Limiting Liabilities: Book Two - The Martinique Files

by Colette Alaine

  “You cannot take the captain,” one of the guards protests.

  “Then I vill take you.” Nwankwo offers the trade.

  “I do not want to go.”

  “Then I vill take him.” He points to another guard.

  “I don’t want to go either.”

  Nwankwo has planned this exchange. As he points out one guard after another they lose their focus on the bandits in the skiffs. The four whose weapons were confiscated are given new weapons and in a momentary flash all of the pirates jump back on the tanker and seize the enemy. Shots are fired but the hijacking is complete. The guards got too caught up in the conversation and opened up the possibility for the pirates to re-engage and that is exactly what they did.

  Nwankwo has completed the major coup and the guards, captain and his crew are tied up. The pirates work quickly in overtaking every aspect of the ship. It is a grand one indeed and will make for a much more efficient mothership than the one they currently have. Okonko will be pleased.

  With Nwankwo at the helm, the pirates maneuver the tanker back to where their mothership is docked. Okonko is amazed but quite satisfied with the result. They now have many captives and the ransom will be rich. They work all night to transfer to the new tanker, abandoning their previous mothership. It will be retrieved by the authorities and they can do with it as they please.

  Compliments flow abundantly and Nwankwo is proclaimed the fiercest pirate of all. Enjoying some well-deserved brew, several of them indulge beyond their limits. Nwankwo finds it all very amusing and is eager to join the fun.

  “Yous the best pirate ever, Nwankwo.” An older pirate comes up to him spilling some of his beer on the floor.

  “You did a good job today, my mon, a good job.” Nwankwo is eager to praise him.

  “But yous do it for the man that killed your pappy.” Suddenly, Nwankwo stops drinking and starts listening.

  “Vhat do you mean? Vhat are you saying?” A fire stirs in his eyes. He can sense he is about to learn some grave news that will require him to act.

  “De pirate captain, he set up your pappy. He got paid from the tanker dat killed him. He vas a braggin’ ‘bout it but told us anys of us tell you ve get our troat cut. I’m not keepin’ a secret from Nwankwo anymore. Nwankwo is our captain now.”

  The nineteen year old pirate stops drinking. He is quiet now and in time others notice his brewing anger. Two other pirates join him. Nwankwo waits until he has a small group around him and then he asks for confirmation concerning his father and Okonko.

  His crew takes little time in providing details. They have not felt good about keeping this information from their strongest ally and the pirate captain is cruel. Although he gave Nwankwo his share of the captured treasure, he shorted the others and told them he would kill them if they said a word to Nwankwo. They fear Okonko and hope that Nwankwo will be their new leader.

  Nwankwo was raised properly by his mother’s loving heart, taught to be kind and merciful but his father reminded him not to let others take advantage of him. Between the two of them Nwankwo learns to think before he acts but to act with courage and humanity.

  At this moment all of his parents’ teaching abandons him as rage overcomes his emotions. If not for this pirate captain, his father would be alive and Nwankwo would be fighting for his family instead of this robber baron. His mother may have survived with proper care when delivering the baby and his brothers and sisters would not be struggling to survive without him.

  Gathering his crew to join him, he smashes into the captain’s quarters. His closest friends immediately grab their weapons but not in time. Nwankwo’s knife slides across Okonko’s neck faster than any of them can pull the trigger.

  As their former pirate captain lies in a pool of his own blood that grows larger by the moment, Nwankwo stares down at the guards, who drop their weapons.

  “I am de captain now.” Nwankwo stands tall in front of them and the crew behind him cheers. Those guards with the dead captain turn to him and pledge their allegiance. Nwankwo is in charge now and he will divide the spoils. He will rule the militia and the technicians. This is his mothership. He captured it. This is his crew. He protected them. This is his time. He has conquered the foe.

  Nwankwo’s revenge begins the ending of any civility in his heart and any moral turpitude in his soul. He is now lost to the vengeance. He has become who his father became. His mother’s eyes are raining tears from Heaven.

  CHAPTER 19

  “S o how was your trip?” Billy takes his usual spot in Tawny’s reception chair.

  “Excellent. I met my sister’s future husband and I spent Thursday riding Dusty all around the farm. It was so peaceful I regained my inner balance.”

  “Inner balance? What’s that?” Billy has never heard the term.

  “Everything’s in line with your body, mind, heart and soul. You’re at peace with yourself and the world around you. Anyway, it rained all day Friday and Saturday so I spent both days cooking and cleaning the house with my mom and Lydia. We did spring cleaning in October but now it’s over and we don’t have to hear about it again.” Tawny is relieved that the annual task is completed. She always gets stuck helping out.

  “Lydia’s engaged?” Billy does not miss a beat.

  “She might as well be. Dean is the love of her life. She’s too young but that doesn’t matter on an Indiana farm. My parents got married very young and so have most of my aunts, uncles and cousins. For the most part it’s worked out fine and I really like the guy. They’ll be a good match.” Tawny clicks off the information.

  “So you’re truly the black sheep?” Billy surmises.

  “All the way, baby. All the way.” Tawny commits herself and Billy grins. “And how is family life in Virginia Beach?”

  “Not for me.” Tawny raises her eyebrows at Billy’s response. “I love them to death but I couldn’t wait to get back home. All my stuff became community property and I never got in the bathroom without someone yelling at me to hurry up. No one sleeps through the night. They’re either texting, talking, snoring or crying. It was maddening.”

  “So you’re not thinking of starting a family anytime soon then?” Tawny asks the question already knowing the answer.

  “No. Maybe not ever.” Billy had his fill of sharing this weekend. “I did think a lot more about marriage though on the flight home. My brother and his wife always have each other no matter what comes up and I like that idea. They’re pretty consumed with the kids and all their goings-on but they understand each other without talking. It’s a really good marriage. I’ve noticed my other siblings have the same thing and, I don’t know, maybe I’m missing out.” Billy shrugs.

  “Like I told you before none of us are married so we pretty much have the rule of the house. We all have our own rooms and all my stuff is where I left it. I usually have half my clothes on the farm and half of it in the apartment depending on the season. I did a major exchange this trip. Summer is back at the farm and I’ve got some of the fall and winter stuff with me.” Tawny wants him to notice her wardrobe change. She wants him to notice everything about her like Dean notices Lydia.

  “I guess that’s the age difference between us. You’re the second oldest and I’m the baby in the family but my siblings are established and yours are still finding their way.”

  “Could be but it’s going backwards. Lydia turned eighteen the beginning of October and she’s ready to settle down. Brad is twenty-nine with no prospects. His job is farming and always will be. I’m twenty-six and I’ve got my job. Tom is twenty-four and is basically a junior Brad. He dates more than Brad or me so he’ll probably get married in a few years.” This fact suddenly dawns on her. The oldest two will most likely be the last ones to tie the knot; if they ever do.

  “Then it’ll be your turn, huh? Since you’re going backwards?” Billy says.

  “I guess so. Who knows? I decided to take life as it comes. Speaking of that, is there any news on any of the cases?” Tawny change
s the subject. Billy has been dancing around about his feelings and his future wife. She does not know if he is just thinking out loud, trying to gage her response or attempting to figure it all out. Whatever his reasoning, Tawny would rather he be more forthright and ask her to start dating again.

  “I just got here. I don’t know. I took my own advice and didn’t check in at work. Not that I could’ve with all the racket going on with my family. Do you want to go on a trip with me?”

  “A business trip?” Tawny is taken aback.

  “No.”

  She hesitates because she really does not understand where he is going with this question. “Umm. Maybe.”

  “It’s probably a bad idea but I think we should spend a few days together. We both have some feelings to work through. We talk but we don’t really say anything.”

  So she has not been imagining his interest. It is risky to agree to the trip but it is also what she really wants. “Where?” It is a dumb response but she is still very unsure of herself when it comes to him and her feelings for him.

  “Anywhere. The place doesn’t matter. If you don’t want to go, then. . .” Billy starts to back pedal.

  “No, I do. I’m scared though,” she admits.

  “That’s why we need to do it. I’ll get you your own room. It’ll be platonic unless. . .well unless it isn’t.” He shrugs.

  “When do you want to go?” Tawny decides it is best not to comment on his last sentence. She is still shocked at his request.

  “This weekend.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll make arrangements and we’ll go somewhere.” Billy gets up from the chair.

  “Let me know where. I don’t have my summer clothes anymore,” she reminds him.

  “How about Vail? A friend of mine has a condo there and we can stay in it since it’s not really a peak time. There’s not much snow on the mountains yet.”

  “I’ve never been so that sounds good.” He smiles and leaves her office.

  What just happened? She wonders why and how she planned a trip to Vail with her boss, her ex, and her dream. Something came over him these past few weeks and it came to a hilt when he visited his brother. It is going to be a nerve wracking week trying to concentrate on work knowing she is spending the weekend with Billy on a date.

  The flight to Denver leaves early Friday afternoon. Tawny shares the first class window seat with his aisle seat. Billy is quiet. Tawny fears that he is sorry he set this whole trip up. He wants to make some decisions or straighten out his life. She is either a part of his plans or an obstacle to them.

  As they settle into the flight, Tawny does not know what to do. She left her work at the office and putting her ear buds in and listening to her iPod seems inappropriate. To pass time she stares out the window some and glances at Billy, who appears deep in thought.

  After about forty minutes in the air, Billy reaches for her hand and clasps it in his. She breathes a little heavier. Unsure what to do, she simply looks at him and he turns toward her.

  “I know this is confusing for you. It’s confusing for me,” he says in a low tone so that only she can hear. “I’ve always been in complete control of my life and when you came into it, I lost that control. I’m trying to get it back.”

  “I don’t understand what I should do.” She wants to have this conversation but she wants him to lead it. Maybe she will finally know where she stands.

  “You know I have feelings for you and I’ve tried to acknowledge them, deny them, change them to less than what they are, everything. One day I’m convinced I’m going to take a certain action and the next day I’ve decided against it. I can’t concentrate and I’m not the guy I was before you clerked for us.” He opens up.

  “Is that so bad?”

  “I want to be who I was. I want to be in charge of my emotions. I want to know exactly what to do and do it and not regret it later. I like being in control. I hate feeling vulnerable or weak and that’s what I’m feeling now and it interferes with my job. I can’t have that kind of interruption in my career. I’ve worked too hard for it and to be totally honest, Tawny, I want to be the kind of person I was. Maybe everyone doesn’t like me. I don’t care but I do care that everyone respects me.”

  “I can understand wanting to be respected. That’s key to figuring me out.” He knows her hot button because it is the same as his.

  “I know. Maybe attorneys have a keener sense of what respect is or there’s something in our DNA that makes us crave it more than others but respect is of ultimate desire for lawyers in particular.”

  “I think everyone wants to be respected. Some just give up on it because it’s too difficult to attain in their world or they don’t feel like they deserve it because they’ve been beaten up one way or another.” Tawny is very familiar with the fight for respect.

  “You’re right, I’m sure but I’d bet there are lots of other explanations out there besides these two. It’s not just one or the other.” Billy agrees with her but sees a broader picture.

  “I don’t think you’ve lost any respect though.”

  “Maybe not in regard to my legal abilities but as a person with integrity, I’ve definitely lost something. Before, I was known as a lawyer who didn’t want to work with female attorneys because they brought more drama than I was going to put up with. No one ever considered me a woman hater, just the opposite in fact. I certainly never cared if a woman became an attorney. I just didn’t want to deal with them. It wasn’t the worst reputation to have.

  Then you came along and didn’t bring any of the drama and gossip I feared you would. In fact I became the drama. That’s when I started to lose the control I had.” So this is what has been bugging Billy more than anything else. He hates having to share his control and he feels that is exactly what he is doing now.

  “I don’t really know what to say. I don’t think it should be my fault.” Tawny gets a little defensive.

  “It is and it isn’t but you didn’t do anything on purpose. You did everything you could to ditch me. I’ve never been so ignored by any other person in my life. It unnerved me. Here I was the senior attorney, who was supposed to be giving this new junior associate legal lessons on how to be successful in the law and in reality you turned it all around and taught me more than I wanted to learn.” Billy either will not or cannot identify what is happening to himself.

  “I taught you how to listen to your heart.” She clears it up and names it for him.

  “That’s why I’m messed up. Before I never bothered with my heart unless it meant writing a check or helping someone I really didn’t know. People thought I was a good guy because I did good deeds. They never knew I didn’t get emotionally involved in any of it. The only time I let myself really feel is when something happens to a family member and we haven’t had much strife in our family so it’s been easy to stay focused.” He is laying it all out to her.

  “But then your heart is cold and empty. Why do you want to go through life that way? Why don’t you want to share it? You’re certainly strong enough to go through the pits and valleys of life. You’re not an emotional weakling.” Tawny calls him out.

  “It’s easier not too feel too deeply. You can date whomever you want and not worry about hurting someone. I don’t have to go through all that drama.”

  “Billy, sometimes all that drama is life. It’s living day to day. Not everyone has a sweet life like yours and mine. When you don’t share your emotions, you never connect with anyone else. You live your whole life on the surface and no one can get close to you. Deep down that’s got to be so lonely for you.”

  “See that’s exactly what I’ve discovered. If I’d never met you, I’d be happy and satisfied like I was before.”

  “You’re that comfortable being so superficial and shallow?” Tawny does not hold back.

  “It’s my work that matters most to me and that’s what I want to care about,” he continues to enlighten her.

  “Not people.”

&nb
sp; “Mostly, no.”

  “Is this so you can hop from one girl’s bed to another?” Tawny is really wondering why they are taking this trip now.

  “Partly. I don’t have to deal with commitment for the rest of my life. If things aren’t going well, I can do my best to ease out of the relationship without causing too much pain. They can hate me but move on. When you spend too much time in one relationship, you get stuck going through every problem and they continue to build up because of the history between the two people. You become so intertwined that you can never escape. I don’t want to live my life in an isolated world. I want to go out and experience what interests me and what entertains me.” Billy is being brutally honest with her.

  “You miss out on real love that way. It never takes hold of you. I can’t believe you don’t want to feel that deep love in your life.” Tawny may not be ready for marriage but she has never given up on true love.

  “I didn’t want the pain that goes with real love.” He hesitates. “That’s my problem now.”

  It takes her only a moment to realize he is telling her that he has fallen for her and he cannot find himself anymore because of his feelings. He wants to be powerful Billy Solomon, focused on work and bringing justice to the world by defeating environmental foes. Dealing with silly little dating problems is fine but he doesn’t want any large issues to interfere with his legal career. True commitment means going through all the pain of keeping a relationship fresh instead of just finding someone new to refresh and start over. Marriage scares Billy because he has to recognize his heart will be affected and a heart can really get hurt.

  “So this trip is to do what for you?” Tawny has no idea why she is here now. If he loves her but does not want a relationship why didn’t he just tell her so in Chicago? Why bring her on a trip alone with him?

  “To define our relationship.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “We have some options but first I need to know that you’re confused about us like I am.”