Sudden Change
Franks sat at the mess table. “That’s a wager I would not take,” Franks said, “because I’m busting to tell you.”
“I bet you haven’t been this happy since taking a lollipop from a baby and mocking it for crying,” Trace said.
“Come on, Trace,” Franks said sarcastically, “you ought to know me by now. I’m a man with very deep and sentimental feelings.”
“So I thought,” Trace said. “I have to hand it to you, ya had me fooled.”
“It’s one of my better schemes,” Franks said.
Trace quickly glanced at Paul and said, “Take a good look, my friend, that’s who you will become.”
“When Paul visited me in prison,” Franks said, “we had an instant connection. It is difficult to explain. We talked for long periods of time. He has something deep inside, busting to come out. Isn’t that what a father is supposed to do, bring the best out in their son?”
“Listen carefully, Paul,” Trace said. “This is the part where he wraps you emotionally around his greedy little finger and exploits you.”
Then he turned to Franks. “Wait a minute, Paul spent two years in that cult of Flint Island under the tutelage of a master manipulator. Maybe you’re being played.”
Franks heaved a hearty laugh. “You are so rich. Toss something out there and hope it has traction. That might work on cowpokes and auto mechanics, but don’t try that with sophisticated people. We know every trick in the book.”
“Yeah,” Trace said, “you two are far too swift for me. Of course, I did skin you for a few thousand and place you in jail.”
“I shall have the last laugh, my friend,” Franks said.
“Well, let’s hear the joke,” Trace said.
“Right about now, the boat you came in on is being packed with ten kilos of cocaine,” Franks said. “It looks like you and your buddy will be doing some time for drug trafficking.”
“Thanks,” Kelsey said, “you roped me into this one. Remind me to pay you back.”
“You see,” Franks said, “I got out on the promise, a promise I could deliver a drug runner. And here’s the beauty of the whole plan: we got you recorded on tape, setting it all up in a barroom in Suva—Sneaky Pete’s. What irony!”
“What happens next?” Trace said.
“As soon as my men have the drugs planted, we call the police,” Franks said. “So everyone can relax. I have armed men at each door.”
“Why are you even here?” Trace asked.
“I want to see the look on your face,” Franks said. “You’re such an idealist. They’re all suckers. It’s sort of like watching a sucker lose at the casinos. They come in hoping to break the house. They win and think they are smarter than the house. An hour later, they are broke, and I’m wearing a smug smile. If you have the opportunity, I will afford it to you; you can watch me when you are arrested and when you are sentenced—I will have that smug smile on my face.”
Sage lifted his hand toward Paul. “Hey, Paul, I’m curious, what are you getting out of this?”
“Do you know how much money my dad makes?” Paul said. “I led an austere life for a while. And I was a sucker for doing it. My last year on the island, I schemed how to make money fast enough to enjoy it before I’m too old. My dad showed me the way. We’re a father and son team. My knowledge of computer science and his grasp of business, we will be rich beyond what I ever dreamed.”
“You sound like the losers who walk into the casinos,” Sage said.
Franks smiled as he paced back and forth on the aisle between the mess and salon.
“You’re smiling, but you seem nervous,” Trace said.
Franks chuckled. “I can’t help it. It’s like holding a royal flush. You know how it is to hold a good hand, and you have to hold it all in. This way I get to show how I feel.”
“I wish I could share the exhilaration,” Trace said.
“Someday,” Franks grinned, “the day you walk out of prison.”
Franks stopped pacing and looked out the porthole. “Police are never on time.”
Trace stood. “Do you mind if this ole cowboy takes a leak?”
“Squeeze it,” Franks said.
“That’s what I’ve been doing.”
Franks flipped his hand toward the head. “Go ahead, but I’m watching.”
Trace walked into the head and relieved himself. He watched his hands and came out.
Franks stepped back into the mess and salon area. Trace stepped behind him. Trace’s eyes glanced to Sage and to Kelsey. They returned slight nods. Trace reached behind him and pulled the pistol from his pants. He held it behind Franks’ head, but pointed out the porthole. He squeezed the trigger. Bam!!!
Everyone jerked.
Franks’ face contorted in uncontrolled fright. He screamed, “Ahhhhh!!!”
Sage and Kelsey pulled their pistols.
“Paul!” Trace shouted, “Tell your men to leave the boat right now.”
The forward companionway door opened.
“Tell him everything is okay and to get lost,” Trace ordered.
“We’re okay,” Paul said to the man looking down the companionway. “Get off the boat.”
“Are you sure?” The man said.
Sage streaked down the forward hallway and stopped at the bottom of the companionway steps. Trace held the pistol to the man’s chest. “Reach slowly for your gun and drop it down here.”
The man complied.
“I’m coming up,” Sage said. “If you ain’t off this boat by the time I get on deck, my gun will be a blazin’.”
The man streaked to the gangplank, and he yelled to the man in the pilothouse to run for his life.
“Sit!” Trace said to Franks, “and the same goes for you, Paul.”
“My god,” Franks said, “my ears are ringing and my head is pounding.”
“Well,” Trace said, “that’s a good thing. They say you never hear the one that gets you.”
No comments:
Post a Comment