certainly wasn’t a sight I cared to see, especially first thing in the morning, I grabbed his shirt from one of the chairs and tossed it over to cover him, then made my way to the bathroom. Cold water on my face did the trick to get me alert, and a cup of coffee from the room’s small coffee maker helped.

  To my relief, we had a couple of bananas on the nightstand, along with two bottles of water. Jason had been thinking ahead. I laughed at the three opened condom wrappers. Typical Jason. He hadn’t changed at all. The idea that he would soon be married still boggled my mind, but I was happy for him.

  And the fact that he was using condoms here was certainly a relief.

  I headed back to the bathroom to take a shower. I reached in to turn on the water, then heard a screech. Stepping back, I put up my fists to prepare for a fight, when one of the women from the night before came stumbling out, now wet and gasping.

  Jason was up and standing nearby, cracking up. “That’ll teach her to pass out in the bathtub.”

  The woman glared at me, then him, and started searching for her clothes. “Where’d my friends go?”

  “Friends?” I muttered. Having seen two the night before I had been impressed, but three? That was downright scandalous.

  “Dude, where were you?” Jason asked, ignoring her. “I got this bitch for you, but…”

  “Go to hell,” she said, glaring at him but then eyeing me curiously. “You weren’t here, so I joined in. Sorry.”

  I frowned, trying to wrap my head around the whole situation. This place was strange, indeed.

  “Jason, we need to get back.”

  “A few more days, and we will,” Jason said, standing now and going to wrap his arms around the lady. “I’m just getting started.”

  She was still eying me while she let Jason caress her breasts.

  “No, dude. I mean today. We’re getting tickets and leaving.”

  “So soon?” the woman said, reaching back with her hand between his legs. I really didn’t need to see that, so I turned away toward the window.

  “Yes, so soon.” I stepped closer to the window, frowning at the sight of people moving around out there. More than seemed normal. “What…?”

  “Come on, man. You have a bad night? Sour you didn’t get any? Sally here will blow you for only ten bucks. My treat.”

  I didn’t bother to listen to her saying she would do it for half, although it registered. My focus was on the commotion outside. Pulling the blinds down for a better look, I noted that there were two cop cars, and people forming a line toward the beach.

  “Something’s going on out there.” I went for the door.

  The crowd was a heavy mixture of locals and tourists, a few words reached my ears. “Murdered.” “I met that guy.” “Who was he?” “Dead.”

  It almost didn’t come as a surprise when I made my way to the front of the crowd and saw the stoner from the night before. Not alive and enjoying brownies—he lay dead on the beach. Police tried to get the crowd to disperse, and an officer stood with the bartender on the far side of the crowd.

  Suddenly, the bartender eyed me and pointed. I backed away, heart thudding. I was the last one seen with the guy, in a sense. Or at least, as far as I knew. Meaning the cops would want to at least talk with me.

  I wasn’t planning on sticking around, though, and the reason was deeper than that. The question I had to ask myself was why he had died. Considering what I had gone through the night before, and how this led back to me, I could only come to one conclusion—someone was out to get me. They hadn’t wanted to shoot me but had wanted me to go with them. Now that I had caused them trouble, they were possibly framing me for murder. Or sending a message?

  I turned, backing through the crowd, and found Jason. Sally was with him.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Someone’s dead. We shouldn’t be here.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him with me. At least they were both clothed now. “We have to get out of here.”

  “Not the getting-a-plane-back-to-Tokyo talk again,” he groaned.

  Actually, he had a point. Hopping on a plane might not be the best move quite yet, at least not until I had my story straight. I could go with the truth, but had a feeling the people I was dealing with would have their bases covered. More than that, I didn’t doubt their ability to get the wrong people in the right places. Meaning, they might have corrupt cops on their side.

  Going to the airport might be exactly what they wanted.

  “Let’s grab some mopeds, or… I don’t know. Get out of here.” Eyeing the look of excitement the woman suddenly wore, I asked, “You have an idea?”

  “My cousin owns a snorkeling service. He’d love the extra business.”

  “Jason?”

  “Dude, you know I hate the idea of having my head underwater,” he replied.

  “They have beer on the boat,” the woman said. “Part of the service. All-inclusive.”

  “There you go!” I added. “You don’t have to go in the water.”

  He rubbed his chin, then nodded with a wide grin. “Sold—if this will buy us more time here. I’m having too much damn fun.” That last bit was said with a slap on the lady’s ass.

  She grinned, taking his hand and pulling him along. “Follow me.”

  I couldn’t help but check her out this time. Not because I had seen her nude and was thinking of that, although it was hard not to. But because she was wearing a red plaid skirt. Sexy as hell, I had to admit. For a man skank, Jason was doing okay for himself.

  More importantly, we had a way of staying out of sight for the time being.

  9

  Everything that had happened in the short time we’d been on Koh Samui was running through my mind as I boarded the speedboat with Jason and his girl. Her real name was complicated, something she had said once but then waved it off and said, “But everyone calls me
Honey.”

  “Honey?” I asked, barely paying attention, eyes on the nearby streets, half expecting either the thugs or the police to charge out after me at any minute. What about my boys back at Camp Foster on Okinawa? Maybe I should call them to figure out a way to get back there unnoticed.

  I racked my mind for other ideas, but nothing came. Could boats like this get me out of the country, and take me that route?

  “Lather her up,” Jason said, nodding my way, and I realized that it was the second time he had said it.

  “What?” I blinked, realizing we were already out on the open sea and had left the shore behind. No cops or thugs had arrived. He handed me an orange container of sunblock, then nodded to a woman who was glancing over her shoulder at me. Attractive, slightly wavy black hair with blond highlights, and a piercing in her left nostril.

  “Get your head on,” Jason mouthed, nodding at her again. She smiled and reached back to undo her top, the strings falling as she used her other hand to hold it in place. Honey, meanwhile, was at the front of the ship with her cousin and two other ladies, but she glanced back to see how it was going with us.

  Whether I was distracted or not, I wasn’t going to be rude. Taking the sunblock, I sat next to this other woman. A generous glob of the sunblock in my hands, I rubbed it between them to warm it, then started massaging it into her skin.

  “Moon getting to you already?” Honey asked.

  “Moon?” I asked.

  “I’m Boonsri,” the woman said, arching her back as my hands apparently tickled her. “Moon for when it’s convenient.”

  Honey sat next to Jason on one of the white-cushioned benches opposite us at the back of the boat, and pulled off her skirt, then her shirt. She wore a bright pink bikini beneath, small breasts looking good the way it gave her support.

  “Damn,” Jason said, hand to his mouth.

  “Shut up,” she replied. “It’s only a bathing suit. When it’s time to go in, you’re going to wish you had one.”

  He laughed. “Got my boxers, baby. Good enough, right?”

  It hit me then that I only had boxer briefs—a little more revealing than I felt comfortable with. The thought was fleeting, though, since Moon had moved slightly as I was caressing her, so that my hand moved along the side of her breast.

  “Sorry,” I muttered.

  She laughed. “About what?”

  My gaze met Jason’s and I knew right then what was happening. “Brought a couple of friends, huh?” I asked Honey. “Friends from… work?”

  Honey nodded. “She cheap. Moon is the best, though.”

  “Not cheap,” Moon countered, taking my hand then as she lowered the top. She moved my hand over her breasts, then across her nipple. “But not expensive for you.”

  As much as her fake tits were grabbing my attention, this wasn’t my thing. I pulled back, muttered a curse, and then nodded at them as I moved for the front of the boat. At least I had the sunblock with me. I went ahead and applied it where my skin was exposed.

  “Where are we going?” I asked Honey’s cousin. What had she introduced him as? Chatae? Chakrii? It hit me—Chanchai, that was it.

  Chanchai glanced back, shaking his head as shouting in Thai came from the ladies behind me.

  “Moon not good enough for you?”

  “She’s a pretty girl,” I replied. “Do we have a plan?”

  He guffawed. “Pretty girl is my fiancée. Don’t make her cry.”

  “Sorry?”

  “Don’t apologize to me. To her!” He motioned me back. “Now, get back to her and make her happy, got it? Whatever it takes.”

  This guy wanted me to pay his lady to have my fun. It had been awkward a moment ago, now it was getting straight up ridiculous. I supposed they had talked about this, maybe had a whole money-making scheme going where she slept with the guys and he collected. Half of me wanted to tell the guy he was being more pimp than fiancé, but I got the sense he wouldn’t give two shits. He would probably be more offended about that than me going back there and taking his lady in front of him—especially since he seemed to be offended at the idea that I wouldn’t pay her for any sort of sexual fun.

  Avoiding conflict was my M.O. when possible, so I returned to the back of the boat and saw that Jason had both girls on him, hands down his pants. Moon still had her top off.

  “For fuck’s sake,” I said, exasperated. “Did we come out here to snorkel, or…” A quick glance around made it clear that there was no need to finish the question. There was no snorkeling equipment on board.

  “You can still go,” Jason said, closing his eyes as they caressed him. “We’ll have to stop somewhere to buy the gear.”

  “Jason, I need to talk to you.”

  He opened his eyes, staring at me like I’d killed his dog, then laughed. “Yeah… sure. Ladies?”

  They frowned, but withdrew their hands and then made their way to the front of the boat, giving us a moment of privacy.

  “Blue balls had damn sure better be worth whatever it is you want to say,” Jason said. “Also, dammit man, why can’t you simply have fun?”

  “Fun?”

  “Yes! You think Moon wants to be stuck with that guy the rest of her life? Give her a taste of freedom. Plant that American flag while you can. You see those breasts?”

  “I did,” I admitted. “But… I have other things on my mind.”

  “You chose this moment to come out?”

  “No.”

  He blinked, then leaned forward, adjusting himself. “Not even a joke there? Damn, this is serious.”

  “Possibly life or death.” I went back to the rear of the boat, eyeing the horizon. Water led off to another island or two that direction, Koh Samui fading to my right. The water was turquoise, sun sparkling through it. Standing there, I told him all about the thugs, then talking with the tourist guy and how he had ended up dead.

  “Well, damn.” He let that linger for a long moment as giggling came from the front of the boat. Finally, he glanced over at me. “How?”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “I mean, how did you get such an awesome life, man?”

  “Were you listening to anything I said? None of it is awesome.”

  He shrugged. “Dude, you’re alive with hot-ass babes on a boat in Thailand, action going on around you…what’s there to complain about?”

  “Again, near-death, a woman who might be in trouble, cops who might be waiting for me when we get back—for all I know.” I inhaled deeply, then let it out slowly. My lungs felt constricted and I needed to relax. Stumbling back to my seat, I reclined there for a moment, then looked up at him.

  His face was creased with worry. “Dude, I was…trying to inject some levity, here. Didn’t mean to give you an aneurysm.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yes, bro…” He sat next to me, hand on my shoulder. “We’ve known each other since we were practically kids, yeah? What, I’m going to abandon you when times get tough? All because I have my titty goggles on, and two ladies fondling me at once?” He turned to stare in the direction of the giggling, then chuckled but shook his head. “Of course not. This is me and you, okay? We’re going to get you out of this mess.”

  “I…hope so.”

  “We lie low, right? Do some swimming, find some other point to dock at, and get the hell out of Dodge.”

  “Think it’ll work?”

  “The right bribes in the right places, we’ll be golden.”

  “If you don’t spend all your money on puntang.” I shook my head, both amazed and disgusted by his actions. “Hey, at least you’re living your dream. Everything it was cracked up to be?”

  He smiled wide and nodded. “That, and so much more.”

  “Let’s make the most of it while we can.” I hoped to find some calm before the storm that was undoubtedly about to hit.

  10

  What followed was enough to almost let me forget about my worries. They let me pilot the boat for a little, an experience that
didn’t go smoothly, especially when I nearly tipped us over going sideways at a wave. We came to rest right off the coast with land nearby but far enough out for a swim. The ladies jumped in first with me following close behind, dressed in my boxer briefs. No snorkeling gear, but they insisted it didn’t matter.

  Sure enough, even ducking under the water was impressive—the fluorescent fish were completely visible in the almost crystal-clear water swimming against the background of the brightly colored coral. So were the ladies’ bodies, I couldn’t help but notice.

  They swam around, then went back up. I surfaced for a breath and found Moon splashing me playfully. I drew another breath, then went back down. When I turned, she was there, grinning with bubbles escaping her mouth as she gave me a quick flash.

  Clearly, she was working me to get some money. Or maybe simply having fun? It was hard to tell when considering what she did for a living.

  I gave her an appreciative nod, but shook my head when she gestured to my boxer-briefs as if to say, now you show me yours. Wasn’t about to happen.

  Instead, I turned to appreciate some more of the amazing variety of tiny fishes, all the colors of the rainbow, then surfaced again and held onto the side of the boat.

  Jason eyed me, then turned away. “Stunning, right?”

  To my surprise he nodded out at the water, not referring to the ladies. “It is.”

  “I could retire out here, you know? Leave it all behind, do nothing but this for the rest of my life.”

  “And your…” I lowered my voice. “Fiancée?”

  “Well yeah, I mean hypothetically. If things were different.”

  I nodded but said, “Not me.”

  “Dude. This place, what you’ve been going through? That doesn’t happen.”

  “Except that it is. To me.”

  He eyed me a moment, then gave a half laugh. “Just… are you sure?”

  “What?”

  “Maybe… were you drugged or something? Took acid, I don’t know?” He tapped his head, then climbed back onto the back of the boat. “It could all be in your head, right?”