A thin line of sunlight shone brightly at the top of the wall opposite the library. The sky was just starting to become light when Brian opened his eyes. There was a stack of clothes neatly folded next to him. He looked over his shoulder to his left and saw the beautiful girl asleep in her bed, her wild hair flowing over the pillow and sheets. He slowly and quietly stood up and strolled over to the shower. He showered quickly and put on the clothes she’d provided. A Calvin Klein long-sleeve shirt, jeans, and some lightweight army boots. “So, pirates wear Calvin Klein, who knew,” He thought to himself with a chuckle. He slid over behind the bar to see what he might find to snack on. There was a small refrigerator below the bar, and a small oven range above it.
Raul was starting to stir. She turned her head upwards and sniffed at the air. “What are you making?”
“Just a couple of omelets. Do you like omelets? I thought you must, because that’s pretty much the only ingredients you had in here.” He said in his bluesy morning voice.
Her mouth quickly turned upward in a smile. Then she collapsed back down onto her pillow.
Having finished breakfast, they suited up and went out for the day. When the two stepped out the front door into the day they paused for a moment. There was a feeling of pulling. He could sense that she had to go one way and he another. She smiled at him and turned to walk away.
“Wait a minute,” He said. She turned back around, smiling with surprise and expectation now. He reached out his hand. She lifted hers to meet him. He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him. She showed no resistance. He still refrained from embracing her, but she looked as though she had stars in her eyes. Brian smiled and then he placed his hand over her mouth. Her eyes showed her curiosity. Before she had time to think he turned her head to the side and kissed her cheek. He paused after completing the kiss, keeping his mouth next to the side of her face. She could no doubt feel his warm breath on her cheek and ear. He smiled and whispered,” Thanks for breakfast.” Then he dashed off to work, walking away from her. After about ten paces or so he spun around to walk backwards. He saw her standing there smiling, watching him go. He smiled at her and spun back around to walk to the weapons container.
“Something must be seriously wrong with me,” He smiled up to G-d as he walked. “I’ve been abducted by criminals who tell me they will likely kill me, but I am walking on AIR BABY!” He said excitedly.
Brian burst through the door to the weapons container. He had seen some of the other workers coming from down the corridors. There was a big grin on his face. Mo was bent over a dark green box of guns and turned to look over his shoulder as Brian entered. Mo chuckled.
“Boy there must be something wrong with you,” Mo said with a broad smile.
“Why would you say that?” Brian said, still smiling.
“Don’t you know you have been abducted by criminals? Your life is in continual danger, man! You’re not supposed to be smiling like the cat who ate the canary!”
Brian smiled even bigger. His smile was so big it looked like he must have some electrodes hidden in his hair line or something on full blast.
“Well, I guess its good. If your life is in danger, you may as well enjoy it, right?” Mo said. “Let’s see if you can smile while you take all those ammunition boxes in the corner and put them on the boat.”
A couple of hours flew by, picking up ammo boxes and carrying them onto one of the two smaller boats. Most of the workers broke off for a few minutes to go grab some water and a snack from the commissary. Brian bent down to pick up another load of boxes and paused to wipe some sweat from his brow. “Hey Mo, tell me about Raul’s Dad…”
Mo stopped what he was doing for a moment and looked at Brian.
“Well, did you know him?”
“Yeah, I knew him. He was in charge of this outfit when I came on board. I actually came on board not long before Raul did.”
“What was he like?”
“Well, He was really good at what he does. Man, real good. He had charisma, for sure. He could walk into a high class party and walk out with a handful of expensive personal effects in his pocket. Along with a new girlfriend and a couple of contacts for jobs.” Mo paused while he was writing some numbers on a piece of paper on a clipboard. “He could be pretty ruthless too. He would kill people who knew information on him or anybody who crossed him one time. I mean if you made a mistake that was one thing, but if you did something against him on purpose, you were done. But still, he wasn’t as ruthless as Raul is now.” His tone darkened.
“So, Raul wasn’t as ruthless then as she is now. Is it just since the death of her dad that she’s been that way?” Brian asked in a hushed tone.
“Well, yeah, You could say that, but I think the word ‘death’ would be a little inaccurate. She killed him.”
Brian couldn’t help his reaction. His mouth hung open and he rolled backward on his heels until he fell from squatting to sitting on his butt.
“Wow,” Brian uttered. “Why’d she do that?”
“I don’t know. She’s not really one to talk about her deepest hurts, ya know.” Mo spoke calmly. “All I know is there was a heck of a fight between the two of them. She stumbled out of their container with a knife in her belly. He never came out at all.”
