Algeria Here I Come
by: E Walk
(© 2008-2009 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 24

Free At Last?

When we arrived back at the suite, Albert and Daniel were waiting for us.  Albert started,  “We brought you some snacks to hold you until dinner.  We have plenty of unopened beverages that you can enjoy.  Dr. Roberts and Mr. DePauw will be joining you shortly.”

We had just sat down and Allie started, “Everyone, I hate to tell you this, but I think Mr. Lazlo and Mr. Duncan are involved in this mess up to their ears.  I’ll tell you why I think so…..”

Allie was interrupted by the doorbell.  Allie went to answer the door and Captain Brower and President Michaels were standing there with Officer Del Rio.  Allie looked at them, “Good, I was just about to tell the others why I think that Mr. Lazlo and Mr. Duncan are involved in the plot to kill us.”

I motioned for the gentlemen to sit down and Allie continued, “The morning we were docking in Helsinki, I saw the two officers in question talking to Dr. Whitney.  I didn’t think anything more about it until I saw the two officers on the bridge this afternoon.  I saw Mr. Duncan hand Dr. Whitney an envelope.”

President Michaels and Captain Brower both raised their eyebrows.  President Michaels nodded, “Allie we have reached the same conclusion, but for a very different reason.  Captain, why don’t you call Officer Lazlo and ask him to join you immediately in Suite 1001?”

The Captain made the call and it was less than five minutes later when the chimes sounded.  

Allie answered, “Won’t you please come in Mr. Lazlo?  Captain Brower would like to speak to you.”

When Officer Lazlo saw who all was present, he turned toward the door but Amir was standing in such a position that Mr. Lazlo couldn’t possibly leave.  President Michaels looked at Allie, “Would you please tell Mr. Lazlo what you just told us?”

Allie shrugged his shoulders, “I think that you and Mr. Duncan are involved in the plot to do away with Mr. Waller, my brother and me.  I saw you and Mr. Duncan talking with Dr. Whitney just before we docked in Helsinki.  I saw Mr. Duncan hand Dr. Whitney an envelope.”

Lazlo interrupted, “You’re lying, I never had the opportunity to meet Dr. Whitney.”

Allie wasn’t going to back down, “Mr. Lazlo, I know what I saw.  Unless I miss my guess, Mr. Duncan is the only officer on board with red hair that almost looks as if it is orange.  I know the other person was you, because I wondered at the time if you dyed your hair and missed some.  You have a large patch of gray hair on the left side of your head which stands out from the rest of your hair which is almost black.”

President Michaels laughed, “Lazlo, for your information, Mr. Pierce has been relieved of his position at the company headquarters, and is now being questioned by the Miami police.  It seems that he has been telling everything he knows, in order to save his hide.”

Lazlo shouted, “This is just a sham so I can be made the fall guy for something that I had nothing to do with.”

Allie was thinking aloud, “President Michaels and Captain Brower, I think we should have Mr. Duncan come talk to you, so we can hear what he has to say.  In the meantime, why don’t you have Officer Del Rio take Mr. Lazlo into Dad’s bedroom, so he can’t get away?  I’ll take off my briefs and Officer Del Rio can stuff them into Mr. Lazlo’s mouth so he can’t warn his friend.”

If looks could kill, Allie would have been in a casket, shortly.

Captain Brower was laughing as he picked up the phone and made a call, “Would you please have Officer Duncan report to Suite 1001 immediately?”

Officer Del Rio had just taken Lazlo into the bedroom and shut the door when the chimes sounded.  Allie went to answer, “Good afternoon, Officer Duncan, Captain Brower is waiting to speak to you.  Please come in.”

Again, Amir moved to the door to make sure that Officer Duncan didn’t try to leave.

President Michaels began, “Allie, please tell Mr. Duncan what you observed the morning we docked in Helsinki.”

Mr. Duncan a was little more pleasant in his response, “Allie, I’m sure you must be mistaken.  I don’t think I ever had the opportunity to meet the Whitneys.”

Allie stood firm, “Mr. Duncan, I know it was you, because of the color of your hair and I recognized Mr. Lazlo because of the gray patch of hair that he has on the left side of his head.  I distinctly saw you hand Dr. Whitney a large brown envelope, and then you shook his hand.”

The phone started to ring before Mr. Duncan could respond.  Allie answered, “This is the Waller cabin.  How may I help you? … Oh, hi Mr. Pietro.  Let me get the Captain for you.”

Allie handed the phone to Captain Brower, “This is Captain Brower. … Thanks, Pietro.  Please have the call transferred to this cabin.”

The phone rang and the Captain pushed the speaker button, “This is Captain Brower.”

“Captain, this the Chief of Police in Helsinki, Ivan Grontveldt.”

“Just a minute, sir.  I have some other people I would like to have hear this conversation.  Allie, ask Officer Del Rio to bring Mr. Lazlo into the room.”

Allie did as he was told and the Captain started, “Please go ahead Chief Grontveldt.”

“Captain Brower, it seems that two of your officers recruited Mr. Whitney to kill a Mr. Waller and two young men by the name of Safi.  They were blackmailing Mr. Whitney because he was not traveling with his wife but rather his secretary.  He indicated that an Officer Duncan even provided the weapon that he was to use.  Mr. Whitney has been turned over to the American embassy and he is going to be extradited to the United States for prosecution.”

“Thanks, Chief Grontveldt.”

It was a good thing that there were nine men in the room because Duncan grabbed Allie, “We’re leaving and were taking this brat with us.  We have done nothing wrong.  It was this brat from Algeria and his brother and his brother’s lover who have caused all of the trouble.”

Duncan and Lazlo didn’t know what hit them because they were immediately immobilized by Khalid and Amir.  Both men slumped to the floor.  Allie looked at  Khalid and Amir,  “What did you do to make them pass out?”

Khalid avoided the question, “Officer Del Rio, I suggest that you get some of your security people here to help you place these scumbags in the slammer.  Anyone who would try to use a ten year old as a hostage should be castrated.”

Captain added, “I also want Mr. and Mrs. Santiago confined until we can make sure the threat to Mr. Waller, Brahim and Allie is totally neutralized.”

After Lazlo and Duncan were taken to the service elevator by the security detail, President Michaels turned to Allie, “Do you suppose that you might be able to stay out of trouble for the next twenty four hours?”

Allie looked at the Captain, “Sir, I don’t suppose you have any officers on board, that could show us around Poland tomorrow, do you?  We had a fantastic time in Estonia.  I really would just like meet the real people instead of going to the tourist traps.”

“Allie, let me see what I can arrange.  I’ll let you know at dinner.”

After President Michaels and Captain Brower departed, Allie started in on Dr. Roberts and Mr. DePauw, “I sure hope that the two of you got some rest this afternoon.  In fact, you look more tired now than you did when we got back from our trip.  Maybe Dad should get you jump started with some of that bubbly stuff.  I’m going to go take a shower.  I feel dirty from those people touching me.”

Dr. Roberts looked at us, “You do have a live wire there.  I can hardly wait to see what lies in store for us tomorrow.  We need to go get ready for dinner.”

Khalid and Amir were shaking their heads as they left.  I hugged Brahim, “I guess we should get ready for dinner, before we go face the firing squad.  I sure hope this phase of our life is over.”

When we got to the dining room, everyone was at the table except the three of us.  There just happened to be three spaces for us to sit.  Allie was between Jim and John  I was next to Kate and Brahim was next to JoJo.   Everything was progressing fine and we were eating our main courses when a young female officer approached the table.

“Good evening, ladies and gentleman, “I’m Ludmila Wasilewski.  I have been informed that I would be taking you on a tour of my country tomorrow.  Which of you is Alexander Graham Safi?”

Allie looked perplexed, but he stood and extended his hand, and the young lady grabbed him and gave him a kiss,  “I just wanted to thank you for making it possible for me to be promoted.  I’ll pick you and your party up at 8:00 o’clock sharp.  Make sure you bring your swimming gear with you so I can check you out.  Meet me at the exit point.”

She turned to Andres, “Make sure that you get the people at this table soused, so they don’t realize that they’re being fleeced, tomorrow.”

Before she left, she shook her finger at the table, “Remember, eight o’clock sharp or we’re going to leave you behind.”

Andres, Josef and Carlos were laughing.  Andres said, “You people just had the good fortune of encountering the Wicked Witch, Lulu.               The bar staff is elated to have her as our boss rather than that Duncan person.  Look how she is making the guests feel welcome.  I have a feeling that you are going to have the experience of a lifetime tomorrow, if she is going to be taking you on a tour.”

After dinner, Allie asked to be excused.  He just wanted to go to the suite and chill, as he said, and Jim and John agreed. 

We made our way to the Starlight Lounge, but after a couple of dances the events of the day started to catch up with Brahim and me, as well as several other people.  When we go back to the suite, the three boys were already asleep.

Brahim and I took a shower the ship’s sewer system or whatever was probably going to get clogged.

We were awakened the next morning by Allie, “Dad and Brahim, get up!  I need to go check on the generals and Grandpa Darryl and Uncle Tom.  We need to be at the dining room when it opens at 7:00.”

I was surprised when our full table of people were there waiting to be seated when the restaurant opened.  Josef and Carlos didn’t even ask what we wanted to drink.  The fresh orange juice was in front of us, practically before we sat down.  The three boys had milk and the rest of us had coffee.  It was evident who Josef considered to be the most important person at the table was, because he started with Allie, “What will you be having Mr. Safi?”

Allie grinned, “Josef, I’d like the cheese omelet with hash browns and some fresh fruit, please.”

Everyone else, except for Brahim had a ham and cheese omelet, even Khalid and Amir.  Brahim had a plain cheese omelet.

Amir started to give Allie and Brahim a hard time.  “I give you guys a month, and you will be eating pork three times, some days.”

Allie looked at Khalid, “General Khalid, we’ll face that hurdle when we get to it.  Remember, there are people out there who don’t like us too much.  They will stop at nothing to discredit us.  Besides, we wouldn‘t want Mr. and Mrs. Summers to get the wrong idea, would we?”

After we finished eating, the three young guys went to get their swim suits and a towel.  When they returned, they each were carrying a canvas bag with the ship’s logo on it.  When I saw them, I questioned the boys, “Where did those bags come from?”

John looked at me, “Mr. Waller, we stole them, of course.”

Allie was giggling so hard that he could hardly talk, “Dad, don’t believe John.  Albert gave them to us, along with some old towels so that we won’t get charged if we don’t bring them back.  There’s Miss Lulu.”

Officer Wasilewski approached us, “Let’s get to the disembarkation station so we can get off as soon as we have been cleared to depart by customs.  Our transportation is waiting,”

We went to the disembarkation point and Officer Del Rio was waiting for us.  He handed Allie his slingshot, “I hope you don’t need to use this, today.”

There was an announcement on the public address system, “The passengers have been cleared to disembark.”

Officer Lulu didn’t waste any time and we were the first to leave the ship.  We made our way to a mini bus that was waiting for us.  She kissed the driver and two boys who just about knocked her over.  She motioned to the driver, “Let’s get out of here, before the herd disembarks.”

She took the microphone, “I’ll explain more as soon as we get away from the crowd.”

After we departed the dock area, Miss Lulu, as she was to become known, stood, “Ladies and gentleman, I would like to introduce my husband Karol.  He is our chauffeur for the day, as well as our chef.

The two young men seated in the back are our sons, Alexsy and Dawid.  We will be taking a short tour of the area before we get to the small farm where we live.”

Sit back and relax, and I’ll explain about the sites that we are passing.  This area is rather picturesque and is still pretty much in the 19^th century, even though we have been invaded and reinvaded several times.  We are not like the area around Warsaw which has become a huge industrial center.”

We had been traveling for about 45 minutes when we stopped in front of a stone house.  Lulu announced, “All out who are going ashore.  Guys, why don’t you go for a swim while we fix lunch, and we’ll have a picnic lunch by the pond.”

When we walked into the house, it was anything but 19^th century.  It was state of the art.  The five boys disappeared up the stairs and returned wearing their swim suits, and started toward the pond, whatever that meant.  Lulu suggested that Karol should take us gentleman to look around the farm while the ladies concocted lunch.

Karol spoke beautiful English.  Both he and Ludmila had spent a year studying in the United States, as foreign exchange students.  Karol explained, “We only actually farm about a fourth of the farm.  The rest is leased to some neighbors.  We only have enough livestock to take care of our personal needs.  I’m a professor of English at the University, so there isn’t much time to take care of the farm.”

Dr. Roberts commented, “Everything looks impeccable.”

Karol smiled, “Thank you, Dr. Roberts.  Dawid and Alexsy are a great help, especially when Ludmila is gone and I’m working or playing tour guide for passengers from the cruise ships.  I have driven the road between Gdansk and Warsaw so many times that I could probably do so with my eyes closed.”

We were interrupted by a clanging noise.  Kate was hitting a gong.  Karol laughed, “I guess we’re being paged.  Lunch must be ready.”

Ludmila handed Karol, Brahim and me each a picnic basket.  She also handed Amir and Khalid each a thermos.  We started toward the mysterious pond.

As we approached, we were unprepared for what we saw.  Allie was getting out of a beautiful pond and going after the ball that had escaped the playing area.  The only problem was that he was absolutely naked.  He saw us and waved and turned to his friends.  “

“Hey guys, I think we need to get dressed, there are ladies in the area.”

We watched as 10 naked boys climbed out of the water.  Our five boys pulled on their swimming suits while the five visitors put on their clothes.  Allie explained, “Dawid and Alexsy’s friends didn’t have swim suits, and weren’t going to join us, so we decided that we would all swim nude; that way we were all in the same state.”

Khalid started to laugh, “I must say that was certainly a creative way to solve the problem.”

JoJo started to give the guys a difficult time. “Hey guys, I liked the scenery better the other way.”

Allie stuck out his tongue, “Yeh, you would probably get so excited that you wouldn’t able to eat your lunch.”

Dawid interrupted, “Mom, do we have enough food so that the other guys can eat with us?”

Lulu nodded, “I assumed their might be a couple of your friends here, so I made some extra.  I’m sure there will be enough.”

It was a fun experience, just watching the ten boys having a blast.  Dawid and Alexsy, by far, spoke the best English of the seven Polish boys, but I guess that was to be expected since Karol taught English.

As we were finishing, Allie approached Lulu, “Miss Lulu, thanks for the wonderful lunch.”

The ten boys cleaned the area where they had eaten, and it was immaculate.  Alexsy looked at his parents, “How soon do we need to leave to take Allie, Jim and John back to the ship?”

Lulu answered, “We should probably leave in about an hour and a half, since the ship is scheduled to sail at five.”

Alexsy nodded, “We’ll be out behind the barn, if you need us.”

The ten guys ran toward the house as we started to gather the things.  When we were approaching the house, Dr. Roberts spoke, “I’m sure that Ludmila and Karol have some things they need to discuss.  Why don’t we go see what the boys are doing?”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: That was nice of Doctor Roberts to think to give Ludmila and Karol some time alone together. 

I think it is possible that a good number of the people that want to kill the guys have been taken out of the picture, one way or another.

As in all of E Walk's Stories, the people we care about have become very special to us. 

I can hardly wait to see what happens next.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher   

Posted: 04/24/09