Shot at Redemption

by Ken W. Smith

  “Carla and Brendan.”

  Kyle turned towards the dock, and she was right. It was empty. He looked to his right and couldn’t see anybody inside the boathouse.

  “Brendan!” Kyle yelled. “Where are you guys?”.

  “We’re outside the boathouse. You’ve got to see this!”

  Kyle turned to Charlotte. “Are you ready to go?”

  Charlotte nodded.

  Kyle stood up on the side of the boat and jumped onto the dock, “See, it’s easy.”

  Charlotte nodded and put her foot onto the side rail, and jumped off onto the dock to join him.

  * * *

  They walked up the dock and passed through an empty doorway onto a gravel path. Brendan and Carla were standing in front of an iron gate. A twenty-foot-high granite wall faded away into the darkness. An old chain and padlock held the gate shut, but the chain was long enough for the kids to squeeze through. Beyond the gate, Kyle saw rows of overgrown hedges and what appeared to be the remnants of a formal garden.

  Carla and Brendan squeezed through and proceeded into the garden.

  Charlotte stood staring at the gate.

  “We can stay here,” Kyle said.

  Charlotte shook her head and walked towards the gate, slipped through the narrow opening, and waited. Kyle squeezed through and joined her.

  The silhouette of a massive three-story mansion rose out of the mist. Rotting plywood covered the large windows. The second-floor windows had porches in front of them.

  Kyle and his friends continued down the path and stopped at the next hedgerow. Brendan knelt behind a hulking green mess of branches and put the backpack on the ground. He pulled the three microbots out of the black styrofoam packing material. He lifted the larger bot, which was shaped like a soda can with a flared-out bottom. The bot’s top section had a smooth, shiny surface that appeared black in the dim moonlight. Kyle turned the bot upside down and flicked on a power switch. A small green light lit up. He then pulled out the two smaller bots and placed them next to the larger one.

  Kyle reached into the backpack and pulled out a remote control handset. The same type of control is used for any hobby-style drone or RC airplane. He then pulled out the VR headset. It looked strange, but the one-hundred-eighty-degree view it provided the operator was phenomenal.

  Brendan passed out the other headsets. “Put these on so you can see the video feed.”

  Kyle pushed a small button on the base of the large bot to check the battery power. The bots should have had a complete charge, but only two green LED lights lit up.

  “Brendan,” Kyle said. “Which set of bots did you bring?”

  “Why?”

  “Because these only have fifty percent power. These were the ones in the backup case.”

  “So, what does that mean?” Brendan said. “We can’t use them?”

  “No, but the batteries will only last about ten minutes.”

  Kyle pushed the left joystick forward, and the bot lifted off the ground a few feet and hovered. The two small bots started buzzing and lifted to the same level as the big one.

  “Why didn’t Kyle move the joystick to move the small bots,” Carla asked. “They lifted on their own.”

  “That’s because they mimic what the large bot does,” Brendan said. “The small bots follow the mothership.”

  “Wow, that’s so cool.”

  Kyle pushed the left joystick again, and the three bots lifted until they were above the hedgerow. He could see the video image in his headset. The picture is split into three frames. He couldn’t see much, though, because the display was in the default daylight mode.

  “Brendan, are you ready for the real test?”

  “Do it up.”

  Kyle pressed the voice control switch and spoke into his microphone, “Bot one, night vision.”

  The screen in Brendan’s headset came to life in a ghost-like green image. But now, he could see a sweeping view of the mansion and the island in the distance.

  “Wow,” Charlotte said.

  “This is so cool,” Carla chimed in.

  Kyle smiled. It took him months to develop the night-vision technology, “Let’s go tour the island.”

  The bots revealed a grown-over flower garden and crumbling concrete fountain. Green, murky water sat in the basin of the fountain.

  As the bots approached the mansion, the three images merged into one wide-angle view. A set of granite stairs led up to a dark, wooden front door.

  “No sign of entry here,” Brendan said. “We need to look for an open window or another door.

  “Who owns the house?” Charlotte asked.

  “A wealthy family from Boston once owned it,” Brendan explained. “They still own most of the islands. My Dad said they built a new home on another island about ten years ago and abandoned this one.”

  “They just left it here?” Charlotte said. “Seems like such a waste of a nice home.”

  Kyle surveyed the windows on the second floor until he found one with a broken board. It was wide enough for one bot at a time to pass through.

  “Bots, single file,” Kyle said. The small bots obeyed and lined up behind the mother. The image on the screen switched to a single view. Kyle moved the bots through the window, careful to avoid the ragged plywood.

  The bots entered what appeared to be a large bedroom. Now empty, it had a ten-foot-high ceiling and a large stone fireplace on the center wall. Dark, peeling wallpaper covered parts of the wall. Kyle turned the bot in a 360-degree circle to show the entire room. It seemed that the room’s door was open, so he flew the bots through the door into the hallway.

  The bots hovered at the top of a broad, wooden staircase—the treads covered by a threadbare oriental runner. The stairs descended one flight to a landing. Kyle flew down to the landing. At the bottom of the stairs, he could see a wooden floor.

  “Wow,” Charlotte said.

  A large parlor spread out in front of them. Opposite the stairs was an enormous floor-to-ceiling fieldstone fireplace filling the entire wall. The marble surround wrapped around the base of the fireplace. Large, square pillars stood ten feet apart and rose three stories high to the ceiling. Along the far wall, next to the fireplace, were four military-style folding cots. Backpacks leaned against the cots. In front of each cot sat small Sterno burners, plates, and utensils.

  “It looks like somebody is living here,” Carla said.

  “Do you think they’re squatters?” Charlotte asked.

  “I don’t think they’re squatters,” Brendan said. “Too neat.”

  “Who are they then?” Charlotte said. “Are they still here?”

  “Let me see if they’ve been cooking,” Kyle said. “I’ll change to infrared mode. It will show any heat in red.”

  Kyle switched the screen mode. The Sterno stoves showed small red circles.

  “It looks like somebody was here not too long ago. The cans are still hot.

  “But where are they now?” Charlotte asked.

  “Kyle, you have to turn back,” Brendan said. “The batteries are down to one light.”

  Kyle switched back to night vision mode, swiveled the bots around, and flew back up the staircase and into the bedroom. He stopped so they could line up and exit the window in a single file. But when he pulled back on the joystick to increase the altitude, the main bot didn’t respond.

  “Something’s wrong,” Kyle said. “I can’t control the main bot. Let me try voice command. Bot One, increase the altitude by three feet.”

  “Low battery power,” Brendan said. “You need to get them out of the window.

  But before Kyle could say another command, the screen went black.

  Kyle stared at the blank screen, “Shit, my bots are dead. What are we going to do now?”

  “What the hell?” Carla said. “Where did they go?”

  “The battery died,” Kyle said. “They’re stranded in the mansion.”

  “We have to go get them,” Brendan said. “We can’t lea
ve them inside. You know the saying the SEALS have, no bot left behind.”

  “This isn’t a time for joking, you jerk,” Carla said. “Let’s go!”

  Kyle knew they needed to retrieve the bots, but he also knew it could be dangerous.

  “You should go in and get your bots,” Charlotte said for the first time. “I’ll stay here while you three go in the house.”

  Brendan, Carla, and Kyle all turned to look at Charlotte. “I’m sorry, I can’t go inside. I’m too scared,” she said.

  “C’mon, Kyle, let’s get going before it’s too late,” Brendan said. “We have to find a way in.”

  “No, Brendan, you and Carla go. I’ll stay here with Charlotte. We can’t leave her alone. We’ll watch you from out here.”

  Brendan looked at Carla, who was nodding her head. “Okay, you guys stay here,” Brendan said. “We’ll come back to this spot.”

  “Okay,” Kyle said.

  “Only one question,” Carla asked. “How do we get inside?”

  “That’s the easy part. Follow the bots.”

  Carla said, “You mean to climb up to the balcony on a rotting old house that might collapse under our weight at any minute?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Cool. Let’s go.”

  Kyle watched Brendan and Carla turn the corner around the hedgerow and disappear.

  “Shouldn’t we find someplace where we can watch them?” Charlotte said.

  “Right. Why didn’t I think of that? I have an idea. Let’s crawl through the bottom of the hedgerows until we reach the first row. Then we can watch them but stay out of sight.”

  “We’ll get dirty. I just bought these shorts.”

  “Seriously?”

  “No, JK. Just joking.”

  “The term is just kidding.”

  Kyle pushed his way through the first row of hedges. He went through the far side of the shrubbery to find dead grass and another row of hedges.

  “How many of these hedges are there?”

  “I don’t know. It seems like some sort of maze. Let’s keep going. You’re not claustrophobic, are you?”

  “No. I actually like small spaces. They make me feel safe. My dad made me a secret hiding space in my room in each of our houses. A place where I could play with my dolls and pretend I had a different family.”

  “You wished for a different family?” Kyle said.

  “I mean, I love my mother and father,” Charlotte said, “but I hate feeling like an only child.”

  “Don’t you have a brother or sister?”

  “I have an older sister, but I never see her. She’s a scientist and lives in Seattle. How about you?”

  “I am an only child. I know how you feel.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything bad.”

  “I know you didn’t. I didn’t take it the wrong way.”

  Kyle and Charlotte passed through two more hedges until they finally came to the end of the garden. In front of them, they could see the front of the mansion. They stayed inside the hedge and peered through the branches. All Kyle could see was the enormous front door.

  “Can you see Brendan or Carla?” Charlotte asked.

  “No, but I hear them. Let’s listen.”

  Kyle thought he heard noises from above. He heard what sounded like wood scraping. He realized it was the plywood covering the window where the bots flew in.

  He heard groaning, and someone say, you hold it, and I’ll crawl through. I’m in. He heard Brendan say.

  There was a loud crash as the piece of plywood smashed to the ground right in front of them.

  Kyle jumped back as dust filled the bushes.

  A minute later, Kyle looked up to see what looked like Brendan’s body lean over the porch rail above.

  “Kyle, can you hear me?” Brendan said. “I got them. We’re coming down.”

  “We should move back to the spot where we said we would meet them,” Kyle said.

  But before they could move, two giant hands grabbed Kyle under the arms and pulled him out of the hedgerow. Kyle could see a second man pull Charlotte out and wrap massive arms around her tiny waist.

  She screamed once. Then there was silence.

  Kyle screamed, “Charlotte!” but a giant, gloved hand covered his mouth. He struggled to get loose, but the man was too strong. The more he struggled, the tighter the man’s hold got. Kyle stopped resisting when it felt like his ribs would collapse. The giant man picked him up and carried him away.

  * * *

  Brendan scanned the garden from the balcony, but Kyle and Charlotte were gone.

  “Where are they?” Carla asked. “I can’t see them.”

  “I saw them go around the corner of the house.”

  “Let’s go,” Carla said as she scrambled down the side of the mansion. Brendan followed. They ran along the front of the house, then turned the corner. A large fallen tree lay against the siding of the house. Some of the branches broke through the windows, forming a large canopy covering the lawn. Brendan saw movement under the tree branches.

  Brendan and Carla stopped in the thick, uncut grass before they reached the tree.

  “They went underneath,” Carla said. “I can’t see any movement.”

  “We have to go inside.”

  “No. We don’t know how many are in there. We need to wait before we rush in.”

  They lay down in the grass and peered through the immense tangle of branches. Brendan saw movement. It was the large man, and he was holding Charlotte in front of him. A second man dragged Kyle into the mansion.

  “Let’s go,” Brendan said. “They’re going into the house.” Brendan sprung up to his feet and ran towards the tree.

  “Brendan, stop,” Carla said as she jumped up and ran after Brendan. She tackled him to the ground as the sound of automatic gunfire erupted from the trees. Bullets whizzed over their heads. A second later, and they both would have been dead.

  “You kids, get out of here now,” the man said in a strange accent. “Or you’ll all die.”

  Brendan and Carla got up and backed away until they got past the corner of the house. They turned and ran down the path towards the front door. The front door smashed open. The man who grabbed Kyle stood in front of them with a sawed-off shotgun.

  Brendan grabbed Carla’s arm, and they took a sharp turn into the garden of overgrown hedgerows. They ran through the maze of branches and thorns for what felt like hours. Men were shouting, but he didn’t look back. They got to the gate and squeezed through, then ran down the path to the boathouse.

  “Stop!” Brendan heard the man yell. “Come back here.”

  Kyle turned to see the man stuck at the locked gate.

  Brendan and Carla ran to the dock at full speed, then jumped on the boat. She started the engine, but the vessel didn’t move.

  “Untie the lines!” Brendan said. “Hurry!”

  Carla jumped back onto the deck. A loud blast made her jump, and splinters flew from the dock only a foot away. She untied the lines and jumped back onto the boat. Another shot blew the cleat away from the pier.

  “Gun it, Brendan,” Carla said as she ducked down below the side rail. “He’s shooting at us!”

  * * *

  Unlike their ride over when the water was calm, the waves were now rough and choppy. The wind picked up, and whitecaps adorned the tops of the waves.

  “Brendan put a life vest on,” Carla said. “We may be in for some wet weather. And don’t go too fast, these are dangerous conditions. Keep your eye out for larger ships.”

  “Carla, have you seen Kyle’s backpack?” Brendan asked.

  “It’s on your back, you idiot,” Carla said with a grin. She pulled the backpack off his shoulders and placed it on the deck.

  Carla took the wheel.

  Brendan rummaged through Kyle’s backpack. All three bots, VR headsets, and RC control were there. He found Kyle’s cell phone, which still had a little battery power.

  “Kyle’s cell phone doe
sn’t have a signal. We have to call the police.”

  Carla pulled out her cell phone and pushed several buttons. “No signal,” she said.

  “I didn’t bring my phone,” Brendan said.

  “Why wouldn’t you bring your cell phone? Who doesn’t bring their phone everywhere they go? Where’s your boat’s radio?”

  “I don’t know. My Dad said something about replacing it with a newer model.”

  “So there’s no radio? What else could go wrong?”

  As if on cue, Brendan heard the roar of thunder in the distance. He looked at Carla, who shook her head and held on to the wheel.

  Brendan put his arm around Carla, “Don’t be scared. I’ll keep you safe.”

  Carla smiled, “I don’t need you to keep me safe, but you can keep your arm me. She leaned over and pecked Brendan on the cheek.”

  The waves grew, battering the small boat. The fierce wind gusts blew stronger as the lightning flashes got closer. They were in open water, and there was no place to get shelter.

  Wood Hole was only seven miles away, but it could have been a thousand miles in this storm. Brendan hoped they could make it to shore before the storm hit.

  All hopes faded when the engine died.

  “Now, what happened?” Carla screamed into the wind.

  Carla stared at the gauges on the dashboard. Then she punched Brendan on the back.

  “You idiot! We ran out of gas!”

  The small boat bobbed in the ocean as the waves whipped up higher and higher.

  “Hold on tight!” Brendan yelled.

  Chapter 23

  Jessie, the bombshell television reporter, was now Jay’s kid sister again. The last time Jay sat in a hospital with her, she was seven and had broken her ankle jumping off a swing set. But, it was different this time. The doctors said she would have phantom feelings and wouldn’t know her leg was gone. They also said Jay was the best person to break the news to her.

  Jessie began to wake up. Then, after a brief visit from a nurse to check her vital signs, she said, “What’s going on? What happened to my leg? It feels weird.”

  “Hey, Jess,” Jay said. “Do you remember what happened?”

  “No, I was outside Saint Patrick’s with Roger. I saw some type of seagull drone. The bomb squad guy said it was clear, and they were bringing the seagull drone to their van. It’s a blur after that.”