Chapter 11

He'd lost track of how many laps he'd swum. It didn't matter. He was just intent on wearing himself out, and then he would go back upstairs and sleep the morning away. After lunch, if he felt like eating, he would sit on the balcony with a book and maybe take another nap. He could get used to this, if it wasn't so incredibly boring. Sam heard a large splash just as he reached the deep end of the pool. He reached out and touched the edge, preparing to turn and go back on a side stroke. One moment he was sucking in a breath, and the next, he found himself being pushed underwater. He twisted out from under the stiff arm and landed a punch to his assailant's side. In the water it wasn't very effective, but at least it made a point. He would not go easy. The attacker grabbed his arm and turned his limb until the pain became excruciating, but Sam kicked him in the groin and he let go.

He was almost out of air, so when Sam surfaced, he greedily gulped the oxygen. An arm came up, followed by a torrent of water enveloping his attacker. A knife glinted in the morning sunlight just before it came down at him. Sam grabbed the wrist and disarmed him as they thrashed about in the water.

Another large splash behind him, and an arm clamped around his throat. In a matter of seconds, the pressure would cause him to black out. He elbowed the limb's owner in the stomach. The vise grip around his neck loosened, and Sam pushed away. The first assailant came back after retrieving his knife at the bottom of the pool and sliced down at him.

"Sam!"

He heard someone call his name, but he had no time to figure out if it was friend or foe. He cried out as the blade sunk into his upper arm and the attacker quickly withdrew it. The other man got his hands on Sam again and pushed him under. He didn't have time to get an adequate breath. As he fought to get to the surface, Sam noted the wisps of blood swirling in the blue water. This was it. He didn't get to say goodbye to Elsa this time. One of his attackers kicked him as he swam away.

"Sam! No, no, no, you are not gonna do this to me," Michael growled and dove head first into the water. He had barely enough time to sink when Michael pulled his friend to the side of the pool. With the help of a guard, he rolled him onto his side on the deck.

"Michael, is he alright? Who did this?"

"I don't know, Ma. They got away." He looked up at the guard. "Where were you? You were supposed to be watching him!"

Before the guard could answer, Sam began coughing and he took in a raspy breath. Michael looked up at her and smiled. "I think that means he'll be okay." He turned his attention to Sam and rolled him so he lay on his back. "Sam, come on, look at me. Look at me!"

Sam's eyes fluttered open. "M-Mikey. Boy, am I glad to see you!"

"Ma, can you get me a towel?"

With just a nod, Maddie hurried away and soon returned with more than one.

"Thanks." He pressed against the two inch gash in Sam's arm, and his friend winced. "Sorry, Sam. That's gonna hurt a little, but I've gotta stop the bleeding."

"Yeah, I know." He turned his head and looked at the pool. The surface was slowly calming. "Where'd those guys go?"

"They took off when I called your name." He leaned closer and said, "Personally, I wouldn't trust these in-house security guys anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them tipped somebody off that you were here, and they sent a couple guys over to take care of business, so to speak."

Sam made a sound of disgust. "I'm not even safe here?"

"Afraid not." He put pressure on Sam's wound. "Think you can sit up?"

"Yeah." He took the towel from Michael and pressed it to his arm as he sat upright.

"Sam, what happened?"

The men looked up and saw Fiona and Elsa running to them. The wound stung enough to take his breath away when he pressed on it, but he managed to put on a smile and reply, "It's okay, pumpkin, just a scratch. It's no big deal."

Michael helped Sam to stand. "We're going upstairs to fix this, and then you and I are finding a new safe house."

"What about my house, or the loft," Maddie asked softly.

"We can't take a chance that someone knows about them. We need some other location."

"Mike, I know just the place. It's kind of rustic, but I think it'll do just fine."

Michael didn't like it, but it was all they had. "Okay. While you get ready, I'll call Jesse and have him meet us in the lobby when we're ready to move."

Fiona turned to Elsa. "I'm afraid we'll have to postpone the shoe shopping. Michael and Sam need my help."
"Of course! I want to come along."

"No!" Michael and Sam chorused, then Sam said, "Honey, this is too dangerous. You stay here. Don't worry, this'll be over soon."

Elsa didn't look convinced, but she led the way upstairs. She brought Michael the supplies he asked for to stitch up Sam's arm, and she handed him the things he needed even as watching him work made her ill.

"Sam, you should really let a doctor take care of that. What about the risk of an infection?"

"Elsa, both Sam and I have had a lot of experience patching up people in the field. It's okay." He concentrated on his work a moment. "It just hit muscle, didn't get down to the bone. Just a flesh wound."

"He's right, sweetheart. My chances of getting an infection here are probably less than in the hospital, believe it or not. Certainly less chance of getting lead poisoning on the way there." He chuckled nervously.

Elsa scowled at him. "I wish you'd take this seriously! I'm scared!"

Michael applied a bandage to protect his handiwork, and Sam stood and took her into his arms. "I know, Elsa, honey. But you have to trust us. We know what we're doing. And now I'm going to change, pack a few things, and we're getting out of here. You stay behind."

"But..."

"I'm sorry. I won't be able to call you until this is over. Can't risk someone tracing the signal."

Elsa blinked back tears. This was getting too crazy to be believed. "Do you really think someone will use that kind of technology just to find you and exact their revenge?"

"We've seen it happen." Sam quickly moved to the bedroom, and in a few minutes he emerged in khakis and one of his more muted earth tone shirts and carried a small bag. "I love you, Elsa. I promise, I'll see you soon." With a quick but loving kiss and embrace goodbye, he was gone with Michael and Fiona.

Maddie stayed behind and patted her arm. "It'll be okay. They'll keep him safe."

Jesse met them in the lobby, which was deserted except for a few staff members. The three created a barrier around Sam and ushered him to the parking garage where Jesse had parked a tan SUV.

Sam studied the vehicle. "New wheels, Jess?"

"Nope, borrowed, courtesy of Dani Pearce."

"Oh great, now she's finally concerned when people are trying to kill me." Sam rolled his eyes.

"Sam," Michael warned as he shoved his friend into the back. "Now get down, and shut up." He threw a light blanket over Sam as he crunched himself down to fit in the cramped space among the supplies for their safe house.

"This is going to be awfully uncomfortable."

"I suppose you'd rather be dead," Michael snapped as he took the back seat, and Jesse and Fiona sat up front. Feeling a sense of guilt for his shortness with Sam, he threw an arm over the seat back and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, I'm just..."

Sam pulled the blanket back just enough to see Michael. "Yeah, I know. Let's just get out of here." He covered himself, and Jesse put the vehicle in gear.

Once they were on the road, Michael asked, "Where are we headed, Sam?"

"You remember Virgil's place, right?" Sam's voice came up muffled, but Michael heard him.

"Yeah."

"He gave me a key for emergencies like this."

"Oh, boy. You weren't kidding when you said it was 'rustic'." Michael hated holing up with someone with a target on their head, even if it was his best friend, but to share a swamp with mosquitos, snakes, alligators, and God knew what else, that was no picnic. "Okay. Jesse, head south, and I'll tell you when to get off the highway."

"You got it."

"I know you don't like this idea, Mike, but at least you're not the guy stuck in back feeling every bump and pothole in the road! Ow! Jesse, do you mind? Jeez!"

"Sorry, Sam!"

He heard a soft chuckle, and if the situation weren't so dangerous, he would have gotten out from under the blanket and let him have a piece of his mind. Instead, he was grateful for friends who were willing to hide with him for awhile.

It took two hours to get to Virgil's place out in the 'glades. Sam's friend hadn't been there for awhile, so the lane had grown over, which created its own set of problems. Once Jesse parked in front of Virgil's wood cabin, they all got out except for Sam.

"Stay here until we sweep the place," Michael said.

"Make it fast, 'cause it's really hot in here."

"We'll do our best."

While Sam sweltered under the blanket, Michael, Fiona, and Jesse drew their weapons and searched the property for squatters or anyone who intended to catch them off guard. Michael had Virgil's key, which Sam gave him, so he unlocked the cabin and entered. It was old, smelled of mustiness and rotting wood, and the roof looked certain to leak in a rain storm. There was no electricity or gas, but a well supplied running water into the building with the help of of an old pump. Michael shook his head. The one time he and Sam came out here to talk to Virgil and help him with the boat repo that became so much more, he hadn't come inside. If he'd known what the place looked like, he would have vetoed the idea in a heartbeat.

"Eew, this is disgusting," Fiona said, wrinkling her nose as she entered the place. "It's one room, there's only one bed that looks like a gigantic petri dish... Michael, we can't keep Sam here."

"I was thinking the same thing."

"I figured this was gonna be the case," Jesse said. "That's why I brought cots and some of the more precious comforts of home."

"This place needs a lot of cleanup before we even consider this a place to lay low," Michael said as he stood in the middle of the room with arms crossed.

"We can do it. Come on, Mike, this is our best bet to keep Sam safe. Nobody knows we're out here, and if we cover our tracks out on that road, no one will suspect that anyone's been here in awhile. It's perfect."

"From a tactical standpoint, it's not bad, really," Fiona added. "We have plenty of trees from which we can scout the area. As long as the boat has gas, we've got an easy escape if necessary."

"I'll check on that. Somebody better get Sam out of the SUV before he dies of heat stroke." Jesse left the cabin and headed for the short dock. Virgil's airboat was tied to it. It needed some work too, but with nothing to keep them occupied out in the wilderness, there was plenty of time to get it in shape. Jesse decided to take care of that himself.

He looked up toward the sound of doors slamming and noted that Michael and Fiona pulled Sam out of the back of the vehicle and shielded him as they moved toward the cabin. Sam entered the cabin and the two unloaded equipment and supplies. Jesse went to help them and realized that they really hadn't given Sam a whole lot of room back there. Hopefully he could spend the ride home up front or in the back seat.

Sam and Fiona took charge of cleaning the inside of Virgil's cabin. Michael checked out an ATV that was parked off to the side, but it was a lost cause without access to a lot of parts. Instead, he helped Jesse erase their tracks going into the property and they prepared the boat for an exit strategy. By the time the sun started lowering over the trees and the mosquitos came out in earnest, their work was done. A few burlap sacks tacked over the windows and holes in the roof allowed air in but kept most of the bugs out.

Jesse and Michael came inside and found Fiona setting the table with a set of mismatched plates, glasses and silverware while Sam worked at a propane stove to make dinner. "Hello, boys. You look like you got a little too much sun, Michael." She reached out and touched a finger to his nose and pressed, and a white impression of her finger remained.

"Ow, thanks, Fi."

Michael looked around at the room and noted the changes. The bed was gone, and in its place, the four cots were lined up with two placed close together and the other two flanked them with a few feet of space separating them from the coupled beds. Each one had a pillow, sheets on the mattresses, and light blankets.

"It's not much, but it's much better than the floor," Fiona said when she saw where Michael's eyes roved. "We managed to clean up the whole place, so it's not too stinky now. If we could just get some AC out here..."

"Not a chance."

"And with no fans even, we'll suffer," Fiona griped. "Sam, don't say I never did anything for you."

"I would never accuse you of that, sister. You can count on that!" He finished stirring the contents of the skillet, turned off the flame, and set it on a hot pad in the center of the table. "Okay, dig in everybody!"

"What is it," Michael asked as he picked up the serving spoon.

"It's sort of a chicken curry, but without the curry... and the chicken. I had to use pork." He shrugged. "I'm sorry, that's all that was in the cooler!"

"It's okay. Tomorrow Fi and I will try to hike it out of here and get more supplies. There was a small town around here, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yeah, it's about five miles southwest," Sam answered. "It's big enough to have a small market. Although, I can always try to catch something for our dinner."

"No alligator steaks," Michael said with a guarded expression on his face.

"No, I was thinking more along the fins and scales line. Virgil has some nice rods and reels here."

"Sounds good. Thanks, Sam."

Sam grinned. "Well, it's the least I can do considering you guys are inconvenienced by having to be out here babysitting me."

"Hopefully it won't be long. This isn't bad." Fiona tried a bite of his impromptu dish. "Michael, we should probably contact someone back in Miami tomorrow to find out how things are going."

"If they have a pay phone in town. We'll see."

When everyone had their fill, Sam and Fiona cleaned up the kitchen using light from an oil lamp suspended from the low ceiling.

"You guys done," Jesse asked. "Bring that lamp over here and let's play some cards."

Sam set the lantern on the table. "Nah, I'm beat. 'Night, everybody." He dropped onto his cot fully clothed.

"I'll take first watch," Jesse said.

"Night, Jesse." Michael and Fiona retreated to their cots and lay down. The circle of light from the lamp didn't reach that far, so they were able to snuggle without feeling self-conscious. It didn't take long for Sam to start snoring lightly, and soon Fiona and Michael were also asleep.

Jesse listened to their breathing while he played solitaire by the lamplight. Crickets, tree frogs, and other creatures of the night sang outside in the still air, surrounding them with their natural symphony. An owl hooted off beat. Jesse wasn't used to hearing such things. It was kind of relaxing, actually. Then he heard a twig snap, and the sound of something moving through the brush. He forgot his game, prepared his weapon, and listened for the distinctive sound of a raiding party. He held his breath and his pulse came quick and shallow. Whatever it was decided to move on and left them alone, and he let out a relieved breath. Hopefully the next day would bring good news that it was safe to return to Miami, but Jesse had a feeling they would be there for awhile. Long enough to get used to the night sounds.