Chapter 59

When we boarded the boat, I noticed that Sally was seated to the front so she wouldn't be splashed. My weight and the operator's would be in the center and back, picking the front out of the water. I watched as she was gently helped into the small door in the side of the ship by Captain LeMeur himself. He immediately hugged her and welcomed her aboard. When I stepped in he came over to me, and shook my hand. He welcomed me aboard again, asking what we needed. I explained to him why we were here, and he instantly became all business. He had one of the sailors escort Sally to the infirmary and told him to stay with her. When they left, he looked at me and invited me into his quarters saying he wanted to talk to me in private. When we went in, he immediately poured us coffee, looking at me in a speculative manner.

"I can see you are very upset about what happened, Jon. I do not blame you as I was livid myself when I found out what happened. The Private is facing serious problems and has already been stripped of his instructor status. He will be sent to Guyana to the stockade there to face charges of willfully disobeying orders as well as endangering civilians. I have talked to the Battalion Commander and he has taken a personal interest in this. The other two men are also facing charges, but I will personally take care of them. I will not bring the Corporal up on charges since he had no part in what happened. He was ready to shoot Castille himself when he found out what was going on. He loves those girls like they were his own, and was very upset that they were put in danger. He told his men at formation this morning that if any of them put those girls in danger again, that he would personally castrate them. Jon, I can only offer my apologies about what happened, and assure you that nothing like this will ever happen again."

"Captain, you are in command here and I will leave any punishment in your capable hands. What I want to know is, how long has Maurice Dupree been hiding from me?"

He looked at me in surprise before he busted up laughing.

"I tried to tell him it wouldn't work, but he seemed to think he could get away with his little charade. How long have you known he was onboard, Jon?"

"I had no idea until I talked to the other girls this morning. I only know one man who is a self defense instructor who has a silly little grin on his face like what the girls described. Captain, if I get my hands on him, I am going to personally put knots on his hard head. What the hell is he doing here, and why wasn't I told about it since the President put me in charge out here temporarily?"

"That I cannot answer, Jon, since I was personally told not to open my mouth about him being here. He came in the next day after we transmitted the information on the disks to Interpol. He has kept a low profile and only goes to the island when he thinks it's safe and you won't see him. I don't mind him being here, but I would love to know what he is up to since he only uses his personal phone to talk to his boss. He hasn't set foot in the safe room since he was dropped off by a private speed boat. As a matter of fact, I didn't find out he was the one teaching the self defense classes to the girls until the Corporal asked me why an Interpol agent would be wearing a Legion uniform and pretending to be a Private. When I asked him about it, he gave me that stupid grin of his, and said he was repaying an old debt to a friend and refused to talk about it anymore."

I poured myself another cup of coffee, my mind going a hundred miles an hour, trying to figure out what debt he might owe me. Why he would take it upon himself to personally teach the girls since he was an assistant director and never worked the field anymore. As a matter of fact, it had been a bit unusual to see him at the funeral. After he was almost killed in Nigeria, he went into Interpol and hardly ever left the country again. I was missing something here, and I figured now was the time to get to the bottom of it.

"Captain, is he onboard at this time?"

"Yes, he was talking to Private Castille the last time I saw him."

"If you don't mind, I would like to use your cabin to talk to him. Can you have him paged to report to you here?"

"I can and will, Jon, but do me a favor if you can and let me know what the hell he is doing aboard my ship, will you?"

He got up and went out the door saying not to tear his cabin up if we decided to get into it. He said he would send a seaman with more coffee before he paged Maurice. He did and it was delivered in short order. I heard the page go out over the ship's intercom and sat back and waited. In a short while the knock came and I said to come in. When he came in and saw me sitting there, I could see the shock and surprise all over his face. I watched as he closed the door, took a deep breath, and sat down opposite me. I poured him a cup of coffee, not saying a word because I was a little bit shocked at his appearance. Since I had last seen him at the funeral, he looked like he had lost about fifty pounds and had big bags under his eyes.

"Well Maurice, care to tell me what's going on? Posing as a private and teaching the girls and my daughter self defense moves that only you or I, and another master should know. Dammit, Maurice, why the charade?"

"I am sorry, Jon, but I was under orders. This was the only way I could gather the information I needed and stay close to you, my friend. You and your family are in terrible danger and I made them assign me to the case because of our relationship. Jon, there is a huge contract out on you and that girl you rescued. The church has spread the word all over the world and we know of at least ten top liquidators that are en route here as we speak. I was planning on talking to you as soon as I got all of my plans in motion. I feel terrible about what happened to Sally, and I take full blame for it. Castille is one of my men who was also assigned to watch over your family, but he screwed it up by doing what he did. We have agents all over the islands with orders to watch all arrivals, no matter which way they arrive. Jon, I am sorry about all of this, but it is Interpol's fault. We had a mole who leaked all the information we had to the church almost as soon as we received it. We have him in custody but we caught him too late to stop it from going out. The President has personally ordered over fifty agents into the surrounding islands to watch over you and your guests. I am sorry I let you down, my friend."

To say I was shocked would be an understatement, but I was shocked to my toes. This wasn't at all what I expected, and I didn't know what to say or how to react to the overload of information. My family was in danger as well as Michelle. I was stumped as to how I should react or what I should do. Because of my stupid reaction to the disks, I had put everyone's lives in danger. I knew then that I had to get Jubal and Farley off the island as soon as possible so they could raid that compound to take some of the heat off us. Maybe if the church was kept busy we could slip off the island and go ... where? Then it hit me what I was going to do. I needed to talk to Quanta and as soon as possible.

"Maurice, you can explain all of this to everyone with me this evening. I expect you to be present for supper and tell the whole story. My friend, I don't know what you thought you could achieve by doing it the way you did, but next time, come to me as a man and a comrade. Don't sneak around like a snake in the bush. Now, please leave before I lose my temper and demand that we take the walk again. You have insulted me and my family by your actions, and no, I don't want to hear your excuses."

He looked at me in shock for a moment and then got up and went out the door with his head low. Dammit, what the hell did he think he was trying to prove? If I had known about this sooner, I could have made plans and done what I was about to do sooner. Now I was trapped by Interpol's habit of silence and my family was caught up in it too. I knew the church wouldn't hesitate to use them to get to me, but I wasn't about to let it happen. I got up and almost ran over the Captain coming in as I was going out. I quickly gave him a short update, telling him what I had been told and asked if Sally was ready to go. He said she was waiting on the raft and that was why he was coming to get me. He looked at me for a moment and said; "If you need anything, you have the number here. I don't care what it takes, if I can help I will, Jon."

"Thank you, Captain, but right now I need to return and talk to an old friend and make some plans of my own. See if you can push the islands defenses along a little faster, will you?"

"I will get on the horn about that immediately, and I will also put one of the helicopters on alert status around the clock. I will also contact my sister ship and start flying patrols around the area, looking for boats. Do not worry, they will not be allowed to approach the island without your approval. I will have a headset sent to you with both radio frequencies on it, so you can stay in touch with both ships and us with you. If you have any doubts about anything, just call and we will immediately check it out for you. Good luck, Jon, and tell your family and guests that we are all watching over them for you. The men feel as if your family is their own, and I think to a man, they have adopted all of you. The girls mean a great deal to them, especially your daughter."

"Thank you, Captain, and thank the men for me. I know the girls love them like big brothers."

He just smiled as I climbed into the raft. Sally greeted me with a smile and a quick kiss as we got underway, heading back to the island. I was glad to see she was smiling and seemed to be happy after talking to Castille. I just hoped she didn't sense my distress and ask about it. When we hit the beach, she immediately ran up the steps leaving me to watch her enthusiasm and walking by myself. When I got to the top, I was met by Kat. I told her to spread the word that we would be having a guest for dinner and to tell Farley to get shaved immediately. She laughed and said he already had and was a handsome looking devil without his beard. Then at my look, she busted out in that little girl laughter I loved so much.