Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Spanky and Shelia (Waiting for Rick )

The Cold Ocean water lapped at the side of the rented fishing boat. A narrow wooden long boat with a 50 hp. out board motor, 24 feet long and a mere 6 feet wide it looked like a old canoe on steroids. The white paint was peeling fast, and the smell of dead fish was strong, Spanky hunkered down in the back, attempting to keep his body out of the wind. Shelia sat in the bow hunched over her cell phone/PDA, typing rythmatically on the tiny keyboard. He gritted his teeth, not from the cold, but to hold in the animosity that he held for the woman in the bow. If there came a time to ditch her and move on his own, he would do it in a heart beat. Right now they had a strained agreement, he was only to talk to her about the mission, and not ask questions. She in turn would leave him alone and never mention the incident at the hotel. The Morning seemed to get colder as the dawn approached, the wind changed directions and the boat strained againest its ropes, wanting to break free from the dock, almost as much as Spanky wanted free from her.
He looked again at the message Barett had sent him. It was basic but told him to have a boat ready on the English side of the channel. Rick was to contact him before the drop but to be ready, the location seemed a little too south of any good drop zones, and he had this sneaking suspicion that they were being cut out of the loop on purpose. At this point he could understand, it seemed like they had been dogged and shadowed this whole trip, and they didn't even have the package with them. It must have been quite the ride for Rick and Barett, being strangers to this land and all.
The Hotel incident was a lack of judgement call on his part mostly. They had gotten a small room and ordered in some food and wine saturday night, spanky had gotten some good German beer as well. After a whole bottle of wine and most of the 12 pack of beer he thought she was making some eyes at him, guess he had his beer googles on at that point. When she went to the bathroom claiming to " clean up for bed " he thought that was a code for a role in the hay. Stripping down to the buff he cleared the top of the bed off and lay there in all his glory when she came out. There was a moment of shock and curiosity, but then she just started laughing, but it was more than the laughing that really nutted him up. She kept spurting out between bouts of snorting laughs that he " thought they were going to have sex ". It was more than his ego could handle, she acted like he was beneath her, why would a goddess like her dirty the sheets with a commoner like him, her eyes seemed to say. Grabbing his cloths and half undressed, he stumbled out into the hall and down the stairs to the street. Stopping at the first bar he came to and drinking till his money was gone seemed like the right thing to do. The lock up was not in his plans, the small french police station smelled of stale coffee and puke. The drunk tank was full of fishermen sleeping off the spoils of a good catch. The french police were not intending to press charges and were just letting him sleep it off . His military ID at lest held some respect with these guys.
Spanky thinks that she was working off a little hangover herself when she started arguing with the duty officer. Spanky was out of the holding cell at this point, chatting with the officers in the breakroom about military stuff, and drinking coffee when she came in. He managed to calm her down just as they were about to cuff her and throw her in the cell. Thanking the officers and hauling her out the front door, he was surprised at her emotion, it was unlike anything he had seen from her before. After that she seldomed even looked directly at him, and spoke in unflatering language about him and the brothers when she did. I guess he couldn't blame her, but he didn't haft to like her. That was three hours ago, deciding to cross the channel then, they picked up the small boat at the dock and waited. Spanky suspected that the call from Rick would never come, and could see that would only add more tension to the fragile truce they had. What would he do then, only time would tell, but ditching her was starting to look better and better.

1 comment:

Barett Coontail said...

To Spanky the "Eastbourne pier" seemed a little to commercial, to touristy. It was directly south of London, a straight shot, fastest way back, yes that was true, but not Baretts style he thought. The holiday was nearing its end and the beach would soon be full of people wanting to catch some rays before they headed home Sunday afternoon. The Hotels were all filled, but Spanky had no intentions of staying. He had some friends not far from here with a little place, and some good computers. He was going to do some research on this Shelia women, see what he could dig up, before heading back to base.
The Long pier stretched out far into the sea, the White buildings reflecting the rays of sun just starting to seep through the morning clouds. This would be the perfect time to jump from a plane, enough light to see, not enough to make you discernable. It was a good plan, very unconventional, even on this beach it could work.

" Hey..." whispered Shelia, just above the sounds of the sea.
" What do you know about the group ' Manassa's Kingdom' ?"

Spanky thought for a moment.
" Not much I'm afraid, they are suposed to be a Pro-animal, Anti-Human organization that dumps money into political campaigns that 'think their way'.....It seems no one knows where they get the money or who really runs the group."

"Yeah, that is what I have heard to....and some more. But still no one knows who is at the head, who makes the money decisions." She has a puzzled look on her face.
" What would Rick be doing running around with a suspected member of this shadow organization ?"

"That I couldn't tell you, but if it's a girl, it's probably her that is running after Rick." Says Spanky sarcastically.

Shelia looks up at him surprised, making the first eye contact with him in hours.

" It is a women, a very attractive one at that...how did you know ?"

"Uhh..... that was just a bitter guess, but it figures, Euro girls love their Yankee accents."

Spanky wonders what other things are really at play now, and starts working a plan to ditch Shelia in the next hour.