by J. B. Hawker
“I think you do. And, anyway, I’ve got some things to say to you. Please hear me out.”
Marki glared at him without responding, but didn’t move away.
Encouraged, Max went on more firmly, “I owe you an apology. I know that can’t make up for anything, but it’s important to me for you to hear it.”
“Oh, so this is all about you, is it? How typical!”
“Okay, I deserve that. I wasn’t there for you. I regret it more than you can know.”
“You regret it! Well, that makes everything just fine, doesn’t it? Feel better, now?”
“Wait, Marki,” Max grabbed her by the arm as she turned to walk away.
She slapped at his hand then began throwing punches and kicking out at him.
Max wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against his chest until she stopped fighting and went limp. Marki clung to him, sobbing, while he stroked her hair and murmured soothingly.
Bunny felt tears in her own eyes as she watched the father and daughter in each other’s arms.
Max led Marki over to a box and sat beside her, taking her hands in his.
Bunny kept watching them, unable to hear the conversation. She could tell Marki was calmer and sensed from her body language that she was allowing Max to explain. She gave them a few more minutes and then approached.
“But, I did send my child support every month, honestly. I should have done much more, but your mother got so angry whenever I came around. Eventually, it was just easier to stay away. Hi, Buns. I’d like you to meet my daughter, Marki.”
Bunny sat cross-legged on the deck nearby and greeted her new step-daughter, “Hi.”
“Marki, this is my wife, Bunny. I think you two should get to know each other.”
Marki gave Bunny a sullen glare and didn’t speak.
“Well, you guys must have a lot to catch up on. Guess I’ll just mosey along,” Bunny said, getting to her feet.
“Wait, Bunny. I’m sorry I was rude. This mess isn’t your fault. I’m just freaked out from the stress and everything, I guess. I was sort of surprised to see my dad here, you know.”
“Of course. We’re none of us at our best just now,” Bunny remarked as she sat back down.
“I was just trying to explain to…my daughter how it happened that I lost touch with her.”
“So, finish making your excuses, then,” Marki suggested.
“I know there’s no excuse, Marki. But there were reasons, and I think you should know them. I didn’t leave because I didn’t care about you, or because you weren’t good enough or something.”
“Yeah, go on.”
“I wasn’t a very good husband back then. Bunny can vouch for that.”
“How can she, if she wasn’t even there? She’s on your side, anyway.”
“No, I’m not!” Bunny interjected. “Well, I guess I am, now, but I was your father’s first wife and when he left me for another woman, I wasn’t on his side, at all.”
“What? And you married him again?”
“She’s been kind enough to give me a second chance to be a good husband, Marki. I’m grateful, but so far I haven’t been doing such a bang-up job of it.”
“Yes, you have, Max. You’ve been wonderful to me.”
“So, what I’m hoping, Marki, is that you will give me a second chance to be a good dad.”
“Why should I?”
“Like I was saying, I wasn’t a very good husband in those days. But I kept trying and I did improve over the years. I caused your mom a lot of pain with my selfishness and she was really angry when we split up. Sometimes when I stopped by she wouldn’t even let me see you.”
“You should have kept trying!” Marki insisted.
“Of course, you’re right, Honey, but I didn’t. I wasn’t that smart back then. It was easier to just let your mom have her way…and I convinced myself that both of you were better off without me. But I never stopped thinking about you and wondering how you were doing.”
Marki was silent for a few moments and Max seemed to hold his breath. Bunny squeezed his hand. It broke her heart to see him humbling himself this way.
“Maybe that’s true, and maybe it isn’t, but I’ll bet if the pirates hadn’t brought you on board I would never have heard from you…Right?”
“I don’t know. I hope you’re wrong about that. I like to think that eventually I would have found the nerve to confess all my past sins to her and Bunny would have kept after me until I looked you up. She’s like that.”
Max returned the pressure on Bunny’s hand as he spoke.
Marki had started to say something when the pirate leader came back on deck, shouting orders as he came.
Bunny looked at the others with a sinking heart. This couldn’t be good.
Chapter Fourteen
For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways
─ Psalm 91.11
“Thanks, Bill. Let me know if you hear anything else you can tell me. I hope the metadata from the email, along with the location of the Pristine Promise when it was sent, will help with your search. Talk with you later.”
Gilles entered the kitchen with a grim expression.
“What did your friends say?” Ellery asked.
“They haven’t heard anything about Max and Bunny, but they were happy to have the information from that email. The location of the cruise ship at the time Bunny saw it may help them find it, now. Bill promised to let us know if they spot the sailboat.”
“I suppose that’s all we could hope for, but I’m just so worried about Bunny. It’s not like her to be out of touch for so long. Are you sure they told you everything?”
“El, you know I’ve been working as a consultant with these agencies decrypting sensitive information for quite a while, now. I have a pretty high security clearance, but there are still ‘need to know’ parameters. I’m certain the guys I talked to are telling me everything they can. We just have to be content with that.”
“Maybe my grandmother has heard from Bunny. I’ll call her.”
“What are you going to say to her? You don’t want to worry her, needlessly. Bunny is probably nowhere near that cruise ship any longer.”
“Oh, you’re probably right. I just wish I could get over this feeling of impending doom. You know how trouble seems to seek Bunny out.”
“She’s had some interesting adventures in the past, that’s for sure, but there’s no connection with any of that and these pirates, is there?”
“There’s never been any connection between any of Bunny’s near-death experiences. That’s why it’s so weird…and it’s never her fault, either. It’s like she’s under a cloud or hexed or something.”
“Considering that she is still among the living, I’d say she has a guardian angel.”
Another unlucky cluster of terror-stricken passengers was now shifting restlessly near the ship’s railing, congealing blood from the previous murders sticking to the soles of their shoes and bare feet.
The remaining prisoners were transfixed in horror and dread. This couldn’t be happening, again.
Shimbir barked orders to his men, some of whom seemed to be resisting. He tore the cell phone away from one and thrust it into the hands of another, screaming abuse all the while.
The second pirate held the phone like a camera, recording while Shimbir grabbed a gray-haired woman by her ponytail and slashed her throat, flinging her to the deck as blood sprayed over the other passengers, who recoiled in horror.
He growled at the cameraman, as though making certain he’d captured this action, and then proceeded to slash, hack and stab, seemingly at random. One of the guards shot anyone who tried to run. Eventually only one passenger remained standing amidst the carnage, a chubby middle-aged German man with tears streaming down his face. He groaned, “Mutter,” as he gazed down on the similarly plump body of a woman at his feet.
Shimbir forced the unresisting man to kneel. The heart
broken fellow waited meekly for his fate while Shimbir screamed into the camera before shooting him in the head, his body toppling over among the others.
With the camera still recording, Shimbir strolled among his victims, shooting anyone that still moved. He made a final speech for the camera then gestured for his men to dump the dead into the sea while he strutted off the deck accompanied by a few of his crew.
“Post the video on the Internet, Jama. That should do it. When they see what we can do, our money will arrive. You’ll see.”
“Is there nothing we can do, Strother? I’ve prayed more fervently than I’ve ever prayed before. I simply can’t understand why God is allowing these vicious murders of innocent people.”
“Virginia, there are no ‘innocents’. You know that. God’s ways are not our ways. We aren’t always meant to understand why God allows one person to suffer only to miraculously save another. We are only to trust that whatever happens is God’s will, for our good and his glory.”
“I know the Bible as well as you, dear...sometimes you can be just a tad supercilious, you know…but, thank you for the reminders. Be that as it may, there is something to be said for doing the next right thing when the opportunity presents itself. There should be no passive conscientious objectors in the army of God.”
“What then, do you propose that we do? Can you see this ‘next right thing’? I certainly can’t.”
“I think we should pray specifically for God to show it to us. Perhaps that’s what is needed.”
“Sammy, I’m so scared, I think I’m going to puke,” Celine clung to Sammy’s arm as she spoke.
“It looks real bad, right now, I know. But, don’t worry; we are going to get out of this, somehow.”
“I sure hope so. It wouldn’t be fair for us to die, just when everything’s going so great. This is the best time ever to be a member of the LGBT world, and I want to live to enjoy it.”
“Oh, give me a break,” Marki interjected from nearby.
“Excuse me?” Sammy responded, preparing to do battle.
“I’m no homophobe, so don’t get on your high horse…but you people are always expecting some kind of special treatment and now I hear your little wife implying that it wouldn’t be fair for you to be killed, like it’s okay if they murder the rest of us.”
“That’s not what I meant!” Celine squeaked at the same time Sammy growled, “What do you mean, ‘you people’?”
“Please,” Marcella’s soft voice broke in. “Please, do not quarrel. We must be friends and protect each other, sei d’accordo?”
This woman’s uncharacteristic intrusion into the conversation immediately defused the others’ resentment.
“I guess you’re right. If we ever get out of this, we can debate social issues, then…Marcella, is it?” Celine inquired, regaining her composure.
“Si. I am sorry to push myself in.”
“No reason to be. We needed calming down. We’ve got to stick together. No time for spats,” Sammy agreed.
“I’m sorry for starting it,” Marki added. “I guess I needed to lash out at someone after seeing all the carnage. Do you suppose there’s anything we can do to keep that,” she gestured toward the bloody patch of deck, “from happening to us, too?”
“My son, Marco, tells me some of the men may be making a plan. Of course, he is just a boy. It may be wishing only.”
“No, that’s right. Bunny said my f…uh, Max, had some sort of scheme. I’m afraid I didn’t ask what it was.”
“What’s going on over here? Are you guys planning something? Floyd and me want in on it, too!”
Tricia Winston saw the group talking and rushed over, dragging her husband by the elbow.
“We gotta fight back against these a-holes, not roll over on our backs like a bunch of wimps while they pick us off one by one, right Floydie?”
“We got nothing much to lose, is the way I see it,” he shrugged.
“So, what’s the plan? I heard someone say there’s a plan,” Tricia demanded.
Franz, plunged deeply into gloom by the killings, noticed the Winstons join the animated gathering and roused himself to nudge Warren and gesture in that direction.
“I see what you mean. That little commotion is going to attract unwanted attention. Better see what we can do,” Warren responded as he stood up.
Taking an oblique path, Warren meandered over and, without actually joining the group, hissed, “If you don’t want the guard to join you, you might want to break up this little coffee klatch, folks.”
At first startled, and then absorbing Warren’s warning, the people shuffled, as nonchalantly as possible, to their usual territory.
As she passed him, Tricia thrust her face up to Warren, “If there’s a plan, you better let us in on it, you hear?”
Warren continued stretching his legs until he found himself beside Bunny and Max, who had been observing the interchange.
“What’s up?” Max asked.
“This latest atrocity has the natives restless.”
“Of course it does. I still can’t believe it!” Bunny cried.
“Are you thinking it’s time to act?” Max asked Warren.
“Yeah, this little group is on the verge of going off half-cocked, if we don’t.”
“You don’t think there is any chance that we will be ransomed or rescued before more of us die, then?” Bunny almost pleaded.
“No, ma’am, I don’t. As far as ransom goes, I figure the owners of this ship probably can’t come up with much…and our government just plain doesn’t pay ransoms.”
“So, if we are going to get out of this mess, we have to do it ourselves,” Max agreed.
“Oh, well. If we must, we must,” Bunny sighed. “Just tell me again what I’m supposed to do.”
“Who was it on the phone, Gilles? Is there any word of Bunny and Max?” Ellery jumped up as her husband entered the living room.
“Calm down, El. Getting overwrought won’t help anyone. Let me pour some wine and we can sit down and talk about what I’ve just learned.”
“Why can’t you tell me right now? Why do I need wine? Oh, Gilles, is it terrible news?”
Gilles put his arms around Ellery and guided her gently to the sofa.
“Sit. Stay,” he said, kissing her on the top of her head and walking to the kitchen to get their drinks.
“Now, take a sip like a good girl and I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Ellery did as he said, feeling the wine making its way to her stomach.
“I was just talking to my friend with the Navy, as you surmised…just wait…they haven’t found the cruise ship, but they did locate Pristine Promise.”
“So, Bunny’s okay? Why hasn’t she written?”
“Honey, they found the boat, but no one was aboard.”
“Oh, no! The pirates have Bunny and Max! Or maybe they killed them!”
“Now, we don’t know that. We only know that the boat was found. They may have taken their skiff for some reason having nothing to do with the pirates.”
“Don’t patronize me, Gilles. How likely is that?”
“Not likely, I’ll grant you. Nevertheless, until we know what has happened there is no reason to assume the worst. As you like to point out, God is in control…even in the middle of the ocean.”
“Then, we’d better pray like we’ve never prayed before!”
“Did you upload the video as I told you?”
“Of course. I put it on YouTube and sent a copy directly to the shipping company director, as you wished,” Jama replied.
“And you gave the new deadline?”
“Naturally.”
“Well then, why haven’t we heard something? Check to see how many viewings the video has had. Even if the ship owners can’t pay, a public outcry should force the governments to act.”
“Or it could just make them look for us all the harder. We should leave. Now,” Jama said as he checked the w
ebsite.
“Not without the money. How many hits?”
“The video has already been taken down. This is a bad sign. I’m leaving, and the men are coming with me. You have led us straight into death with your talk of power and riches.”
Jama turned to leave the stateroom.
Before he reached the door, Shimbir was on him with his knife and had stabbed directly into his heart. He pushed his former friend’s body into the corridor and shouted for assistance.
The men that came running took one look at their fallen comrade, turned and ran the other way.
“Come back, cowards, wait!” Shimbir screamed after them.
On the bridge deck, the pirates who had been attempting to steer the ship heard running feet and one of the men fleeing Shimbir burst in with the news of Jama’s fate.
“He told us Shimbir was out of control. Jama wanted to leave. He was right. I’m going before Shimbir kills us all. Are you coming?”
“Shimbir is trying to scare us off. He wants all the money for himself,” one pirate responded.
“What money? Jama said there would be no ransom. I think he was right. I’m going, too.”
In all, three of the men from the bridge joined the ones fleeing the ship.
On deck, the other men who decided to abandon their plan were wrestling with a motor launch. Some of the guards asked what was happening. Hearing the reply, a few of them slipped their guns onto their backs and began to help get the boat in the water. Others looked undecided and confused
Their furious leader appeared on deck and began raging at the men.
As they worked frenziedly to launch the boat, Shimbir shouldered his rifle and began spraying his own men with bullets.
The frightened, blood spattered men managed to drop the skiff into the water and those who were able jumped over the side after it.
Those watching wondered if anyone could possibly reach the skiff alive, but the sounds of the boat’s motor starting up revealed at least one of the men made it.
Shimbir ran to the railing and resumed firing at his fleeing men, shooting at the departing boat long after it was out of range.