Unearthly Power (16 page)

They ate in silence through the first half of their meal. When their host was satisfied, he set aside his eating utensils and took another sip of wine before stopping to watch his guests. Feeling his eyes upon them, Dee also stopped eating followed by Tori.

“I see you two have manners, but I guess that is to be expected by your upbringings,” he said as if it was a simple observation.

“What do you know about our upbringings?” Tori challenged.

He turned to her without expression and said, “Practically everything, my dear. I make it my job to know everything.”

“Why are we here?” Dee asked rather directly.

“Now
that
is a relevant question. And one I will soon address, but not now.” He put his hands on the table and stood up. “Please don’t be alarmed and don’t be so foolish as to try anything rash. Everything you need will be provided, and we will see each other again tomorrow.”

As soon as he disappeared through the same door he had entered, their escort returned. He walked them back to their room, sec
ured the door behind them and then everything was quiet once again.

“Who do you think he is?” Tori asked.

“I think he is the man who paid for our little excursion. He must have hired Marcel and the others to send along with your father.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know yet,” Dee said as she walked to the sink to freshen up. She stopped as if a thought had just entered her mind. “He either found or heard something that he liked or something he didn’t like. Whatever it is, I don’t expect him to explain himself until he is ready. I don’t think he is the kind of man who can be pressured into saying or doing anything he doesn’t want to.”

Tori listened to Dee while absorbing every word. She couldn’t imagine what this could be about, but without openly admitting it, she was intimidated by the m
an who was holding them captive, even if nothing had been done to hurt them. Something about him set off all kinds of warning signals in her mind that she had never experienced before.

It was well past midnight when the rubber boat bumped into something. The chances were as probable as a needle finding a piece of thread in the proverbial haystack. The first shock from the minor collision jarred Sean awake but he was quick to dismiss it being heavy with sleep. The second time erased the drowsiness from his mind. If it hadn’t been for that, they would have surely missed the opportunity that fate had delivered.

Thi
nking it still might be a dream he nudged Alex with his leg and stared at the hull of a fishing boat. It was more like the sleek side of a cabin cruiser, or sport-fishing boat. He decided to concern himself about which at a later time, and instead picked up their oar and paddled toward the boat before the current moved them any farther away. Once they reached the vessel, Sean grabbed hold of a cleat on the rear of the boat to steady himself.

“Hello, on the boat. Hey, any
body, can you help us?”

By this time Alex was joining the chorus, asking for help. At first they neither saw nor heard anything. After a minute of continue shouts, they saw a light come on through the cabin door. It was from the lower deck. They also heard the sounds of a man and woman talking. “How in the hell do I know what it is, Rosie? We’re in the middle of the goddamned ocean. Maybe it’s a pirate coming to look for his booty?”

“Would you just go take a
look and quit being ridiculous?” They heard a woman’s voice say in reply.

When they saw a heavy-set man step through the door, they called out to him as they were half standing behind the boat supporting themselves on the gunwale. “We’re back here,” they said in unison.

The man stopped, turned his flashlight on the two younger men and then turned back toward the doorway and reached inside to turn on an exterior light. When he looked back, they were still there. “Who in the hell are you?”

“Our boat sank. We’ve been on the water for several days now. We need some help.”

“I can bet you would. Here, let’s get you onboard,” The man offered while he turned off his flashlight, placed it in the pocket of his robe, and reached down to help both of the men into the boat. When they were safely aboard he called out, “Rosie. Put some clothes on. We have guests.”

Alex took a seat on a side bench and Sean said, “I almost forgot something,” as he leaned over the side and reached back into the small lifeboat.

The older man watched him, wondering what in the world they could have in that small boat that could be so important. It was obvious to him, even in the modest light, that the two men had been through a hard time. When Sean returned, he had a wooden staff in one hand and an object that looked like a large cell phone in the other. He smiled as he held up what looked like a cell phone to the man who helped them, indicating that was what he returned for. He went over and sat next to Alex.

“Just who are you boys and how did you lose your boat?”

“What do you mean we have guests?” A red-headed woman, obviously the man’s wife, asked as she walked through the cabin door in the process of tying her robe. “Oh, hello” she said, a bit startled. She looked to be similar in age to her husband, but in much better shape. She was a slight woman who took care of herself physically, attested to by the lack of any significant wrinkles. Her entire face lit up when she smiled and her enthusiastic energy was infectious.

“Hello ma’am. I’m sure glad we found someone out here. We’ve been adrift for several days now,” Sean said with a smile of appreciation.

“Oh my lord! Have you had anything to eat? You must be thirsty. Can I get you something to drink? Does anyone know you’re out here?” she said as her mind went from one thought to the next without waiting for a reply to any of her questions.

“I’m sure they would like both
. Now go get them something to eat and drink and I’ll take care of the rest.” Her husband assured her.

“You poor boys,” they heard her say as her voice faded from inside the cabin.

“You’ll have to excuse my wife. She’s not really excitable; she’s just that way all of the time.”

They grinned at him in understanding. The man
seemed to be in his mid-fifties, around six feet tall, pushing a little extra weight around his mid-section, and balding. He carried himself in a competent manner, sure of himself.

“Now who are you and what are you doing out here?” he asked again indicating he would not accept anything less than a full and satisfactory answer.

Sean deci
ded to take the lead. “We have—had—a treasure hunting boat. There was an explosion onboard—we think it was in the engine room—and we had to abandon ship.”

“Just the two of you?”

While Alex started to say no, Sean jumped over him and said, “Yes. Just us.”

The man was no
body’s fool and he noticed the exchange. He decided to let it go for the moment as he saw no threat in these two, and they were clearly in desperate need of assistance. When his wife returned, she had enough food to feed five or six people along with several bottles of soda and beer. He was about to tell her to go back inside and get some water, but the two younger men grabbed for the beer first. He decided to say nothing.

Rosie entertained them with questions and outrageous suppositions on what they had experienced in their ordeal. Between bites of food, they nodded their head in agreement whenever she hit on some small aspect of truth. When that happened, she was fast on to another anecdote of what they must have been through. The boys needed the food more than anything, but the beer was ‘heaven sent.’ They were barely finished with the first one when they began to feel its effects. They didn’t leave a single crumb of food.

“Wow. It never tasted this good before,” Alex said.

“Yeah,
and you should probably limit the beer to one. You are both suffering from exposure, dehydration, and mild mal-nutrition. You need proper fluids, not alcohol, food and some sleep. Lucky for you we have two single beds in the forward cabin.”

“You do
n’t know what this means to us . . .” he started to say before his voice trailed off.

“Sam. Sam and Rosalie Carter,” he said as he held out his hand.

“I’m Sean Rylan, and this is Sebas . . .”

“My name is Alex Tate,” Alex interrupted as he shook hands with the owners of the boat and glowered at his friend. “You almost sound
as if you’re a doctor, Sam.”

“Actually, I am. Cardiologist-Heart surgeon.”

“Well Dr. Carter, I’m glad you like fishing too, or at least boating. I don’t really think we need your special services, but a lift to shore would be great,” Sean replied.

“We’ll take care of that tomorrow. In the meantime, just call me Sam.”

“And you boys can call me Rosie,” his wife offered with a friendly smile and a high pitched voice. She sat next to her husband holding his hand demonstrating an innate display of affection.

When the boys finished eating everything she brought to them, and drank down several bottles of water each, they agreed to turn in for the night and answer any other questions in the morning. When Dr. Carter reached down for the wooden staff in an offer to assist them, Sean quickly cut him off and picked it up himself.

Dr. Carter gave him a surprised look while Sean tried to excuse the situation. “Sorry. This is something special to me and I keep it close at hand,” he offered lamely.

“No problem,” Sam said. “Come with me, I’ll show you to your room.”

He knew there was more to the story than they were being told, but he didn’t think it would mean any trouble to him and his wife. He turned off the exterior light, looked around as if in anticipation of seeing something else out on the water and then followed the rest of them inside the cabin.

             
E
arly the following morning, the women were awakened by the entry of their assigned guard. He carried with him a tray full of food and a pot of coffee. He set this on the floor, and returned to the hallway. A moment later he stepped back into the room and placed several hangers of clothing on the inside door handle. He left without saying a word, and once again they heard the distinct sound of the door being locked from the outside.

The bed was comfortable, and surprisingly, they both had a decent night’s sleep in spite of everything they had been through. Dee got out of bed first and walked to the tray, picked it
up off the floor, and put it on the night stand. Tori removed the clothing from the door and laid it on the bed.

“Why do I have the feeling these will fit?” she said in a way that indicated she already knew the answer to her question.

Dee shrugged her shoulders and was in the process of pouring the coffee when she said, “Try it on. They are going to have to tell us what this is all about sooner or later. Might as well take what we can get.”

Tori agreed
and then tried on one of the outfits. They ate their breakfast in silence and decided that whatever their host had in mind, he was not going to be joining them anytime soon. They washed up, put on their new clothes and waited. Tori was in the process of asking yet another question about Dee’s brother when they heard the door being unlocked.

“Come with me,” their guard said as he held the door open.

Dee thought for a moment about pulling him into the room, locking the door behind them and then looking for the nearest exit. It sounded good in her mind, but she admitted to herself it was most likely a foolish notion with little chance of success. She smiled at him as she walked by knowing that he had no idea what she was thinking. He acknowledged her smile, but without a hint of emotion.

They stood to the side when they were in the hallway, and he stepped in front of them to lead them up a plush carpeted stairway of only six steps. The priceless objects she noted earlier seemed to be without end. She flirted with the idea of knocking over one of the vases, but decided it would achieve nothing more than a little personal satisfaction. She knew the signs of frustration were starting to develop in her mind, so she did her best to control her emotions. Sooner or later they may need to take action, and she would need her full thinking abilities when that time came.

When Dee turned to look at Tori, she noticed that she was also impressed by what she saw in the home. Tori returned her look and smiled, in part to show their shared response to their surroundings, but also in a show of moral support.

After walking down a seemingly endless corridor, the hallway angled to the right and their escort held his hand out in a gesture indicating they should continue through the open doorway. They did so and found the room practically empty. They each took a seat in the only two plush leather chairs available. They could easily see out of the floor-to-ceiling windows on either side of the room. No other signs of humanity were observable within the range of their view. The only other object in the room was what appeared to be a canvas covered box which sat in the corner. They didn’t say a word while they waited to see what would happen. On their first night there, Dee suggested that the rooms might be ‘bugged.’ Tori’s first reaction was skepticism, suggesting that Dee had an over-active imagi
nation. When Dee didn’t say any more about it, she thought back to what had already happened to them and decided she may be right. From then on they were careful with what they said out loud.