Chapter 1

January 15, 2007

Jason

“Well, gaming is temporarily on hold, since your Grave Master is also one of your security people,” Nocturnia said. “Where you want me, Tod?”

“How comfortable are you with automatic weapons?”

“I’m okay with them,” Nocturnia said. “My uncle let me practice with his firearms – he had an AR-15.”

“Then go find Parker and Ashley,” he said. “Now, give me a minute, I need to check the vid from the engine room security camera.”

“We have those?” Jason asked Yan.

“We didn’t ... evidently that’s changed,” she replied, as Nocturnia left the cabin.

“How much time have you spent at the Moloka’i estate, Yan?” Jason asked.

“Not a lot. Why?”

“You, Fei?”

“Quite a bit.”

“Tell me about it, if you would, please?” Jason said. “I’m trying to fight the feeling this is as close as we’ll ever get to it.”

“Well, first off,” she said, settling into the pit beside them, “it’s really large. Our family owns a huge chunk of property and most of it’s been left as it was when the family bought it. There’s a guest cabin ... it’s big enough to house even more people than we have on this yacht, so calling it a cabin is a bit of a misnomer. The interior of the estate grounds has some nature trails, but otherwise it’s pristine.

“The estate didn’t have a name until Grandmother took over the family, and built the ... well, manor, for lack of a better word. Now it’s called “Hau’oli Mala” - ‘happy garden’ – and that’s what the big house gets called as well.

“Calling it a ‘house’ or a ‘manor’ ... it’s really three separate residences, sharing a common area for them to use if they see fit. It’s built on a peninsula, like a ‘T’ with the top toward the ocean, facing west, and the tips of the bar curving back. The common area’s in the center, the base of the ‘T’ is Grandmother’s, and nobody goes in without her express invitation. The bars of the ‘T’ are fully self-sufficient residences – big kitchen, indoor pool and hot tub, decadent bathrooms, master suite, like ... eight guest rooms I think ... big entertainment room, dining room, library, ballroom. Trust me, we will all fit very comfortably, and not have any reason we have to leave, either to go into town or even to visit the common area. Each wing has its own beach, one that’s not visible from the other beach, courtesy of what’s left of an ancient lava flow ... although if you swim out a ways you can see the other beach. Grandmother had the beaches ... expanded. They used to be two very separate beaches with about a mile of lava residue between them. She had all but about a hundred yard strip of the rock broken up and taken away, paid a small fortune to build new strips of beach so they’d reach the rock. So, now we have two of the longest uninterrupted stretches of beach in private hands in the whole of Hawaii.”

She snuggled up close to Donna, caressing her thigh.

“And trust me, Master, Miladies ... if you want to move in, and stay the rest of your lives, all expenses paid by Plum Blossom, raising her a bunch of great-grandchildren, change the furnishings, whatever?

“Grandmother will not have a problem with it, and because of the debt we owe you, no one else in the family will say a thing.”

“You realize she’s the Devil, sent to tempt us,” Jason said.

“Then I guess you better keep me locked up where you can keep an eye on me, Master,” Fei said, crawling over and up into his lap.

“Guess we’d better,” Donna said, pulling Fei’s t-shirt up, and kissing her breast.

Donna

She broke off suckling at Fei’s breast when the door opened and Tod ushered in some of the crew, including Shelley.

“Come on over here,” Donna called to her.

Shelley knelt next to her.

“Sweetie, I need you to sit down behind Jason, spread your legs, let him lean against you...”

“My pleasure, Donna. Dressed or undressed?”

“Stay dressed for the moment ... still not sure what’s going on with the yacht.”

Jason leaned forward, and Shelley made herself comfortable behind him, before he settled back.

“What’s your security man doing?” Shelley asked.

“Checking the vid from the engine room camera.”

“There aren’t any cameras in the engine room,” Shelley said.

“That’s what we thought too,” Yan said. “Turns out the security team is very paranoid.”

“Damn...” Shelley said. “That’s too bad.”

“Why?” Fei asked.

“Uh...” Jason replied, “either Shelley’s magically grown a very hard cock, or there’s a something unhappy behind me.”

“Nobody get stupid,” Shelley said. “Everyone get up slowly, move away from me and Jason. Now. Trust me, you don’t want to make me nervous.”

Abby

She looked down to her right, and between Shelley and Jason’s back was a handgun. She couldn’t identify it, but it looked real enough.

“So, I gather I’m going to find you on the surveillance tape,” Tod said, turning to face Shelley and Jason.

“Yeah, you will.”

Everyone was doing as they’d been told.

“Why?” Donna asked.

“Really?”

“Two million dollars,” Jason muttered.

“Yeah, exactly,” Shelley replied.

“But you were so ... happy ... with how Plum Blossom was treating you.”

“I am ... well, I was. Still would be if not for the Nelson family’s generous offer. See, even all the benefits of working for Plum Blossom are outweighed by two million, tax free, and a ride to a country without extradition. Me and the three of you get picked up, take a ride to the boat that’s been following us. The rest of you, and the crew of the Plum Blossom, go on your way.”

“So ... shoot her,” Jason said, his voice breaking a little. “She shoots me, you kill her.”

“Jason, sweetie ... do you really think they’ll do that? Way I’m aimed right now, even if I just get off one bullet, you’re probably gonna die.

“No, the three of you are going to sacrifice yourselves so no one else gets hurt. I’ll hand you over to the Nelsons, and your friends and the crew all live long, happy lives.”

“You’re lying,” Lizzy growled.

“The alternative is,” Shelley continued, ignoring her, “when my friends arrive, a lot of people get hurt ... and there’s nothing anyone can do about it so long as I have this gun in your back.”

“And I put you behind him...” Donna said, her voice tight and angry.

“Don’t worry, I would have ended up in that general area anyway. You were just nice enough to help me get there.”

“You do realize,” Abby said, “her father, his friends, Jason’s family ... they’re going to track you down no matter where you go.”

“I realize they’ll try. But I’ll live pretty simply ... comfortably, but simply, and I’ll live that way for a very long time.

“Besides, this is just my thinking, but I imagine the Nelsons aren’t through with Mr. Newton, or the Grimes.”

“Oh, bitch, you are so wrong if you think my family will ever be ... distracted ... from hunting you down,” Donna growled.

“Now now, play nice, Princess,” Shelley said. “I don’t think they’ll be distracted. I think ... sociopath fucks that the Nelsons are ... they’re going to kill your family ... and yours, Jason.”

Abby saw him tense up...

“Relax, lover,” Shelley said. “It doesn’t take much more pull on the trigger than I’ve already got to put a round through you.”

“Somebody shoot this bitch,” Jason said, all trace of fear gone from his voice, replaced by anger. “Think it through ... they’re going to kill everyone on this yacht, burn it, and we’ll all have disappeared at sea.”

“Hmm ... I think I might need to have you tied up, make sure you don’t get all heroic,” Shelley said. “You,” she pointed at the closest crew member, “get some of that silk cord and get over here.

“Now look ... the Nelsons being the vengeful bastards they are, they may come for you some day ... but today, all they want are these three. The four of us get in their boat, we motor over to my friends, and they leave you alone.”

“Your friends...” Yan said. “How long have you been working for the Nelsons?”

“A while ... just passing along information here and there. I’m hardly the only one doing so.

“And that brings up a point ... Jason, Donna, Abby? If it wasn’t me, it would be someone else. There’s a reason people put prices on heads. It works.

“You’re nice kids, fun to play with. This is nothing personal, just business.”

“If your business is being a traitorous whore,” Donna said, “then I guess you’re right. It is just business.”

“I understand your anger, Donna. You,” Shelley said, speaking to the crew-woman who’d collected the silk cord, “Consuela, right? You tie his wrists and ankles real well, okay? You’re not doing this to make me happy, understand? You’re doing it to keep him from getting himself killed.”

Jason

He was trying to stop Consuela from tying him up by sheer force of will ... and while focusing on her face, he saw her pull her head back ever so slightly, and nod to her left.

“I understand, Shelley,” Consuela said, cord stretched between her hands like a garrote.

Jason pulled his head back just a bit, and nodded slightly to his right ... and caught Consuela’s minimal nod, as well as her left hand opening up, and making patting motions.

Consuela got her feet under her, tightening up her left hand around the cord again, and nodded.

Jason slammed the back of his head into Shelley’s face with everything he had, felt her nose crunch, and then, tears in his eyes from the pain of the impact, he rolled to the right.

Consuela launched at Shelley, like a runner coming off the starting blocks.

Donna

She wasn’t sure what the fuck was going on, but it was clear the crew-woman was signaling to Jason, and he was agreeing to whatever it was.

Her husband rammed his head into the traitorous cunt’s face, and rolled away.

Time slowed to a crawl.

Donna came to her feet, praying she could get to Shelley before she pulled the trigger, knowing she couldn’t.

The crew-woman launched at Shelley. The traitor’s gun followed Jason, she jammed it into his back, and pulled the trigger.

Click.

Then the woman caught Shelley’s wrist with the cord and pushed her arm up and away, as Shelley pulled the trigger again, and a bullet hit the ceiling.

Donna was there, her hearing reduced to almost nothing, swinging her leg around as hard as she could toward Shelley’s head, above where the crew-woman was wrestling with the bartender’s gun hand.

As her heel collided with Shelley’s cheek bone, time returned to normal.

Abby

It was one of the hardest things she’d ever done to stay still until things settled down ... and when they did ... everyone was still alive.

Although Shelley staying that way was very much in doubt.

Jason was holding his ears and shaking.

Donna was standing over Shelley, favoring one leg, and saying something Abby couldn’t hear over the ringing in her ears, and Tod was standing beside her looking frighteningly angry.

The crewman ... well, woman ... maybe Abby remembered seeing her around ... she had wrestled the gun away, ejected the magazine, and cleared the chamber.

And Shelley ... Abby smiled. Shelley was fucked up. It looked like Jason had crushed her nose, and Donna’s kick had busted up Shelley’s right cheek, and messed up her eye.

People came barging through the suite door, Parker in the lead, but Abby focused her attention on Jason, and moved to his side.

He asked her a question she had trouble hearing, so she took his head in her hands, focused his eyes on her face.

“Slowly,” she said, enunciating the word very clearly.

“Is. Everyone. Okay?”

“Yes. She shot the ceiling. You are fine. Everyone is. Except her.”

“Fuck her. Everyone else is really okay?”

“Yes.”

“Thank God...”

Consuela came and knelt beside her.

“Jason?” she said slowly.

“Yeah?”

“She didn’t want to take a chance on shooting you accidentally. She didn’t have a round chambered.”

“She didn’t?”

“Holy fuck, you thought she did?” Consuela said. “Balls as big as church bells.”

“No,” Jason said, sighing heavily, choking back tears. “Just knowing that getting shot dead is better than letting the Nelsons get their hands on any of us ever again.”

“From what I’ve heard, that’s a fair point,” Consuela said.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re not just a member of the crew?” Tod asked.

“I’m not. Private contractor, hired by Madam Gao,” Consuela replied. “I really wish you’d all been spared this, and her hiring me had been a waste of money.

“I was looking forward to a nice quiet paid vacation.”

Donna

“How is she?” Donna asked Constance.

“I’ve already removed what was left of her eye, Milady, it was shredded. Did you mean to drive bone fragments into her eyeball?”

“No, that was just a wonderful side-effect. What else?”

“Her nose will be fine, Milady. She’ll have to have reconstructive surgery on her cheekbone.”

“How’s your heel?”

“Hurts like a son-of-a-bitch ... I’ll let you look at it later.”

The two stood over Shelley, lying in bed in the crew quarters, hand and ankle cuffed to the frame.

“Question for you, Milady. Any sign of her friends?”

“Yeah ... either them, or someone else has come up on us by complete and total coincidence. The captain and security are worrying about that. My concern is her.”

“Really, Milady?”

“Oh yeah, I’m very concerned.”

Donna leaned out into the corridor.

“You,” she called to one of the kitchen staff, “come here.”

“Yes, Milady?”

He couldn’t have been more than twenty ... pretty, but Donna was hoping he was more than just that.

“How extreme are do the toys on this yacht get?”

“Excuse me, Milady?”

“Is the Li Mei equipped to facilitate branding...” she looked at his nametag, “Will?”

“Uh ... yes, Milady.”

“What kind of equipment do you have handy?”

“Uh ... we have a bipolar electrocauter ... if you wanted old school, pretty sure we could cobble together a brazier and irons, Milady.”

“The electrocauter will do nicely. Have it brought to this cabin immediately.”

“Yes, Milady.”

“Milady...” Constance said.

“You have two choices, Constance. Either secure her head so she won’t be able to jerk around too much, or put her so far under she won’t wake up until it’s done.

“I’d prefer she be awake for it, but you’re the one dealing with the Hippocratic Oath.”

“I’ll secure her, Milady. I’m not sure it would be safe to anesthetize her that thoroughly.”

“Very good, Constance. Let me know when she’s strapped the fuck down.”

Parker

“Captain Shue ... they’re still not answering...”

The young man at the radio looked worried.

“Well,” Parker said, peering through a low-light monocular, “they have a gun, looks like an M2A1...”

“Which is a...” Captain Shue asked.

“Machine gun, .50 caliber, belt fed. They’ve got it mounted on a tripod, probably bolted to the deck.”

“And if they use it on us?”

Parker took the monocular away from his eye, and turned to look at her.

“What would a .50 caliber machine gun to this yacht?”

“Yes, what would it do to my boat?”

“Uh...” Tod said, “I don’t think the captain is familiar with weapons. Captain, it would shred this boat from bow to stern. If they have enough ammunition, and I think it’s fair to assume they do, they’ll destroy the Li Mei completely, and everyone aboard will be dead-dead-dead.”

“So ... what now?” the captain asked.

Ashley came onto the bridge.

“Expect some screaming here in a bit. Donna’s going to deal with the bartender.”

“That could get some unwanted attention,” Parker said. “Ashley, please go talk her into waiting a bit.”

“Sure thing.”

“So,” Parker said, “what to do...”

“Well, you know my vote,” Tod said. “We get over there and kill every last goddamn one of them.”

“How...”

“Uh, not to interrupt, but we do have scuba gear aboard,” the Captain said.

The two Karghold members looked at each other.

“Can we tell them what happens over there, would it further fuck up their honeymoon?” Parker said.

“Don’t see how we can avoid it – I plan to leave nothing but burning wreckage floating on the ocean.”

“Deal.”

Kendry

“Team One?”

“Yeah, we’ve picked up a tail.”

“Team Two?”

“We’re clear.”

Kendry checked out the back window ... still no sign of pursuit.

“So, Madam, you want to apologize now?”

“Yes I do ... Kendry, I’m sorry, and I won’t argue with you about such things anymore.”

“Oh, I wish I believed that, Madam. Look, I understand, it’s your nature ... just know arguments about your safety are not arguments you’ll win ... at least not with me.

“Whoever you give this job to after I resign ... that’s another story.”

“What? You’re resigning?” Carol said.

“Yeah ... yeah I am. Gonna create a place for me on Eddie’s crew. I can’t sit at home while he’s getting into trouble ... particularly not in other countries.”

Carol scooted over and hugged her ... which Kendry tolerated, giving the little woman a resigned look.

“I’ll feel so much better if you’re with them,” Carol said.

“So ... you’re resigning?” Margo said.

“Yeah ... seems like an odd time to do it, huh?”

“A little, yeah,” Margo replied. “Who would you recommend as a replacement who won’t let me win arguments with them either?”

Kendry chuckled, “I’m so glad to hear you put it that way, Madam. Yeah, Evangeline Jimenez has been acting as my second. She’s a prickly bitch, won’t take any shit from you when it comes to keepin’ y’all alive.”

“Sounds perfect for the job.”

Donna

“So they want me to wait?”

“Yes, Milady,” Ashley said. “Right now, they don’t want screams being heard by our unwelcome visitors.”

“Fine...” Donna said. “I’ll go wait with my family.”

“Yes, Milady, a good idea.”

“Just let me tend to something first...”

Donna pulled Shelley’s panties off, balled them up, and shoved them in her mouth.

“Hand me that leather muzzle, Ashley.”

Donna strapped it on, then bent over Shelley.

“You be a good girl, and maybe I’ll let you live. Got it?”

“Mmm mmm.”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.”

Donna returned to the master suite, muttering to herself.

“What are you going to do to her?” Dr. Lowenstein asked.

“For the moment, not a goddamn thing ... security doesn’t want her screams to be heard by the other boat.”

“What. Are. You. Going. To. Do. To. Her?”

“Who the fuck are you to demand an answer?” Donna replied, stalking over to the psychiatrist.

“Can we all just ... relax a little?” Jason said, getting up and taking Donna’s hand. Not pulling her away, but letting her know he was there, with her.

Donna composed herself, and hand-in-hand with Jason, went to sit down in the pit.

“Doctor, I have an electrocauter, a device us deviant types use to brand people. I’m going to brand “Judas” on her forehead, and “Whore” across the lower part of her face.

“Then, Doctor, I’m going to have her released in a city somewhere she doesn’t speak the language, penniless. Probably in Russia, or one of the splinter republics.”

“You realize what’s going to happen to her?” Dr. Lowenstein said, horrified.

“I know what I hope happens to her. Doctor,” Donna said. “I want her to suffer, and if there’s any truth to reincarnation, I want her next hundred lifetimes to be as a drug-addicted prostitute in every dank hellhole in existence.”

Donna’s face was twisted into an ugly, angry mask.

“Then, Doctor, I’m going to come back to the arms of my family, and I’m going to scream, and rage, and cry, and console myself that killing her would be a more merciful fate for her.”

“I’m sorry, Donna ... I can’t allow you to hurt her like that.”

Susan

The young woman who regarded Susan from under heavy lids looked ... tired ... very, very tired.

“Doctor, you don’t have a say in the matter. Go to the bridge, talk to the captain. Talk to our security people. You’ll find out Madam Gao has a vested interest in keeping us happy, and while it would sadden her to demonstrate it, she doesn’t give a fuck what you want.”

“Donna...”

“No, Jason, it’s just a kinder, gentler Savannah ... the grown-ups aren’t going to take any shit from us kids...”

“She’s right, Doctor,” Consuela said. “You’re not in charge, I’m not in charge, except in matters of security. They are.”

“Emotionally immature, traumatized teenagers are in charge of the prisoner’s life?”

“Yes ... they are. You might want to stop antagonizing, start advising,” Consuela said. “You ought to know this ... you attack, people get defensive.”

“If it would make it easier for you, Doctor,” Donna said, “I can have Drag restrain you, take you to your cabin, where you’ll stay under ... well, cabin arrest, until we get to Hawaii...”

“Jason...”

“Doctor, I like you, I really do. I even trust you some ... but you heard what we went through. Shelley was going to sell us into an even worse situation. Personally, I think my wife’s being very restrained. I want to hang Shelley from one of the boat cradles and set her on fire ... stand there and bask in the heat and the screams.”