Special thanks to ancientmaverick for beta reading. All remaining mistakes are my own.
CHAPTER TWO
David entered Charlie's office quickly. Don and Megan were already waiting for him. Amita and Charlie had set up monitors and laptops.
He held up a flash drive with the needed footage. "We are also getting the video tapes from the entrance and parking lot."
"Good," Don said. He pointed to Charlie's laptop where they were already watching surveillance tapes.
"What is this?"
"This is a special camera from the Social Science department," Amita explained. "They are conducting a field study for human behavior. It's -"
"There's Colby." Shooting Amita an apologetic smile for the interruption, Megan returned her focus on the tape.
Don and David came nearer to get a better look.
They could see that Colby had his files in his left hand, the right remaining in his sling. David would have bet that the sling wouldn't stay on a single hour, but apparently Colby's shoulder hurt a lot more than he had admitted.
Next to Larry's car, he stopped and looked down with a frown. Then he tried the car door. Suddenly it swung open from the inside, and a man jumped out. Colby threw the files down and jerked his right hand going for his hip where his gun would have been.
The pained grimace was easily visibly on the surveillance tape. Despite his pain and the sudden appearance of a second man in a van, Colby fought like a lion, hitting his assailant with strong and precise hits.
One of the two men he got good in the head near his eye with a strong elbow, and for a moment it looked as if he would hold his own. But he was outnumbered, and they were healthy. They overpowered him as they got Colby in a choke hold and pulled a knife.
David held his breath, and Don pressed lips together. It was their nightmare, an unexpected attack while hurt and vulnerable.
"There's Larry." Megan pointed to the sole figure appearing on screen.
They watched in horror how the attacker used Colby as leverage and forced the two men into their van.
Megan balled her fists as they drove off.
"Stop," Don ordered, and Charlie hit pause.
"Can you get a license plate?" he asked his brother and pointed at the grainy image.
"Not from this tape," Amita said, "It's too far away. But I know that the parking lot has a camera positioned to scan for plates."
Don nodded. "Get it."
Amita jumped up and went to her laptop. It was Larry, and the fastest way to the tapes was the central server.
Don turned to Megan. She looked shocked. He changed his direction and focus on David, ordering: "Alert LAPD and get a BOLO for the van. We need to find it."
David acknowledged the order but placed a hand on Megan's shoulder before he left. "We'll find them."
She nodded. But her eyes remained a second longer on the last frame of a video showing the abduction of her boyfriend.
It was Chrystal Hoyle all over again. Except this time she was forced to watch tapes, and she was the one condemned to always be a step behind.
She swallowed her fear and straightened up. She had a job to do.
Colby had scanned and checked the little dinghy in under a minute. But he didn't want to miss anything in the dark, so he went around again.
"Why would anybody leave us out on the sea?" Larry repeated his question again, all the while holding onto the sides as if he could stop the movement of the dinghy.
"I don't know." Colby had given up trying to find a better answer. He was more interested in how to get back to dry land and find these two guys.
The dinghy was made out of rubber and completely devoid of supplies. They didn't even have paddles or life jackets.
Colby crawled back to Larry, who swallowed hard. He touched his shoulder. "Are you okay, professor?"
"I can assure you that only my mind is worried. My body has remained unhurt. But I have a tendency to get seasick. This isn't a comfortable experience."
"Just give me a warning and aim over the side," Colby advised. At least he didn't get seasick. "Breath through your mouth and try to relax."
"Not even in the monastery was I able to still my thoughts. And now my thoughts keep straying away to a lot of unpleasant places. So I cannot guarantee a success."
Colby coughed to hide his laugh. Then he patted Larry's shoulder. "Check your pockets, please."
"My pockets?"
"You don't want to think unpleasant thoughts, and we need to establish what we have to work with."
"If you hope for a cell phone, I have to disappoint you."
"I hope for anything." Colby started to search his own pockets with his left hand. He wanted to ditch the sling, but since he had awakened, so had the pain in his shoulder. The big question was if he could swim with his bad shoulder.
He stopped his search. Out of the corner of his eyes he stared at Larry contemplating a terrifying thought. "You can swim, right?" If he couldn't, there was no way he could keep Larry and himself above water.
Larry nodded. "I know every law that is needed to stay afloat. This isn't rocket science. If you want to travel to a space station, you need to be prepared for everything, and a great many of these preparations are done in the water."
"Good. Good." Colby returned to his check. He found some gum, a paperclip, and his keys. He felt his pocketknife in his right trouser pocket, but couldn't reach it with his left hand. It was the wrong time to have a bum shoulder. Why did he have to tackle this guy? He should have left him running until he couldn't run anymore.
He sighed. In his sling, he found his sunglasses where had put them to have a free hand. Contemplating the glasses in his hand, he was suddenly reminded of a song from his youth.
He shook his head, trying to chase away the catchy tune about wearing sunglasses at night. He really didn't need that kind of distraction. "What do you have?"
"A calculator and paper and pen. I guess they weren't interested in my notes about the dynamic-"
"Sorry, doc, but right now I am also not interested." Sighing again, Colby swallowed his pride and bit the bullet. "Can you either open the sling or get the knife out of my right pocket, please?"
Larry stared at him with wide eyes.
"There is a Swiss Army knife that I can't reach with my left hand."
"Oh, of course."
After enough swaying that Colby actually feared they would capsize, Larry pulled out the knife and a fresh handkerchief with a shout of triumph.
"Okay, let's take a look at what we have," Colby began playing over any remaining embarrassment. "Pocket knife – check; paper and pen – check; paperclips and a handkerchief - check."
They shared a look. It was indeed a pitiful list.
Colby bit his lip. He continued with his checklist: "Zero water - check. Zero food - check. Zero radio - check. Zero navigation - check. Zero engine - check."
The sound of the ocean at night hid the silence between the two men as they contemplate their terrifying situation.
"Based on current evidence, we have a lot of zeros in our equation on the side of importance."
Colby snorted at Larry's observation. "Isn't binary code zeros and ones? So where is our 'one' for important things?" he wondered, leaning back.
Larry followed his example and lay down.
"We have 'one' very big problem."
The smell of smoked weed hung heavenly in the air. Mixed in was the odor of cheap alcohol and even cheaper cigarettes.
Don, with Megan on his heels, forced his way through the house. David came from the back door.
He couldn't believe that these guys had taken their own car. They even had left it parked in front of the house. With the plates and positive ID of the owner as the driver from the video, it was easy to get a warrant for Ronny Shawn.
"FBI!"
They went through the house room by room until they found both suspects in the cellar, smoking pot.
"You are under arrest."
One of them, Don easily identified him as Ronny Shawn despite the half-light, looked up with glassy eyes. "Great, we are just finishing our joint. We had to work really hard for them ... can't let them get wasted now."
His friend laughed, as if anything about this was funny.
Before he could lose his patience, Megan beat him to it. She grabbed the joint and put it into the nearest beer bottle.
She towered over the stoned men. "Where are they? Where are Special Agent Granger and Larry Fleinhardt?"
"Do you always glow so bright?" the blonde man asked.
Megan didn't hesitate before grabbing the first man, twisting his arm behind his back and roughly cuffing him. David took the second one, who had been identified as Marc Samuelson.
After securing them, Megan leaned again forward into their personal space. "Do want to see something really bright?"
"Sure." They were still all smiles and high.
Don put his gun into its holster. Their suspects weren't bright at all.
"It's red. And sticky. And coming out of your body if you don't tell me-"
"Megan," Don warned and took a step around empty beer bottles so he could pull her back if necessary.
"They abducted Larry and Colby. They are still wearing the same clothing!"
She grabbed the gray shirt and pulled it under the light to show the brown stains on it. Don knew whose blood had resulted in the dark red spots.
He let his gaze wander across the room taking in the garbage, the old pizza boxes and the journals, games and drugs. "And they're too intoxicated to be useful."
"We're not stoned. We're just enjoying our freedom."
Don ignored them and continued to fix Megan with a glare. She let go and stalked from the room with angry strides.
"Past tense," Don said to the two men. "You were enjoying your freedom. Now you're going to prison - for a very long time."
Nodding to David, he followed Megan upstairs. They had better chances trying to find evidence instead of talking to them. Megan was a good enough agent to recognize this.
As Don reached the kitchen, Megan was already taking it apart.
Larry shivered in the cool night. He was glad to still have his jacket, compared to Colby who only wore a long-sleeved shirt.
He watched his friend shivering. "We should try to conserve body heat," Larry said.
Colby glanced to Larry. His muscles screamed in pain with every shiver that was needed to keep his organs and blood warm enough to survive.
"Ordinarily, I'd joke that you were trying to make a pass at me. But considering the circumstances…" Colby nodded.
Larry shrugged off his jacket.
"What are you doing?"
"My jacket is the only thing we can use as blanket." He lay back down and patted the space beside him as he arranged his jacket as blanket.
"We should keep watch in case there's a boat," Colby argued.
"In this dark, we will hear a ship long before we see it. Besides, without light we don't have any chance to call attention to us."
Another shiver ended his attempt at an argument, and he slid nearer to Larry. The jacket was still warm. His fingers itched as the warmth relaxed the painfully contracted muscle in his shoulder.
Colby tried to think of a new plan. Their situation would probably be written in a report as 'challenging'. But he preferred good old Army synonyms - like FUBAR.
When daylight came, they could maybe see land and start to swim there. He frowned. Of course, the sun would bring it's own problems in the form of intense heat.
He shivered again.
"I don't think the cold is going to be a problem come day."
Larry had the same thought. "But we also do not want to develop hypothermia while waiting."
Colby rolled his eyes. With the added warmth, his fighting spirit returned, and he sat up again. "I don't want to wait. Period. Neither for the day, nor for a rescue."
The professor patiently patted on the space next to him. "Don't waste the warmed rubber. It took precious energy from your body to warm it."
Lying back down, Colby sighed. "How do you know so much about hypothermia?"
Larry shrugged. "It's cold in space."
He had survived the most daring enterprise that humanity had ever attempted. And was now left to die on the ocean. This wasn't poetic; it was just cruel.
Colby's thoughts didn't fare much better. He had spent years as an undetected triple agent and as his cover was blown, the friend he hadn't wanted had saved his life again.
And now he was swaying on the ocean as, again, an unlikely friend had tried to save his life.
It was almost unthinkable, but the two men seemed to be after Larry. For what? For only eating white food or not having a house? Maybe it had something to do with the monastery. Had the monks been that annoyed by Larry's incessant questions?
Suddenly Larry interrupted this sincere silence: "I wonder what this is supposed to be about?"
Speaking of. All Colby really wanted was a painkiller and a warm bed. Shrugging with his left shoulder alone, he evaded the question. "Who knows?"
Don waited for the search to be finished and until their suspects were secured and Mirandized.
"Who do you think they were after? Colby or Larry?" David crossed his arms. He had found both illegal and legal drugs but no hint where Colby and Larry could be.
"Astrophysicist or FBI agent? I would put money on the agent, but nobody targeting Colby would have waited at CalSci. This doesn't add up."
"Maybe they followed him," Megan guessed while waving a pile of cash. "They have a lot of money lying around. It still has bands on it from the bank. We'll need to go ask some questions as soon as they open. "
Don nodded.
"Amita is sure that the van hadn't been following Colby," David reported. "What about old enemies?"
"I have already asked for any files, threatening letters, or death threats." Don rubbed at his forehead. "I even informed the appropriate people in the Army."
"I can't image that Larry has many enemies," David said.
Don pushed away from the wall. "He doesn't need many, he just needs one. Come on, maybe they sobered up a bit."
He entered the so-called living room where Ronny Shawn and Marc Samuelson had been put. His father would have called it a waste disposal.
Before Don could ask a question, Ronny Shawn asked: "We're not really going to prison, are we? You were joking, right?"
Don paused, astonished that he could be still surprised even after all these years as an FBI agent.
He shared a look with Megan and David. "No. I am not joking."
His prisoners paled. That was good. Maybe they had a chance to obtain a location or at least some information.
"Where are Agent Granger and Professor Fleinhardt?" Megan repeated her question. "If they're alive, you may see the outside of a prison again before you die of old age."
This time, their last remaining brain cells started to work.
"We left them at sea. Like we were told," Ronny Shawn rushed to say.
"At sea? Where exactly?"
Marc Samuelson shrugged. "I don't know. There was only water around."
Shawn hissed: "Of course there was only water. It was the open sea."
Don raised his voice to stop the babbling. "Who told you to leave them at sea? Who hired you?"
"We were only supposed to take the guy from the car. But we didn't touch the car. The car is fine. If that is what you're worried about..."
Megan gasped as Don and David stepped back in surprise.
"Larry? Larry was your target?"
TBC