Chapter 7
The next morning, Caitlin awoke to find she was in bed alone. She quickly got up and walked into the living room. Hawke was pacing back and forth.
"I see you couldn't sleep," Caitlin said. "I didn't shut my eyes until the sun came up and I couldn't keep awake any longer."
"I'm just worried about him," said String. "I wish we'd stayed here last night. Three of us would have been able to stop them."
Caitlin walked over to String and put her arms around him. She hugged him tightly. "He's going to be okay," she replied. "I just know it."
"I'd feel better if I knew who we were dealing with," he replied. "But, I did call the hospital and I talked to Saint John. They're releasing him earlier than expected. We need to go in about an hour and pick him up."
"Surely he's not going with us tonight is he?" Caitlin asked. "He can't be up for something like that just yet."
String sighed. "I doubt we can stop him," he replied. "He's pretty anxious to get these guys."
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Later that night, one of Michael's operatives delivered the fake jewels to them. They placed them in the box and set out for the pier, not quite knowing what to expect. The three decided to tackle the situation by splitting up. Caitlin would come in from the north end of the beach, Saint John the south and String would go out onto the pier itself.
As String walked out onto the pier, he saw the two men, Cole and Tanner standing halfway towards the end. Dom was at the very end of the pier standing with his hands tied. Cole had his gun aimed at Dom while Tanner was covering String. Hawke decided not to pull out his gun for the moment.
"Drop the box right there," said Tanner. "Then, we'll walk pass each other. Once we have the box, you'll be free to go and get your friend. Any sudden moves and my buddy here will shoot the old man."
"Okay," replied String. "It's all yours."
String did as instructed. He set the box down and headed towards Dom. Tanner and Cole walked past him on the pier, picked up the box and took off running. String then ran down to the end and grabbed Dom.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Dom smiled. "I am now," he said. "But, boy I'm hungry."
String laughed. "Yeah, you're okay," he said. "Let's go and meet up with Saint John and Caitlin.
They walked back to the beach and towards the parking lot. Saint John came running up right away when he saw them. He gave Dom hug. "I'm so happy you're okay," he said. "This has been some crazy vacation. I wish I'd never caught that stupid box."
"Well, at least now you've gotten rid of it," said Dom. "Let's hope they don't bring it back."
String sighed. "Oh, they'll be back," he said. "As soon as they find out the jewels are fake, they'll be back. But, Michael will have a small army watching the beach house and they'll nab them when they come."
"Where's Caitlin?" asked Dom.
"I was just thinking the same thing," String said with a worried tone in his voice. "She should have been back over here by now."
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Tanner and Cole pulled up in the parking lot of the old run down motel they were staying in. They grabbed the box and headed to their room. As they opened the door, they were shocked to find their boss, Mr. Redmond sitting on the bed holding a gun on Caitlin.
"What's she doing here?" asked Tanner. "We got the box back."
"You idiots," said Redmond. "You should always have a back-up plan. Did you even check the box before you brought it back?"
"Uh, no" said Cole. "We didn't."
"Give it here," demanded Redmond. He opened the box and checked out the jewels. They looked real enough.
"Alright," he said. "I'm taking these to an expert to have them checked out. In the meantime, we keep her here. If they are real, you can let her go. If not, then they will be sorry that they ever crossed us. They have no idea who they are dealing with."
"She we let them know we have her?" asked Tanner.
Redmond laughed. "Believe me," he said. "They'll figure it out soon enough."