Butler Did It! (30 page)

She stopped at a wide spot in the path
and fumbled with the controls, scanning rapidly through all the
digital images in the camera, looking for one picture in
particular. Sweat beaded on her brow, as she held her breath in
both fear and anticipation.

“Oh, thank God!” She exclaimed aloud,
as the image of the fish in the sunbeam of the sea cave appeared on
the tiny screen.

“Looky what we got here!” A gruff voice
from the darkness exclaimed, as one of Xander’s thugs suddenly
loomed on the path ahead of her.

Katherine’s reaction was automatic.
Instinctively, she swung her camera up and triggered the flash full
in the man’s face. In the near total darkness, the flash destroyed
the guard’s night vision, leaving behind a slowly fading red
glare.

“Son of a bitch.” The man cried out and
grabbed blindly at Katherine.

Screaming at the top of her lungs, the
frightened girl ducked under his outstretched arms, turned and ran
back the way she had come. A second guard, coming up the path
behind the first, started chasing Katherine, his pursuit only held
up because the girl continued to trigger the flash behind her as
fast as it could recycle.

As Katherine neared the house once
again, another form loomed up in front of her from the underbrush.
She swung her fist with all her might at the man in front of
her.

“Watch it!” Tommy Cooper’s voice
yelped, as he ducked and blocked the blow. “Remember me? I’m one of
the good guys.” He whispered, pulling Katharine into the
underbrush. After the two guards thundered past, Tommy continued,
“I heard you scream. What are you doing here?”

“I came to get my camera,” she panted,
showing him the precious object.

Tommy didn’t seem to care much about
her camera. “Where’s Matthew?” he asked.

“I don’t know. The last time I saw him
was when he pushed me out of the house.”

“I’ll see if I can find him. Go wait
back at the Duck,” Tommy commanded, echoing Matthew’s
words.

Reluctantly, Katherine turned around
and started back down to the beach. After traveling less than fifty
feet, she discovered that the two guards were still searching for
her. Circling the house to avoid them, she had just passed the
swimming pool when one of them spotted her.

“Over there,” he called to his
companion.

Katharine screamed in terror again, as
the running footsteps behind her pounded louder. She began
sprinting down toward the helipad in an adrenalin-filled
rush.

At that moment, Matthew Butler was also
on the same path, but ahead of Katherine, chasing after Alexander
Levasseur. Hearing Katharine’s scream behind him, he gave up the
chase and eased into the underbrush as he heard rapid footsteps
approaching.

Matthew carefully crouched in the
shoulder high brush that grew everywhere on the island. He watched
as Katherine raced past in a state of panic, running at top speed
with one of the guards close behind. Butler quickly stepped out of
the brush and clotheslined the man with a forearm to the neck. The
guard’s feet flew out in front of him and he landed heavily on his
back, out cold. The trailing guard, seeing his compatriot crumple
into the dust, stumbled as he attempted to bring an automatic
weapon to bear. Matthew quickly reached down and picked up a
coconut from the side of the path, and sent it in a perfect spiral,
clocking the guard in the forehead. The guard’s eyes rolled up into
his head, and he slowly sank face first to the ground with a
perplexed look on his face.

“Touchdown!” Matthew gloated, raising
his arms in victory.

“Was that Katharine screaming? Where is
she?” Tommy asked, from right behind Butler’s left
shoulder.

Matthew jumped as if goosed by a cattle
prod, “Damn, how many times have I asked you not to do
that?”

<<>>

Katharine, still galloping at top
speed, was unaware of her rescue from the guards. She reached the
end of the path and suddenly burst out of the brushy canopy into
the large open space of the helicopter pad. She and Levasseur
spotted each other at the same second.

Levasseur quickly retrieved a pistol
from the helicopter and fired at her through the open cockpit door.
The shot clipped a metal signpost next to the girl and augured into
a palm tree. Katherine, in mid stride, leapt into the air, reversed
her direction and raced back up the path, away from the helicopter
and the armed maniac in it. Levasseur, unwilling to waste another
shot on the girl, settled in his seat and began firing up the
helicopter’s engines.

<<>>

Nearly 50 yards away, Matthew and Tommy
both heard the shot and the helicopter engine revving
up.

“Katharine’s up there, let’s go!”
Butler yelled, running toward the sounds.

Abruptly Katharine rounded a bend,
galloping toward them at full speed. Matthew stopped, but Tommy ran
into him from behind and knocked him into the stumbling Katharine.
Wrapping his arms around Katharine, Matthew absorbed her momentum
and managed to keep the both of them standing.

“Are you okay?” He asked brushing her
hair away from her face.

“Yeah, I think so,” she panted, as she
subsided in his arms, trying to catch her breath. “I’m just not
used to all that running.”

Matthew looked up just in time to see
Levasseur in the cockpit of the helicopter as it slowly rose above
the trees.

“He’s going to get away, Dammit,”
yelled Butler.

“It’s cool,” said Tommy.

“What?” shouted Matthew, rounding on
Tommy, “I thought you were supposed to take care of the
helicopter?”

“I did. Be patient.”

“But he’s getting away,” Butler
protested, pointing at the chopper climbing into the
sky.

“Don’t worry about it. Like I said,
wait and see.”

Recognizing that she was finally safe,
Katherine gasped painfully. “I, I … think I’d like to sit down
now.” Abruptly, she collapsed in the dust of the path at the feet
of the arguing pair.

Tommy and Butler barely noticed, since
the attention of both was fixed on the helicopter silhouetted
against the rising sun.

“Tommy, nothing is
happening.”

“Just be patient,” Tommy answered with
the utmost confidence. “It will happen real soon.”

“You were supposed to wreck the
chopper. It doesn’t look wrecked to me.”

“Hold on…”

<<>>

Levasseur had climbed to two thousand
feet and was turning south toward Mahi’s airport, when a barrage of
cockpit alarms suddenly began to clamor. Moments later, the entire
machine shuddered violently.

“MERDE!” bellowed Levasseur. A look of
absolute terror etched his face as he desperately tried to control
the bucking craft.

There was a loud grinding clunk as the
engine seized, followed by the scream of metal as the rotors
sheared off and fell away. In the subsequent silence, Levasseur sat
in shocked disbelief before the force of gravity had its inevitable
way. As the bladeless helicopter slewed around, he saw three people
on the ground watching in horror as the stricken craft plummeted
toward the sea. Alexander Levasseur, a man corrupted by great
wealth and power, had just a scant few seconds to scream before the
helicopter struck the sea with a mighty splash.

“My God Tommy, what did you
do?”

“Oh, nothing much really. I just poured
a little Super Slick in the lubrication port of the helicopter. I
guess it really should be called Super Friction, because it causes
any moving part to seize after a few minutes of
operation.”

The pair took one last look at a fading
plume of smoke floating over Levasseur’s watery grave.

“Well, I guess Super Slick was good for
something after all,” observed Matthew.

With that final comment, he helped
Katharine up from the dirt, and together the three of them limped
slowly toward the house. There they found Trask helping Kobi
handcuff Simon Njuguna. Across the room, Chan sat comfortably in a
leather chair. Casually smoking a cigarette, he kept a watchful eye
on the fuming Ice Maidens, who lay bound and gagged on the hardwood
floor.

“So, this is what it was all about,
then,” said Matthew, picking up the small golden statue of a
serpent.

“That, and the guns, and this slime
bucket thinking he could steal his way into power,” said Kobi,
nudging Njuguna with the toe of his boot.

<<>>

Running back and forth across the sand,
barking happily, the dog followed the Pelican crew as they unloaded
the Rusty Duck on Little Curieuse.

“This time I’m going to make the
sculpture really work,” Tommy boasted, holding up a little vial of
clear liquid. “Just a few drops of this in a bucket of sea water
and with a little imagination, you will see sand sculptures that
will astound the world.”

“That’s cheating, you know,” Matthew
razzed him, “One of these days you’re going to get
caught.”

Tommy put on his offended face, “It’s a
completely natural product. There are no artificial ingredients
whatsoever.”

“What does that have to do with
anything?” Matthew laughed. “The rules clearly state that all you
can use is sand and seawater. No additives, binders, or structural
enhancements may be used that are not found on the beach at the
time of the contest.”

“You seem to be unusually well
informed.” Tommy muttered, sourly.

“Yeah, I had Richard the Great look the
rules up on the web.”

“Well, that’s where I have the rules
beat. My formula is made from seaweed, something found on beaches
everywhere.”

“And, if you use the gook to build a
three-story replica of the Colossus of Rhodes, don’t you think the
judges are going to get a little suspicious?” Butler
asked.

More boats were arriving in the cove on
Little Curieuse. “Where are all these people coming from?” wondered
Tommy.

“The crew’s had shore leave while we’ve
been running all over the islands getting shot at. Obviously
they’ve made some friends.”

“Isn’t that Philippe du Garre in that
boat with all those women?” Katharine pointed to a sleek cruiser
idling up to the beach. “He’s France’s hottest fashion
photographer, I read about him in Photog Magazine last
month.”

“And look at those women!” Tommy
whistled.

Katharine huffed, “Models,” she spat,
“I did that for a while. Always half starved and crazed with
competition, don’t expect them to be nice.”

“Just nice to look at,” muttered Tommy,
casting a nervous eye in EB’s direction.

Soon the beach was full of happy
people, dancing, playing volleyball, and eating. Everyone who had
encountered the Pelican crew over the last few days had been
invited, and apparently, all had brought food. A couple of
crewmembers tended a grill, on which sizzled a huge array of fresh
seafood. Succulent fruits and vegetables from all over the islands
made a colorful display on the tables.

Matthew and Katharine each collected a
plate and went to sit next to Captain Z. The dog sat at Matthew’s
feet, giving him that alert ‘what are you going to feed me next’
look.

“What are you going to do about that
dog,” asked Captain Z.

“He stays,” said Matthew bluntly. “He
earned his bunk when those intruders came aboard. Besides, Mrs.
Chan would kill me if I didn’t keep him.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen her feeding him on the
sly. All in all, he’s got a pretty sweet deal going
here.”

Butler laughed. “As they say down
South, he’s livin’ in high Chow Mein!”

“So, I guess you’re going to have to
give him a decent name, hopefully something other than Stinky or
Dang-you.” Katherine hinted.

Matthew set his plate aside. “Yeah,
everyone on the ship has given you a different name,” he said,
leaning down and scratching the dog’s ears. “And you haven’t
responded to any of them, now have you?”

The dog cocked his head and listened
intently.

“That is because a dog only answers to
his master.”

A quick whine and licking of the chops
confirmed Butler’s hypothesis.

“Well, after today you won’t be Roscoe,
or Muttley, or Fleabag, or Speedy …or even Fauntleroy for dog’s
sake! You need a simple direct name that a dog can be proud
of.”

A sharp little bark of agreement echoed
from the dog.

“Come here, Jack.” Butler said, holding
out his arms.

Thoroughly pleased, the little dog
named Jack leapt into Butler’s arms and tried his damnedest to lick
his master’s face.

<<>>

Captain Z’s friend Joe arrived with his
wife, their two children, and their new baby. The two kids promptly
set off to explore the island, while a crowd of admiring women
surrounded mother and baby.