few whispers and more men dressed in black. The crew began to talk amongst themselves, the fear palpable in their voices. Dimitri knew he had to fight through the pain in his leg, which was becoming worse minute-by-minute, in order to support his men.
“ We will get through this,” he told his crew. “For now we must keep up our strength. Clear those boxes near the back and try to get some sleep. There is nothing we can do without more information. Our company has probably been notified and the military is on their way.”
Dimitri tried to sound strong and commanding, but he knew they were in grave trouble. “What could they be after and where were they taking us? It was a suicide mission to commit an act of piracy in these waters. The military will reign down on them,” he thought to himself, the question swirling in his head. He then came to another ghastly thought, “what if our company or the military didn’t know we had even been hijacked?”
-Chapter 3-
Jane finished her call to Galveston and looked at me with a smile on her face.
“ So what did say? Is he coming?” I inquired.
“ Of course. I have amazing persuasive powers over the opposite sex. You should know that.”
“ Oh, I do. Here’s my wallet and the keys to my car,” I joked with her.
“ Very funny. I told him we wanted to see him and he said, ‘okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes.’ Now give me ten dollars.”
“ Yes, ma’am,” I answered mockingly, reaching for my wallet. “Now what did you really tell him.”
“ I said we wanted to talk about Elizabeth and how she wronged him.”
“ Beautiful. Oh, that’s good. He probably raced out of his house without putting his clothes on,” I responded.
“ Yeah, we’ll see him in no time.”
We wasted time with small talk while we waited for Galveston ‘s arrival. He loved to talk about his problems and lately that was all he could focus on. I contemplated the best way to handle this in my head. My main goal was to bring him back to earth, or at least in the stratosphere.
In seven minutes flat he moped through the door with his head down and shoulder s slumped forward. My joke about leaving the house without his clothes on was pretty accurate. He had on a pair of gray sweats along with a wrinkled button down shirt that wasn’t even buttoned correctly. His hair looked like it hadn’t been combed in days; the front poking up like he was a member of the 80’s band, Flock of Seagulls. It appeared he hadn’t shaved in weeks, or he made some half-hearted attempt, because one bearded side was noticeably thicker than the other. Galveston plopped down on the nearest chair and let out a heavy sigh.
“ How you doing, sunshine?” I asked sarcastically.
He managed only a grunt and a shrug of the shoulders. He stuck out his legs, and I noticed he had on a dirty pair of sneakers with a pair of mismatched socks. I pulled up a chair near him while Jane took up a position behind her desk.
“ So, you guys wanted to talk,” he said meekly, keeping his head down.
I looked at Jane and rolled my eyes. She smiled and gave me a look with her eyes to go easy on him. I would try, but I had had it up to my eyeballs with his demeanor.
“ So, uh, Galveston, we wanted to talk to you about what you’re going through,” I started, trying nicely to hold back anything negative. “I’ve been getting some strange calls from some of your contacts. They are, to say the least, interesting.”
“ Yeah, just a few I ran into here and there.”
“ I have to admit, I’m a little disconcerted about the direction our business is going. You’ve been non-existent lately, and to be honest, you look like hell.” Jane flashed me a quick glance and condemning look. I relaxed slightly before continuing. “I need you to run this business. I know you’re upset,” I said rather condescendingly, “but I think—we