by Joe Pascente
“Are you well enough to walk on it?” he asked.
“Yes. It feels somewhat better. Where are we headed?” Angela asked back.
“As far away from here as possible. There’s a boating dock down the bike path and my boss is calling in a reservation for us to rent a speedboat right now. We have to move right away.”
“Then let’s go.” Angela responded without hesitation.
She thought this was a good plan. They’d be on the water away from any crazy people with guns. That’s where she felt safest anyways—in, or on, the water. Jacobi lifted her beach bag off the floor and put it over his shoulder holding out his hand once again for Angela to take.
“Wait…put your phone in here.” Angela grabbed her beach bag off his shoulder and took out a plastic pouch to store items. “We’ll keep our phones in here just in case.”
Angela was the type of person who was prepared for beach activities and had messed up plenty of phones due to water damage in the past until she bought this useful pouch. Jacobi was a bit apprehensive to put his phone in the pouch but knew it was perhaps a good idea. They would possibly have to get in the water at some point and it would be best to keep their phones protected.
They quickly exited the bathroom and were back on the beach. Angela buried her foot in the sand for a few seconds before jogging alongside Jacobi, hobbling on her aching foot. It felt better, but it still hurt every time she stepped on it. She concentrated on the summer heat blanketing around her body. There was a tiny relief when she felt a light breeze hitting her sweaty forehead.
Looking over at Jacobi’s face, she noticed he was also sweating profusely. After all, he was wearing a suit, minus the jacket and shoes. The intense look in his eyes worried Angela. He was staring straight ahead at the boating dock sign and she knew he was thinking the same thought she was—if they could get on a boat and away from this beach, they’d be safe from the criminals that had shot Mr. Hicks.
If only…
Rocky was still in critical condition. He was in the backseat of a blacked out van being bandaged up by a freaked out Bows. They had limited medical supplies in the van but she was doing her best to stop the bleeding and bandage the wound. Driving the van was a pissed off Boulder, trying to get a hold of Ace, or Worm, on the communication devices.
But there was no answer, because at that same moment, Ace was standing behind Worm, pointing his sniper rifle directly at his head, making sure Worm wasn’t going anywhere. Ace knew he needed Worm’s expertise for his new task: saving Dr. Haven from his crew of highly trained assassins. Worm was confused at the events that were taking place but he also knew, even if he was armed, he wouldn’t stand a chance against Ace’s skillful gunmanship.
Coming to this conclusion promptly, Worm surrendered, deciding to help his mission leader, even though he knew something was completely amiss. But this wasn’t the time to be asking questions and deciphering this new development—it was time to follow Ace’s orders and find the location of the van through his high-tech GPS program. If Ace could locate the van and his fellow crewmembers, he’d also know where Dr. Haven was.
“What’s taking so long, Worm?”
“It’s tracking…they’re on the move. It—it looks like they are driving down a bike path by the boating dock just a mile down from the hotel.”
Ace was already packing up the equipment, ready to depart as soon as Worm had packed up his last laptop. Worm was taking his time, as he was covertly restricting Ace’s communication device so he wouldn’t be on the same channel as the rest of the team. He did this because he recognized Ace wasn’t privy to know what the rest of the team was up to, now that he was going rogue.
Before they walked out of the church doors, Ace gave Worm a single warning, saying, “If you try to run or do anything stupid, I will kill you.”
Worm nodded in agreement, grasping Ace wasn’t bluffing. They bolted out of the church and found an abandoned car parked on the street. Ace chose this car to break into because it was parked there the entire morning, so he knew the driver wouldn’t be coming around for it anytime soon. Between the two of them, they broke into the car and managed to hotwire it. Ace drove off like a madman on a mission—which fit his current situation completely—hoping he could make it to the boating dock before his crew did anything harmful to the love of his life.
If only…
The black unmarked van came to a screeching halt, right in front of the boating dock gates. The bikers and runners on the bike path maneuvered around the van, as Bows wiped off beads of sweat from Rocky’s face, holding onto his hand, knowing he was in a sizeable amount of pain from his gunshot wound. Bows kept pressure on his chest so he wouldn’t bleed out, but he was in definite need of some medical care. His pale face was not a good sign to Bows. They would need to take him back in Sway so Duke could help him somehow.
Bows was startled by the back doors opening, seeing Boulder move faster than she’d even known him to be because he was such a bulbous man. Wasting no time, he pulled a large metal case into his arms and dialed a five-digit code on the keypad.
The metal case opened with two high-pitched beeps and as Bows quietly whispered soothing words of comfort and encouragement into Rocky’s ear, she witnessed Boulder lock and load—what looked to be—a rocket launcher. Securely resting on his large shoulder muscles, Boulder walked steadily down the boating dock ready for vengeance.
CHAPTER 6
5 STAGES OF GRIEF
I. Denial
The old man that owned the boat rental shop was leading Jacobi and Angela to their reserved speedboat at a mind-numbingly slow pace. Angela could tell by the look on Jacobi’s face that he was two seconds away from pushing the old man off the dock and into the ocean, but the old man was the only one who knew which boat the keys belonged to. Angela couldn’t help looking behind her, as she heard seagulls cawing and swirling around the boating office. She felt uneasy knowing there were murderers after her and Jacobi. Angela also put the pieces together in her head and figured out Mr. Hicks was an innocent casualty in all of this.
The guilt Angela felt hit her deep, but she couldn’t let herself get upset about that right now. She had to focus on getting away from this beach and to a safe place with Jacobi. She looked ahead of her and watched the old man finally point to the boat Jacobi’s boss had reserved just moments prior to this painstakingly dawdling march.
“I hope it’s to your liking, kiddos. Enjoy some hanky panky time.” The old man said with a wink. It was a bit creepy, but at the same time, it was a bit humorous coming from a man in his late 80’s.
“Oh, we aren’t together,” Angela interjected. “Not like that.”
The old man just smiled and nodded giving Angela another wink.
“Don’t deny it, sweet cheeks. I can always spot love birds a mile away.”
Angela contemplated on what the old man had said as he began walking down the dock at a snail’s pace. She was staring at the only two visible clouds in the bright blue sky. She thought the cottony clouds resembled what could be a penguin and a cramped version of an igloo. She also thought of her former lover, Jeremy, who had taught her the childish cloud game.
I bet Jeremy would see a spaceship and a baseball cap. Or boobs. He was always so crude playing the cloud game.
“Angela! Get in!” Jacobi bellowed, snapping Angela out of her daydreaming and back into the here and now.
Jacobi had already stepped onto the speedboat—which had the name “CHA-CHA” stenciled onto the hub. Hobbling over to the boat trying to ignore the slight stinging sensation in her foot, Angela grabbed onto Jacobi’s hand and put one foot on the seat cushion, as the next foot followed. She glanced over to the old man who was not even halfway down the dock yet. The glare of the sun bounced off his shiny bald head and Angela couldn’t help but notice the deep sweat stain down the back of his Hawaiian shirt from the sweltering heat.
“Jacobi, what’s that man holding over his shoulder?” she asked, pointing at the large metallic object over his shoulder.
Jacobi beheld the man Angela was now pointing at. Without any hesitation, he pulled away from the dock, ordering Angela to sit down in her seat. Almost immediately, Jacobi had recognized that the man on the dock was another hit man, and the metallic-object he was carrying over his shoulder was a rocket launcher.
Without showing any sign of panicking, Jacobi sped off as fast as the speedboat could glide through the waves, trying his best to put as much distance between the boat and the hit man on the dock. Angela hadn’t known Jacobi for long; but she already recognized the solemn expression on his face covering up for something else…the look of dread.
A million thoughts ran through Jacobi’s mind in a matter of ten seconds. He wondered if he’d feel any pain being blown up. He also questioned how the hit men could afford such expensive weapons. He regretted never buying a ticket to Spain, for he had longed to travel there his entire life. He thought of his time as a police officer and then transitioning to working as a bodyguard and how it all seemed so natural for him to serve and protect. He also considered Angela. And how he had let her down. They were both going to die a fiery death from a rocket explosion and he never got the chance to tell her what an amazing woman she was and how inspiring she was to him.
Sure, he knew he was evaluating their situation in a pessimistic way, but he was a realist. It was apparent they wouldn’t be able to get far away from the dock when the rocket would strike the boat, hitting the gas tank and causing massive destruction—unless the hit man was a terrible shot. That was Jacobi’s only hope at this point.
Please miss us…please miss us…please miss us…
Nothing in all his years of training as a bodyguard was going to help them at this point. He could swerve the boat hoping to bypass the rocket, but chances are the rocket launcher had a target-tracking device that would hit the mark no matter how hastily the boat swerved out of the way.
Boulder passed by the old man as he walked further onto the dock and didn’t falter when he decided to push the old man off the dock and into the water. Stunned at the sight of the old man getting pushed into the water, Angela viewed the large man with the rocket launcher over his shoulder kneeling down on the dock, with his eye looking through the scope, locking the target-tracking sensor directly onto their boat. She knew why Jacobi was fearful now.
Oddly enough, Angela didn’t have the same response as Jacobi. There was a dazed look in her eyes for a split second, and then she felt something come over her—a feeling of willpower. She wasn’t fearful; in fact, she felt quite brave. She felt empowered; after all, she was on the water again, and this is where she felt the safest.
Angela grabbed Jacobi’s right arm, as the wind blew her hair all around her sun-kissed face. They were speedily traveling across the ocean’s wavy current, as time seemed to stretch and become boundless. Jacobi gazed into Angela’s mint-green eyes and she looked right back into his, and at the same time, they both simultaneously hollered, “We have to jump!”
Angela peered over her shoulder hearing a distinct squealing noise coming from the rocket launcher. Jacobi did his best to veer the boat in the opposite direction from where they were standing ready to jump. They didn’t have time to prepare, as it was a split-second decision, but they each propelled themselves off the boat’s edge and jumped as far from the boat as their legs could push them. Still holding hands, they dove head first into the rough ocean water and continued to swim beneath the surface. Just a few strokes down, they felt the propulsion of the rocket’s explosion hitting the boat’s gas tank.
The “CHA-CHA” exploded with a powerful force, with the exception of a small fragment that was engulfed in a massive fire. The rest of the boat’s remaining pieces flew in every direction in an upheaval of dispersed scorching shards.
Unluckily for Jacobi, a piece of the boat’s tail-end zipped through the surface of the water and knocked him square on the back of his head, causing a gash on the right side of the back of his skull. Angela knew something was suddenly wrong, feeling Jacobi’s grip loosen from her own. She opened her eyes and was shocked by the amount of blood spilling from his head at an alarming rate. She could see he was unconscious, and watched as the salty ocean water began to fill his open mouth.
Angela was hit by pieces of the boat as well, resulting in a large scrapes on her lower back and upper right shoulder—which snaked down along her right arm—but she barely felt anything more than a sizzling stinging sensation. She couldn’t tell if it was the sun or the massive fire from above the surface that was lighting up the water so brightly, but she knew she had to drag Jacobi to the surface at once, without being seen by the hit man.
She knew he could just as easily shoot another rocket in their direction if he saw them come up to the surface, so she had to be as undetectable as possible. Swimming with Jacobi in her left arm, Angela quickly tried to move behind the remaining section of the boat that was still intact, but engulfed with a burning mountain of fire.
They were under water for about 20 seconds, Jacobi’s mouth was still wide open, with water filling his lungs every second he was under. Angela vowed to herself that she wouldn’t let Jacobi die, because he had saved her life just a short while ago.
Pulling Jacobi’s body close to her own, she swam as best she could with a badly stung foot and large scrapes on her body from the explosion. Kicking as hard as she could to reach the surface, Angela could only hope she would come up behind the section of the boat that was still above the water.
Angela denied any negative thought that came to her consciousness. She didn’t want to think about the fact they were at the mercy of the hit man with a fiercely deadly weapon. But she also knew, he only had a limited amount of time to stay on the dock with a weapon so large and in plain view of this horrific explosion.
The detonation was massive, and as Angela and Jacobi’s heads perched above the surface of the water, there was nothing to see but the black and gray smoke that was circling around their heads. Angela could smell the burning gas and plastic and started to choke from the amount of smoke she was inhaling. Jacobi was still unconscious, so Angela knew she had to act quickly to pump the water out of his lungs.
As hard as it was to see even five feet in front of her, Angela spotted a piece of floating charred seat cushion only an arm’s length away. Oddly enough, Angela’s beach bag was still in one piece resting on the floating seat cushion. The bag looked burnt, but the water had splashed on it saving it from burning up completely.
From what she could tell, they were temporarily hidden from the hit man’s sight; trying her best to tread water behind the enflamed section of the sinking boat. Angela swam to the seat cushion, still holding onto Jacobi’s limp body, and struggled to place his neck and head onto the cushion. She began to squeeze his chest trying to use the Heimlich maneuver to remove the water from his lungs.
Dark red blood was still streaming from his head, but she couldn’t concentrate on that until he was breathing again. The black smoke began to drift upwards and away from her face. Hiding behind the sinking section of the boat, she was doing her best to breathe life into Jacobi’s lungs with CPR, hoping he could spit up the rest of the water, but for as many breaths as she was breathing into his mouth, he wasn’t responsive.
But Angela had already made a vow to herself. She refused to give up, even while Jacobi wasn’t breathing. He was slowly drifting fur
ther from her. She tried again, breathing into his mouth holding onto his nose, but this time, she pushed on his diaphragm at the same time. Without warning, Jacobi coughed up a large amount of salty water back into Angela’s mouth.
Jacobi was breathing again (more so choking), and that’s all that Angela cared about. She was still holding Jacobi’s head above the water, but she managed to slip off the pink overshirt she had on, and wrapped it around his head. Jacobi was now breathing without choking as much, and Angela whispered in his ear,
“Thank god you’re okay. We’re alive.”
Jacobi slowly opened his eyes and perceived Angela’s angelic face just inches away from his own. He was a bit disorientated with a splitting headache, but he was now treading water on his own. He didn’t need Angela’s help to stay above the water’s surface anymore, and without giving it another second’s thought, he reached for her waist and pulled her close to him. As the last remaining portion of the boat sank into the water, Jacobi put his lips on Angela’s and kissed her with a sense of uninhibited passion.
II. Anger
Ace slammed his foot on the brake pedal and the car came to a squealing halt. He put the stolen car in Park, all the while holding onto a semi-automatic gun. Understandably, Worm couldn’t take his eyes off Ace’s gun the entire car ride to the boat dock. He ran his shaky hand through his red mohawk and wondered how this mission went from completely under control, to completely disastrous.
Ace noticed Worm eyeing his gun, but it didn’t concern him in the least bit. He knew Worm wouldn’t be a fool and try anything stupid. Besides, Worm agreed to help him on his new mission; he promised Ace he was on board to save Dr. Haven from the rest of their crew—even if he did this just to save his own skin.
Directly in front of the stolen parked car was the crew’s blacked out van. Ace had to play this smart and carefully, for he knew his crew were highly trained professionals, and wouldn’t hesitate putting a few bullets in his chest for causing so much chaos on the beach. He didn’t want to cause any more mischief, so he thought about how he’d try to convince them to lay down their weapons and stop pursuing the love of his life. Surely, Bows would understand where he was coming from. She and Rocky had fallen in love by taking Pure themselves.