Page 47 of Beaches

“We don’t need luck,” said Major. “We’ve got right on our side. Right and faith. That’s all we need. Right?”

His smirk made Nine want to smack him, but he reminded him too much of himself.

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s all we need.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“Sir! Sir, you have to come up top,” said John.

“What’s wrong? What’s happening?”

“Sir, we have three men on our deck, and they’re demanding to see you.”

“Three men? Kill them!”

“Sir. One of them is your brother.”

He threw back the covers, grabbed his robe and slippers, and moved as quickly as his portly body would carry him up the steps. Sure enough, standing on the deck was his brother, with two men pointing a weapon at his neck.

“Lawrence? Lawrence, how? How are you alive?” he asked.

“Lawrence can’t speak right now,” said Noa.

“What have you done to him?”

“What have we done to him? Well, from what we’ve heard, you’ve had quite a time with little girls, young women, children, and, of course, men. Servicemen, to be specific. Did you enjoy torturing and killing?”

“Lawrence, what did you tell them?”

“He told us a lot,” smiled Cruz. “Didn’t you, Lawrence? He told us about the weapons on this boat. He told us about the accounts all over the world. He told us about all your sleazy friends who didn’t bother to help you.”

“This is a trick. He’s dead. My brother is dead.” His brother’s eyes looked up, staring at him with pain and anguish. “No. No, this isn’t right.”

The lights of the yacht dimmed, flickered, then darkened completely. The hum of the engines was silenced.

“What’s happening?” he yelled at John. “Why didn’t you see them coming?”

“I’m not sure, sir.”

“Kill them!”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said Nine, standing behind him. His wet suit was dripping on the teak deck, Ian and Ghost behind him. Gaspar stood near Cruz and Noa. Slowly, men came over the edge of the ship’s deck, one after another.

“What do you want?”

“You,” laughed Gaspar. “We came all this way just to see your face before we kill you.”

“Let my brother go,” he pleaded.

“Okay,” said Gaspar. He waved a hand through the image, and it flickered, then disappeared. “Hologram. A really, really good one. It’s not exactly a hologram. I can’t remember what the geeks said it was called.”

“How did you get on this ship?”

“Oh, that was easy. I can’t tell you, but it was easy,” said Ghost. “Right now, your submersible is being set free. Now, of course, it will sink because there’s no propulsion system any longer. We were able to disengage that and disarm your cannons. Nice touch, by the way.”

“If you’re going to kill me, just do it,” he said defiantly. The men smiled at him, watching as the dark figure behind him slammed a knife through his back until it came out the front. It was slowly pulled from his body as he gasped for air.

“You’re going to die slowly. You will die for all those girls who died.”

---