by Wesley Stein
When they didn’t see her, the sisters circled the pick-up line and crossed the walkway to the parking area. The airport was very small and the sisters found it easy enough to scan the lot for a petite brown woman with a waterfall of curly black hair.
The sisters had been troubled since they had departed home. They’d spoken to Tuahine the day before they left. Joanna had discussed details of their arrival with her. But each time they tried to call the next day, first from home, then from the cab, and again from the airport, Tuahine would not answer.
By the time their plane touched down in the archipelago, they were worried about their friend.
“I don’t see her,” Joanna said with a hand to her brow in a salute to the sun.
Jacey spun around when she heard squeaking from the brakes of a car behind her. The vehicle stopped and a woman stepped out of the driver’s side. She was alone.
“You must be the Sisters Berklee,” the woman said as she brought her hands together thoughtfully. Her eyes were kind, but she appeared troubled. “I am Tamar, a friend of Tuahine. She sent me for you.”
“Where is she?” Joanna asked skeptically.
“She’s had an accident at the shipyard. She’s been aboard the Pac Panamax.”
“The what?”
“A cargo ship,” Tamar said. “It was the closest medical care available, the ship’s in the harbor. I can take you.”
Unsure and worried, the sisters piled into the sedan with Tamar and she drove them from the airport, circling the island along its only major roadway.
Forty-five degrees around the island was the shipyard, and the Pac Panamax was a small cargo vessel docked there. Tamar paused at a guardhouse near the parking area of the shipyard and flashed an ID.
“I have three guests,” she said to the attendant.
“They’ll need to sign in with Kerme,” he replied. “Before they go aboard.”
“No problem,” Tamar said with a smile and pulled forward.
After they’d parked, they walked the shipyard to the gangway where they paused around the corner from a small dock house.
Tamar waited until a man emerged from the dock house and looked her way. Then she led the sisters toward him.
“I have three guests boarding, Kerme,” she said.
He offered a clipboard and Tamar signed it for everyone. She handed it back to him and grinned.
The sisters didn’t see the name sewn into the breast of his jumpsuit. It did not read Kerme, but Philippe.
Had the sisters noticed that detail, they may have questioned Tamar’s intentions. They may have asked for a phone call from Tuahine. But worry and fear made fools of them and the moment they stepped aboard the Pac Panamax, they were accosted by a team of men .
They were bound with zip-ties, duct-tape, and pillowcases.
Eventually they felt the engines fire and sensed the movement of the ship away from the dock as they sat together in the dark and waited to discover their fate.
They wondered if Tuahine had been wrong. Maybe their parents had been taken hostage all those years ago? Or maybe this had something to do with Tuahine’s theory about the island. Had someone found out the sisters were wealthy? If so, this could have been a random kidnapping.
After almost two days, they were brought to the deck. They could feel the warmth of the sun and easily see shapes and movement from beneath their hoods.
They were tied to a rail and a man with a gun was ordered to watch over them.
“This is the most valuable cargo we’ve ever carried,” someone said and that made the sisters feel more hopeful. If they were valuable, perhaps they wouldn’t be harmed.
It got dark soon.
The three women sat together on the swaying deck and awaited their fate. But suddenly, one of the men was untying them from the rail in haste.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.
Joanna didn’t know what to make of the man’s intentions at first. But the captor was being quiet, stealthy. He didn’t want the other men to know what he was doing. Joanna figured he was going to force himself onto them, sexually.
“No!” She tried to call from under her gag, but the dark man put a hand over her mouth.
“Quiet! It’s me.”
He grabbed each of the women under the arm and led them to a rescue boat that was mounted to a lift on the side of the ship. When he’d put them each into the boat, the man pushed a button and the boat began to slowly descend to the water.
The sisters' nerves spiked. They weren’t sure what was happening. It felt terrifying to be lowered over the side of the massive cargo ship in the middle of the dark ocean.
When the boat hit the water, the girls heard the engine fire and felt their captor’s weight in the back.
In a second the boat suddenly sprang up and sped away. The alarm was raised on the ship and we heard gunfire.
Before Joanna knew what was happening, her hands were being untied. The man was unbinding her. Joanna didn’t know what to make of it.
He left the hoods on her head, distracted suddenly with a problem with the motor, but untied her hands as he sped away from the ship.
Joanna was already searching for a weapon. It didn’t take long for her to find the oar beneath her seat.
There were six of us ready to assault the island. I was hell-bent on bringing my sisters home. Tuahine was willing to risk everything for them too. Her son, Tua, strong and smart, was our leader. Robbins was the support, there to help from the boat in any way he could. He would also fire the Ma Deuce .50 cal mounted on top of the bridge. Shakes knew the island better than anyone and Andy knew Juliet better than anyone. We were ready. We were a team.
“Land ho!” Robbins called from his control deck.
I was standing at the bow with Tuahine. We had already witnessed the island appear on the coming horizon.
“There it is,” I said.
“Are you ready?” Tuahine asked. She added a look of compassion and said with her eyes, I got your back. I nodded.
Robbins did not lead us to the Southern shore, where we had landed before. Shakes had a better tactic.
“We’ll circle the island to the West,” he had said during our planning meetings. “We can make landfall near the northwest crest. If we can reach the top of the mountain undetected, we can slip into the tunnels from the north.”
We rounded the lagoon and slowed the engines when we saw the jagged black scar of the rocky crest. Robbins brought the boat close to shore and tossed anchor. All six of us waded to shore and gathered along the surf for a final meeting.
“Everyone knows their job, right?” Tua asked. He pointed a finger at Shakespeare.
“Catacombs,” Shakespeare said.
Tua pointed at Andy.
“Bread.”
“We’ll find Joanna and Jacey,” Tuahine said next to me.
“And I’ll circle the island in the boat,” Robbins added. “I’ll be out there with the gun when things get shitty.”
“Okay then,” Tua said with a crooked smile. “Let’s do it.”
Juliet lay in the shallow water of the cave floor, at the base of the fountain. She had purged her lungs of water, but two black holes in one of them changed her breathing forever.
Each breath was a gurgling wheeze. Her words now came broken. Pauses were required for her to refill her lungs. She whispered and panted as she neared the end of a sentence to get all the words out.
“We must be. Prepared. For. Them. To. Return.” She hissed from the floor while water showered over her wounds.
Joanna and Jacey were standing close, awaiting orders from their damaged leader. Juliet continued.
“Set watchmen at the top. Of. Each. Crest,” she commanded. “Hide a legion of spearmen. Along. The. Trees. Behind. The village. Guns. Disperse all the. Guns. Where is Tybalt?”
“He is outside the fountain room,” Joanna answered.
“Send him in,” Juliet ordered.
The sisters called for Ty
balt, who’d been waiting outside the fountain room with Claudius and Gertrude.
Tybalt arrived in the fountain room and paused before crossing the bridge where the two sisters waited.
“Tybalt is here,” Joanna informed her mistress. Juliet did not move but to raise her wrist to her forehead in exhaustion.
“Tybalt,” she said. “We’re about to be. Attacked.”
“Yes, mistress?”
“I want you to remember. Something,” she said. “I want you. To. Go. Tell. The village.”
“What is it, ma’am?”
There was a long pause before Juliet spoke again.
“You. Cannot. Die.” She said finally.
Tybalt began to smile. Juliet did not sit up, did not move. But from her back, beneath a shower of silver sparkles, she continued to speak.
“You may feel pain,” she said. “You may feel. Fear. They may shoot. You. A thousand. Times. But we. Have. The Water.”
Tybalt nodded. He was getting excited, almost becoming aroused. He felt like a god.
“Let them come,” he said. He darted from the cavern and up the tunnel.
When he reached the platform, he called out to Claudius and Gertrude.
“Stay here,” he said. “Guard the fountain room.”
Tybalt emerged from the catacombs inspired, with his chin high and his chest out. He ran down the boardwalk, past the huts, to the center of the village, where he swiftly climbed the steps to the center cabin of the Triad, Juliet’s cabin.
Tybalt stood at the edge of the railing, cupped his hands around his mouth, and called across the beach.
“Islanders! Islanders! Islanders!” Slowly but steadily hermits stepped out of their huts, colonists came from their cabins, and soon all the sadists stood in the sand surrounding Tybalt’s makeshift pulpit.
He preached to them then. He spoke of their debt to the fountain, the island, to Juliet. He reminded them of their time in the fountain room and asked if they were willing to defend it.
There were cheers from the rabble. When he told them of the coming attack, the cheers turned to shouts. Soon, the people were calling for war.
Tybalt incensed them, fueled their rage with his words. He told them to fear no weapon and fear no pain. He reminded them of their immortality as he finished his rallying speech with a shout.
“You cannot die! You have the water! You have the fountain! Long live Three-Hook Island!”
“Long live Three-Hook,” the crowd replied as one.
The wall along the northwest crest had vulnerabilities that the southern outcropping had not and Shakes knew them all. We were able to scale the black rock easily and reach the summit of the volcano’s western ridge. From there, we could see down the slope to the northern shore and the wide bay that disguised it.
“Look.”
Andy pointed out to sea, west of the bay. It was Robbins, slowly moving his makeshift gunboat around the island.
Shakes led us over the crest and across the slope of the volcano’s face. When we’d crossed it, he pointed to a trail below us. The trail ended at a cave.
“There,” he said as he pointed out our entry point to the northern shore.
We went in a single-file line, behind Shakes and Tua as they led us down. Our guns were already drawn.
Once inside the dark tunnel, there was only a distant glow of fluorescent light to guide our way. But Shakes soon produced a flashlight from his rucksack and Tua followed suit.
When we reached the first open chamber, it was mostly empty but for a wooden platform built, as it was throughout most of the catacombs, to level the floor. Upon the platform, up which we stepped, were a few plastic cargo bins with interlocking lids. They were empty.
The light we’d been following came from a connecting tunnel. We moved through it and into another room.
This one was familiar. It was the vast chamber with many interconnected passages, the Crossing Cavern. Shakes knew the way well. He didn’t hesitate to silently point everyone toward their respective paths.
Tuahine and I were brought forward first. Shakes pointed out the opening beneath the placard bearing a tree and nodded. We headed off.
When we reached the passage that would lead us to the fountain room, we paused. I waited until Shakes had pointed Tua and Andy toward the cave mouth then we moved forward.
Shakespeare was left in the Crossing Cavern alone with his explosive charges. We planned to cave-in this whole damn colony.
Once in the passage, we slowed and listened for anyone in the chamber ahead. We heard nothing. We crept forward, Tuahine ahead of me, crouched behind her 9MM handgun.
She reached the entrance to the cavern and already we could see the platform risers that led to the fountain’s passageway. Tuahine took a step into the chamber.
“Shit!” She jumped back.
We’d been forced to make a few assumptions to build a plan of attack. We knew most of the islanders would be sleeping. Given the water’s power over new drinkers, Shakes and Andy had reasoned that our sisters would still be in the fountain room. We knew Juliet was wounded and we were prepared for her to be there too.
Andy’s job was to procure bread from Juliet’s cabin, where we assumed she stored it after baking. Tua’s mission was to protect us all. He would cover the catacombs from threat while Shakes placed the explosives. Once our sisters were out, we’d take the bread and head to the boat to meet Robbins while he laid down cover fire with the Browning.
If we could draw Juliet into the cave, detonating the charges as we fled would be a sweet addition to the plan.
But many of our assumptions would prove wrong. Most of the village might have been sleeping but Claudius and Gertrude were standing guard outside the fountain room with automatic weapons. They saw Tuahine.
“Go back!” Tuahine shouted. I spun around and stepped back to the first chamber as gunfire chased us. I worried Tuahine had been hit.
As I reached the opening and stepped aside for cover I saw Tuahine doing the same thing, opposite me. Fragments of stone exploded from the edge of the passageway in clouds of dust. She was fine.
As we waited for our assailants to appear at the end of the tunnel, I looked up to see Shakes darting across the other side of the room. He was crouched low, carrying his rucksack like an infant. Our eyes met for a moment and I could sense his problem. We had drawn gunfire, and he was carrying explosives.
I got Tuahine’s attention and motioned for her to get low. I showed her.
“Get down!” I yelled. “On my go.”
She nodded and went down on one knee. When I gave the signal, we spun low and fired down the tunnel. We had turned the odds. It was now my old parents who were fish in a barrel, the tunnel wasn’t wide enough for them to escape.
Tuahine and I each fired three or four rounds and retreated. We knew we’d hit our targets when the incoming fire stopped. I risked a glance into the passage and saw the couple crawling along the floor.
“Let’s go!” I shouted.
We ran up the tunnel and confiscated Mark and Rachel’s weapons.
“Zip-ties,” Tuahine reminded me as she reached behind her and produced a handful of black zip-ties from her utility pouch.
We bound the couple’s hands and feet then headed to the platform in the chamber ahead.
As we climbed, I glanced across the room and noticed the large boulder we had moved days before. The lever had been replaced and the boulder once again sealed the passage to the tunnel. The macabre prison, with its population of zombie-like inmates was sealed until the next execution.
When we’d reached the top of the platform, I felt the familiar heat from the tunnel. I could sense the power of the water, I could taste the salty sulfur of the air. Tuahine paused and turned to me before we entered the passageway to the fountain room.
“Whatever happens,” she said, “we don’t drink. Got it?”
“Agreed,” I said.
“If one of us is shot, Robbins will get us to a hospital
.”
I nodded and then offered my friend a smile. Tuahine hugged me and I felt like we were going to be okay, no matter what happened.
We stepped into the tunnel and down, until the vast cave opened before us, the fountain rising from the center of the stone island. We spotted the three of them right away, on the other side of the bridge. Joanna and Jacey stood on either side of Juliet, who lay along the floor in front of the spraying water.
They saw us step into the open and they whispered together. Juliet raised her head and my sisters helped her get to her feet. The three of them stepped down from the base of the fountain as we stepped toward the bridge. Juliet raised her arms and smiled.
“Welcome back,” she said. “Have you come to drink?”
None of them were armed, but we didn’t have the upper hand. Firing on them would do no good. We needed to get my sisters out.
“I’ve come to take my sisters home,” I said. “Joanna, Jacey, come with me.”
They didn’t respond.
“They cannot go home,” Juliet replied. “This is their home.”
“We can get you water,” Tuahine said to my sisters. “We’ve found a way. You don’t need to stay here.”
“That’s a lie,” Juliet replied.
“Is it?” Tuahine asked. “Then how do you explain Shakespeare? What about your aunt?”
Juliet’s face changed suddenly. A realization washed over her as Tuahine mentioned her aunt. She knew there was only one way we’d know about Adele.
“Romeo?” She asked with a fleeting breath. Her eyes filled with tears. “You. Found. Him.”
“We did,” Tuahine said. “And he’s here on the island.”
Juliet couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She put a hand to her chest and tried to imagine that what the woman was saying was true.
Meanwhile, outside the caves, the village was being mustered for battle.
Tybalt had marched with a few men to the armory, a steel shipping container tucked beneath one of the stilted huts.
As he allocated the arms, he ordered each islander to a post. Some he set to watch from high on the ridge. Others he positioned near the water, hidden among the dock beams. A pair were ordered to guard each of the entrances to the catacombs. The rest joined his personal guard.