Chapter Ten

Troublesome Acquaintances

Alvaro Rojas was cursing under his breath as he stopped and took a moment to stare down the length of the large ocean liner before him. He supposed it could be worse, he could have been brought in front of the Brazilian court for the murder of Carlos Villanueva and several other things. As it was, he'd been released under the condition that he returned to Spain and cleared his name by giving a statement against the deceased shoe company owner. Rojas wasn't particularly looking forward to it and he certainly didn't expect it to be a pleasant trip overseas if he could even convince Fernando Fábregas to allow him to travel with his ship. He had, after all, almost killed his wife.

"Doctor!" A beautiful, petite woman called anxiously.

He blinked in surprise as she neared him, wondering if he had his title on his sleeve. "Pardon me," he began politely. "What makes you believe I am a doctor?"

"Are you not?" She asked, slightly out of breath.

"Yes, but-," he began.

"There is an emergency," she begged. "You have to follow me."

He hesitated for a moment.

"Please, doctor," she begged and tugged at his arm, motioning for him to follow her.

He swallowed as they began to make their way toward the ship. "I am sure that a ship this size has its own medical team," he tried in vain.

She gripped his arm and practically dragged him onboard. Alvaro Rojas shuddered as he walked back onboard the large ship once again. Chantal led him through the small corridors into the low levels of the ship. On several occasions they had to hide while uniformed officers or sailors appeared in the corridors. At one time she got lost in the bowels of the ship and if it hadn't been for the doctor, they'd ended up on the other side than she had intended.

"I am amazed we've gotten this far," Rojas mumbled. "What are you? A stowaway looking for a better life overseas? It won't take long for Varela to find you and lock you up once we're under way."

Chantal turned to look at him in surprise. "How can you know so much about this ship?" she whispered as they hid from the lights of the corridor while a sailor passed.

"Because I worked as the medical officer onboard only a few days ago," he revealed sarcastically.

They continued silently in a brisk pace down another level and rounded a corner in the dimly lit corridor under the water line of the vessel. Chantal gasped in surprise as Jean stared back at her from where he stood guard outside the door. "I have been waiting for you," he said darkly. "I don't know where you got to or what stunt you've pulled to bring that man with you-,"

"Please, Jean, Nicolás needs help," she begged.

Rojas swallowed as he saw recognition in the other man's eyes but he pretended he hadn't noticed it.

Jean eyed the smaller man with disdain as if contemplating what to do with him but then smirked menacingly and moved aside to let them in.

The doctor took one step inside the room and stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes fell upon a familiar figure dressed in a black uniform with the grade marks of the first officer. Rojas swallowed and turned to Chantal in confusion.

"Please," she said. "You have got to help my husband."

Rojas kneelt down next to the filthy man and sighed as he gently turned his head and saw the angry looking wound to the side of his head. "I am surprised he's actually still alive," he muttered. "What on earth did you do to him?"

"My,-" Chantal hesitated for a moment, "-friend hit him a little too hard."

"I see," Rojas replied sarcastically as he turned a little so that he could face her. "Would that be the angry man with a gun outside the door?"

"I am sorry, doctor," Chantal said.

He shook his head. "It's funny how many people from your past you run into in foreign countries," he muttered sourly.

"Jean lives for the cause," she said in a subdued voice.

"And what exactly is that? To kill other people?" Rojas pushed sourly and jumped as something hit the wall behind him.

"Enough, Rojas," Jean said, having stepped into the small and semi-lit room. "You're no saint either. I heard you shot a man in cold blood onboard this very ship. I am surprised that a man like you – a man who's taken the Hippocratic Oath,-" Jean trailed off and laughed. "Or was it the hypocritical Oath?"

Chantal gently removed a dark strand of hair from Nicolás's forehead as the others continued to bicker, she no longer heard them, her mind miles away.

She was walking down the street towards the large harbor with two of her friends, they laughed and talked as they neared a large ship. She spotted a dark-haired officer and smiled to herself as he waved at her.

"There he is," she giggled as she pointed at a tall, handsome man in the distance.

"Chantal," one of her friends marveled, "Are you serious? He's gorgeous."

"You have been lying to your friends Chantal," the other woman chimed in. "That's no simple sailor, that's an officer and look at him - he's perfect," she added and winked at her. "Are there any more of them where he came from?"

"Anne," she admonished with a mischievous smirk.

Chantal was brought out of her stupor as the doctor's back was pressed up against the wall while Jean had his hands around the medically trained man's neck.

"Jean, please," she begged.

The man glared at Rojas for a moment and then released his tight grip around the collar. "If you need me I'll be outside."

The doctor let out a sigh of relief and briefly closed his eyes. "Your friend needs to have his head examined," he muttered. "And I do mean your friend, not your husband."

"Please doctor, can you wake him up?" she asked worriedly, her eyes not leaving Nicolás face.

He hesitated for a moment and then knelt next to Nicolás. "How long has he been like this?"

"Sometimes he's lucid, sometimes he's,-" she trailed off and sobbed suddenly, a hand to her mouth.

"Mrs. Vásquez, it is important, please," he encouraged.

"Two days," she let on and then cryptically added; "I can't do this. I still love him."

Rojas looked troubled for a moment as he pocketed the cigarette lighter that he used to see his patient's reaction to the light. Without a word he reached for Nicolás's wrist to take his pulse.

OOOOOO

Cardoso laughed, finding the whole thing ironic. "Fernando Fábregas must have the best poker face in the word," he said.

"It's not funny," Sofía growled unhappily as she sat down on a wooden bench overlooking the harbor.

"I mean I just went onboard that ship and asked him to hand over the gold. He even pretended he didn't know where the suitcase where. Why would he make such a fuzz about it when he had an entire stash of gold bars below decks?"

"Has it ever occurred to you that he might not even know about that?" she returned enigmatically.

He shook his head. "No way. I didn't know of this Carlos Villanueva but I doubt he'd be able to get the shipment onboard without the owner of the ship knowing about it," he said.

"Even if he knew about it," Sofía mused, "it doesn't help us in any way. You can't just waltz in there and grab it."

He turned to her with a very smug expression on his face. "Who says I can't? I am a member of the port authority."

She rolled her eyes at him and glanced around the busy streets.

"If he doesn't cooperate, I could always nail him for smuggling it," he suggested.

"Just don't run into Jean," she said in a subdued voice, her teeth clenched.

OOOOOO

Pedro took a deep breath and tightened his grip around the cane. He didn't plan on visiting his nieces in a while because the way things were at the moment, he knew he wasn't welcome. However, he couldn't stay away, he loved his nieces and more importantly he'd finally figured out he had feelings for someone else in the household. He had planned to go see Francisca at the hospital but his nerve had failed him. What would he say, what would he do? Was he even allowed to visit her when he wasn't a relative? He kept musing about that as he walked up to the mansion and gently tapped at the door.

Instead of a maid or porter Eva stuck her head out. Her eyes hardened and grew cold as she spotted her uncle outside.

"Eva," he acknowledged sadly. "I know I am not wanted here but please hear me out."

She sighed and opened the door fully.

"Who is it?" Carolina hollered from inside and halted mid-step as she saw her uncle. "Pedro."

"Do you want to come clean or do you have more lies to tell?" Eva asked, trying to keep her tone polite.

"I am fully aware that I have misbehaved, Eva," he replied. "I wasn't the only,-"

"I am tired of hearing it," Carolina interrupted. "I am trying to leave all that behind me. I don't want to hear about papá, Sofía, the Marín shipping company, the gold or ghosts."

Pedro harrumphed. "Sofía was fixated with money and greed. She duped you from the beginning."

"Now he's calling us stupid and naïve," Carolina said dryly. "I don't need to listen to this."

Pedro took a step forward so that Carolina couldn't close the door. "She wasn't after the microfilm because she wanted to clear your father's name," he said resolutely. "She wanted the microfilm because it would have shown her involvement and posed a threat to her."

"It doesn't matter," Eva replied. "I trust neither of you. You both misused our trust and you chose to continue to lie to us during the journey. There are no excuses for your behavior, Uncle Pedro."

He shook his head in frustration then turned his attention solely on Eva. "You're a grown woman, you have a choice, you decide whether or not to believe me but when I took a stroll down the harbor recently I noticed that woman, the French woman, who's supposed to be married to that officer you took a shine on."

Eva balled her hands into fists at the plumpness in her uncle's voice. "I happened to care for Nicolás and at the time I didn't know his wife was still alive, none of us did."

He smirked. "I am not blind-,"

"No, you obviously never were," Carolina interrupted.

"I saw the looks that passed between the two of you when you helped poor Francisca," he pressed on, ignoring the remark from Carolina.

"Did you come here to tell me that?" Eva asked sourly.

"No, Eva. I came because I wanted to know if there's been any word on Francisca's recovery," he said seriously.

Carolina shook her head. "No, I am afraid not. I feel bad for her. I wish there was something more we could do but the doctor says it's up to her."

He stomped his cane to the floor. "She's going to make it," he said forcefully. "She has too."

"What's with Chantal," Eva asked curiously, steering the conversation back onto the previous topic.

"She was in the company of a very familiar man," he let on.

Eva's mood sank and she felt her temper rise. "I can't stop her from seeing her husband," she replied angrily.

"Maybe you should hear me out, Eva dear," he said seriously. "That's not what I meant. The man was one of the drivers whom was hired to drive our trucks through Germany."

A knot formed in the pit of her stomach. Another connection to their father's shady business. Would it never end? "What are you saying uncle. Is he dangerous?" she asked worriedly.

"Don't listen to him, Eva," Carolina said. "He's been lying through his teeth for several years. He's not welcome here anymore."

"Carolina, you hired him," Pedro reasoned calmly. "A fairly long man, medium built, cold blue eyes and light brown hair. He did his job flawlessly but there was something about him that chilled me to the bone."

"He was hired solely for that one trip that I thought was going to northern France with a delivery of shoes," Carolina said accusingly. "When was it changed to Germany and where did you dump the shoes?"

Pedro sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Even if I told you that I don't know – which is the truth by the way – you wouldn't believe me," he answered.

Eva quickly turned on her heels and walked over to the closet to fetch her jacket and a hat.

"Eva?" Carolina asked curiously. "Eva, where are you going?"

"To the harbor," she said cryptically. "I need to find Nicolás."

"And what would that accomplish?"

OOOOOO

To be continued