Trial by Fire

Altman made his wire transfer and took out an account and arranged to pay for their supplies. The delivery of fresh food supplies, vegetables and meat and anything they lacked was soon accomplished. They got a doctor to check their two injured crewmembers and he pronounced that they were mending nicely.

Altman transferred his remaining funds to the St. Georges bank in Grenada. He spent about an hour with the bank President and finally concluded his business.

"It won't hurt to have it where we can get at it," he said.

Danni, Lanston, Emma, Mason, Kierra, Alex and Jason were granted "shore leave," and they took Samantha along. They rented scuba and snorkeling gear and took the inflatable out on the reef. They dived and relaxed all day. They ate a dinner they had packed on the beach and the girls stretched out in the sun, Kierra thickly layered in sunscreen, while the boys bodysurfed and swam.

Several locals had joined the party, and one young man, Thomas, seemed quite smitten with Emma. They sat on towels and got acquainted. Mason soon felt like he was burning in spite of constantly applying sun block and he and Kierra strolled away hand in hand in search of shade.

Emma had no fear of the sun, Alex and Danni's little brown bodies soaked up the sun like sponges and Lanston was as brown as a nut. It was still slightly overcast and an occasional ash flake drifted down, but the weather was definitely improving.

Lanston eventually tired of the water and he and Danni took towels on the same quest as Mason and Kierra except in the other direction. They found a stretch of grass under some trees and spread out their towels.

Lanston stretched out and looked through his lashes as Danni fluffed her hair dry. She looked over her shoulder at him and saw that he was watching her. She wiggled her little butt provocatively.

"I knew you would like my bikini," she told him. "You do like it, don't you, Lanston?"

"I most certainly do," he agreed. "Turn around and let me see."

She raised her arms over her head and twirled around, her hips swaying.

He whistled softly. "Gorgeous," he said.

"Do you really think so?" she tilted her head to one side.

"Totes," he told her, "but I would hate it on anyone else."

"You're so sweet," she gushed. She slipped onto her towel and lay facing him, her head propped up on one elbow and her other hand tickling his chest.

His eyes followed the line of her body, planning up from her tiny feet; the swelling of her hip quickly descending in a smooth, fascinating curve to her narrow waist and rising again over her ribs to her shoulders.

He traced the line with one finger and she broke out in goose bumps. She shivered a little.

"You cold?" he asked.

"A little," she nodded. "Hold me, Lanston."

He pulled her over on top of him and folded his arms around her. She nuzzled her cheek into his chest just below his chin. His chest hair tickled her a little but she liked it. He didn't have much but she thought it was very masculine. She closed her eyes and sighed. She fell asleep for a few minutes and he stroked her silky hair; golden in the sunshine. She was light as a feather on him.

She didn't sleep long. She raised her head and looked at him. His eyes were closed but the movement of his fingers through her long hair told her that he wasn't asleep.

"Lanston?" she whispered.

"Hmm?" he murmured.

Remember when we were talking about beaches and you told me what you wanted? I told you I might if you helped me."

"Yeah," he said. "I was just kidding, Danni. I love you in your bikini."

"Are you sure?" she whispered, She set up and Lanston opened his eyes.

Her little fingers worked at the bows of her bikini top. The strings collapsed and she held the cups up with her hands.

"I was kidding, but I wasn't. Only if you want to, Danni."

She lowered her hands and the top slid to the towel.

Lanston felt like he had been punched in the gut. She sat there, her eyes cast down with her golden hair framing her slight form.

She was a perfect doll. The small firm mounds stood high and proud, like upside down tea cups. He drank in the sight. Her aureoles were brown and her nipples slightly darker. They were slightly tilted up and inward and they puckered and hardened in the air.

He reached out a hand. "Can I?" he asked.

She nodded and he cupped one firm mound. His thumb brushed over her nipple and she shivered again. He pulled her down and the twin cones pressed into his chest. She sought his lips and he rolled her over with their lips locked together. He stroked her silky belly, the ridges of her muscles taut beneath his fingers as his lips captured one small nubbin. Danni moaned. His hand moved lower and tugged at the bow on her hip. He looked a question at her and she nodded, biting her lower lip He pulled at the bow and her hair was silky and golden in the sunshine.

It was nearly dark when they made their way back to the inflatable. Jason and Alex had returned their rental gear and they waited for Mason and Kierra. Alex noticed the glow surrounding Danni almost at once.

"You okay honey?" she asked.

"Very okay," Danni whispered. "I'll tell you all about it when we go to bed tonight."

Emma and Thomas were still sitting on the beach talking when Mason and Kierra walked up.

"Samantha, time to tell the sand castle good night," Alex called. "Emma, time to go."

Emma was obviously not ready but she hugged Thomas goodbye, promised to come back the next day and they launched the boat and headed back down the coast.

"Emma, you know we're not coming back tomorrow, right?" Jason said.

"I know," she sighed, "but I wish we could."

Danni hugged her. "I'm sure there will be some nice boys on Carriacou."

"I hope so."

Chapter Sixteen

The fleet cast off the next morning and turned south down the channel headed for Carriacou. Their supplies were replenished and they were as prepared as they could be.

"I feel pretty confident about things now," Reagan told Mason and Sara. "We've got a pretty nice group now. We have 22 people and it would take a small army to attack us. We're well armed and probably outgun anything but a regular army unit. We aren't likely to run into anything like that where we're going and we have money and goods. I don't see how we can miss. We can work, too. We could use the tug and move boats around, we can fish with the Alley Cat, we're all strong and healthy and I think we're going to be okay. I can teach, You and Angela could set up a clinic, Sara. The kids can go back to school and everyone can find something useful to do. What do you think?"

"Yeah, I think you're right," Mason said. "You know what, though? I'm going to miss American Football. I'm not built for soccer."

Sara laughed. "No you aren't. But you've obviously been losing weight and since you aren't playing football you'll just get skinnier. Maybe you'll make a soccer player, yet."

Over on the tug, Alex stuck her head in the wheelhouse. "Jason, would you mind driving for a while? Danni? Lanston? Could I talk to you guys?"

The two looked at each other. Lanston shrugged and let Jason take the wheel and followed Danni down to the deck. Alex had three chairs set up on the deck and she handed them a drink and invited them to sit.

"What's up, sis?" Danni asked as she took a sip of her coke.

"That's what I want to know," Alex said. "What's up with you two?"

"What do you mean?" Lanston asked. "We're fine. What's wrong?"

"You two disappeared for hours yesterday," she said. "That's fine, you're adults and we weren't worried about you, but when you came back it was like you were walking on clouds and Danni had that 'just loved' look. I thought you were going to go slow?

Danni, what if you get pregnant? How are you going to explain that to Dad? How disappointed would he be with you guys? And how bad would that be for you two? You're still in high school for God's sake. I know how you feel about one another, and I'm so happy about that, but I'm worried about you."

"Alex, we didn't, you know, 'do it,'" Danni protested. "We just, I don't know, played around. I did let Lanston see me naked though."

"Danni," Lanston exploded, "you're not supposed to talk about that. Jeez, this is embarrassing!"

"It's okay Lanston, I tell Alex everything," she patted his arm.

"Well, I guess," he reluctantly agreed, "but there are just some things a guy doesn't want to talk about to his girl's sister."

"Oh, I'm so relieved," Alex exclaimed. "I'm sorry I misread the situation. But you're still playing a dangerous game. Doing stuff like that is just torturing Lanston, Danni. You just get him all worked up and it's cruel if you just leave him like that."

"I didn't do that," Danni objected. "I'm not just some little tease. I, I don't know, took care of him."

"Oh, my God," Lanston said. "Here we go again. I've had all this I can stand." He started to get up out of his chair.

Alex quickly got up and ran to him. She pushed him back into his chair and knelt between his knees with her arms around him and her cheek against his chest.

"I'm so sorry Lanston. I didn't mean to embarrass you like that. I love you as much as Danni does and I just don't want you to get hurt; either one of you. Do you forgive me?"

He kissed the top of her head. "Yes, of course. I know you're just worried, and you're probably right. We probably should go slower and just enjoy being kids."

Danni pouted a little, but her natural honesty overcame her reluctance. She came over and sat on Lanston's knee and leaned in to put her arms around them both. "I know you're right Alex. It's just like when I'm with Lanston I want to be closer and closer. Clothes seem to be in the way and I just want to melt into him. He makes me feel so good."

"I know. I wish it was simple. I know you're physically both mature, but you're just babies. You're my babies. I just think you have so much ahead of you. It's okay if you pet each other, but I just think you should save the other stuff for a few years till you get set in life and see where you're going. Our lives are in so much turmoil right now that I think getting too far down that road would be bad for both of you. Let's just get to Carriacou and get set up and get back to normal. Then we can let things go wherever you want them to go. But just in case, I want you to talk to Angela, Danni. There are probably birth control pills in the Ocracoke's dispensary and maybe she knows what you should take. I'm going to do that myself. Jason and I don't want to have kids right away after we get married either. None of us are ready for that."

"Well, I'm glad we had this little chat," Lanston said. "Now will you two get off me? I'm going fishing."

He got two punches in the chest for being a boy.

"No," Alex told him. 'I mean yes, I'll get off you but no, I still want to talk to you guys." She went back to her chair, but Danni slid into his lap and snuggled in.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked.

"What we're going to do when we get to Carriacou," Alex said. "What do you think it's going to be like?"

"I don't know," Lanston mused. "It's a tropical island, so I suppose it will be a lot like Cozumel."

"I'm going to go to school," Danni announced. "Maybe they need cheerleaders. Then, Reagan said they have a college on the main island. I'm going to go there and become a doctor. Then I'm going to marry Lanston and have two kids and we'll live happily ever after."

"Well, I guess that's what I'm going to do too," he said. "Danni seems to have it all planned out. But I don't want to be a doctor. I think I'll just stay home and raise the kids and let her support me."

She punched him again. "I'm not kidding. That's exactly what I want to do."

"Me too, runt," he squeezed her. "But I think I might want to start a business running this tug. I love this old girl and I want to study marine engineering. I might work up to a whole fleet of tugs. I have some ideas about how to improve the way they work."

"I'm not a runt," Danni objected. "You think I'm gorgeous. You told me yesterday, but I do like that idea. Maybe Mason would want be your partner?"

"That would be cool," he said, "but I think he wants to be a teacher like Dad. I'll talk to him about it. What about you, Alex?"

"Well, you know I was going to the University of Missouri, studying to be a veterinarian. I think I'd like to keep that up. Jason needs to finish his doctorate and I think he has the perfect thesis. We'll probably raise some babies too after a while, but maybe he could teach at the University where you and Lanston would be going?"

"How cool would that be?" Lanston said. "We could get him to change our grades if we got a bad one."

"Yes," Danni agreed, "and he could get us scholarships and we couldn't get in trouble when we go to wild parties."

"You two are horrible," Alex exclaimed. "I'm trying to be serious here."

"I know, sis," Danni squirmed into a more comfortable place on Lanston's lap. "You worry too much. Everything's going to be fine. Lanston will take care of me, and I have you. Dad wouldn't ever let anything bad happen to any of us and you have Jason too. He's so smart, almost as smart as me!"

"No one is as smart as you, I guess," Alex smiled.

"No," Danni agreed. "Don't you think so, Lanston?"

"No," he said, "no one as cute or conceited either."

"I'm not conceited," she laughed, "I'm charming, Mr. Joseph said so."

Alex went back to the wheelhouse and he and Danni moved their chairs to the bow and Lanston cast out a line. Danni didn't use her chair. She curled up on Lanston's lap and they waited for a fish to bite.

****

Senator Johnson was not a happy man. He was down to five men. New Orleans had been an unpleasant surprise. He had attempted to land and commandeer a group of water patrol vessels but the locals had put up a still resistance. His men had melted away in a hail of gunfire and only himself, Agent Thomas and four guardsmen had been lucky enough to escape. They fled on their water patrol boat, leaving their wounded and dying behind.

They made their way south and were now adrift somewhere north of Cuba. Their fuel tanks were bone dry and soon they would be starving. To make matters worse, none of them knew how to navigate even if they had been able to. Johnson lay in his bunk and fumed. How could it have come to this? He had planned so well and if his men had been even been halfway competent he would now be the commander of a small fleet. He replayed the recent fight in his mind, seeing the failures of the guard captain in directing and placing his men. The man was a soldier, for God's sake. How could he have been so incompetent?

The Senator's reverie was interrupted by a rending screech. He sprang upright and rushed on deck. The massive bulk of a container ship loomed overhead. It was crushing the patrol vessel to twisted wreckage. The Senator was staring death in the face. He cast about desperately for some escape. He noticed a gangway descending from the deck of the freighter. He ran to the ladder and sprang for the rail. His hands grasped at the chain links and his feet scrambled for purchase.

His shoes found a grip on the stairs. He scrambled aboard just as the wrecked patrol boat sank below the surface, tearing the entangled ladder of the side of the ship.

Crew members were running toward the sound of the wreck and the Senator straightened his jacket and walked to meet them. He identified himself and was conducted to the bridge.

Captain Lawson was a gruff old sea dog out of Charleston. His ship was carrying farm machinery bound for Brazil. He apologized for running down the patrol boat, but claimed that because it had no running lights, he wasn't responsible. The Senator pretended to have suffered tremendous loss, neglecting to mention that they had been out of fuel and drifting to their deaths.

The captain agreed to keep the Senator aboard until they made their next port and see that he was given consideration by whatever delegation the US had in that city. They would be putting in at Caracas for maintenance and they would put the senator ashore there.

They showed him to a cabin and the senator settled in for the voyage.

Chapter Seventeen

It took the fleet 35 days to cross the Caribbean Sea. It was not without incident. Twice they ran into storms that threatened to swamp the tug and break loose the barges. They wound up casting the barges off and following them as they drifted in the storm. The Alley Cat developed a fuel pump problem and the Ramsey's were down two days fixing it. They carried spare parts, so it wasn't a major problem. They spotted ships in the distance, but since Jason had plotted a course outside the major shipping lanes, nothing was close. The ships were all freighters and posed no danger to the flotilla.

Again, fresh water was their main problem and only the Alley Cat had water in her tanks by the time Carriacou appeared on the horizon. Mason regularly ferried passengers to shower and wash clothes on the Ramsey's boat. Their fresh food supplies were also exhausted and they were reduced to eating canned, boxed and frozen food, and even the freezers on the Alley Cat and the Ocracoke were running low. Nobody went hungry but the stocks of bottled water to drink began to shrink rapidly in spite of the desalination station on the Ocracoke running 24 hours a day.

Their first sight of Carriacou was High Point North standing nearly a thousand feet over the sea. There were hundreds of boats dotting the water and the small fleet carefully picked its way through the reefs surrounding the island and through the small boat traffic.

There were a couple of ferries tied up at the pier. The Ocracoke crew had donned their uniforms and Lanston used the tug to maneuver the cutter into the pier. They had contacted the port authority at Hillsborough and received permission to dock under their guise as a United States Coast Guard vessel. The Harbormaster met them at the pier

Commander Thayer introduced Lieutenant Altman and they arranged an appointment with the Minister for Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs. They were ushered into his office. The honorable senator Jeff Prius was a jolly round fellow that Reagan instantly liked.

"Welcome to Carriacou," Prius shook their hands and offered them a drink. "What can I do for you, Commander?"

Reagan and Joseph explained the situation, using their carefully memorized cover story. They had sailed from Huston, Texas where they had been stationed under orders from their commanding officer to offer aid and rescue to refugees. They had encountered several and were escorting them to safety. With the collapse of the United States, they wanted to apply for refugee status and make their homes on Carriacou.

"We have our Coast Guard cutter, a 110 foot trawler, a 120 foot yacht, a tug boat and two barges with 60,000 US gallons of diesel fuel on board. We have a ten-man crew on the cutter and 22 personnel in total. Our party contains a volcanologist, a 3rd year veterinary student, a teacher, a nurse and 3 children. We have money and skills and feel like we would be a valuable addition to your community. We want to buy property if there's any for sale," Reagan outlined their plan.

"I'm sure we can work something out," Prius said. "I have no doubt you'll be granted refugee status, and once you own property you can become citizens. The whole world is mourning your disaster. Our tourism is going to crash and any skills you have will be quite useful. I must be quick to tell you that I'm uncomfortable with the presence of a large and heavily armed military ship in our harbor. It will make the government in Georgetown very uncomfortable as well. We have no military force and only two boats in our coast guard, none as large as yours. What do you plan to do with it?"