Chapter 12: My Attorney

Archara and Carina were standing beside the bed when I woke up. I looked and Charlotte was still asleep; a smile graced her face making her look like an angel.

“Thank you, Daniel,” Archara said softly. “You, of all people, had the most reason to hate her, yet you treated her the best.”

“She looks so happy,” Carina added. “You did well, Daniel.”

I made my way to the en suite and stepped in the shower. Heck! Even the shower in this stateroom was bigger! When I reached the salon, Maura and Eileen were dishing out some sort of shrimp pasta dish for supper and I immediately devoured a plate full before asking for and receiving seconds. Then I made my way to the flying bridge.

This was one of those nights that made you really appreciate the flying bridge being totally enclosed. And heated. There was a cold front moving through, bringing with it some rough seas and drizzling cold rain. We had been lucky so far as this was the first really bad weather we had experience on our voyage. The Serendipity was tossed about, but Roland and Captain Alfred kept talking about how much smoother this was than when they had sailed in a single hull yacht.

Since they were staying close to the helm, I grabbed a seat near them and watched as he piloted the yacht through the storm. They had lowered the sails and switched to engine power to get through the rolling seas.

“Daniel, have you given any thought as to what you’re going to do when we reach Freeport?” Roland asked.

“I’ve been thinking about that quite a bit,” I replied. “Tell me, what do you both think I can expect when we get there?”

“That’s hard to say. You could get a big military welcome with half the US Navy waiting for you. But somehow, I don’t think so. What you did to the Gosden and those two Hornets should be enough to warn them. Oh, I’m sure that the Navy would like to get their hands on you, but they weren’t the ones who decided to pursue you in the first place.”

“Alfred is right. And since the Bahamas are a British Colony, we don’t really know how willing they might be to cooperate with the Americans in this endeavor. I would think not too cooperative, given past history,” Roland said.

“So you don’t think the Bahamian police will try to arrest me?” I asked.

“If they know what has happened so far, I think they will stay as far away from the Serendipity as they can. But they may not have any idea what has happen so far, so we cannot depend on that,” Alfred pointed out.

“Well then, I see four options,” I told them. “One, we could simply sail somewhere else. But that is simply delaying the inevitable. You could also drop me somewhere before reaching Freeport. I think you still might be hassled, but eventually you would go free.”

“But what would happen to you?” Roland asked.

“I would have to find a way to disappear,” I said.

“No. Sorry. Carina would never allow that!” Roland exclaimed.

“Two, they will meet us with force. I don’t believe they could withstand what I would do to them, but it might put everyone onboard at risk. You might even drop me off where they can see me and then we’d duke it out. It could get very messy.”

“Again, No. Not unless they back us in a corner and force our hand.”

“Three, they could meet us diplomatically, either denying us entry to the port or trying to arrest us when we arrive. This would also include any number of delaying or harassing tactics such as confiscating our passports or seizing the Serendipity. Of course, this would mean that the US Government was calling the shots and the list of variables and unknowns immediately becomes unwieldy.”

“That true. We also have American pilots and a French naval officer on board as well as French nationals and women and children. All sorts of stuff that makes us difficult to deal with politically,” Roland pointed out.

“And four, we could find a way to get the story out to the press and then use that to shield ourselves from unlawful persecution.”

“Interesting...” Roland mused.

Captain Alfred began talking about positioning and ship strengths and more sneak attacks. But I could tell that Roland liked the fourth option.

Finally, he looked up and called to his son. “Phillipe, run find your mother and ask her and the other wives to join us on the bridge, would you please?” he asked then returned to his thoughts.

I had a hunch what he was thinking, so I sat quietly and waited on the others.

“I asked Daniel what he intended to do when we reach The Bahamas,” Roland told everyone when they had settled on the bridge. “And he has come up with an intriguing idea. But before we continue down that path, I’d like to ask Samantha and Leigh Ann where they stand in regard to helping Daniel versus their orders to kill Daniel?”

“I won’t speak for Samantha, but as for me, I plan to request a review board be convened,” Leigh Ann said. “Even if it means I spend everything I have to help clear Daniel. In the meantime, I’ll do everything I can to get Daniel and all of us to safety.”

“I feel the same as Leigh Ann,” Samantha said. “But I can’t afford a lawyer right now. And I cannot tell you all how sorry I am for attacking your family like I did. I don’t want to go to jail for it, but I guess I deserve to. I will help you in any way that I can though.”

Roland looked at Carina and then me. I nodded.

“Well, okay then. And ladies, let me assure you that Daniel and our families realize that you were being used and will not be filing charges against you. In fact, I will go on to say that we will help to defend you from anything the Navy tries to do to you.”

You could see the relief, and the tears in their eyes at Roland’s announcement.

“Now, Daniel. Would you run through the four options as you see them?”

Which I did.

“Ignore the first three for a minute and let’s focus on the last one. It’s mostly non-violent. It involves honesty and truth, it’s been successfully done before, and nobody has to lie or hide,” Roland explained. “It’s drawbacks are that it requires outside professional help, time, and a certain amount of intricate logistics, and it could expose Daniel to more attacks later. Everybody follow that? Good! Who has other options or opinions?”

I was surprised when the teens all seemed to look to Charlotte for her opinion.

“Ignoring the first three, although you might want to consider a combination of all four, the question is really where can you find a public relations expert in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? But besides that, what I think we should do is to keep Daniel hidden at all times when we get there because his biggest weakness is being rendered unconscious. If he’s asleep, he’s pretty much harmless. Also, how do we know they won’t use a sniper again? They’ve already tried to kill him two times.”

“I have a suggestion...,” Isabella said hesitantly. “I mean about a public relations person.”

“Go ahead, Sweetheart,” Archara said softly. She called everybody sweetheart.

“Why not Mrs. Rappeneau?” Isabella said.

“Mom?” Mischa asked. “You want my mom for public relations? Get real!”

“No, I was referring to your grandmother,” Isabella said.

There was general pandemonium for a few moments. During that time, I observed Roland and Carina with their heads close together. Finally, they broke apart and Roland held up his hands for silence.

“An excellent suggestion, Isabella,” he praised the agent. “Does anyone else have an idea?”

When no one offered anything else, Roland said, “Okay, I’d like you all to think about this and we’ll get back together tomorrow and see if we can come up with something. We have six more days until we reach Freeport, providing this storm lets up a little. Goodnight.”

I was immediately cornered by Anna and Vivienne. “What did you do to my sister?” Anna demanded.

“Come with me,” I told them and walked over to where Isabella was talking to Carina, Leigh Ann, Eileen, Samantha and Archara. In other words, the adults.

“Excuse me, ladies, I was wondering if all of you could clear up a small point of etiquette for me,” I said. “Can you tell me the appropriate response to a pair of young girls who demand I tell them of my private affairs with another young lady?”

They were on that one like ducks on a June bug as Anna and Vivienne just stood there with their faces red and their mouths hanging open. I turned and left them to their misery. It was a lesson they needed to learn and a much less painful one than what Charlotte endured this morning.

“That looked interesting...” Hiromi said as she wrapped her fingers around my upper arm and squeezed her body to mine. I knew she didn’t miss much.

“They had a lesson that they needed to learn,” I replied.

“Well, if you’ve got some time, I have a lesson or two that I need to learn,” she purred quietly in my ear.

I looked around and saw that Mischa was on watch. That meant Hiromi would go on watch in less than an hour. “That doesn’t leave us much time for lessons,” I told her.

“Maura agreed to switch with me if I can convince you to wait on her at the end of the watch,” Hiromi whispered.

“I’m convinced,” I told her.

“An evening with the Hudson sisters. Damn! That sound like an old time TV show,” I thought as I begin the 4:00am watch. But I had enjoyed myself immensely.

I was happy. I found that the quiet of the early morning watch, while everyone else was asleep, made for interesting contemplations. This morning, in between my now routine watch duties, I was contemplating my discovery of a new talent. Sort of...

While I had been harassing the jerk commanding the Hawkeye last night, I found that I could ... trace, if you will, the path of their electronic radio signal from the Hawkeye back to the Eisenhower. When it happened, I was so surprised, I dropped the connection. But just before I dropped it, I felt the same connection with the carrier that I had with the USS Freeman Gosden or the two Hornets. I felt that I could have fried it in milliseconds.

I was about ninety-nine percent sure I could have, but at the moment, I’m glad I dropped the connection. I wouldn’t have wanted to do anything harmful to the carrier. Especially now that I knew that they were only obeying orders.

What came to mind though was ‘what if I could have then traced the carrier’s signals back to where they originated from’? And could I do the same thing with signals passing over telephone wires? Over cellular connections? What about radio transmissions? Television? Other types of wireless transmissions? I was simply following the electricity.

I spent the next hour trying to figure out how best to set up some experiments, but I finally decided to give it a rest and wait for Roland to wake up.

It was on the three-quarter hour, fifteen minutes to six, when Isabella came up the stairs to the bridge carrying an oversized cell phone.

“You have a call, Daniel,” she said and handed me the phone.

I took it and just looked at it.

“It’s a satellite phone, sweetie,” she said with a grin.

“Hello?” I said as I put it to my ear. I was so surprised to see a satellite phone on board, I forgot all about tracing the signal for a moment.

“Hello,” the voice on the other end crackled briefly. “Is this Daniel?”

“Yes, Ma’am,”

“Good morning, Daniel. This is Cynthiana Rappeneau.” (she pronounced it Sin-thee-Anna).

“Good morning. What can I do for you?” I asked.

“Oh, you could probably do a lot of things for me, but that’s not why I called. I called to see what I could do for you. I understand that you need a good publicist and you need them right away. Is that true?”

“Well, we think we do, yes, ma’am,” I replied.

“Okay, put the phone on speaker. Is Isabella still there?”

“Yes ma’am, I’m here,” Isabella said.

“Isabella, I want you to collect one Euro from this young man and give him a signed receipt on my behalf. You can collect the Euro after the call if it would be more convenient. Then take a picture of the receipt and when you get near a cell tower next week, text it to me. Make the receipt for legal services.”

Then to me she said, “You can take the phone off speaker now. You have just hired yourself an attorney with full Attorney-Client Privilege.”

“Ah ... okay. Thank you?”

“Yes, I know it’s a bit strange. And yes, you are my first individual client since ... well a long time. But, to paraphrase Hippocrates, ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’. Now, these damn phones are expensive, so as concisely as you can, tell me the problem.”

I quickly relayed the four options from last night. Like her son, she was definitely attracted to the last one. So I then explained the logistics briefly.

“Okay, let me get this straight. You are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, sailing a catamaran that’s on course to arrive in Freeport, Bahamas next Sunday afternoon around 2:00pm. Is that correct?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied.

“Okay, I want you to change course to Nassau, Bahamas arriving Monday, just after sunup. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. I wanted to ask why, but I was too busy tracing the call.

“By the way, do you speak any French?” she asked.

“Bonjour and je t’aime, vous êtes belle,” I told her. (Hello, and I love you. You are beautiful).

“Oh, my ... I think I’m going to like working under you,” she exclaimed. “Your leadership, I mean!”

“Be sure you get the charging cord from Isabella and keep this phone charged. I have a feeling I’m going to run up a big phone bill this week.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. “And how is the weather in the Seychelles this afternoon?”

“What? How did you ... I see we are going to have much to discuss shortly. Gotta run! Bye for now, Daniel.”

“I’ll give you the cord when you bring me the Euro.” Isabella said. “How DID you know where she was?”

“I’ll tell you when I collect the charger,” I replied.