Unearthly Power (4 page)

“I’ll bet,” Alex said with a knowing smirk as they continued their walk.

“I’m so misunderstood,” Sean said in mock despair.

They went a little further before he began again. “Needless to say, our popular mother and our successful father had lofty goals for their children. I was to be a lawyer and Dee was slated for an acting career. She has the looks to do it, but hated it with a passion. Mother tried to start her out on a few commercial appearances but it was not to be. Little sister could put up quite the fuss when she had her mind set,” he said with a hint of admiration. “When I chose the Navy over graduate school, dad was agreeable,
and mother was tolerant. When I chose diving over something more dignified, mother simply chose not to talk about it. That was best for all concerned. The only trade-off with it was that her attention once again turned toward my sister. I was always more to Dee than just her older brother. I was there for her when she fought with mother. I was there for her when both our parents were away. The times when mother took a serious interest in Dee always seemed to be contrary to what Dee wanted to do herself. She was torn between pleasing our parents and being her own person. Whenever things got out of hand, I usually stepped in to take the heat and deflect the issue. Dee can be ‘tough as nails’ sometimes, but there are certain things I’m just better at dealing with.”

“You two are pretty close,” Alex said unnecessarily.

“Yeah.”

“But you still fight all the time,” Alex said with a smile.

“No. We disagree a lot; we only fight when I see too much of our mother coming out in her. Other than that, I’ll always be there for her. I think that is one of the problems that linger even now. Mother knows that she can’t influence her as she would like to, and just waits in anticipation of when I fail her.”

“That sounds kind of harsh. Your mom and dad both seem like really nice people.”

“They
are
nice. They gave us everything we could have ever wanted. But, while dad was able to let go and let us be who we are, mother couldn’t do that. I lived it, you didn’t. I also live with my sister who can’t accept it as plainly as I do. I love my mother, but I also understand her and at times I don’t like her. Dad, of course, is married to her and has to take a different position. I don’t blame him for it. It is what it is. That’s why I brought her here. We could have gone someplace else, but Dee needs to feel the security of ‘home.’ She is ready to forgive and be generous of heart. I just help to temper the residual effects.” After he said this he stopped to look his friend in the face. “If you speak one word of this to Dee, you can go find yourself another job and another buddy.” The look on his face held a smile, but there was also a level of seriousness Alex had never noticed in him before.

He picked up on this and said, “Your secret i
s safe with me, you old softy.”

They smiled genuinely at each other while Sean diverted the conversation to the physical property itself. “Here is where we . . .” Alex was then shown every hiding place and point of interest on the estate a young boy could have. He half paid attention while his thoughts turned toward Deidra. She was absolutely stunning in appearance. She could have easily been an actress with that asset alone. He never thought of her in a physical way before. He always knew she was beautiful, but he never had feelings for her in that regard. He didn’t know if it was because of his friendship with her brother, or if it was instinctual. Sometimes people just knew they were not meant for each other, and therefore never tried to complicate their friendship with anything more. What he thought about his friend before only became reinforced with the voluntary disclosure today. The two rarely talked about their personal lives and Alex was glad to
be finally included, at least to a certain extent. His own life was much more simple. His mother died when he was young and he and his father never really got along. He lived his own life and his father lived his: as simple as that.

The remainder of their visit went surprisingly well. Jack tried his hand at grilling extra-large T-bone steaks while everyone else sat on the patio watching the inordinate amount of smoke rise from the grill whenever he opened the lid. It was a combination of high heat and poor cooking skills which rendered the steaks scorched and dry on the outside and raw and bloody on the inside. Nobody said a word about them as they prudently filled themselves on the many side dishes Molly had prepared.  

Things went so well, in fact, that Sean suspected that his parents had ulterior motives; at least his mother anyway. The subject of his work was avoided and this surprised him. They were forever encouraging Deidra to move closer to home and offered whatever assistance they could provide her in doing so. They felt she was wasting her time helping her brother on a fruitless operation. For her part, Dee deflected the issue deftly whenever it did surface. Sean figured they were simply presenting a pleasant and stable atmosphere for comparison when all else failed. That was fine with him. He’d never want Dee to be in a bad situation, but he also didn’t believe their luck would stay down forever.

They left the following morning after some emotional goodbyes between Dee and their parents. After a quiet first hour on the road Deidra said, “Thank you,” to her brother while looking at him in the mirror. He looked back and winked at her. Alex started a conversation about the upcoming charter, which served to eat up time as the remaining miles rolled by.

A
fter taking Dee to her apartment, Sean and Alex were quiet for the last leg of their drive home. Dee’s answering machine had been full when they walked in. All but one of the messages was from Mr. Zybinski at the bank. The other call was from one of the young teachers who was always trying to talk Deidra into going out with them as a group, and with him in particular. He sounded much more pleasant than the banker; at least he wasn’t making any threatening comments. At the moment, she wasn’t interested in returning any of the calls. She had been smart enough to turn off her cell phone for the trip.

Knowing that she never left home without it, Sean chose to do just that with his. The two of them would be able to get a few hours of sleep before having to make the final preparations for their trip.

Sean wasn’t able to sleep for more than three hours. It was still dark, but he decided they might as well get started. Alex had other ideas about that as he was sleeping just fine and didn’t share his friend’s enthusiasm for doing anything else at the moment. Once they finally agreed to go, sleep being no longer possible for either of them, they put all of the food they had in their refrigerator into coolers. They would stop on the way to the dock and pick up the remaining disposable supplies.

By the time they had everything onboard, the sun started to split the line between earth and sky. With nothing impeding its view, it spread its rays across the waters, gradually claiming more space as the various sea birds came alive for the new day. There was little to do other than wait because most of their work had been done before they went to Virginia. Alex was triple checking their gear while Sean made the wheelhouse presentable. The craft normally slept up to fifteen people in six separate staterooms, but two of the rooms were converted into storage space. They cleaned and prepared two rooms for their five guests.

To Sean’s approval, the charter guests arrived earlier than expected. He asked Alex to help with their baggage. Ignoring the more colorful parts of his response, Sean turned his attention to the people themselves. The professor was easy to pick out of the bunch. His bearing and attire was what one expected of someone who spent the majority of their time in the halls of academia. The other three men were something altogether different. They had the look of military men.
No
, Sean thought,
not exactly military but possibly mercenary
. He was studying them out of mild curiosity until the last passenger had finally extricated herself from the second vehicle. She had long blond hair which she shook out with a subtle turn of her head. It was innocent yet sensuous. She slid her sun glasses from the top of her head to their proper resting place. She wore tight fitting white colored shorts with a T-shirt under a light waterproof jacket that was open in the front. Sean noticed too that she had soft soled shoes on.
Well, at least she has some sense
, he thought to himself.

Sean passed his friend who had his arms full of gear and was in the process of walking down the wooden plank between the dock and their boat. Sean went straightaway to help the young lady with her things. She smiled and thanked him with a generous array of white teeth and a dimple on her left cheek.

“Sean Rylan,” he said offering her his hand.

“Tori, Tori James.” She replied.

Sean picked up her bags and took them to the boat while she followed. Alex only had to carry the professor’s gear as the other men politely, but firmly, refused any help. It was as if they didn’t want anyone but them to touch their things. That was fine with Alex. He had enough to do to add the duties of an errand boy on top of it. And as was usually the case, Sean managed to make himself of service to the only girl on the trip.

They greeted each other in turn once they were all safely onboard. Professor Kirby James appeared to be in his late fifties, had a well-trimmed light-colored beard, thin glasses, and the look of a scholar. He was well spoken and proper in his manner. He introduced Tori as his daughter. She was one of the divers who would be joining Sean on the descent. She was also experienced with the ROV they would be picking up in Nassau. Sean guessed her age to be in the mid-twenties.
When he had taken his attention from the young lady, Sean once again considered the three men they had to assist them. The men were of similar age and bearing. There was something about them he just couldn’t put his finger on. That they had a military background was obvious. They were also foreign. Their command of English was masterful, but Sean detected enough inflection to tell the difference between being foreign in origin and being foreign in name only.

Marcel seemed to be in charge of the other two men. Finley was introduced as the second diver and Sean never heard the name of the third man as his attention was distracted. Another car had pulled into the parking lot by the dock and came to an abrupt stop. As soon as she was
away from the other cars he saw that it was his sister. She was moving quickly toward the boat. Sean met her on the dock.

“Zybinski said the boat now belongs to the bank. You can’t take it o
ut. He’s on his way here now,” she said in a low voice so that only he could hear her.

Just then two more vehicles pulled into the lot. Sean didn’t take the time to identify the passengers as he was sure he knew who they were. He walked back down the plank pulling his sister in tow.

“Is there a problem?” Professor Kirby asked.

“No. Everything is fine. In fact, why don’t you all go to
your rooms and make yourself comfortable? We will get underway immediately,” he said while holding out his hand in a gesture to encourage them to move inside.

They picked up their remaining gear and followed his direction with some hesitation as the scene piqued their curiosity. There was a slightly balding man shouting and pointing at the boat as he almost ran in their direction. Sean had Dee usher them forward telling them it was just another charter who wanted to book his services for the day but he had turned him down. Once they were inside, Alex ran up the plank and cast off the stern line. He then ran forward and cast the bow line
from the dock in greater haste than he was accustomed to. Dee helped. She rarely went out to sea with them, but she was caught in the moment. Sean increased power to the engines and slowly pulled away from the dock as the plank fell into the water and Alex jumped safely onboard. The three men from the bank were now on the dock. The only way they could make it on board the Cantankerous II would require them to get their perfectly tailored suits wet. Sean didn’t think that was likely.

“Mr. Rylan! You can’t take the boat. Bring it back here immediately!” he shouted at them. “Mr. Rylan! Mr. Rylan!” He continued to yell.

Sean stepped out of the wheelhouse and looked toward the three unhappy men. He waved back at the little man who was engaged in a highly energetic and animated display some fifteen yards away.

“Thanks for seeing us off. We’ll catch up with you when we get back. See ya later!” Sean said as he continued to wave. He stepped back inside and pushed a compact disc into its player. Gordon Zybinski was endowed with a healthy set of lungs. His voice carried a little too well over the morning calm. A moment later the rock song ‘Back in the Saddle Again’ was thundering throughout the boat on the many internal and external speakers they added to the original system, effectively drowning out the shouts from the little man on the dock.

He navigated his way through the harbor buoys and prayed that Gordon was not in the state of mind to think to call the coast guard or any other maritime law enforcement agency. He didn
’t think they would be stopped—there was no real way to prove delinquency on a loan when he was up to date on all of his licenses—but it was better to be safe. Gordon had no idea where he was going or how long he would be gone. If anything, he would probably just camp out at the dock waiting for them to return. That was fine with Sean.
The next time we pull into dock, we’ll have enough money to get ol’ Gordon Zybinski off our backs.