Danger - A Safe Bahamian Novel - Day 04

Danger - A Safe Bahamian Novel - Day 04

(10:51 am Sunday Nov 04, 2007)

*** Beach Near Shack Near Beach ~;-)

Sam comes to the end of the beach and stops running. He stretches up to the sky and then shakes himself before laying himself down and starting to do sit ups looking out to sea.

Jack and Ronnie appear from around the point, swimming strongly, the sunlight glinting like missions of diamonds on the water.

Soon they come in to shore and come out of the water and plop down beside Sam. "You really should give up running the beach and swim with us instead you know," says Jack.

"Yeah, right! You guys are crazy! You know that don't you?" says Sam looking at them as if they have lost their marbles. "We just get the first nice cool air this morning after the long hot summer and I man am supposed to go in that water with you two fish? No way is that going to happen. Not as long as Granny Rolle's favourite grandson has any sense left in his head. And you jack, you have totally lost it, you should still be in bed."

(1:00 pm Sunday Nov 04, 2007)

*** Inside Shack Near Beach

The three friends are sitting at a table by an open window playing tonk and talking.

"OK, so you were being chased by you don't know how or what. You running through the bush down some long forgotten path and then you come out of the tree line into a clear are abut then the path ends at a cliff. The people or things chasing you are getting closer and closer so you decide to jump off the cliff into a raging sea with a hurricane slightly complicating the issue. So far so good?" Sam looks at Jack who nods.

"Good, so you jump into the water but you don't drown. Yet you admit that you only remember going down and some pain and then nothing until you are back here. Well, how did you make it in the sea all that time? And who helped you out with the breathing contraptions?"

"All good questions, I am sure Sam, but I don't have answers for you. I only know that I had just found something very import from my family background just before I called you guys and set up the meeting. The on the way here, I got run off the road on purpose and bullets started ending up too close to me to make me happy so I jumped into a ditch and started running. Plus, I know I had my item when I went into the water and I don't have it now. And I don't think I lost it in the wash."

"So you are saying that at least one, maybe two people or groups are somehow after your find? Have you been watching too much "Tin Ferl Hat Guy" on the net? I mean, how could you just find this thing and have people on your tail right away?"

"I have no idea Ronnie, but that's what it feels like to me. I have to get that little item back."

"Two things Jack, what is this mysterious thing which you seem so reluctant to name? And how do you plan to begin to get it back?"

"Well Ronnie, I know you know of the rumours of old pirate treasure surrounding my family, well, I didn't tell anyone, but after my father died a few years back, I have been going through the attic in his house in my spare time, just poking around and seeing what I could see. We used to play in that attic as kids, anyway, after a long time I got to thinking that there must be more attic up there and started looking for the extra space. I found a way into an area that us kids never knew about and started going through things in there. I found a small silver tube the other day that had a map in it that I think might show me the way to that fabled treasure. I want us to try and find it. I had that tube well secured to my leg when I went into the water and now I don't have it."

"And as to how I plan on getting it back, I have no idea, so I guess I will go riding later today and tomorrow morning. I haven't been on a horse in ages. You think these women might show up again?"

"I don't know Jack, but you might as well. None of us have any better ideas. Where did you go off the road? I can call my buddy who has a wreaker and we can take the car to your house for you."

*** The Other Other Other Far Side Of The Galaxy

(1:50 pm Sunday Nov 04, 2007)

A slightly green postage stamp on a luscious ping envelope whispers to her, "What did I tell you my sweet, was that tortoise and hair race interesting or what?"

The great race is over, the winning tortoises have been given their crowns and medals and been feted and their exploits celebrated. The owners of the hopeful hair have all stood up and filed off of their field of dreams and returned to their perhaps mundane lives.

Their hair goes on with their dreams of migration in the case of male hair contestants and of bouncing in the case of the female contestants.


*** Horse Stables on the Eastern part of the Island

(2:42 pm Sunday Nov 04, 2007)

As Jack arrives he notices some women getting their horses ready and overhears that they are planning to go on a road and trail ride. he goes over to someone who looks like they may know something and asks if her can get in a ride of of the property this afternoon.

He chose well, "Yes, I think those ladies there might not mind someone joining their group, let me ask them for you, if not, there may be a group going out later if you care to wait, just a moment."

Jack walks over to look in the rings at the horses while the man walks over to where the women are just about to mount up.

He is startled when the man starts speaking way too close to his right shoulder, "You are in luck sir, They are willing if you can be ready in a few minutes and I can get you ready in a short while. You have ridden before have you not?"

Jack backs off a bit, uncomfortable talking to someone from such a close distance, "Sure, I rode a lot when I was younger, I should be fine if they are not going to go wild."

"Good, well, I asked them of their intentions and they assured me that they would be taking it easy today. You should be fine then, let me go and saddle up Lucky for you."

*** Horse Trail in the Eastern part of the Island

(3:15 pm Sunday Nov 04, 2007)

Jack has managed to place himself in the middle of the line of horses and is having a quiet conversation with the woman in front of him while doing his best to overhear the other conversations that are going on up and down the line.

"You really look familiar, are you sure we haven't met?"

"Well, I don't think so, it always seems odd to me too when I meet people who I don't recall meeting before on this little rock, but I don't think we have. What school did you go to?", asks Jack.

"I was born here, but I didn't go to school here. My Father's job took the family to Panama just after I was born so I went to school down there when I was young and then they sent me to New York for high school and I went to college in Colorado. What about you?"

"I bounced around between several private and public schools before my parents pulled me out and tried home schooling. That went a little better, but I dropped that as soon as I could manage it and went to sea for a few years. I grew up some at sea and then, after my dad got sick, I came home to help out with the family business."

*** Inside of a sub-sub-basement, deep below a huge new house on the eastern end of Paradise Island.

(3:57 pm Sunday Nov 04, 2007)

The room is in darkness and we cannot make out any of the occupants with any clarity whatsoever.

"So, gentlemen, Black Jack is indeed still alive and yet I still have not managed to welcome him as a guest to my humble abode. Do I need to bring in some foreign contractors to try and get the job done to my satisfaction?"

"We'll get him boss, we should have him by tonight, tomorrow night at the latest."

*** Somewhere in the deep vastness of interstellar space.

(4:19 pm Sunday Nov 04, 2007)

A slightly green postage stamp on a luscious ping envelope are moving along at a nice clip. A large multiple of the speed of light, actually, for long, no, very long stretches of distance. Now you might be wondering how a piece of mail can reach speeds of over twenty miles per hour on average despite the Post Office's trickery of putting revolving and flashing lights on the top of some of their mail vans. As if anyone would actually believe that they ever feel compelled to get a piece of mail somewhere and resort to flashing lights and exceeding the speed limit to meet some mail deadline. No, probably, the mail carriers union simply insisted on the lights so that their employees could use the lights to get to lunch or their latest snatch in a hurry in heavy traffic just like so many other government workers. Well, let's just call them government employees then and avoid that discussion, shall we?

*** Horse Trail in the Eastern part of the Island

Jack is really beginning to enjoy himself. It is a beautiful, cool, sunny day and as the ride has progressed, his rustiness has fallen away and he feels more and more at ease. He had forgotten how much he likes to ride horses and thinks to himself that he needs to do this more often.

Then too, while not all of the women are strikingly beautiful, none of them are hard on the eyes and a few are. Then too, he has found the conversation interesting to this point.

He also observes that, while all of the women seem accomplished riders, several seem almost like they were born on horseback.

Time and distance passes.

Jack has keen ears. This is a good thing he thinks once again as he overhears a whispered conversation from the front of the line of horses.

"What is he doing here? He could not have traced us here already!"

"Shhh, I don't see how he can trace us at all. He has no evidence to use in tracing us at all. Let's be calm about this. No need to panic."

Jack smiles to himself. So, Ronnie was right to suspect some connection with the horse women. That guy did come through from time to time.

The horses come out of the bush and into an open field and Jack has a flash back to the day of the storm. He gets a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach and Lucky seems to get a little nervous. Something definitely does not feel right he thinks to himself.

They cross the open area and the lead horse is about to re-enter the tree line when armed people come out of the trees and rise up from the ground to the side of and behind the riders.

Jack is surprised at how calm everyone remains in the face of this unexpected twist. That too seems a bit strange.

Guns pointed at the riders, the new arrivals shout, "Everybody stop and stay calm! Hold your horses all of you!"

Jack smiles inside. That guy has probably always wanted to make a stale joke like that in a situation like this and just could not resist.

"Everyone dismount," says a tall, brown haired man standing at the rear, "keep your eyes forward."

Jack has already turned and caught a brief glimpse of him before he manages to get this instruction barked out. Jack figures he must be the leader of this happy little band as he turns his head and looks forward again before dismounting with everyone else.

"You three, get all the horses," he says to three of his men. "OK, ladies and gentleman, please proceed down the path that you were just about to enter.

He sends most of his men off with the horses back the way the riders had come and he and the rest escort their captives under guard into to bush and along the path.

They walk on for a while until they come to a sort of open space that is not open to the sky above. Spreading limbs and leaves high above a provide cover.

Some of the captors make low untoward remarks to the women from time to time. Making promises they are not likely to be able to deliver on if called to thinks Jack to himself. He is paying close attention to everything around him at this point.

The captors begin to sort out their captives according to what seems to be some sort of pre existing plan. Jack notices that some of the women seem to be watching the goings on closely and making what they think are unnoticed signals to one another. He smiles and narrows his eyes and draws in a slow, deep breath. It is the same women that seem to have been born on horseback. he senses that something is about to happen. He readies himself for action.

In a blink, it begins. There is a blur of action and coordinated movement. Then it is all over almost before it has really begun. The true horse women have subdued their captors and have them securely tied up.

Jack squats down and draws in the dirt and smiles. He found that he had not needed to really get involved and so he had held back. Oh, he had delivered a few swift and well placed, let's just call them touches, shall we. Only when no one was looking of course. He always liked to keep something in reserve and out of sight if possible. The women had everything in hand and he really should probably have not done anything, but some things are hard to resist.

(8:41 pm Sunday Nov 04, 2007)

The room is in darkness and we cannot make out any of the occupants with any clarity whatsoever.

"Wait! You mean to tell me you had him, but then a bunch of women... no, a bunch of unarmed women, just somehow managed to take all your guns away from you and all that without any shots even fired? is that what you are trying to tell me?"

There is some general hemming and hawing... "Yes sir. That is about what happened. Then they just calmly walked off and left us tied up in the bush."

"You should be ashamed of yourselves. Getting disarmed by a bunch of horse women, unarmed women. I think I am going to have to bring in help from outside of the country."

"Boss, we will get him! By tomorrow night. We will be more careful next time. Do you think those women might have been some body guards he has brought in? They seemed like they must be some kind of trained fighters the way they handled themselves."

"Don't you mean the way they handled you?"

"That is mean sir. And unnecessary."

"You are right, that is beneath me. No, I do not think there is any connection between them. I don't think that there is even any real connection between the two groups of women that were out on the trail. One group is local women who ride together often and sort of run in the same social circles. The other group, and I would wager that it is the second group that gave you the trouble are from out of the country. They have been in town for a while now. They are all living on a mega yacht that docks at one of the marinas here on the island. I will have to do a little more research into them. Just to cover all the bases."