Vortex of Evil

by S D Taylor

  Erin nodded. "I would have figured out that last part on my own. But thanks for sharing." She waited for him to steady the kayak and she carefully lowered herself into the rear seat opening. Doug untied the rope and then carefully got into the front seat while holding onto the pier for balance.

  Erin leaned forward and put her hand gently on his neck to establish the thoughtlink. "Could he be here?" She could feel her heart beating faster but she wasn’t sure if it was from excitement or from fear for his safety.

  “I don't know. Let's paddle out there and see if there is anyone in a kayak that looks like him. I wouldn't put anything past Dara and Jelk. The only problem is going to be figuring out why he would be here? And what we do next? If Dara is behind this, she must have a plan in mind. We just need to find out what it is."

  Erin took her hand away and they started to paddle in slow, rhythmic strokes towards the middle of the sound where there were many kayakers. She would have time to ponder the possibility that her Doug might be in Lopfa. Did he come to save her? Did he know she was here? She was working through the various possibilities when she saw a single kayak sitting in place about a half mile across the sound. Doug noticed it too. "Let's head over there and check out the view."

  Erin smiled. "My thoughts exactly."

  Erin had never done much kayaking and the effort was generating some complaints from the muscles in her arms, especially the back of the arm where the pulling motion came from. Doug was stronger and she was trying to use her adrenalin to keep up his pace. Hopefully they would have enough energy to get back to shore when the time came.

  The lone kayak that was their target didn't move and it was facing away from them so the occupant wasn't visible from a distance. Erin strained to see if the head and shoulders looked like Doug, but the individual had on a hat that prevented her from seeing his face.

  "I wonder if we are only doing this for the exercise? Seems pretty unlikely that kayak has anyone we know.” Erin paused for a second to catch her breath.

  "There’s only one way to find out. And it will happen sooner if you keep paddling."

  "I am about out of gas. Was this supposed to be a race?"

  Doug stopped for a second and turned to speak to her. "I thought a youngster like you could keep up with an old guy like me."

  "Well if we were running I bet I could beat you, but this is a little tough on my arms. Let's go. I'll do my best."

  "Thanks. Let's try a slightly slower pace. We are nearly there."

  Erin couldn't tell much difference in the pace, but the slight pause helped. They were within fifty yards of the stranger when he turned and looked at them. Erin couldn't stifle a gasp when she realized it was Jelk. As he turned, the afternoon brightness glinted off his shiny metallic arms, one of which he held up in a waving motion.

  "Hello Doug. Erin. What brings you so far out in your kayak?" He was smiling as if he had run across two old and dear friends."

  Erin could only mutter a brief, "Hi, Jelk."

  Doug, the spy, realized he needed to play a role for the listeners. "It is good to see you again, Jelk. Are you here with your family?"

  "Yes. My wife and daughter are here with me. I hope you can meet them later."

  "When did you arrive?" Erin decided it was best to get into the spirit of things.

  Jelk turned towards her and spoke softly and deliberately. "We got here yesterday. Jinnee was very excited. She loves it when we can go on vacation as a family. She will enjoy meeting you. We don't see too many people with red hair in Transarctica."

  Erin's heart was racing, from the surprise of seeing Jelk as well as her bitter disappointment that it wasn't the younger Doug she had been hoping to see. She wondered what Jelk was doing here with his family. Erin wished she had a better understanding of what was going on.

  Doug wasn't showing any surprise if he felt any. He reached across to Jelk and shook his hand. It took Erin a second to realize they were making a telepathic link. She realized that Dara must have shared more of the plan with Doug than he had passed on. She fought the urge to be angry since he probably did it to protect the mission in the event things went wrong. Still, Erin needed to be a full partner to the conspiracy or whatever this game was that they were all playing.

  Doug used the thoughtlink with Jelk. "I tried to rent a kayak. They know about the duplicate DNA, but the guy let it go. He just thought I was a confused foreigner. Is there anything you want to tell us?"

  Jelk's thoughts were immediate and came rushing into Doug's brain. "Good. The first phase is complete. We need to row back and meet everyone for dinner. You know what to do next, correct?"

  Doug nodded as he released the metallic hand after the brief handshake. He wished he could tell Erin everything, but he decided that if anything went wrong, there would be a better chance to recover if she didn't have information to reveal under interrogation. Just having known about the thoughtlink was risky enough, but the full details of the plan went far beyond what even Doug was privy to. As with most spy operations, the need to know was the driving factor. If Erin was mad about it when she found out, it would be his younger version who would have to offer the apologies.

  "Well, we better start back. Had enough rest, Erin?"

  Erin looked at Doug as he said that. Then at Jelk who smiled weakly at seeing her inquisitive stare. She put her arms around Doug and said, "Ok, honey. Sounds good to me. You always know what's best." But her thoughts were going down a different path. "Unless you are planning to swim back, you better cut the crap and tell me what's going on. Are you working with them to play some elaborate joke on me to see if I will dance to your tune? I refused to be their lab rat and I damn sure don’t plan to be yours."

  Doug was surprised at the strength of her anger and realized he had made a mistake by holding back what he knew. He turned to Jelk with a look of hopeful desperation. He reached out and pulled the two kayaks together. "Ok, sweetie. Give Jelk a hug and we will get started back."

  Erin heard Doug think, "Hug him. He will explain. We were just trying to protect the operation."

  Erin felt a little sheepish now after her thought-burst, but she reached across and put her arms around Jelk's broad shoulders and hugged him as best she could without tipping over the boat. His thoughts were quick and one way. "You must trust us. Need to know only for safety. Look at this." There were suddenly images and sounds of Jelk's meeting with Doug and Tom as they discussed their plans. It flashed so quickly she barely had time to register what she was seeing. "He will explain everything in good time."

  Jelk squeezed her lightly and let go. He still had a slight smile and he nodded to her. "Have a safe trip back." With that, he pushed off and began to paddle at a rate she couldn't believe.

  Doug smiled at her amazed look. "Those mechanical arms work great for paddling. I’ll bet they are also handy if you want to punch somebody. I am glad you have regular hands at the moment."

  Erin didn't try any more telepathy but grabbed her paddle and said simply, "We need to get going. He will have gone to dinner and finished by the time we get back."

  "Sounds good, sweetie."

  For that comment she hit him in the arm again. But not so hard that it would impair his paddling skills.

  Her heart was still racing but this time from the images of Doug and Tom, and their voices talking to Jelk. It was very brief, but enough to show her they were fine and they were working with Jelk. She couldn't imagine how he had convinced Doug to do that. She assumed that Jelk could have shown similar images of her to Doug. But Erin's excitement didn't last long as she suddenly remembered the incident on Dara's boat where they convinced her and Gaby that Peter's leg had been cut off. It seemed completely real at the time. She had an awful thought that some or all of what she was experiencing might be just more of their mental trickery. What if none of this was real? Not even the future Doug? What if she was back in that cell on the boat and everything in Transarctica had taken place in her head?

  She was pa
ddling steadily now, lost in thought, but synchronized with Doug. Or she was synchronized with the images she was seeing. She half expected to wake up any second and realize she had been duped. She was so absorbed with the idea of a faux reality that she didn't pay any attention to the other kayakers as they neared the shore. One paddled closer and closer to them, catching up from behind just as Erin was beginning to feel a sense of despair over whether any of this was real. Then she heard music. Not just any music, but somebody singing "Danny Boy." In her fatigued state, paddling along, oblivious to the world, her tired mind's first thought was it's really weird that somebody here would be singing “Danny Boy.”

  Then she turned and saw him right there next to her. Close enough to touch. It took both Dougs reacting quickly to keep her from falling in the water and rolling both their kayaks over as she reached out to hug him.

  Chapter 38

  Erin's thoughts raced as she hugged him like she would never let go again. She was uncertain whether to speak or think, but she went with thinking as the safer choice. She could kiss him and keep thinking, so it was indeed the better choice.

  “Oh my God, Doug! Are you real? I never thought I would see you again. My love. My love. I am so happy you are here."

  The younger Doug was overwhelmed by the sudden rush of her thoughts. This was a different way to experience a reunion and his efforts at thoughtlinking were a bit muddled at first.

  "I am very happy to see you. I couldn't imagine a world without you. You look beautiful. I love you . . ."

  "Let me just hold you for a second."

  Doug held her tightly, but as the practical spy, he quickly thought, "Switch to speaking. Remember, I am a friend you ran into. Be happy, but don't overdo it. We can work on that later after you dump Gramps over there."

  Erin let go and laughed at the same time. The older Doug extended his hand. "Nice to meet you. You look familiar." But his thoughts took a slightly different path. "What is she laughing about with that guilty look? I suppose you made a joke at my expense."

  "I just told her it was time she dumped Gramps and gave a younger man a shot at winning her favor." The younger Doug joked but he stared at his older version as if he was looking at a ghost.

  The older man didn’t miss a beat. "So you are as big an asshole as everyone says you are."

  The two smiling men, one an aging mirror image of the other, embraced. "Good to see you 'Son.'" Their thoughts meshed easily.

  "Same here 'Dad,'. Jelk told me the cover story. I hope we can pull this off."

  “How hard can it be? By the time they figure out that our DNA is the same, we should be long gone." With that, he let go and started talking. “We need to get back to the hotel. We are meeting everyone for dinner at seven and in Transarctica timeliness is the only way to go.”

  “Sounds good. Let’s get going.”

  Erin started to ask if she and the two Dougs could switch canoes, but she thought better of it. It would be a feat of dexterity to do it without getting wet and she could spend time with her Doug once they got back to the hotel. No sense attracting more attention than they already had. “I’m ready. Lead the way, Doug.” Both men said “ok” in unison. Erin could tell this was going to get difficult quickly, trying to keep them separate.

  The trip back to the beach went quickly. The water was smooth and they paddled in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. They were quietly assessing whether to be pleased with their progress or terrified by what they knew lay ahead. The older Doug returned the two kayaks without incident and they headed back to their rooms. The younger Doug said simply “712” and smiled. “Let’s switch our luggage, Dad.” He intended to share the room with Erin since they hadn’t seen each other for several hundred years and the closest thing to a real bed they had ever encountered together previously was the cramped bunk on the Rasputin. Whatever the situation, the risks and the stress, it would be nice to spend a quiet night snuggled with this beautiful redheaded woman with the baseball cap. He had traveled a long way and a long time to rejoin her. And he had done it by choice. Something he would have never believed possible.

  “What are you thinking?” Erin looked at his intense stare that seemed focused at some faraway place.

  Doug smiled at her and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “It is good to see you. Very good. And by the way, nice swimsuit.”

  Erin said nothing but her smile was radiant. At least until the other Doug had to speak up. “Ok you two lovebirds. Let’s get back to reality. Here’s our room. Erin, you go freshen up while my son and I swap our luggage. Somehow it got mixed up and we seem to have put in the wrong rooms.”

  Erin went in the room and handed Doug his backpack. The two men took off down the hall and she flopped on the bed. It was higher and softer than the beds at the Yir-Lak compound and it enveloped her tired, kayak-abused body. She noticed from the door panel that she still had nearly two hours before this dinner engagement everyone seemed so concerned about. She wondered what was so important about being precisely on time for dinner. Weren’t they supposed to be pretending this was a relaxing vacation? Maybe there was something more to the plan than she anticipated. She felt fatigued by the exercise, elated about seeing Doug and slightly mad about all the secrecy that excluded her. But it was going to be hard to be mad at Doug. Not after what she had been through since her kidnapping and how convinced she was that she would never see him again. And it would be good to know what they had in mind to make their escape from this awful place.

  The older Doug tried his hand on the door pad for room 712 and it opened like a charm. The backpacks were switched and the younger man put his hand on Doug’s shoulder like a son might do to his father, making the thoughtlink between them. “We have to go in three days. Is that your understanding?”

  “Yes. That is what Dara told me earlier. Everything will be in place and it will be our best chance to pull it off. Are you going to brief Erin?”

  “If I want to live through the night, I imagine I will have to. Why didn’t you tell her?”

  “I probably should have, thinking back. But I tried to spoon feed her the details since I didn’t want her to give anything away with a public reaction that somebody might see. If we hadn’t run into you, I was planning to share the details tonight?”

  “In your shared room, huh?”

  “Well, what were my alternatives? If you hadn’t shown up, we would have had to go with plan B anyway. And you don’t need to get jealous. She only has eyes for you. By the way, how are my wife and daughters holding up?”

  “They think you died two years ago. Rin is going to be beside herself when she sees you alive.”

  “Rin? You guys call her Rin? I thought that was just a family thing we would never reveal to anyone else.”

  “Tom decided we had to call her something other than Erin and she said the girls called her that when they were little.”

  “Fine, but you aren’t calling me ‘Ug,’ so don’t even think about it.”

  “Noted. I better get back before they wonder what we are doing standing like this. See you at seven in the lobby.”

  “Right. And Doug, thanks for taking care of my family. I am sure you were a great comfort to them with me being gone. Dead in their minds.”

  “No problem. I hope I can do half as good a job as you have over all the years. Those girls are forces to be reckoned with and you have done a great job keeping them safe and healthy.”

  “They get it from their mom. She’s the force.”

  Doug turned and walked back to his room. “See you in a bit, Dad.”

  “Right oh, Son. In a bit.”

  With the stress, hunger and exercise contributing to her fatigue, Erin had fallen asleep when Doug got back to the room. He sat on the edge of the bed for a few minutes watching her breathing quietly as she slept, her red hair framing her face. He couldn’t help but think about everything that had taken place in the past three weeks and marvel at the fact that he could be so completely emotionall
y wrapped up with someone he had only known for a short time. But they had shared repeated life and death situations together, shared love and danger, saved people together and killed people together. They had seen what their life would be like for twenty years into the future and they had seen the children they might have someday. He had only known her for three weeks and yet it felt like several lifetimes. And he knew he wanted to share his life with her for as long as possible. He had a pretty good indication that it was going to work out for them if they could survive the next few days.

  Somewhere in his pondering, Erin had opened her eyes and was watching him watching her. “Hi.”

  “Hi, yourself. Having a good rest? You know we have more than an hour until dinner.”

  “You know, under this swimming suit, I am naked.”

  “Point taken.” And with that, they tried to make the most of the time that remained before their dinner engagement.

  Chapter 39

  Doug and Erin walked down the hallways of the Ponder resort, hand in hand and feeling better about their lives and prospects than they had in a long time. “Post lovemaking euphoria. Don’t go getting all giddy on me.” Doug sent Erin his thoughts as they walked along briskly.

  “Let me have my moment. I’ve had several tough days here and I needed a little something positive to hold onto.” She paused. “Emotionally, that is.”

  “Glad you clarified where you were going with that comment.”

  He had forgotten how often she would hit him in the arm. But this time, he severed their thoughtlink so she couldn’t make a comeback unless she said it verbally. She frowned when she realized that but they continued on to the lobby smiling but in silence.

  Dara and her boys were standing by a large fish pond that was slightly off center in the middle of the lobby. There were large Koi fish that were taking an interest in the boys who were dropping small pieces of fish food that the front desk clerk had given them. Erin and Doug stopped at the railing next to Dara. Erin smiled as best as she could manage and said, “Hi.”