Page 29

With the early morning light, the boat left once again, making its way around the Baja Peninsula and back into the Pacific. It stopped once again at Cabo San Lucas, El Conejo, and then Isla Cresciente.

“This seems a strange place to stop,” said Dan. “Most of these people are ex-pats in luxury condos, townhomes, beach houses, that sort of shit.”

“Someone is getting on that boat,” said Pax, looking through the binoculars. “Someone very healthy.”

“Shit,” muttered Saint. “They’re taking a few off. Why are they taking them off?”

“It’s what we thought,” said Dan. “Get everything on film. Everything.”

“I’ve got it,” said Hiro.

“All of it, Hiro. I don’t want one movement missed. I want to know who they’re taking and where they’re going,” said Dan.

“They’re moving them to another boat. A yacht,” said Brax.

“We need to get on that yacht,” said Pax, looking at the others. “Get this boat right next to her, in stealth. I’ll get onto the yacht in my stealth netting.”

“I’ll go with him,” said Brax.

“Not without me,” said Moose.

“Great. The rest of you follow the other boat and stop them from killing those poor people.”

Marcel maneuvered the large vessel around the marina, getting close enough to the yacht that Pax, Brax, and Moose could board. With their stealth netting on and a bag of weapons that would make any soldier happy, they found their way toward the main deck.

Six people were seated in the luxury chairs.

“Why are we here?” asked a young man.

“You’re special,” smiled one of the men. “Mr. Mason wants to help you personally. All of you.”

The three men stared at one another through their netting and then back toward the guards. Apparently, the big boss wasn’t here, but that’s where they were taking them. The six individuals were made comfortable, given full plates of food and warm blankets.

From what they could see, one had severe scoliosis of the spine, one had a form of dwarfism, two had cerebral palsy, and the other two were blind.

“What about the others?” asked the young man.

“They’ll be just fine,” smiled the man. “We’re taking great care of them.”

While the crew mingled on the boat, eating, drinking, and playing cards, the three men gathered below deck to make a plan.

“I say we toss their assess overboard and take control of the boat,” said Moose.

“It’s not a bad idea,” smirked Brax. “I can take the helm while you guys get rid of the crew, and I do mean get rid of them. We can’t allow them to live long enough to signal anyone. Get their phones, kill them, and toss them overboard.”

“Seems reasonable,” said Pax.

“I agree,” nodded Moose. “Besides, this is going to be fun. Did you see those poor kids?”

“I saw,” frowned Pax. “Fucker is seriously sick, and we’re going to prove it this time.” Moose shook his head.

“We won’t need to. He’s going to die.”

Once the yacht was clear of land and darkness began to fall, Brax made his way into the bridge. The captain was giving instructions to the first mate.

“The course is charted, and we’re on autopilot. By the time we wake in the morning, we’ll be docked at Mr. Mason’s marina. Don’t wake me unless there are problems.” He turned to leave and noticed the door to the bridge open.

“I didn’t open it,” said the first mate.

Suddenly, there was a behemoth of a man standing before them, his dark eyes glaring at them as if he were cast from the sea itself.

“I opened it,” smirked Brax.

The captain tried to reach for the alarm, but Brax was far too quick. Gripping his wrist, he wrenched him backwards, slamming an elbow into his face. When the first mate started to run, Brax pulled him back by his hair, flattening him to the surface of the deck. With a knee at the base of his skull, he waited until he heard the crack and then looked at the captain.

“Wh-what do you want? Do you know whose boat this is? Do you have any clue?”

“Yep. Carr Mason. Sick fucker who kills disabled people, steals their money, and then those that he thinks he can make a dime off of, he sells to people even sicker than he is.”

The captain just stared at him. Unsure if he should say anything at all. When he tried to reach for his phone, Brax gave a twisted grin.

“Please. Please do. I’m begging you. Give me a reason to cut off your fucking hand.”

“He’ll kill all of you,” said the man. With the silencer on his weapon, Brax fired a bullet into the captain.

“Not if we kill him first.” He pushed the bodies overboard and then tapped his comms. “Control of the bridge is mine. I’m done. Quit being so slow.”

“We’ve got ten men. You had two,” said Pax.

“I’ve taken down six, Pax. Move it, brother,” said Moose.

Disposing of the crew was the easy part. The hard part was convincing the victims that they were actually victims.

“No. No, he promised that we would be taken somewhere that could help us. They would heal us,” said the young man.

“I wish that were true,” said Pax. “But unfortunately, it’s not. Listen to me. We work at a place that has the most amazing medical team in the world. They are up to date on the latest treatments for every ailment, every sickness, every disability. There is no cure for what you all have. Blindness can sometimes be helped by surgeries, but we would need to know more details. Scoliosis can sometimes be helped by surgeries or braces. There is always a little window of hope, but I assure you that this man was not going to give it to you.”

“What was he going to do?” asked the young girl, one of the blind victims.

“We think he was going to sell you to someone.”

“Someone who likes torturing sick people, right?” asked the girl. Pax said nothing, but he knew that she could hear his breathing. “I’m not stupid. My aunt tried to warn me about this. She said this didn’t make sense. She’s taken care of me since I was just a baby. I should have believed her. I should have known this was all too easy.”

“We’ll try to help you if we can,” said Moose, “but we can’t promise anything except your safety right now.”

“What about the others? They had these weird silver rings on the deck. What were they for?” asked another victim.

“Honestly?” asked Pax.

“Please.”

“We believe they were going to chain you to the deck and sink the boat. They’ve done it before, many times. We discovered all of this quite by accident but wanted to stop it.”

“Why? Are you disabled?” asked the boy.

“No. I’m not disabled, but doing this to anyone, able-bodied or not, is heinous, and we won’t tolerate it. We’re going to get you somewhere safe and get you help if it’s available. After that, we’ll take you home.”

“Who will help the others?” asked the girl.

“We’ve got other people helping them right now. They’ll be alright. We promise. As we get closer to San Diego, a Navy ship will be coming alongside us and will take all of you somewhere safe until we can return.”

“The man’s name is Carr Mason,” said the boy. “He didn’t even try to hide it.”

“I know,” nodded Moose, kneeling in front of the boy. “He’s not a good man, and we’re going to make sure he knows how we feel about that.” The boy stared at him for a moment and then asked something Moose had never been asked before.

“Can I watch?”