Just The Way You Like It - Under Construction

Chapter Seventy-One

Chapter Seventy-One

Sam ran down the hall, following the blood trail down the the pier gate. Three of the Agents were loading up Willub's old yacht, getting it ready to set sail. “Hey!” Sam shouted, making his voice carry over the crashing waves. One of the men waved him over, and Sam scurried as quickly as he could to get onto the deck.

“You doing the dump, or you want us to?” The man asked, panting out the words as he dragged a massive garbage bag down the deck.

“I'll do it.” Sam said, relieving the load from the man. The size and shape of the bag made Sam sweat as he hoped against all hope that the person inside wasn't who he thought it might be. “What happened?”

“Don't know. We all thought The Chairman was just gonna have us knock him out, but he never told us to stop. So we killed him.”

“Damn it!” Sam couldn't help but let out his frustration. The one person Sam needed alive and well was now dead. And, Alice probably wasn't going to talk after Sam told her of his error. “When did all this happen?” Sam finally let the bag drop, stashing it out of sight.

“I dunno. Less than twenty minutes. Why do you care?”

“I don't.” Sam knew he needed to stop prodding. “Alright, I'll run him out. Hey, do me a favor though. Clean up that mess you made back there in the hallway. The Chairman wants it taken up pronto.”

“Yeah yeah, okay.”

The three men got off the yacht, shutting the pier door behind them. Finally alone, Sam began tearing through the bag's outer lining with his knife. “Oh fuck.” He mumbled, seeing his worst nightmare come true. What was left of Blake was stuffed into the bag. He was broken in several places and severely misshapen, but still obviously Blake. His head had a weird dent in it, making him look a bit alien, his chest was caved in a little, and his limbs had been bent wrong so that he would fit into the bag. “Well, come on.” Sam said to the dead body. “Let's get you out to sea.”

Sam started the boat, and made fantastic time out to New Coves. Swinging the yacht around the bay, the old town sent shivers up Sam's spine. The moon was out, without a cloud in the night sky, making the burnt remains of the little town look spooky. It was a shame that place had to be torched. The waters were unusually placid for the area as Sam cut the engine, leaving the air silent and calm.

Grunting from the weight of Blake's body, Sam tugged at the bag as he slowly got it over to the edge of the boat. He was far enough out, he knew the tide would carry the body away. But, he was still close enough to shore that the boat wouldn't be rocked by the waters. Sea sickness ran in his family, and the last thing Sam wanted was to have to clean up his own vomit after all of this was done.

As carefully as he could, Sam put his weight into his back and began hoisting the bag up to dump over the side. His grunting continued as the bag slipped a little, and Blake's arm fell out from the tear Sam had made earlier. Folding it back in, Sam had to start over. Why Blake had to be so heavy, after all, they had practically starved him for a week. Then too, why did the sides of the yacht have to be so tall? Sam knew it was to keep people from falling over on accident, but when you wanted someone to fall over on purpose, it wasn't very helpful at all.

Sam decided to give his next try everything he had. Wrapping both arms around the bag, he sucked in a deep breath and lifted the bag up. He got the bag propped up on the side of the boat, and balanced it there for a moment to catch his breath. One good push, and Blake's body would be over board. Once he caught his breath, Sam got ready to push his weight onto the bag, when a soft moan escaped from inside. Frozen, Sam held his breath again, wondering if he had just imagined it. Or maybe it was the yacht creaking, or a piece of debris had rubbed up against the haul.

Sam decided to make sure, and poked the plastic bag with his finger. Again there was a groan followed by a sickening gurgle. Feeling sick, and not from the ocean waves, Sam hauled the bag back onto the deck. Finding the tear again, Sam screwed his face up tight and stuck his hand in. Sure enough, there was a pulse.

“Hang on Blake!” Sam yelled, running back to the motor board. The engine roared back to life, and Sam cranked the speed up as high was it would go. Shouting over the noise, Sam continued to talk to Blake. “Hang on, Buddy! I'm taking you to the hospital! Hang on!”

Sam's phone rang, the second he got close enough to New Coven to pick up a signal. Without thought, Sam dug around in his pocket and answered it. “Hi Sam.” Holly said.

“Hey Holly. I'm really busy right now, can we talk later?” Sam had to shout into his phone to be heard over the noise of the motor.

“I'll make it quick.”

“Kay.” Sam was having a hard time hearing her over the roar of the engine, but decided to find out what Holly needed. Love did crazy things to a man.

“Hey Sam?” Holly's voice changed over the phone, and Sam began to worry this was more than a normal phone call.

“Yeah?”

“You um . . . Do you want to come stay with me tonight?”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah everything is fine. If you don't want to, that's fine. I'll just . . .”

“Where are you staying?”

“I'm still living at Blake's.”

“Okay then, yeah. I might not be able to get over there til' late. Is that okay?”

“Sure, that's fine. Thanks Sam.”

“Kay, see you tonight.” The call had only taken a minute, and Sam was glad he had stuck with it. The woman of his dreams had just asked him over to spend the night, and he was ecstatic. He was so happy for himself, he almost forgot that he still needed to call Luke.

Luke answered right away, as he always did, even when he was off duty. “Hello?” Luke sounded drowsy, and Sam was pretty sure he had just woken the man up.

“Luke, I need help. Bad.”

“Sam? You okay?”

“I'm fine. Dr. Hansen is not. Look, get a bus over to the park out by the hospital. There will be a black plastic bag on the shore line. You won't miss it. I never called, we never talked. Got it?”

“Sam what's going on?”

“Can't say Luke, sorry. Just hurry. I don't think he'll last more than a few minutes.”

By the time Sam got the bag, with Blake still inside, up onto the shore he could hear the siren of the ambulance approaching. A second siren was joining it as Sam restarted the yacht again and pulled away from the coast line. He needed to hurry so he wouldn't be seen speeding away from the scene of a crime, but was worried too that the noise of the motor would raise alarm.

The pier to the warehouse was only a few nautical miles away, and Sam hoped he could make it there in time. Safely pulling the yacht back into the ship yard, Sam finally let out the breath of air that he had unknowingly been holding since he left Blake on the rocky shore. All he could do now was hope that the guy would be okay. And not remember anything, if and when he ever woke up.