Zero Escape

by Kendall Talbot

  Her willingness to go along with him, a virtual stranger, without a million questions showed her determination. Or stupidity. He hoped it wasn’t the latter. He didn’t do stupidity.

  He reached the small clearing and moved to the left so Charlene could step in beside him. When she did, he maintained the flashlight’s angle at the ground, yet there was enough light to see her face. They’d been on the go for seven hours, and he had no idea when she’d last slept. Add to that the ordeal she’d had in the water and she should be close to passing out. Her eyes were bloodshot, her breathing labored. Though she looked shattered, what stood out the most was her willpower.

  “Where are we?” she whispered.

  “My ex-fiancée’s house.” There was no real point in elaborating. “Let’s go.”

  “Oh.” She stepped in beside him, and together they climbed the small rise to the ramshackle house he knew was at the top. As they approached, he noted they’d put on a back patio since he’d last visited. It wasn’t a masterpiece, but he could already tell their home was improving.

  He rolled the wheelbarrow in under the cover and went to the back door. It would be unlocked. There was no point locking doors around here. If someone wanted to get in, they’d smash their way in. Besides, there was nothing of value inside anyway.

  “Hey, Yelena, ¿qué tal algunos de tus famosos cafés?” Marshall called from the cramped, yet tidy kitchen.

  “What’re you doing?” Charlene shot him a glare.

  “Waking them up. You might want to stand back for this.”

  He snapped on the yellowed bare light bulb dangling from the ceiling, and three seconds later, Aleyna’s mother came waddling into the room with her arms open and her expression joyous. “Hola, Marshall, qué bueno verte.”

  Yelena got smaller every time he saw her, but her strength didn’t falter. She cupped his face and pulled him down so she could kiss both his cheeks. “Es mucho tiempo desde que te vemos. Creí que nos habías dejado.”

  Yelena was complaining that the times between his visits were too long. She said that every time. He glanced at Charlene to see her slink back against the wall in time to miss the barrage of family members who poured into the room. There were only three bedrooms in this home, yet ten people lived under the roof. Nearly all of them were now crammed in the kitchen, hugging and kissing Marshall.

  Marshall watched Yelena’s eyes widen when she spied Charlene, then she wriggled through the crowd and repeated her greeting for Charlene too.

  The old woman turned to Marshall with an enormous, yet mostly toothless grin lighting up her face. “Has traído a tu esposa?”

  Marshall chuckled at Charlene. “She thinks you’re my wife.”

  Charlene’s eyes brightened, and she shook her head. “No, no, we’re just friends.”

  “She doesn’t speak English. Hardly any of them do.”

  “Oh.” Charlene frowned. Her confusion must be running at maximum capacity about now.

  The room was chaos, but once Marshall told them that he had indeed brought supplies, the bedlam shifted from the kitchen to the patio outside. “No la maleta.”

  “I just told them not to touch your suitcase, but you may want to grab it just in case.”

  Charlene raced outside. “Sorry. Excuse me, I’ll just take that—” With her suitcase in hand, she edged back from the frenzy, and Marshall stepped in beside her.

  “I try to bring them as much as I can. Some supplies are very scarce here.”

  Rusian, Yelena’s husband, held up a fishing tackle. It wasn’t a new one, but Marshall knew it would be Rusian’s prized possession for a very long time. “Ahh, sí, sí, gracias, gracias.”

  Yelena plucked out the medicines, soap, shampoo, creams, toothbrushes, sugar, coffee, and jars of spices and scooped them to one side.

  “I know it looks chaotic, but don’t worry.” Marshall winked at Charlene, who was staring wide-eyed at the mêlée. “They’ll have a look through it all, and some of the boys will beg Yelena to keep some things, but it’ll be pointless. She runs the house, so who gets what is totally up to her. Even Rusian’s claim to the fishing tackle will be up for debate.”

  “It’s really nice that you do this.”

  He shrugged. “It’s the least I can do. They lost the best son-in-law in the world when I separated from Aleyna.”

  Charlene chuckled and playfully slapped him on the arm. “So she doesn’t live here?”

  “Yeah, she does, actually. She and her husband and their daughter, Mariana.”

  “Oh.”

  “Hi, Marshall.” He turned to the voice. “Speak of the devil.” He leaned down to kiss his ex-fiancée’s cheeks. “Hi, Aleyna. You look well.”

  “Gracias. So do you.”

  “Thanks. I’d like you to meet Charlene.” He couldn’t quite read the expression on Aleyna’s face, but it was probably a mixture of suspicion and jealousy. Aleyna didn’t like it when someone challenged her in the beauty department. And even though Charlene had battled through a rough couple of hours, her natural beauty still shone through.

  The noise from the action on the patio grew explosive when they found the chocolates and coffee at the bottom of one of the bags. Seven adults fighting over three packets of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups was not pretty. Charlene covered her ears, and her mouth dropped, but it was clear she was enjoying the spectacle.

  “How about a coffee, Aleyna?”

  “Sí, come on. They crazy.” Aleyna rolled her eyes and turned.

  He indicted to Charlene to follow his ex-fiancée back into the kitchen. Marshall didn’t have much time, and the ticking clock on the wall wasn’t any help. It was already 4:30. In two hours, the sun would begin to glow on the horizon. He was cutting it close.

  Aleyna busied herself with filling the kettle on the stove, while Marshall gestured for Charlene to sit.

  When Aleyna turned back to him and wriggled her eyebrows, he got straight down to business. “We need your help.”

  Aleyna crossed her arms and eased back so her butt was against the hundred-year-old stove. “I’m listening.” Even after all these years, she still glared with animosity toward him.

  None of the donations he made each visit seemed to make up for the freedom she thought their so-called marriage would have brought. They’d been engaged for a total of nine months when he’d called it off. He’d have done it sooner if he’d had the guts. But it wasn’t just Aleyna he was letting down. It was her whole family. Their only daughter had been offered the opportunity for them all to escape their sheltered life.

  He’d ruined that opportunity.

  He met Aleyna’s fiery gaze. “I need you to take Charlene to Legendarios del Guajirito tonight.”

  “What?” Charlene blurted. “What about you?”

  “I’ve gotta get back to Miss B Hayve.”

  “You’re leaving me.” Charlene’s eyes just about popped out of her head.

  “I have to move her into international waters or she’ll be seized.”

  “Yes, but . . . you’re leaving me?”

  “I got you here. That’s what you wanted, right?”

  Her jaw dropped, her eyes blinked, but that was the total extent of her reaction. “But what will I do?”

  He liked that she seemed disappointed about him leaving but then realized how desperate that made him seem and smacked that thought away. “Do whatever it is you came here to do.”

  “But—”

  Her eyes pleaded with him, and he dragged his gaze away to look at the clock. “Aleyna will look after you. Right, Aleyna?”

  Aleyna’s arms were crossed, and her glare intense. Her spunk had been one of the things that had drawn him to her in the first place. But she’d probably never forgive him. Even with a husband who looked after her better than he probably could have, especially when he’d been deployed for over ten months of every year of his enlistment. “Aleyna?”

  She rolled her eyes and huffed. “Yeah, sure.”

  “Good. She
’ll need some sleep. Her clothes need washing too.”

  “What am I?” Aleyna blurted. “Her fucking mother?”

  Marshall plucked out a hundred-dollar note from his pocket. “No, Aleyna, you’re looking after a paying guest.” He placed it on the bench.

  “Marshall, I can—”

  He waved his hand to cut Charlene off. “Get a bit of shut-eye. Then do what you need to do.” Marshall stood. “I’ll be back for you at midnight tonight. Don’t be late.”

  Charlene stood too, and the pause between them was agony. His gut told him he should stay. And he wasn’t happy with that—he usually listened to his gut. But his brain told him to get the fuck back to his boat. Charlene would be fine. Come this time tomorrow, she’d be safely back onboard Miss B Hayve, and the two of them would be scooting back across international waters.

  “You look after her, Aleyna.”

  Aleyna huffed. “I will.”

  It took all his effort to stride away. He went to Aleyna’s family to say good-bye, and Yelena robbed a couple of minutes of precious time as she tried to talk him into breakfast.

  With the tick of the clock resonating in his ears and his flashlight showing the way, he began to run.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Charlene watched openmouthed as Marshall sprinted down the hill and disappeared into the underbrush. It was like watching a plane crash on the news. Even though she knew it was going to happen, she still couldn’t believe it when it did.

  But this was exactly what she’d asked for. To be taken to Cuba.

  She felt like a complete fool.

  Charlene turned to Aleyna, whose steely gaze and folded arms radiated animosity. She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry to put you out like this.”

  “Is he your boyfriend?”

  Charlene nearly choked on her tongue. “No. Not at all. We only met last night. I barely know him.”

  She huffed and turned to the kettle. “Didn’t look like that to me.”

  “Well, I can assure you it’s true.”

  Aleyna stepped up to the sink, and when she looked at Charlene over her shoulder, she braced for the next question. “We were lovers, you know.”

  “Yes, he told me.”

  Aleyna poured the hot water into a cup and offered it to Charlene. “What else did he say?”

  When Aleyna placed her hands on her hips, drawing attention to her womanly curves, Charlene decided that the Aleyna wanted to hear praise. She thrived on attention and commanded it too. And because Aleyna had just been declared Charlene’s new best friend, she decided she’d better lay it on thick.

  “He said you were the most beautiful woman he’d ever met.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh, yes. He’s never found another woman like you. That’s why he never married.”

  “Ahh, yes. I know.” A smile curled at the edges of her plump lips, but a heartbeat later, her eyes shifted, and her dark irises seemed to grow darker. “He left me. Did he tell you that?”

  She nodded and lowered her eyes to the black brew. “He did.”

  “Bastardo.” She didn’t say it with malice. It was more of a matter-of-fact comment.

  Charlene didn’t need a translation of Aleyna’s comment, yet she had no idea how to respond. She didn’t know either Marshall or Aleyna and had no right to choose sides or offer opinions. Her best option was to change the subject. “So, Marshall said you would know Legendarios del Guajirito.”

  “Sí, everybody in Havana knows of it. If you have job there, you very lucky.”

  “When can you take me there?”

  “Tonight.”

  “Oh. We can’t go during the day?”

  “No. Show start eight-thirty tonight.”

  Charlene groaned. She had hoped they’d have a matinee show.

  “You have ticket? It always booked up.”

  “No.”

  Aleyna shook her head. “Well, then, it not possible—”

  “I can pay.” Charlene interrupted Aleyna. “I will pay double for a ticket. I have to go tonight.”

  “Double? Maybe I can get you ticket.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Why you want to see so bad?”

  Charlene contemplated lying, but a plausible lie was impossible. In the end, the truth was the perfect answer. If nothing else, it might draw some sympathy. “My father passed away a few months ago. When I was cleaning out his things, I found a videocassette of him singing in the Legendarios del Guajirito show. I want to see the show for myself.”

  Aleyna’s shoulders softened, and she brought her mug to her lips and blew on it. “I will take you. You want sleep? You can have Tajo’s bed. Top bunk.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to put anyone out.”

  “I have orders.” She picked up the hundred-dollar note Marshall had placed on the table and slotted it down her top. “Wait here.”

  Aleyna strode away, leaving Charlene to glance around the kitchen. It was very tiny. But she’d had tiny before and knew that as long as everything had a place, then tiny was irrelevant. Practical was more important. And when funds and supplies were limited, you tended to get very good at practical.

  She returned her attention to outside. Other than Yelena, all the residents of the house were men. They were all similar in height and build; the only one who looked completely different from the others was the father, and it was only because of his gray hair. They seemed to be still arguing over the chocolates. She’d never had siblings to fight with.

  That thought produced another thought that’d never occurred to her before. Was she an only child?

  “Come.” Aleyna appeared in the doorway.

  Charlene pushed off the stool, grabbed her rolling case and Peter’s cane, and followed Aleyna down a dark hallway.

  “My husband,” she waved her hand in a flourish. “He still sleeping. He even sleep through big storms. My daughter too.”

  Charlene smiled at that. Peter had been the same way. There were many mornings when she’d complained about thunder keeping her up all night, but Peter had slept through the whole thing.

  Aleyna stepped into a room with two sets of bunk beds, and Charlene’s eyes darted about the room. “I can’t sleep here.”

  “Why not?” Aleyna snapped.

  “Your . . . your brothers sleep here.”

  “I will keep them out while you sleeping.”

  Charlene flicked her hand. “It’s okay. I’m not tired anyway.”

  Aleyna shrugged. “Okay then.” She strode from the doorway.

  Charlene took another glance around the room. The four beds all looked like the person had just jumped out of them, which was mostly likely true given that Marshall had woken them up well before sunrise. She’d slept in many rough beds in her lifetime. But at least they’d always appeared to have clean linen. The idea of crawling into those sweat-stained sheets gave her the creepy crawlies.

  She lugged her suitcase back up the hallway. Behind the counter, Yelena was busy slotting Marshall’s donations into the cupboards. Aleyna was outside with her brothers now, and they looked to be fighting over a razor. Charlene returned to her coffee and nodded at Yelena. “Hola.” The extent of her Spanish was dismal. But then, she’d never had a need for it before.

  “Sí, hola. ¿Tienes hambre?” The old woman smiled, showing off her one solitary tooth.

  Charlene shrugged. “Sorry, I don’t understand.” She made a hand gesture that she hoped portrayed what she was trying to say.

  The old woman must’ve understood, because she demonstrated “eating” with her hands.

  Charlene shook her head. “Oh. No, thanks. Gracias.” She patted her belly and puffed out her cheeks like she was full. The truth was she wasn’t full at all; in fact, she was very hungry. But the thought of taking food from these people didn’t seem right.

  The old lady smiled again and then went back to shoving her goodies away. A piercing light caught Charlene’s eye, and it took her a moment to realize it was the sun cutting
through the trees.

  The first rays of sunshine had the family members filing in from outside and disappearing into various rooms of the house.

  Charlene sipped her rocket-fueled coffee and watched the family morph from bickering siblings to a united team. Each seemed to have a job, and neither parent felt the need to dictate who did what. As the sun made its way over the treetops, two brothers, wearing just shorts and flip-flops, disappeared into the bushes carrying an assortment of gardening tools. One of the brothers collected a few buckets and headed for the gap in the trees that Marshall had vanished into. The last two brothers stayed near the house and flitted from one job to another.

  Aleyna appeared at her side. “I wash your clothes.”

  “Oh, no, no, it’s okay. Show me where the washing machine is, and I’ll do it.”

  Aleyna cocked her head in a way that implied Charlene was joking. Charlene slipped off the chair, wrapped her fingers around the handle of her suitcase, and nodded. “Lead the way.”

  After a shrug of her shoulders, Aleyna led the way through the house and out the back door. To the left of the yard was another small building. The door was open, and half a dozen chickens were pecking the ground in front of it.

  Aleyna shooed the chickens away and then fully opened the door with a grin at Charlene that implied she was enjoying this. When Charlene stepped into the dank space, she knew why. There was no washing machine and no dryer. Nothing that required electricity. Not even a light bulb.

  She wanted to slap herself for her naïveté.

  “Washing machine there.” Aleyna pointed at a square concrete sink with a green tinge lining the sides. A cake of yellow soap rested on the edge, along with a scrub brush that looked like porcupine roadkill.

  “Dryer out there.” Through the cracked window, she pointed at a clothesline. “I did offer.” Aleyna laughed all the way back into the house.