Deadly Apparition

by G. Ernest Smith

  “By torturing suspects?” Castillo looked skeptical.

  “They believed it worked. The thinking was that if a person was guilty, he would confess, but if he was a good God-fearing person, well then God would help him withstand the torture. And of course, if a person confessed, they were justified in sentencing him to death.”

  My God, thought Castillo, Spain must be a whole nation of psychopaths.

  “So when this Spaniard picked you up, the first thing he wanted to do was find out if you were an enemy of Spain, so he put you to the tried and true test.”

  “He never even asked me. He just accused me of being in league with the Devil and forced me to admit it.”

  “Well…same thing. Anyone who’s an enemy of Spain is in the employ of Satan since God loves and protects Spain.”

  “I wonder how many people withstood this type of torture.”

  “Not many, I’m thinking. They were able to get a confession out of nearly everyone who went before the Grand Inquisitor.” Bloomberg took a spoonful of stew and a sip of ale. “This ale is excellent! Your Scottish lads did well, sir.”

  “They’re good boys!”

  “King Phillip, the second, of Spain wanted to spread his holy war all over Europe and he almost succeeded. There was only one thing that stopped him. He sent his mighty Armada against England with instructions to crush them, but they got their asses kicked by the English fleet commanded by Lord Howard and Sir Francis Drake.”

  “The Spaniard kept asking me if I was working with Drake and the Godless queen.”

  “The Godless queen. Yes, that would be the protestant queen of England, Queen Elizabeth. Actually the Armada thing’s happening right now. August 1588!”

  “Really? Right now? Wow, we could actually go see it. One of the greatest naval battles in history.”

  Susan Lambert trotted in and gasped, “Don, Will Kincaid just called in. He and Kevin are on their way in, but they’re being pursued. He thinks it’s either the English press gang or reavers. He’s not sure.”

  “Okay, we better go give them an escort.”

  “Oh, Don,” wailed Lambert. “They’re going to be captured.”

  “Not on my watch. Come on.” They bolted out of the room, down the passageway and to the control room. Castillo turned to Lieutenant Guerrero and said, “Sound the horn. Recall all crew.”

  “Aye, sir,” replied Guerrero. “Recalling crew.”

  “Tanaka, hand pick five men, issue MP-5’s and meet me on deck. The Kincaids are coming in hot. They’re going to need help.”

  “Yessir!” Tanaka sprang from his chair and started barking orders. “Harrison, Douglas, Ford, McReady, Phillips. Follow me!”

  Chapter 11

  When they had assembled on the aft deck, Tanaka and his hand-picked squad launched in an inflatable for the far shore. Several crewmen were standing on the beach having heard the blast of the ship’s horn.

  Lambert, Castillo and Taylor all stood and watched them go. They all wore headsets so they could keep track of the action. They heard Will’s voice: “I dinna think wae’re gonna meek it, Miss Susan!”

  “Hang on, Will,” cried Susan. “We have an armed escort coming to meet you.” Her tight mouth expressed her upset.

  “Try not to kill anybody, Tanaka,” said Castillo.

  “I’ll try, sir,” came Tanaka’s voice in Castillo’s ear.

  • • •

  Kevin Kincaid was trying to squeeze more speed out of the little horse drawing their cart, but he was already at full gallop. They were beginning to lose some of their load as they bumped violently down the rutted road. Two boxes of beets had fallen off the back of the cart and spread litter on the path behind them. It didn’t seem to slow their pursuers though.

  He turned and saw the four horsemen coming…no…there were five now. The one in the lead was riding a large black and swinging a heavy wooden cudgel, and his eyes were dark and his lips were set in a grim line. He would be on them before they ever reached the loch. Kevin knew help was coming from Kanzits. He could hear Will talking to them over the air talker Miss Susan had given them. The wind pried at his coat and he felt the first drops of rain on his face from the heavy-looking clouds. Just what we need, thought Kevin. Rain!

  The pursuers were coming very fast now. Kevin was pretty sure they were outlaws, not government men. They looked too rough to be English. Will stood up and flung a large beet at the one in the lead, but he easily ducked it. He was almost on them now. He could hear the large black horse snorting and its hoofs thundering. Will picked up another beet and threw it and almost lost his balance. Their little horse was tired and slowing. He was not a runner.

  The man on the black pulled up next to Kevin and took a swing at him with his cudgel. Kevin ducked it. Then there was another rider on a thundering, blowing chestnut on the other side of the cart next to Will. The rider rode up next to their little horse reached over and grabbed his halter. He pulled on the halter and slowed the cart to a gradual stop. Soon they were surrounded by tough-looking men on horseback.

  “Wahr yer off to in such a ‘urry, lads?” said the leader dismounting. He began poking and prodding at the produce in the cart with his cudgel. “‘o yer werk fer, boy?” When he didn’t get an answer from Kevin, he reached up and drug him from the cart. Kevin lost his balance and went sprawling in the dirt.

  Will jumped down and ran to his brother. “Leave us bae. Wae weren’t derin’ yae any hahrm,” he said defiantly. A man behind Will hit him behind the head with a club and sent him to his knees. Will shook his head trying to clear his vision and his foggy brain.

  POP!

  A geyser of dirt kicked up next to the leader’s foot. Shocked, he looked to his left and saw six men at the turn in the road running toward them. They were carrying something rod-like. Too small to be rifles. Then one raised his rod-like weapon.

  POP!

  Another patch of ground sprayed a geyser of dirt. They were rifles! But the rain began to come down harder and the bandit knew no gun could fire when it was wet. He threw down his cudgel, yanked Will to his feet, took out a large knife and held it to Will’s throat. “Stee back!” he screamed. “Or Ay’ll slit ‘is throat!” The armed men slowed to a walk, but continued advancing with weapons leveled. “Stee back, Ay say!”

  The leader of the armed men began talking. “Let the boys go and you’ll live. Harm them and you die. Do you understand?”

  He talks with a strange accent and has the look of an oriental, thought the lead bandit. No matter, it was now raining so hard, a firearm wouldn’t work. “Lee down yer weepons! Now!”

  “I’ll say it again. Let the boys go and you live. Harm them and you’ll die! Do you understand?”

  The stalemate lasted long seconds, neither side moving or blinking, rain dribbling down off noses and chins. The armed leader began talking in a very low voice. Evidently he was murmuring to the man standing to his right. Two could play that game. The lead bandit nodded to the man on the chestnut who then began inching his hand down toward his belt. The armed leader continued to murmur to his man. Abruptly the man on horseback drew a knife, drew back his arm and…

  POP!

  He clutched his chest and fell off his horse. The leader of the armed men quickly swung his firearm back at Will’s captor. The men on horseback expressed alarm and two of them wheeled their mounts around and raced off, leaving only Will’s captor, one man on horseback and the wounded man writhing in the mud. Special guns that fire when wet! The armed leader began murmuring again at the man next to him. His murmuring was beginning to infuriate Will’s captor. “Got anythahn’ to see to yer lad ’ere afore he dies, eh?”

  “I’m warning you,” said the gunman.

  Will’s captor tilted Will’s head back and slowly began to draw the knife across. A stream of blood started flowing down.

  POP!

  Will’s captor gasped and dropped the knife. The bullet had passed through his right elbow.

  “Will, Kevin,
get back in the cart and go,” said Tanaka. “We’ll hold these guys here.”

  Kevin got shakily to his feet but Will was still suffering from the blow to his head and he had blood streaming down his front from the cut on his neck. “Douglas, go with them. Make sure they make it to the boat.” One of the men slung his weapon and helped Kevin and then Will up onto the cart. He climbed up and took the reins, and they trotted off down the path.

  The squad held guns on the bandits until the cart had disappeared around the bend, then they slowly backed away from them until they judged they were out of danger. They turned their backs and began to jog away down the path. When they had almost reached the bend in the road, they heard hoofbeats.

  Looking back, the leader said, “Uh oh. We’ve got company!”

  • • •

  “I showed them a movie last night on my laptop,” said Lambert. “High Noon with Gary Cooper. I thought they should learn a little about our culture. It was a good start.”

  “How did they like it?” asked Castillo.

  “They loved it! Of course, at first they kept looking behind the screen trying to figure out where the picture was coming from, but eventually they became absorbed by the story. I provided a running commentary.”

  “Good!”

  “They want to see a movie every night now.”

  “We have plenty in the library.”

  “Yes, but…Oh! There they are!” Lambert pointed excitedly.

  The horse and cart came quickly down the path to the water’s edge.

  “Oh no! Will’s hurt, Don. He’s bleeding,” cried Lambert, her voice tight with emotion.

  Then Tanaka and his squad came jogging down the path. They all heard Tanaka’s voice in their earpieces, “Go! Go! Riders are coming!” The Kincaids got down along with their escort. They looked briefly at the produce in the back of the cart. “Forget the vegetables!” screamed Tanaka. “Get back to the boat!”

  The Kincaids climbed into the inflatable which already had four people in it. A man fired up the small propane outboard and they were away. Tanaka and his men turned to face the oncoming riders and leveled their weapons. As soon as the six horsemen came into view they pulled their horses up, bewildered by what they were seeing. There were six armed men confronting them at the water’s edge and a large black object floating about 200 yards out in the loch. What the hell? There were people standing on it and a small boat full of people was gliding toward it. The small boat had neither oarsmen nor sails.

  The horsemen quickly dismounted and ducked behind trees.

  “God!” said Lambert. “I’m a wreck!”

  Just then an archer shot from behind a tree. The shaft went through Kevin’s upper arm. He cringed, twisted, lost his balance and fell into the water. He began flailing at the surface of the water in fear. Tanaka’s squad opened fire on the horsemen.

  POP!POP!POP! POP!POP!POP! POP!POP!

  Lambert screamed in dismay, then she seemed to go through a transformation. She narrowed her eyes, tucked her lower lip and took on an intense look of determination. She pulled off her headset, her shoes, stripped off her light jacket and began running in her bare feet down the deck. She ran faster and faster until her legs were a blur. She was totally focused on what she had to do. Like an Olympic gymnast making a run at the vault, she was going for gold. She flew down Kansas’s sloping deck and launched into the water like a spear. For long seconds she was under the water. Castillo looked for her but saw not a ripple. When finally she broke the surface, she was halfway to Kevin. She began pulling hard with long powerful strokes. She was at his side in four seconds.

  “My God!” said Castillo. “She’s Superman!”

  When the shooting stopped, two of the horsemen lay wounded, and the others came out from behind trees with hands raised…the universal sign of surrender.

  Lambert pulled Kevin to Kansas using the lifeguard’s side carry. When they bumped the hull, eager hands reached for her and Kincaid, pulling them up onto the deck. Chief Brown snapped off both ends of the arrow piercing Kincaids arm, leaving the center of the shaft still in the arm. This was so they could transport him below deck. When Will Kincaid arrived, Lambert flew to him and examined his throat wound. He appeared dazed and weak.

  “I think the wound looks worse than it is,” said Lambert. She spoke into her headset, “Maria, tell Doc he has two wounded coming down to him.”

  “Okay, Susan. I’ll alert him,” answered Guerrero.

  • • •

  Doc Aultman cleaned the Kincaid’s wounds, dressed them and started them on a course of antibiotics and anti inflammatories. The arrow wound could have been much worse. It missed the brachial artery and the major nerves of Kevin’s arm. He expressed the opinion that Kevin would get full use of the arm again if he did some physical therapy.

  Kevin didn’t know what that was, but he readily agreed to it.

  Will pulled a paper from his pocket and unfolded it. “Wae dinna read well, but wae think this is aboot Kanzits, Miss Susan.”

  Lambert took the paper and scanned it. “I think you’re right, Will. I’d better show this to the captain.”

  The door to Castillo’s stateroom was closed. She started to knock but stopped. She heard voices inside. No. It was only one voice. Castillo’s. He was discussing something in hushed tones. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she placed an ear to the door and began to eavesdrop.

  “I’m sorry, Liz, Robin, Kelly. You’ll always be at the center of my universe. It’s so hard to go on without you.”

  He’s talking to his family, thought Lambert.

  “I know…I know…it’s not fair…”

  Are they answering him?

  “Listen to your mother, girls. And, Kelly, don’t get so mad with your sister when she uses your art set. Yours has more colors than hers…and…what’s that? No, I’m going to be busy…”

  My God! He’s carrying on an imaginary conversation with the family he left behind.

  “I’ll always hold you in my heart, but there are people here who need me. I’ve got to help them…and…no…I won’t be coming home, sweetheart.”

  What’s Castillo’s state of mind? Is he fit to command? Is this normal for a man who’s just lost his family? Lambert didn’t know. She wasn’t an expert at these things.

  A crewman turned the corner and came down the passageway toward her. Lambert composed herself, cleared her throat and knocked gently on the door. When the door opened, she was staring into Castillo’s red-rimmed eyes. “Look at what Will found,” she said thrusting the paper into Castillo’s hands.

  “The Watch. What’s this?” asked Castillo.

  “It’s what passes for a newspaper in this century. They sell these things in the market for a half pence. I think it’s printed in Glasgow. Read this article here.” She pointed.

  “Okay.” He sniffed and sat heavily into his desk chair.

  Fishermen have reported strange sitings in Gare Loch of late. Is there a monster in Gare Loch? Ned McPhee says yes. It is as big as a cathyedral tower and as blacke as a witch’s heart, says Ned. He and Bill Gentry clymbed up on its back and tried to subdue it Sundae, but it thrashed the water with its powerful tail and cawsed them both to fall off. It escaped, according to Ned and Bill, but not before it devowred two men. We are not of mind whether this monster is borne of nature or of Ned and Bill’s fevered imaginings after a nite at the pub, but it makes a grande storie.

  Castillo shook his head. “We’re starting to attract attention. It’s time for us to move on.”

  “I don’t think these guys are going to be believed.”

  “No, but it’s a start. And there was that skirmish today with those highwaymen. The curious will come to see what’s going on. We’ve already overstayed our welcome here.” He picked up the receiver next to his desk and got Mason Taylor. “Have we recovered all ship’s company…who’re we missing…okay…as soon as they’re aboard, set the maneuvering watch. We’re leaving.”

  “W
here’re we going?” asked Lambert.

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Have you received any suggestions from the crew?”

  “A few.” Castillo began to count them on fingers on his right hand. “They want to set up shop in Tahiti, Virginia, Bermuda or Pitcairn Island.”

  “Pitcairn Island? Isn’t that…”

  “Yes. Mutiny on the Bounty. When the mutineers wanted to disappear and never be found, they went to Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific. It was uncharted, but it had fresh water and game. They lived there for 150 years before anyone found them.”

  “Do we want to disappear?” asked Lambert.

  “I think we do. Do you know what attracted attention at the market. The Kincaids told Doc it was ice.”

  “Ice?”

  “Everyone wanted to know where they got the ice in the summer to pack the meat in. Little things we do draw attention. If we don’t find a remote area, we’re going to spur curiosity and get endless questions. And what’s worse, if evil men find out the capabilities of this ship, they will stop at nothing to possess it. What do you think?”

  “I think you’re right. Maybe we should seriously consider Pitcairn Island. If we set up there, we would beat the Bounty mutineers by 200 years.”

  “But what will our descendants do,” asked Castillo, “when the Bounty crew shows up?”

  “Welcome them!”

  “Yeh?”

  “Yeh!” nodded Lambert.

  “Okay. But we’ve got a lot to learn. We’re children of a modern age and depend too much on technology. We’ll have it much harder than the other people of this period. For example, most of us have no idea how to make fire without matches. We’re good hunters, but that’s because we have guns. Eventually we’ll run out of ammo, then what kind of hunters will we be? We’ve got a lot to overcome.”

  “We can do it. I’m sure we can, Don.” She gave him a measuring glance before continuing. “How are you doing? I mean emotionally.”

  “Oh…I don’t know.” Castillo took a deep breath. “Are you my psychiatrist now?”