Escape, a New Life (24 page)

She sat up at the mention of Eric
. “He is twice the man you are.”

He grabbed her by the arm and lifted her off the deck so her back was to him.  He jammed his gun into her ribs and bent her over a
bench.  “That memory of yours, it’s not doing so well is it?  Don’t worry, sweetie, I’ll remind you one last time just how much man I really am.”

He turned to the two security men who were still standing on the dock and told them to head back.  He
could take care of this himself.  He instructed them to make sure there were no loose ends.  One of them turned to walk away, the other hesitated.

“Mr. Haydenson
, I’ve seen her on the show.  She can take care of herself.  Are you sure you want to be alone with her?  Maybe at least one of us should come with you.”

Bryce nodded his head and motioned for him to come down onto the boat
. “That’s a good idea… Ted is it?”

“Greg, sir.”

“Greg.  Good idea, Greg.”  He clapped Greg on the shoulder and turned to Abby, “Don’t you think that’s a good idea?”  Turning back to the unsuspecting young man, Bryce kneed him in the stomach, then slammed his fist into the back of his head when he was doubled over, knocking him to the ground.  He grabbed him by the collar, lifting him off the ground, only to pound his face until it was so bloodied and mangled that it was barely recognizable. 

“Stand up Greg,” Bryce commanded.  When Greg stood, Bryce punched him one more time in the face, sending him backwards over the side of the boat and into the water.  He looked at the other man still standing on the dock
. “Questions?”

“No sir.”

“Take care of this.”  He looked at Abby who was sitting on the deck, horrified.  “Sorry you had to see that, sweetie.  People need to know their place.  You used to know your place.  I don’t know what the hell happened.” He paused, “Weren’t you happy?  Of course you weren’t.  Whores are never happy.”  He reached into his pocket, taking out a pair of shiny steel handcuffs and threw them at her, hitting her in the head, “Here, put these on.”

ERIC OPENED HIS EYES.  It was dark, and he was confined and disoriented.  He could not figure out exactly where he was or how long he had been there, but it only seemed like a few minutes ago he was talking to those security men.  He tried to sit up, but smacked his head on something hard and metal.  He let out a muffled yelp and went to grab his head.  That was when he felt a pain under his arm and realized his wrists were bound together with duct tape and his mouth was covered.

Shit
.  He remembered now.

He could hear voices just a few feet away.  One of them sounded like Robert.  He could not figure out who the others were.  One of them raised his voice.  Then they all did.  Suddenly
, there were two thuds directly above him on the metal.  Seconds later, the lid of the car trunk popped open and Robert looked down, smiling at him.

********************

Bryce found the key to the ignition and started up the boat.  It was a big one.  Abby did not know much about boats, but when he turned the ignition and the engines roared to life, it was clear that this was a boat built for speed.  It was a long boat and Bryce was having trouble maneuvering it away from the dock. 

“Eric!”  Abby screamed out without thinking as she saw him run onto the dock. 

Bryce turned and fired his gun.  Abby lunged at him, hitting him with her bound hands.  He smacked her on the side of the head, and she dropped to the deck on her backside.  As Eric and Robert dove to the ground, Bryce hit the throttle and the boat awkwardly lurched forward.

Eric stood and raced down the dock as the boat
sped up and pulled away.  He dug deeper, pumping his legs to their limit.  His calves and thighs burned.  His feet were barely able to keep up with their own speed, and he worried that he would trip over himself with each stride.  The boat would have to slow down for just a moment to turn the corner out toward the ocean when it reached the end of the dock.  Pushing his body to its breaking point, he flew down the dock to get there in time. 

Just as the boat turned the corner, Eric launched himself into the air.  Arms and legs flailing, he landed with a
crash on the deck, just as Bryce gunned the engines to launch the boat toward the open sea.  Bryce turned around, hearing the commotion, just in time to see Eric coming up behind him.  Eric was off balance and threw a punch that Bryce ducked before landing a right jab into Eric’s ribcage.

To Abby’s surprise, Eric fell down and landed in front of her.  Winded, he did not get up right away.  Bryce tossed a length of rope toward her and pulled out his gun.  The other end of the rope was still lashed to the boat.  “Tie him up
. You can watch him go for a swim before you join him.”

She knelt down next to Eric and stroked his hair
. “Are you alright?”

He winked at her and jerked his head to the side.  Her knife was lying on the deck just a few feet away.  He had picked it up off the ground on his mad dash to catch them, and tossed it in front of him into the boat so he would not accidentally land on it and stab himself.

She smiled back and winked as she slid her right hand out of its handcuff, having left it just loose enough that she would be able to slip it out.  He should have put the handcuffs on her himself.  She was not the helpless little girl Bryce thought she was, and she was about to prove it.  Making sure that he was watching the water and not them, she leaned over with as little motion as possible, and picked up her knife. 

Grasping it tightly
, she sprung from her crouched position and lunged at him, intending to sink the steel into his shoulder blade.  He saw her coming out of the corner of his eye and sidestepped at the last second so that she fell into the wheel, sending the boat lurching to the right and throwing everyone off balance.  Eric sprung up at the same moment and landed a solid punch into Bryce’s gut.  He barely flinched before connecting a left hook to Eric’s jaw.  As Eric hit the ground, Bryce aimed his gun and fired two shots.

Abby slammed into him from the side just as he did so, causing the bullets to miss
, if only barely.  Eric jumped up and tackled Bryce, sending him over the captain’s chair, his back landing on the throttle.  The twin engines at the back of the boat roared as they redlined and the nose of the boat pitched up sharply.  Abby was sent toppling to the deck as Eric tumbled over the back of the boat and into the water.  Abby screamed as he disappeared in the wake. 

Still holding onto her knife, Abby grasped the side of the boat, struggling to stand.  Bryce was still over the back of the captain’s chair
struggling to get up.  His back was against the wheel and the throttle.  His legs dangled over the back of the chair, likes a child’s legs dangling over the side of a swimming pool. 

Holding steady to the side of the boat, she brought her right arm over her head in a long arch,
bringing the knife down and driving it deep into his left leg, just above the kneecap.  Violently she twisted her knife as his screams momentarily drowned out the roar of the massive engines.  She felt the popping and twisting of his muscles and tendons.  As he raised his right hand to fire his gun at her, she twisted again, harder.  The pain overcame him and his hand shook uncontrollably as it dropped his gun to grab his leg.

Ripping
the knife from his knee, she grabbed his short blond hair and held the blood-soaked blade to his neck, commanding him to stand up.  He pulled himself up, tears streaming down his face from the pain.  His skin was gray, having lost any bit of color it may have had.  Abby let go of his hair momentarily to back the throttle down.  As she turned back to Bryce, she saw the flashing lights of a police boat coming up in the distance.

She screamed in his face, “You get off on beating up little girls?” 

He said nothing.  He looked to be moments away from passing out.

She didn’t realize it, but her firm grasp on his hair was about the only thing holding him up and h
e collapsed to the deck under the intense pain.  She stepped on his injured leg and lowered her knife to his crotch as he screamed in agony.  The police boat had stopped a few hundred feet away, but the lights reflected and bounced off the water and the gleaming surfaces of the boat.

As she pressed the tip of her knife hard into his pants she asked, “You see those lights?  That’s the only reason I don’t cut off your dick right now, you sorry sack of shit.”  She made him roll over and lay face down on the deck.  Abby stood next to him, her left foot pressing down on his injured
leg, causing him as much pain as she possibly could while waiting for the police boat to pull up alongside them.

Eric and Robert, followed by several policemen, jumped onto the boat.  Eric grabbed her in a soaking wet embrace.  “Thank God you’re alright.”

The police tied a tourniquet on Bryce’s thigh, and crudely bandaged the huge gash above his knee.  By the time they lifted him to move him onto their boat his eyes were closed, and he could only moan in pain.  After the police loaded Bryce onto their boat they said something to Robert in a language that neither Abby nor Eric understood.  Robert and one of the officers conversed for a few minutes.

Robert turned to them
. “He wants to know if I need to ride back with them?”

Abby was silent as they floated there.  She looked at the island behind them.  The thought of being on the same island as her husband made her stomach turn.  When she remembered the huge number of men he seemed to have working for him that were on the
island, that sealed the deal.  “You should ride back with them.”

He thought about it for a moment.
“You should come back with me.  Stay for a few days.  These men are going to have some questions for you.”

Abby shook her head
. “How badly are they going to want to ask me some questions?”

Robert smiled. “I have a little influence around here. I think I might be able to help you with that.”

“Then I have to go with my gut, Robert.  I’m not going back there.”

Eric agreed
. “Who knows how many guys he’s got with him?  Why chance it?”

“Where are you going to go?”

Abby smiled. “I can’t tell you that.”

“How long
do you think he’ll be locked up?” Eric asked, gesturing toward the police boat.

“Like I said, the laws are pretty lax around here.  I know you do not know much about your husband
, Abby, but he is well connected.  I will do what I can, but if he spends more than a couple days in custody, I would be surprised.”  He looked at Abby. “You remember those account numbers?” 

She tapped her head.

“And you have absolutely everything you need?”

Look
ing at Eric, she answered, “Absolutely.”

“Alright then.”  He shrugged his shoulders, not sure what to say. 
His eyes were glassed over as if he was struggling not to cry.

Abby hugged him tight and kissed him on the cheek. 
“Thank you.  For everything.”

To both
of their surprise, Eric did the same thing.

Robert was back on the police boat, which pulled away and sped back toward the island
as he watched from the back and waved to them one last time.  After a few minutes, the sound of the police boat engines died out, and the flashing lights were nothing but a distant flicker.  Abby and Eric were alone on their boat without another person in sight.  They held each other for a long time as the boat bobbed gently in the water and the sky began to lighten.  As the sun crested the horizon and the orange early morning beams shone on their faces, it revealed a clear and cloudless sky.

Eric fired up the engines
, and they began cruising.  They had no particular destination in mind, just away from where they had come.  He stood behind the wheel with Abby by his side, her arms wrapped around him. 

“Where to?” he asked smiling, looking out toward the endless sea.

She looked up at him and smiled. “A new life.”

Bringing him close
, she kissed him as she ran her fingers through his thick sand-colored hair. 

A new life.

ABBY AND ERIC lay in bed, their bodies covered by thin silk sheets.  The ocean breeze gently drifted through the French doors that opened onto the beach and the water in the distance.  Since being hit in the head back on the island, Abby had been having dreams about her past.  They were spotty and lacked detail, but were clearly lost memories trying to surface.  They revealed that her life with Eric was better than any life she had ever had before.

Ten months ago, after they parted ways with Robert, they cruised south for several days stopping only to gas up the boat a few times, buy food, and purchase an inflatable raft.  They drifted a few hundred
yards off the coast of what looked like a fairly busy island one night, and over dinner, decided that this would make a good spot to start their new journey.  In the middle of the night, they inflated their raft and Eric swam under the boat with an oversized screwdriver, removing the engine compartment plugs.  They disabled the bilge pumps that had been keeping the water at bay, which had been trying to flood the lower compartments of the boat since Bryce had sent two bullets through the deck and hull.  The compartments flooded within a couple of hours, and the boat eased under the water to the bottom of the ocean as they watched from their raft.

After paddling to shore and spending a few days on the island, they spent the next several weeks
hopping ferries and water taxis from island to island.  They were searching for a small, quiet place to call home.  They landed here and have not left since.  They live in a small villa on an isolated beach, where they spent their days on an extended honeymoon.  The locals were mostly farmers and families.  There was one television in the village that only got reception on the clearest of days; otherwise there was no connection to the media.  It was truly and completely off the grid.  Given the lack of communication with the outside world, it was nearly impossible for anyone on the island to know who they were.  If any of them did, no one ever let on. 

They had learned that they were on one of the more remote islands of the seven thousand islands that spanned three hundred square
miles.  Although the chance of being found here was extremely remote, Abby still found herself looking
over her shoulder and locking the doors for several months.  Not anymore.  She finally felt safe.

Abby snuggled close in to Eric, enjoying what had become their routine afternoon nap.  She loved the feeling of being close to him.  She often thought how lucky she was to have found herself on that island, nearly a year ago, lost and afraid.  She had grown into a stronger person and found the love of her life.  It was a
trial, that much was for sure, but well worth it.

As she lay against his chest with her eyes closed, she felt him sit up a little. 

“No, I’m not ready,” she whispered.  “Just a few more minutes.”

Eric tapped her on the shoulder, and she opened her eyes.

Standing at the end of their bed was a young boy that they knew from the village, maybe twelve years old.  He worked in the small outdoor market where they bought their food.  His pin-straight black hair was a mess, his dark skin soaked with sweat, and his black eyes panicked.  He was scared and out of breath.  He held up a piece of paper with their photos on it.  “A man in the village, a white man,” he said in his spotty English, “he is looking for you.”