Chapter 13: The Cécile

There was a loud thumping sound, just beyond my ability to hear clearly and it wouldn’t go away. Then I heard a voice.

“I tell you, if this were my ship and I were the Captain, I’d make sure my mates all had their coffee first thing in the morning!”

That’s when I figured out that they were thumping on the bulkhead between the bridge and my berth.

“ALRIGHT!” I yelled. “I heard! I heard!”

“Seems a right touchy this morn,” Admiral Craig said with a horrendous British accent. It was like Carina cursing with British curse words. It just didn’t work.

I peeled off the clothes I had slept in and jumped in the shower. I had to stop and concentrate to determine if we were moving or not. There was almost no sense of motion and I couldn’t hear if the engines were running. Finally I toweled off and then looked out the porthole. Yeah, we were moving. So I didn’t bother with any clothes.

When I entered the Bridge, I discovered that I wasn’t the only one without clothes. The Admiral and both Captains were just as naked as me. I also saw that they each had a cup of coffee and there was a fourth cup on the table behind the helm with a carafe sitting there.

“I didn’t realize that owning a yacht allowed the captain to sleep late,” Admiral Craig continued his teasing aimed at me.

“You should read the rule book sometime,” I shot back and they all laughed.

“You okay?” asked Captain Alfred.

“Yes, Sir,” I replied. “I think that the day just caught up with me.”

“I’m sorry that Monique said what she said,” Captain Tony said.

“I’m not!” I replied. “She wanted to know and it had to be addressed. I’m just sorry I handled it so poorly. I didn’t enjoy what I did, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

“Son, I’m proud of you. For the first time in months, I slept the sleep of the just, last night,” Captain Tony said.

“Normally, when somebody calls me son, I tell them I am NOT their son. But for you sir, I would claim you as my father anytime.” And then I hugged him in a heartfelt but somewhat awkward ‘bro’ hug. Captain Tony just looked at me and smiled. I could see the tears in the corners of his eyes.

“We are about twenty minutes out of Monte Carlo, with winds out of the northwest at ten knots and the waves are two to three feet. Forecast calls for overcast skies, clearing later to the south,” Captain Alfred reported, just like when we were on the Serendipity.

“You know? When I was in the shower, I had trouble telling if we were actually under way. I couldn’t hear the engines or feel the ship moving,” I told them.

“I believe it’s even quieter than that Bering 75,” Captain Alfred said.

“I think you’re right,” supplied the Admiral. “Why don’t you go down and get some breakfast and when you get back, we’ll start your training.”

“Sounds good!” I said and headed down the stairs.

“It’s Alex!” screamed Marta when I entered the dining room. Soon several nubile naked teenagers were all hugging me.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Marta was repeating over and over.

I looked at her, not understanding.

“For what you did! Momma told us how you killed that evil witch!” Marta cried.

I should have known this was going to happen. All those teenaged emotions concerning the death of their sister came welling up and now I was the focus of their sorrow. They were sad that she had been killed, but happy I had gotten their revenge. It was overwhelming as Anna, Charlotte, Fleur, and Mischa joined in. Thankfully, Jenna brought me some coffee and orange juice.

“Ladies, let’s give him some peace,” said Monique as she sat a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast in front of me.

When they had retreated, Monique took my hand, the one without the fork in it and squeezed.

“I’ll never be able to thank you enough, Alex. I’m so sorry that you had to go through what you did. But in my heart, I know they deserved it and I almost wish I could have been the one to squash that evil bitch!”

Carina had once warned me about Mother Bear Syndrome. I could see now that it was for real.

“They hurt one of mine and I wasn’t going to let them get away with it,” I told her. “Hopefully we can look forward to happier times now.”

“How lame!” I thought the minute the words were out of my mouth.

But Monique just smiled at me with a weird smile and then left me to finish my breakfast. I know she had to express her feelings, just as her daughters and the other girls had. But I wasn’t sure how much more rehashing of a bad memory I could take.

Suddenly a ghost sat down beside me. At least I thought it was a ghost. Her hair was disheveled like she had just got out of bed and the loose fitting see-through kimono she wore revealed that she didn’t have anything on beneath it. I was just about to say good morning when she hauled off and slapped the fire out of me.

“THAT’s for running off and leaving us without telling us where you were going!” she screamed at me.

“Huh?” I said, not understanding. Then suddenly I realized what she was talking about.

“You bastard!” she screamed and started to slap me again. I quickly shocked her a little and she collapsed as if I had tased her. I guess, I had, in fact, done just that. She just lay there on the floor, moaning and muttering under her breath.

“What did you do?” my mom then screamed at me.

“She was hitting me!” I whined.

“You wanna see hitting? I’ll show you hitting,” she threatened.

I stood up, ready to run. It was then that I realized two things. One, that my mom was standing there naked. And two, it was Samantha lying there on the deck, almost naked.

“It’s alright Mrs. Masters. I just kind of lost it when I saw him sitting there,” Samantha told her. “We didn’t get to the boat until after four this morning and I haven’t had any sleep.”

“But ... but...” my mom stuttered.

“It’s the first time that I’ve seen him since he pulled that Houdini act on us in Martinique and Sarah and I kind of took the brunt of it for losing him like that. It hasn’t been pleasant for us and we were surprised when we were told to report to the dock in Monte Carlo for our next assignment. But they didn’t tell us that HE would be here!”

I offered her my hand to help her up and she got a gleam in her eyes like she was going to do some kind of judo shit. But then she re-considered and gamely allowed me to assist her up.

“If it’s any consolation, I’m not sorry I did it, but I’m sorry that you got blamed,” I told her.

“Where did you go?” she asked.

“He hid in a warehouse and when we passed by, he stole our yacht and sailed to the Isle of Céleste and then hid out until he could find the killers and then he destroyed them!” Monique explained.

“You ... you got them?” Samantha said. “I HAVE GOT to hear the whole story, but can it wait until Sarah wakes up?”

‘Aaah ... sure,” I replied as I rubbed my still stinging cheek.

“Who else is on board?” she asked. “We only saw Archara this morning when we arrived.”

“Let’s see ... it’s my family, Archara’s family, Alex’s family, and Admiral Craig and his wife,” Monique told her. “Oh, yeah, Roland and Carina and their daughter are here as well.”

“Can you tell me where we are going or how long we’ll be gone?” Samantha asked.

“Not yet,” Monique supplied. “Alfred said that he would tell everyone later today. I don’t think it’s that big of a secret, it’s just that it was laid on all sort of last minute and we just haven’t had time to discuss it yet.”