Disclaimers and other Info. in Part 1 - additional acknowledgements will be included in parts where needed.
Note: I added a few lines paying homage to Charmed into this part, as I love that TV show now and saw the opportunity to name-drop in this part! I wasn't even into it when I originally wrote this part!
Part 16: Back in the USA
After several days of being in the ship's Brig, the guys go to bed as usual, sure that they will be arriving in the United States soon.
A while later Vin wakes up feeling quite cold. He opens his eyes to find that they are all lying on a beach. Vin goes over to Chris and shakes him. Chris grumbles.
"You have ta wake up Chris - they've dumped us all on a beach," says Vin.
"WHAT?" asks Chris, before opening his eyes and looking around. He recognises the lifeguard's watch towers and notices the beach's name painted on a sign.
A pretty young woman walks by and looks at them; "Y'all have been sleeping here all night?"
"What day is it?" asks Chris.
"Wednesday, handsome."
"I've lost track of the days, we've been away from home fer so long," says Vin, trying to make it sound like he's joking to the woman.
"I'm not sure how long we've been here - can't have been too long though," says Chris to Vin.
"What town are we in?" asks JD who hasn't seen the beach's sign that would tell him.
The woman laughs evilly at him and vanishes into thin air.
"Uh-oh!" says JD, fear in his eyes.
Buck wakes up and turns to JD. "What's wrong?" asks Buck.
"I'm seeing people who aren't really there."
"Me and Chris saw her as well, we even heard her," says Vin persuading JD he isn't going mad.
"Where did she go?" asks JD.
"She kinda just disappeared," answers Vin.
"This is a beach and you don't get mirages on beaches!" says Buck, upset that he didn't see the woman.
A beautiful blonde woman wearing a bikini appears in front of Buck. "Hi, I'm Buck," he says with a big friendly grin.
The woman looks straight through him as if he's not there.
"Are we in heaven or somethin'?" asks Jake, afraid that the smugglers have killed them and this is what heaven looks like.
"Give me a minute and I'll figure it out," answers Chris, knowing that they aren't dead.
Buck reaches towards the woman but she vanishes. Buck looks around puzzled.
Nathan speaks up, "They must've given us some hallucinogenic drugs - that would explain the women who keep disappearing."
Then all of a sudden they hear a cell-phone ringing. It isn't Buck's though. Chris hears it coming from the sand next to him so digs around. He finds a cell phone and answers it. "Hello?"
It's his boss, Orin Travis; "Where the HELL are you all? You're meant to be back in the offices today."
Chris takes the phone away from his ear and studies it, trying to work out how come the phone he found in the sand had Orin Travis on the other end.
Vin grabs the phone off Chris wondering who's barking away on the other end; "Hello?"
"Tell your leader that if he ever ignores me again he'll be in big trouble," says Travis loudly and sternly.
"I'm sorry, Sir - were we meant to be back there today?" says Vin apologetically.
"Yes you were - don't tell me you've got yourselves into some sort of trouble."
"No, but I'm not sure where we are at the moment, Sir."
"Good grief! How did you manage to get lost?" asks Travis, becoming agitated.
"It's a very long story sir - but if we're by the sea we're nowhere near the offices," says Vin honestly.
Chris angrily grabs the phone back off Vin - he doesn't want Travis to know all that's happened. "We'll be back tomorrow, we've just been a bit delayed," he explains to Travis.
"I hate to think what's happened to you people for the past week. If I don't see you all tomorrow morning at 9AM exactly, you'll be doing community service for a month. Do I make myself clear?" says A.D. Travis.
"Very clear. Bye Orin," says Chris, and then he disconnects the call. Then he studies the phone, puzzled. "Vin?" says Chris, surprise evident in his voice.
"Yes, Chris," answers Vin.
"This is the phone I lost in the jungle!"
"It can't be!"
"It is though," answers Chris, studying it for the identifying marks that will prove his point. Then he hands it to Vin so he can see the identifying marks that are clearly there.
"We need to determine our present location and commence our journey homeward," says Ezra, wishing to change the subject before it starts getting to night-time again.
"Why can't ya just say it in simple language, Ez?" asks Vin.
"If everyone was as simple as you Mistah Tannah, then I would."
Vin walks angrily toward Ezra intent on hurting him for his comment. Josiah pulls Vin away. "Fighting won't help us get home, brothers," says Josiah sternly.
Vin and Chris have been chatting about what to do next in the meantime. They rejoin the group shortly after Josiah.
Krys speaks up for the first time in ages knowing where they are now, "We're near San Francisco."
"Perhaps we should visit Paige Matthews then - she could orb us homeward," says Ezra sarcastically.
"What does orb mean?" asks Buck, who's never seen the show, surprisingly.
"It's like in Star Trek when they use the transporters to move them somewhere else, except it's magic involved and not machinery," explains JD who knows all about Charmed.
"Paige is only a TV Character in Charmed, Ez," explains Vin, receiving a glare from Ezra.
Chris glares at Vin and Ezra upon realising that those two are being very annoying today; "We just need to go east for a while then."
"How exactly?" asks Buck, as they don't have any form of transport.
"There has to be people and cars further inland."
Buck's cell phone starts ringing. He answers it, "Hello? Yeah, sure - I'll tell him…bye."
Everyone stares at Buck and he answers, "That was Shirley. She clearly hasn't given up on you yet, Chris. Soon as you get home you have ta call her, I'll give you Dorothy's number."
"We're tryin' ta get home. I'm not worrying about calling no women at the moment," answers Chris angrily.
"We should start walking and find a way home, then."
They leave the sea-front and start walking beside a road. Vin sees a truck parked nearby and goes over to it, hatching a plan.
"No! I know what you are concocting Mistah Tannah - you cannot steal someone else's truck."
"I can't steal the truck, but Buck can. Buck, come over here."
Buck runs over to Vin and asks, "What's up?"
"Can you break into this truck?"
"Yes, but Chris will kill me if I do that!"
"We have ta get home before tomorrow, otherwise Travis will kill Chris," reasons Vin.
Buck quickly breaks into the truck, which doesn't have any security systems onboard. Vin calls the others over.
Chris comes over and eyes the truck; "Whose truck is this?"
"I dunno, but we need it for official ATF business," explains Buck.
"We can't steal someone's truck, Buckley," yells Chris furiously.
"I want to get home before tomorrow so we don't have ta do community service for a month."
"I don't believe he would make us do that."
"Don't you want to get home so you can call Shirley?" says Vin.
"I've almost given up ever getting home," says Chris with a sigh.
They decide to make their way home in the truck, then leave it somewhere for the police to find it.
They all get into the truck with most of them sitting in the back of the flatbed. Krys sits close to Vin holding him tight. Josiah makes sure he isn't sitting close to Lu as he's had a row with her. He knows she would rather date someone else than him, as he has seen the way she's been looking at the person in question lately. He isn't too mad about it though.
"I'm really tired, I don't feel like I got much sleep," says Lu, yawning.
"We need to get some sleep soon or we'll get ill," says Nathan.
"I've had plenty of sleep," replies JD who feels wide awake now.
Chris calls to them through the open window of the cab; "Buck, call Travis and tell him we're on our way back. I want him to know that we are trying to get back for tomorrow. He probably thinks we're slacking off!"
Buck calls Orin Travis and tells him they've got some transport and should be back in Denver by the next day.
Lu has fallen asleep and is resting her head in Ezra's lap.
Ezra suddenly has the urge to go to toilet; "Buck, can you rest her on your lap? I need to go to find some relief at the next rest stop."
"Moving her might wake her up," says Buck.
"She can always recommence her slumber."
"She'll be really cranky if you wake her up," says JD.
"Can't ya cross yer leg's Ez?" suggests Krys.
"I really have to go," says Ezra getting desperate.
He shouts to Chris; "Mistah Larabee? Can we stop at the next men's room?"
"You should've gone in the sea, Ezra!" calls back Chris.
"Mistah Larabee, I don't wish to pollute the sea - it's already polluted enough!"
"You'll have to wait - I'm not stopping yet," replies Chris loudly, so he can be heard over the noise of the truck.
"Maybe I should go over the side of the truck then," suggests Ezra moving about uncomfortably now.
"Don't you dare do that," warns Chris.
Lu wakes up hearing Chris's shouting and the girl asks, "Huh? Wassup?"
"Can you sleep somewhere else?" asks the southerner.
"Your lap's comfortable though."
Nathan calls to Chris, "Can we stop at a hotel and get some sleep?"
Chris calls back; "It's not night-time."
"Some of us haven't been gettin' much sleep lately, Chris."
Chris gives up and they stop at a town, hoping there's somewhere they can sleep. "Okay, everyone stay with the truck, I'm going to ask if there's somewhere to stay in this town," says the blonde team-leader, taking charge.
"In the middle of the day?" exclaims JD, who doesn't need any sleep yet.
"Why not?" asks Chris and glares at JD.
JD nods, suddenly in agreement with Chris.
Lu suddenly needs the toilet as well. "We need to find some toilets first," she says.
"Okay, look out for any toilet signs," says Chris in agreement.
Lu walks off and Chris is just going to call after her when she shouts that there's a service station in the distance and it has toilets
Chris suddenly needs to go as well and dashes in the direction Lu has pointed.
Most of the others need to go, except Krys who went in the sea before they stole the truck.
Krys wanders around a bit while they're gone. She finds a map in the truck and looks at it on the ground outside. She finds where they are and finds that there's a hotel a short drive away.
A man approaches her; "You ain't from 'round here are ya?"
"No, I'm not, sir," the girl answers, standing up to face him.
"You're very pretty," says the man looking at her keenly.
"Thanks," says Krys, stepping away from the man hurriedly.
Chris comes back, notices the man talking to Krys and gets a bit worried. "Hi, I'm Chris," he says to the man with a glare.
The man notices Chris and the blonde team leader notices that the guy seems a bit frightened of him. The man backs away from Chris when the blonde asks, "What's your name?"
"I have ta go; it's been nice meeting you, Miss." The man runs off quite fast.
"Are guys often scared of you?" asks Krys.
"Sometimes," answers the blonde man.
Lu comes back looking a bit unwell.
"Weren't your toilets very clean?" asks Chris, noticing she looks a bit pale.
"It's not that, I just feel a bit off-colour today," answers the girl, not wanting to talk about it.
Vin comes back and notices that Travis's niece Lu looks a bit pale; "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I just need to rest a while," answers the girl.
"I've found a hotel on this map that was in the truck. Everyone in the truck," orders Chris climbing into the driver's cab. They load into the truck with Ezra and Nathan looking after Lu.
To be continued…
Note: I added a few lines paying homage to Charmed into this part, as I love that TV show now and saw the opportunity to name-drop in this part! I wasn't even into it when I originally wrote this part!
Part 16: Back in the USA
After several days of being in the ship's Brig, the guys go to bed as usual, sure that they will be arriving in the United States soon.
A while later Vin wakes up feeling quite cold. He opens his eyes to find that they are all lying on a beach. Vin goes over to Chris and shakes him. Chris grumbles.
"You have ta wake up Chris - they've dumped us all on a beach," says Vin.
"WHAT?" asks Chris, before opening his eyes and looking around. He recognises the lifeguard's watch towers and notices the beach's name painted on a sign.
A pretty young woman walks by and looks at them; "Y'all have been sleeping here all night?"
"What day is it?" asks Chris.
"Wednesday, handsome."
"I've lost track of the days, we've been away from home fer so long," says Vin, trying to make it sound like he's joking to the woman.
"I'm not sure how long we've been here - can't have been too long though," says Chris to Vin.
"What town are we in?" asks JD who hasn't seen the beach's sign that would tell him.
The woman laughs evilly at him and vanishes into thin air.
"Uh-oh!" says JD, fear in his eyes.
Buck wakes up and turns to JD. "What's wrong?" asks Buck.
"I'm seeing people who aren't really there."
"Me and Chris saw her as well, we even heard her," says Vin persuading JD he isn't going mad.
"Where did she go?" asks JD.
"She kinda just disappeared," answers Vin.
"This is a beach and you don't get mirages on beaches!" says Buck, upset that he didn't see the woman.
A beautiful blonde woman wearing a bikini appears in front of Buck. "Hi, I'm Buck," he says with a big friendly grin.
The woman looks straight through him as if he's not there.
"Are we in heaven or somethin'?" asks Jake, afraid that the smugglers have killed them and this is what heaven looks like.
"Give me a minute and I'll figure it out," answers Chris, knowing that they aren't dead.
Buck reaches towards the woman but she vanishes. Buck looks around puzzled.
Nathan speaks up, "They must've given us some hallucinogenic drugs - that would explain the women who keep disappearing."
Then all of a sudden they hear a cell-phone ringing. It isn't Buck's though. Chris hears it coming from the sand next to him so digs around. He finds a cell phone and answers it. "Hello?"
It's his boss, Orin Travis; "Where the HELL are you all? You're meant to be back in the offices today."
Chris takes the phone away from his ear and studies it, trying to work out how come the phone he found in the sand had Orin Travis on the other end.
Vin grabs the phone off Chris wondering who's barking away on the other end; "Hello?"
"Tell your leader that if he ever ignores me again he'll be in big trouble," says Travis loudly and sternly.
"I'm sorry, Sir - were we meant to be back there today?" says Vin apologetically.
"Yes you were - don't tell me you've got yourselves into some sort of trouble."
"No, but I'm not sure where we are at the moment, Sir."
"Good grief! How did you manage to get lost?" asks Travis, becoming agitated.
"It's a very long story sir - but if we're by the sea we're nowhere near the offices," says Vin honestly.
Chris angrily grabs the phone back off Vin - he doesn't want Travis to know all that's happened. "We'll be back tomorrow, we've just been a bit delayed," he explains to Travis.
"I hate to think what's happened to you people for the past week. If I don't see you all tomorrow morning at 9AM exactly, you'll be doing community service for a month. Do I make myself clear?" says A.D. Travis.
"Very clear. Bye Orin," says Chris, and then he disconnects the call. Then he studies the phone, puzzled. "Vin?" says Chris, surprise evident in his voice.
"Yes, Chris," answers Vin.
"This is the phone I lost in the jungle!"
"It can't be!"
"It is though," answers Chris, studying it for the identifying marks that will prove his point. Then he hands it to Vin so he can see the identifying marks that are clearly there.
"We need to determine our present location and commence our journey homeward," says Ezra, wishing to change the subject before it starts getting to night-time again.
"Why can't ya just say it in simple language, Ez?" asks Vin.
"If everyone was as simple as you Mistah Tannah, then I would."
Vin walks angrily toward Ezra intent on hurting him for his comment. Josiah pulls Vin away. "Fighting won't help us get home, brothers," says Josiah sternly.
Vin and Chris have been chatting about what to do next in the meantime. They rejoin the group shortly after Josiah.
Krys speaks up for the first time in ages knowing where they are now, "We're near San Francisco."
"Perhaps we should visit Paige Matthews then - she could orb us homeward," says Ezra sarcastically.
"What does orb mean?" asks Buck, who's never seen the show, surprisingly.
"It's like in Star Trek when they use the transporters to move them somewhere else, except it's magic involved and not machinery," explains JD who knows all about Charmed.
"Paige is only a TV Character in Charmed, Ez," explains Vin, receiving a glare from Ezra.
Chris glares at Vin and Ezra upon realising that those two are being very annoying today; "We just need to go east for a while then."
"How exactly?" asks Buck, as they don't have any form of transport.
"There has to be people and cars further inland."
Buck's cell phone starts ringing. He answers it, "Hello? Yeah, sure - I'll tell him…bye."
Everyone stares at Buck and he answers, "That was Shirley. She clearly hasn't given up on you yet, Chris. Soon as you get home you have ta call her, I'll give you Dorothy's number."
"We're tryin' ta get home. I'm not worrying about calling no women at the moment," answers Chris angrily.
"We should start walking and find a way home, then."
They leave the sea-front and start walking beside a road. Vin sees a truck parked nearby and goes over to it, hatching a plan.
"No! I know what you are concocting Mistah Tannah - you cannot steal someone else's truck."
"I can't steal the truck, but Buck can. Buck, come over here."
Buck runs over to Vin and asks, "What's up?"
"Can you break into this truck?"
"Yes, but Chris will kill me if I do that!"
"We have ta get home before tomorrow, otherwise Travis will kill Chris," reasons Vin.
Buck quickly breaks into the truck, which doesn't have any security systems onboard. Vin calls the others over.
Chris comes over and eyes the truck; "Whose truck is this?"
"I dunno, but we need it for official ATF business," explains Buck.
"We can't steal someone's truck, Buckley," yells Chris furiously.
"I want to get home before tomorrow so we don't have ta do community service for a month."
"I don't believe he would make us do that."
"Don't you want to get home so you can call Shirley?" says Vin.
"I've almost given up ever getting home," says Chris with a sigh.
They decide to make their way home in the truck, then leave it somewhere for the police to find it.
They all get into the truck with most of them sitting in the back of the flatbed. Krys sits close to Vin holding him tight. Josiah makes sure he isn't sitting close to Lu as he's had a row with her. He knows she would rather date someone else than him, as he has seen the way she's been looking at the person in question lately. He isn't too mad about it though.
"I'm really tired, I don't feel like I got much sleep," says Lu, yawning.
"We need to get some sleep soon or we'll get ill," says Nathan.
"I've had plenty of sleep," replies JD who feels wide awake now.
Chris calls to them through the open window of the cab; "Buck, call Travis and tell him we're on our way back. I want him to know that we are trying to get back for tomorrow. He probably thinks we're slacking off!"
Buck calls Orin Travis and tells him they've got some transport and should be back in Denver by the next day.
Lu has fallen asleep and is resting her head in Ezra's lap.
Ezra suddenly has the urge to go to toilet; "Buck, can you rest her on your lap? I need to go to find some relief at the next rest stop."
"Moving her might wake her up," says Buck.
"She can always recommence her slumber."
"She'll be really cranky if you wake her up," says JD.
"Can't ya cross yer leg's Ez?" suggests Krys.
"I really have to go," says Ezra getting desperate.
He shouts to Chris; "Mistah Larabee? Can we stop at the next men's room?"
"You should've gone in the sea, Ezra!" calls back Chris.
"Mistah Larabee, I don't wish to pollute the sea - it's already polluted enough!"
"You'll have to wait - I'm not stopping yet," replies Chris loudly, so he can be heard over the noise of the truck.
"Maybe I should go over the side of the truck then," suggests Ezra moving about uncomfortably now.
"Don't you dare do that," warns Chris.
Lu wakes up hearing Chris's shouting and the girl asks, "Huh? Wassup?"
"Can you sleep somewhere else?" asks the southerner.
"Your lap's comfortable though."
Nathan calls to Chris, "Can we stop at a hotel and get some sleep?"
Chris calls back; "It's not night-time."
"Some of us haven't been gettin' much sleep lately, Chris."
Chris gives up and they stop at a town, hoping there's somewhere they can sleep. "Okay, everyone stay with the truck, I'm going to ask if there's somewhere to stay in this town," says the blonde team-leader, taking charge.
"In the middle of the day?" exclaims JD, who doesn't need any sleep yet.
"Why not?" asks Chris and glares at JD.
JD nods, suddenly in agreement with Chris.
Lu suddenly needs the toilet as well. "We need to find some toilets first," she says.
"Okay, look out for any toilet signs," says Chris in agreement.
Lu walks off and Chris is just going to call after her when she shouts that there's a service station in the distance and it has toilets
Chris suddenly needs to go as well and dashes in the direction Lu has pointed.
Most of the others need to go, except Krys who went in the sea before they stole the truck.
Krys wanders around a bit while they're gone. She finds a map in the truck and looks at it on the ground outside. She finds where they are and finds that there's a hotel a short drive away.
A man approaches her; "You ain't from 'round here are ya?"
"No, I'm not, sir," the girl answers, standing up to face him.
"You're very pretty," says the man looking at her keenly.
"Thanks," says Krys, stepping away from the man hurriedly.
Chris comes back, notices the man talking to Krys and gets a bit worried. "Hi, I'm Chris," he says to the man with a glare.
The man notices Chris and the blonde team leader notices that the guy seems a bit frightened of him. The man backs away from Chris when the blonde asks, "What's your name?"
"I have ta go; it's been nice meeting you, Miss." The man runs off quite fast.
"Are guys often scared of you?" asks Krys.
"Sometimes," answers the blonde man.
Lu comes back looking a bit unwell.
"Weren't your toilets very clean?" asks Chris, noticing she looks a bit pale.
"It's not that, I just feel a bit off-colour today," answers the girl, not wanting to talk about it.
Vin comes back and notices that Travis's niece Lu looks a bit pale; "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I just need to rest a while," answers the girl.
"I've found a hotel on this map that was in the truck. Everyone in the truck," orders Chris climbing into the driver's cab. They load into the truck with Ezra and Nathan looking after Lu.
To be continued…