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“What a gorgeous day!” said Alice.

“I’ve always loved coming here for little weekend getaways,” smiled Annie. “I lived here for a long time, but it ended badly. It’s been better returning with Benji.”

“Why did it end badly?” asked Deanna. Annie had a sad look on her face, and Deanna apologized. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked something so personal.”

“Nonsense,” said Annie. “You’re part of the family now. My father was a SEAL with Otto, Kegger, and Pork. They were all on the same team.”

“I didn’t know that.” Annie nodded.

“My dad became power-hungry and delusional, wanting to create a race of superior warriors. He kidnapped me, placing me on an island with a man who had been given a powerful steroid designed to force horses to breed.”

“Oh, my God,” she whispered.

“Fortunately, he was a man that had a conscience even stronger than his body,” she said.

“And fortunately, he was left with a woman that had a heart,” smiled Benji. “If it hadn’t been for her, I don’t know how this would have all ended.”

“You? Holy cow, that’s quite a first date,” said Deanna. They laughed, nodding at her.

“You might say that. Once we found out that neither of us was a willing partner, we were able to make it through. There were other members of Benji’s team on other islands with women. What my father never figured out was that by selecting men that had good character, strong minds, and good hearts, they would have rather hurt themselves than hurt the women they were with. Several of us stayed together. As it turned out, he had chemically paired us.”

“Wow, that’s – uh, that’s,” she stammered.

“It’s alright,” laughed Benji. “It’s very strange, but what came from it is Pax and Brax. How could we be mad about that?” He kissed his wife, and Deanna smiled. She looked toward Alice and Bogey, raising her brow.

“Oh, no. Our meeting wasn’t quite so awful. Bogey and I knew one another in high school. He came back to see his grandmother’s grave, and I was there trying to find the person who’d killed my sister. I was angry with him at first. I thought he had just walked away and left everyone. And a lot of other things,” she smirked.

“She was pissed,” laughed Bogey. “But like everything else in our world, it brought us closer together. We were always in love, we just needed to remember that. I knew I wasn’t going to leave there without her.”

They were quiet for a few long moments as they walked, the surf kissing their bare feet. The sun was warm on their faces, a few other walkers and runners scattered along the shore.

“I guess our story, Pax and me, isn’t so unusual. We found one another again just like we were supposed to.”

“Hey! Hey, there’s someone out there struggling!” yelled an older man on the shore.

Bogey and the others looked up, staring in the direction that the old man was pointing. The waves made it difficult to see, but sure enough, there was someone leaning on a board of some sort.

“There!” said Benji. “Stay here and call 911. Let them know there are ex-SEALs and a Marine going into the water.

“Be careful,” yelled Alice as the men took off.

There were no lifeguards on duty this early in the season, and the lifeguard towers were locked, not giving access to any equipment. Deanna could hear Annie speaking to the 911 operator, then the sounds of sirens. A few moments later, they spotted a Coast Guard cutter coming into view and a Coast Guard helicopter above.

By that time, the men were swimming around the individual on the board. As they swam back toward shore and got closer, the women noticed that it was a young boy. It wasn’t a surfboard at all, but rather three long planks tied together.

“Oh, my God, is he alright?” asked Deanna.

“He’s alive but nearly frozen to death.” A man came running toward them with a stack of towels from the nearby hotel. Pax thanked him, then began wrapping the boy in the warmth of the soft terry cloth.

“I don’t think he speaks English,” said Bogey.

“Pechkin,” yelled a man behind him.

“Master Chief, imagine seeing you here,” he said, turning to look at the old friend.

“We were running drills and heard that another one had been found. What do you need?”

“Warm blankets, water, and someone fluent in Spanish or Portuguese. I’m not sure which,” said Brax.

By the time the ambulance made its way onto the sand, the boy was finally coming around, staring up at the people around him.

“Another illegal?” asked the EMT. Pax pulled back the towel and frowned at him.

“I don’t know. Do illegals generally chain themselves to boards?” The EMT stared at the boy’s ankle and wisely shook his head.

“Sorry. I didn’t see that,” he said. “It’s not the first one, though. This is like the fourth or fifth one we’ve had that was chained to the boat. Same thing too. A medal of Saint Philomena around his neck.” The boy gripped his medal, repeating a prayer over and over again.

“The kid says it was a whole boatload of people,” said the young SEAL standing next to Aaron. “He said the boat split apart, and he was still chained to the floor. He lost his parents and sisters.”

“Damn,” muttered Pax. “What’s his name?”

“Enrico.”

“Where are you taking him?” Pax asked the EMT.

“We’ll take him to Coronado Medical,” he said. “He’ll be examined there, and we’ll try to find out if he has any other family.”

“We’d like to speak to him further,” said Pax.

“Dude, like I said, he’s not the first. This is a problem we’re having right now with illegals trying to come in any way they can.”

“Dude,” said Pax harshly. “Illegals don’t chain themselves to boats, nor do they intentionally sink those boats. This is the second one I’ve come across like this, and you’re telling me there were others. So, forgive me, but I don’t give a fuck what you think. I want to speak to the boy.”

“Fine, geez!”

“Pax, we’ll spend some time with the boy and try to gather more information. Let them get him to the hospital and see what other injuries he’s got. Right now, hypothermia is taking hold of his little body, and it’s going to kill him if we don’t hurry. I’m going to call Cam and Luke. Let them know what’s happening here. They might want to send a few more folks.”

“We’ll head back to the house to wait for everyone,” said Alice. “I’ll get some more of the rooms ready and make sure there’s enough sleeping space for everyone. We probably need more food.”

“I’ll head to the grocery store,” said Annie.

“I’ll go with you. Two people can carry a lot more than one,” nodded Deanna. She gripped Pax’s hand, kissing him. “I love you. Be careful.”

“I love you, too. Go. Mom and Alice know what to do. Just prep for at least four or five more people coming.” As the women left the beach, Pax looked at his brother, father, Saint, and Bogey. “Well?”

“Something is seriously fucked up.”