Chapter 77: A Long Night

Archara had set everyone to picking up, packing up and cleaning the Serendipity in anticipation of leaving for Paris tomorrow. I was assigned the cockpit and aft storage holds. I folded and stored the blankets and pillows and other miscellaneous items as well as the making sure the water toys and such were properly stored and secured.

When I finished, I wandered up to the flying bridge and began to help out up there. Roland came up looking for me.

“That was some display of raw power you put on,” he said.

“Not really. I was actually able to be pretty concise about what I targeted. It seems that I can sense my targets and even gleam information from them. I knew that it was the USS Etowah before I ever damaged their communications or fire control centers,” I explained. “However, I did notice that three of the smaller ships, the USS Etowah and two others had a strange covering over the ships. Like an electronic screen or net. I don’t know what it was, but it didn’t stop me from frying the bastards.”

“Do we need to work on controlling your temper some more?” Roland asked.

“We need to work on getting the government to quit using the navy to come after us!” I said vehemently.

“Cynthiana said that she has sent Reginald to meet us. He’s the head of security for the foundation,” Roland told me.

“And your brother-in-law,” I replied. “Isabella told me yesterday. I was going to talk to Carina about it, but we haven’t had time.”

“Reginald is okay. He can be a little stiff at times. He’s older than Carina and as the first born was groomed to take his father’s place, but then their father was killed in the Paris attacks of November 2015, and Reginald spent the next two years tracking the terrorists down. He’s not been the same since. He is a deadly man and scares me sometimes.”

“There you are,” Captain Alfred said as he saw me. “There’s been a change of plans. The Chevalier Paul is going to escort us to the naval base on Martinique tonight. We’ll strike the sails late this afternoon and go in on the engines, so I’ll need your help.”

“No problem.” I replied.

“I am afraid that we will have problems, Alex. My buddy in Brest tells me that the US Diplomatic Corp is sending a Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent to the base and he is not someone we want to mess around with. His name’s Bremerton,” the Captain said. “He said that the Americans are livid over the unprovoked attack on their task force.”

“Unprovoked?” I cried. “They threatened to cram a tomahawk missile up our ass!” The lights began to flicker on the bridge.

“It will be taken care of, Alex. You are just going to have to be patient. Why don’t you head down to our stateroom, Carina needs you,” Roland said.

“Okay,” I sighed. He was right. It served no purpose to get angry now.

When I got to her cabin, she had it mostly packed up. She stopped what she was doing and flung herself into my arms.

“Do you have any idea what you’re going to do next?” she asked.

“I’d like to spend more time with you experimenting and figuring out what all I can really do. You seem to be the only one who really understands what might be happening to me. This disappearing and reappearing has got me buffaloed,” I told him.

“Roland’s mother wants you to spend some time with the Foundation’s research people. She says that you and your family can stay with her while you figure out where to go and what to do next.”

“Is this how she plans to recruit me to work for the foundation?” I asked.

“I’m never sure exactly what my mother-in-law will do, but I am confident that she is on your side,” Carina said. “Now, put all that aside for the moment and come to me.”

I thought it fitting that I spent my last few hours on board the Serendipity the same way I had begun my journey on her, in Carina’s arms.

Entering a naval harbor is considerably more intimidating than entering a regular marina. For one thing, almost every ship and almost every person is armed. There are also more rules and regulations. But most intimidating was the reception committee they had for non-French citizens.

When we finally tied up to the pier, there was a single armed escort for Captain Alfred, who would soon be escorted to the Naval Base commander’s office. But first, he had to finish an argument in French with some non-uniformed officials who insisted on coming aboard the Serendipity. With my limited understanding of French, it was hard to follow until Roland started interpreting for me.