The City of Sete lay off in the gorgeous morning in the horizon. It was late morning now and the Mediterranean Sea simmered in the glowing sun light. Sun glasses were a must.
With his large gray duffel bag full of goodies at his side (including a special silver briefcase that need to delivered by Monday morning in London) and the camera case swung over his neck and shoulder, Rick turned the boat around, pointing it back towards the open blue turquoise sea. He lovingly stroke the boat’s controls one last time. Then with a punch of the figure on the computer screen, he activated a timer. Sad really, it sure was a beauty of a boat and he wasn’t past stealing it. But he was busy and didn’t have time to figure out how he could pull off the job scot free.
A timer began flashing on the monitor as it started to count down from five minutes. He had programmed the boat’s auto-pilot to take the craft south, south-west after the timer reach zero. The timer would reset for five hours and then the controls would lock into 10 degree turn. The yacht would go in circle until it ran out of gas or someone found it. He had also left behind a nasty little computer batch file designed to delete everything on all the boats computers after 7 hours. What happened to the multi-million dollar yacht after that was anyone’s guess? More than likely some coastal guard patrol would pick it up and trace it back to Sir Norton Larrs. Not that Rick thought he deserved a boat this grand. He was hoping the illegal drugs would get Larrs busted.
Rick left everything on board as was, minus the clothing Maria took, the food they ate, and the money he used for fuel back at Secca Grande, Italy. Oh, and minus one inflatable raft with an outboard motor. With Maria’s help, the two had pulled the raft out of storage and prepped it for the short ride into Sete.
With a final check to make sure everything was clean and working, Rick grabbed his bag and headed down to the back of the yacht, sliding down the railing with exuberance that is usually displayed only by those with youthful innocence.
But Rick had good reason to be happy. All had gone well yesterday in St. Paul’s bay, last night through the lonely dark of the Mediterranean Sea and now this cloudless Saturday morning off the coast of France. Yacht or not, Rick had one smoking-hot bombshell of a girl to share company with and a job, with said ‘hottie’, pulled off without a tag-a-long ride with Mr. Murphy.
He was happy, more than the fact that the job had gone well but happy with the reality that Maria had been an equal partner. Rick liked that about her because most the girls he knew would end up being an extra burden, liability, and ultimately a problem if he took them along. But Maria was not only beautiful but as Rick had learned, she was a handy companion to have with him. She was tough, a quick learner, and unafraid to get her hands dirty.
Dropping down to the back of the yacht, Rick tossed his duffel bag into the waiting raft. Without a second thought he abandoned the ultra expensive yacht. Rick cut the mooring rope with his tanto and Maria started up the outboard motor.
The ride into Sete took less than twenty minutes. Maria drove as Rick kept his eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. Arriving at the port, they took the small raft around the sea wall and towering light house and then headed up into the harbor. Sète, sometimes called "the little Venice of the France," due to its numerous canals and quaint neighborhoods, had seemed like a great place to come inland onto the continent. Rick wasn’t disappointed with his choice. There was no security of any kind that he could see as they moved up past the large industrial docks at the edge of the city. They were moving against a steady flow of the fishing vessels heading out to sea.
Passing the harbor where the larger ships are moored, the two worked their way up
the waterfront until they passed under the first bridge and entered the city's canal system. Colors from the buildings reflect brightly in hues of red, orange, yellow, and slate in the blue morning water of the canals.
It took passing under three more bridges until Rick finally spotted a empty space for Maria to dock the raft on the right side of the canal. Small brightly painted boats choked all sides of the canal. There were so many of these "Venice-type" boats that Rick was beginning to wonder if they needed to turn around and head back to the industrial docks.
Beyond the wall of boats were narrow roads running the length of the canals. The roads were only a foot or two higher than the waterline. Just on the other side of the narrow one-way roads were the cities historic buildings all five to six floors tall covering every inch of the waterfront. It reminded Rick of floating down a river in the narrows back when he was a boy. The buildings were squeezed so close together that the only hint of one building ending and the next beginning was the difference of paint color. Sete really was a lovely city and Rick found he was beginning to like the place.
That was until Maria brought the raft up to wall. Rick noticed some late morning café patrons watching them a little too closely. He stared back as he jumped out and secured the raft to the short wall. The patrons continue to gaze in their direction.
Wondering why they were drawing attention, Rick looked back at Maria as she grabbed her bag and jumped out to join him. Realization hit him like a ton of bricks.
“Damn, you’re too good looking, Maria.”
“Why thank you my water prince. You’re not bad yourself.” She said as she mischievously slapped him with her tail.
Rick cocked his head in a gesture to point towards the people at the café.
“Oh.”
All eyes were looking at the two.
It was obvious that the people of Sete had a dark complexion while both he and Maria were much fairer in comparison. This alone made them stand out. But Rick also assumed they were getting the eye because both he and Maria were attractive. He often found women ogling at him and he had the bad habit of sticking in their minds at times he wished he could blend better into the crowd. Maria was the same if not so much more! She was too damn attractive. And that was the problem. "Attraction" attacks attention. She really stuck out in a crowd! It is like a movie star walking into a room full of ‘mere mortals’. People tend to notice things like that, just as these people were noticing them right now.
“You think we should do anything?”
Rick thought about making a scene of it by having Maria go over to the group of breakfasters while he took pictures. But then he thought better of the idea.
“Just smiled and wave at the nice people”.
The two waved and called out a greeting in Spanish knowing it was the wrong language. They turned quickly and headed up north along the canal road.
“Let’s not make a scene if we can help it. I would like to get rid of this package as soon as possible.”
Fortunately, the street they were on was somewhat busy. A number of European compact cars with their wimpy engines and low gears raced noisily up the one way street. Rick looked back a few times to see if they were still being watched. He looked back at Maria. Maria’s jeans and white tank top she was wearing weren’t helping any. And the perfect roundness of her breast were awfully distracting. He slapped himself mentally and looked around again. He could see other people along the road seemed notice them too. Maybe there was something else he missed?
“I wish we would have come in during the night; Fewer eyes to hide from.”
“I think you worry too much Rick. What are they going to do? Call security because they saw two foreigners get out of a boat and walk up the road?”
“I hope you’re right. I just get a little tense when I am doing a job. I think I have been around Barett too long. He sees daggers in every shadow.”
Ten minutes later, walking along the canal side of the road, Rick and Maria crossed over to the west side and then turned down a small side street named Rue Colbert. At the end of the street they found a quaint little park and adjacent hotel. This was close to the main road circling Sete and seemed a good place as any to try to contact Barett and Bridget.
Maria went into the hotel to order some foot while Rick crossed over an intersection to use a public phone. All he had to do now was call Barett and let him know where to find them so he could pick up the package and start his leg of the mission.
What could go wrong?
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Rick dials up the number for Barett.
After the first ring barely ends, Barett picks up.
" Hey mom, good to hear from you, still running that marathon in Spain, good.., looks like I'm running one here in Sete, France. Lots and lots of spectators at mine, uncle must have called everyone.
I will call you later, after the spectators have gone home, say Hi to felix for me."
Then the line goes dead.
The conversation was less than 12 seconds.
Rick can deduce several things, Barett gave the code for being followed, Rick and Maria are being looked for, and Barett wants him to go to a place named felix ?
What does Rick want to do ?
Uncle Floyd was a grumpy chief officer back in the day who could scare the begeebers out of anyone and the coontail boys had loved and idolized him. He was a tough, wiry, gray-eyed, sharp-featured man of about five feet nothing. He was missing two fingers off is his left hand from playing too much with explosive devices. He had a gravelly, bullfrog of a voice that preceded him by about ten seconds and he was always growled with an unending sting of ingenious combined expletives. In others words, the man could out swear a seasoned sailor and possessed the where-with-all to kick said sailor’s tuchus into next Thursday. The coontail boys all wanted to be just like him when they grew up. So the very first thing they always did when they began to learn a new language was to figure out all the swear words.
This drove their teachers crazy but what made it worthwhile was when they would catch Papa Rick and Uncle Floyd stifling a laugh as boys practice out back on each other after school. Their mom wasn’t too pleased and always shot Uncle Floyd and Papa Rick the evil eye. Papa Rick would take the grief from mom but he never stopped the boys from practicing swearing. He reasoned that, what was the purpose of learning a new language if you couldn’t use it to better insult people and broaden your horizon in the fine art of cursing?
Dave was the best at putting together to most amazing strings of curses. He always won their game. The game they played was to see who could mix and match the different words into to most offensive line they could think off. The fun was guessing what you were trying to say. They would use one language’s highly offensive idioms but said it in another language to see how badly they could throw someone off. It always sounded like gibberish on the outside but the brothers loved it. Rick found he still did this from time to time.
“Turtles and eggs, dog farts and dead dog ghosts! What is going on? El burro sabe mas que tu.”
He hung up the phone after the unexpectedly abrupt conversation with Barett. He cursed another string of gibberish as he stared at the cars zipping through the narrow intersection. Each face was now suspect.
What or who was Felix? Rick was drawing a blank on that one for the time being. He would have to think more on that. And how in the hell did anyone know they were heading for Sete? And then there was the fact that his KISS plan of leap frog had just gone down the drain. He was sure he hadn’t left any clues for anyone to figure out what the plan was. So what was the leak and who was tailing them and to for what reason?
Rick crossed the intersection, dodging a silver colored Renault Twingo driven by some mid-aged woman too busy with something else in her car to be bothered with things like looking out for pedestrians.
Rick knew the plan had changed now and he better start thinking fast on his feet. As he walked toward the little hotel Maria had gone in to get a late breakfast he thought of two possibilities. Either Shelia was a double agent and had set them up or the room they were in back in Cozo, Malta was bugged. It was either of these two and most likely General Wineburg of the 'Royal Green Jackets' was testing them to see how good they really were. That or he was wanting to test his own men which meant that he, Barett, Maria, Spanky, and Bridget were just expendables to him. Either way, the game was now afoot and the stakes just increased. There was no way Rick was going to lose and he was going to make sure someone paid dearly for foolishly choosing to play with him!
As he walked toward to hotel, he knew he was going to have to time things right. If someone was hot on their trail, then he guessed he would have about 5 minutes at the most before they got here.
“Madame bonjour,” Rick called out as he entered and saw an attractive and proper looking lady with dark eyes. She wore a lacy pink apron and he took her to be the hotel’s matron. “Est-elle ma amie ici?” His French accent was terrible. (Is my girlfriend here?)
“Oui, Monsieur. Elle mange son déjeuner dans la salle café.” The dark-eyed matron answered as she needlessly wiped her already impeccably clean and noticeable manicured hands on her pink apron. “La joindrez-vous pour le déjeuner aussi?”
Rick wasn’t quick enough to get everything the mistress said but he followed where she was now pointing and saw Maria sitting at a little table for two, enjoying a morning cup of coffee and a half eaten croissant. ‘Good, she hadn’t checked in yet.’ Rick thought. He looked around and easily found a small shelf with a few different brochures that looked like guides to Sete. He spotted what looked like the train schedule. The matron, he was guessing to be in her mid-thirties, had walked over and was following him closely with her dark eyes.
“May I have this?” He said innocently to the mistress, pointing to the schedule and then to himself and giving her a wink.
“Mais naturellement.” She said with slight cheek flush and a smile that was more wilily that sincere. It was obvious his charm had caught her off guard.
With that he also grabbed a tourist pamphlet of Sete and turned to the frilly pink apron lady again. “Merci” He said with his best intimidation at sounding French. He still failed, but the mistress didn’t seem to mind.
“Vous aiment un certain déjeuner aussi?”
‘Something about breakfast,’ he guessed. “No très bien.” He said back as he patted his stomach. The hotel matron smiled with a short curtsey but Rick surreptitiously noticed that her eyes never left him as he walked away and moved under the Mediterranean style archway into the little café to join Maria.
Maria was enjoying the morning view of the little courtyard on the left.
“What have you got there?” she asked as she motion to his city guides.
“Change of plans. We need to get on the next train for Cannes. Barett is waiting for us there.”
“Wow, Cannes. I have always wanted to go there. Why the change?”
“Well, as you know, he’s been there for three days now and said we had to see this place called the Brommel. I guess it is to die for. So instead of meeting us here, he wants us to come down. He also said we to catch the “La Blitz” and said today was the last day we could see it. That cool with you?”
“Sure, when is the train?”
Rick moved the silverware and napkin out of the way and laid out the train schedule on the table. Then he grabbed a butter knife to use as a pointer on the paper. As he studied the schedules, he aligned the flat edge of the knife to reflect the hotel’s front lobby to see what the matron was doing. Sure enough, those dark eyes were still watching them but now she was talking on the phone.
“It looks like the next TGV train leaves at 9:25”. Rick looked at his watch. “Oh, we better hurry, that only leaves us with 40 minutes to get to the train stations. Fortunately it is really close. We can walk there in about 10 minutes. You ready to go?”
“Sure, let me finish this first OK?” Maria stood, grabbing the remainder of her croissant and finished it off with one bite.
Rick however had remained seated. He had opened the other brochure and was checking it out.
“You know, Maria, I think it is going to be hot today, you want to see if they have any hats here that would protect your face? You know how bad you can burn sometimes.”
“Sure thing. I will get a shirt too. There is a little gift shop right over there. You want anything?”
But Rick didn’t answer. His eyes were glued to something he had found on the map and guide of Sete. It was a long shot but there it was. Felix & Co., 2 Quai General Durand, Sète. ‘Sète's best-known furniture designs, using wrought iron wood, glass, rattan, ceramic, and plastic thread.’
Rick looked up and smiled. “Sorry, what? No I don’t need anything, but we better hurry so we don’t miss the train.”
Looking at the map one more time and memorizing the furniture store’s location, Rick quickly folded up the map and train schedule and followed Maria into the little gift shop. He was forming a plan but they needed to lose their tail fast if this was going to work. He could only hope that the hotel matron had taken the bait and the misinformation would shake off whoever was looking for them. Rick meant to make catching him and Maria next to impossible.
Rick and Maria, casually walk down the street. The floppy tan hat and oversized t-shirt hide Maria's figure, add to that the large tote and she looked all the part of a tourist. She even managed to get a baseball cap and white beach shirt for Rick. The Taxi ride to the store was bland and overpriced but kept them off the street, and out of sight. The store was your typical high end art deco furniture store. The clerk askes if you wanted some help,
Maria says. " no Just looking, perhaps some sugestions, please."
" Yes Madam....You would not be Maria Coontail ?
would you ?" asks the tall, Otter like Salesman.
Surprised Maria askes " Why do you ask. "
At the same time Rick is going for his gun, and looking for the back exit.
" Well madam, I have a note here for her, and a description from your secretary, its about the pieces that she picked out for you, to be shipped to England....You match the destription, well you and your companion....I'am told he is your...how shall we say...escort.
We here at Felix's are very protective of our clients, there is no need to fear discovery." He smiles and nods toward the warehouse door, Handing her a sealed note.
In the back of the Warehouse sits a large crate, half packed with large leaded glass statues and a kitchen table set.
" These are the items that your secretary picked out, if you care to add more, please let us know." says the otter.
Just as Maria is about to ask a question the front door bell rings, and the salesman excuses himself and shuffles to the front, leaving you with the note and the crate.
As Rick looks over the note he can see it is womens handwriting. Inside is a simple note.
" Here is the table, just like the one we had as children...when we used to write each other notes."
Rick looks over the paper then remembers the most basic of all invisible inks and takes the note, holds it over a lighter flame and watches as the real message appears...just like when the were boys...of course he hopes that Barett didn't use urine as the ink on this one.....perhaps he did.
The message is simple and to the point.
" The leaded glass should conceal the radiation, this is a shell game, several other crates are all going to the same place....leave the package in the crate. I'll pick up before it hits the dock and meet you later..... B "
What does Rick want to do ?
“What do you think Maria? It is my brother’s handwriting.” Rick asked as he dropped his duffel bag down next to the crate and moves silently over to check the door where the salesman had stepped out.
“It is unquestionably cleaver of him to come up with a plan like this. I’ll have to give his a treat for being so smart. I bet he is still smiling about it.” Maria replied as she looked more thoroughly at the items in the crate. “I think it should work if the shipping companies don’t mess up and lose the package.”
With his gun held low in a double grip for quick action if needed, Rick carefully pushed the door open a crack and peered out. He couldn’t see anyone but heard voices, one belonging to the otter speaking amicably with someone who must be a male from the deepness of his voice. Looking back at Maria, he silently communicated with his eyes and the two come to an agreement. This looks like the best plan. Rick slipped the gun back into the front of his pants and let the door gently close.
“Let’s do this.” Rick said and then he swears.
“And the same to you buddy!”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean you. Don’t look up. We are being recorded. Walk around and act normal as if you are looking at other items in here and see if you can find some duck tape. “
There were cameras all over the place. Rick ducked his head and moved over to a particularly ugly modern table that was so narrow that you could barely get a phone to balance on it.
“I want if see if I can access to their recording units before we do anything overly incriminating. See if I can erase the tapes. Maybe we will get a little more information about this Felix Company too.”
“Alright, I’ll watch the door and try to distract the otter if he comes back but don’t you waist too much time monkeying around.”
Rick gave her double-thumbs up and surreptitiously moved back into the room looking for a back office or hallway in which there would be the security controls.
The back hall is narrow and old, the smell reminds you of the attic in your house at the military base. Multiple layers of paint peel from the corners and baseboards that run down the hallway. Forgotten awards and newspaper articles posted to the wall, reveal the true age of the building. A small door with a frosted glass window, looks like the best guess to the security/managers office the double locked twin knobs take Rick only a few seconds to bypass and he is in the small room. Modern by most standards the room contains two monitors with split screens, four computer towers and laser printer are jammer into one corner, a large glass desk occupies the center of the room.
Quickly pulling out the keyboard and acessing the video files, Rick deletes the last hour of video, and pulls the company files...." They really should not leave the program open, even if the door is locked, bad security." thinks Rick.
After viewing the company files and seeing that it all seems legit, He heads back out to find Maria.
She is holding a roll of packing tape and some brown sheet paper.
"Well, you took long enough...lucky for you the salesman is long winded with the other customer. " She smiles at you.. " what else did you do in there on the computers, and what is with the tape ? "
Outside, a tug boat in the nearby seaport blasted its horns. The sound started a flock of gulls that took flight in the humid early afternoon sky above Sete. The sound startled both Rick and Maria because at the very minute Rick had opened up his duffel bag grabbed the steel suitcase with its special package, the horn blast sounded. Maria clutched her heart and stood straight up like she had a spring snapping back into place instead of a spine. Rick had his gun out again, his eyes riveted on the front door. Another blast sounded followed by a third some distance out.
When realization hit Maria what the sound was we broke out into uncontrollable laughter. Her voice was infectious and Rick joined her. Their laughter was dangerously loud but wonderfully calming. Rick realized they were both a bit too stressed.
Taking a deep calming breath and a shake of the head, Rick turned again to the duffel bag and pulled out the suitcase and handed it to Maria.
“I think my heart almost stopped there! Don’t scare me like that.” Maria said as she wiped her eyes from the tears of laughing and took the case.
“Sorry for stressing you out. We just need to hurry and get rid of this and then get moving.”
“Why did you want me to find some tape?”
Rick pulled out is minicomputer and flipped out a small computer chip that was about the size of a credit card.
“This is a GPS chip that will tell us exactly where this box is at. I need to tape it as close as I can to the wall of the container so we can get a good signal.”
“Here, why don’t you pack in the shells and place them in the best place you think will block out the radiation and I will attach the GPS to the wood.”
Three minutes later the two extra packages were well hidden and secured with the furniture meant to be shipped to London by Sunday evening. The security cameras in the room were programmed to start recording again in 5 minutes. Maria wrote a quick note to the otter to inform him that she was pleased with the selection and it was ready to ship without any additional items. The two slipped out a side door. They exited onto the road next to the harbor and headed north, walking toward the train station.
Rick and Maria stroll through the backstreets and lanes of the quiet town. Buying some rolls and cheese along the way and drinking some local mixes, the afternoon snack turning into a walking lunch. Once at the train station Rick rents a locker and places one small bag with the guns and ammo in it.
" just until later, after the dog and pony show they will give us in about 90 minutes." Rick says with a big smirk.
When he was in the office at Felix's he did some hacking. First he got into a boatline and back booked them on to a ship arriving this afternoon, then he bought some train tickets from Sete to Paris that departs in three hours.
Strolling along the canal with his tickets in hand Rick fills in Maria on the plan.
" We are going to sneak in on the cargo deck of the boat, move up to the cabins and then exit with the rest of the guests. When they take us through customs we will be isolated and searched....put up a protest, but not much. Then hopefully when they find nothing they will let us go like they did Barett and Spanky....And then our passports will be stamped, and we can travel without restrictions." Rick explains to her, hoping that this will get them one step closer to having some fun on thier vacation, and him some more action.
The afternoon sun is blaring down on the open dock when they sneak in over a tall rusty fence. The smell of rotting fish and stagnant water is overpowering, this is not the tourist part of the docks. Ricks plan is good and besides a few odd looks the clipboard in his hand he took from the office makes him look official. The line to customs is short and in no time they are looking over Ricks passport and the customs people are talking rapidly back and forth in French to each other.
" Please open your bags sir." snaps the large women behind the counter.
" Is there a problem, I don't think there is any fruit in there if thats what your looking for. " Smiles Rick, casually unzipping the bag.
" What is your purpose in visiting France, and how long do you plan on staying." She barks again, nervously looking over her shoulder at a shut door.
" Pleasure, strictly Pleasure...hopefully with that exotic beauty over there." points Rick to Maria...." just passing through really, perhaps a day or so, must be in Paris tonight..Train to catch."
The customs women doesn't even acknowledge what he said. And Points at Maria to the two Large men who just stepped out from the door behind her.
" Both of them to the search room, now." she barks in French. Maria pretends to be insulted and slaps away the first mans hand.
"I have nothing on me, look I'll show you." Maria says and starts to take her shirt off.
With that the two of you are pushed back into the hall beside the counter and down a flight of stairs to some holding cells. Maria is pushed into the first and Rick into the second. After about a half hour a tall human in a three piece suit walks in, papers in hand.
" Your papers seem to be in order Mr. Coontail." he says in broken english. " all we ask is that you consent to a strip search and then we will release you, of course that is if we don't find anything..."
he trails off.
" I don't know what you mean by that, but I usually get bought a good drink before I am hit on...is that what you are proposing ?" Quips back Rick.
"NO....nothing of the like...We must insure that nothing illegal enters into France." Bumbles the officer.
This kind of verbal dance goes on for about 45 minutes before they let you and Maria go. When they return the bags, everything has been run over. The shampoo and toothpaste are completly empty. The cloths turned insideout.
Rick walks out to the front curb and hails a taxi cab.
" When you promised me a exciting time in europe, with some romance...I imagined your hands all over me, not two fat lesbians searching body cavities." says Maria as they slide into the backseat of the small cab.
"To the Train station, pronto." Says Rick in broken French.
" Yeah, It's not what I was thinking either.....tonight we will be in Paris, we will do what ever you want."
Maria smiles wickedly then kisses Rick on the cheek.
"Good she says, I am just dying to go to a Disco Tech in Paris I've read about....but first I will need to find a dress..and some killer shoes...and a clutch..."
Rick sits back as she outlines all the things she needs and all the places she wants to go to in Paris, as the taxi weaves in and out of traffic, taking twice as long as their walk just a few hours ago.
Once at the station they hurry through to the waiting train. Once in Rick slips out the back through the conductors door and out into the crowd. Opening the locker and removing the bag. Sneaking back into the train he settles into the small sleeper cabin. Maria snuggles up next to him.
" As crappy as the customs office was I would not have done this without you, you make things fun and exciting....I don't really have any fears about things with you around..." she trails off. Her hand moving up your leg as the train starts to move.
"Care for some afternoon delight?"she giggles, as her hand moves over you.
What does Rick do ?
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