Ch 26

While the pool party was going on, Wanda called her parents to let them know she was safe and back in the US. Her mother wanted to now everything that happened. Wanda told her, "Mom, There's so much, I think it's best I wait until I get home. What I can tell you is it's been very scary at times, and pretty amazing. Duncan and Jackie are going to drive me home after we go to the police station to point out the guy who left us on that island."

"Someone left you there?"

"Yeah, he found a stream of water and insisted it was his." She giggled, "He got nasty with Jackie, and she kicked his ass. Right after that, he left with the raft. Jackie is ... a whole story all by herself. It was because of Jackie and Duncan that we even survived! We landed on that island with nothing but what we were wearing. I didn't have a clue what to do, but they did. They knew how to survive. Honestly, I took them for live in the woods survival types. It blew my mind that when we did get back I found out they are filthy rich!"

"I can see that. Rich people usually don't do well without their money and servants."

"We're staying at Jackie's cousin's house now, and it huge! There's an Olympic size pool in the back. Sonya, that's her name, is huge too, like seven feet tall, and she's a nice lady."

Her mother paused. "Her name's Sonya? Sonya Connor?"

"Yeah, you know her?"

"I know who she is. Sonya Connor stared in a movie and a long running TV show. She also did a short stint professional wrestling. Yes, Cameron Connor and Delilah Connor did the movie and the TV show with her."

"Really? They are the ones who came and got us. So we got rescued by the rich and famous?" Wanda asked excitedly.

Her mother laughed. "That was years ago. What's Sonya doing now?"

"She's the Police Commissioner here in San Jose. I can definitely see her wrestling, she's really big and I bet she's even stronger than Jackie is."

"Wanda, I saw a TV spot where Sonya climbed into the enclosure with a full grown gorilla. She was playing with it. She bounced around with the 650 pound gorilla on her back. When she was wrestling, she lifted two wrestlers up in the air at arm's length and held them there, then threw them to the other side if the ring. Yeah, she's a strong one all right! she must be getting old though. This was when I was a teenager."

"No, she don't look old," Wanda said. "Her hair's bright red, and she looks maybe 25, 30?"

"I bet she's had some cosmetic work done," her mother stated.

"Maybe, that would explain why Cameron and Delilah don't look any older than Jackie does. They are her mothers."

"Yes, cosmetic surgery can do wonders," her mother said in a huff. "So, when can we expect you home?"

"A couple days, like I said, tomorrow we have to go identify Fred, the guy who left us on that island. Duncan said we'll be heading home after that."

"I take it this Duncan is Jackie's boyfriend?" her mother asked.

"He is. Damn shame to, he's a hunk! We're talking total beef cake here."

Her mother laughed. "As soon as Jason gets home, I'll let him know you're on your way."

"OK, Mom. Ahh, I have to go, I think I'm going swimming."

"You think you're going swimming?"

"Jackie's coming, she's grinning at me and pointing at the pool ... Wait! Lemme hang up ... not the phone!"

*click*

.

The next day, Sonya led them to the Police station. Separately, they all identified Fred in a line up, and told a detective what Fred did on that island and signed their statements. After that, they stopped at a store and got clothes for Wanda, Jackie and Duncan. Cameron called the airlines and got Wanda a flight home to Ohio. They spend another two nights at Sonya's house, then drove to a municipal airport.

Joan met them in the lobby. She and Jackie hugged then, Joan asked, "So, did you have a fun time at your cozy island retreat with Duncan?"

Jackie laughed, "Retreat, right! The only one having fun was Randy, he hooked up with this mermaid named Moahan. Still, it wasn't real bad. We found food and water and made some friends. I almost didn't want to leave."

Joan grinned, "At least you weren't stuck to a big metal plate this time. You coming home?"

Jackie shook her head with a sad look. "Not for a while."

"Understood. Well, make sure you behave for Duncan. Try to keep out of trouble, OK?" Joan offered.

"Yeah, and avoid riding in any more planes," Jackie replied with a snort.

"Get one like mine," Joan offered. "It has it's own parachute, and it floats."

"That is an idea," Duncan offered.

Wanda wasn't too surprised Jackie's sister had her own airplane. It then hit her, "You're Joan Connor the football star!" She really was hanging out with the rich and famous!

Joan and Jackie chuckled at her. "Joan Tanner now," Joan told her. "Moms, I got a game tomorrow, so we do need to get going."

They had a departing hugfest, then Wanda watched them go out and get into a small float plane. Once they took off, Duncan, Jackie and Wanda got back in the car and headed for another airport.

Duncan and Jackie escorted Wanda into the airport, then headed home themselves. Jackie was thinking her own plane would be a much better solution that riding in planes that crashed.

.

With the help of a local airline, John had a plane set up to be closely monitored. At the moment it was going into 'service' mode, but had a fake passenger list already registered when it was to be put on line in a flight from Austin to New York the day it was scheduled to be 'flight ready'. Jackie being one of the 'confirmed' passengers. Joan and Allison were also listed passengers for this flight. Beside the mechanics, Cameron was there as one of the mechanics. She had also added many tiny cameras onto the plane so she and Delilah could see everything done to the twin engine plane.

The first thing Cameron did was to look at who was going to be servicing this plane and looked for anyone new on the service crew. Each name she looked up for years of service, any police record, and if they weren't here at least five years, where they'd come from. One name got her attention. Henry Easton was a new hire, who'd been working out of Kennedy Airport. He'd also come straight from his 'vacation' in Hawaii. She couldn't find out if he has serviced that plane that crashed in the ocean but the coincidence of him being there, then coming here made him a suspect.

Being 'new', Cameron's job was basically a tool and supplies runner. Delilah was monitoring the cameras. Since Cameron had an ear-speaker so anyone could call her and have her get something for them, Delilah also was able to alert her if she saw something that wasn't right. They both kept a close eye on Henry.

The plane inspection was going well. Cables, controls, engine tests, hydraulics, Mechanics were inspecting everything and checking off the inspection list who who inspected it.

In her ear, Cameron heard, "Cam, Henry had a laptop in the cockpit. It look like he's in the plane's computer. I can'r quite made out what he's doing."

Cameron brought some mechanics their drinks, then took one up into the plane where Henry was working. "Henry, you in here?" she announced before going into the cockpit.

"Henry minimized his screen," Delilah said.

"Yeah, I'm here," he replied.

Cameron handed him the can of Pepsi, noting he looked irritated. "Everyone else wanted one, so I got one for you also," she said, then asked, "What do you do in here?"

"Just verifying the electronics are good," he said and took the can. "Thanks."

He lied, Cameron didn't say anything, she just smiled and left.

Later that night, Cameron and Delilah cot on the plane, hacked into the plane's computer and studies the code. The latest updates were listed first. An emergency action had been added. At 26,000 feet, the plane was to disable stick control, set ailerons to five degrees left bank, elevators up at ten degrees and the rudder to two degrees left for seven seconds, the put all control surfaces to zero. Hold for six minutes.

"That will barrel roll the plane over and point it at the ground," Delilah noted.

Cameron removed that instruction. "If the plane did that, the flight recorder would log it, It would be considered a computer error," she said.

"Yes, let's go pay Henry a visit."

.

Henry was sleeping when he was awakened by hard slaps in his face. He no more than woke up to see Cameron punch him. He saw stars and blacked out again.

When Henry came around in a moan, he noticed a few things right away. He was outside with water right in front of his face, someone was sitting on him, holding his arms behind his back, and someone had a solid grip in the back of his head by his hair.

"What the hell?" he cried, and his head was pushed under water. He struggled and tried to break free. He couldn't even move. Not being able to breathe, he fought hard and only wiggled in place. He head was then jerked up.

"You've been a bad boy, Henry," Cameron stated. "Why did you program that plane to crash?"

"I didn't" he cried. His head was pushed back under. This time he was held under until he ran out of breath, and sucked in some water.

His head was jerked back up. He coughed and hacked to get air and get the water out of his throat.

"If you don't want to die, you won't lie to me again," Cameron stated flatly. "Why did you program that plane to crash?"

"You won't kill me!" he challenged. His head was pushed back under again.

This time, Cameron waited until he was jerking in spasms and a blast of air bubbles came up. She yanked his head up.

He coughed and choked and cried, "I was paid!"

"By who?" Cameron asked.

"I don't know her name!" he cried.

"Hon, break a finger after I put him under again." Cameron said calmly.

"You got it," Delilah replied.

"No, wait! All I can tell you is what she looks like!" Henry sobbed. "Dark hair, curly, lots of makeup, about five five, a little chunky. I head one guy call her Betty!"

"Details, how does she contact you? How do you tell her the job's done, where do you go to get your money?" Cameron asked. "If I am not pleased, I put your head under and you will scream your head off from broken bones and ripped off fingers until you finally drown." She said calmly.

Henry told her everything he knew, even the table at the restaurant in New Haven, CT where they met and he got paid. He gave her the woman's phone number to call, and the times he was expecting his call. No, he hadn't called her yet.

Cameron smile and said, "Very good. Since you told me everything truthfully, you won't get tortured when you die."

"But!" he got out before she shoved his head under again. Cameron was merciful, she broke his neck so he didn't drown.

They slit his stomach open and stuffed rocks inside him before they threw him in the river so he wouldn't bloat up and come to the surface. Doing this in the water was easier cleanup.

The next morning when Henry didn't come to work, the supervisor asked if anyone knew anything. Cameron told the man she knew Henry was working in the cockpit, but wasn't sure what he was doing there, or if he finished. Another man was assigned to verify the electronics and programming.

Cameron called the number Henry gave her and used his voice to assure the woman the job was done. She also got the location of the cell phone. Massachusetts.

.

The Murderess was Elizabeth Bach, a socialite in Collinsport. Finding out who it was, Jackie wanted to be the one to take her out. It was the one Daniel had been promised to at one time. Although Jackie had good reason to, her parents told her to just stay in Seacouver. Duncan also told Jackie it wasn't a good idea for her to be involved. John knew as far as legal evidence, they didn't have much, even if they'd let Henry live and copied what he'd done to that plane. With all the people Miss Bach had killed trying to get Jackie, it was termination time.

Cameron and Delilah went to 'go visit' Collinwood. They agreed Jackie should go also, but insisted she stay out of it unless she was called for.

Duncan flew Jackie out in his plane to meet Cameron and Delilah. By the time they met, they had Miss Bach's home address, the plates of the Rolls Royce she drove, and a good idea of her dealings and activities. One thing Elizabeth liked was the Boston Opera and she always reserved a private upper balcony booth.

.

Elizabeth Bach felt something wasn't right. The plane that was suppose to crash, didn't. Henry had told her he'd rigged it. Either he screwed up, or someone had corrected what he'd done. That meant she couldn't use him any more.

The luck that putrid Jackie Connor had was unbelievable! She had survived two fatal plane crashes and dodged a third, and now a fourth attempt! Elizabeth hated to invest money to have nothing come out of it. If her parents found out, she'd be in trouble for sure. Not because people died, but because the money was wasted.

Tonight, the man she was trying to seduce had other plans, so she had to go to the opera by herself. Yes, he was old, but being so, he'd die faster after they were married and she would be a widow and add his money to hers. It wasn't Daniel Collins, Jackie Connor had ruined that for her, but this guy did have fifteen million and was eager to get in her panties and groped her a lot. Once married, if she didn't kill him with sex, she'd thing of something else.

At times one had to take what came along.

Taking her booth, Elizabeth pondered what to do next to punish Connor. Tonight was an Opera with a Ballet in it. She liked seeing the graceful movements of the dancers, wishing she could be up there and do those beautiful flowing moves. She was relaxing and enjoying the show, then suddenly her arms were grabbed and cloth went over her face. She tried to move, but whatever held her had an iron grip. The stuff on the cloth stank, and in taking in a breath to scream, she passed out.

.

Elizabeth woke up in the woods tied to a horizontal pole She was bound to the pole and under her was a large stack of fire wood. She was also gagged. She heard women's voices.

"You sure this won't be seen?"

"Positive, and the ropes will last until after she's expired. When they do burn through, she'll be dropped in the flames. It will take Dental records to find out who she was. That is if someone ever finds the bones in the pit."

Hearing this Elizabeth tried to scream. She was able to wiggle and got out a low scream past the gag.

Someone squatted beside her head. "Hello!" a familiar voice said. She turned her head to see it was Jackie Connor. She tried to plead for mercy through her gag. Real tears came out of her eyes.

"You've killed a lot of people," Jackie told her. "Now, it's your turn. You are three feet above the fire wood. That means you won't be burned to death right away. Your body will cook first, and yeah that's going to hurt. Alot. We talked about it and seeing how you act like a witch, we're going to kill you as one. You will probably be at least passed out by the time your body gets hot enough to catch fire and burn the ropes to drop you into the coals down in the pit, so you'll be spared feeling your entire body being burned up to nothing. Of course the wooden poles holding you up now will also burn up, falling into the pit so once the fire is burned out, there will be nothing left to show what happened to you."

Elizabeth cried and tried to plead for her life.

"Bye bye," Jackie said then stood up.

'This can't happen to me!' Elizabeth's mind wailed. But it did. A few bright flashes and the fire under her burst into being and grew. She cried, wailed and struggled as she felt the burning sensations all over her body. She screamed until she passed out from the pain.

Jackie watched until Elizabeth's clothes were burning and the ropes caught. She was dead by now, but Jackie wanted to see her fall into the fire. Just as planned, when her body hit the fire, the center collapsed and her body fell a little deeper, down into the very hot coals. They then left. Burning flesh stunk.

Walking away, Jackie said, "That was a job ... well done."

.

Jackie, Duncan, Cameron and Delilah stayed a few days at Collinwood. Everyone had dinner at the long dinning room table as now was becoming custom. Duncan and Jackie told about their time in Australia, and the fact they had a boat and an island there if anyone wanted to go take a vacation.

While they visited, they went on a fishing / swimming trip on Jackie's boat. Duncan, the gardener, Barnabas, Willy, and the cook tried to catch something. Jackie, Cameron and Delilah went swimming with two of the crew to check out the bottom. It was only 170 feet down. Being out on the ocean with no one around, the girls didn't bother with tops, just their tails.

After coming up for a breath, they went down to a wreck they'd noticed on the bottom. Still above the wreck, they saw lights showing on the sunken ship. The lights were divers currently scanning the bow area. Jackie swam down into the wheel house and pretended to drive the ship. A light shown on her. She smiled and waved. Then all three lights shown on her, she swam out the door in the back and down the side of the ship. The lights searched for her.

Cameron swam fast right in front of the divers, then around behind them. They all spun their lights to watch her swim away. Having some fun herself, Delilah swam past them from behind and grabbed one's butt. He flailed and dropped his light. Below, Jackie snapped the light up and shown it on them. She saw three sets of wide open eyes.

She did go up and give the diver his light back, then followed Cameron and Delilah as they left.

Screwing with divers, he he, good fun.

Cruising a ways, they came shallow and looked for the boat. It was a ways off, they got breaths then swam for the boat. This boat wasn't fishing. They popped up to see two men on deck. Wrong boat.

"Hey!" Delilah yelled, "Check your radar, is there another boat around here?"

The men looked around.

"Down here, by the back!" Cameron called.

The men stared.

A crewman surfaced. "Our boat is three miles this way," he said pointing.

"Thanks!" Jackie said. They all dove under and swam away.

"Wish I had a camera." One man said.

"Yeah, they had some nice tits," the other agreed.

It was a fun day, and Duncan caught a good sized fish, as did the gardener.

.

Three days after cooking the culprit, a news bulletin announced a missing person's report. Elizabeth Bach was reported missing. The last time she was seen was going into an Opera. She'd been driven there, but when the driver went to pick her up, she never came out. Police were speculating on a possible kidnapping. There was a 50,000 dollar reward out for any information about her or where she might be. So far, there had been no ransom demand.

Good luck finding her, Jackie thought.

The local news also had the divers on who swore mermaids had been messing with them.

"They weren't mean or threatening," the curly haired man said. "One was at the helm pretending to drive the wreck, another one shot by right in front of us, we turned to look at her, and another grabbed Bob's ass. He dropped his light, the one who'd been pretending to steer the wreck grabbed his light and shown it on us! She gave him his light back, and the three swam off. They didn't hurt us any, just surprised us."

"So they were being playful?" the reporter asked.

"They were, but that was the last thing we were expecting! They were mermaids too! No breathing apparatus or anyplace to hide it, we where 160 feet down. Nearest I could figure was they were already around the wreck and messed with us some before they took off."

"What were they wearing?"

"Nothing! Believe me, we saw their ... assets pretty clearly. Our guys up on the boat said they stopped by to find out where another boat was, and a merman popped up to point them the way, then they all took off."

"Did you know there's been sightings of them around this area before?"

"No, we've heard rumors they exist, you know, in general, but I never in my life expected to see one." he said firmly. "Next time I dive, I'm making sure we at least got a camera with us. I'd love to bring back proof of what we saw."

The reporter looked at the camera and said. "This isn't the first time mermaids have been seen off the coast. As of yet, however, it has been surprise sightings and no one has managed to get a picture of them. I talked to the Governor's office and he is willing to give a 10,000 dollar reward to anyone who can provide photographic proof of mermaids off our shores."

Jackie laughed. "Good luck with that!" she said to the screen.

Duncan eyed her and said, "You know more people will be looking now."

"Yeah, but if we're not in the water, how will they find us?" Jackie asked.

"Wow, there's Sonya," Cameron said.

ON TV an overhead view of a rocky shoreline had a red circle pointing out Sonya freeing a small mermaid from the rocks. The reporter was explaining this happened on the west cost in California. They watched Sonya get the girl unstuck, then back out into the water. The camera followed her out and up onto the beach where Sonya sat and checked the girl over, then went back out underwater with her again where they lost sight of her.

"Sonya's busted, and she's a cop now," Jackie said with a giggle.

"I'm sure she'll find a way to handle it," Cameorn assured her.

"Give it time, I'm sure mermaids will be come as commonly known as dolphins," Delilah told them. "At least all the troubles gone for a while."

"Let's hope it's a long while," Jackie said.

THE END