by Alec Peche
They nodded their agreement and Damian showed them how to fire the water cannons. He was lucky in one regard that they were here as it would’ve been very difficult for one person to watch all of the monitors and he should’ve thought of that at the time he designed it. Of course, on the other hand, he wished both women were safe at Ariana’s home and not in the middle of his war!
They did a Three Musketeers, ‘one for all and all for one cheer’ and then they manned their battle stations. Damian exited the house wearing a combat helmet and body armor carrying his high powered long-range pepper spray and gun. He also had his remote control to operate the unmanned submarine that would drill a hole in their hull.
Lying on his belly, he observed that a direct hit by one of the water cannons disabled two of the men with the pepper juice. A third man, who’d avoided the spray, clearly was in a quandary of what to do. He stopped the boat’s forward progress and threw both men into the bay clearly with the hope that the water would get the substance off their faces. Damian guessed that it would take about six hours for them to recover their eyesight. In the interim, the only guy not blinded was constantly looking over his shoulder for fear that the juice would hit him and at the same time he was trying to help the two men in the water as one of them could be heard saying ‘I can’t swim.’
Damian launched the smelly fishy gob and landed it on the front of the boat. Soon a lot of birds were swarming the boat adding further confusion for the one man who could see. Damian could see that he’d given up on his mission and was just trying to pull his two friends back into the boat so they could head back to whatever marina they’d come from. Damian drilled a hole just as the man pulled the second guy into the boat. Depending on how far away they were going, the one able-bodied man might end up towing his two blind friends to shore. Oh well that was his problem not Damian’s. Soon the boat was speeding back to where it come from and Damian entered the house and went down to his lab.
“Good job ladies! Were you able to see all of the action from the monitors?”
“Yeah, we cheered when the two men were pushed into the bay with their faces on fire. What’s going to happen now?” Ariana asked.
“Depending on how far they’re going, they may make it to shore; or the one guy with vision may end up towing the two blinded men to shore. I heard one of them say he didn’t know how to swim. So now the guy can’t see and can’t swim. I’d be sympathetic, but they were on a straight course for this island with semi-automatic weapons to join us for dinner.”
“Are you going to call the police?” Ariana asked.
“The trouble is that this island is under the jurisdiction of three counties and so first I would have to figure out which county sheriff has a boat to get out here. I suppose I could call the Coast Guard since they used to have a ship signal station on this island, but I don’t know if they would respond. This is the first time I’ve been attacked since I bought the property, so I guess I would have to figure that question out because unfortunately I think the men will be back.”
“Why are they mad at you, Damian?” Hermione asked. The kid seemed to be feeling an adrenaline rush from the battle and was confident with her ability to defend this house.
“They’re mad at me because I hacked into their emails and I shared the content of those emails with their rival prison gang.”
“Why did you do that?” Hermione asked.
“I’ve mentioned the retired detective to you. She was the one I would have talked to about the incident at your house. She killed the man that murdered my family and now the prison gang wants revenge for that killing. So she met with the prison gang leader at San Quentin Prison and threatened to share their private emails with the opposing gang if they refused to remove her name from their hit list. They refused, so we did and now they’re retaliating.”
“Maybe you should move into Ariana’s house,” Hermione suggested biting her lip, worried about Damian.
“But then I would bring those bad guys near you and I think that’s a very bad idea. Besides they could really damage my island if it was deserted.”
“Damian, I think you need to call the police,” Ariana urged. “Those are very bad people and they’re raising the stakes with each encounter. It’s not going to stop until both you and your detective are dead.”
“Yeah, I know but I had to do something to try and help Natalie. The other problem is that I committed a crime getting the information by hacking into their private emails.”
“It’s a messy situation. What are you going to do tonight? I think Hermione and I will leave while your dock is safe, but those men are going to come back. Probably tonight.”
“Yeah I know. I’m going to call Natalie and see what she suggests. She may have a relationship with one of the three Sherriff’s departments. If I don’t get the help I need there, then I’ll call the Coast Guard.”
“What happens if they come in scuba equipment or by helicopter?” Ariana asked.
“I have sensors in the water; that’s how I detected you when you washed up on this island. As for a helicopter attack, I have a couple of spring-loaded nets that I can fire at the rotor blades of the helicopter which will bring it down, but I’m in way over my head if I need to do that.”
Ariana looked worried; conflicted between staying and helping to defend Damian’s house or going and keeping Hermione, her boat, and herself, safe. She looked at the amount of daylight and her watch to assess the time.
“We have a few minutes right now, why don’t you call your cop friend and we’ll listen in on the conversation.”
Damian nodded and did just that.
“Hey, Natalie, my house was just attacked by what I believe to be three members of the Aryan Brotherhood and I need some help.”
“What? How did they know where you lived?” Natalie asked and then answered her own question, “I must’ve picked up a tail coming out of the prison and they followed me to the Richmond Marina. It wouldn’t be too hard getting information out of some of those boat owners.”
“So I have three counties that each claim part of Red Rock Island as their territory. Do you have any friends in the Contra Costa, San Francisco, or Marin County Sheriff’s office? I need some help. If I do say so myself I did a great job defending against the first wave of crooks, but they’ll be back and I need some help repelling these people.”
“What did you do to the three people that sent them scurrying away?”
“I power- washed them with Carolina Reaper chili juice. Two of the men are blind for the time being but that will go away in a day or so. Their boat may sink on the way back to the marina and if that’s the case, the one guy with sight will have to guide the other two men to the shore and one of them can’t swim.”
Natalie sighed and said, “I do love your style, Damian.”
“I called you because I think they’re going to be back and I need some law enforcement help,” Damian reiterated. “Who can I call to get someone out here? I do have the men approaching by boat on video and you can clearly see their guns.”
“That’s a good question, Damian. My first instinct is to connect you to the San Francisco Police Department but they’re so far away across the water that they would take too long to come to your rescue. Let me do some research on the Contra Costa Sheriff and I’ll call you back with the name shortly.”
After the phone call ended, Damian looked at Ariana and Hermione to say, “You ladies better get going across the bay. Natalie will help me defend this island and while I think the bad guys will be back, I don’t think it will be tonight.”
Ariana stood there thinking for a moment and Damian could see the wheels turning in her head.
“You know, Damian, I do believe you can defend this island by yourself, and it would be good for Hermione if we don’t expose her to any further risks, so we’ll be going. If you need help day or night, call and I can be here in fifteen minutes at full speed. If your cops aren’t going to help you, you can always count on
me.”
“And me,” Hermione said.
The support of these two women was causing huge fissures in the ice around Damian’s heart. Before he could understand his own behavior, he had enveloped them both in a hug. Moments later he let go and said, “Let’s go,” as he led the way downstairs and to the dock.
Moments later he could see both the sun setting in the west and the retreat of Ariana’s boat towards her home. He heard his cell phone trill and pulled it out of his pocket to answer Natalie’s call.
“Did you find someone?”
“Yeah. I spoke with a friend who is a Santa Clara deputy who has a friend working in the Contra Costa Sheriff’s department and fortunately he’s on duty and on his way along with a deputy from their Marine patrol. They’ll know the location of your island and will be there in about twenty minutes. I gave them your cell phone so they can make arrangements to get up to your house.”
“Thanks Natalie. I don’t think the Brotherhood will be back tonight, but it doesn’t hurt to have back-up ready when I need it.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
After ending his call with Natalie, Damian thought about how to greet the Marine patrol. Should he reveal the existence of his dock and watercraft garage or should he invite them up via the zip line. While the plans for his house had been approved by the three counties, the watercraft garage was on no blueprint; not that the deputies would know that. He decided not to mention the garage because if the island was under attack, he would not want to open the garage, and possibly let the intruder know of access to the lower level of his home. He wanted help to come from the beach.
He took his own zip line down to the beach and awaited a phone call from the sheriff. The beach was on the opposite side of the island from where their boat was coming from. Again his cell phone rang and he answered it to find a lot of wind noise and the sheriff on the line.
“This is Deputy Shawn Peterson, Natalie Severino gave us your information and we can see your island and are approaching from the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Do you have a dock?”
“Do you have the ability to park your boat on or close to the sand?” Damian replied not answering the question about a dock. That way he avoided lying to the deputy.
“We can anchor close to shore and use a ramp to walk on to your sand. Where’s the beach located?”
“It’s on the opposite side of the island from the direction you’re approaching. I’m standing on the sand ready to assist in your approach.”
Damian could hear the noise of the motor boat approaching and hoped it was the sheriff rather than another boat filled with Brotherhood members. He’d taken off his body armor and was vulnerable to attack on his sandy beach. He heaved a sigh of relief as he saw the word ‘Sheriff’ painted on the side of the boat.
The deputy maneuvered the boat close and anchored it. Damian assisted with putting a ramp on the sand and tying the boat to two hitches that he’d installed just for this purpose. Within minutes, the two deputies stepped from the ramp onto the beach and shook Damian’s hand as introductions were performed.
“I’ve always wanted to see this island, but it’s your private property and I haven’t had an official reason to visit.”
Damian explained in detail the attack earlier that evening, and offered to show the deputies his recording. He’d looked at it before they arrived to make sure he hadn’t seen anything in the video that he didn’t want the deputies to view. He offered them the choice of hiking up the hillside or riding his zip line. After answering their questions about the safety, function and design of the zip line, they chose that option.
Once on top, they surveyed the perimeter of the island with the one deputy actually filming it. Then they entered his house and walked down to the lab. Damian pulled the footage up and explained his pepper juice water guns. He decided not to mention the submarine punching a hole in the bottom of the boat as he might’ve violated some law with that tactic.
“This is an extraordinary set-up you have here. Most people don’t have this level of weaponry to protect themselves. What made you put this security in place?” asked Deputy Peterson.
“Two reasons. I am an inventor so it’s part experimentation.”
“And the other reason?”
“My wife and two little girls were murdered seven years ago in San Jose by a convict that was mistakenly released by Soledad Prison. It’s how I know Natalie; she killed my family’s killer during the manhunt for him.”
“I’m sorry, man. I get it,” replied the deputy. “Was he a member of the Aryan Brotherhood?”
“Yes,” better to let the officer think that was the reason for the gang’s anger against him.
“So you think they’ll be back?”
“Don’t you?”
The two deputies gave it some thought. Considering their training about gang behavior, they agreed they would keep coming back until the job was done.
“Yes.”
“So, suggestions on how to survive this group?” Damian asked.
“You appear to be doing a great job on your own. Certainly call us and we can have help here in about ten to fifteen minutes via helicopter. I’d like to take a copy of the video with me as it’s enough to issue an arrest warrant and we should check with urgent care and hospital emergency departments to see if they sought medical care for their eyes.”
Damian thought, ‘that is if the boat didn’t sink and drown them’ which was his hoped for outcome.
“I was lucky tonight. I was lighting my barbeque when I noticed the boat and used my binoculars to observe their brandishing of automatic weapons. They could have just as easily taken me by surprise which is to say they could have gotten on the beach intending to climb the hill, but I use water cannons to persuade unlawful visitors to head back to their boat. Those cannons aren’t loaded with pepper juice; it’s just water, so it probably wouldn’t impede them. My house is made with bullet proof materials but they could do a lot of damage here.”
“I don’t know what else to tell you. You got good defenses here and we’re going to try and find them and take them off the streets, but my experience with gang members is that they’re like picnic ants, you kill one and ten more are waiting to invade your food. I am going to brief the Sherriff about your set-up here and the actions of this gang. We’ll see if we can trace the boat they had, but there are many places to rent a boat up and down the Bay and Delta. We’ll have an all-points bulletin, but they could easily attack this island before we find them as a result of an APB. Is there anything else you can think of to suggest we do?” asked Deputy Peterson. This guy had done a lot to protect his island, but he was facing a criminal enterprise with unlimited guns and gang members ready to die for the cause.
“When I called you I frankly thought there wasn’t anything you could do to help as my distance and isolation makes your response times slow. But issuing an APB is helpful as well as just establishing contact so that if I call for help, someone will actually respond to this island rather than think it is a prank call.”
“We’ll add a blurb to the daily report to get the word out as you’re correct, some dispatchers and deputies might think this location is a prank call. We’ll also let you know if we catch your intruders.”
They headed outside and as it was now dark and the path treacherous all three headed down on Damian’s zip line. Damian untied the lines that were holding the boat to his island and waved off the two men.
Upon returning to the house, he relayed his conversation with the deputies to Ariana.
“How’s Hermione doing? I would hate to cause the kid more nightmares than she is already having.”
“I think she’s a strong kid and will be okay. I, on the other hand will be having nightmares for a while. Goodness, being attacked by gang members with automatic weapons. I must say I love your weapons; they completely stopped the attack without killing or seriously harming them. It was very disabling.”
“I could install it on your beachfront
.” Damian offered.
“No thanks. If I need that kind of protection, I’ll just need to move to a new city.”
“I’ve had peace and quiet for seven years, but thugs are thugs and they don’t quit until they’re dead.”
“On that piece of pessimism, I’ll say goodnight and good luck. Keep us posted.”
“Will do.”
Chapter Thirty