Lights on the Far Horizon Trilogy

by Stone, Sailor

  Kinsey smiled, “That’s what a nice priest told me as well, earlier today.”

  “The priest in the church on your way to the beach?”

  Kinsey grabbed Tanner’s arm and pulled him to her. She kissed him and said, “That was you! I saw someone going in the church as I left. I even thought he was handsome and he reminded me of you.”

  “That was me.”

  Kinsey ran her mind back, thinking of everything that had happened to her over the last few days on Bermuda, “So I’ve had a protector here on the island, have I?”

  “No, more of an admirer. After what happened with us, Jessica came up with the idea to get you away so you could heal. We had to get through the fog of your depression and make you see how much we all stood to lose if you gave into your dark feelings.”

  “Was I that bad?”

  “We were that concerned. You were never bad, but when you hit me it made me start thinking bad thoughts as well, and Jess figured it out and made me do something dramatic to save our family. We always knew you’d get better but we were running out of time.”

  Kinsey felt a tear rolling down her cheek and she was grateful, after what Tanner had just told her, to still have Tanner be there to reach out and wipe the tear away. “I’m so sorry, Tanner…”

  Tanner put his finger to her lips, “No guilt, Kins, that won’t work. Let’s start again. Long ago we lost one another for four years. Remember? We found each other and started over then. Let’s do it again.”

  Kinsey nodded and said, “Okay, how do we start?”

  Tanner stood from the edge of the bed and reached out his hand to Kinsey’s, “By getting in the shower together and reliving the first day of our honeymoon, that’s how.”

  The door to the tavern’s bathroom opened behind Kinsey and she came back into the moment. It was two young women coming in to use the restroom. They were friends and they were carrying on a loud conversation. They were dressed in the seagoing uniforms of a ship’s crew and Kinsey figured they must work on one of the cruise ships that was in port down in Hamilton.

  As they passed Kinsey one took a look at her and exclaimed, “Wow, that’s a gorgeous dress. You look incredible.”

  Then the other friend added, “You sure do. Way too much for this tavern, where are you off to?”

  The unrehearsed compliments felt good to Kinsey and they gave her some much needed confidence for what she was preparing to do. “I’m on my way to a dinner party on that big yacht down on the wharf. Thanks for the vote of approval for my dress.”

  “Well, you’ll see us later then, or maybe not, it’s a big boat. We both work on it as servers,” the short, cute looking blond girl said.

  “And in the galley,” added the tall, red headed, pretty girl.

  Their answers surprised Kinsey. Her instincts told her to make friends with the girls and she said, “So how is that? Working for Dmitri? Is he a good boss?”

  The two girls looked at each other before the short blond answered, “He pays well but he expects perfection. As long as we do our jobs and stay out of his way he is fine.”

  The red-head added, “You seem nice but we’d never say anything bad about our boss to someone who is getting ready to go eat dinner with him.”

  It was a hint and Kinsey stepped to the door of the restroom and she quickly thought through her options and decided honesty would be the quickest and best way to get these girls on her side, “I met Dmitri at a bar last night. I know who he is and I think he hurt my friend’s fiancée on his boat last year. I’m trying to find out what happened to her.”

  The two girls looked at each other and then the red-head told Kinsey to stay in the bar and they would come out and talk to her in a moment. Kinsey agreed and stepped out from the restroom.

  Sammy was standing by the door waiting for Kinsey. He put his hand on her shoulder and said, “I hope we can do this. I’ve never been undercover before. Isn’t this exciting?” He was beaming at Kinsey, his smile going from ear to ear.

  She took him by the hand and led him into the bar area, “Well, we start now. I just met two girls in the restroom who work on the boat. They’re coming out to talk to me in a moment.”

  Sammy’s mouth dropped open, “Boy then, we’re off to a fast start.”

  The girls came out from the restroom, made eye contact with Kinsey, and then walked over to a table where it was obvious to Kinsey they had just eaten dinner. They sat down and waited for Kinsey to come join them.

  Kinsey, followed by Sammy, came to their table and sat down.

  The girls looked at Sammy and he immediately put out his hand and introduced himself.

  Kinsey learned that the red-head’s name was Sicilee and the blonde’s name was Chastain.

  After a moment of talking and getting comfortable in one another’s company Kinsey looked both girls in the eyes and asked, “So what is it about Dmitri that you want to tell us? Don’t be afraid, we only want to help our friend and anything you tell us will never get back to anyone on that ship.”

  Sicilee looked around the bar, “We have to make sure none of Mr. Rublev’s guards are in here. They’d tell him you were sitting with us as soon as they saw you come on board the ship.”

  “He treats us like we’re out to get him. He is so paranoid,” Chastain said, then asked, “You know how he makes his money?”

  Sammy said no, and, just like Sicilee had done a moment before, Chastain took a look around the bar, then she said, “He sells guns, all kinds. I’ve even seen them in the hold of his ship once. They were there one day and then gone a day later when a smaller ship came alongside in a port in east Africa during the night.”

  “You mean he sells arms?” Kinsey wasn’t surprised. It was a perfect job for a man that liked to hurt people.

  Both girls nodded then Sicilee jumped suddenly from the table, “There’s Mr. Yurek, we have to go.” She gave Chastain a push on the shoulder, “Come quickly, before he sees us here.”

  Chastain looked to Kinsey as she stood, “Find us on the ship. We can talk then. Safer.”

  Moments later both girls were gone through the door leading to the terrace outside before the man, Mr. Yurek as they had referred to him, had a chance to look in their direction.

  Kinsey looked from the open door that the two girls had just stepped through to Mr. Yurek. Her first thought was that she was looking at an evil man. Mr. Yurek carried a darkness within him and Kinsey sensed he was not only dangerous, but void of any genuine kindness. He was tall, thin and long limbed. He had a thin scar that ran down his cheek and neck, white hair and grey eyes that flicked side to side taking in everything around him. He was searching for someone.

  Kinsey watched Mr. Yurek as his eyes honed in on a sailor sitting at the bar. He stepped up behind the sailor and whispered in his ear. The sailor straightened in his chair, his head cocked to the side, as he listened to Mr. Yurek’s words. When Mr. Yurek finished speaking and stepped back from the sailor, the sailor quickly put some money on the bar and stepped away from his barstool, and, never looking Mr. Yurek in the eyes, left his half-finished beer on the bar and made quickly for the exit door.

  Mr. Yurek watched him leave then he turned his gaze to the rest of the patrons in the tavern. His eyes swept across the dining room taking in everything, everyone. He paused in his scan when his eyes met Kinsey’s eyes then moved on.

  Kinsey kept her eyes on his and sure enough, a moment later, they came back to her and she made sure to hold his piercing gaze. Their eyes were locked, and finally, he moved his eyes toward another part of the tavern.

  “Come on, Sammy. It’s time we got on that ship.”

  Sammy stood with Kinsey and said, “Did you see that tall fellow come in the bar? That guy creeps me out. No wonder Sicilee and Chastain ran from him. ”

  Kinsey nodded her head. She had no disagreement there.

  Tanner watched Kinsey and Sammy as they made their way to the great yacht and his heart began to beat faster with concern for his wife
and Sammy.

  Justin had stepped inside the tavern to talk with his manager and it gave Tanner time to process the wild day that he had just experienced.

  He took note of Kinsey and Sammy stepping on board the vessel, lit bright, its sleek lines suggesting adventure and the high life, and realized that the day wasn’t over and the promise of even more excitement during the long night to come was sure to be kept.

  Earlier that day, Tanner remembered, he had taken his hurt and exhausted wife into her hotel bathroom and he’d told her to stand while he helped her from her cover-up and bathing suit. Tears were flowing from her eyes and Tanner knew she needed his comfort, his care and his presence at her side. He noticed the high tub and drew the water for a hot bath. He helped her into the water and he washed her.

  He washed her hair, found it to be full of sand, and decided to wash it again. Kinsey kept her eyes closed and he knew she was leaning her heart and spirit into his touch; he made sure to be soft, gentle and firm with his movements. Every now and then he’d lean down to her and kiss her lips. She’d open herself to him and she’d sigh each time he came back from the kiss.

  He knew she needed, wanted, had to have him but he also knew that he needed her, as much if not even more, and it was the hardest thing to not slide into the warm water of the tub and simply explode inside her in a fit of love and passion.

  He resisted.

  It was better to love her slowly and bring her back to health before he ravaged her; and make no mistake, it would be a ravaging like Bermuda had never experienced, so much did he want to love all over his wife.

  Once washed, Tanner had Kinsey stand in the tub and he dried her off with a soft towel. He helped her out of the tub and stood behind her. He let the towel drop to the floor and he began to rub her with his hands, slowly, softly, firmly, from her calves up to her shoulders. He made sure to let his hands linger when they came to her buttocks and breasts and he let his fingers flutter across her nipples before he dropped them to her stomach. Tanner slid his hands further down, to the area below her stomach, and when her breath left her, he cupped one hand, ever so gently, over the nexus of her femininity and said, softly in her ear, “I love you always Kinsey.”

  She breathed out, “Oh, Tanner,” and, as she turned to kiss him … there was a loud knock at their hotel door.

  It was Sammy, a shopping bag in each hand, coming to ask Kinsey her opinion on what to wear.

  The disappointment at the remembrance of the interruption for what was to be Tanner and Kinsey’s reunifying love brought Tanner’s thoughts back to the present. He looked again to the yacht moored at the wharf and saw that Kinsey and Sammy had disappeared into the ship’s great interior rooms. Then he saw Justin walking out from the door to the tavern and he was waving his hands at Tanner and then pointing just ahead of himself to a tall, white haired man that was walking several feet in front of him.

  Tanner watched the man walk away as Justin came back to their table. The tall man made a straight line with his steps toward the yacht and as Justin sat down at the table by Tanner, the man walked up the gangplank of the Great Seducer and stepped on board.

  “Did you see that guy?” Justin asked.

  “I did, what about him?”

  “He’s Dmitri’s main guy. His henchman. His name is Yurek or something like that. He does all the dirty work that takes place on that ship and I’d bet my life he had something to do with Trisha’s disappearing,”

  “Is that what it’s like on that ship? Dmitri has his own pit bull that he sics on his enemies? I’m not sure I want Kinsey on that boat.”

  “I don’t blame you. I don’t get your wife either; I’ve never seen a woman so bent on helping me.”

  Justin’s words made Tanner remember why he let Kinsey and Sammy go through with their cockamamie plan to find out what happened to Justin’s fiancée in the first place and he answered, “Kinsey has felt like she’s been a disappointment to those around her and finding Trisha would, I think, go a long way toward helping her feel like she’s a worthy person again.”

  “Does she need to do that?”

  “Not for me… or our children, but I get her, I know how she is and she can’t come back to us with her self-respect out of whack like it is now. She has very high moral standards for herself.”

  Justin leaned back in his chair, “How long are you going to let them stay on that boat? They might not ever get a chance to signal us if they are in trouble. This isn’t the movies.”

  Tanner knew Justin was right. He was walking a tightrope between trying to give Kinsey the freedom she needed to right her past actions and his husbandly call to protect his wife from danger – in particular, dangerous men like Dmitri Rublev and the nasty looking man that Justin had, only moments before, pointed out to Tanner.

  “I’ll tell you what, at the first sign of anything, even a flickering light, we go and get Sam and Kins and pull them off that boat,” Tanner answered.

  Justin nodded as a waitress came to take their order.

  “Are you hungry?” Tanner asked.

  Justin looked over to the door of the tavern, thought for a moment then said, “I’m always hungry. But not tonight; I’m too excited about what’s going on on that ship.”

  Tanner agreed, “Just a couple of beers then is all we’ll need,” he said to the waitress.

  “Oh, by the way, what’s your phone number?” Justin asked then continued, “When Sammy went in to use the restroom to admire how pretty he was he left his phone at the table. It wasn’t locked and I was able to get the number for his friend, Carlton. Kinsey and I have been trying to get it so we can let the guy know Sammy is hiding out here in Bermuda.”

  Tanner smiled and gave Justin his phone number. Justin sent him the contact info for Carlton and Tanner forwarded it to Kinsey’s phone.

  A few minutes later he received a text. It was from Kinsey, it read: You got Carlton’s number! Great! Perfect timing. I’m in the restroom, had to get away from Dmitri’s advances for a bit. We are all eating @ long table and Sammy is life of dinner party. Things going well and I’ll keep you posted. Love you Tanner with all my heart.

  Then, before Tanner could set his phone down, he received another text from Kinsey: Tell Justin we have a lead on Trisha. Good stuff!

  Tanner held his phone out to Justin and told him to read her text. Justin read it and stood from his chair. He began to pace up and back on the dining terrace by their table.

  Tanner let Justin gather himself and then he indicated for Justin to sit back down. “We have a long way to go. Don’t get too excited. I know how you feel and you just have to keep telling yourself to be patient. Let things happen.”

  Their waitress came with two beers as Justin sat down and Justin took a long drink from the bottle.

  Tanner said, “I don’t know what Kinsey told you about us but we were separated for many years. It about broke our hearts. We were both lost but God had a plan for us and when it was time we found each other again.”

  Justin swirled his beer bottle in circles on the condensed water that had rolled off the side of the cold bottle and down onto the table. “I don’t know about God. What you see is what you get. That’s what I think,” he said.

  Tanner took a moment to gather his thoughts, took a long drink from his beer, “Did you see Trisha disappearing on you like she did last year. Out of the blue – gone? Like, what you see is what you get, right?”

  Justin was visibly bothered by Tanner’s answer. He shook his head.

  “With that in mind,” Tanner said, “think about this – sometimes, what you don’t see coming has a lot more impact on your life than what you do see coming. I’m no preacher, what you believe is what you believe, but how can you call something untrue just because you can’t sense it?”

  Justin didn’t answer, he kept his eyes to his beer, and Tanner raised his arm to the waitress and pointed to their beers and indicated they needed two more. Then he said, “What matters now though is informat
ion. If Kinsey and Sam have something, we have to be ready to act.”

  Justin looked up, “Like what? I was just going to go get her.”

  “I think it’s highly unlikely that someone on that boat knows your fiancée well enough to keep up with where she is now. At best, I hope we get an island or port where Dmitri pushed her off the ship and left her. That’s where we start – by going to the last place she was seen being shoved off that ship.”

  Justin put his elbows to his knees and his head in his hands. As he looked down between his feet to the floor he said, “That doesn’t sound too good. I don’t have a thick wallet. I can’t go hopping around on planes from island to island.”

  Justin’s answer caught Tanner’s interest and he asked, “Why did you say that – from island to island? Are you sure she’s on an island?”

  “No, but I know Trisha and I know how much she loves the tropics and water. I was just thinking that is where she’d be. She told me she never wants to live where there is no ocean and where it gets cold. Never again, she use to tell me.”

  Tanner answered, “Well, that should narrow our search down and it gives me an idea.”

  Tanner saw that Justin was waiting on him to elaborate so he said, “Not now. Let me think this through and I’ll tell you my plan later. Let’s see what Sammy and Kins come up with first.”

  Onboard the Great Seducer dinner was being served. Two long tables, both now full of diners, had been placed parallel to one another on a deck toward the stern of the ship. The breeze took turns being warm and then cool and carried the scent of sea creatures and saltwater across the great deck. Kinsey’s seat was next to the head chair at her table; sitting in the head chair was, of course, Dmitri Rublev.

  Sammy had been tactfully seated at the far side of the other table away from Kinsey so that Dmitri could have Kinsey’s undivided attention.

  Dmitri, as Kinsey expected, was holding court like a great king at his table and making sure to center the conversation around himself, while Sammy, much to Kinsey’s delight, was the life of the party at the other table.