Dead Calm (40 page)

Walking down the stairs was painful for him so it was
a relief to finally reach deck four. Standing at the base of the
grand staircase, he was trying to think of anything he might have
missed when Connie called out to him from down the Centrum. “Have
you seen Tim? He's really upset about something and he ran off. I
don't know what got into him. I didn't want to bother you all with
it because you already had so much going on and I was sure he'd
come back, but he hasn't.”

In the dim light, it took her a moment to see Brain
standing there. When she did, she let out a cry of delight and
rushed forward to hug him. Speaking in a rush of words, she said,
“Oh Randy, I'm so glad you're all right. I was so worried. No one
knew where you were.” Backing away slightly, she ran her hands
along his arms and chest asking, “Are you hurt? Did they hurt
you?”

Slightly embarrassed at the attention, Brain tried to
deflect it by asking Connie about her brother, “How's Tim? They
didn't hurt him, did they? After what he went through, it's no
surprise he's upset. He's going to have to tell me how he got away
because Ricky had me taped up like you wouldn't believe.”

Seeing Connie, Susan and Steve giving him an odd
look, Brain said in explanation, “They grabbed us both. They stuck
me in the room where Tick-Tock found me, and then one of them
starting beating Tim as an example of what would happen if I didn't
cooperate. When I acted like I was going to help them, they took
Tim away and told me they'd keep him around to make sure I did what
they wanted.”

Things had been moving so fast that this was the
first time Steve had listened to Brain's story about being
abducted. The tech had mentioned a few things in passing as they
waited for Sheila to join them but no real details of how he'd been
captured.

“Tim's been with us the whole time,” Steve informed
him.

Brain shook his head, “How? They had us both.”

The question hung in the air as Brain took a deep
breath and tried to make sense of what was going on by describing
the details of his kidnapping. Only partially paying attention,
Steve already had an idea about what had really happened. That Tim
had set Brain up. He didn't voice his theory in front of Connie
though.

It turned out he didn't have to. When Brain got to
the part about Tim being beaten, she said forcefully, “That little
shit. He told me he tripped and that's where he got that bruise on
his cheek. When I find him, I'm going to beat him myself. Why would
he hand you over to Reverend Ricky? Why is he working with that
sick freak?”

A sudden thought occurred to her. Turning to Steve,
she pleaded, “Please, don't hurt Tim when he shows up. He's a
little boy. There's got to be a reason for what he did. I know he
betrayed Randy, but...” Suddenly switching back to being mad, she
added, “But whatever reason he thought he had, it's not good
enough. I'm going to personally strangle him.”

Steve held up his hand for her to be silent and said,
“Calm down. We don't know all the details yet, but it doesn't look
good for Tim. For whatever reason, he set Brain up, and he could
have gotten us killed. He did get Mary and I hurt, so we'll have to
do something about it.”

I just don't know what, he said to himself.

Connie started to cry so he added, “I doubt Tim
helped Ricky willingly. That'll go in his favor. We need to find
him though.”

Calling Heather and Tick-Tock, Steve filled them in
on this new development and told them to keep an eye out for Tim.
Angered at the betrayal, Tick-Tock threatened to shoot the
youngster, which sent Connie into tears again. After making
Tick-Took promise to bring him in alive, Steve signed off.

Just when I thought things were settling down, I've
got another crisis to deal with, Steve lamented. My chest hurts,
I'm dead tired, there are still a dozen details that need to be
dealt with, and now we've got to find Tim; who it seems screwed us
over.

Sorting through the priorities, he said to Connie and
Brain, “Go up and grab the rest of the weapons that Sheila
collected from the Ushers in the casino.” He shook his head rapidly
to clear it and added. “I forgot where she put them so stop by on
seven and ask her. Susan, you stay here. Watch the stairs and don't
let any of the Faithful down here. They'll be wandering around
looking for Ricky but I don't want them on deck four.”

Turning back to Brain and Connie, he said, “When you
get back, start loading everything on The Usual Suspects. We aren't
staying here any longer then we have to. Get ready for a quick
exit.”

At this, Connie gasped and said, “I know Tim did a
horrible thing but I hope you're not thinking of leaving him. We
can't just abandon him.”

“We're not leaving yet,” Steve assured her. “I just
want to be ready.” He then reminded them that the ship had settled
two feet since they first came on board. He stressed that either
Brain or Connie needed to be on The Usual Suspects at all times in
case they had to make a hasty exit.

“What about Tim?” Connie asked.

“I think he's done all the damage he can do, so I'm
not worried about him pulling any other shitty stunts tonight. Keep
an eye out for him in case he shows up, and we'll all get together
to look for him in the morning. Hopefully by then, the Faithful
will have found Ricky so we can get them looking for Tim, too.”

A coughing fit seized Steve that almost doubled him
over from the pain. When it passed, he spit onto the deck and was
relieved it came out clear. No blood. Despite this good sign, he
knew he had to lie down for a little while. They were short handed
and he planned on starting the search for Tim himself, but knew it
was out of the question tonight. He wouldn't last more than five
minutes before he collapsed. It would have to be tomorrow.

As the others moved off to carry out their orders, he
went to the Captain's Clothes Store and gingerly lowered himself
onto the mattress he and Heather shared. Most men would have had a
hard time falling asleep as the thought bounced around in their
head of almost being killed by two bullets fired at them from close
range, but in a world where the dead had come back to life to feed
on the living, this paled in comparison to existing on a daily
basis in one of the middle levels of Hell.

In two minutes, Steve was asleep.

***

Tim watched as the group in front of the stairs broke
up and went in separate directions, relieved that Susan was left to
guard access to deck four. He didn't want Steve to be there since
he always seemed to know what was going on around him. It would
make what he had to do all the more difficult. With Susan guarding
the stairs, she would watch the stairs. If Steve or Tick-Tock were
guarding the stairs, they could be counted on to watch everything
around them. From helping Steve and the others, he'd learned much
about their strengths and weaknesses. He used that knowledge
against them now without any qualms.

Glancing down at his watch, the watch his father had
given him on his last birthday, Tim saw he still had forty minutes
until it was time for him to act on Reverend Ricky's last order. He
had been surprised when he heard the Reverend's voice calling to
him on the two-way radio, but in the back of his mind felt it was
inevitable that they interact one last time.

After running away from Connie, he’d gone to the back
room of a shop that specialized in making stuffed animals. Months
ago, he had set up his own little hide-a-way that he never told his
sister about. Here, he stored his treasures. Some old playboy
magazines, a few t-shirts with funny sayings that he’d made up in
the Shirt Shack, an old brass compass that he found on one of his
scavenging trips, and after Ricky had given him them, the radio and
the bolt cutters.

As he sat on top of a flattened pile of dolphins that
would never be stuffed and cuddled by a child, he calmed down
enough to think clearly. He had to come up with a solution to the
jam he’d gotten himself into. Like any pre-teen who didn't know
enough about how people thought and acted, he first reasoned that
everybody in the whole world was against him. No one understood
that he’d been doing what he did to save his dad, and they wanted
to punish him for it.

As he thought along these lines, Tim became angrier
with Steve and the people from the sailboat. They were the ones who
would hang him if they caught him. They seemed so nice at first but
then had turned on him and wanted to kill him. At this thought, he
decided he hadn't betrayed them, they had betrayed him.

And Ricky had betrayed him too, he realized. He's got
my dad and won't let him go. We had a deal and he broke it. And
after all I did for him, that fat fucker.

Tim smiled at his use of the curse word.

If Steve and the rest of them had never come aboard,
none of this would have happened. They're fuckers too; all of them.
Ricky would have never taken dad if I hadn't been caught sneaking
around trying to help Steve, he thought vehemently.

His anger turned to sadness at the thought of
everything he'd lost and he started to cry. He saw no way out of
the dilemma. Curling up in a ball, the emotional strain caught up
with him and soon he was sobbing loudly. His tears eventually tuned
to sniffles. Worn out from his internal struggle and emotional
trials, the tears dried on his face as he drifted off to sleep.

When the voice called out his name, waking him from
his restless nap, he jerked upright and started to defend himself.
His first thought was that Steve had found him and was going to
drag him up on deck to hang him from the yardarm. Looking around
blearily, he saw that he was alone. Tim decided he must have been
dreaming and lowered himself back onto the soft pile of deflated
dolphins. He had just gotten comfortable when the voice came again.
This time he recognized it and knew it wasn't a dream. It was a
nightmare.

From the radio's speaker, Ricky's voice said, “I know
that you're listening Tim. I know that you can hear me. You need to
answer me or it's going to be very painful for your father.”

Tim snatched the radio from where it lay on a nearby
sewing machine and said angrily, “What do you want? Haven't you
done enough? Let my dad go.”

“Ah, young Tim, so good to hear from you,” Ricky
purred.

“Let my dad go,” Tim repeated.

“In good time, in good time,” Ricky intoned. His
voice growing stern, he said, “But you need to do one last thing
for me before you're reunited with your father. The thing I told
you about when you were up on the bridge.”

Feeling hope burst in his chest, Tim asked, “And then
you'll let my dad go?”

“Do what I told you to do at exactly ten o'clock
tonight, and you'll be with him soon.”

In hell, Ricky thought, but didn't say. Instead
asking, “Do you have a watch?”

Looking down at the present from his dad, he said,
“Yes.”

“What time does it say, young Tim?”

Tim told him and Ricky had him advance it by eight
minutes.

“Just like in the movies, we're synchronizing our
watches, young Tim.”

'When do I see my dad?” Tim asked.

“I’ll be watching to make sure you do what I told you
to. Your father will be with me and I’ll have a gun to his head.
When I see that you've completed this last task for me, I'll let
him go.”

Tim steeled himself as he considered what was being
asked of him.

“Do we have a deal?” Ricky asked.

“Yes, yes” he cried. “It's their fault anyway. They
deserve whatever happens.”

“Good boy. At exactly ten o'clock, cut the lock on
the doors to the cabins on deck four and open them. Then I'll
release your father. You have my word.”

With an amused tone in his voice, Ricky added, “And
one more thing, Tim. After you've opened the doors, you better
run.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Dead Calm:

Steve's bladder woke him and for a minute he lay on
his back, wondering if he could ignore it and go back to sleep. He
decided that it the urge wouldn't go away through will alone and
started to get up when the pain in his ribs stopped him. Cursing,
he cautiously rolled onto his side and then on to all fours. Slowly
levering himself into a standing position, he noticed that it only
hurt when he moved, breathed, or stood still.

With the Head Ushers dead and Ricky in hiding, the
time for sneaking around and using the rear corridors had passed.
Steve grabbed his M-4 then went out through the front door of the
Captain's Clothes Store directly into the Centrum. Noticing with
satisfaction that Susan sat in such a way that she could see the
stairs and down the Centrum with just a turn of her head, he waved
to her and said, “Bathroom break.”

Slowly he made his way to the public restroom halfway
down the Centrum. When he was finished, he saw that the toilet
wouldn't flush. Then he went to wash his hands and noted with
frustration that no water came out of the faucet either. Steve
thought back on how they had filled the Usual Suspect's water tank
by pouring gallon jugs one at a time through the filler near the
bow and to do that on the Dead Calm would take a year, if they
could even find that much water.

Tomorrow we help the passengers get the lifeboats
ready and then it's time to go, he resolved. No more screwing
around here. It's time to haul ass. The accommodations are really
starting to suck.

As he returned to where Susan sat he was surprised to
see Cindy with her. He hadn't noticed the little girl the first
time because she had been curled up asleep on a bench behind Susan.
Pointing to her, he raised his eyebrows in question.

“She got lonely,” Susan explained in a whisper.
“Brain brought her up here about an hour ago and she talked my ear
off for fifteen minutes before she crashed.”