Chapter 42

Chuck

After parking the motor scooter next to the club, I walked toward where the men were getting out of their car. I watched as they walked a short distance to what looked like a seventy or eighty foot motor yacht. Three of them stood outside as the big man went inside the yacht.

After a few minutes and some laughter from inside the boat, the big man came out and the four boarded a large barge-like houseboat across from the yacht.

There were just a couple of lights on in the houseboat and they went out within five minutes. My eyes were now accustomed to the dark and I saw only one man, who was probably a night guard, on the motor yacht. He wasn't very alert as he mostly just sat with his feet up on the rail of the boat.

I needed to get at him, and then figure out a way to get rid of the other men on the houseboat.

After watching the man nod off a couple of times, I looked around for something to attract him. There was a bolt and nut lying on the ground where I was standing, so I picked up the nut and threw it to the dock on the side of the yacht.

The guy sat up quickly and looked over the side. He couldn't see anything, so he went to a locker and came back with a flashlight. He looked all around, trying to see what had made the noise. When he went to look on the other side of the boat, I threw the bolt to the dock. Luckily, it hit a metal bucket hanging on a dock support.

The man came running back to look, but this time, he walked down the boarding plank and began looking on the side of the dock. He had come fairly close to me and had just turned, shining his light along the dock.

A short two steps and a quick choke hold, cutting off his oxygen, and he was soon laying on the dock, out cold. I yanked his shoe laces off his sneakers and used them to tie his wrists behind his back. I tore one of his shirt sleeves off and stuffed it into his mouth. I tore the other shirt sleeve off and used it to hold the gag in his mouth. With a lot of effort, I dragged and carried the man down to houseboat and laid him on the deck.

I walked down the dock until I was at the far end of the houseboat. I loosened the rope that was holding the boat to the dock then walked back to the front and untied that line too. There were a couple of shore connections that I released and removed. Being careful to not make any noise, I lifted the boarding ramp from the side and set it on the dock. That was all that was holding the boat. I pushed it out of the dock, slowly letting the outgoing tide aid in guiding it out of the dock area and out into the lagoon. Hopefully, the boat would continue to drift until it was out of the yacht club harbor and actually at sea.

Now for the real problem. I could tell that the cabin lights on the yacht were now out, but that didn't mean everyone was asleep. I also didn't know how many men might be on board to guard this 'king of the area.'

I kept thinking, "Don't kill anyone. Do this without killing everyone." But then, I kept answering myself, "How do you convince someone that they are not a king? If they shoot at me, should I shoot back?"

I wished I had my silencer. I actually wanted one of those nasty little twenty-twos with a silencer on it. Damn, I didn't think this through very well.

There was a chair just inside the front main deck entrance that was probably for the guard during bad weather. I opened the door nearest the chair and found a laundry and storage room. There was a coil of thin line there, so I used the knife that was laying there and cut off four pieces about six feet long. They would immobilize someone if I needed to do that.

I went to the deck below to get at the master cabin. There was a nice galley with a dim light. As I went to the door near the master cabin, I opened it slowly to look inside. My eyes were aided by some light coming through the porthole. This was a small cabin, but it was empty.

Across from this door, I opened the other door and found an exact copy of the other side, also empty. Hopefully, there wasn't anyone else near.

I opened the large door with the ornate handle that had to be the master cabin. The door swung open soundlessly and revealed the huge man on an oversized bed with two women, but there were at least four women sleeping on the floor. One of the women on the floor had a bloody face and another was lying kind of funny. I saw a third was actually awake. Her eyes were following me.

I put a finger to my lips to indicate to stay quiet. She nodded ever so slightly. Then with her hand, she pointed at the girl who was lying funny and then put her hand on her throat in a choking manner and stuck out her tongue. I could see a tear forming in her eye.

That's when I pulled my Glock and moved toward the bed. Above the head of the bed was a shelf with some interesting gadgets. There were several pair of handcuffs and other types of locking restraints, along with a ring of keys. Also among the toys, there was a Billy club and a couple of nasty looking whips.

In the back, to one side of the shelf area, was a revolver that looked like a 357. I reached for the revolver and stuck it in my belt, then picked up the club and poked the girl on this side of the big man. She looked at me and the gun and gasped. I put my finger to my mouth again and motioned for her to get up. She did, after she reached across to the other girl and poked her and had her get up with her.

They both moved to the far side of the room, hugging each other. I saw the marks on their backs that must have come from the whips.

The big man was on his back, snoring with his mouth open. I poked him in his huge belly attempting to wake him, but he kept right on sleeping. I wondered why none of the women had killed him in his sleep.

Since he didn't wake up with the poke in the belly, I used the Billy club to whack him hard on the shoulder blade. I was beginning to feel pretty mean, so I gave him a whack on the bridge of the nose. That wasn't nice, since he struggled to grab his nose and woke up cussing. He looked at me, then the gun in my hand pointing at his face.

The man didn't hesitate; he struggled up and tried to reach the side of the bed where the revolver had been. Almost laughing, I swatted his hand with the club then watched him grimace in pain as he clutched his hand.

He then reached to a big button on the side of the headboard and pushed. If that brought people, I was ready. If the buzzer was wireless to the men on the houseboat, they would be surprised. I was hoping it was wired and I had disconnected it.

The big man and I waited, but no one came, so I said to him. "I think you murdered a young lady last night. You will have to pay for that."

While still trying to hold his nose and hand, he sputtered, "She's nothing but a whore, hardly worth a Colon. She's worth nothing. I've already paid too much to own her."

That pissed me off, so I cracked him across the mouth for being so foul. He looked at me evilly and said, "You will die for this. I will have my men cut you up and cook you. I'll feed you to the peasants of this place. If you think you can run, the Master will take care of you in the states." The man actually began laughing that villain laugh like cartoon movies used to have.

Knowing that the man was too big to cuff his hands behind his back, I slapped one cuff on his nearest wrist and rolled him over on his stomach. As he was laughing and cussing at my attempt to cuff him, I slapped another cuff on his other wrist then locked the two cuffs together. That would hold him. I pulled the line from my pocket and tied his feet together.

The man kept making lots of noise, cussing in multiple languages and spitting at me. I tore off a large chunk of pillowcase and stuffed it in his mouth.

I hadn't noticed, but the five girls in the room had gently moved the dead girl away from the bed and were now standing behind me. One picked up the Billy club and hit the big man across the knee. Oh my, but that would hurt. Another girl grabbed the club and whacked the guy on his elbow. The third got him on the foot, while the fourth and fifth took their turns to nail him on the other foot and elbow.

Not wishing to let the ladies get too violent, I asked them quietly, "Is there anyone else on this boat?"

One of the ladies was a fair skinned blonde, and she said, "No, the men, cooks, and maids are all on the boat across the dock."

I said, "Let's go let the lines loose on this boat and take it out of the harbor area. I think we might be able to talk to Martinelli better out at sea.

Although I had a little experience as a captain of a sailboat, I didn't know much about powerboats. Hopefully operating this wasn't much different than the sailboat with the engines.

The boat had been backed into the dock so I was able to pull up the boarding ramp, untie the front and rear lines, and prepare to move away from the dock. At the big helm area, there was a red sign that said, "Turn on fans before starting engine." I thought this was a diesel engine but I did as instructed. After the fans had been on for a couple of minutes, I started the engines. There was a separate sign that said, "Switch from shore power."

I ran outside and disconnected the shore connections. Nice that there was something to remind me. I wasn't much of sailor yet, so this could be an experience.

Back at the helm, I figured out how to engage the props and began idling away from the dock. Steve had instilled in me to move slowly when you were unsure of how or where you were moving. As we idled through the harbor lagoon, I saw the houseboat drifting farther away from the harbor out to sea. I wish I had a grapple with a long line so I could just tow it far out to sea so it would catch the southern currents that would take it toward Antarctica. As I passed the outer buoy, I flipped on the running lights to alert any other boats that I was moving.

I did note the position of the harbor opening on the notepad next to the primitive GPS at the helm. When I was about ten miles out, I idled down and took the boat out of gear to drift while I went to check on what the women were doing.

Two women were in the galley treating two of the others backs where whips had cut them so bad. That was a horrible thing for Martinelli to have done. As I headed toward the master cabin, one of the ladies broke free and ran to me, holding her hands up. She kept shaking her head not wanting me to go into the cabin.

The blonde, fair-skinned girl wasn't there, and I needed to find her. As I went for the door, the girl I wanted to find came out of the door. I thought at first that she was hurt as she was covered with blood. She looked at me and smiled, "That bastard will never kill or maim anyone again. I finished it once and for all. You can tell the police, but I don't care. He killed little Carla last week, then Susan, and now Celine. Who knows how many he has killed and dumped out here in the ocean. The man was so horrible; I know it was only a matter of time before he would kill me too."

I told the girl, "Strip, get those clothes off and find a shower. When you're clean, help these other girls treat their wounds."

I didn't want to look at the room, but opened the door to look. On the bed was the two arms still held together by the handcuffs. Parts of the huge obese man were all over the bed. I almost got sick, but remembered what the man had done.

After shutting the door, I said to the girls who were all looking at me, "We'll go out about ten more miles and dump him overboard. You girls need to begin cleaning up that room. I don't know how you'll do it, but you need to clean it."

About thirty minutes later, I stopped the forward movement again and, while at idle, considered what to do. I didn't have to do anything. The girls began carrying sheets full of body parts to the side of the boat and dumping them over. They had made three trips and were headed below again when there was a sudden frenzy of activity in the water.

Several sharks had been attracted by the blood and were now tearing apart the pieces remaining in the water. The girls had stopped to watch the carnage and all of them were grinning and laughing. This was a very macabre scene.

A little while later, a nude blonde girl came up the ladder from the galley and handed me a cup of coffee. She asked, "May I reward you for saving us? All of us want to reward you."

I smiled gently and said, "Please, put on some clothes and prepare to meet the world when you return to the dock. All of you may remain on the boat if you want, but you all need to clean this thing up."

She said, "The bedroom is mostly clean. We have brought Celine up to take her to her parents. They knew she had been taken by Martinelli. He gave them a thousand Colon and told them they were being overpaid. She was not an only child, but was the oldest and was working to help the family. They will have some comfort to know she is no longer with Martinelli."

It made me sick to think someone would think a human was worth less than two dollars.

I asked, "What will the police say when you bring a dead Celine?"

"Nothing, they know she was taken by Martinelli and would not confront him anyway. Now they don't have to worry about it. Soon they will realize he is not here any longer and his men are gone too. We didn't even pass the houseboat on the way back."

We idled into the lagoon and yacht club harbor area where I turned slowly then reversed the props to slowly back into the dock. I didn't bang the fenders on either side much and was able to be almost stopped by the time the back of the boat hit the fender area at the rear of the dock. I jumped off and tied the lines on the back, then the front. After putting the ramp back in place, I reconnected the shore connections.

All the girls were now dressed in shorts and regular tops. They looked like the young ladies they were. The blonde asked me, "Can we stay on board for a while? There is food here and we will be safe if the other men are not here. If they come back, I think we will kill them too. Please, give us the gun Martinelli had."

Hoping the others understood, I said to her, "You know you can't just kill people. The police might come and take you away and put you in jail, or worse."

She said, "No one will ever say anything against you or us about this terrible man that was on this boat. Now the boat is yours. He killed the couple that used to own this boat because he wanted it. They were nice people who came here to retire. I knew them and worked for them as a housekeeper. They had no family and only wanted to live a peaceful life. Martinelli killed them and took the boat. No one has contested him or even questioned him when he said he bought the boat from the couple. I know where he keeps the papers, you will see. Can you come back down to the boat today? I want the manager of the club to know you are the new owner of the boat. If you need money to pay the club, there is money in Martinelli's safe. Money he took from everyone. He kept it all right here on this boat."

I said, "Why don't you keep the boat and live on it. You keep the money and live here."

The girl smiled and said, "I want a man to look after me. I want a man, such as you who has rescued me, to keep me. Won't you do that?"

I said, "You don't even know my name. How can you want someone like me to keep you?"

"But I do know your name. Martinelli and one of his men talked about Charles Johnson all day yesterday and last night after they came back from seeing you. They said you were called Chuck by other people. They know you have money and they wanted it."

"I see. Did they know I am committed to women in the U.S.?"

The girl said, "No, they don't know you are a man such as you are. Keep us; we won't make your other women angry. We will serve them too, but I want you to keep me and I'm sure the others will want you to keep them. We need to go to the doctor to make sure the pig did not make us sick. He made us take care of his filthy men, as well as himself. If we didn't do as he asked, he would whip us and then kill us. Please, keep us."

When it looked like I was going to agree, the girl said, "Can you give me some money, only a few Colon to go to the doctor and to give to Celine's parents so she can be buried? They will want to thank you for rescuing her body. Please let them."

I went below to a small cabin that was pointed out to me. It had a big safe in it and the door was open. Inside the large safe were stacks of money. There was a lot of U.S. currency, some Canadian, some Euros, but mostly big bundles of Colons. I took two bundles of Colons and handed them to the girls. I said, "Give some to Celine's parents and use some for the doctor and to buy plenty of food. If you need new sheets or more cleaning equipment, buy it."

I took the blonde girl that was the speaker with me to the master cabin. I was impressed. The floor was actually clean, as was the bed and surrounding area. I asked, "What did you do with all those things he used to tie you up and to hurt you with?"

"We threw them away when we threw him away. Everything that hurts people is gone. Can we show you how we would enjoy making you feel good?"

"I'm still committed to the girls in the states. Where are you from anyway?"

"I'm from Philly. I ran away when I was fifteen and found my way down here on a rich man's boat. I've lived here almost nine years now, and have learned the language, as well as the customs. I can live here now without getting into too much trouble."

I handed her the gun and said, "Be careful with this and only use it if you have to. Remember that you only have six shots and you must make each one count. If eight men come at you, perhaps you might want them to be lined up so one bullet will hit more than one."

She said, "Men are cowards. If I shoot one, the rest will run. With the sound, many will come, but none will bother us if they know we are armed. Since this is a boat, the police will leave us alone."

I yawned and said, "It's morning and I must return a motor scooter to its owner. I will try to come by before I leave."

When we went topside, the manager of the yacht club was standing on the dock. When I walked out, he grinned and asked, "Does this boat have a new owner? Will you be keeping it here? You are a member and you will only have to provide docking fees."

The girl came forward with a stack of Colons and asked what fees would be owed for a year. The manager said, "Oh my, all inclusive you could keep your boat here for very little. Let me count out what would be correct."

The girl watched as the manager counted out some of the paper money, and handed back most of what she had given him. He said, "Thank you, Sir, for being a great member of the club. What did you do with the houseboat?"

"The last I saw of it, the boat was heading out to sea. I suppose they had someplace to go."

The manager looked confused, but reached for me and hugged me. He said, "I think you are a hero here in this community. Please, don't be like the one who is gone."

The girl said, "He won't be, he is a good man inside and will be a good person to all."

The manager actually had tears in his eyes. He said, "Now the people in the community won't be afraid for their daughters or children. They will rejoice that he is gone. Please allow us to celebrate with you."

I yawned again and said, "I'm sorry, I'm very tired and think I should go to my home for a while. Please, Sir, look after these women and make sure they are protected. Make sure they are treated nicely. Perhaps you can help find them husbands to make a life of their own."

The girl said, "Oh no. I will make a life of serving you. I like being taken care of by a man. The other girls do too, but perhaps not as much as I do. I'll watch over them, and if they want, I will find them good husbands."

I waved and wanted to walk away, but five women ran to hug me. They all kissed me multiple times and jabbered in their native tongue. The girl who had been their spokesperson said something to them and they let me go with smiles. She said, "They all want to thank you, as I said they would. Go get some rest, but please come to see us before you go back to the U.S."

Up at the yacht club main building, I found the scooter and started it up. The little moped, or whatever it was, strained but made it up the hill to the condo. As I pulled up to the garage door, it opened and my four new housemates were standing there. I pulled in and they surrounded me. Maria asked, "Are you alright? What did you do? What happened?"

"Maria, I am very tired and very hungry. Let me make something for breakfast, then I need to find out about my aircraft."

We went up to the kitchen where the girls gave me a cup of coffee and got busy making me a piece of steak of some kind and some eggs. They gave me some fried potatoes and had toasted some bread in a big toaster oven.

As I was eating, there was knock on the door. I went to the door to find Ben. He pushed in and closed the door immediately. He said, "What in the world did you do? The whole town is talking about you and that Martinelli isn't here any longer. They said that his boat is now yours. What happened, Chuck? What did you do?

I said, "Take it easy Ben; I think Martinelli is taking a swim far out in the ocean. I wasn't actually the cause of his demise. I did capture him and his boat, but I didn't do him in."

"How did you, ah, what did you do with all of his men? They were all in that houseboat across from his yacht."

I seriously and honestly said, "I don't know where they went. The last I saw of the houseboat, it was going out to sea. I have no idea what happened to it."

The girls had just given Ben a cup of coffee when the doorbell rang again. I opened it and found Beth. She came in and said, "The manager just called me and told me that you now owned this big motor yacht down at the club. Where did you get that? Isn't Martinelli's the only big motor yacht down there right now?"

Ben said, "Martinelli is swimming with the fishes. The boat is Chuck's now. Can you believe it? In just one day he cleans up our town. Just one day."

I said, "Ben, don't make a big thing about it. Most people don't want to even mention that man's name. He did many very cruel things and I saw a young woman's body the man had killed. The man was the devil's child. Let him be."

Ben asked, "If you didn't kill him, who did? Did you make him walk the plank?"

"Just remember that the young girl had friends on board that were angry their friend had been murdered. Their revenge was probably justified."

Beth was nodding and said, "You are like Steve. You don't let wrongs go unpunished."

I yawned again and said, "I am very tired. I think I'll take a quick nap then check on my aircraft."

Maria brought my cell phone and said, "This has been ringing a lot since you've been gone."

I looked and saw that Jimmy had been calling. I called him and said, "What's up, Jimmy? I haven't been out to the airport to check on the aircraft yet."

He said, "Don't bother. The parts are still in Canada. There was a run on the needed parts, so everyone is scrambling. I had Hillsborough hydraulic begin working with a guy out in the business park that has a machine shop. He's making the couplings for you and the hydraulic shop is cutting the hoses and testing the finished parts. We'll have your parts to you by this evening. You should be good to go by morning. Your A&P mechanic down there has to sign off on the FAA form 337 for the parts you're being sent. Sorry about that, but we're going to make parts here and sell them to and through Bombardier under their production certificate. I flew Wes up with a set to sample and they had the FAA give their blessing and authorized us to build and ship right at a hundred sets to them and/or to drop ship them to their customers. There's a ton of red tape if we wanted to sell them ourselves but this way the machine shop will be happy, and Steve will be happy because we're turning a bad situation into a profit. If you want the straight scoop, call Steve, he'll tell you what we did."

"Thanks, Jimmy; I appreciate you taking care of me. If my girls get back from their cruise, tell them I'll be home soon."

He said, "Not to worry, Chuck. Steve and Mercy decided to ride out a storm to see how the boat did. They probably won't be home till tomorrow night, so if you want to talk to Steve, call him on his Sat phone."

"I'll still beat them then," I said. "This is nuts, isn't it? A quick trip down here is becoming a vacation. Okay, I'll let you know when I can fly again."

Jimmy answered with a smile in his voice, "Hell, I'll know before you do. Those guys down there have ordered six sets of the new couplings. I'll talk at you later."

I hung up with Jimmy and called Steve's sat phone number. It took a few rings before Mercy picked up the phone and answered it. After saying hi to her I finally got hold of Steve. "What did you do to get me parts down here so fast?"

Steve told the story, "When Jimmy told me that he could get a fix for your aircraft I had Wes find out what needed to happen for us to fix our other birds plus how we might be able to sell some of the units ourselves. Wes found out how to do it so we sent him and Jimmy up to Canada to Bombardier customer support and he told them that we're getting our fleet back up right now with these couplings. He tossed them on the table and told them that if they would license us to build the couplings on the old pattern, instead of what their current vendor is screwing up, we can deliver X couplings at Y price by Z date. He told them they have a worldwide AOG (Aircraft On the Ground) situation right now, and we have production facilities in Europe and Asia which can serve those markets on the basis of data we can e-mail to them, using their current personnel and equipment. We know the MIDO (Manufacturer Inspection District Office) in south Florida, and they'll give approval tomorrow if they give the license today."

Steve continued, "They jumped at the chance to clean up a major problem and Jimmy came up with a profitable fix for the Lear you took down there. Tiny had Wes distribute the information to Ireland, Italy, and Hawaii so they could produce what might be ordered if time became a factor. Pretty neat don't you think?"

I said, "Your people are amazing Steve. They grow roses right out of the cow patty. No processing involved. Anyway, thanks, great job."

Steve said, "Don't tell me, tell Jimmy and Wes."

After I hung up I turned to my two guests and said, "Now, Ben, Beth, I'm going to take an hour's nap then go down to the yacht club again. If you want to come, I'll come and get you on my way. Did you know there is a car down in the garage?"

Ben said, "No what kind?"

"An old Mercedes 450SL. I didn't see the hard top, so it may only have an old rag top. I didn't look. Why don't you check it out, Ben? You could use it when you're here."

"Then I'd have to drive. I would have to stay sober. I like someone else to drive."

Beth was pushing him toward the door. Over her shoulder, she said, "I'll look at it and make sure it runs, Chuck. I like to drive myself."

I went upstairs and took off my clothes. They were disappearing as fast as I removed them. While in my shorts, I lay down on the bed and was asleep almost instantly.

I rolled over on my back and bumped into a soft form. I was thinking it was Lisa or Brandy, and almost reached for whoever it was. As my eyes opened, I saw one of the cute little girls laying there in a skimpy bikini. She was smiling at me.

I raised my wrist and looked. No watch. The girl said, "Ten o'clock. You said only an hour, but I let you sleep an hour and a half. You were very tired."

"Thank you, now I need a shower and some clean clothes."

The little girl was instantly up and took my hand to help me stand as I had taken my leg off. I smiled at her and began hopping to the bathroom. She didn't leave, so I stood in front of the bowl and tried to shield myself from her as I peed like a racehorse.

When I shook off, I hopped to the shower and had to sit to swing my leg over the side of the oversized tub. As soon as I stood, the young lady, now nude, was in it with me, smiling away as if this was a normal thing to do.

The shower was actually asexual, except that I got a boner that didn't want to go down. Every time she took me in hand to attempt to relieve it, I moved it off me. She just couldn't understand that she wasn't supposed to do that.

Outside the tub, I shaved and brushed my teeth. When I went to the bedroom, someone had even washed my stump sock. My slacks were washed and pressed, and the shirt I had worn down was now clean. I put on my now clean sport coat that I wore down here and walked downstairs to the kitchen.

I was greeted by several hugs and Maria kissed me square on the lips. Maria said, "Thank you from all of us for ridding our home of that horrible man. Everyone was afraid of him and the government didn't, or couldn't, do anything about him. No one knows what you did to him, but he isn't here any longer and you now own the boat he killed that couple for. You are our home's hero."