Ch 92
Because of the attack, the captain put an extra watch on duty. Nothing else bothered them on their way to Boston. In the morning, Jackie offered the terminators breakfast. They all declined, they were good on nutrients for now.
At 9:05 they pulled into Boston harbor for fuel and to stay the day so Jackie and Daniel could sight see, of course with three of the crew tagging along to keep them safe. The Captain stayed behind with the boat.
Jackie wasn't very impressed with Boston. Yes, it was a crowded city, and there were plenty of stores here. Passing man talking to some young people about college, she stopped a moment, then had to make her way closer to him and interrupted.
"Excuse me, did you just say farmers and soldiers are stupid?" she asked loudly.
The bespectacled man with the graying beard looked at her in sympathy. "I am only pointing out that they are less educated and and most likely do not have the ability for deeper thought."
"So you're egotistical and look down on anyone who doesn't have a PHD, is that right?" she asked. "You're saying farmers are pond scum?"
"I didn't say that," he said defensively.
"That is what you are implying," she told him. "Do you have any idea the education it takes to be a farmer?"
"Put seed in the ground, it grows," he said with a shrug. "What else is there?"
"You're the one with little education," Jackie told him. "First of all, farmers go to agricultural college. They need to learn business, horticulture, biology, chemistry, astronomy and weather patterns. And guess what, seeing how they are in business for themselves, if they make a mistake, it becomes a huge problem so they NEED to know what they are doing. Tell me, where does the food you eat come from? I mean besides the local grocery store?"
The man frowned at her. "I am speaking to young people who want to become enlightened."
"No you are trying to convince them the only was to not be a low life is to go to college so they too can be egotistical morons."
"And what do you do?" a boy asked in a challenge.
Jackie eyed him. "I just graduated high school, but my family has several businesses, one is supporting a winery, another is supporting a farm, and we are supporting the country in ... various ways. Including some science projects. Unlike this guy," she said, Jerking a thump at the speaker. "We actually DO things to help the economy and the population in our area."
"So you make money at this?" a girl asked.
"Want to come see my 38 foot cabin cruiser?" Jackie asked. "Don't get me wrong, I believe everyone needs education, as much as they can get. You also have to work and apply what you learn. You want to be smart? Get out there and DO. Get practical knowledge, lean how to use things like common sense, Instead of keeping your nose in a book, after you read what things should be like, go find out how they really are. I once heard something that made me laugh. This guys said the worst thing you can do to your boss-who came from a college- is just do exactly what he says. You know what, he 's right. College gives you ideals. Those ideals are not everything, the world is much more complex. I'm not saying don't go, I'm saying after you book learn, go get experience so you know what you're doing."
"You seen pretty smart for a girl just out of high school," the speaker told her.
Jackie eyed him. "I listen, I learn. All the time."
"Hold ON!" Another boy said. "Are you Jackie Connor?"
Jackie nodded.
The boy beamed a smile "Yes! I saw the fencing tournament you won, and that demonstration you did just before it. YOU ROCK!" To the others he said, "She beat the Olympic silver medalist. She's a master with a sword!" With a chuckle he looked at Jackie and said, "And you are not left handed!"
Jackie grinned. "Nope."
"So?" a girl asked.
"Most of the matches Jackie won, she was fencing with her left hand. The last match for the tournament winner, the guy made her use her right hand so he knew he was dueling with her at her best."
"That was fun," Jackie said.
"The speed of her moves was incredible," the boy gushed. "There was one guy who wouldn't fence against her. Heard he was scared of her."
"With the padded suits and covered blade tips, fencing is safe," Jackie told him.
"Yeah, but in that demonstration, you weren't wearing a fencing suit, and those were real, thick, uncovered blades you were using. I watched that movie after I saw your performance. You two did that perfectly! In fact a little faster and better than in the movie." The boy said. To the others, he said, "The Princess Bride, cliff sword fight scene. I didn't think anyone could do that for real."
"Actual fencing is a little different that what the movie shows, much if that is made up, but yes you do have to be good at it if you want to win a tournament."
A girl spoke up, "I was down in Texas and saw this incredible mermaid show, I mean those girl swam like porpoises, doing big jumps and tail stands. You look like one of those girls."
Jackie laughed, "I was! That was my family. Yes, swimming with our mermaid tails is something we all like to do."
"That one woman with the red hair, she was really tall!"
"Sonya," Jackie said. "Yes, she's seven feet, four inches tall. BIG woman."
"It sounds like you and your family put your all into whatever you do." The Speaker said.
"We do," Jackie agreed. "If you want to be successful, you have to. My sister Joan and her friend are pro football players. They didn't get to do that by being mediocre."
"Wait, Joan Connor?" another boy asked. "The one who played for Dallas and got shot out on the field during the game? She's your sister?"
"Yeah, some asshole shot her. She's better now. It was a glancing shot, ruined some muscle, but that's it," Jackie told him.
"You know she made history just by being on an NFL team, and the games she did play, she is one hell of a quarterback. The ball hits her hands and it ends up as a touchdown, every time."
Jackie nodded. "Bob calls her the Energizer Bunny," she said with a giggle.
"I thing this is a lesson for everyone," Daniel finally said. "Just going to college only gives you knowledge. You need to use that knowledge and everything you can learn, and do your best to be successful."
A bunch of heads nodded.
Jackie raised a finger, and added, "And even farmers must plan and manage well. If you even have your own place to live, managing it properly will be the difference between success and failure. Things like don't spend above your income in fact spending a little below it and have a solid savings plan. Use credit as an emergency measure only, not just to buy things you want."
"But some things, like buying a car, you need to get a loan." A boy said.
"Yes, that is true, but ask yourself what you need. Not what you just want. My mother could buy a new Mercedes if she wanted to, but she drives her 1958 Plymouth around and keeps that up."
"So, you need that boat you got?"
"No, we saw it sinking so I swam out to help the guy plug the hole in it to stop it from sinking, and pushed it back to shore," Jackie explained. "They didn't have a life raft and I don't think any of them knew how to swim."
"You pushed it, by swimming?" the speaker asked.
"Yes, it wasn't fast but with my mermaid tail I can develop some power," Jackie told him.
"I saw them in that show!" a girl said, "They were leaping like ten feet out of the water!"
Jackie nodded and added, "They were grateful I saved them and they didn't want to fix the boat so they gave it to me, and I fixed it up. We did the work ourselves and saved a TON of money."
"We did," Daniel agreed.
"So you got lucky," a boy said.
"Right place at the right time, and I saw an opportunity and took it." Jackie explained. "Taking advantage of opportunities as they come is what everyone should do."
The speaker asked, "By any chance, do you know a Dana McGregor?"
"Yeah, why?"
"She found a pod of mermaids and is studying them. Do you know anything about that?" he asked.
Jackie eyed him. "How do you know Dana?"
"I don't know her, I only saw the talk she gave," he said.
Jackie decided right now was a good time to leave. "Well guys, we should be going. Good luck with your future, everyone!" she said and waved. All the young people waved back. Jackie quickly walked away. Daniel was beside her and the crew formed up behind her.
The professor giving his speech watched her go. Dana had clearly said it was a woman who liked to swim in her mermaid tail that had found them. By her avoiding the question, he had an idea Jackie Connor knew where that pod was. He wanted to know. He also figured she wasn't going to tell him. She'd been swimming, or getting ready to go for a swim when she saw that boat sinking. If he found out more about where that happened, he figured that was a good place to start looking for mermaids.
They had messed around Boston for half the day. Jackie figure it was time to leave. Daniel agreed. They got back to the boat and Jackie asked the Captain to get ready and go.
.
Their next stop was Mystic, Connecticut. It was another full day of travel done there, and since they left early, they were a half day ahead of schedule. Daniel got his vision, Jackie spend the afternoon lying on the fore deck in a bikini. Great way to spend a lazy afternoon.
Jackie got a call while she was sunning herself and Daniel was gazing at her lovingly.
"Jackie are you still at Collinwood?" Delilah asked.
"We're cruising down the coast. OH, mom!, we found those guys that might have been Horton's men. They came after us yesterday. We blew them out of the water."
"Save any for questioning?"
"Couldn't. They shot at us from a couple hundred yards back. One volley and they were sinking. Second, they kinda disappeared."
"Who shot at them?"
"We all did. I didn't want them to hit Daniel. Plus, we just fixed this boat. I didn't want a bunch of holes in it."
"At least you stopped them. Can you make it home in that?"
"We can get down to the coast. I don't know about going say, up river."
"I haven't told you yet but Allison is hurt bad. Their games have been cancelled. We're collecting everyone back home until we can get rid of the threat."
"OK, it's going to take us a while to get there. Daniel can come, can't he?"
"Of course he can. We also talked to Barnabas, his factory is back on with Weaver's company. He'll be set."
"OH good! Is he going to have protection too?"
"He is, Mrs. Weaver's seeing to it. Once he gets things going, he's coming down also. Apparently, he and Miss Winters at the school have... a thing going on."
"That will be great!" Jackie said and grinned at Daniel who was watching her.
"Let me know how close you can get, and call me back."
"I will Mom. Bye."
"Bye sweetie."
Jackie leaned up on an elbow towards Daniel knowing he liked the view. And she liked him liking it. "Mom's calling everyone home, Allison's in a bad way and this Horton guy hasn't been caught yet. Everyone's coming to Driftwood, Barnabas too. He's back in business with Catherine Weaver."
"Great, so how do we get there?"
Jackie shrugged, "we'll have to figure it out."
.
The water route wasn't looking good. The nearest waterway to Driftwood was Onoin creek that fed into the Colorado River that ran through Austin. It was a decent sized river but had six dams on it. Looking at digital maps, the closest they could get, and get the boat out of the water was Port Lavaca in lavaca bay, just off the coast. Texas loved to dam their rivers for hydroelectric power and to make lakes and control floods. That meant a trailered road trip up to Driftwood, and Jackie would have to use the big lake at Driftwood since the boat had an inboard gas engine.
Oh well, they'd have a boat on their small lake, and one in the big lake too. First they'd have to go all the way down the coast and around Florida to get there.
.
The Young household was somber. Allison's parents were relieved she's gotten away and were glad she was home. They were also shocked and saddened by the amount of injuries Allison bore.
She'd been scalped by a madman. Her left hand was wrapped up due to missing much of her flesh off it by ripping it off herself so she could escape the chains that held her. Then in a desperate act to save Betty's live, tore much of her back flesh away to skid on the road at 70 miles an hour to wreck that van and free Betty. The normally happy, bouncing girl that was their daughter was now a hollow-eyed shell of her former self.
It wasn't only Allison who'd lost her spark either. Bob was vacant- eyed and moved around more like a machine that a young man. Joan, who also refuse to leave Allison was a red eyed drone, helpful, acting decent, and would disappear now and then to go off to cry in wailing sobs that still could be heard from the house.
Claire could fully understand their pain. Before Allison was kidnapped, she was a pretty girl. Now she was mutilated and even Claire was having a hard time with what Allison looked like now. She was very thankful Cameron had given Allison nanites for all those years, it had hardened Allison up to survive the brutal torture she was forced to endure, and Allison would recover. Recovery was not going to be easy. It wasn't just her body that had been brutalized. Allison's mental state had also been severely affected. So had that of everyone who loved Allison.
Claire made Allison a lunch full of nutrients and metal salt to help Allison's nanites repair the massive damage that had been done to her. Going into Allison's room, she saw Bob there sitting on the bed by her and holding her hand.
"Lunch," Claire announced. Bob looked up, Allison opened her eyes. "Hey Bob, you and Joan need to eat too. Go find Joan and haul her inside, your lunches are on the table."
Bob nodded, kissed Allison and got up. Claire set they tray across Allison's lap. "Feeling any better?"
"I can feel myself healing," Allison said meekly.
"Then you know you're going to recover," Claire told her.
"I am, we're not," Allison replied softly.
"What do you mean?"
"Us, the team, Joan and Bob," Allison said. "Joan is very angry that ... madman grabbed us. He killed Carla just to because he could. Joan told me I'm not missing any games, because none are being played until that man is caught. Hopefully killed in the worst way imaginable." She sniffled. "Cameron is right, Just by going out and doing normal things, we endanger ourselves and everyone around us because there are those out there that want to hurt us. That man killed our lives, Mom. Worse, he got away with it. He's off hiding someplace, and if he gets the chance, he'll do it again to us, or someone else."
"Someone will find him and put a stop to his brutality," Claire assured her.
"I'd like to believe that," Allison said weakly. "Cameron told me they were cutting him off from any resources, they drained his bank account for him, and there's a hefty reward on his head. Still, football is over, Carla's life is over ... all the fun we had, it's all over."
"It may seem that way right now," Claire said firmly, "You must believe things will get better. That man and whoever is with him will be caught, or killed. Then you can get back to your lives."
"K, mom," Allison said in her soft voice as she looked down.
Claire gently hugged her daughter. She then cast Allison a firm look. "Cameron will find him and destroy him," she stated. "You know she will."
Allison just nodded.
.
Bob found Joan sitting on the dock looking out at the water. He sat by her and put an arm around her. She leaned into him.
"Allison thinks we should leave her," Joan said in a hollow tone.
"Don't listen to it," Bob replied. "Allison is depressed, and she has a right to be. She'll get better. We all will get better. It's just going to take some time."
"He fuckin scalped her!" Joan snapped.
"He did, and he's going to pay for that with his life."
Joan let out a growl and said, "I so want to find that bastard and peel all his skin off slowly. I want to make him suffer."
"I do too," Bob admitted. "The thing is right now, I think we need to focus on Allie. She needs us, Joan."
"She does."
"Come on inside with me and get some lunch." He said and got up. He helped Joan up too. Not that she couldn't get up by herself. He knew even if she was spitting mad, she liked the contact. He did too. Just holding Joan's hand assured him his whole world hadn't fallen apart yet.
.
Connor sat in another bar in LA complaining about those non human things walking around to anyone who would listen. One burly man grabbed his collar and said, "Better shut up, friend! There's many of us who see them as heros. Bad things might happen to you if you keep mouthing off!" He then let go with a shove.
This had happened time and time again. across a few states now, he'd been trolling for someone sympathetic to Horton's cause. So far, he was doing nothing but drawing hatred on himself. They had to be somewhere. Receiving enough hate in this bar, Connor finished his drink and walked out.
Maybe he was looking in the wrong places. He knew to pull such coordinated attacks, Horton had to have a large network of people. He was working his way down the west coast and getting nothing. The attacks had been in Texas, maybe he should go back there, or the mid west states maybe. walking down the street, he saw two men who'd been leaning on a car, straighten up and step in his path. He recognized one from the bar.
Connor let out a sigh. "What? Time to teach me a lesson is it?" he asked them.
The other man asked, "Remember me?"
"Can't say that I do," Connor said.
"Jake Tanner. You might not, that metal bitch ran me out of town and took my family."
Connor looked at him closely. "OK, maybe. She's done worse than that."
"What happened to you?" Jake asked.
"You mean besides my wife dying and loosing my job? Can much else happen and leave me alive?" Connor asked. "Thanks for reminding me." He moved to walk around them.
"Bill here says you were spouting hate against that metal bitch." Jake said, moving to walk with him.
"It's a free country, I can say what I want," Connor said stiffly. Then added, "At least, for now."
Jake eyed him. "Are you willing to do more than complain?"
Connor barked a laugh. "Yeah, right. Like what?" In a sarcastic tone he asked, "Get a gun and shoot her? Or try to shoot any of them? Do they make guns big enough that something like that may at least knock them down?"
Firmly Jake said, "We know someone who can help us. He has been helping us. Why don't you come along? We need all the help we can get. When we act, we want to overwhelm them, to stomp them out of existence!"
Connor stopped and eyed him. "Big talk, but talk does nothing."
"You're right," Jake said. "But a 30MM canon does! Our leader is planning something big, and we're collecting what we need. One thing we need is more guys who think like we do, who believe these metal imitations of real people need to be destroyed. You can walk away and keep grumbling about being fucked over, OR you can join us and help do something to get rid of those monsters!"
Connor looked off at nothing. "Maybe you're right."
"Where you staying, friend?" Jake asked with a clap on his shoulder, "We can come get you tomorrow to show you we are serious."
"Name's Albert Faring, I'm staying at the Motel 6 up here, room 12."
"See you tomorrow then, Albert. You'll help us make history and save the human race."
Connor have him a half hearted wave and walked yo his hotel. Going in his room, he looked to see if anything had been disturbed.
"Even the maid didn't come in when you were gone," Aliana's voice said.
Connor looked around. Right, she was invisible. "I thought you were suppose to go assist Cameron?" he asked.
"I did, she said to come look out for you."
Connor sat on the bed. "Look, to infiltrate this group, I have to convince them I'm alone and I hate all non humans."
"Yes, And I'll be floating around you in case you get in trouble." she replied.
"And if I get exposed?" he asked.
"I help get you out." she then appeared in front of him. "You look!" she said sternly. "How long did it take for you to accept me? I do. Not. Want to go through training another master. It's hard and frustrating. We're finally getting along good, and I don't want to lose that. I won't do anything to spoil your plans. You have to admit, what you are doing is dangerous."
"It's certainly not safe," he admitted with a crooked grin.
"So I'm here to keep your ass out of the fire, that's it."
Connor got up and started to get undressed. "Long as you're here, might as well rest a while with me."
"I can do that," she agreed. In a flash, her clothes were gone, she slipped under the covers and took on a devilish look. "If you can't help yourself, I don't mind," she said in a sexy tone.
Connor laughed. "I'm sure you don't"
.
In the morning Connor was still wrapped up with Aliana after their 'I don't mind' bout of sex that lasted until the early morning hours when there was a knock on his door. Aliana vanished. He got some pants on and looked out the peep hole. It was Jake Tanner. He opened the door a crack. "Gotta get some clothes on, be right out."
He got dressed then opened the door. "Morning Jake."
"We got a small meeting today, but you'll be able to see we're serious," Jake said firmly.
Connor went with him to a laundromat six blocks away. Inside were five other men.
"We still got two more coming," Jake said as he scanned the group. "Soon as they get here, we head out of town to meet the rest."
A few minutes later three young men who looked like gang members came in. In for cars, they all left to head east out of LA. Connor paid attention to where they were going. They went a warehouse on the outskirts of LA. Jake lead them to park in the back and go inside through a back door. To Connor's mild surprise, a pair of Chinese men were waiting for them. The pair bowed and smiled.
"Greetings!" the shorter one said happily. "Jake you collected help as you said you would. As we said, a bonus for each man who proves he can be of use."
"Where's Horton?" one of the younger thugs asked.
"You will meet him in good time. First we much test your skills and sharpen them as needed. Although you have volunteered for a good cause, you will also be getting paid on thousand dollars a week. During training, you will be staying at the compound in the desert so you will not be distracted. The bus to take you will be here shortly."
.
The Mechanic stayed with the boat in Mystic so the Captain could go see the Aquarium with Jackie and Daniel. They walked through the marine displays and saw the porpoise show, the Beluga whale and sea lion shows. Seeing the old sailing ships at the docks as they came in, they also took a tour of the Old Mystic Seaport, which showed life as it was there in the 18 & 1700's. Daniel thought it was interesting that the Seaport made everything to support their old ships, right there at the Seaport. Rope, sails, metal fittings, tar and lumber was all done right there by craftsmen. They even made their own chain.
One thing John had helped with was once Jackie and her captain solidified their route and projected arrival date, he arraigned overland transport of the Jackie's Surprise with a boat moving company. They wouldn't need to buy a trailer, this company had boat trailers. A truck and trailer would be waiting for them in Port Lavaca when they arrived.
Having spend an interesting day in Mystic, they set sail again south around long island and down the coast. Talking about it, Jackie had decided not to go visit Washington DC, they would still go into Chesapeake Bay for a gas stop, then keep going down the coast. The had a long way to go to get to Texas.
It wasn't until they were getting close to Virginia that they ran into a storm. It wasn't a big one, mostly rain and some wind, but the swells weren't that bad. They bounced the boat some, but it was nothing major. Daniel got a little seasick but spending time up in the wheelhouse and he kept from getting physically sick.
The farther south they went, the warmer it was. 83 degrees when they were coming into Chesapeake bay, Jackie wore just her bikini top and a pair of short-shorts, and of course her boat sneakers. Coming up on the docks where the gas pumps were, Daniel noticed the men there were eyeing Jackie.
Not that he could blame them, Jackie was slim with long, bright blonde hair and filled out that bikini top to nearly over-stuffed. The boaters here also noticed. One woman glared at the man she was with and went down below. A few men had stopped what they were doing just to gaze at her.
One man's exhale of, "Damn," drifted over to them.
Yeah, Daniel had a real hot girlfriend.
"Ohh, I was hoping the water would be clearer," Jackie said sadly.
The water did look brownish. "Stirred up from all the boats here, I imagine. Thinking about taking a swim?" Daniel asked.
"I was, but not in that yuck."
"What about when we get back out of the bay?" Daniel asked. "I'm sure the captain wouldn't mind stopping to let you swim a while."
"Yeah, that's a better idea," she agreed.
After getting gas, Jackie and Daniel watched the water as they left the bay. The captain drove on at the normal ten knots. They saw a cargo ship leaving and a navy ship coming in. An hour they were clear of the bay, Daniel said, "Look, the water's clearing up. Want your tail?"
Jackie nodded. Daniel retrieved it and helped Jackie get into it. The Captain slowed the boat to 4 knots.
"Miss Connor, the depth here is 120 feet, that should be good for some exploring," the captain offered.
Daniel pointed ahead. "Someone is. Up there is a boat and has an orange buoy out."
"Good!, I'll go see that they're doing," Jackie said and dove overboard.
The water here did have good clarity. Not crystal clean like in their lake, but still it was pretty good. She went down a ways, swam ahead of the boat then went up and did a jump to get a lung full of air and show the captain where she was. She was also closer to the other boat. Air bubbles were coming up directly ahead. Near the bottom where three black suited figures with yellow air tanks.
Swimming down by them she saw they were watching a sea turtle. They hadn't seen her yet. She swam down behind them and coasted along as slow as she dared go. She had to move vertically to stop so she didn't move past them. The one in the middle was a woman who had a camera, filming the turtle she guessed. Jackie moved up between her and the man on her left. He moved to turn and motion to the woman. Jackie waved to him.
A bunch of bubbles erupted when he saw her. His eyes went wide and he backed up a bit. Then the woman beside her did the same. Jackie waved to her with a big smile, then swam straight up. The boat was still behind her but much closer. She picked up speed on the way up and did another jump for air, then dove back down. All three were watching her now.
Jackie waved and leveled out about 20 feet from the bottom to swim on, scanning the sea floor. Every now and then she rolled over to check where the boat was and get a good look around. Seeing movies about all the corals, plants and things on the ocean bottom, she didn't see as much here. There was also garbage down here. Bottles, a mass of fishing line, and a few plastic bags. She grabbed the bags and went back to the surface again, this time up beside the boat. Hanging on with one hand she tossed the bags on.
"Going shopping?" Daniel asked.
"No, that sea turtle will try to eat them, so I picked them up," she explained. She then tipped upside down and made her way back into the depths.
.
The trio watched the mermaid woman leave then headed back up to the surface. By the time they made their slow ascent, she and the boat had moved on. The moment they surfaced and got ready to get back on the boat, the woman on board asked, "Tell me you saw that!"
"The blonde?" one of the men asked.
"Yes! I thought it was a porpoise, she shot out of the water in a jump, I mean a long jump, clear of the water" the woman said brightly. "I was shocked to see it was a woman!"
The man snorted. "Yeah, we saw her, she snuck up right between us. I went to motion to Ginger here and she scared the crap out of me! I had no idea she was there. Then she swims straight up, fast and did that jump. Another wave to us and she swam away, deep."
"I timed how long she was down," Ginger said. "No air tanks, nothing but that tail and a bra, and she was down 12 minutes before she grabbed some garbage and took it up to that boat. How can anyone DO that?"
"She swam fast too," the other man added. "Think that was a real mermaid? I never saw anyone swim that fast or for so long on one breath before."
"I got her on film, let's go look at it," Ginger said eagerly.
.
Out of their scuba gear and watching the video, the four watched what they recorded of Jackie's antics.
"Whoever that is, she's incredible!"
"How can she avoid getting the bends, diving and surfacing that fast?"
"She's gotta have huge lungs to hold enough air to stay down that long, and move that fast while she's under."
"She does have an impressive set of lungs on her."
"Pervert."
"You know, maybe she really is a mermaid and just has that tail over her real tail so people just think she's human."
"Offhand I'd say you're nuts, by seeing it, I have to wonder."
