The manor was wrapped in silence and darkness when Chip awoke. Silently he moved over to the cot O'Brien was sleeping on and gently shook his shoulder. When the sleeping man began to stir Morton placed his hand over his mouth to prevent the junior officer from making any unwanted noises. The exec was reasonably sure there was no guard posted outside their quarters, but he didn't want to take the chance of drawing any undesirable attention.
Stealthily both men made their way to the door; Chip slowly turned the door knob and pushed the door open a crack. The outside hall was pitch black and there were no guards in sight. Morton led the cautious journey to the staircase at the end of the hall. The pair made it down the stairs and past the dining room they had been in earlier, without running into any of Alexi's men. The success of the escape attempt was starting to cause doubt in Chip; it shouldn't be this easy.
The two eventually found the garage and knocked out the one guard patrolling the premises. Chip dragged the unconscious man towards a storage locker and placed him inside. Every one of his injuries from the last few weeks began to protest. The occasional wince was not lost on O'Brien as he watched his commanding officer closely.
"Are you ok sir?"
"I'll be fine once we get out of here."
The room exploded in bright light as the sounds of guards and dogs came closer. The steady blare of an alarm told O'Brien and Morton that their absence had been discovered.
"Sounds like we should get to the getting out of here part," said Chip as he climbed into the jeep and pried off the console covering under the steering wheel. Using the steak knife he stripped the wires and started the vehicle.
"Where did you learn that?" asked Tyler as he climbed into the passenger seat.
"Something our dear Captain taught me once."
Morton shifted the jeep into reverse and tore out of the garage. Hip shifted into drive and the vehicle speed down the dirt driveway under a hail of bullets. They passed through the gate and continued down a dirt trail leading away from the manor.
Alexi's men were busy trying to organize themselves into search patrols for the escaping Seaview officer as the fugitives were gaining further distance from their former prison.
"They don't appear to be following us," shouted O'Brien over the roar of the engine.
The road was really a set of grooves worn into the tropical ground. It was twisty, windy and very uneven. Every bump reminded the exec about the possible broken ribs that Alexi's doctor had haphazardly wrapped a few weeks ago. The possibility of bringing the last two months to an end drove Chip to carry on.
Day was starting to break as the tropical forest began to thin out. The lush green of trees was becoming intermittent with white sand and blue ocean. The jeep stopped on the beach and Chip and O'Brien got out and looked at their surroundings. There was nothing around except ocean and shoreline that stretched for a few miles than began to curve back towards the manor.
"Well I guess we know why they didn't bother to follow us," stated Chip, "we're on an island."
The adrenaline from the escape was leaving him and as he watched their chance of escape slip away he began to feel tired. All that time he had held on to the possibility of rescue; that his captor might make a mistake that Chip could exploit; neither had happened. His friends thought he was dead; sure Alexi had told him as much but it wasn't real until O'Brien had confirmed it. For the first time since the whole thing began, Chip felt very alone.
"Are you done with the dramatics Charles? Or are you going to swim the couple hundred miles to the mainland; 'cause if you are, I'm going to pull up a lawn chair and crack open a beer and Tyler and I can sit back and watch the show."
Morton closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning to face his captor. O'Brien glared daggers at the man who stood there smugly with his goons backing him up.
"Come now Charles, cheer up; you're sitting in the lap of luxury. What more could you ask for?" Alexi causally sauntered over to the pair until he was face to face with Morton.
"For starters you could drop dead," snapped the exec.
The hit wasn't unforeseen. Morton picked himself up so he was kneeling in the sand. He placed his hand to the side of his face where he felt a trick of blood crawl down his cheek.
O'Brien's desire to aid the exec, or get into a fist fight with Alexi himself, was put on hold as Goon Two took a step closer to the young Lieutenant and gestured with his gun for the young man to stay where he was.
Alexi pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the blood off of the small knife he held; satisfied he pocketed both the knife and the handkerchief. Finally he knelt on one knee in front of Chip.
"You should be more appreciative of my hospitality Charles. Most people would have killed you long go and fed you to the fish."
"That just proves you need me for something; and if you need me you're not going to kill me."
"Don't over estimate yourself worth," he leaned a little closer and dropped his voice so only the blond could hear his next words, "besides if I need you then I don't need your friend over there."
Morton glanced to his left and looked at O'Brien. He might not be able to help his other friends but he could look after the Lieutenant. As much as he wanted to pound on Alexi, there was no way to do that and stop the guards from shooting O'Brien.
Years of experience allowed the older man to guess what was running through the exec's head. The different options he had to be considering, protect his subordinate, stick it to the bad guy and forfeit his life, go along with everything and give up and die or wait for another chance to escape.
"Now you gentlemen can either march over to the truck or I can save us all a lot of time, energy and trouble and just shoot you both right here," Alexi called over his shoulder as he walked back to his vehicle.
O'Brien stood there and waited for Chip's lead. The exec took a moment to run through their options one more time.
"Today gentlemen; don't make me late for breakfast."