Pinochle
by: E Walk

(© 2007 by the Author)
Editor: Will B
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 30 

  Finally Someone Talks

This is Grant.

As we were boarding the mini bus, Mr. Mason suggested, “Why don’t we stop at the Horn and Thistle for afternoon tea?  They have some of best scones and clotted cream in all of England.  We could sit on the veranda and perhaps there will be a polo match going on in the adjacent club area.”

Shamus looked at Uncle Hank who nodded, “I know where that is Minister Mason.  I’ll direct Rafael to the establishment.”

Brian asked, “What’s clotted cream?”

Uncle Hank answered, “It’s something like your whipped cream only it is made by heating cream and I would suggest that you might not want to put too much on the scones since it is something like whipped butter.  You might prefer to stick with the marmalades and jams, but  I think that you should at least try some so you can brag to your friends that you had scones and clotted cream.”

The stop was about half way to London and I think everyone’s adrenalin had finally stopped pumping so it was probably a good thing we took a break, since some of us had to go to the bathroom.  We stopped at the reception desk and Mr. Mason asked,  “Are there any tables available on the veranda?”

The young woman curtsied, “Yes Minister Mason, let me show you to the tables.  There is a tea table set up on the veranda since it is such a lovely day.  The  afternoon rush is over so there will be no problem and there is a polo match going on in the adjacent field.”

A buffet table was set up next to the wall and there were four big carafes of different kinds of hot tea and two of cold drinks.  There were four large trays with different types scones and some dishes of clotted cream and some small containers of different kinds of marmalades and jams.

We left the four older adults and the three young women go first to see what they did.  The four adults, being British, took generous helpings of the clotted cream as did Vicky.  Maria and Inga were a little more conservative so the three of us Yanks decided to follow suit.

The four older adults were seated at a table and we six teenagers were seated at an adjacent table, but we were next to the wall beside the field where the polo match was being played.  Brian was seated closest to the playing field.  He was eating and started to yell, “Hey, you on the gray horse, you aren’t trying.   It’s as if every time someone comes charging at you, you veer away.  Don’t let them intimidate you.  Keep charging and they will pull away.  Now knock that silly croquet ball into the net.”

Brian turned to everyone and asked, “Why would anyone want to play croquet while riding on horses?  I guess they’re too lazy to walk.”

The rider, who was on the gray horse came over, “I heard that comment about being too lazy.  If I had time, I would show you that this is a sport that requires a lot of strength.  I guess you will never be able to play, though.”

Brian wasn’t about to let this anonymous person get the last word.  “You just wait, sir, the next time I come back to your fair country I’ll take you on.  I’ll practice next week when we are at the nude dude ranch.”

The rider turned to leave, “I’ll be ready for you, Yank.”

Everyone had been watching the exchange and finally Vicky spoke, “That gentleman looked an awful lot like Prince Harry.  I know he is back from Afghanistan.  Surely he wouldn’t be taking his time to banter about with us.”

As we were getting ready to leave, after Mr. Mason had paid for our tea and scones, Rafael announced, “Senor and Senora Montoya would appreciate it if you all could join them for a small fiesta when we get back.  I took the liberty of accepting, since Shamus told me that Mr. Peters and Mr. Cox’s cook was off for the evening.  Minister and Mrs. Mason, you have no one home waiting for you do you?”

This is Brian.

I looked at Rafael, “Thanks for asking, but Vicky and I need to go see our psychiatrists after today, and I think we need to take Ben and Grant to get checked to make sure they haven’t contacted some contagious disease from our would be captors.  Next time do you suppose you might check with everyone before accepting for us?”

Ben moved toward me and whispered, “Back off Bri, I agree with you, in a way,  but Uncle Hank and Uncle Rod paid our way here.”

I looked at Ben and Grant and said loud enough for everyone to hear, “I realize that we are Uncle Hank and Uncle Rod’s guests.  Everyone has been wonderful to us, but they haven’t asked us for any input on what we would like to do.”

Uncle Hank had a funny look on his face, “Guys, we apologize.  Brian, you have every right to be a little upset.  We should perhaps have checked with you first about what we were planning, but even we didn’t know that you three young men were going to be involved with three beautiful young women, and we certainly didn’t realize that we were going to be invited to Maria’s parents’ residence, not only once, but twice.”

This is Ben.

I think Brian’s bluntness rather shocked some of the people who didn’t know him.  Maria was the first to speak, “Brian, I’m sure my parents would understand if you would rather not join us for the fiesta.  Rafael can take you back to Mr. Cox and Mr. Peters’ house.”

Brian realized that he had made himself look rather foolish. He stood, “Everyone, I apologize for my outburst, but it’s not every day that one experiences a feeling of being kidnapped and then informed that Vicky and I were going to be sold as slaves.”

Vicky joined in, “I agree with Brian.  We are the people that should have been consulted because of what happened to us.  Please, in the future, ask us for our opinions.  Maria, we will be glad to attend the fiesta.  Come on Brian, let’s go for a walk before we get back on the bus.”

The rest of us were sitting at a picnic table in the parking lot, waiting for the two fourteen year olds to return.  I looked at everyone, “Ladies and gentlemen, I am not going to apologize for Brian.  Please consider how you would have responded if you were fourteen and had just about been kidnapped.  I don’t think there are any emotional scars, but I think that maybe Vicky and Brian will be having wild dreams for some time.”

I was surprised when no one said anything.  Grant was sending me a message, “Ben, don’t say anything else.  Let everyone have his or her own thoughts.  You’ve planted some seeds and I am sure that something good will come out of it.”

Brian and Vicky came back to the bus and everyone boarded.  There was very little conversation the rest of the way to London and the Montoya residence.  Brian’s interest sparked when we were stopped at the gate by two armed guards.  Rafael spoke to the gentlemen in Spanish.  The gate opened and Rafael started through. 

Brian surprised everyone but me, “Rafael, why did you tell the guards that you were bringing us here for our protection?”

Rafael stopped the bus and turned around, “Brian, you understood what I said?”

“Yes, and I’m sure that Ben did too.”  Brian answered.

I nodded, “Our father insisted that we learn to speak Spanish when we turned eight.  Brian has a natural knack for languages.”

Rafael shook his head, “Everyone, I will explain more about what is happening, once when we get inside.  Brian, I apologize for upsetting you without meaning to today, but I believe this is important and this is the safest place for everyone to be right now.”

As Rafael was pulling in front of the main entrance, Inga spoke, “I hope all the dialogue isn’t going to be in Spanish, because I, for one, don’t understand Spanish.”

Brian must have been feeling better because he started talking to Inga in Swedish which caused some people's heads to turn. 

Inga laughed, “Bri, I think it might not be a good idea to be saying things like that, in Swedish.  Someone might understand.”

This is Grant.

I swear Brian was like a chameleon.  As soon as Maria introduced everyone to her parents, Brian turned into the charming innocent young teenager.  You would never have known that he and Vicky had been involved in a close encounter.

The Montoyas were delightful people and they even offered us a wine cocktail which the Masons approved.  The food was very different from anything I had ever eaten and Maria explained what we were eating to us.

The paella was great.  Brian was having a difficult time with fried calamari.

The adults, except for Jaime, Rafael and Shamus ate at one table and the six of us teenagers ate at another.  Jaime, Rafael and Shamus were sitting off by themselves.  During the meal, Rafael was on the phone several times.  When everyone was finished eating, he, Shamus and Jaime  talked with Ambassador Montoya, Mr. Mason, Uncle Rod and Uncle Hank and they went into the house.

Shamus returned to get the rest of us.  When we entered a conference-like room, Rafael, Uncle Hank and Mr. Mason were all on phones.  We couldn’t hear what they were saying.  As they finished their conversations, they returned to the conference table and sat down.  Rafael was the last to sit down.

I was surprised when Uncle Hank stood and started to speak, “Ladies, I apologize for involving you in this matter, but you all have been implicated and the matter is still not completely resolved.  Senora Montoya and Kate, your daughters have been identified as targets of a slavery ring as well as our three visitors from America.  The four perverts that we caused to be incarcerated today have been spilling their insides.  It seems that their two bosses and two more cohorts are still on the loose.”  Uncle Hank turned to Rafael, “Senor Ortiz, would you please explain what has been happening?”

Rafael stood, “It seems that one or two of the leaders of the kidnapping ring spotted the six of you young people when you arrived in London yesterday.  They only know where Maria and Inga are residing as of now.  What makes this case so different is that they usually concentrate on kidnapping young people about the age of Vicky and Brian; but for some reason, the leaders of the ring are determined to get Inga, Maria, Grant and Ben as well.  They must have had a special order for people meeting your specifications.”

Rafael continued,  “As of now, Mr. Cox and Mr. Peters, your house will have 24 hour a day protection from the local police.  The same goes for your residence, Minister Mason.  It appears that these people are determined and  no one will be safe until we catch the last four suspects.  I hate to ask this, but perhaps especially Vicky and Brian could make themselves vulnerable as they did today by leaving the group to wander on their own.”

This is Ben.

My hackles went up when Rafael made that last statement.  “Rafael, why would you put two fourteen year olds at risk, instead of Grant and me?”

Rafael wasn’t to be deterred, “Ben, we know for a fact that young people the age of Vicky and Brian are their mainstay.  They are especially interested in fair skinned, blue eyed blonds.  I guess that is what the market calls for these days.”

Uncle Hank was very calm, “I suggest that we go to our respective homes to think about what you have proposed, Rafael.  We would like to visit with our guests' parents before anyone makes any commitments.  I am very uncomfortable about exposing any of these young people to any more trauma than they have already been exposed to.  Now why don’t you have someone drive Minister and Mrs. Mason and Vicky home.  We probably shouldn’t  all be seen together until the proper time.”

Rafael made a call and the Masons were escorted to the embassy’s limousine.  Vicky was instructed to remain out of sight as they exited the compound.

After we said goodnight to the Montoyas and Inga, we were taken to a van.  Rafael instructed Brian, Grant and me to lie down of the floor, as we were leaving the compound.  Brian was having a field day, “Hey, I wonder if they are going to give us a number like 007 or something.  Hey, guys, I’m scared.”

Rafael was driving and drove to the alley behind Uncle Hank and Uncle Rod’s  house and we quickly exited and entered the house by the back door.  As soon as Rafael had parked the van, Shamus let him in.

He had us all congregate in the sitting room.  Rafael took charge, “Mr. Cox and Mr. Peters, I think that one of us should sleep with Master Brian tonight.  I really don’t want him to be alone.  I’m sure he is safe, but I want to be positive.  Everyone would have my head in a noose if something happened to him.  I figure that Grant and Ben can take care of themselves.”

This was more than Brian could handle, “Wait a minute, don’t I have a say in this matter?  Jaime, you can sleep with me; Rafael, you can sleep with Shamus to make sure that we are protected from above.  Come on Jaime, I suppose you are going to want to watch me take a shower too.  I don’t think there will be any fireworks tonight.  I’ll probably need a sedative to get to sleep.”

Jaime followed Brian up the steps.  Uncle Hank looked at Grant and me, “What is Brian’s I.Q.?”

My mind was totally blown away by that question.  “Uncle Hank, I overhead a conversation between Granddad Josh and Dad, and Granddad Josh said that both Brian and I had I.Q.s in the high 150s whatever that might mean.  I know that we are both very good students and in fact I was graduated number one in my high school class.”

I looked at Uncle Rod and Uncle Hank and pointed my finger, “I am assuming that since you made Grant my equal he probably has an I.Q. about the same as mine.  Now, if you will excuse us, we need to go to bed.  It has been two very long days.”

Rafael laughed, “Yeah, I guess you want to sample the goodies.”

Grant looked at everyone, “I guess you’ll never know.  We are going to bed so you can enjoy your own passion fruits.

This is Brian. 

When I came out of the shower, Jaime was standing there watching me.  He pulled me close and I felt secure.  He kissed me on the cheek and whispered, “Brother, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.  Get into bed while I take care of my needs.”

I could hear him showering and it seemed to be taking a long time.  I guess I must have been exhausted because I don’t remember a thing until I woke up about five o’clock in the morning  and felt Jaime’s arms around me.  He was dressed in pajama bottoms and who knows what else.  I pulled away to go relieve my bladder and Jaime was sitting on the bed watching me.

Jaime smiled, “Brian, I can see why the slave marketers would be interested in you.  You are a beautiful young man.  Now are we going to get up or what?  Why don’t we go to the basement and do a light workout before anyone else stirs?”

I didn’t feel like going back to bed, so I agreed, “Let’s go do a light workout.  I would really rather go running, but I guess that is not an option.”

Jaime surprised me, “Let me go alert the bobbies that we are going running.  We’ll slip out the back door. And they can follow us to the park.  Surely nothing can happen at this hour in the morning. Can it?”

To be continued...

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Editor’s comments:  Our E. A. (Esteemed Author) never ceases to amaze me with the twists and turns he comes up with in his stories.  I hope some of our readers will write and tell him that they are enjoying the stories.   

Posted: 03/28/08