by Debbie Behan
‘Hot shower and somewhere to sleep.’ Jay liked the idea.
‘Heaven,’ Kev agreed but whispered to Jay, ‘He called Ricco a prince. This guy is out for himself for sure.’
‘True and if he is telling the truth and does help, the prince will reward him.’
Kev shrugged but had a very curious and yet unsure expression as he eyed the stranger. Jay, about to act on Kev’s gut feeling, held his tongue when Ricco stood up and pulled Alina to her feet. His wounds had healed but merely enough to stop the bleeding. ‘We’re moving.’ He nodded at the stranger who still hadn’t disclosed any information, not even his name. ‘Your place will do for now; lead the way and no tricks buddy.’
He put his hands up. ‘Haven’t given you up yet and don’t intend to either. I say never look a gift horse in the mouth and so far you have paid me well.’
‘Where did you find this guy, Kev?’ Jay asked as they followed.
‘He snorkelled past and hid us under his boat. Once in the clear he helped me heave Ricco on board. Then he brought us here and went to find you.’
‘Even so you don’t trust him?’
Kev shrugged. ‘Just hanging out with you too much and getting suspicious of everyone.’
‘Turning into a right badass.’ The thought of how they had both changed shocked even Jay.
‘All those stupid comics and bad movies are finally paying off,’ Kev agreed. ‘Plus my partner has become a bodyguard and won’t live a normal life so guess I better start getting with the program.’
‘I trust nobody but you and Ricco around Alina. I can’t leave her, Kev.’
‘I know.’
* * * *
Jay guessed Ricco worried for her too. Alina frowned when pain immobilised him for a few seconds but he dismissed her help and hastily went on his way again. He wouldn’t want Alina to wear herself out as they had not reached a manhole yet so they still had a distance to go before she rested.
The stranger directed them through the main tunnel and now outside, walked noisily along a steep ridge, down an embankment and into another drain. Their feet splashed up smelly water as they ran and they had to suck up the stench until they came to a ledge which they climbed onto, grateful of the relief. The sewage had Jay and Kev dry reaching. Here they moved with haste until they reached a ladder. One by one they crawled out of a manhole and into the middle of an alley.
Moving through the lane they saw a few drunks asleep with newspaper pulled around them as blankets. A couple of ladies on the corner propositioned them as they came out onto the street. ‘Nice neighbourhood you’re staying at,’ Ricco commented.
‘It’s safe enough. You don’t get bothered here if you keep your head down and mouth shut.’
The lobby at the motel had been dimly lit but even so the age was obvious. The paint had peeled off the walls and the mahogany desk had chunks broken from it, in need of a renovation. A desk clerk got up and handed the man his key. His T-shirt was caught up on the oversize belly, and he wiped the sweat from his face with a rag and tucked it back in his pocket. His scarred face was blotchy and eyes ringed red from the booze he had in that cup he held. Finally in the room they did breathe a sigh of relief and another as a bigger surprise unfolded. This was his home.
‘It’s pretty gutsy to bring us here.’ Jay picked up a paper, weeks old.
‘The prince talks my language and I reckon I can trust him. But you two…’ He looked Jay and Kev over. ‘Jury’s still out.’
‘Nice.’ Kev walked off to find a chair and sit.
‘I suggest you all shower while I go and find clothes for you to change into. You won’t be going anywhere in those wetsuits. They sure do stand out. Pink and green! I can’t imagine when you are in so much of a pickle, why you would not have gone for plain black.’
‘Where are you getting our clothes?’ Jay asked.
‘Stealing ‘em. Why?’
‘We got these the same way.’
The guy gave Jay a grin. ‘Touché.’
Trusting soul, he assumed we would even let him live once he helped us? We might have been anyone, criminals even.
Jay turned to where he pointed as he talked fast and quiet. ‘Showers in there. Sleep wherever you want. I’ll be back shortly.’
The prince grabbed him by the collar and his legs dangled when he was lifted a good half a metre off the ground.
‘Why are you helping us? Is it just about the money or are you a spy?’ he asked him.
The guy sweated profusely and it dripped off his forehead and onto the floor. ‘I don’t do this for nothing, man. I’ve seen your strength and need just that.’ He gulped at the prince who still had a tight grip on him. ‘I have a wife and child in danger. If I help you, I hoped you’d return the favour. Kill me if you want, but I’m just as desperate as you.’
The prince held him for a bit longer. Jay saw his expression as he assessed the situation. They had to trust someone, well until they had at least cleaned up and caught their breath, so he dropped him back on his feet.
‘Lie to us and there won’t be a place on Earth you can hide, is that understood?’ Ricco growled.
The weasel probably lied, but Jay hoped Ricco had scared him enough to give Alina time to finish healing his bullet wounds. If he did double cross them and Ricco was still out of action, Jay was so tired and ticked off for their entire ruined holiday, and he felt he could easily take him out. The mood he was in, it would be his pleasure. And as for Ricco, talking when he shouldn’t, that really annoyed him.
Jay looked around for a pen and paper and handed it to the prince. ‘No more talking damn it. You got a problem; Kev and I will sort it.’
Alina and Ricco grinned at each other and he watched them communicate to each other. The rotten sods had extra sensory perception and didn’t need to talk to each other. That meant Jay would never know what they were saying. Ready to burst a blood vessel he snapped, ‘Fine, something else you’ve kept secret from me. Quit the ESP crap and write it down. Tell us where do we go from here? Should we even stay and trust this dude? He may be with the enemy right now as we speak.’
Ricco nodded in agreement before he ruffled Jay’s hair and gestured for them to have first shower to enable Alina to finish fixing him.
When Jay and Kev came out of the bathroom, they went in.
Jay read the note: You have both done well my friends. Rest for a while, all will be well.
Jay looked at the scribble. ‘They have to be kidding. This is all they wrote. Remind me to kill the prince if that dude comes back with the goddamned “A Team”.’
Kev laughed at him while he dragged pillows and cushions on to the floor and made them a bed. He thought Jay amusing whenever he got ticked off about something. ‘Come down here sugar and let me make you feel better.’
Exhausted, Jay flopped next to him with a big sigh. ‘To hell with them.’
The sound of the door opening woke them and they both sat up alert, unsure who it was.
‘Just me,’ the secretive guy that hadn’t yet disclosed his name, called out as he shut the door behind him.
Jay flopped back on his pillow. Alina and the prince lay next to them and hadn’t moved. The prince winked and closed his eyes again. His hearing was superior and he would have heard the one person coming up the stairs.
Jay groaned and closed his eyes and felt Kev hug back into him. Well if Ricco showed no concerned, he certainly wasn’t going to stress.
The next time he opened his eyes the sun beat through the glass windows. He figured with its position it was around midday.
Alina smiled when he turned to see if they were still there.
‘Good morning Sleeping Beauty.’ Jay put his hand to her lips. ‘Remember, no talking, girl.’
She smiled and stretched, mouthing, bossy shit!
‘This is a good day. I can say whatever I want and neither of you can talk back to me,’ he teased.
Ricco opened his eyes and gave Jay a grin and pulled Alina away from h
im and started to pash on with her. It annoyed Jay that he kept stealing Alina whenever he wanted.
He threw a cushion at him. ‘Girlfriend thief,’ he grumbled.
Ricco laughed without sound and let her go, got up and pulled her to her feet. He’d had his fun and happy he’d won, headed to the kitchen.
‘Can you two be any more competitive?’ Alina slapped Ricco and laughed as he chased her out in to the kitchen.
Kev was a good sleeper and still crashed out; Jay left him and joined the others. He scraped a stool across and sat by the servery bench with Alina while Ricco rustled them up food. The kettle boiled.
‘You’re up Jay. Not making the coffee too.’ Ricco tossed a tea towel at him.
‘I take mine black.’ The dude that owned the place came out looking like crap.
‘Now I’m making coffee for the neighbourhood.’ Jay got off the stool and started to pull cups from the cupboard. ‘Just as well I had learned how to be a good sport while being a desk clerk.’
Alina opened the bags of clothes and began to sort them out. Jay and Ricco had a towel wrapped around their waists and discarded them to pull on the jeans and T-shirts given. Alina did the girlie thing and went into the bathroom to change.
When she came out Ricco gave her a wink. ‘Liked the towel better.’
‘Not a bad fit.’ Jay glanced at what they all wore. Alina’s dress in particular was a perfect fit.
Jay eyed the guy helping them with suspicion. ‘How did you know our sizes? These outfits are a good fit.’
He took over the cooking of breakfast while they dressed and looked Jay up and down, while taking a fry pan out the cupboard. He placed bread in the toaster and started frying up a heap of bacon. While he cooked he talked.
‘I work at the mortuary. It’s my job to size people up and dress them for family viewing. You’re wearing dead guys’ clothes so don’t get over excited.’
‘What do they call you?’ Jay eyed him. If he avoided the question this morning Jay would know for sure this was a set-up, even if Ricco didn’t agree with him. Not telling people your name is just plain sneaky.
‘The name’s Morgan.’
‘Geez, Morgan the Morgue guy. You’re weird. No wonder you kept it from us. I would have kept that hidden too. Change it man, or your job, that’s so funny.’ Jay hung it on him.
Kev got up stretched and yawned. ‘Smells good,’ he said, taking the coffee Jay handed him.
‘Hey Kev, do you know why the weirdo here never told us his name? He works at a morgue and his name is Morgan.’ He cracked up laughing.
‘Ew–you work at the mortuary.’ Kev shivered at the thought.
‘It’s a cover while I search for my family.’ He spoke with a drawl or slight accent while he put the bacon in between the toast and handed around the bacon toasties to them. Starved, they wolfed them down in seconds.
‘More?’ Morgan’s eyebrow lifted.
‘Keep them coming.’ Jay stuffed in his last mouthful and headed for a refill from the coffee pot.
Opening up another kilo pack of bacon, Morgan continued. Yesterday they couldn’t get him to talk. Today he was the opposite.
‘I believe in fate and reckon you guys are a sign for me not to give up, you are just what I need. See, you are different from other people; you are strong in mind and body and have weird powers to heal. Maybe you hide from the government which leads me to believe you will not expose me for fear of being caught. When I found you, and the longer I spent with you I couldn’t help wondering if we could help each other.’
Ricco nudged Jay, scribbling down his question.
‘Where are your wife and daughter?’ Jay asked for him.
‘The kidnappers swiped them from our home many weeks ago. I was a cop then and had put away a dangerous criminal. His family took my family until the animal is returned to them. I did everything I could. But frustration had me hand in my badge and now, I work on my own. I’ve found the house they holed up in, but security is too tight. I can’t get in without giving myself away. Then there is the little matter that if I do get in, how do I get out safely.’
‘What makes you think we can do what you can’t?’ Jay asked.
He eyed off the prince as he threw more bread in the toaster and nodded towards Ricco. ‘He has speed and strength unlike I have ever seen.’
He handed Jay another toasty. ‘Seriously, I don’t give a damn what powers you have or what you have done. All I want is my family so I can disappear with them and I’ll never surface again. You can trust me. This stays here in this room and I’ll never speak of it again. Your secrets are safe with me just so long as you help me.’
Ricco scribbled again and passed it to Jay.
‘Have you got a layout of the home and where are they keeping your family?’
He went into his room and brought out a blue print. ‘Here, in this room is where they are kept.’
Ricco sat down with his coffee and casually looked over the plans. Alina went over to him and sat on his knee, and together they scrutinised and worked on a plan. Every now and then they pointed at something and looked at each other, communicating, yet not with words you could hear.
Jay sat opposite them. He, on the other hand, tried to decide whether to trust Morgan or knock the guy out as he did Eldon. It would be easier. That way they’d be on their way in no time. He didn’t want Ricco to hurt himself again.
He looked up at Jay suddenly and frowned. He picked up the paper and scribbled. I do this for honour. If a man goes back on his word he might as well be dead himself.
Jay shook his head. Ricco was either a bigger loser than he thought or seriously one of the good guys. Jay usually chose the easy road best travelled. The prince had him stop and smell the roses. To run was no good if you didn’t enjoy the trip along the way. He got it, and gave in to them.
‘So what can I do to help?’ Jay asked.
Ricco smiled and nodded. Jay realised he followed his thoughts.
‘You never told me you read minds. Shit, I better start making my thoughts behave themselves, especially where Alina is concerned.’
Ricco gave him a sharp boot under the table and then wrote more. I choose when to use this gift. I can switch it on and off as I please. You suggesting I stop talking to mon chéri has forced me to use it again.
‘And Alina?’
She is very talented, but hears only me so don’t stress. She can’t hear you.
He grinned at Jay before going back to the criminals’ house plans. This was all fun and a game to them both. They looked excited that they’d be able to help the guy that helped them and they enjoyed planning this. He wished he was able to hear what they talked about and wished he had never suggested they stop talking. He got up, annoyed they put him on the outer, and flopped down with Kev on the sofa. Kev watched the news. So far there had been no news of them. The island they blew up was a major tourist destination. The report said there had been a bomb threat a week ago. That it was luck that residents had not been allowed back on the island as it exploded yesterday. A news helicopter flew over the island exposing the damage the blast left. Apart from offering a refund to others booked to go there, that was about it. Well, that was until they showed the manager of the resort.
‘Well surprise, surprise, that sure isn’t Eldon.’ Kev turned to Jay.
‘We were right about him. Eldon had been a plant from the start. What concerns me is; what did they do for that whole week. Why had they left us enjoy it for five days and wait to attack us on our last night there. What were they up to?’ Jay shared his concerns in a low whisper to Kev.
Kev had a notion. ‘Maybe they needed time to set something else up to make sure they confined Ricco and Ali…’
Kev didn’t need to finish. Jay understood exactly what he meant; both jumped up together and ran skylarking into the kitchen.
Jay grabbed the tea towel and picked up the frypan. ‘I bags drying, you can put away.’ He pushed at Kev acting all tough.
/> ‘Thanks boys.’ Morgan watched for a second and turned to wipe the bench.
Kev pushed Morgan hard, knocking him off balance. At the same time Morgan thrashed out his leg backwards, and kicked Kev in the stomach, just missing his private region. Even so, it was powerful enough to send Kev catapulted into a wall.
The frypan came down hard, cracking Morgan in the head. His arm thrashed out but Ricco intercepted it and prevented Jay wearing a black eye or broken nose. A second whack had him down and within seconds Ricco had ripped towels into strips and tied him firmly to a chair, unconscious.
Angry at his unusual behaviour, Ricco spun around to Jay who helped Kev up off the floor. He mouthed. ‘What was that all about?’
Jay put his finger to his mouth, and shook his head. ‘Kev.’ He spoke up. ‘Stop mucking about. I don’t feel like play fighting.’ He pulled a face and put his hands up. ‘It was the first thing that came to mind.’
‘Fine!’ Kev spoke loudly too. He held his stomach and sucked back the painful groan that wanted to come out.
They had both acted but Ricco had no idea why. Just as he was about to blow his cool, Alina’s grabbed his arm and communicated what Jay was up to.
The Feds or whoever they used this time, would have heard the crash and he covered up the noise with a play scenario.
Calmer, Ricco waited while Jay turned up the television loud enough to muffle his voice. He figured the room had been bugged and someone listened.
‘Why would they let us stay on the island for five days and not hit us again unless they had a new plan? One that took time to set up, like Morgan’s so-called kidnapped family. And as if the law wouldn’t help one of their own.’
Ricco nodded, agreeing.
‘We can’t kill him or the heat sensors if they are using them will go out and they will know we’re on to them.’
Once again he agreed with Jay.
‘Look! I’ll say we are going out for a while to case out the job Morgan wants you to do. That way we can get out of here without the full force of the law showing up again.’
Jay turned the TV off and spoke normally. ‘Hey Morgan, we’re off to suss out that job. We want a good look at security. We’ll be back shortly.’