Chapter 28

Steve

Mercy's crying woke me around one o'clock. When I shook her to get her attention, I could see she was crying in her sleep. She raised her head and looked at me with the wildest expression I have ever seen. She was terrified, "Oh, Steve, I need to get up, that was horrible."

We got up and went into the parlor, where Mercy said, "Can you get me a glass of wine? Better yet, give me one of those Beefeaters you always drink. That'll knock me out."

As I poured us both a drink, I asked, "What's the matter, Babe, what's got you upset?"

Before she could answer, Missy came into the room, looking as haggard as Mercy. She said, "I felt you, Honey, and we felt those two. This isn't nice, is it?"

I asked again, "What are you talking about?"

Mercy said, "I was watching, I saw what they were going to do and felt their fear. Both of them were afraid. It's like they don't trust who they are with and they are about to do something that is very dangerous. I need to lie down so I can see through their eyes and know they are all right."

"You probably shouldn't do that, Honey," Missy cautioned. "If they are open and letting us in, I'm sure they don't intend to. Don't let them feel you so they don't get upset. They need all of their faculties to do whatever it is they are going to do."

Missy took a big drink from Mercy's glass, looked at me, and pointed to Mercy's glass. I poured another tall gin with ice for Missy, and handed it to her.

Mercy said, "I heard Chuck, I heard him tell a man that if they did something the way the man wanted, someone was going to be hurt. I could feel Chuck's disgust and that's when I felt Lisa's fear."

Mercy had her eyes closed and said, "It's happening, it's happening right now. She sat that way, almost in a trance, for several minutes before flinching several times. "My God, I've been shot. I'm shot, he shot me."

I thought Mercy was going to pass out, but she said, "I'm okay, somehow I'm okay. Lisa is worried about me, ah, she's thinking Chuck, but Chuck's okay. He's getting up but Lisa is worried about him. Chuck is telling Lisa to be on guard. Oh, Steve, Chuck is going into more danger. I see nothing but darkness and feel his fear. Momma, help me keep out of their head, I want them to be calm and shouldn't try to help them."

Missy held Mercy close to her, cooing to her, trying to soothe her daughter. With both of their eyes closed they both opened them at once, "Lisa's hurt. She's lying on the ground, and all Chuck did was check her pulse. Why isn't he taking her away? There are a lot of little kids around. I can't tell what's going on."

Mercy said, "He is with someone else and they are hunting for someone."

A few seconds later, Missy said, "He's back to Lisa and carrying her up some stairs."

The two women went through their feelings until it was nearly four. Missy said, "They're both all right. They may be hurt, but they are both okay. They want to come back to us, I can feel their pull."

Mercy was nodding in agreement and yawned. "They are going to be fine. Chuck is hurt on the side, and Lisa had a blow to her head, but both are okay. I think I can go back to bed now."

Missy asked, "Can I join you? I would like to snuggle up to your man."

Mercy giggled, "You leave my man alone. He has enough women to take care of."

Missy looked as if she was pouting, until Mercy said, "Oh all right, I'll let you sample him every once in a while to take the edge off, but go to sleep, Mom, the kids are going to be up soon."

My twins, Manny and Danny, were standing by the bed and were shaking Missy; "Grandma, we're hungry. Grandma Glenda is gone and it's only you and Grandma Beth to feed us. Please, Grandma Missy."

I sat up and smiled, "Okay, Guys, let me get up and I'll get you something to eat. Talk among yourselves and I'll get whatever you want."

The two boys left as I slid from bed. Missy opened her eyes and said, "I'll be out to help in a minute."

While I put on my clothes, Kathy and Juanita got up and asked me, "Is Mercy okay now? She was having a terrible dream last night."

Missy sat up, "Well, I guess no one is going to let me get anymore sleep, so I might as well get up." She shook Mercy and leaned over to shake Sue. "Hey, you two, if I can't sleep, you two can't either. Get up and help with the kids."

I was shaking my head as I went out to the parlor. Greg told me they had agreed on pancakes, so I called room service. They said they didn't have pancakes, but did have waffles. I turned and asked the kids, "Are waffles okay? They don't have pancakes."

When they agreed, I told room service to bring a lot, enough for at least twenty people with lots of butter and syrup. I had them bring two gallons of milk and two gallons of orange juice with a lot of glasses. I think the resort was getting used to us by now, and didn't question me on quantities.

Dewey came in and fixed himself a Bloody Mary at the bar. As the girls began coming from their rooms, they wanted one too, so Kathy became the bartender and got everyone drinks. Chuck's Asian sisters, Julie, and Gina came out, and Julie immediately asked, "Have you heard from Chuck and Lisa?"

Mercy elbowed me and pointed. She was pointing at the triplets, Trixie, Dixie, and Tom. The three were sitting, looking at each other with a strange expression. Trixie turned to look at her mom, but didn't say anything. Tom waited a second before saying, "Chuck and Lisa are on the boat. I don't think they are playing music though."

Mercy grinned at me and raised an eyebrow. My mind did a cartwheel as I thought, 'Oh no, more people who can listen and talk to people. When did this happen?'

I quietly asked Mercy, "When did you notice this going on?"

She was still grinning and said, "They've been getting more perceptive every day for the last year. I know the three can talk to each other, but I haven't listened in. Now I know they can feel someone's presence. Pretty neat, huh?"

Missy flooded my head with, "We all love you, Steve."

Yeah right, like that's going to help me try to hide from my kids. I whispered to Mercy, "Is Mike like that too?"

Mercy said, "I'm not sure. I don't think he is tuned in to anyone, but it may be because he's all boy and can't be bothered with something that's running around in his head. I calm him the same way I do all of the kids, but I don't see any difference like I do with the triplets, or triples as the kids used to call themselves."

That gave me a smile as I remembered how one or the other would be mad at the other two and didn't want to be a "triple" anymore.

Mercy said, "How about I go see how Chuck and Lisa are doing? Or better yet, let me send, Julie. She'll be able to handle anything strange a lot better."

Instead of Julie going by herself, the Asian sisters and Gina headed down to the boat with her. While we were pigging out on waffles, Chuck and Lisa, looking a little haggard, with Lisa wearing a ball cap, came in with the four who had gone after them. Chuck looked around and said, "Good to see everyone this morning."

There was something in Chuck's voice that told me he was especially and genuinely happy to see all of us. I wonder if he'll ever tell me what happened. I wonder if Mercy and Missy should even let them know they felt them last night and were seeing through their eyes.

Dewey had gone to his suite and came back in saying, "Hey, turn on the TV. There was something big that happened last night down on the commercial docks. It's like fifty people were killed, but over a hundred kidnapped kids were rescued and freed. There must be a hundred cameras down there right now."

I saw Chuck and Lisa look at each other. They didn't say anything, just continued sipping on a Bloody Mary.

As the morning progressed, with most of the kids out playing on the beach, Dewey said, "I think we've got this casino cheating thing sorted out. As a group, we're going to use the recovered profits to collectively purchase another resort in Cannes that's for sale. That will be the best way to divide the money and will give us an additional holding. We are hiring a general manager for all of the area resorts so we can keep our standards and quality of service up. My job here is done. I should go back home and take care of business, but I'm thinking I'd like to sail with you guys. Will there be enough room with all of the extra people you're adding?"

I said, "I don't think anyone was going to be assigned to your cabin suite, and the kids bunk together. I think it would be good to have you along. I'd love for you to come with us, but you'd better ask the owner of that tub."

Kenny was at the bar with the band, when he said, "You call that a tub? My goodness that must be one of the top one hundred sailboats in the world. If not, I sure would like to see all the better ones."

Chuck was smiling, "Dewey, you know you will always have a cabin on that tub, as Steve calls it. You and your family are my family too."

Sheila went over to Chuck and hugged him, "We feel the same way, Chuck. You need to come out to the islands and see us. It isn't as warm as your island, but it is beautiful."

Chuck said, "I might do that soon. We can always fly out."

I told Chuck, "With all your women and the kids on the way, you might investigate one of the luxury 737s like the charter company has. Your only problem is whether or not it's big enough."

Lisa said, "Hey, I'm checked out and plan to attend the school for that bird. You could do that too so we could fly it together. I'll bet Brandy will want to learn to fly it now that she's been to the Citation school. Her next stop is the Lear or Bombardier school. We could just about go wherever we want."

Missy and Mercy were grinning as they watched Lisa become animated about flying. I knew, and they knew, that Chuck and Lisa were alright now.

Chuck looked around the room and asked, "So it's Monday morning, when do you guys want to ship out of here?"

Everyone looked at each other when little Bonita, after paying close attention to the conversation said, "As soon as possible; right now, if we can. I want to go to Chuck's island."

Carolyn, sitting with Kenny, asked, "Chuck's island? Do you have an island, Chuck?"

Julie spoke up, "He does, because I gave it to him. He's just the man to be caretaker of the island. He's a good man, fair in his thinking, and as you know, loves to make people happy."

Fred was laughing, "You don't need us, you son-of-a-gun, you need a caretaker the way you get so lucky."

Dewey said, "Speaking of lucky, how about one last evening in the casinos. We can go over to Monaco, or stay here in Nice, but I want another shot at making a dent in a few reserves."

Carlos asked, "Is it true that you always win big, Chuck? Dewey said you were probably the luckiest man alive."

Ramona added, "With all of his women, he must have something other than just luck going for him. Carolyn, I think we should investigate his luck, if you know what I mean."

Lisa held up her hand, "Now, now, Ladies, this is my prime stud. Considering that he has the darling little sisters, Gina, and Julie to take care of, in addition to me, I'd say the man is going to be busy."

Fred said, "Chuck, I've been wondering how you handle all those women. If you're doing it often, you must be a real stud, all right."

"Let me tell you about how he has handled his entire group a couple of nights and an afternoon in a row," Lisa said puffing her chest out as if she had done it. "Studly, here, is always ready for us."

Sue told all of us, "I'm going to set the schedule, for leaving, that is, if Chuck doesn't mind. We'll stay here tonight and sail in the morning. We should talk to Michael and Chanda to see what they are going to do, but that is what I want us to do. We ladies will get the larder and freezer stocked with what meat we want, and load up on fresh vegetables, eggs, and such, while you men need to go over the charts and weather to check on travel time."

Chuck held his hand up, "I've already been over the charts and know that it's a little under six thousand miles. If we average around 13 knots, which we should easily make, it should take eighteen to twenty-one days."

While nudging Carlos, Ramona said, "Looks like a lot of good sunbathing, Baby. I'll be so dark you won't be able to find me without the light on."

Sue told the girls of the band, "Oh, we'll do a lot of sunbathing. The top of the salon is one big sun deck and we all go up there to lay out, nude, of course. Gets the guys all worked up, you know."

The Asian sisters had been outside watching the kids, and one came to the door and asked, "We need more moms out here. Some of the kids want to swim and two of us can't watch all of them.

Juanita, Kathy, and Sheena all left to help watch the kids. Julie commented, "I'm lucky my kids didn't drown out there on the island. They played in the water all of the time, mostly without supervision from the time they were probably eight or nine."

Sue said, "All of our kids learned to swim as infants or small babies. They could instinctively turn over and float on their backs. Now, they are all like fish, but the ocean is different, there can be undertows near the beaches."

The band, Lisa, and I all went to the boat to make sure we had everything we needed for the trip. When we came back, Fred said he was low on strings, and Kenny nodded, "I'm low too. We should probably hunt for a local store."

Lisa happily said, "I'll find one. I just love to hunt for antique and special guitars. Chuck lets me buy just about anything I want, so I take advantage of that."

Chuck told the group, "Lisa has a thing about owning a copy of every classic or an original out there. I think I'll begin decorating the house with her antiques and signature guitars; might as well show them off."

"Good idea, Chuck," Lisa exclaimed. "That would be a great way to decorate the place. We can put them in the living room, the big dining room, and the family room, of course. I'll get some more for the studio too."

Chuck was laughing, "Down, girl, down. You can add to your collection a little at a time, you know. You don't have to fill all the walls right away." Lisa gave Chuck a hug to let him know she was teasing.

Lisa used the phone for a while, and the group took off for a music store shortly after. I went down to the boat to begin checking on mundane stuff like propane, diesel fuel, if the holding tank had been emptied and flushed, and how the fresh water was testing. It took me a while to go through all of the standard stuff and check the sails and gear. Just to be on the safe side, I used the winch and pulley to pull the big Zodiac out of its cabinet. I lowered it into the water and started the big outboard. I powered out into the marina and brought it back to the davit lines. Before I put it away, I used shore fresh water to wash the Zodiac and rinse the motor out.

I checked all of the safety equipment on the lifeboat, along with checking that there was plenty of water, meals, and a first aid kit. The big cover for the boat would be important to keep us out of the sun and inclement weather, but we'll hopefully never need it. After using the electric pulley to put the Zodiac back into its compartment, I brought the dinghy up and washed its bottom.

Just for fun, I started both engines and let them run a little, checking out the battery systems and the generators. The gauges showed that all of the batteries were good and at peak charge. That is always good in case we have a generator problem. We always have the big generator that runs off the main engines, but who wants to run a big engine when we have a very powerful and quiet little generator?

I was closing up the boat when Sue, Mercy, Julie, and the sisters came down the dock, pushing and pulling a huge flat cart full of boxes. Sue exclaimed, "Oh, Honey, we're so lucky you're here. Will you help us get this stuff into the galley?"

While I was hauling stuff aboard, Chuck, Lisa, and the band came down the dock with a stack of equipment. They must have forgotten to bring a bunch of stuff from the show. Chuck and the band helped carry groceries to make it go faster.

The chore didn't take that much time, and while we were doing this, Chanda, Michael, and the Captain of the Irish Bell came over. Chanda said, "Michael and I really don't want to go home yet. The kids said you're going to the island Julie gave you before you go home. Would you mind if we sort of traveled with you? I know you go slowly, and our Captain here may become impatient traveling so slow, but we do want to see the island."

Chuck told Chanda and the Captain, "You know, if you want, you can go into the Limon Yacht club for a few days while waiting for us to get there. You can use my condo in Limon and meet the housekeepers. We have a smaller motor yacht you could use if you wanted to go fishing. The ladies on board will be glad to take you out. Since you are a friend of mine, I can call ahead and arrange everything for you. I'm sure you will be welcome. If you take off when we do, you'll be there in about ten days. That will give you ten or eleven days to explore Costa Rica."

Chanda thought about it a minute and asked, "If we were to do that, is there entertainment for the crew? They will want to explore too, like we did in Italy."

Chuck told her, "You guys can do it together or go separately. Have the crew check into the hotel at the yacht club so they can air out their bunks. I'll tell the manager of the club to treat your people like kings and they will be. I'll ask him to get you a guide so that you can go up into the mountains where there is a wonderful view of the ocean, and you can see and experience the different cultures as you go higher."

Chanda was smiling, and sheepishly asked, "You know our kids are going to want to be with all of yours. Do you think there is enough room?"

Sue said, "Sure, you know how kids are, they'll figure it out. The boys will stay with the boys, and the girls with the girls. They will have a great time."

I asked Chanda and Michael, "We're planning on a nice meal in the restaurant tonight, and then going out to the casinos one last time. You are welcome to join us if you want. We are having several hotel nannies stay with our kids, so a few more children won't make a difference."

Chanda smiled, "We would like that and thanks for letting the kids travel with you. Ours just love to be with your big group. You even have the four Italian kids our children are talking about. That must be a riot down in the crew's quarters. I wonder how they all fit."

Sue commented, "Like I said, the kids work it out."

The girls agreed on a time to meet for dinner, and to be ready to go out to the casinos from there. That meant trying to keep food off the tux my ladies loved for me to wear.

Chuck's ladies showed up with Juanita, Kathy, Sheila, Sheena, and the kids. All of them were happy to wander around the boat, getting the feel of it again. We were all anxious to get out to sea.

Chuck

The Asian sisters, Julie, and Gina woke us up this morning. Since Lisa and I were sleeping nude, I couldn't hide my bandage and, of course, Lisa's large Band-Aid was very obvious against her dark brown hair. Julie and the sisters demanded an inspection of the injured areas while Gina was horrified that I had been shot and Lisa had been clubbed.

Julie and the sisters knew better than to ask what had happened, but Gina wanted to know what had happened and where we were to have this happen. I had to keep telling her it was some law enforcement business that I sometimes had to do. She didn't like the explanation, and even acted a little pissed.

Lisa gave her some hugs and talked with her, and she was soon fine with life again. Lisa and I dressed, with Lisa finding and wearing one of my ball caps. She looked really cute wearing it.

The morning crowd was fun and full of anticipation about sailing. We all agreed to sail tomorrow. Sue was going to be in charge of food, Steve said he would check the boat over, and Lisa and I, we didn't tell the others this, were going for some x-rays, followed by taking the band to find a music store to raid. I could use some more sticks, as the heavy rock stuff was breaking the heads off fairly fast, and all of us were going through strings faster than normal, considering the six shows we just played.

We went to a local hospital for some quick x-rays. They were being slow, but when I reminded the administration that I was paying cash, or at least from a debit card, we were ushered right into the x-ray area. We waited for a doctor to evaluate the x-rays and were told that Lisa's skull was not cracked and I had no rib damage.

Lisa had found a big music store in Nice that advertised Europe's largest collection of vintage guitars. As soon as I saw the sign at the store in big French script, with English underneath, proclaiming vintage guitars, I knew one of my casino debit cards was in trouble.

The first thing we did was to hunt for, and gather, what we really needed. Dan found some music that he thought would be good for the kids to play with the whole band. Fred did the same, and also found some very intricate music that featured violins that would be perfect for Corine and Bonita.

Our next stop in the store was in what they called 'the vintage room.' They had vintage everything. Vintage guitars of all makes, vintage mother of pearl Ludwig and Slingerland drum sets, along with some classic instruments for any music aficionado to want to hear played. There were some classic white gold Selmer of Paris tenor saxes, and one item that I really wanted, an original three quarter Kay standup bass or cello as some call it. I had never played one, but it was something I had always wanted to learn.

Lisa did some asking and found a couple of video training programs for the standup bass, along with a bow so I could add to the strings we already had. Amazingly, we were becoming classical, as well as blues and rock musicians.

Lisa found a few Fender guitars she wanted. One was a 60s standard Stratocaster, while another was the starburst cutaway. She found another classic Les Paul SG that was perfect. She picked it up, played it un-amped, then looked around and was shown an amp already turned on. She plugged in and began laying down some awesome riffs.

Smiling, she handed me the beautiful guitar and told me, "Feel it, play it, you'll see what it's all about, why we have to have it."

The guitar was almost all mahogany, with some mother of pearl inlays in the neck. This was the epitome of '60s' classic Les Paul. At first strike, the guitar was clean sounding from the triple Humbucker pickups. It had the old style tune-a-matic bridge, with a twenty-two fret finger board. Knowing how Les Paul would have demo'd the guitar, I stayed low on frets and high on the fingerboard to reproduce some of Les Paul's famous sounds that Mary Ford used to sing to.

Fred was standing there salivating, but also had tears in his eyes because the sounds from this box were exquisite. After playing just a minute, I handed Fred the precious piece of musical history for him to caress and play.

He did a righteous job playing some Les Paul riffs that were made famous over his many years as a leader within his field. When Fred stopped, he said, "Get this, I want to play it some more, but if I keep up right now, I'm going to mortgage my future for this thing."

We ended up buying several classic Gibsons, Fenders, and a couple of Harmony acoustics. Lisa talked me into buying an older used Blues King acoustic for Bonita, along with another used one for Fred, at a good price. I found another Harmony H-22 fretless bass for Kenny, and I think he would have kissed me on the mouth if I had let him. The more we put aside to purchase, the bigger discounts we were getting. We didn't really put a dent into the casino debit card, but it sure was fun.

When we arrived back at the boat, they were loading food into the galley for our trip. I noticed the crew of the Irish Bell doing the same. While we were helping carry food below, I saw Chanda and Lisa off to the side. Lisa seemed to be laughing, but Chanda looked pretty serious. I couldn't imagine what they could have been scheming up.

As soon as the boat was taken care of, we all went back to the resort suite to get ready for a night on the town. The kids were happy for a night of pizza and movies with some nannies who didn't speak good English. They figured on a good time all around.

We left the kids in the capable hands, we hoped, of four nannies who assured us they could handle our brood. Our next stop was a classic restaurant in Monaco that was world renowned. Dewey had used his pull to get us reservations, and the meal was everything it was billed to be.

Our next stop was a casino operated by one of Dewey's competitors. Dewey sidled up to me and said, "If you can, hurt them a little. They have spread the word around that our group of resorts and casinos were crooked, taking advantage of patrons."

Lisa and Missy went with me as we started out on a low stakes blackjack table. The dealer was obnoxious, so I had the two ladies play with me and we collectively won nearly two hundred thousand Euros before we left. Each of us added to the insult by tossing the jerk a two Euro coin.

Our next stop was the craps table. Several of our group were following us now and placed bets with us.

The two women and I must have felt the same thing as we placed our bets. Amazingly, what we felt would be didn't happen. We had not bet that much, but placed another bet to what we thought would be the winner. Again, we were very wrong.

I looked at the croupier and dove into his head. The asshole was changing dice after the first roll to crap out. I leaned over to Missy, "Think of what the point will be and bet on it only." I turned to Lisa and said, "Follow, Missy."

As soon as all three of us and several band members put money on double fours, box cars, the croupier was going to pull the dice back, but I was next to him and said, "Push the dice to the shooter."

He began to get huffy, but I repeated so the table could hear, "Push the dice to the shooter."

When he became red-faced and hollered for a pit boss, he began to pick up the dice and lay down two others. I slapped his hand and four dice were lying on the table. All of the players surrounding the table gasped at the treachery they saw. The pit boss came over just as Dewey had walked up, he said, "You need to arrest this man and have the gendarmes take him to jail for cheating your customers. Can you imagine the embarrassment your casino will experience for his cheating?"

The pit boss was angry, but knew better than to confront a bunch of customers that may have been cheated all evening. I had everyone pick up their bets and advised, "This table is not lucky, we should probably all play another."

Dewey grinned at me and said, "They have a celebrity pit you might want to try out. They are probably honest down there, and your fans can watch and make side bets. There are people, like bookmakers, who take bets from the audience."

The ladies and I went down the three steps into the den of thieves. At the mutual thought of that, all three of us were nearly laughing. We decided that craps would be fun to start with, so we anteed up a hundred thousand Euro chip for the first bet, an easy win. We placed some consecutive winning bets until everyone on the table was going to bet with us. It was Lisa's turn to throw the dice, so I leaned over to Missy and said, "Let's lay off her rolls to see what the other people do. Lisa looked at me funny, then moved her chips. She threw a three then crapped out with a seven. Missy did about as well by throwing a five and then snake eyes. It was now my turn, so I put down ten one hundred thousand Euro chips, but no one followed my lead. I threw a seven and waved at my pile to indicate I would stay. No one went with me, and I rolled another seven. The next roll that I let all of my chips stay on, was still the pass line. A few placed their bets with me and I rolled an eleven. This next time, several placed their bets with me but I moved mine to six. No one went with me and son-of-gun, I rolled a six twice in a row, two threes the first time, and a four and two the second. I pulled all of my chips from the table, except the original hundred thousand bet, rolled a nine followed by a seven. I smiled, was given a tray for my chips and headed for the roulette table.

Missy wanted to play cards and convinced Lisa that she should join her, so the two took off for the poker area.

Steve came down with me and asked, "If they leave, does that mess you up?"

"Not really. The three of us were occasionally talking about what was coming, but it didn't seem to make a difference."

Dewey came down with a stack of chips, "Hey, I've been placing side bets on you and look what I have. I think I will join you on the roulette table."

We swapped our chips for roulette chips, and when I placed some chips on red, my two friends followed and placed them on red with me. We left our winnings on red and won again. I felt we needed a change and moved half of what we had to black, a winner.