by Jacobs, Kyle
Cole closed his eyes. He would know soon enough. Instead, he listened to the waves lapping at the beach, and thought of Owen's face, smiling up at him from behind the waterfall.
The boat arrived, and the two men disembarked. The Westerner was tall, and commanding in presence. He grinned down at Cole, almost wild in his look.
"Mr. Grant, I presume?" the new arrival said, and then laughed at his own joke.
Cole frowned at him. "I know you?"
"Not formally, no. My name is Gideon. And I am your captor of the day." The grin never left his face. There was a glint in his eye. It was the look of absolute greed. And he was looking down at Cole, his treasure.
"Looks like you got yourself a major payday in your future," Cole said. He found himself working at the twine around his wrists. Like it would do much good now.
The man called Gideon laughed. "I am hoping it would be a sizable one."
Cole looked up at him, sunlight causing him to squint. "Whatever it is, I could ensure it would be double that amount."
Gideon looked pleasantly shocked. "Why, isn't that kind of you. Whatever would you want in return for this generous offer?"
"Leave the man alone," Cole said. "The one that was with me. If your men are still looking for him, tell them to stop now. And if they caught here, let him go. Do this one thing and I will promise that the ransom paid to you would exceed your wildest dreams."
Gideon laughed, more with delight than anything. "A man? You would cough up untold hundreds of millions for a man?"
Play to his greed, Cole thought. "That is the offer."
Gideon seemed to consider it. Then he turned and asked one of the men a question in what sounded to be very broken Tagalog. The man shook his head.
Gideon looked at Cole again. "It would appear that this man-friend of yours is evading my men. But, I accept your offer. We will cease searching for him immediately. Good enough?"
Cole nodded.
As if basking in his own glory, Gideon sniffed and grinned. "A man. Ha! He had been nothing more than an annoyance. But I see now that he was useful to me after all. His presence got me you."
Gideon laughed. The other henchman laughed along with him. What did they care? They were rich now. Richer than they could ever dream.
"Now you've really gone and ticked me off!" Someone shouted.
Everyone jumped in surprise and stopped laughing. They turned toward the voice.
Cole gasped in shock.
Owen emerged slowly from the jungle directly behind them, only a few feet away. To Cole's amazement, he was armed with a submachine gun, which he had levelled at Gideon.
He also noticed something else about Owen. He was mad. Real mad.
Everyone tensed. When Owen emerged, all the men either had their weapons holstered, or slung over their shoulders. They hadn't expected any armed conflict standing here.
Owen had caught them all completely by surprise.
Cole beamed at him.
"What? What is this?" Gideon said, stunned.
Owen stopped moving, standing with his legs slightly apart, the submachine gun firmly levelled, finger on the trigger. "What is this? The end of the line for you idiots. Now, drop your weapons."
Cole could feel the tension rising amongst the group. Did they think they could get the drop on him? Would he even fire at them? He could sense these thoughts racing through their minds.
They were killers, mostly all. But not Owen. Did he have what it took to kill someone here and now?
Gideon seemed to regain some of his composure. "Now, look sir, I don't know what you were thinking coming here, but this game is over. Drop the weapon and I swear you won't be hurt."
"Yeah, I believe you," Owen said. He hoisted the gun up a little higher. "I said drop your weapons. All of you."
Now Gideon had worked up enough bravado that he obviously felt he could call his bluff. "You aren't going to shoot anyone. You don't have it in you, do you now? Now, put down that gun and we'll - ."
Owen shot at Gideon.
The noise was deafening as it was sudden. Cole blinked as sand shot up from the beach.
No, he didn't shoot Gideon, but he had shot a line through the sand between him and one of the other men.
A feeling of unease grew amongst the men.
"Drop them. I will not repeat myself," Owen said.
He had said it so angrily, that if Cole were carrying a gun at that moment, he would have dropped it, too.
Gideon scowled. "Drop them. Everyone."
Slowly, and under his very watchful gaze, the men dropped their weapons in the sand.
"Now untie him," Owen said.
Gideon nodded to one of the men, who bent down and quickly undid his bindings. Once free, Cole stood, rubbing at his wrists.
"Well this is a pleasant surprise," Cole said, grinning wildly.
Owen's features softened a little as he glanced at him. "Well, we can talk about that later. Grab a gun now, honey."
"Oh," Cole said. "Right." He selected a machine gun from the ample pile then walked over to stand by Owen.
They both looked at their new prisoners, who stood with shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Now what should we do with them?" Cole asked.
"I dunno," Owen said with a slight shrug. "I was hoping at some point now the cavalry would arrive."
"Cavalry?" Cole said.
There was a distant rumbling. Everyone looked about, blinking in confusion.
"What the hell?" Cole said.
Just then a helicopter shot over the jungle canopy and passed above them.
Stunned, the only thing everyone on the beach could do was stare in surprise.
The huge machine banked hard, and lowered a bit over the water right next to the beach. The water sprayed outwards, and kicked up sand.
A uniformed soldier hung out an open side hatch, a massive mounted gun pointed down at them.
Cole blinked at the lettering along the side of the helicopter. United States Navy.
Cole blinked in amazement. "Well, I'll be damned!" he said.
Owen and Cole laughed.
Chapter 17
Owen
"You knew my paranoia would pay off in spades, one day, didn't you, brother mine?" Naomi said, her image crisp and clear on Cole's phone. Now that the jammer was off, Owen was able to call Naomi.
And Owen was very happy to see him.
"How did you know we were in trouble?" Owen asked. He glanced up at the beach.
The chopper had landed on the beach, and marines had secured the prisoners. In the distance, a United States Navy frigate had just made anchor not far from Gideon's own boat.
Naomi laughed. "My dear, when you said you had something very, very important to tell me, and that I had to listen, only then to have the connection cut off, I suspected something was amiss. I tried your number many times. And when that didn't work, I tried Cole's phone. And when that didn't work I went into full panic mode. I called his assistant, who called someone in the government, who contacted the navy, and, well, there you are."
Owen grinned at his sister. "Sister, mine. You can be as paranoid as you want. Don't ever stop." Owen glanced up to see Cole talking to one of the marines. He then started to walk over to him.
"So tell me," Naomi said, his voice all conspiratorial. "Is he handsome or what?"
"Who's that?" Cole said, walking over to stand next to Owen.
"Oh!" Naomi cried in surprise.
Owen laughed and pointed the phone at Cole. "Cole, this is my sister Naomi. Naomi this is Cole Grant. He's very talented at cutting ropes."
"Nice to meet you Naomi. And thanks for bringing us the cavalry," Cole said, smiling into the phone. Owen knew the effect this would have on his sister.
"Oh, my!" Naomi said. "Such a pleasure to meet you... Oh, ropes? Cutting? What are you not telling me, Owen!"
Owen and Cole both laughed.
"I'll call you once we make it back to the main island. I promise."
"Of, course.
Take your time, I understand. But, you must know, I am absolutely starving for details!" Naomi said.
"And you will get them," Owen said. "Bye for now." He signed off and looked to Cole. He looked a lot more relaxed than he had a short while ago, tied up on the beach.
Cole smiled at him. "They're searching the island for Gideon's other men. I don't think it will be much of a problem for these guys." He looked over at the marines who were now loading the prisoners onto the chopper.
Gideon was about to step on board when he looked in Owen and Cole's direction. He grimaced.
Owen waved, and Gideon vanished into the helicopter.
"Now what?" he asked Cole.
Cole stepped closer to him, and eased his arms around Owen. He liked it. He really liked it. Cole beamed down at him.
"Well, I think we have some unfinished business to attend to."
Owen's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? After all of this, you still want this island?"
Cole blinked, then looked around at the jungle as if seeing this place for the first time. "Oh, yeah. Right." He looked back down at him. "I just consider the island a bonus. I already found what I really wanted."
Owen smiled at him.
Then Cole leaned forward and they kissed.
END