by Lucas Flint
“Good to hear!” said Red Tide. “Bring your yacht a little closer so we can lower the ramp. I will personally deliver the weapon to Seth myself. You can tell him that.”
“Aye,” said Janet again in that same irresistibly sexy voice of hers. “I will go and tell him that.”
With that, Janet turned around and strutted back into the yacht. I think all of us guys were at least a bit disappointed when she stepped into the yacht and the door closed behind her, although for me, it was like waking up from a weird dream. I suddenly found that I could think clearly again, which was odd because I hadn’t even realized I wasn’t thinking clearly at all.
Abruptly, Red Tide whirled around and shouted, “What are you idiots doing? Stop standing around and get that weapon out! Or else each and every one of you drooling morons will swim back to Florida without life jackets.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It didn’t take long for Katsuki and Hilda to emerge onto the top deck carrying a long, metal case between them. The case was about as long as a full-grown man and had no indication about what it was other than the words ‘TOP SECRET’ stamped on the lid. The two pirates dropped the case onto the deck and stepped away, both panting and sweating from the weight of the thing.
“Hey, why did you put it down?” asked Red Tide incredulously. He gestured toward the lowered ramp, which was lowered onto the deck of the yacht. “We ain’t putting it down until we get it to the client.”
“Sorry, Captain,” said Katsuki, whose face was red from the exertion. He wiped the sweat off his brow. “It’s simply very heavy and we were barely able to lift it between the two of us. Not sure we can carry it all the way to the yacht.”
Sensing an opportunity, I stepped forward and said, “Captain, Fred and I here can lift the case for you if you’d like. We’re strong and don’t mind a little physical labor, right, Fred?”
‘Fred,’ of course, was Fingerprints’ fake name, but he nodded in agreement as if I had just referred to him by his real name. “Yes. We will handle it with the gentlest care.”
Red Tide looked at the two of us with skepticism in his eyes. “Hmm, you two do look strong, but to be safe, I will have two other guys help you. And don’t drop it. If it falls into the sea, you’re going in with it. Got it?”
“Of course,” I said.
With my super strength, I could have easily lifted the entire case with one hand and carried it on my shoulders, but the crew of the Red Tide still thought that Fingerprints and I were normal humans, so I had to rely on my natural strength to lift it. Even then, it wasn’t as hard as it could have been, especially when two other members of the crew grabbed the handles on either side. With the four of us, what must have weighed two hundred pounds suddenly felt very light, although we had to be careful as we walked down the ramp so we wouldn’t lose our grip and send it falling into the ocean between our ship and the yacht.
I kept my eyes on the case as we walked, trying to figure out what the weapon was. I know it was supposed to be a top-secret government weapon, but in my experience, the government rarely had good reason to keep secrets, especially the G-Men. Unfortunately, x-ray vision wasn’t one of my powers, so all I could guess was that it was probably something heavy, which wasn’t very helpful.
When we reached the yacht, we didn’t put the weapon down yet. Red Tide led us to the door that Janet had used to enter the yacht. He went inside first and then our little group followed, with the door closing behind us automatically. It was a little unnerving, but I soon forgot all about my nerves when I saw exactly where we were.
We had entered what appeared to be a large penthouse. The floor was covered in shag rugs and solid wood, while a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling that made it seem like daylight in here. There was even a fireplace in one corner, although it didn’t seem active at the moment, while the scent of fresh wood and leather filled our nostrils. A large sofa shaped like a semicircle sat in the center of the room on top of what appeared to be a rug made out of tiger flesh, while a large flat screen TV stood opposite it that had the most recent video game systems, of all things, hooked up to it. I also heard what sounded like classical music playing softly in the background, but I couldn’t determine where the speakers were.
A set of stairs with golden rails went up to the second floor, which I assume must have been the client’s—Seth’s—bedroom. The door, from what I could tell, was made out of pure gold, which struck me as really extravagant.
I whistled under my breath to Fingerprints as we lowered the heavy steel case onto the floor. “Whoa. Fancy, isn’t it?”
“Of course it is,” said Red Tide, who had apparently heard me whispering. “As I told you wax-eared idiots earlier, our client is a very wealthy man who will make all of us very wealthy for this job.”
“You said that about the last guy we did a job for,” one of the other pirates mumbled. “Then you spent all the money on booze.”
“And it was the best booze I ever drunk,” said Red Tide without missing a beat. He sighed. “The booze I will be able to buy with this money will be—”
Red Tide was interrupted by the door at the top of the stairs opening. Two people stepped out of the doorway and began making their way down the stairs. One of them was Janet, whose mere appearance suddenly made it very hard for me to think rationally.
The other one, however, I did not recognize. He was much older than Janet. Whereas Janet was probably in her mid-twenties, this man was clearly in his late fifties. His gray hair and wrinkled skin was a dead giveaway to his age, yet he looked better than most older men his age. He walked with his back straight and his very large chest out. Even with his black-and-white pinstripe suit on, I could tell this was one old guy who didn’t let himself go. Janet clung to his arm like a loyal puppy, her eyes not on anyone else but him as they made their way down the stairs toward us.
The man, however, seemed to pay Janet no attention whatsoever. He looked down at us and his eyes first landed on the case before abruptly looking at me. Unless my own eyes were playing tricks on me, I thought I saw a glimmer of recognition in his eyes, but then he looked away from me. Maybe I reminded him of someone he knew because I had never seen this guy before in my life.
“Captain Tide,” said the man as he and Janet reached the bottom of the stairs. “I am pleased to see that the mission was a success and you retrieved the weapon.”
A glance at Fingerprints showed he rolled his eyes when the man used the word ‘retrieved’ to describe an outright theft, but luckily for us, the man apparently didn’t notice that.
“It was easy,” said Red Tide, putting his hands on either side of his large waist. “The government never saw it coming. I’ve stolen candy from babies that was better protected than this thing.”
“Yes, of course,” said the man, although he seemed to be humoring Red Tide more than anything. “And I take it that these men are your crew?”
“Parts of it, yes,” said Red Tide. He gestured at me and Fingerprints. “These two are my newest. They joined just last night, as a matter of fact, after beating one of my own in combat.”
“Indeed?” said the man. His eyes darted to me and this time I saw that he did recognize me, which was weird because I still didn’t recognize him. “Seth Richards. This is my wife, Janet.”
Seth introduced Janet with the same enthusiasm that a kid might introduce their young annoying sibling. Janet smiled at me and Fingerprints when he mentioned her, which almost caused both of us to melt from her beauty.
“No need to introduce yourself to my grunts, Mr. Richards,” said Red Tide, suddenly standing between us and the Richards without a hesitation. He gestured at the case. “Here is the weapon, as promised. And it’s in one piece, too. I made sure these dingbats didn’t so much as bump it accidentally. It is in perfect condition.”
“Excellent job, Captain,” said Seth. He stroked his chin. “Do you mind if I take a peek at it now? I don’t doubt your word, but I’ve been looking forward to g
etting this particular weapon for a while now and I can’t wait any longer to look at it.”
Red Tide held out a hand. “First, give me the money, like we agreed. Then you can look at it all you want.”
Seth smiled, which was a chilling expression on his face for some reason. “What happened to Red Tide the businessman who wants to please his customers? I will pay you. I simply want to see the weapon first.”
Although Seth’s words and tone were pleasant enough, Red Tide suddenly lowered his hand to his side and stepped to the side. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like Red Tide was actually afraid of Seth, even though Red Tide was the one with the powers here, unless Seth happened to be a superhuman as well.
“Uh, sure, Mr. Richards,” said Red Tide. “Here, I will open it and show you it myself.”
Red Tide bent over and began undoing the locks and straps holding the lid down. It wasn’t long before the lid popped open and Red Tide opened it entirely. Eager, I leaned over to see what it was—
And got sprayed with a face full of powerless gas.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Coughing and hacking, I staggered away from the case, my eyes watering from the gas. I could barely see anything and tried to rub the gas out of my eyes, but that just made my eyes tear up even more.
“Charles?” said Fingerprints, who I heard somewhere nearby, also hacking and coughing. “Charles, are you there? What happened—”
Something hard and heavy slammed into the back of my head and I fell to my knees. I heard Fingerprints fall nearby and then felt a couple of strong hands snap heavy manacles around my wrists. Still hacking, I struggled to break free, but that just earned me another slam to the back of the head that left me even dizzier than before.
“Nice try, kid,” said Red Tide’s voice, which sounded strangely distant now for some reason, “but you didn’t think I was going to let you see the weapon that easily, were you?”
Blinking hard, my vision gradually began to clear, until soon I could see everything again.
I was down on my knees. Fingerprints knelt beside me, although based on the way he was bent over, I could tell that his vision still hadn’t cleared. His hands were shackled behind him with thick manacles and a glance over my shoulder showed that mine were restrained the same way.
We were also surrounded. The other two pirates who had helped us move the case stood on either side of us, guns drawn and aimed at our heads. Red Tide himself still stood where he had before, but his arms crossed his chest and he was grinning like the devil now. Seth and Janet had also remained in their positions, with Seth smiling in an amused way and Janet smiling in a rather ditzy way like she didn’t quite grasp what was going on but was pleased that Seth was pleased nonetheless.
“What …” I coughed hard. “What was that?”
Red Tide kicked the case toward me. “That was a trap, my young, stupid friend.”
Blinking again, I looked into the case and saw that it was indeed empty. Only a spray bottle of powerless gas, attached to some kind of squirting mechanism, sat in the dark, soft-lined interior of the case. Other than that, I didn’t see any sort of super special secret weapon that could potentially give America’s enemies an edge over us militarily.
“Oh, the look on your face is priceless,” said Red Tide with a chuckle. “Look at the stupid kid. He really thought we had a weapon.”
I blinked again. “You mean you don’t?”
“Clearly, he failed to inherit his father’s intelligence,” said Seth, although he sounded more amused than condescending like Red Tide. “A disappointment, because his father was truly an intellect for our times.”
“Eh, this kid and his government pal here thought they had us fooled,” said Red Tide. He shook his head. “They think I’m an idiot just because I have a pirate accent. Let this be a lesson: Never underestimate Captain Red Tide or his crafty brain.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “What happened? Did you have this planned the entire time? Was there ever really a weapon at all?”
Red Tide laughed. “Of course there was—and still is—a weapon. But guess what? It ain’t here. It’s still back on the Red Tide, hidden in my personal quarters, which is the only place it could possibly be. Don’t hide gold on a pirate ship where pirates can get it.”
Bewildered, I said, “But this case—”
“Oh, it used to have the weapon in it,” said Red Tide, gesturing at the case dismissively, “but once I found out who you two really were, I had Katsuki swap out the real weapon for that powerless gas. That way, when we opened it, you and your friend here would be sprayed in the face and become as harmless as hens. Brilliant plan, if I do say so myself.”
“How did you find out who we were?” asked Fingerprints. His face was stained with tears, but his vision seemed to have returned because he was looking at Red Tide now. “We kept our identities secret.”
“That would be thanks to the tireless effort of Tiny here,” said Red Tide. “Tiny, come out and play.”
Abruptly, Tiny grew to his full size, standing next to Red Tide with the most self-satisfied grin on his face I had ever seen on the face of another human being.
“Tiny here spied on you two last night when you thought you were alone in your cozy little room together,” said Red Tide, slapping Tiny on the shoulder. “He overheard every word you guys said and relayed it all to me. That’s how I found out who you are, Charles … or should I say Bolt, son of the late, great Genius?”
My eyes widened. “Why did you have Tiny spy on us? I thought we had earned your place on your crew.”
Red Tide threw back his head and laughed. “Ha! What a silly question. Rule number one of being a pirate: Trust no one, including—no, especially—your own crew. And that goes double for new crew members who coincidentally show up the night before a big, lucrative business deal is about to go down.”
I knew everything had been too easy for us, but that didn’t stop me from feeling embarrassed and ashamed of myself anyway. “So once you realized who we were, why didn’t you just kill us? You could have killed us in our sleep last night.”
“Because I told him not to,” said Seth, speaking up for the first time since the gas was sprayed in my face. “You see, Red Tide and I were on the phone together last night. He informed me about the spies—that is, you two—who had clumsily infiltrated his crew. He intended to eliminate them, but I convinced him to allow them to live just a little while longer, at least until I could get a good look at them.”
“And I still don’t see the point of it,” said Red Tide with a grunt. “Spies and traitors ought to be killed as soon as they are discovered. They’re like rats. You don’t want them in your kitchen and you certainly don’t want them on your crew.”
“My reasons for sparing them are my own, Captain,” said Seth in his usual cool, pleasant voice. “In particular, I am pleased to find that the young man is Bolt, as I suspected he was. He looks just like his father, albeit without any glasses.”
“Father?” I said. “You knew my dad?”
“You could say that,” said Seth vaguely. “In any case, I am glad to see you, although I am sorry to say that even I didn’t expect our first meeting to be under such … delicate circumstances.”
“Delicate shmelicate,” said Red Tide. “Can I kill them now? Please?”
Seth stroked his chin. “No, not yet. At least, not the boy. I don’t care about the G-Man agent. They can all burn in hell for all I care.”
“I am pleased to see we are of one mind about those accursed G-Men,” said Red Tide in a pleasant voice. He looked over at Fingerprints and grinned. “I knew that the G-Men wouldn’t take that theft lying down, but I thought they would have sent a more competent spy to infiltrate my crew.”
Fingerprints smiled all of a sudden. “There is no spy more competent than me. I am a spy without peer.”
“And you’ve got an ego, too,” said Red Tide with a snort. “Can’t say I’m surprised. You G-Men always have thought y
ou were better than the rest of us.”
“It’s not that we think we’re better than you,” said Fingerprints. “It’s that we know we’re better than you. Especially now that you told us exactly where the weapon is.”
Without warning, Fingerprints shook the sleeve of his pea coat and some kind of tiny metal ball fell into the palm of his hand. He dropped the ball onto the floor and then kicked it at Red Tide and the Richards.
As soon as the metal ball bumped against the tip of Red Tide’s boot, the ball exploded into a huge cloud of smoke.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
A thick cloud of black smoke suddenly enveloped the entire stateroom. Everyone began coughing and hacking, including myself. It didn’t help that the smoke was so thick that we couldn’t see anything, which made it even worse.
“Hey, what was that?” said Red Tide, whose voice was punctuated by nearly uncontrollable coughing. “I can’t see a damn thing in this smoke!”
I felt the same way as Red Tide, but before I could voice that thought, I felt a hand wrap around my lower arm and I found myself being pulled along through the smoke by someone I couldn’t see.
A second later we burst out of the stateroom onto the main deck of the yacht. In contrast to the smoke cloud inside, the air out here was crystal clear and I could actually see, which allowed me to see that Fingerprints—whose hands were no longer cuffed together—was busily closing the door to the stateroom. Even more interesting, Fingerprints’ hands were no longer chained together.
“What the heck?” I said. “How did you free yourself?”
Fingerprints stepped back and pointed his watch at the door. A laser shot out of it and struck the lock, melting it closed in one hit like a welder burning a piece of metal. He then turned around to face me and held up his watch. “Laser watch. Had it cut through my cuffs without them noticing.”