The Dead Peasants' Contract: A Sequel to The Dead Peasants File (The Dead Peasants' Series Book 2)

by L. Craig Harris

  “What am I looking for?”

  “A group of boats. You’ll know it when you see it.”

  Dillon couldn’t see anything but ocean. Then he saw some birds flying up ahead.

  “I bet dat’s dem,” Tiny said.

  Soon, Dillon could see a boat, then another. There were several in a small area. One of the boats was much bigger than the others. It was sleek like a yacht. They got closer and Tiny slowed the engine. It was a yacht. The other boats looked like small houseboats of various shapes, sizes and conditions. There must have been about eight in the stilled regatta.

  Tiny pulled the boat alongside the first one they came to. A man stood and watched them approach.

  “We’re looking for Travis and Julia Reed,” Dillon called out.

  The man turned to ask someone in the cabin, then turned back to Dillon. “Try that boat over there.” He pointed to one of the other boats. “The green one.”

  Tiny revved the engine and took them over alongside the green boat. It was a houseboat, like several of the others, with a cabin in the bow and a flat porch area astern. It looked like it had seen several decades and coats of paint.

  Dillon strained to see who was in it. Two figures came out of the cabin. It was Travis and Julia. He called out to them. “Travis? Is that you?”

  “Dillon?” Travis said. “What in the world are you doing out here?”

  “Is everything okay?” Julia said before Dillon could answer.

  “Everything’s fine,” Dillon said. “We were just worried about you. No one had heard from you.”

  “So you came all this way to check on us?” Travis threw a rope into Tiny’s boat. Tiny grabbed it and pulled them alongside, then tied the rope to a cleat.

  “Please, come aboard,” Julia said, reaching out her hand to Christopher to help him over.

  “Hey, Julia,” he said, hugging her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  Travis helped Dillon across. “Of course we’re okay. Why shouldn’t we be?”

  “Jonathan called and said he hadn’t heard from you in a couple of weeks,” Christopher said.

  Dillon hugged Julia. “And we tried to call you, but you didn’t answer.”

  “Oh, there’s no phone service out here.”

  “Of course not, but why didn’t you tell Jonathan or Karen you were coming out to sea?”

  “I texted both of them,” Julia said. “I told them we were spending a week or so out here.”

  Dillon looked at her for a moment. “They didn’t get the texts.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said. “It must have cost you a fortune to come all this way.”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” Christopher said. “But we need to get word to your family that you’re okay.”

  Dillon turned to Tiny, who was standing just feet from them in his boat. “Will you make a call for us when you get home?”

  “Sure. Just give me de number.”

  “But you’re going to stay with us, right?” Julia said to Christopher.

  Christopher looked at Dillon before he answered. “I guess. How long are you planning on staying out here?”

  “We’re not leaving until we see the whale sharks,” Julia said. She looked over at the yacht. “But they think they will come by any day now.”

  “You have food for us?” Dillon said.

  “We do. We brought a month’s worth of food,” Travis said.

  Tiny threw Travis several of the bottled waters. “Just in case you need dem,” he said. He untied the rope and threw it to Travis. “Well, I guess I’ll head back den.”

  “Won’t you have lunch with us?” Julia said to him.

  “No ma’am, Ev’ryting good.”

  Dillon called out Jonathan’s phone number to Tiny and watched him write it on a log book. “His name is Jonathan Reed. Have him call my wife, Gabby, and Chris’s wife, Rachel. Can you remember that?”

  Tiny wrote again. “Got it.”

  “Thank you so much for bringing us out here,” Dillon said. “We were dead in the water without you.”

  “Yeah, don’t say dat,” Tiny said. “It’s bad luck.” He climbed up to the wheel and revved the engines, then slowly disappeared over the horizon.

  Dillon stood and watched the boat get smaller for a moment, then turned and joined the other men, who were sitting at a table in the covered open area in the stern of the vessel. The boat was gently bobbing, but he had gotten his sea legs and was no longer sick.

  Dillon stuck his head into the cabin and then went inside. Christopher followed him in for the tour. There was a kitchen and living quarters combination in the open area. Pine paneling was on the walls. A couch was against one wall with a table in front of it. He walked over and saw that there was a small bedroom behind one door. It had a window unit humming to make it cool. A small restroom with a sink, shower stall and commode was behind the other door. There must have been a closet in the bedroom, but he didn’t see it. The boat was not new, but nice enough. He took the gun out of his pants, along with the bullets in his pocket, and put them in a drawer in the kitchen area, then went back outside. “So, whose boat is this?”

  “It’s ours,” Julia said. “We bought it.”

  Christopher joined Dillon and Travis at the table. “You bought this boat?”

  “Well, we bought the house outright with our insurance money, so we were able to make payments on this. We thought it would be fun.”

  “Congratulations,” Christopher said.

  “We got a really good deal on it,” Julia said, disappearing into the cabin. After several minutes, she brought out sandwich makings and cold soft drinks on a tray and put them on the table. “You guys got here just in time for lunch. I hope this is okay.”

  “This looks great,” Christopher said.

  Julia spread some mustard on a sandwich, then looked over at him. “So, tell me what’s going on in the world.”

  “Well, Rachel’s fine. Stephen is enjoying his senior year, and I’m still on sabbatical, so I’ve been enjoying a break from the stress.”

  “You go back to work at the end of the month,” Travis said. “Isn’t that right?”

  Christopher took a bite. “Yes, if they’ll have me back.”

  “I feel certain they will,” Travis said. “You’re a great pastor and they all know it.”

  “I agree,” Dillon said.

  Julia looked at Dillon. “And how do you feel? Is your stomach better?”

  He pulled up his shirt to show her the scar. “Much better, thanks.” He changed the subject. “Do you have your cell phones with you?”

  “Yeah,” Travis said. “We’re using them for photos and videos.”

  “No Wi-Fi or cell signal out here,” Julia said, taking a sip of her tea. “Oh, except over at the yacht. “He has Wi-Fi. It’s from a satellite, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Travis said. “He has Wi-Fi and all the television channels.”

  Christopher looked over at the yacht, about a hundred feet away. “Who is that guy?”

  “Some Wall Street tycoon named Spencer. I didn’t recognize his name, but he is some kind of rich.”

  “Yeah, it looks like it,” Dillon said.

  Travis turned and looked. “We’ll go over and meet him this afternoon if you want.”

  A fish jumped near the boat. “Oh, I wonder if that was another manta ray.” Julia said. “I got video of them jumping out of the water this morning. It was glorious.”

  Travis got up and went to the side of the boat and looked into the water. “Come see all these fish down here.”

  Dillon and Christopher stood and joined him. Dillon could see a school of large, silver fish swimming near and under the boat. Some of them breached the surface. The water was crystal clear. He could see lines of sunlight waving and disappearing into the depths. Sunlight also danced on the top of the water, sparkling. A laughing gull landed on the boat’s awning.

  “We’re out here in the deep right now,” Travis said, “b
ut we’ll go to the reef after we see the whale sharks. You have to see that to believe it.”

  “Oh, and the blue hole,” Julia said. “You have to see that.”

  The men went back to the table and sat around it. Dillon took a drink of water. “The reason I asked about your phones is because, apparently, Morgan bugged them when we were in Denver.”

  Travis got a serious look on his face. “Have they been listening to us?”

  “I’m not sure. They may be monitoring our calls, or they may be using the bug just to keep up with where we are. I really don’t know.”

  “Is that bad?” Julia said. “Are we in danger?”

  Dillon looked out at the ocean. “Well, no, I don’t think we’re in any danger down here. I just wish I knew why they’re spying on us.”

  “There’s no signal out here anyway,” Christopher said. “But when we get back in, you guys might consider getting new ones.”

  The table grew quiet for a moment. Julia began clearing the table. “Well, make yourselves at home. You can go in there in the cool if you get hot, or you can fish if you want.” She looked out at the sea. “Just help us keep an eye out for the whale sharks. They are as long as this boat.”

  Dillon spent the next couple of hours looking out at the sea. He could see fins breach the surface every now and then.

  “Shark fins go back and forth,” Travis said. “Dolphins go up and down.”

  Dillon cocked his head. “Interesting.”

  “Dolphins will protect people from sharks,” Julia said. “They’re really intelligent.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard that,” Christopher said. He glanced at Dillon. “They surfed the wake of our boat when we were on the ferry yesterday.”

  “Oh, I love when they do that,” Julia said.

  Dillon pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed her and Travis the video he had taken of it.

  “I can’t believe you got such good video,” Julia said. “That’s just wonderful.”

  Travis looked at Julia. “Hey, let’s go introduce them to Mr. Spencer.”

  “Good idea,” she said.

  Travis went around to the wheelhouse, at the bow of the boat, and started the engine. He motored over to the yacht and pulled up alongside the loading platform in the stern.

  A porter came out to greet them and opened the gate. “Please, come aboard.”

  Dillon followed the others onto the yacht. It was cavernous and luxuriously appointed, with leather couches, gold handles, wood floors, and fine artwork on the walls.

  “Mr. Spencer, I would like for you to meet my friends Christopher and Dillon, from Missouri.”

  “Oh, the ‘show me’ state.” He turned from the screens he was studying and reached out his hand to them. He was five-foot-eight, with a slim build, dark hair, well groomed, and an even tan. He appeared to Dillon to be about fifty. “Welcome aboard. John Spencer.”

  “This is very nice,” Christopher said, shaking his hand.

  “Yes, well I made some good investments and sales.”

  “Travis says you work on Wall Street,” Dillon said.

  “Twenty-five years.” He glanced back at the screens. “I was at the right place at the right time.” He looked back at the men. “Either of you serve in the military?”

  “I’m a marine,” Dillon said.

  “Semper Fi.” John shook his hand again. “I was a medic in Iraq in ‘90.”

  “Two thousand three. I joined after nine-eleven.”

  “Aw, you’re just a kid,” John said.

  Travis had been looking at the screens. “What are you seeing?”

  The group turned its attention to the computer’s flat-screens on a marble cabinet top. “They’re close,” John said. He pointed to a cluster of dots on one of the screens. “I expect them to pass through here in about two hours.”

  “Did you say ‘two hours’?” A woman entered the room.

  “Yes, come see,” John said. “Christopher and Dillon, this is my wife Victoria.”

  Dillon tried not to stare at her. She was very attractive and looked like she belonged on this yacht. She had blonde hair, an athletic build, and was wearing a bikini with a sheer cover-up and white sandals.

  “Nice to meet you,” she said. She walked over to Julia. “Do you have your camera ready?”

  “Right here.” Julia pulled out her phone.

  “I’m going to get in the water with them,” Victoria said. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

  John looked at Dillon and Christopher. “When they get closer, we’ll intercept them.” He pointed to the couches. “Here, have a seat. We have a little while. Tell me what you do back in Missouri.” He gestured toward the man who had let them on board. “Rodney, get these guys something to drink, please.”

  “I’m a pastor at a church in Springfield,” Christopher said. “I have a wife and two sons. My youngest son is a senior in high school this year.”

  “That’s exciting times,” John said, nodding.

  “I work for Morgan Retail,” Dillon said, taking a sip of water from a bottle. “I work in surveillance and security.”

  John perked up. “Really? So, it’s true that Morgan keeps an eye on its employees.”

  “You don’t know the half of it,” Travis said. “Why do you think we’re all down here?”

  John shrugged.

  “Well, we had a little run-in with Charles Morgan a few weeks ago,” Dillon said. “He kidnapped Julia, shot me, got Christopher basically fired–.” He stopped and pulled up his shirt to show the scar on his abdomen. “That man is dangerous. I know he murders his workers to collect their insurance.”

  “But everyone wants to work for him,” Travis said, “because his wages are so high.”

  “I’ve met him,” John said. “He was really nice to me, of course, but I’ve heard he can be vindictive if you get on his bad side. I also heard they tried to get him on murder, but couldn’t make it stick.”

  “Apparently the president pardoned him before it ever went to trial,” Christopher said.

  “Oh, and he loves to blacklist businesses,” Dillon said. “He tells his employees where they can and can’t go. My job is to make sure they don’t go where he doesn’t want them.”

  John cocked his head. “No one is challenging him on civil rights violations?”

  “No one has been successful,” Christopher said. “And if someone gets close, they tend to disappear.”

  “I see,” John said. He took a drink from his tea glass. “And the government is giving him a pass too.”

  “He’s too big to fail,” Travis said. “They think the whole economy would collapse if he did.”

  “He told Dillon he can’t go to my church anymore,” Christopher said. “Can you believe that?”

  “No, I can’t.”

  “And he bugged our phones,” Julia said as she sat down beside Travis.

  John looked at her. “How do you know?”

  She nodded toward Dillon.

  “A guy I work with hacked into the system,” Dillon said. “We saw all of our signatures on a screen at the office.”

  John glanced over at his Wi-Fi router, sitting on the counter beside the computer screens. “So he may be listening to us right now?”

  Dillon had forgotten that there was Wi-Fi on the yacht. He wanted to kick himself. “Yeah, it’s possible, I’m not sure, but I switched out my phone, so only on Travis and Julia’s.”

  John looked toward his wife. “Vicky, take their phones to the bedroom please.” He looked back at Dillon. “When you switched out your phone, did you get a new sim card?”

  Dillon looked down at his phone. “No, I just moved it to this one.”

  John shook his head. “No, no, you can’t do that. It’s probably the sim card that was bugged. That’s how some people do it.”

  Dillon could feel his cheeks turning red. How could he have been so foolish? If this was true, his phone was still bugged. They could have been listening most of this trip,
and they knew right where he was and there was nothing he could do about it.

  Since he had access to Wi-Fi, he figured he might as well check for Morgan guards around his house. He looked up at John. “Do you mind giving me the password for your Wi-Fi?”

  “Not at all. It’s partyboat309. No caps.”

  Dillon connected to the Wi-Fi, then logged into the Morgan system on his phone to check for blue signatures. He could see several blue dots at the Morgan store in Springfield. He checked his and Christopher’s houses. All clear. He scrolled down to Central America, but couldn’t see any signatures outside of the United States. While he was at it, he messaged Gabby and told her he was fine, but would probably be away from Wi-Fi and a cell signal for a while longer.

  Victoria came up behind Dillon and he handed her his phone. She took it out of the room.

  John watched her leave the room, then looked at Dillon. “We marines have to stick together. I’m glad you told me all of this.” He paused and looked at his guests. “I know some people. I have friends in Congress. In fact, I have a friend in the White House.” He raised his voice. “I’m not going to let some company murder people and violate their rights right here in America.” He pointed toward the wall. “Well, there in America.”

  “We’ve told the police,” Christopher said. “The problem is you can never prove anything. Morgan is smart.”

  “Yeah, and nobody wants to challenge him,” Travis said. “We did and it’s nearly gotten all of us killed.”

  John rubbed his chin and looked at each of them, in turn.

  Victoria went over to the video screens. “Oh, they’re almost here!”

  John jumped to his feet and stood in front of the screens. He turned to Rodney. “Tell the captain to move five thousand feet to the north. And alert the other boats.” He turned and looked toward his guests. “Anyone want to swim with the sharks?”

  Chapter Twenty

  Dillon couldn’t believe how huge the fish were. He counted thirteen in the gam. The biggest were close to 40 feet long from their huge, open mouths to the tips of their tails. They had an unusual pattern the length of their bodies: perfectly circular, pale yellow dots framed by similarly-colored lines on a dark brown background. Each shark looked slightly different.