Laura stands thinking for a while when Victor ends and then comments, “That’s beautiful, and I am glad that the boat did not get its name from someone dying as with the story of Rum Point.” Victor bursts out laughing, and then takes the backpack off his back. He removes the clothes he grabbed when the ocean liner sank and hands Laura’s to her. Laura looks on in amazement as Victor hands her one of her denims and a t-shirt.
“What’s this?”
“Fresh clothes, I grabbed them from your room when we evacuated the ship. It’s Saturday, we will not make it to town in time to get new clothing, and all the large shops are closed on a Sunday on the island.”
Laura takes the clothes and turns towards the bathroom, asking over her shoulder, “How do you know all this?”
“I lived on the island for six years.” She nods and continues towards the bathroom. Looking at the clothes in her hands she suddenly realizes that he did not give her any underwear, another first for her. As she enters the bathroom, Victor calls to her from the balcony.
“Take your time; I have a few calls to make.” He waits until he can hear bath water running before taking out his cell phone and calling his contact.
The call connects, but no one speaks on the other end. Victor waits for two seconds and then hears the metallic sound as the line is being secured. Victor knows they will recognize his phone number and know it is him reporting in.
“Line secure, code sparrow,” comes from the other end.
“Primary and secondary objectives complete, courier alive, compromise on details of primary objective.” Victor is emotionless as he relays the coded message. There is a ten second silence.
“Understood, sending orders.” The line goes dead after the reply. Victor places the phone on the kitchen table, and then uses the unit’s phone to call the help desk. As he does so, a text message comes up on his phone, “upload data package, eliminate compromise and carrier at all cost.”
“Help desk, Betty speaking, how may I help you?” Betty’s voice is cheerful.
“This is room 303. Can you send some tuna sandwiches, salad and orange juice up to our room please?” On hearing Victor’s voice Betty’s face lights up and she replies with a soft voice, as if someone is listening in.
“Would that be for one or two people?”
Victor looks at the cell phone on the table before replying, “Two,” he keeps his cover even when he knows he will be dining alone.
“Ok.” Victor detects disappointment in her voice. Replacing the receiver, Victor walks over to the living room where he left the backpack and removes the pistol he took from Josh.
After checking that the magazine is full, he chambers a round and goes to sit on the couch.
He places one of the couch cushions on his lap. From experience he knows that a cushion makes a perfect silencer. He does not want to do it, but the orders are clear.
Laura finds bubble bath next to the bath taps and pours a good amount into the bath. While running bath water into the bathtub, she stirs the water around, making bubbles. The smell of jasmine fills the room. After filling the tub to almost full, she stands up and gets undressed. Slowly she climbs into the bath, not wanting to spill water onto the floor.
The warm water relaxes her sore muscles, and the aroma in the room helps her to relax. Cupping her hands, she takes some water and splashes her face, then keeps her hands on her face.
She is deep in thought. The last two weeks of her life have been turned upside down. She had worked at a public library for five years, finding the job after working for two years flipping burgers and waitressing at the local Wendy’s near her parents’ home. Her dad got her the job at Wendy’s as soon as she got out of school, due to knowing the owner as an old schoolmate.
She loves working at the library, almost as much as she loves to read, especially historical accounts of lost treasures or legends of any sort. She often volunteers to work extra shifts, not just for the money, but to be able to read one book after another. Her favorite subjects are ancient legend, mythology, and lost worlds. There is no book in her library on any of the subjects on any culture she has not read.
Laura was so involved in her books that she did not even have time for a relationship or friends, the stories in the myths were in any case far more interesting to her than going to the local bar and drinking all night while complaining about how hard life was.
Her life seemed perfect, until two weeks ago when the library informed her that they would not be in need of her services any more due to budget cuts.
The manager liked her a lot and gave her the option of working two months at double pay or leaving immediately to find work while receiving two months standard pay. She elected to leave immediately, having managed to save over $50,000 in the five years she had worked at the library. The extra two months pay did not bother her much. Laura managed to save the money partly due to living with her parents for the first four years of her employment.
She had moved into her own apartment a year ago, which she shares with an old school friend. Suzy is a bit of a party girl and was almost never home. She does not work, but has a string of men beating down her door, throwing money at her. Laura did not mind being alone most of the time, as it gave her an opportunity to read.
Suzy loves to chat online, even opening an online chat account for Laura in the hope that she will find a guy she likes. It was through the online account that she met Nick six months ago. He is a software engineer living in Spain and at first the chats were exciting, but then later got routine.
He is cute and Laura likes him and his sense of humor, but he is so far away and she later accepted that she will never see him.
The day Laura was fired she immediately went home, hoping to find Suzy there to talk to. However, she was out, having left Laura a note saying that she had found a new guy who has a yacht in Florida, and he has invited her to stay with him on his yacht for the weekend.
The note was left on the kitchen table, and it was clearly written in a hurry in addition to having stains on it. Laura smelled the note, wine. No doubt Suzy was not alone when she wrote the note, as she never drank wine at home alone. Laura then decided to try Nick, and was delighted to find him online. She wasted no time telling him that she had just been fired and needed to find a new job.
Instead of consoling her, Nick was delighted to hear that she had been fired.
“Laura, this is a good thing, you’ve been stuck in those dusty books for years now, how many times have I told you to get out and enjoy life? This is the perfect opportunity.” He then suggested that she visit him in Spain. Laura was shocked by the proposal and immediately but politely declined his offer.
Nick then suggested a different option, by suggesting that Laura take a cruise ship from Florida. The cruise he proposed goes around most of the larger islands in the Caribbean, stopping at Cancun, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Bahamas, before returning to Florida.
If at any point Laura changes her mind and wishes to visit him, she can immediately contact him and he will arrange a flight for her to Spain from where she is. If she decides not to visit, then she only has to stay on the ship until its return to Florida, having at least enjoyed a small vacation.
Laura was still unsure about the whole thing, but Nick is a fast mover and while she was still typing excuses why she cannot do it, a message on her computer indicated that she had received an e-mail from Luxury Cruise Liners. Upon opening the e-mail, she was shocked to see that Nick had gone ahead and booked a ticket for Laura on the Blue Diamond cruise liner two weeks in advance. She just sat staring at the monitor; speechless until a chat message popped up, asking if she had received an e-mail confirmation. When Laura confirmed with a simple “Yes”, Nick replied that he suggested she start packing and that he had to go. Before Laura could reply again, Nick signed off.
She decided to call Suzy while she was out on her date, something she never does unless it is an emergency.
“What’s wrong Laura?” Suzy
was immediately concerned by Laura calling her. Laura informed her of all that had happened, including Nick’s invitation.
“You’re going, that’s it Laura, end of story, I’ll help you pack when I return. Oh, and you’re going to need clothes to party with. I’ll pick you up some on the weekend, see you Monday, bye, got to go.”
Laura could hear loud music playing in the background in addition to people laughing and singing. Suzy, the party girl.
How different Suzy is from her. The weekend went by with Laura doing almost nothing, and when Suzy returned on Monday evening, she had a whole wardrobe of new clothes for Laura to wear on the trip. Laura packed and unpacked and then packed again, not knowing exactly what to take and what to leave. It was driving her crazy, but at the same time it was so exciting.
Three days later a package arrived by secure courier, it was from Nick. The package contained five CDs of Laura’s favorite instrumental music composers, a stubby pen, a journal, a necklace, and a letter from Nick saying that she should listen to music while she journals her new adventure.
She was shocked to receive the package, but it was so thoughtful of Nick that she decided to fly to Spain when she gets to Bahamas, having always wanted to see the Cayman Islands. She had seen a few movies that the islands were featured in, and they looked so exotic and interesting to her. She packed the CDs, pen and journal with her luggage and then wished the days away until she would start her adventure. She wished her parents could see her now.
Both Laura’s parents had died the year before in a car accident. A local municipal rubbish truck sped down the road at full speed, skipped a traffic light and slammed into her parent’s car, killing them on impact.
It was later discovered that an 18 year old kid stole the truck after robbing a local convenience store while being high on a mixture of cocaine and crystal meth. He thought that he was being chased by the police and tried to outrun them when he skipped the traffic light.
The lights he saw however that kept flashing behind him were the truck’s warning lights he had accidentally activated when he stole the truck and struggled to get it started.
It was then that Laura moved out of her parents’ house and into the apartment with Suzy. Her parents’ house is still on the market as Laura cannot get herself to sell it yet. Suzy is her family now.
On the day of Laura’s departure, she started to get second thoughts and Suzy almost dragged her to the cruise ship.
Laura decides that she has been daydreaming far too long and takes the bar of soap on the side of the bath and gives herself a quick wash. She stands up in the bath after opening the drain, and then switches on the shower head. Using the apricot hair shampoo supplied by the Resort, she washes her hair and rinses herself clean with the shower.
The towels are soft and fluffy and Laura almost does not want to put on her clothes, but she also does not want to give Victor the wrong impression, although she is yearning to kiss him again. Laura puts on the jeans and t-shirt given to her by Suzy. The jeans are tight fitting stretch jeans, blue in color, while the t-shirt is soft pink, also tight fitting as Suzy demanded. On the front of the t-shirt are two hearts in pink glitter, one over each breast.
Looking down Laura notices that her nipples are visible through her t-shirt. Somehow, it does not bother her anymore. She suddenly realizes how much she has changed in only a few days.
Victor does not move when he hears the door to the bathroom open.
“All yours,” he hears Laura say from the bedroom. His nose picks up the smell of jasmine and apricot.
Laura stops when she sees Victor sitting on the couch with a cushion on his lap and a pistol in his right hand. He slowly looks up at her. Her red hair is hanging loosely over her shoulders, she has no makeup on. The tight jeans and t-shirt show her slender figure perfectly and she is barefoot, the perfect girl next door. No, she is just another girl, orders are orders, and there is more at stake than one girl.
Slowly Victor stands up, directly in front of Laura. Without her noticing, he pulls the hammer back on the pistol with his thumb and slowly brings the cushion up to her stomach, then leans forward until his lips are next to her right ear.
Taking a deep breath, Victor comments softly at the same time as he brings the pistol up, pushing the barrel against the cushion, “You smell wonderful.” His finger slowly pulls the trigger.
Suddenly Laura turns her head and kisses him, causing him to freeze, the trigger still half pulled. Laura pulls her head back and looks directly into Victor’s eyes.
It is then that he sees something he has never seen before. A pure soul, and love, love for him. Slowly he releases the trigger. A smile breaks on his face and he lowers the gun, tucking it in his pants behind his back. Dropping the cushion, he places his left hand behind Laura’s back and pulls her tightly against him and kisses her while running his right hand through her hair.
Laura’s head starts spinning and it sounds like a waterfall is in her ears, her heart is trying to beat its way through her chest. This time Victor pulls away and while holding Laura’s gaze says, “There are sandwiches and salad on the kitchen table with some juice, help yourself. I’ll not be long, just going to take a quick shower, and then I’ll tell you all.”
Laura nods but can neither move nor think. Victor lets her go and walks around her towards the bathroom. Without looking back he goes in and closes the door behind him.
Slowly Laura brings her left hand to her lips and touches them softly, as if her fingers are Victor’s lips. The sound of water running brings her out of her thoughts and she turns to walk to the kitchen table, however her knees are like jelly and she half loses her balance, causing her to walk into the wall next to the television cabinet. She loses her footing and falls backwards onto her bum. Laura giggles at herself and puts her hands over her mouth for fear that Victor will hear her and come out, seeing her sitting on the floor giggling at herself like a school girl before her first date.
Carefully she gets up and slowly walks to the table where she takes a seat and helps herself to some of the food. Only now does she realize how hungry she is.
Laura can hear water running and presumes that Victor must be taking a shower. Her heart is still beating wildly and she feels like she is on cloud nine.
Victor takes a quick shower, and then puts the clothes on that he had brought with, black jeans with a black under armor sweatshirt, tight fitting, showing every muscle. He pauses before exiting the bathroom and stares at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.
“Are you sure about what you are doing?” His silence is his own answer. As he opens the bathroom door, he comments to himself, “This is going to change everything.”
He finds Laura sitting at the kitchen table eating a sandwich. Laura looks up and smiles at him. He returns her smile and wonders to himself, “Why me? She is so innocent and I have so much blood on my hands.” After pulling a chair out for himself opposite Laura, he pours orange juice into a glass and takes a big gulp, then helps himself to a sandwich. Just as he is about to take a bite Laura speaks.
“Why did you not kill me that first night? You killed everyone else.”
Victor freezes, the sandwich touching his lips. Slowly he lowers the sandwich. He actually does not have a real answer. He just could not kill her, nor could he let the men hurt her.
“I had no orders to kill you. My orders were only to retrieve the data,” he says, his voice cold and matter of fact. Victor does not want to lie to Laura; he sees no good coming from it.
“But you killed all those men, I don’t understand.”
“Nor do I.” Victor is looking at the sandwich in his hand as he replies.
“What will you do if they order you to kill me?”
Victor detects fear in her voice but does not reply. He slowly takes the cell phone from the table and brings his orders up onto the display, then places the phone down gently in front of Laura before speaking.
“Already have been ordered to kill you.”
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Laura goes white and keeps on looking between the message on the phone and Victor. Finally she speaks.
“Wwwhat are you going to dddoo?” Her voice tremors in fear and it sounds as if she is close to crying. Victor looks up and smiles at Laura, then reaching over he takes her left hand in his right, and while squeezing her hand softly he replies in a calm reassuring voice.
“Laura, I did not upload the data, and I will let no harm come to you.”
Laura suddenly bursts out crying from relief and joy, she jumps up and leans over the table and hugs Victor. After a minute she pulls back and dries her tears with the back of her hand before asking, “Who are they and why are they after me?”
“That is a bit of a story. Let’s go to the living area where it’s more comfortable.” Victor stands up as he replies and gently pulls Laura up and guides her to the couch in the living room. After sitting down next to each other, Victor continues.
“The man you are friends with, Nick, he is a world class freelance internet hacker. He hires his services out to anyone with enough money. Various governments have used him over the years to find people and information for them. What no one knew was that he hacked just about every government’s secret files over the years.
“He managed to accumulate a list of 500 names and pictures of various government spies, with a full dossier on each of them, including who are double agents. The list and pictures are, however, only part of what is on the disc.”
Victor waits a second for the information to sink in then continues.
“What he also managed to do was, when the US government hired him to help secure their nuclear missile launch programs, he implanted hidden code that would allow anyone to remotely access and override the governments’ control over the missiles by using a specific program he wrote. That program is also on the disc. If the Russians or any other nation for that matter get hold of the program, it will allow them to fire any US nuclear missile from any internet access point at any target of their choice.”
Laura 01 The Jaguar Prophecy Page 9