Ch 1
Jack Harbor climbed along slung under the pipe in the dark space over the drop ceiling. It was a good, solid sprinkler pipe that let him reach his target without using hallways to avoid being caught. Yay for safety. The rubberized gloves and sneakers he wore had a good grip and were quiet. His night vision goggles let him crawl along and avoid all the cables, support wires and plumbing that ran through the ceiling space. He didn't try to hurry, he went slow and quiet. Stealth was the key. It didn't matter if guards patrolled the hallways below. As long as he stayed quiet, they would never know he was here.
Keeping track of room walls and the blue wires of data carriers, he was headed for a room with computers in it. His mission was to collect data on what was going on in this Japanese island off the coast of Kamakura. Being American, he was made to understand from the beginning that if he got caught, he was on his own. He would be treated like a criminal by his own people, and no one would would say a word in his defense.. He'd go down by himself and any knowledge and records of him would disappear in a poof of ash.
Somehow that didn't give him a warm fuzzy feeling. This mission was vital enough to send him, but not support him.
Following the cable tray just to the side, he saw it passed over a room wall below and disappeared down the side. The pipe he was on didn't pass over that room. There was a smaller service pipe going to a single sprinkler head, not big enough to support his weight and not flex. The distance was only a couple feet to the top of the wall for that room. Using another cable for support, he unhooked a foot off the pipe and onto the cable tray, then bent and twisted to reach out and step on top of the wall and lift up and off the pipe. Standing on the wall, Jack looked for cracks in the ceiling tiles to peek through.
Using his optic scope, he slipped it into the small hole the blue data wires went through.
Below was some kind of control room. On the wall that was all glass on the upper part, the long consoles below the glass had several computers. At the end of the wall was a door. On the far wall that was solid, there were a few more chairs and cabinets, a door on that wall stood opposite of the door in the glass wall. One man was in the room, kicked back in a chair at the consoles. At first, Jack thought he was sleeping. He then saw the man take a gaze through the windows. He sat up and did something on the computer.
Jack noted the glass wall was one that went all the way up to the next floor, concrete block all the way. The wall he was on was the hallway wall. he lifted a hallway ceiling tile enough to peek out with his optic scope. The hallway was clear, only one man in the room and he was logged on. He wouldn't get a better chance than this.
Carefully, Jack pulled a ceiling tile in the room, He laid it quietly to the side and pulled his tazer. Taking careful aim, he shot. The tazer wires hit the man at the base of his skull. The man threw his arms in the air, letting out a primal cry as he convulsed and fell out of his chair to flop on the floor.
By the time the man's motions were down to quakes of randomly constricting muscle, Jack had his cable hooked up and lowered himself down thought he ceiling. A fast look at the large room beyond the glass showed no one moving, no one close. Quickly, he checked the man for a pulse. Nope, his body was spamming from th shock, but it wouldn't be for much longer as his nerves died. Jack then checked the hallway door. The hallway was still clear. He shut the door and pulled out a wedge from one of his pockets to keep it shut. Hurrying over to the computer, he found the USB connections and plugged in two 1 thumb drives.
Being bi-lingual, he easily downloaded the Japanese network info onto the drives. Taking out a screwdriver, he carefully popped the case. Once he had all the information he could get, the hard drive was going with him.
"Who are you?" a small, young voice asked.
Jack froze, his hand dropping to the silenced pistol holstered along his thigh. The sound had come from a speaker on the console.
"Hello? where are you?" he asked tentatively as he searched for who had seen him. Maybe someone was watching him on a camera.
"Here in the big room," the young voice said. In the corner of his eye, he saw movement at the other end of the long room beyond the glass. He focused, then stared.
At the other end of that room, chained to a wall was a naked, dark purple headed girl that bore white cat-ear things on her head. "You ... why are you chained to that wall?" he asked.
"The men in white coats keep me here," the girl said. "I was hoping someone would feed me, I want to eat before the experiments start again."
"You are experimented on?" Jack asked.
The girl was quiet briefly, then said, "You aren't one of those men, are you?"
"No," Jack replied. He wondered what in the hell these people were doing, chaining a naked girl to a concrete wall. Was this some sort of sick porno thing going on here? Whatever it was, he wasn't going to leave her here.
"You should go then, they hurt people," the girls said firmly.
Jack went to the door to that room. He grabbed the now dead man and dragged him over pull his lab coat off and used the body to block the door open. The computer was almost done downloading to his thumb drives. He grabbed the man's coat and ran out to the girl. "What do you say we get out of here?" he asked the girl. The cuffs were simply bolted on. Pliers easily unscrewed the bolts.
The girl's face brightened up. "You mean you will really take me away? But, what about the guards. they kill anyone who tries," she told him.
He released one cuff, then the other. "They won't catch us, trust me." Getting her hands free, he showed her the coat, "Put this on," he instructed.
The girl did. Hugging herself she giggled. "Look! I got a white coat on, Three can be like the men in the window!"
"I don't think you want to be like them. Come on, we need to leave." Jack said. He clasped her hand and lead her back to the control room. On the way, he saw what looked like a futuristic canon mounted near the ceiling. "What's that thing?" he asked.
"That's what they shoot me with," the girl said. "These ball come flying out, and they keep going until one hits me. They really hurt!" she finished with a wince.
"Not any more," Jack said firmly. He got a couple pictures of the canon, then went back into the control room. The download was complete. he pulled the thumb drives then did a fast disassembly of the computer and pulled the hard drive and the memory chips.
Looking over the console, he found an open bag of snack chips and gave them to the girl. She grinned and munched them down. Yup, she was hungry. By the time he checked to be sure he was leaving nothing behind, he heard her let out a sigh.
"They're all gone," she said sadly.
"We'll get more, don't worry. Time to go," he stated and held out his arms and said, "I'm going to lift you up."
"Why?" she asked innocently.
"We are leaving through the ceiling. There's a pipe up there we're going to use to escape this place." Jack explained.
The girl looked up and smiled. "I see it!" she said, then floated up though the ceiling. "This one, right?" she asked looking back down at him.
Jack stared up at her. Damn, how'd she do that? Knowing he had to move, said, "Yeah, that one," He hooked his cable up to belt hoist and pulled himself up. In the ceiling space, the girl sat on the pipe while he put the ceiling tile back in place.
"It's dark up here," the girl said.
Jack risked turning on the flashlight on his shoulder and dimmed it. Jack reached over and got in his under-pipe crawling pose. The girl giggled at him.
"We have to be quiet, or they'll catch us," he said in a low, but firm voice.
The girl walked on the pipe to him and bumped her head on a support rod. "Ouch!" she complained.
"Come here, lay on me and hold onto me," Jack said, beginning to get irritated at her. She had done something incredible, but she was also very innocent.
The girl did as he asked. Climbing down on him, she hugged him with her arms and legs.
Jack made his way out, slowly and quietly crawling along the underside of the pipe. He got back to the vertical pipe run. He coaxed her to hold on tight, then pulled himself upright on a vertical pipe and climbed.
"Is your room here some place?" the girl asked quietly.
"No. I'll show you after we get away, Ok? Just please be quiet for now," Jack told her.
Climbing back up to the ventilation duct he'd cut apart, he noted he was not going to fit with her hanging onto him. He also could not use his belt hoist with her in the way. Nodding to the duct, he asked, "See that cable hanging down there?"
"Uh huh," she said, "This one, right?" she asked, pointing to it.
"Yes, at the top is the way out, can you climb up that and wait at the top for me?" he asked.
"OK!" She swung like a monkey off him then went up the duct using nothing at all as if she were as weightless as a balloon.
"Damn," Jack said. He had no idea how she could do things like that, but at the moment, he was thankful she was able to. Reaching over, he grabbed the cable and hooked himself up and rose up through the duct. He got out of the top on the roof.
Climbing out, he saw the girl staring up at the sky with a wide open grin. "So pretty!" she cried.
"It is," Jack said as he got out. He put the duct cap back in place and went over to the edge of the roof. The drain pipe was intact and there was no one on the ground below. From what he could see, the cliff face was clear also.
"This way," Jack said and climbed down the side of the building using the drain pipe. The girl jumped off the side, causing her coat to fly up over her head as she sailed down past him with a big smile on her face. Heart in his throat, he was sure she was going to be badly injured when she hit the ground.
She slowed and landed then looked up at him. "Come on!" she called up.
Double damn, how was she doing that? Jack climbed down the drain pipe. Coming to the cliff side he said, "This time, use the rope, the only thing at the bottom is water, and the boat we're using to get off this island.
"Ok," the girl beamed.
Jack found the end of the rope and lowered himself over the edge. "Do you want to hold onto me?" he asked.
"Three will follow, just to make sure Jack doesn't fall," she said firmly.
"You need a better name than three," Jack told her and descended the rope. Below, the cabin cruiser he'd used to sneak up close to the island was anchored by rock pinions as he'd left it. He dropped down on the deck, The girl dropped down beside him. Jack got the boat untied and used battery power and the electric motor to pull away from the island. He steered from the wheelhouse in back of the cabin, the girl knelt on one of the cushioned seats in the wheelhouse, happily watching around them.
"Wow, Jack, you brought Three to a nice place! Three's having fun!" she announced happily.
"You need a better name than three," Jack told her. "Don't you have a real name?"
"Three is the only thing the white coated men called me," she said defensively. "What does Jack want to call me?"
'Abnormal' was his first thought. The girl obviously had some kind of power and had horns on her head, yet she also acted as innocent as a two year old. Maybe that was why she was in that place. Seeing they were a couple hundred yards from the island, he fired up the engines and moved away on low throttle. Looking at the girl, he saw she was watching him, waiting for an answer.
"Do you have a preference? A name you like?" he asked.
"Jack!" she stated. "Jack took me out of my room and I'm having fun, so I like Jack!" she beamed brightly.
"A name for you," he said.
"Oh," she said and put a finger to her lip. "Three doesn't know. Jack, will you give me a name?"
This girl was not normal. Being infected with some of her silly, good mood, he said, "Abby."
"Abby?"
"Yes, Abby Normal. That way you have a family name too."
"Family name?" Abby asked.
Jack looked over to see Abby's innocent face bore confusion. "Maybe not," he said, suddenly feeling guilty about the suggestion.
Thinking she had made him frown, she quickly said, "Abby is a good name! It's even fun to say .. Abby! Hello, I'm Aaaabyyyy!"
After a few choruses of her new name, Jack set the course on auto pilot and said, "I'll go down and make us something to eat. Just watch and tell me if you see any other boats."
"Abby will do that!"
Grabbing two MRE's from the dry stores, Jack brought then back out of the cabin and asked, "Chicken and rice or Mac and cheese?" as he held the packages out to her.
Abby stared at the packages, then pointed to them and said, "Aahhh, Abby doesn't think we can eat those."
"Watch," Jack said and used the warm up pads. "The food is inside," he explained. "After I warm them up and open them, we can eat."
Jack kept a lookout for any pursuit as they motored along. He changed course more east than straight south, heading for the rendezvous point.
The MRE's were warm. He opened both as Abby looked on. He handed her a spoon and said, "Try some of each."
Abby looked at the spoon.
"You've never seen a spoon?" he asked.
Abby shook her head.
"Like this," Jack said. He dipped her spoon in the mac and cheese and lifted some up to hold it out to her and said, "taste it."
Cautiously, Abby did. As soon as the spoon was in her mouth, her eyes lit up. "Mmm!" She ate the mac and cheese off the spoon and said, That's really good!"
"You try it," he coaxed and gave her the spoon.
Her first dips into the packet were tentative. After the third one, she began shoveling. She polished off the mac and cheese, then dug deep into the chicken and rice. She breathed enough to cry, "So good!" then inhaled the rest of the second packet. Damn, that girl was hungry.
Not long after Abby had eaten enough for two people, she settled down on the rear couch of the wheel house and fell asleep.
Jack checked his co-ordinates. He was close to the rendezvous. From here, he took a GPS reading and figured his position on the map. He was all but on top of where the freighter was suppose to be to meet him.
"King to Rook."
Jack picked the radio up. "Rook to King, pieces taken."
"Drop pieces, Game over."
"What?" Jack asked aloud, then keyed his radio. "Rook to King, pieces taken," he stressed.
"Game over. Clear the Board."
Game over, the operation was cancelled. Clear the Board meant get rid of any evidence he'd been there. Jack looked over at Abby who lay sprawled out on the couch, snoring peacefully on her back, the white coat half falling off her. He had a kid in his possession! He was suppose to get rid of her? What in the hell was he going to do with her? The data, he could throw overboard and it would be gone. But what about Abby? He was dying to ask, but only so many code words were used.
"Next Game?" he asked on the radio.
"Game over. out."
"Damn it!" he snapped at nothing. He grabbed the bag of data drives and hard drives and dumped them over the side. All that for nothing, and now he had to do something with Abby! What, he didn't have a clue. By the horns on her head and the things he'd seen her do, he wasn't about to turn her over to any Japanese authorities, he had a feeling she'd be sent right back to where he got her from. The same thing would happen if the CIA got their hands on her. The board was ordered cleared, that mean no evidence he'd ever been in that place. If he took her back, he was screwed and Abby most likely would be
'disappear' to the bottom of the ocean if she ws allowed to live.
"Fuck me," he grumbled.
Going back to the helm, he plotted a course for Okinawa prefecture, to the small island he shared with another man who was hardly ever around. His only option at the moment was to take Abby to his island home. He'd gotten himself a child to raise. Not knowing her age, he guessed she was around 12.
What in the hell was he suppose to do with a 12 year old?
.
Motoring into the harbor of the yacht club, Jack idled along, looking for the right boat. He saw it, anchored off the end of a point.
"Jack, there's alot of boats here!" Abby called up from below.
"There are. Peek, but don't let anyone see you, right?" he called back down.
"Right! Abby doesn't want to go back to the big room and get chained up and shot at again!" Abby said firmly.
Abby had been on board with him four days now. She didn't understand much yet, but she was a quick learner. She understood if anyone saw her, they would call those people to take her back to the block room where they shot their canon at her, barely feed her and were mean to her.
Since Abby had no clothes, she wore Jack's t-shirts for now. Jack tried a dress shirt, which did cover her a little more, but it looked too damn perverted. At least with the T-shirts Jack could console himself it was a necessity. The lab coat had gone overboard right after he got a T-shirt on her. It was proof he'd been on that island. The worst part was Abby didn't care what she wore. If it wasn't 'pretty', she was happy to go with nothing at all.
Jack had shopping to do after he talked to his boss.
Sliding up to the larger boat, Jack gave two toots on the horn. A few crew appeared with mooring lines. Jack stopped his boat and helped tie up. A rope and metal bar ladder dropped over the side of the larger boat. Jack climbed up.
A crewman helped him on board. "Hello, Mr. Harbor, Mr. Richardson is in the second deck lounge."
"Thank you," Jack told him.
Jack was led into the plush lounge that even had tinted windows showing the docks. Mr. Richardson was behind the bar. He called, "Jack, how are you? Drink?"
"No thanks. The only thing I want is an answer. Why, after I got what we wanted, did we drop everything?" Jack asked as he leaned on the bar, eyeing the man.
Mr. Richardson shrugged and said, "These things happens. Politicians make deals, pass gold and favors under the table. The customer says dump the goods, we dump the goods. Don't worry, your success was noted, you're still getting your full comp."
Jack was dying to ask 'what the fuck do I do with the girl I picked up?', but knew better. "So that was just an exercise," he grumbled.
Pointing to him, Mr. Richardson said, "That's a good way to look at it. Look, the job's done, you got paid. That's the important part, right? Your cash is in your account, go hire some entertainment and have a party. I can't see anything on the horizon in the immediate future, go take a trip someplace."
"And just forget about that place I just visited," Jack said flatly.
"Yes, forget it," Mr. Richardson said. "I figure by the way you're staring at me, you saw something that you take a strong dislike to. Jack, don't go making the mistake of taking anything personal. Guys that take things personal end up going down, one way or the other. They end up involved and usually dead. They have to be cleaned up along with the other problems. You do good work, Jack. One of the best. Look, go grab some hooch and tie one on. I'm sure you'll see forgetting whatever is you saw is the best thing you can do."
"Yeah, Maybe," Jack agreed. "You said I got full comp?"
"You did. You completed your contract so you got full comp."
"Good," Jack said curtly. "I'll be near the boat for the next week, in case you need me. I'm going shopping then go relax on the island."
"Have fun."
.
Jack motored out of the yacht club and headed for the main island. Thinking about the political dealings and back stabbings that gave guys like him work, he had to wonder why what he'd found was covered up. Someone was obviously dirty. Then again, Richardson was right, it wasn't their business.
"Jack, can Abby come up now?" Abby called from the stairs.
"Yeah, come on up," he told her.
Abby jogged up the steps wearing a bright Hawian shirt of his. Taking the seat by him, she cast a happy look out at the ocean. "Abby likes living on a boat! It gets bumpy sometimes, but Abby sees all kinds of things, and the wind feels good!" she announced, holding her arms out.
"At least you're having fun," Jack replied with a grin. Seeing how he'd found her, it was nice to see this girl having a good time just being able to get outside and not being chained to a wall.
"Are we going to see more big boats?" Abby asked
"We're headed to a shopping center. We have to buy you some of your own clothes," he told her.
"Abby can have clothes of her very own?" Abby asked, casting him a wide open smile.
"Well, yeah. Most people do," Jack told her. He was also thinking about some hair dye and a hat to cover those horns up. He couldn't keep hiding her on the boat, and her look was strange enough that he was sure people on that facility would find out the moment she was spotted and come looking for her.
They had a half hour before reaching the port he was going to. While they motored along, Jack dug out a straw hat he had for Abby to wear. His longest T-shirt was a simple black one but did cover her enough to serve as a short mini-dress. He really wished he had underwear for her. Although Abby herself didn't care, he did and he sure as hell didn't want her walking around other people without any.
Pulling up to the dock, Jack let Abby stay topside as he got the boat tied up. He held Abby's hand as he went up to office and paid the docking fee for two days with electrical service and water. He then took Abby out to a nearby strip mall.
Jack was happy the store sold bikinis. Abby thought they were cute. She got a multicolored one and another blue one with orange trim. He had her 'try' one on for size (and SHUT the curtain when you change!) then paid for it. Using the right size as a guide, he got her some tops, shorts and a couple skirts Abby thought were cute, a ten pack of panties as well as sandals and shoes.
Jack stopped at a dockside cafe and got them each a fruit drink and seafood salad. Jack liked the open air cafes, he could see for a good distance around him. Less chance of someone sneaking up on him. He had Abby sit down, and sat down himself to watch the walkways.
Abby cast Jack a smile and said, "Jack is really nice, giving Abby good food and getting Abby all this stuff."
"It's what you need," he assured her. "You do like pretty things, don't you?"
Abby nodded vigorously. "Abby never wants to leave Jack or have Jack leave Abby," she announced.
Jack only smiled. Inside he was thinking, 'I'm 28 and she's what, 12, maybe 14 at the most?' Not only that, he had the feeling that this girl would be a hot item if anyone found her. He didn't doubt she'd be worth her weight in gold to the right people. If the wrong person found her, Jack could be in big trouble, like assault teams coming after them type trouble. He had to take her some place where she wouldn't be found, yet be able to
live a fairly normal life. Unfortunately, he knew of no place he could safely put her.
"Yummy!" Abby mumbled with a mouthful of crab as she gobbled down her salad.
After lunch, they went back to the boat. Jack headed for his island while Abby gave him a fashion show of all her clothes, including trying on every pair of panties with different tops to see what looked best together. When Jack had his island in sight, he had Abby pick up all the clothes she's scattered around the boat.
.
Jack's private dock was in a lagoon, sheltered between two low cliffs. In a protected cove, there was a dock with a boathouse at the end. Jack got Abby and her new purchases down the dock and up the path to the house that sat overlooking the lagoon.
Walking onto the porch with loungers and a couple hammocks, Abby gazed happily at what she was seeing. Inside there was part of the wall that looked like a big, rectangular black thing the couches and chairs were facing. "What's that," she asked, pointing to it.
Jack picked up the remote off the end table and turned the TV on. The TV flashed on, showing a hockey game. Abby stood rooted in place as she watched it.
"It's entertainment," Jack explained. "You can watch shows, sports events like Hockey there, or see movies."
"Wow," Abby whispered. "The TV people do all that?" she asked.
Jack laughed. "Yeah, the TV people do all that," he agreed. "Let me show you your room."
Abby tore her eyes away from the TV. "Abby has a room?" she asked and followed Jack. "Does Abby have a TV in her room?"
"No, you'll have to come out here to watch it."
"Abby can leave her room?" she asked intently.
"Any time you want. Your room is for you, not to hold you," Jack explained. "Thing like your bed, clothes, and items you have go in your room." Leading her to the spare room he motioned and said, this will be your room."
Abby walked in. The outside wall was sliding glass doors with long curtains pulled back. A bed was on one side and a dresser on the other. She could see outside, which made her feel like the outside was hers too. It was like the bed room on the boat but a whole lot bigger. Seeing a little room off to the side, she saw she had her own toilet and shower in here.
So happy she had something so nice as her very own room, Abby dropped her bags, spun
and launched herself at Jack. Running into him to hug him tight, she cried, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Abby had knocked him back a step with her onslaught. Jack put his arms around her for support as she cried out her thanks. He realized Abby never had many simple things most people took for granted. Am arm around her, he petted her hair and said, "You're welcome Abby. The dresser there is for you clothes. So you can put away what you're not wearing."
It was no surprise that Jack had to show her what a hamper was for. Once they got her clothes arraigned in the dresser, he showed her where the washer and dryer were and how to use them. It was like teaching a toddler, only Abby listened.
.
Abby settled into her new world, loving every second of it. Jack took her on a walk to the mid-island 'fence', which was a line of thick flowering bushes that ran from one side of the island to the other. Other than the footpath that went through an arch in the greenery, the bushes went from one shore all the way across the island to the other.
"You can go anywhere on this side of the island," Jack explained as they walked. "The island on the other side of those bushes belongs to someone else. He likes his privacy, so don't ever go on the other side."
"Abby understands. There is plenty of room on this side in Jack land for Abby to walk."
"Jack land?" he asked.
"Yes! Jack land," Abby said, beaming him a smile. "Jack said this side is his, so it's Jack land."
Jack laughed and said, "Ok, I guess it is."
Jack showed Abby the best beach to walk on, and the cliff areas to stay away from that were not safe. In the palm trees, he found a coconut crab to show her and warned her not to play with them.
"They are big!" Abby said eyeing the creature climbing up the palm tree.
"They are, and fun to watch, but their claws are very big and strong, so don't get near them," he told her. They also found a few colorful birds for Abby to fawn over on their trek. They picked a few fruits and headed back to the house to find an iguana basking on the back porch rail.
"Look but don't touch," Jack told her.
Abby nodded. Walking close she held out a piece of fruit to the big lizard. The lizard eyed her. Slowly it moved closer, then took the piece of fruit. Abby giggled. She reached her hand out to pet it.
WHACK
The Iguana lashed it's tail like a whip and smacked her arm. "Owww!" Abby cried and jumped back. The iguana jumped off the rail and ran off into the brush.
Abby ran inside looking for Jack. That had hurt! Holding her arm where the red mark was, she found Jack in the kitchen. He looked at her arm and said, "Tried to touch him, didn't you?"
Abby nodded with a frown.
"Wild animals don't like to be touched," Jack explained. He moved her hand and inspected her arm. "You'll have a welt there for a couple days. It'll be all right though. Sit down, I'll make us some lunch."
Jack sat down to watch a game on TV. Two teams were kicking a black and white ball back and forth, tying to get it in each other's goal. Abby got caught up the game. While she was watching, she felt sweaty so she took her shirt off and wiped her sweat away with it. This was better. Jack explained who was who, and the rules of the game as he watched the TV intently. Abby's shirt became her sweat rag. She put it over her forehead and tied it around the back of her head. It was more comfortable to wear it like this.
