by Rick Potter
Sam and Maddie stared at the tears streaming down Carlos's face. His hair scorched, the odor of smoldering skin and hair was unbearable. "Why do I feel like we're the bad guys?" she asked, out of breath.
"Keep focused," he demanded. "Let me see your eye." He grabbed her by both shoulders and forced her in front of him so he could examine her eye better. "You're gonna need stitches." Then he tore a sheet and covered her wound. "Keep this pressed against your eye, it'll help stop the bleeding. Any questions?"
His determined expression was a part of him she'd never seen before. It almost frightened her. "Yeah, who are you?"
"Very cute. Night's falling and we've got bad weather. You check on the kids, I'll radio for help. Then we'll worry about Andrea."
Sam had been reborn, and she didn't know exactly what it was that made him click. Whatever it was, she liked the new Sam.
Chapter Ten
Emily and Jake balanced themselves Indian style on the bed. Emily watched the porthole submerge, wishing she were home, while Jake remained anchored to his solitaire card game, unable to stop shaking from the fight they had had with Carlos. "Are we gonna sink?" he asked.
Emily hesitated before answering. If they did sink, it would be better than the alternative. She didn't want to tell Jake about overhearing Carlos and Andrea's discussion about their plans for them. "No, we're not gonna sink."
"How long do you think we'll be in Mexico for? Do you think we'll make it back in time for baseball season? How did Carlos get like that?" His string of questions went unanswered, but she assured him, "Don't worry about anything. It's all gonna be fine."
She sounded like her father, and now understood why her mother became irritated. But, she also realized that it was his attempt at making them feel comfortable during times of hardship, or conflict. She was developing an appreciation for him.
"I'm bored, Em. Are you sure you don't want to play another game?"
She had already played hours with him, in the futile attempt of taking his mind off their situation.
"I'm sure. Why don't you try and get some sleep?"
"I'm not tired. I just want to get out of here. I feel like I'm in jail."
She sympathized with him. "I know, it won't be much longer."
He joined her, staring out the porthole. She continued to think about their fate. She had heard there were present day pirates and human traffickers, but that was only something that happened to other people on the news.
"Well, just remember," Jake said, "if anything else happens, I'll protect you."
"Thanks, Jake."
Staring through the porthole was like staring into a tunnel of regrets. Her attitude toward Jake and her father was unforgivable. The way she abandoned her friends, and tested her mother's friendship with how much she could get away with. There were no excuses for her behavior. She vowed if they ever got out of this mess, she'd be a better sister and daughter. She even promised to do better in school.
Her regrets and promises were interrupted by the jiggle of the door handle. She grabbed Jake and recoiled to the corner of the wall, clinging to him in terror. "Who's there?" she asked.
The door creaked open. "Em? Jake?"
It was a familiar voice. They vaulted from the bed, "Mom!" they shouted.
"Keep your voices down," Maddie said, hugging them. "I'm so glad you're safe. Did they hurt you?"
"No, we're okay," Emily answered.
"Where's, Dad?" Jake asked.
"He's coming."
Emily looked up at her mother, "What happened to your eye? It's huge... and bleeding."
Maddie dabbed her wound with the torn sheet soaked in blood. "I just had a little accident."
Sam stepped into the room. Jake threw himself into his arms. "Dad!"
"You kids all right?"
"Where's Carlos and Andrea?" Emily asked. "Did they do this to you, Mom?"
Before Sam or Maddie could answer, Jake asked, "Are they dead? Did you kill them?"
"No, they're not dead, but he won't be bothering us anymore," Sam answered.
"Where's Andrea?" Emily asked.
"Listen kids," Sam said. "Carlos is tied up in our room, but we still need to get his sister. We need you to stay in the room for a while longer, okay?"
This was the first time they had been together since the bon voyage party, and now they were being separated again. "I don't want you guys to leave again, please?" Jake pleaded.
Maddie understood his fear. "Listen, we need you to help take care of your sister."
Emily wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "Yeah Jakester, I need you to protect me. Remember what you said?"
"I remember."
It was nice to see Emily and Jake not jumping down each others throats for once.
"Listen, kids," Sam said. "When we leave, lock the door and don't let anyone in. Got it?"
"Okay, but hurry," Jake said. "And if you need any help, just call my name really loud."
"You got it, Jakester."
Sam and Maddie gave them another hug and kiss, before closing the door behind them. "Lock the door," Sam told them.
Emily turned the lock. "Be safe," she told her parents.
Jake leaped to his backpack leaning against the wall. He was resolute, a man on a mission. "What are you doing?" she asked.
He reached in the bag and felt around, then mumbled, "I hope I didn't forget it."
"Forget what?"
"Got it," he said, with an evil grin. "I can't believe I forgot about this."
###
Leaning on the counter and navigation table to balance themselves from Madeline's rocking, Sam and Maddie planned their next moves. "I'm gonna try radioing for help, again." Sam said. "We gotta work fast. She could walk in at any minute."
Maddie glanced around the cabin, then unhooked the fire extinguisher near the cabin steps.
Sam held the mic and made sure the switch was still on channel sixteen. Speaking in a quiet voice, he said, "This is Madeline, anyone out there? Come in?"
Static came from the speaker. He tried again. "This is Madeline, in the Gulf of Mexico. Can anyone hear me? Come in?"
"Try saying, pan, pan, pan," Maddie suggested.
Sam knew that was the distress signal, but he didn't see the sense of saying it if no one could hear him. "Pan, pan, pan. This is Madeline in the Gulf of Mexico. Anyone come in?"
He glanced over his shoulder to Maddie, now seated at the sofa balancing the fire extinguisher between her legs. "This is Madeline. If anyone can hear me, we need assistance. Our family is being held by kidnappers. We're in grave danger. We're being kidnapped to Mexico and need help badly. Please come in," he said, trying to determine their exact coordinates as he spoke. "If anyone can hear me, please send help. Again, this is Madeline, we've been kidnapped and need help," then concluded with, "Pan, pan, pan." He depressed the mic button and listened. Only the sound of static came over the speaker.
"The storm must have knocked out the antenna," he told Maddie, then replaced the mic back on its hook.
"Maybe someone heard you."
"Maybe, but the Gulf's pretty big, and they don't know our position," he said. "Let's get ready, she's gotta be wondering where her brother is by now.
"Are you sure you don't want to just blast through the doors and charge at her?" she asked.
"If she didn't have a gun, it might be a good idea. We'll just have to wait here."
Sam balanced himself out of sight in front of Jake's room beside the navigation table, holding onto the fire extinguisher. Maddie stood braced in the bathroom at the bow, maintaining eye contact with Sam. She also had a clear view of Andrea when she entered the cabin.
They were finally cooperating, or maybe they were just in survival mode. It didn't matter to him, he liked the feeling of having courage and confidence, and sensed Maddie liked it too. Subduing Carlos was a rush he had never experienced, and Maddie witnessed it. He knew he had put his family in peril, and he was doing whatever he needed to protect the
m.
His thoughts scratched like a needle scratching across a vinyl record, when the companionway door whipped open. Balancing himself, he gripped the fire extinguisher and waited. Timing was everything, he couldn't afford to make a mistake. Drenched in water with wind blowing at her back, Andrea slammed the door with both hands, and charged down the steps. "Carlos?" she yelled.
It didn't seem right, something was wrong. She reached for the pistol tucked under her belt and pointed it toward the back bedroom door. "Carlos," she yelled, again. "Where are you?"
Sam held his ground, poised to attack. "Carlos, you better not be where I think you are," she said, working her way between the tables.
A glimpse through a plastic framed poster on the bulkhead wall, reflected Sam behind her holding an object above his head. She spun, ready to pull the trigger, but the sudden impact of the fire extinguisher crashing down on her head, dropped her to the floor. Dazed, she rolled on her back and pointed the pistol at him. "Now, it's my turn," she said.
When Madeline rocked from a violent swell, Sam stumbled back against the steps, releasing the fire extinguisher. It rolled along the door, bashing into everything in its path. The pistol fired. If Sam would have still been where he was standing, he'd be dead on the floor.
Andrea aimed the pistol at him again. Maddie rushed from behind the bathroom door, and kicked the pistol from Andrea's hand. The pistol flew in the air, letting off another shot that echoed throughout the cabin. The bullet went through the ceiling as the pistol slid under the table. With another rock of the boat, Andrea and Maddie lost balance and were forced into Sam, spread across the cabin steps. He shoved Andrea off, spinning her back toward the middle of the aisle. Maddie leaped at Andrea and ducked at Andrea's swinging fist. Maddie countered with an uppercut to her chin, followed by a powerful kick to her face. Andrea twirled and hit the floor at the foot of the table. She crawled and reached out for the pistol, but was cut short by Maddie's foot slamming into her face, again. Maddie reached for her hair, but Andrea twisted and pulled Maddie down with her. After a brief bout of pulling hair and exchanging slaps and fists, Andrea worked her way on top and gouged her thumbs into Maddie's eyes, pressing with all her might.
Emily and Jake heard the gunfire and ran out from their room into the kitchen. Emily rushed to her father to help him, while Jake steadied himself from behind the kitchen counter. Resting his elbows on the counter, he took aim with his slingshot. He released the leather pouch and a knuckle sized rubber pellet zinged across the room. Andrea's head jerked back, as the pellet struck her forehead. "Bullseye," he murmured, then reloaded another pellet.
Before she wobbled off Maddie, another pellet nailed her on the side of the head.
Furious and out of control, Maddie sprung to her feet and began plunging foot blows into Andrea's body. It was a brutal attack on the woman leading her family into hell. Andrea lay defenseless on the floor, out of strength to raise her hands to protect her face. Maddie's fury continued until Sam rose from the floor. "Maddie!" he yelled. "Stop."
Emily and Jake ran to their mother. "Mom!"
Maddie snapped from her spell and ceased her attack.
Andrea lay paralyzed, her face painted in blood. "You killed her," Jake said.
Sam kneeled and placed his fingers on her wrist. He looked up at Maddie catching her breath, then moved his fingers to her neck. "Is she dead?" Emily asked.
"No," he answered. "Let's get her to the room."
Sam scooped her in his arms, while Jake opened the bedroom door and witnessed Carlos wrapped in ropes like a defenseless animal. The smoldering odor of burnt skin and hair slammed into him, stumbling him back. "What's that smell?" Jake asked. "It's gross." Then after a closer look, he noticed Carlos's scorched head.
Jake was filled with a sudden sense of remorse. Despite his bout with him, Jake thought of him as a gentle giant, a friend.
Maddie noticed Jakes sadness. "We had to do it," she said, pulling him away from the doorway.
"Let's get it done," Sam said.
He and Maddie secured Andrea beside Carlos with the same hogtie technique they had used on her brother. "We'll keep an eye on them until we return, then we'll turn them over to the police," Sam said.
As he exited the room and locked the door, Madeline pitched to one side from the force of another violent rock. Her near horizontal position threw everyone over the table and into the portholes. "I gotta get out there. We're gonna capsize," Sam said, struggling to get to his feet.
Maddie helped him with the life vest. "Please be careful, Sam."
"Don't worry about me, just keep the kids together, and hang on to something strong." Although his terror was morphed by courage, he couldn't help think of the five-thousand foot depth and navigating through the storm in complete darkness. "Keep trying the radio, maybe we'll get lucky," he added fighting to climb the stairs to the cockpit.
"I love..." Maddie's sentence was muffled by the slam of the cabin door behind him.
Maddie tried the radio, but it was still down. "What do we do now?" Emily asked.
Maddie glanced at Andrea's blood. "Let's see if we can't get this place cleaned up a bit."
Then another large surge rocked the boat, powering them over the table and into the portholes, again. "Maybe we should just hang on tight for a while," Emily suggested.
Jake's face was against the porthole. "I gotta help, Dad." Then he ran to the room and grabbed his life vest.
"You're not going anywhere. It's too dangerous out there," Maddie said.
"He's gonna need help. He can't do it alone. It's a two person job," he insisted.
Maddie thought about for a minute. "Let me help you," she said, then secured his buckles and straps.
"I can't breathe."
"Make sure you attach yourself to the jack-line first thing. Stay low to the floor, and hang on to anything you can find."
"I know. I know."
"And be extra careful. And make sure your father is attached to the jack-line, too."
"Anything else?"
Maddie hesitated. "If it gets any worse, you and your father..."
"I know," Jake interrupted, "get back in here."
"Good," she said, then reached in a panel in the navigation table. "Take this with you in case you need help."
Jake inspected it. "An airhorn? What's this supposed to do?"
"Just take it, and blow it if you guys get in trouble."
"What's it supposed to do? Save us?" he asked, climbing the steps then disappearing out the door.
"I hope they're careful," Maddie said.
"If something happens to them, it's gonna happen to us, too. Try not to worry, Mom."
Maddie hesitated, watching fallen items roll around on the floor through Andrea's blood. Before she could say anything else, Emily asked, "Were you serious about doing housework? You just got through lighting a giant on fire, tying him up, kicking the crap out of a woman and almost killing her, and all this in the middle of the ocean during a storm that might sink us. And you really want to do housework? Are you serious?"
"Well, when you put it that way, it almost sounds humorous. Let's sit down and hang on."
Maddie and Emily climbed on the sofa behind the table. The constant rocking of Madeline made Emily tired, forcing her eyes shut. She heard her mother rising from her seat. She cracked one eye open and saw she was cleaning Andrea's blood, and picking items up from the floor. She didn't say anything, she knew her mother's adrenaline was still coursing through her, and she probably just needed to keep busy.
There were books, magazines, kitchen canisters, charts, and fruit from the hammocks rolling everywhere. She reached under the table for some more books, and noticed Andrea's pistol laying on the floor.
Maddie hadn't fired a gun since she was sixteen, when she her father were on their last hunting trip together. Her father had bought her a Kimber 84 Classic with a twenty-two inch barrel, just the gift every girl dreams of receiving on her sixteenth birthday. But
now she wasn't holding a rifle, it was a handgun, and her first time held one.
She glanced at Emily who had closed her eyes, then inspected the murder weapon, wondering how many people had lost their lives while it was in the palm of Andrea's hand. Was this the weapon used to force the missing people on the posters into submission? The more she thought, the angrier she became.
She exchanged glances between the pistol and the locked room, then remembered her father's words, "All stories, if continued far enough, end in death." She would later find out, after her father took his own life by emulating his mentor, that it was Hemingway who first quoted those words.
She glanced at back at Emily, and noticed her eyes still closed, then placed her ear to the bedroom door where Carlos and Andrea were. She gripped the door handle, unlatched the lock, then thought, 'Were they watching the door in anticipation of someone entering?' Maybe Carlos would barrel through the door. She clicked the hammer. 'Maybe they heard that.' Transfixed on the door, she took a deep breath then pushed it open.
Carlos and Andrea hadn't moved. Before she could raise the pistol, she heard, "What are you doing, Mom?"
Maddie leaped back, slamming the door shut. "Em, I thought you were sleeping?"
Emily sat up and faced Maddie. "Where'd you get that gun? Oh my God, you were gonna kill them."
"Of course not. Do I look like a killer to you? I was just checking on them."
"Where'd you get the gun?"
"It was under the table."
"We should hide it in case we need it later," Emily suggested.
"Don't about it, I'll take care of it." She could have gotten the whole thing over with right then and there. They could have dumped the bodies in the sea, and just had the storm to weather through. Then they'd head back home, and no one would be the wiser. She set the pistol on the sofa beside her. "Let's try and get some sleep now."
"I can't sleep. Maybe I should go help them."
"No way, if something happens, God forbid, I don't want to lose all of you.
"But, I'm a better swimmer than both of them. Besides, Jake's too small to really help."
"What do you think you're gonna do?"
"I can takeover steering when Dad needs a break. He can't do it by himself all night."