Chapter 18

For the next couple of weeks, I spent most of my time in bed, not moving too much. I could sit up a little but mostly I was drained of my strength to do much of anything. The girls would bring me my homework and help me with it, but we never got up to anything too fun. Once I felt strong enough to actually get out of bed on my own, I was quickly pulled aside by Mom, who sat me down.

“How you feeling hun?” Mom asked.

“I’m doing alright, I suppose. Why?” I asked.

I found things a bit perplexing. She had asked how I was plenty of times before, but this time seemed different somehow. Mom began fidgeting with her fingers, and looking away.

“Mom? What’s going on?” I asked.

She sighed. This was different for her. She seemed so sure of herself normally and now, she was acting like a scared school girl telling her crush how she felt.

“Josh, hun, this just seems to be one bit of bad news after another.” Mom sighed.

“What? Is someone hurt?” I asked.

“No.” Mom said. “And nobody left the web, if that’s the next thing you’re worried about.” She added.

“Then what is it?” I asked.

“A few things. First, the island council wants to see you right away now that you’re back on your feet.” She said.

“Okay, I can take the next flight out. I may get winded but I’ll be happy to meet with them.” I said.

This only made her look more worried.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Someone on the council is trying to combat your right to take control of the island as your father had. The official wording states that anyone who is to take that position, if not a special circumstance has to spend at least the year prior of them taking the position, on the island. Under the special circumstances clause, which you fall under, you have to spend six months, which would’ve fallen as of you graduating high school. However...” Mom said.

“They want to take it themselves.” I said. “But how is that possible if there’s a living relative?”

“It’s not. That’s the thing. The person who’s trying to take control would have to be willingly given it by whomever is in control.” Mom explained.

“So basically, one of the members of the council is probably working with someone related to us, to try and snag it from me?” I asked.

“Yeah. That about sums it up. I’ve already let the girls all know, so you won’t have to tell them. They’re going to keep things under their hats for now, and act like it’s completely normal that you’re going early. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to really reach out to any of us until this whole thing blows over and you’ve taken official control.” Mom explained.

“Great,” I said and then with a grin I added, “I must to go there to thwart the dastardly villain and put a stop to his or her nefarious plot. I must also be vigilant so that I’m not accosted by nere-do-wells!”

I made sure to throw as much of ham acting as I could into that line. It made mom laugh.

“Okay, Mr. White. Go pack your essentials and get ready to go.” She said as she grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me towards my room.

She gave me a hard smack on the ass. For the next hour, I was packing things up. As I was finished up, a knock came at my bedroom door. It was weird. I mean, everyone was supposed to come and go as they pleased.

“Come in!” I called out.

The door opened and in the doorway stood an older man, in his mid to late forties. He had his hair slicked back with enough moose to make it look black and shiny. He wore sunglasses, even though he was inside, an ear piece that had a wire going into his suit jacket, and his entire suit, minus the shirt was black. The shirt was white, of course, I mean, how else do these guys normally look.

“Sir, your car is waiting.” He said.

“And you are?” I asked.

“Hansen. Sir. I’ll be your driver to the air field.” He said.

I looked him up and down before grabbing my bag.

“Okay, and what are your credentials?” I asked.

“I’m with the secret service, sir.” He said.

“Whoa, secret service?” I said a bit surprised.

“Yes sir, as a foreign national, with a full diplomatic status, it was felt that things should be heightened to a degree appropriate with the situation. You’ve been assigned me to drive you. A special pilot with the united states airforce, that’s been cleared to land at the island will be piloting a Boeing 747.” He said.

“What? Isn’t that a bit big? Can’t we just use a smaller plane?” I asked.

“It’s protocol, sir.” He said.

“Well shit.” I said. “I’m guessing the car waiting outside is some sort of armored car, too?”

“Again, protocol.” He said.

We headed out of my room to the Livingroom, where Mom, Dr. Nitty and Becky were waiting.

“Remember, Hun. Trust no one over there. Anyone could be one of the people I warned you about.” Mom said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.” I said before giving her a hug.

I felt a pinch in my arm and looked over at Dr. Nitty.

“A little serum that Zero helped me come up with. While you’ll get a birth control shot when you get there, it takes thirty days to go into effect and only works if your partner had the shot as well. This will hold you that thirty days and keep you from knocking anyone up, shot or not.” Dr. Nitty explained.

“Good to know.” I said as I let go of Mom.

Becky threw me into a hug.

“You need to know a couple things. People don’t get married over there in the traditional sense of the word, there are ceremonies sure, but they join what’s called a pod. Pods usually form when people at or over the age of eighteen decide to set one up. In a pod it’s usually seven or eight women to a single male due to the ratios of men to women there. So, by no doubt, you’re probably going to attract a few women.” She said. “Feel free to setup a pod, as long as they know that you still have some of us waiting to come and join up too. Your pod is probably going to be larger than most by the time we all get there.”

We shared a passionate kiss that made me want to take her to my room and fuck her brains out, but the secret service agent cleared his throat and we headed out. The drive to the airfield and the flight were uneventful. When I got off the plane, I was ushered quickly into a box of a room. The room was bare, with only one exit, a camera attached to the ceiling, and a table with some chairs in the center. I sat down at the table where I waited at most five minutes before someone joined me

“‘ello there, Joshua.” The man said as he entered, the heavy door slamming shut behind him.

The man was dressed in a high quality suit. Everything about him said pampered. He had a silver colored metal briefcase in his hand. As for how he looked, think Tom Ellis, but in his late 30s. He had a thick British accent which made me think that he wasn’t originally from here.

“Right now, you’re realizing from the way I talk, I’m not from here.” He said. “My name is Luciano, you can call me Luci like your dad did, and I was the one that warned your mom.” He added before taking a seat across from me.

“Okay.” I said as he set the briefcase on the ground next to him.

“I was your dad’s assistant. His right hand man.” he explained. “And though I told your mom to express to trust no one, for me, I’m your best bet on finding the person who’s trying to fuck over your family.” he added.