Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 02 - Peeking Duck (3 page)

-Chapter 3-

Jane finished her call to Galveston and looked at me with a smile on her face.

“
So what did say?  Is he coming?”  I inquired.

“
Of course.  I have amazing persuasive powers over the opposite sex.  You should know that.”

“
Oh, I do.  Here’s my wallet and the keys to my car,” I joked with her.

“
Very funny.  I told him we wanted to see him and he said, ‘okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes.’  Now give me ten dollars.”

“
Yes, ma’am,” I answered mockingly, reaching for my wallet.  “Now what did you really tell him.”

“
I said we wanted to talk about Elizabeth and how she wronged him.”

“
Beautiful.  Oh, that’s good.  He probably raced out of his house without putting his clothes on,” I responded.

“
Yeah, we’ll see him in no time.”

  We wasted time with small talk while we waited for Galveston
‘s arrival.  He loved to talk about his problems and lately that was all he could focus on.  I contemplated the best way to handle this in my head.  My main goal was to bring him back to earth, or at least in the stratosphere.

In seven minutes flat he moped through the door with his head down and shoulder
s slumped forward.  My joke about leaving the house without his clothes on was pretty accurate.  He had on a pair of gray sweats along with a wrinkled button down shirt that wasn’t even buttoned correctly.  His hair looked like it hadn’t been combed in days; the front poking up like he was a member of the 80’s band, Flock of Seagulls.  It appeared he hadn’t shaved in weeks, or he made some half-hearted attempt, because one bearded side was noticeably thicker than the other.  Galveston plopped down on the nearest chair and let out a heavy sigh.

“
How you doing, sunshine?” I asked sarcastically.

He managed
only a grunt and a shrug of the shoulders.  He stuck out his legs, and I noticed he had on a dirty pair of sneakers with a pair of mismatched socks.  I pulled up a chair near him while Jane took up a position behind her desk.

“
So, you guys wanted to talk,” he said meekly, keeping his head down. 

I looked at Jane and rolled my eyes.  She smiled and gave me a
look with her eyes to go easy on him.  I would try, but I had had it up to my eyeballs with his demeanor.

“
So, uh, Galveston, we wanted to talk to you about what you’re going through,” I started, trying nicely to hold back anything negative.  “I’ve been getting some strange calls from some of your contacts.  They are, to say the least, interesting.”

“
Yeah, just a few I ran into here and there.”

“
I have to admit, I’m a little disconcerted about the direction our business is going.  You’ve been non-existent lately, and to be honest, you look like hell.”  Jane flashed me a quick glance and condemning look.  I relaxed slightly before continuing.  “I need you to run this business.  I know you’re upset,” I said rather condescendingly, “but I think—we think—it’s time to move on.”

“
So if I get this right,” Galveston replied, “you don’t want to talk about Elizabeth?”

My ease
immediately turned to rage and frustration.

“
No, damn it!” I shouted at him while Jane shook her head from side to side.  “Look at yourself, you’re a mess.  You haven’t shaved in weeks. I have no idea when you last took a shower.  I mean, come on man, you couldn’t even put on the right pair of socks, and good lord, you have on two different shoes.”

“
They were the ones closest to me,” Galveston said sheepishly.

“
Exactly!” I yelled at him again.  “You just don’t care anymore.”  I said each word loud and slow, as if that would make things sink in.

“
So we’re really not going to talk about Elizabeth?” he said directly to me.

“
No! No! No!” I yelled again.  I turned and put my hands in my hair as if I was going to pull it out.  “I can’t,” I said to Jane who got up from the desk.

“
Dan,” she started softly, “what Roger is so eloquently trying to say is that it’s time to let Elizabeth go.  It’s over, she’s moved on, and it’s time you did the same.  We care about you, and we don’t want to keep seeing you like this.”

“
I still have a chance to get her back, right?” Galveston said to Jane.

“
No, honey, she’s over you.  She won’t return your calls or emails.  She has moved on.”  Galveston slouched farther in his chair.

“
It’s like we’re talking to a crazy person,” I stated aloud, still facing the wall away from the pair.

“
You’ve never lost someone like this!” Galveston yelled at me.

“
Finally, some life out of him,” I said, whirling around.  “He’s not dead.  Amazing.”

“
I have to sit here and watch you two prance around with each other.  You don’t know what I’m going through.  You never supported us,” Galveston said defiantly. 

I pushed back a chuckle at how ridiculous his statement was.

“Support what?  Some fake relationship?  She drove you crazy.  You never saw her for more than a few days every few months.  You were just a distraction for her while she found someone else to settle down with.  You were her gigolo.  She brushed you off at every turn.” 

The gloves had come off
, and I was popping on all cylinders.  Jane sighed and headed back to her desk.

“
You better watch your mouth,” Galveston threatened.

I walked close to
Galveston and bent down.

“
She was slumming it with you and laughing at you the rest of the time.  Hell, she’s probably laughing it up now, showing her fiance all the crazy emails you send her.  You know, the guy she had been seeing for over a year while you two were supposedly together?”

“
I said, you better watch it, or we’ll have to step outside,” Galveston responded with a sneer.

I leaned in closer, getting nose to nose with
Galveston and whispered, “She’s a tramp.” 

Now, in truth, I
actually liked Elizabeth.  I didn’t hold it against her that she had to get on with her life, but Galveston needed to be provoked.  This was reckoning time.

Galveston
stood bolt upright and looked me straight in the eye.  “I’m going to kick your ass.”

“
Let’s step outside then,” I responded quickly.

Galveston
marched to the door and flung it open.  Jane put her head in her hands.

“
Oh, just go kill each other,” she said dejectedly, giving up on trying to mend the situation.  I gave a nod of my head and followed Galveston out the door.

Galveston
was already waiting on a small grassy area outside the office door, grunting expletives to himself.  I hadn’t seen him this active in months, so if nothing else, I at least would get him to do some exercise.  Just for fun, I decided to fuel the flames further.

“
I bet she took her new boyfriend to all the places you two had been, and they probably had a good laugh,” I said as I got within earshot.

This sent him over the edge. 
Galveston ran towards me and tackled me onto the grass, knocking me on my back.  He continued to say all sorts of expletives as we wrestled on the ground.  He had put on a few pounds and still had a good amount of strength.  I managed to push him off and got to my feet as we began to circle each other in a grappling hold.

“
I’m sure that new hubby of hers enjoys looking at her great body just like you did,” I managed to say between breathes, fanning his rage.

Galveston
tried to hit me in the face, but flailed wildly, hitting me in the chest instead.  I countered with an elbow to his stomach, which temporarily knocked the wind out of him.  Galveston’s normally competent technique for self-defense was flawed due to his lack of practice.  Usually he could drop me in a few seconds, but he was so out of shape and balance that he milled about like a drunken frat guy. 

Unbeknownst to him I had been training in many types of martial arts and self-defense for the past year.  I had never been in better shape. 
I would have never attempted something like this if Galveston had been in his prime. 

Galveston
tried again to punch me in the face, and I countered this with an elbow to his back, throwing him forward.  This caused him to lose his balance, and he landed on the grass.  He got up quickly huffing for air, and as he did, I swept his legs out from under him with a kick, sending him falling hard on his back.  He got up slowly and began to charge me once again.  As he got close to landing a punch, I ducked, threw my shoulder into his ribs, and using my momentum, sent him flying in a somersault over and back onto the ground where he landed with a hard thud.

By this time Galveston
‘s poor cardiovascular endurance was getting the better of him, and he got up even more slowly.  He was kind of befuddled as to why he kept landing on the ground.  Again he charged, and this time I gave a quick jab to his ribs.  As he lurched forward, I grabbed him around the neck and sent him over my leg.  He landed in a crumpled mess on his stomach, completely fatigued and out of breath.  I stood over him as he turned onto his back.  He had a few marks on his face where I had landed a few elbows and fists during our scuffle. 

I peered down at him as he wheezed for air.  He was
completely spent and had no energy left.  His rage subsided quickly, knowing this was a fight he could not win.  Galveston stared blankly up at me, but I could tell that something was different.  I saw some sanity creep in.

“
Ouch,” he said first, squinting his eyes.  “Man, am I out of shape.”

I looked at him
seriously, with a twinge of remorse for doing this to a friend.

“
I think you broke my spine,” Galveston said, and he gave me a small, pitiful smile.

I sat down beside him and fell on my back, exhausted.

“I think you’ll survive,” I responded as we both stared at the sky.

“
Where and when did you learn that?”

“
I’ve been doing a little training while you were out.  Rule 124, become a self-defense machine.”

“
Oh, those silly rules,” he laughed.

The rules were Galveston
‘s lessons in life.  He had used them to get many points across when we had started the business.  Most were crazy and useless, but some, like this one, were extremely useful.  There were hundreds of them.

“
Man, I’m fat,” Galveston said to me, jiggling the excess at his gut.  He continued to try to catch his breath after our foray.

“
I think the term now is excessively heavy,” I laughed, looking at him.

“
I can’t believe I got this bad,” he said.  “You were good there.  I think you bruised my intestines.”

“
Yeah, I’ve been working hard.”

“
I’ll say.  Leg sweeps, counters with your elbows—you were a machine.”  Galveston lay quietly, and I could hear him give a couple of sighs.  “A tramp, huh?  That was a little extreme, don’t you think?”

“
I had to get you riled up somehow.  It seemed like the right thing to say at the time.  I don’t really believe it though.”

“
No, it wasn’t her.  Truthfully, I’m as much to blame.  It was never a real relationship, not like you and Jane.”

“
Oh my, is the crazy person going away?”

Galveston
stifled a laugh.  “Yeah, I get it.  It’s time to make some changes.”

Just then we saw a figure loom above us.

“Are you little boys about done?” Jane peered down, giving us a scolding look.

“
I don’t know,” I replied.  “How about one more round?”

“
Only if you have the paramedics standing by to take me to the hospital for my impending heart attack.  I think I’m good.”

I rolled on my side, stood up, and offered my hand to
Galveston.

“
I’m good, I can make it,” he said as he started to get up, grunting as he tried.  “On second thought, maybe I do need a pull.”

Galveston
reached for my hand and gathered his feet until he was up.  Jane helped him dust the dirt and grass off, and I gave him a pat on his head.

“
Glad you’re back buddy.”

“
Don’t get all mushy on me—Rule 156,” Galveston said, smiling.  “Let’s do some work.”

-Chapter 4-

“The coordinates are locked into the autopilot,” one of the intruders of the
Trusian
told his leader.

“
Excellent.  Has zhe team completed zheir project?”  The lead man asked.

“
They estimate twenty minutes, sir.”

“
Good, right on schedule.  Make sure zhey check for any other markings on the vessel.”

“
Yes, sir.”  The man bolted from the bridge and down toward the deck.

The leader sat down in the pilot chair in front of the navigation equipment.  It was a long voyage to their destination, and he knew they had to have everything in place as they reached the more populated shipping lanes of the Pacific.  He pulled a satellite phone from his pocket, began to dial
, and waited as the connection went through.

“
Nous sommes sur la bonne voie,” the leader said into the phone.

“
Bonne.  Poursuivre l’opération,” the voice on the other end answered.

“
Oui, monsieur,” the pirate leader responded, ending the call.

He looked over the navigation computer and the course
closely until he was satisfied everything had been done correctly.

“
Did you make the call Balboa?” A voice said as a man came onto the bridge.

“
Yes, sir, Captain Marquette.  I said ve vere on course and Polo gave the go to continue zhe operation.”

“
Good, I will make the call to the company and inform them of our heading and malfunction with the onboard transponder,” Captain Marquette told Balboa.

The Captain was speaking about the Automatic Identification System, also known as
AISLive, which uses a receiver and a transmitter to track a ship’s position.  It was mandatory for ships of this size but could easily be turned off.  When it was off, it would alert company headquarters of a problem.  Marquette would soon get a call from the company inquiring on the problem.  He simply would tell them it was malfunctioning, and they were working on it.

Like clockwork the call rang through about 10
:00 A.M.  Marquette composed himself and answered the call, easily explaining the apparent malfunction to the agents of the shipping company.  He hung up the phone.

“
It is taken care of.  I will contact them again in four hours for an update.  How far off from the original course are we now?” he asked Balboa. 

“
Approximately ninety-six nautical miles,” Balboa told Marquette, looking at the paper charts on a table in the middle of the bridge.

“
Good.  We’ll continue to steam perpendicular to the original course until we reach the waypoint for the new course.  This will put us within the shipping lanes, so we must be ready.  The package is secure?”

“
Jes, sir.  It iz here,” Balboa answered quickly.  

Captain Marquette nodded and walked out to the fly bridge that allowed him to see each side of
the ship during maneuvering in port.  He saw his group of men attach to harnesses on the deck and disappear over the port side of the ship.  They were meticulously painting over the name of the
Trusian
until it read
Alterra
.  The men had already completed painting over the ship’s name on the stern and starboard portions of the ship, and any trace of the
Trusian
would soon be lost.  The
Trusian
was now the
Alterra
, just another merchant ship in the busy shipping lanes of the Pacific.