Come Alive Ch. 14

Taggart looked at the Navy captain once, then sat behind the port-side wheel. "Frankly, I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow. What gives?"

'Mike' seemed a little confused by that reaction. "You told me you were headed to Norderney and yet here you are. And you're asking me 'what gives?'"

"My fault. This boat draws to much. I'd have never been able to get into the marina there, and I want to pull shore power during the transmission."

"Yeah? Well, Henry - sorry, but I'm not buyin' it. We've been watching you long enough to know you're a more careful navigator than that."

"How's Eva?" Taggart replied, looking to the south.

"Fine. Right where you left her. Now, what are you up to?"

Taggart swung around and set his left arm in motion, making an arcing sweep of the northern sky. "See that? Pure, unobstructed sky, and zero RFI. Any questions?"

"Who's the woman?" 'Mike' asked, pointing down below.

"Local nurse. She's going in for a possible mastectomy in the morning. I'll be watching her daughter while she recuperates."

'Mike' shook his head. "Sorry. We have nothing on her, so I can't let you do that."

"And you plan on stopping me how?"

"With this," 'Mike' said, pulling the Sig out into the open.

"I see. Frankly, Mike, you didn't strike me as such a stupid person." Taggart then sat cross-legged - Indian style - and closed his eyes.

"What the fuck are you doing...?"

"Sh-h-h-h...now pay attention, Mikey." Taggart spread his arms wide and tilted his head back, and Mike's face expressed a total 'what the fuck' reaction as he watched...

Then the Sig pistol slipped from Mike's grasp and drifted slowly away from the boat, then, when it was about ten feet away and hovering over the water, gravity to over and it fell into the water - making a simple little plonk sound before it disappeared.

Mike was more than a little interested now, but when he turned back to Taggart his eyes went wide. Because Taggart was hovering about five feet above the deck - still sitting Indian-style, still with his arms out and head tilted back, only now there was a reddish-gold orb about the size of a golf ball just above Taggart's left hand.

Mike took a deep breath, then smiled. "That's right. You worked in Seattle, didn't you? So, you were working with the Phantom Works group?"

But Taggart was engrossed with the red orb now, but the plasma-like material had almost encased his left arm. Moments later Mike lifted from the deck and drifted out over the water - but Taggart - or the red plasma - simply left the captain suspended there, about ten feet above the water.

"Are you having fun now?"

Taggart moved his arm up and Mike began slowly rising into the sky.

"Whoa...alright, alright...you win..."

The red plasma separated and drifted over to Mike - then hovered in front of his face, now about the size of a tennis ball...then it began rotating faster and faster...until it simply winked out of sight.

Mike then fell straight into the water...from fifty feet up. By the time he surfaced Taggart was standing at the aft rail, lowering the swim deck and boarding ladder for a sputtering, cursing Navy captain. Taggart handed the man a towel as he climbed back up on deck.

"Don't you dare ever do that to me again," Mike said as he toweled off, obviously furious.

"Don't make me do it again," Taggart replied, "or next time you'll fall from a few miles up."

"I've heard about you guys. What, you call yourself the Jedi Order?"

Taggart laughed. "I've heard that one too, but no, nothing quite so, what is the word - prosaic? And I think you're going to need some dry clothes, Mike. Bring any?"

"Well, not with me, asshole."

"I'm sorry," Taggart said, trying to stifle a laugh, "but you really should've seen the expression on your face..."

"I'd like to see yours under similar circumstances."

"Oh, been there, done that. Up in the San Juans, near Friday Harbor."

"Oh?"

"One of 'em took me and a Killer Whale for a spin around Vancouver Island one night about five years ago. Took maybe a minute. You ain't seen scared, Amigo, until you've been with a freaked out Killer Whale shitting all over himself."

"That the whale you ran into in Norway?"

"Yup," Taggart said, nodding. "I don't know the how or the why of things like this, but ever since I got the boat a year ago he and his family have always been nearby."

"That's gotta be kind of weird."

"Ya know, not really. Nothing seems weird anymore, nothing at all. About the only difference it's made is I rarely pee over the rail now. Somehow doing that just seems disrespectful."

"You do know that this is kinda off the rails, right? I mean, what if people were watching while you did that shit?"

Taggart shrugged. "It won't matter soon."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, really. That cat's been out of the bag for a while now. Just a matter of time." Taggart looked at his watch, then back at Mike. "You got some place to stay, or do you want to bunk-out here tonight?"

"Here, if that's okay with you."

"The woman and her daughter are up front. You can stay in the bunk just aft of that tonight. Eva will use that one when I'm done here, so stay here 'til then if you like."

"You know, I was really expecting more anger, or maybe something more like suspicion from you."

"I don't have time for that anymore, Mike, so please, please, don't make me waste what time I do have, okay? I mean it. I just don't need that shit in my life now."

"Yeah. Got it."

"You remember how to use the shower?"

Mike nodded.

"Fresh towels on the rod."

"Thanks, Henry."

After Mike disappeared down below Taggart went down to the swim platform and dove into the icy water. He returned an hour later, still quite warm.

+++++

He showered and went to the chart table, opened his laptop and checked Messages first, then Mail. He opened the latest from Dina and read through her apologia and smiled. "She's nothing if not predictable," he muttered, then he opened the latest from Britt.

"I don't know what is going on with you," he read. "Rolf told me that Eva is with you, and I do not know how to process that. It feels like you love her most of all? Am I wrong? Please, tell me I'm wrong?"

He hit the reply button and watched the window open. Such a simple, direct thing. Nonstop, instant communication. What a gift. "Britt, there is no most of all. There is only love. I am bound to you as I am bound to Dina and to Eva. Maybe you don't want to hear that, but I will not deceive you, especially when our feelings are lost in questions of the heart. When you need my love I will be there to give you all I have."

He hit the send button and went to his inbox again, saw Rolf's latest and opened it.

"Henry, mother is depressed again. What should I tell her when she asks to see you?"

"Tell her to come when she feels it safe for all of us."

He hit send and felt someone looking at him. Looking up, he saw Rosa staring at him, and she was crying. He stood and went to her, held her in his arms.

"I'm sorry, but I am so afraid..."

"What are you most afraid of - right now?"

"Of not being here for Erika. That scares me most of all..."

"You're not alone, Rosa, and neither is Erika. Not now, not tomorrow. We'll be here, waiting for you."

"I know, and I thank you for opening your home to us..."

"Come with me now. There's someone I'd like you to meet."

"What? No, not now...I'm wearing just a robe, Henry, with nothing under..."

"Come, please," he said, and holding out his hand he led her up the companionway steps then to the aft deck. He let go of her hand long enough to walk down to the swim platform then held out his hand again. "Do you trust me?" he asked.

She nodded. "I guess, yes." She took his hand and stepped down onto the platform, then she watched as he climbed down the swim steps into the water. "Please, what are you doing, Henry?"

But he was facing the opening that led from the little sheltered marina to the open sea, and she gasped when she saw a huge black dorsal fin cutting through the water - coming right at Henry...

But he simply swam out to meet the animal -

Then they were together. His hand on the side of the whale's face.

"Come here now," he said gently.

"No..."

"Now, Rosa. Just slip off your robe and come to me."

She felt resistance to the moment drift away just like the robe slipping from her shoulders, and she stepped down into the water expecting ice cold pinpricks - only to feel briny warmth enveloping her as she swam out to Taggart. The whale was there, his head completely out of the water as she approached...

...and she went close, close enough to feel the warmth coming from his body, to feel the whale's exhaled air as his blow-hole snapped open, then she felt another body sliding by just behind her and she turned to see a tiny orca turning around and coming back to her.

"That's his daughter, Rosa. Say hello if you want..."

"Henry...she's so small! How old is she?"

"Just a few weeks."

She turned back to the large male and rubbed the side of his face again. "Thank you for this," she whispered - and then she watched as he slipped under the surface and disappeared, his little girl following along just under the surface.

"That's the first time I've met her," Henry said quietly.

"You know this, these whales?"

"I know this family, yes."

"How is this possible?"

Taggart shrugged. "I don't know, but I guess you've seen it so you can believe it."

"How long have you known him?"

"Him? Oh, about five years."

"What? Are you serious?"

Taggart chuckled. "About as serious as two naked people swimming in the ocean at three in the morning can be, I guess."

She looked down at her nakedness then swam back to the swim platform and climbed up and into her robe before she scurried belowdecks, leaving Taggart alone with his thoughts again.

"That went well," he sighed as he swam back to Time Bandits.

The damp night air was chilly now, so he ducked below and showered before changing, and then he waited for rosa. He walked her over to the hospital and she signed in, noting Henry as her emergency contact on the hospital's paperwork, then they found the pre-op waiting room and sat.

"I am not so sure what to think of what happened in the sea tonight," she began, "yet I feel at peace with myself now."

"I'm glad."

"I cannot tell, but I almost feel like he was trying to talk to me. Is that possible?"

Taggart shrugged. "Really, I have no idea. There have been a few times when I've looked in his eye and I seem to feel something like a connection, but the more probable answer to that question is I'm reading something into an encounter that's just not real. Still, all I can say with any assuredness is that I don't know, yet at the same time I think I understand what you're feeling, because I've experienced something like that as well."

"I feel different now. Is that wrong?"

"Wrong? How can a feeling like that be wrong?"

"I don't know; all I can say right now is the fear is gone, and I think he had something to do with this."

"Well, next time you see him, why don't you ask and see?"

"Now you are making fun of me..."

"No, I'm not."

"You will take care of Erika for me?"

"Of course."

"I mean if something bad happens?"

"I know - but nothing bad is going to happen."

A nurse, another friend as it turned out, came and took her to get ready for the biopsy, and Taggart made sure she had his number before he walked back to Bandits. He leashed up Clyde and took him the long way around the island, and an hour later the nurse called and told him Rosa would be having a full mastectomy soon.

He sighed as he looked out at the sea, then he felt an odd presence in the air, something like an urgent cry for help - and even Clyde felt it because he started barking and the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. Then Clyde started walking towards the boat, pulling on his leash - which was something he rarely did.

"Alright, boy, let's go..."

They walked through an apartment complex on the way to the boat and he could see TV sets on and people staring intently at their screens and he knew what it was then...

Mike was sitting up in the cockpit talking on a sat-phone when they made it back...

"Okay, he's back now. I'll tell him," Henry heard him saying as he stepped up on deck.

"So, what's Ivan up to this morning?" Henry asked.

"Mechanized units just crossed into Finland and northern Norway. Tallinn and Riga went dark about a half hour ago."

"So, what about the aircraft we're waiting for?"

"Over the Baltic, headed this way. Should he here in about an hour."

Taggart laughed. "So, the best laid plans, eh. Seems like he's about a week early, no?"

"And in broad daylight, too," Mike grumbled. "Using a new playbook this time around."

"Well, two can play at that game, Mike. Still, for every action there's usually an..."

"Yes, I understand Newtonian physics, Taggart?"

"Do you? Excellent! I'm glad somebody out there still does... Now, I've got to feed Clyde and get breakfast ready for Erika..."

"Are you out of your fucking mind!"

"Probably, yes, but I wouldn't worry too much about that right now."

"You've got to get ready, Taggart! We only have about an hour!"

"Which gives me plenty of time to whip up some waffles. Sound good?"

"Did you not hear me!" Mike screamed. "Are you ready?"

"Of course I'm ready. You paid me to be ready, remember? So...I'm ready. Tell me when your spook calls, because I really hate burnt waffles." Taggart disconnected the shore power cord then dropped down the companionway hatch and powered up the generator; when he saw that everything was indeed still ready to go, he powered up his laptop and the Icom transceiver before he walked across to the galley and started mixing batter.

Mike came down the steps - now quite literally almost out of his mind, then he looked at the chart table and saw everything humming along...

"Is your sat-phone ready to go?" he asked.

"Of course, but I thought..."

"Just in case something goes wrong with mine, okay?!"

"The waffle maker is down in that drawer; could you dig it out for me?"

"What!?" Mike screamed.

"Mike, the girl is still sleeping. Keep a lid on it, okay?"

"I'm going to fucking shoot you, Taggart!"

"With what? Your finger?"

Mike, his face crimson bordering on purple, went to the drawer and found the waffle maker. He put it on the counter beside Taggart then went to the closest chair and sat, steam pouring out his ears.

Taggart measured the batter mix and poured it in a mixing bowl, then he added the required amount of oil and cracked two eggs -

Mike's sat-phone chirped and he answered in a voice bordering on pure, adrenaline soaked hysteria: "Where is it!" he cried. "What?! Ten minutes to optimal angle? Already?"

"Have him stay on the line, Mike. You know, like do a countdown, maybe?"

Mike nodded as he listened. "Sweden too? All from the north?" More nodding, purple faced exasperation followed by intense hand-wringing. "Taggart!? Five minutes!"

"Do you like honey, or maple syrup?"

"What the fucking hell...!"

"Okay, maple syrup it is."

"Four minutes, Taggart!"

Who at that point was heads down in the 'fridge looking for butter.

"Three minutes!"

"Found it! Can't have waffles without butter."

"Two minutes, Goddamnit!"

Taggart pulled three plates from the cupboard, then got out three glasses for orange juice. "Now where did I put the OJ?" he muttered as he turned back to the 'fridge again - just as Erika walked into the saloon.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I'm making waffles, then we're going to watch cartoons. Have a seat at the table, okay."

"Okay. Have you heard anything about my mom?"

He nodded. "Yes, we should know soon, in about an hour, I think."

"Thirty seconds now, Taggart," Mike said, his tight-lipped voice now registering a somewhere between simple menace and murderous rage.

"Ah, well then," Taggart said as he walked over to the chart table, "time to see if my little recipe works or not."

"NOW!" Mike thundered, scaring Erika and sending Clyde up the companionway - rendering a symphonic arrangement of methane tinged farts as he scooted up the steps.

Taggart, his fingers hovering over his MacBook, pressed the return key - then, just for fun, he said "Oops!"

"Oops!? Oops!? What the fucking Hell does Oops mean?"

"Michael, dear. Please, not in front of the children...!" Taggart bent over the laptop and read off the progress message, then he clicked Okay and closed the display. "Well, that cake is baked. Tell your pit bulls on the line Mission Accomplished, or whatever the current catch-phrase is."

"What?"

"You've got about thirty seconds, Mike. Tell them the cake is baked. Got it, the cake is baked."

"Taggart says to tell you the cake is baked."

Then Mike's sat-phone went off-line.

"What just happened?" he asked, looking at Taggart.

"Oh, not much. All satellite, cell and land lines just went off-line. Power plants too, for that matter."

"WHAT!?"

"Launch codes were decoded, recoded, then encrypted, by the way."

"What? Where?"

"Oh...everywhere."

"What do you mean, everywhere."

"You mean you want the complete list?"

"WHAT?"

"Well, go ahead, be that way. How about Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, South Africa, Brazil, France, the U.K., and, oh yes, the United States. All launch systems, including submarine launch systems, just went offline. In fact, the only operable encrypted radio circuit still operating right now is NASA's link to the space station."

"You did WHAT?"

"And in about five minutes, Looney Tunes cartoons are going to start playing on all the world's military launch consoles. Yosemite Sam versus Bugs Bunny, 24/7 for the next week. Oh, and all those mechanized units crossing into wherever? I understand all the fuel in their tanks is turning to water as we speak."

"Are you fucking INSANE...!?"

"Really? Me? Because I don't want to watch you blow up the world? Are you, by any chance, even halfway aware of what you're saying?"

Mike put down his phone and walked topsides. "Erika? I could use a hand pouring batter into the waffle-maker."

"Sure. Okay..."

+++++

With cell phones down, Taggart, Mike, and Erika walked to the hospital once Henry's breakfast was finished and cleared-away. Main power to the island usually came by way of a submarine cable from the mainland, but now the island's original diesel plant was online, providing just enough power to run the hospital and the island's grocery store while the authorities tried to figure out what had gone wrong.

The same nurse came out of the operating room a few minutes after Taggart's arrival, and she came up to him, clearly confused and wanting to know what was going on with the power.

"Something with the cable," Taggart said, adding that the old power plant was online and that there was plenty of fuel on hand. "Now, how is Rosa?"

"Stage two, but she's triple negative so the surgeon went ahead with a full mastectomy."

"I see. Is she in recovery yet?"

"Not yet. I'll come get you after they move her. She did just fine, no other problems..."

"Thanks," he said, then he walked over to Erika.

"Well, your mother's operation went well..."

"Was it cancer?"

He nodded and took her hand before he continued. "It's not as bad as it could have been, but they decided to remove her breasts - just to be safe. We'll be able to see her in just a few minutes, but it's going to be very important to let your mother know that you love her and that everything is going to be okay. Got that?"

"Yes."

"Erika, there may be some changes around the house for a while, which means you may have to help with more things around the house than before, but that's just a part of this whole cancer thing. The important thing to remember is that your mother will get better with each new day, and your job is to make it easier for her to work on getting better. So everything you do to help around the house is actually helping your mother get better faster, right? That's the way this works."