After several hours of driving, Karen and Oria finally reached a series of signs leading to scenic overlooks over the Cheat River. They drove a little farther towards Lewisburg and found a small hunting shop where they could purchase clothing that is more appropriate for a canoe trip.
Karen felt awkward walking into the shop with Oria since his clothes made Oria look like a real dork. Karen ducked behind several counters and picked out a t-shirt, shorts, and a swimming suit. She joined Oria at the checkout counter and started to pull out her credit card when Oria reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of $100 bills. Karen and the storeowner were stunned at the pile of cash in Oria’s hand. Karen rolled her eyes and thought great, what a moron! What is he trying to do, make us look like drug dealers and a target for anyone that wants some fast cash?
Oria pulled a bill off the top of the stack and handed it to the store manager. “Will this be enough to cover it?”
“Yes sir. Let me give you change.”
After the store manager handed Oria his change, Karen grabbed his arm and quickly led him out of the store.
“Geez Oria, what were you trying to do? That was a lot of cash you pulled out.”
“Yes and what is your point?”
“Are you stupid or something? At best, that clerk thinks you’re a drug dealer. At worst, you just set yourself up as an easy mark.”
“I don’t believe I make an easy mark.”
“Duh, I’ve seen you in action and that’s not the point. I thought you wanted a more romantic day.”
“What does having money have to with wanting a more romantic day?”
“Oria, for a smart strong man, you sure are stupid! Do you want to fight people off all day that want to take your cash, or do you want a relaxing day with me?”
“I think the answer is obvious.”
“Good, now that we settled that, let’s get back on the road.”
Oria and Karen climbed back into her car under close observation by the storeowner. He was quite suspicious of them having seen Oria’s wad of bills and Karen’s new expensive looking sports car complete with temporary tags. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out something was amiss here. As a good citizen, he called the local sheriff and told him about Oria’s wad of bills, the fancy new sports car, and their conversation about going on a canoe trip.
Of course, Karen and Oria were ignorant of this newly created interest in them and their trip. They blissfully continued on their way heading towards one of the more popular Cheat River vendors. An old river dog known as Ratface ran it. Ratface happened to be a close friend of Karen’s. Ratface’s reputation for his drunken escapades was almost as big as his reputation for his river exploits. It was during one of his drunken escapades at a local bar that he earned his name Ratface. After several men in the crowd dared him to eat several large rats alive, they dubbed him Ratface, a name that stuck.
After a short drive, Karen pulled her car into the small dirt parking lot next to Ratface’s shop. She parked the car, jumped out and headed straight for Ratface with Oria a short distance behind. Ratface grinned when he saw her headed his way.
“Hey babe, long time since I last saw you. How about giving me a hug?”
Karen threw Ratface a dirty look. “Not in this life time you ugly piece of trash.” She then gave him a big hug.
Ratface had a reputation throughout the river basin as a tough, rugged, and vicious scrapper. He was someone who it was best not to cross and was hard to make your friend. Karen was one of the few people whom Ratface really cared about and actually was quite close to. Ratface learned early in his military life that it was best not to get close to anyone. Most people that he allowed himself to get close to, died. That was the nature of his work, at least during a series of black ops in South America. Ratface used to be a member of an elite Seal unit that mostly engaged in covert activities, activities generally denied to have existed by the U.S. government.
Ratface met Karen towards the end of his official Navy career. Sometime after the year 2000, Ratface was on a mission to recover top-secret equipment and rescue a group of Air Force pilots. Ratface’s team reported to Major Henley. Henley appeared more interested in pulling his equipment out of the ocean and getting it away from the wrong hands than he did for saving his own people. This was certainly not a Seal viewpoint. Seals do not leave their wounded behind. It was on this mission that Ratface met Karen, a young Air Force Lieutenant. They quickly developed a friendship, one where they became like a brother and sister.
Ratface slowly released Karen from his embrace and eyeballed Oria, now only a few feet away. Ratface instantly knew that there was something strongly different about Oria. He knew another warrior when he saw one. It was like a sixth sense. Oria generated a strong aura, a warrior’s aura.
Karen never fully understood Ratface’s penetrating glare whenever he met a new male friend of hers. It always made her friends uncomfortable. She normally would warn them about Ratface before introducing them to him. However, this time she chose not to warn Oria. After all, Oria had some peculiar characteristics himself.
Ratface finally broke eye contact with Oria. “What are you waiting for? Are you planning on introducing me to your new friend?”
“Yes of course, once you stop eyeing him to death!”
“Can’t help it, this one looks a bit surer of himself, at least more than the last idiot you brought up here.”
Karen felt like killing him when it came to dealing with her male friends. No one could quite meet Ratface’s standards, whatever his standards were. He always embarrassed her. “Good, now that we are through the preliminaries. Ratface, this is Oria. Oria meet Ratface.”
Oria extended his hand out to Ratface, which he grabbed with his usual bone-crushing grip. Karen rolled her eyes back as she watched Ratface clamp down on Oria’s hand; another one of his warrior tests. She was surprised to see Oria respond with an even firmer handshake, so firm that it was all Ratface could do not to grimace from the pain. Oria spoke first. “Good to meet you Ratface. So you and Karen are old friends?”
“You might say so. We met some years ago when my team rescued some Air Force people from one of their screw-ups.”
Karen laughed, “Ratface, give me a break. You don’t have to beat up on the Air Force every time you meet someone new.”
“Yeah maybe so, at least not the older Air Force. Today, it’s more like the Air Farce along with the rest of the so-called modern day military.”
“Ratface, please; do we need to have another lecture on the downfall of the American military establishment?”
“I reckon not”, spat Ratface. He spit his chew on the ground with more force than necessary. Ratface hated the new military. There were too many rules, procedures, and manners for rogue warriors like Ratface to exist in it. In Ratface’s opinion, the military had too many pencil-snipping desk jockeys and just plain wimps. Most of his friends left the military directly because of these changes. Ratface believed that in today’s military, men demonstrating true grit in combat received very little respect.
Karen wanted desperately to change the subject. “It looks like good weather for a canoe trip, at least from what we heard on the radio during our drive here.”
“Sure looks that way”, responded Ratface, smiling at Karen. “However, let me just give you a few warnings. The river is running high and fast for this time of year. I don’t think a seasoned canoeist like you should have any major problems. If you were a rookie, I wouldn’t let you go. Watch out for your friend though. We wouldn’t want to lose him when you hit the rapids.”
“Thanks Ratface. I’ll keep an eye on Oria.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you will. Look, there’s a band playing tonight down at our pub. Why don’t you join us there? I’m sure you’ll work up a big appetite after your trip. You can wine and dine Oria in our friendly atmosphere. You know which one is my table?”
“Of course” Ratface always made a big deal about his table. Every
one called his table the Captain’s table and everyone treated it as reserved for Ratface and his guests.
Ratface led Karen down to a canoe that was already setup and waiting for them. Karen and Ratface discussed river conditions and a pick-up time. Karen climbed into the back of the canoe with Oria in the bow. They shoved off with Karen waving to Ratface as they began their journey down the river.
Within 15 minutes of Karen’s departure, Captain Martello and his team arrived at Ratface’s canoe rentals. He was fuming mad at Karen for not providing him a detailed itinerary of her trip. Karen didn’t think it was necessary for Martello to follow that close and did not want him wrecking an otherwise romantic day. She decided not to tell Ratface anything, knowing that he would provide Martello with his usual load of useless information.
Captain Martello saw Ratface sitting on a wooden bench in front of his shop. He walked up to him and barked “I’m Captain Martello. Did a young lady, Karen Brown, show up here with someone?”
Ratface glanced up and down at Martello, wondering from what B-movie he escaped. “Nope; it’s been pretty quiet here. What did you say her name was?”
Martello narrowed his eyes at Ratface, “don’t play dumb with me. That’s her car over there and from what I can tell the engine is still warm.”
“Don’t know anything ‘bout that car; must have been parked while I stepped into the trees.” Ratface returned Martello’s scowl. He was thinking to himself, “It’s a good thing I’m no longer in the service, if this guy was my superior, he’d be dead with his attitude.”
“Yeah, right, and all of your boats are sitting here accounted for.”
Ratface eased his body off the bench, spat out the toothpick he was rolling between his lips, walked towards Martello, and stopped when there was an inch between their noses. “Now pretty boy, if you value your body parts, I suggest that you get lost! I rent to all kinds of people, and right now, that don’t include you!”
Martello’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down several times until he found his voice. “I can see Karen’s not here. I was planning to leave anyway. By any chance if you do see her, please give me a call, here’s my card.”
Martello knew that working this piece of trash was a waste of time. It was just one more thing that he was going to add to his report to fry the good Major. Martello’s dislike for Major Brown was intensifying. Major Brown particularly bothered him since she was a pilot in a special Op unit. Martello could not begin to fathom why special operations accepted women.
Martello walked back to his car fuming mad. “Who was this piece of white trash and what game was Karen playing?” Martello grabbed the mike to the radio and called the operations center. Colonel Johnson happened to be in the center at the time of his call.
“Yes Captain, what do you want?”
“Hello Colonel, I wasn’t expecting you to be in the control center.”
Johnson was in no mood for Martello’s chatter. “I’m here. What can I do for you?”
“Colonel, Major Brown has made a planned contact with Oria without providing us much of an itinerary. She is heading down the Cheat River in a canoe. I need a chopper to maintain surveillance.”
“Very well, one will be dispatched.”
Once Martello completed his call to the operations center, he felt comfortable that he had them set up a surveillance satellite to monitor Karen’s activity on the river. There was no way Karen was going to cut him out of the loop. No sir; Captain Martello wasn’t going to let a woman best him.
Meanwhile, Oria and Karen were paddling down the river. Karen closely watched Oria with the intent of determining his skill level and if he was up to handling the rapids ahead. She felt responsible for his safety and after losing one friend in Ocean City, she did not want to lose another friend. She couldn’t help but think of Jack and the growing emptiness left behind. It was only a couple months ago that Jack and Bob had joined her on the very same river.
Oria enjoyed the scenic ride down the river. He was perfectly comfortable letting Karen assume the helm and maintaining responsibility for their voyage. He had nothing to prove and was quite comfortable with himself.
Karen admired Oria’s strength and natural coordination at paddling the boat. He used a slightly different technique than she was accustomed to, but it was quite effective. “Oria, you look like you’ve done this before.”
Oria laughed. “Yes, I’ve been paddling canoes since I was old enough to walk. It’s one of the few things in addition to sailing that really relaxes me.”
“Oh, so you’re a sailor too. Does that mean you have a lady in every port?”
“Not quite, just lots of wannabes.” Both Karen and Oria laughed. Karen told Oria he was doing a fair job of using slang.
The sound of rapids grew louder. “Oria it’s going to get rough around the next bend.”
“That’s what you keep telling me -- don’t worry I’ll be fine. I’ve been in worse situations than this.”
“Yeah, I bet you have. Say what was that sound?” asked Karen looking around her. “It sounds like a helicopter.”
Above them, a chopper slowly came into view. It looked like the same chopper that tailed them in West Virginia. At first, the presence of the chopper surprised Karen. She thought the one tailing them had returned to refuel. Then it dawned on her, Martello did not have a detailed itinerary. He obviously was working his job to the extreme, by making a request for the chopper to continue following her down the river.
Oria looked up at the chopper and laughed to himself. “Karen, I think it’s your friend Martello, the one that’s been tailing us since we left your apartment.”
Karen pretended to be surprised. “Oria, what are you talking about?”
“Like you don’t know; we’ve had an Air Force helicopter tailing us since we left your condo.”
“I guess you caught us.”
“Like it was hard to miss; our tail must have gone to Three Stooges Spy School.”
“It sure looks that way. Hey, I’m sorry about the tail. As you might guess, my office is somewhat interested in you.” Karen was fearful that the continued surveillance would cause a rift between them. She didn’t know what else she could do about it though, so she figured that she might as well let Oria in on the plan.
Sensing Karen’s concern, Oria tried to calm her down. “I imagine so. It’s not the best situation for us. Although, if we weren’t on crossing trails, we may never have met. If you’re worried about us, don’t. We have to pursue our personal journeys and make the most of the time that we are able to spend together. It will take more than our jobs to change how I’m starting to feel about you. By the way, we’re already at the rapids. Are you ready?”
“Yeah, let’s go”
Karen skillfully guided the canoe into the center channel. They picked up speed fast while Karen steered the canoe away from rocks and stones in the river. Oria repeatedly kept the canoe off several large stones hidden just inches below the river’s surface. Karen was amazed at Oria’s uncanny ability to know exactly where each stone was.
Karen and Oria paddled frantically through the rapids. Their boat shot, twisted, and turned and ended up in a small whirlpool where they nearly capsized, except for an incredible stunt pulled off by Oria that quickly righted the boat and shot it into the next series of rapids. As the canoe raced through the second series of rapids, it came closer to shore.
Karen was breathing hard and feeling a tremendous exhilaration. It was during times like this that she felt most alive. Her mind and body worked together and became one in a perfect harmony. She felt the energy of life surge through her body as she skillfully guided the canoe by one dangerous obstacle after another. Fear surged though her body as she saw a low hanging branch just ahead. She started a J-stroke to guide the canoe away from the branch, when her world went black. She had missed another low hanging branch, which collided, with her head forcing her into a world of blackness and her body into the cold and churning waters of the r
iver below.
Oria, feeling the canoe twist at Karen’s vain attempt to steer them towards the safety of the river’s center, barely had time to duck from a low hanging branch himself. He heard a loud thud just behind him, looked back, and saw Karen as she fell into the wild river. Oria felt an ice-cold chill encompassing him. On another trip, many years ago, Oria remembered losing his wife. He was in a long canoe out on the Chesapeake Bay. Only hours before his new wife helped him load their canoe with fresh bear meat. The water was getting rough making it hard to maneuver their canoe. As they got closer to the shore, Oria noticed too late, a Susquehanna raiding party rapidly closing the distance between their canoes. An arrow flew across the water striking Oria’s bride with such force that it knocked her into the Bay. Oria abruptly turned his canoe around towards his enemies in a vain hope to rescue his bride. In horror, Oria watched a finned sea monster grab his wife, pulling her under water. The water below quickly turned red from his wife’s blood. The Susquehanna seeing the frenzied sea monster’s attack froze in their canoe. Taking a deep breath, Oria returned to the horror of the present. He could not afford to lose his second love, as he lost his wife so many years ago.
Oria continued down river another 100’ before he could bring the canoe safely to shore and get off. Once ashore, he took off at a full sprint up the river’s rocky shoreline plowing through brush, water and any other obstacle that presented itself. He finally reached the location where he remembered Karen falling overboard. Pulling out a sensometer, Oria held it in his hand and used it to pinpoint Karen’s location. It indicated that Karen was trapped, and close to death at the river’s bottom. Oria dove into the river battling its currents and swam for the location indicated by his sensometer. Karen’s face was bloated and she was clearly dead or very close to it. Oria used a small laser device to cut her free of wood and debris pinning her to the rivers bottom. He then reached an arm around her and pulled her through the river’s currents and to the safety of the shore.
Legend of Oria 1: Initial Contact Page 25