Saturday morning

Location: CLASSIFIED
Position: CLASSIFIED

1,865nm logged

The Atlantic Storm

Time: 06:00

We had nine-hundred and fifty nautical miles ahead of us, about forty-three hours.

The idea was to arrive in Miami in the early hours of Monday morning. Until then, we would have a pleasant cruise home and allow time for our bruises to heal. I had every intention to enjoy the warmth of the sun on my body.

..._...

I inadvertently tried to keep Anne-Marie in sight at all times. Once or twice, I lost sight of her and I started to panic inside. It was the same with Anne-Marie, too. She never wanted to be alone and she had refused to go anywhere on-board unless somebody was with her – this had resulted in Megan accompanying her to the bathroom, more than once! Although to my mind; as long as my daughter was with somebody, I felt happier letting her out of my sight.

A few times I had engaged her in conversation and tried to find out what had happened to her after she had been taken, but my questions were ignored – Cathy advised me to give her time; she would tell me when she was ready.

…_...

For now, Anne-Marie played happily with the other kids and I tried to ignore the vicious bruises and cuts all over her body. Those bruises and cuts still made me mad, every time I saw them. In turn, Anne-Marie had been unhappy about the small bandage on my upper left arm, not to mention those on Stephanie and Joshua. Anne-Marie knew that the wounds had come from rescuing her, but none of us complained about the wounds or why we got them.

I was really happy to be safe and back with my family and I knew that nothing would happen to me now.

It had been my fault that I had been taken – if I had listened to Mom, back on Guadeloupe, then all would have been well and nobody would have got hurt. I hated to see the bandages on Steph and Josh, not to mention, Mom.

I felt really bad about it all. Mom had tried to talk to me about what had happened, but I kept shutting her down – I was not ready to talk about it, not yet. I knew that I had to, but there was something else that I would then need to talk about...

I had killed that man.

Time: 10:20

I was fast asleep on the Sun Deck with Anne-Marie snuggled up beside me, when I was rudely awakened by the General Alarm blaring throughout the Atlantic Storm.

I sat up so fast that Anne-Marie fell to the deck and she yelled out in pain and annoyance. I dived for the companion way below and rushed onto the Bridge, arriving at the same time as Dave and Ryan. Chloe and Megan were on watch.

"Who hit the alarm?" I demanded, glaring at the two girls.

"I did," Chloe began. "We have visitors..."

Megan pointed out the starboard side and for the first time I noticed a large ocean-going tugboat heading in our direction, about five miles distant. I seized a pair of binoculars and ran out onto the deck; Ryan did the same. He studied the tug for a moment and then he ran back onto the Bridge, rammed both throttles fully forwards and after shoving Megan out the way, spun the wheel hard to port.

The Atlantic Storm accelerated and heeled over to starboard as she turned hard to port.

"Pirates!"

..._...

"We can outrun the tug – no sweat, but she may put fast boats into the water..." Ryan explained.

"They already have!" Chloe interjected.

I turned back to the tug and saw two large boats appear from around her stern. They headed directly for us and I could see a dozen men in each – all armed.

"No, dammit – they are not going to take us – Megan, get the grenade launchers and the high-explosive rounds. Chloe, find Josh and get the Minimis out and plenty of ammo," I ordered as Dave pulled out the G36K assault rifles from the compartment in the deck.

Abby appeared in the Bridge doorway with Anne-Marie by her side.

"Abby – get the kids into the bow..."

Abby vanished, dragging Anne-Marie with her.

Less than ten minutes later, we were ready.

We all wore body-armour and we were ready to repel borders. No, softly, softly – I was in no mood for fucking about! I took a Minimi from Josh and we both headed up to the Sun Deck. Mindy and Chloe seized a grenade launcher plus a G-36K each and went forward to the bow.

Once the girls were in place, Ryan altered course, turning directly for the approaching boats. The expression on the pirates' faces was priceless; they were not used to a civilian vessel suddenly turning on them!

Josh and I were lying prone on the sun pads either side of the Jacuzzi. The Minimis were on their bipods and aimed forward. As the two pirate craft crossed our bow, I pulled the trigger, sending bursts of 5.56-millimetre rounds at each boat. At the same time Josh opened fire, along with Mindy and Chloe.

..._...

Grenades rained down on the pirates, exploding in the water beside them, closer and closer as the girls quickly got the range. Our bullets struck the fibre-glass hulls of the large craft and I was gratified to see the odd spray of blood as we chewed into the men on board the boats.

A grenade or two landed in the closest boat and it promptly blew up, sending men and sections of boat flying through the air and skidding across the waves. The other boat tried to turn tail, but Josh and I got its range, filling it with holes and killing most of those onboard. Then the range was too short and we coursed past the sinking boat as Mindy and Chloe poured fire into the swamped hull from their assault rifles.

The tug boat in the near distance was turning away and heading for the Gulf of Mexico.

Time: 10:48

We quickly got back on course, tidied up and stowed all the weapons.

I was back on the Sun Deck with Anne-Marie as if nothing had happened. I had never fought wearing just a bikini and a flak-jacket! I had found it exhilarating somehow... So, it seemed did Josh and Chloe who were up to no good on the other side of the Jacuzzi...

"Is life as Hit Girl always this exciting?" Anne-Marie asked with genuine interest.

I just laughed.

"Yes, it is..." Dave replied for me as he lay down beside our daughter.

Danny and Curtis came up the companionway and they sat down with Megan, Tommy and Stephanie to play a game at the table. Abby was curled up on a sun lounger with her laptop. Ryan and Cathy were down below on the Bridge – I did not want to even think about what they were doing!

"This is going to be so much fun..." Anne Marie commented. "Will I get to see your lair? Josh said I would be able to see the Hit Cave..."

"It is not called that – Joshua!"

That afternoon

I was down in the galley – I was not cooking, just making a sandwich; so that was allowed!

For a moment's peace and quiet, I decided to sit by the galley windows and relax. My mind seemed to wander and I found myself thinking back to my first meeting with Dave and that fun evening at Rasul's...

I was jerked back to reality by a gentle, but persistent, prodding in my side. It was Anne-Marie.

"What's up?" I asked, seeing the uneasy expression on her face.

"Can I sit with you..."

"You don't need to ask – here, have some of my sandwich..."

"What's in it?"

"Bananas."

"A banana sandwich?"

"What's wrong with that?" I retorted.

"Just a little weird, but I suppose weird is what I have to get used to, huh?"

I laughed at that comment.

"Mom..."

"Yes..."

"When did you become Hit Girl?"

Oh – and the questions begin!

"Where do I start?"

"At the beginning?" My daughter offered.

...+...

"Okay... Once upon a time, there were two super-cops called Daddy and Marcus who were very good at getting bad guys. Frank D'Amico was the baddest guy of them all and he came up with a plan to get rid of Daddy. Being framed as a drug-dealer was the worst possible thing that could have happened to Daddy. Prison was not his natural habitat... He was very upset!

"With Daddy in prison, his pregnant wife was all alone, and could not cope... But all clouds have a silver lining and out of her death... Mindy, was born! Marcus became the child's guardian and Daddy started a plan of his very own. Five years later, he left prison and he was ready. Now it was time for Mindy to get ready, too.

"My Daddy took custody of me and took me away from Marcus and he started a game... A game of super-heroes... I was Hit Girl and he was Big Daddy – we would fight crime in New York City and ultimately, we would take down Frank D'Amico and his entire organisation... At least that was the plan."

...+...

"How old were you when you started to train to be Hit Girl?"

I knew where this was going – Anne-Marie had taken a bite of the forbidden apple and she had found that she liked it, just as I had twelve years previously – and now she wanted more, much more.

"At an age that was far too young and I know what you are thinking, young lady, and it ain't happening!"

"But..."

"No buts!" I said as strongly as possible without scaring the girl.

"But I..."

"Your mother said it was not happening, Anne-Marie, so leave it at that."

I turned to see Dave leaning against the galley counter, Danny was beside him as was Stephanie and Megan. Dave's tone had been one which the kids knew not to argue with – as did most of the others.

"I've never heard that version..." Megan said quietly.

"It was what my Daddy fed me to make me go along with his plan and not to question the killing and the violence. I was young, naive and knew nothing about life. Daddy managed to corrupt my conscience and my emotions – it was all a game... Until he died."

"Let's leave your mother in peace, kids..."

"No, Dave; they need to hear it – all of them. I am damaged and I will always be the way I am – I never wanted any of this world for any of you. Not you, Megan, nor Curtis. Tommy found his way into the nastier part of life as a consequence of his kidnapping. Stephanie was brainwashed, just as I was. Now you both know about our lives, I can't keep you both out of it, but I can prevent you from putting you lives at risk – and I will! I will train you, Anne-Marie, and you, Danny, so that you can protect yourselves to the point where you can both use lethal force as a defence against harm, but I will not train you both to fight offensively."

Anne-Marie opened her mouth to continue arguing, but one glance from Dave and she shut her mouth, glaring down at the galley table.

Sunday

Location: 45nm north-east of Turks and Caicos Islands
Position: 22.3677°N 71.4688° W
Course: 298°, Speed: 22 knots, 2,393nm logged

The Atlantic Storm

I awoke around ten and headed up a deck and aft to get some fresh air.

There I found Stephanie staring out towards the horizon. She turned as I stepped out of the Main Salon and the doors closed automatically behind me. She smiled, returning to stare out to sea.

"Hi..." I said.

We had not talked since Mom's speech in the galley, the previous afternoon. I sensed that she was avoiding me.

"What's your story, Steph?" I asked. "I remember the nightmares on your first night with us... Plus others."

Stephanie turned towards me and smiled.

"I was on holiday and I was about your age – we were in Colorado somewhere; my memories are fuzzy. I was taken and brainwashed. They turned me into what I am..."

She shrugged.

"You saw me at the island – you saw what I am capable of... I wish you had never seen any of it; as Mindy said, we are both bad people and neither of us had a choice about our lives. If you don't want me to be your big sister, now that you know what I am..."

I had never seen Anne-Marie so angry.

She punched me in the stomach, quite hard and I went down on my knees, my arms wrapped round my abdomen.

"You are an ass, Stephanie!"

I looked up at the angry girl and felt ashamed for what I had said.

"I don't care what you are inside – you came for me, you killed for me, you protected me, you risked your life for me..."

Anne-Marie then jabbed at my bandage, which made me cry out in pain.

"You even got wounded for me. You are everything that a big sister should be and so much more. I would not trade for anything."

Anne-Marie then stalked off, leaving me on the deck. She paused at the ladder to the Bridge Deck and turned to face me.

"I'm not apologising for punching you, either – you deserved it!"

I headed onto the Bridge where I found a scowling Mom and Chloe.

"What?" I asked.

Chloe pointed at the screen to the left of the helm.

"Oh..."

On the screen was a full colour image of Stephanie getting up from her knees and rubbing her stomach.

"I assume there was a good reason for that?" Mom inquired with a raised eyebrow.

I explained what had happened. Chloe smirked then laughed before she spoke.

"Beware, Rogue at large!"

Stephanie spent the rest of the morning looking a little embarrassed, but I saw her chatting happily with her younger sister as if the morning's events had never occurred.

For our last evening aboard, we were going to have an enormous meal – the idea being to consume as much of the supplies as possible, especially the perishables. This meant a lot of preparation which took up most of the afternoon.

I ended up sitting down for almost five hours, writing up the Ship's Log. A lot of time was spent figuring out what I actually could put in the Log! I finally went with the basics for the official document, but sent the unedited version to Marty.

Everybody also spent time packing their kit, ready to go ashore.

That evening

The party began...

Josh put on his usual selection of dubious tracks and everybody got a drink – soft for the under sixteens. Abby and Cathy had been baking all afternoon and there was a wonderful select of food on offer. We did not sit down to eat, it was to be a buffet. Dave was cooking steaks on the Sun Deck, with Curtis to help him.

Everybody was excited at the prospect of being back home and I was pleased that everybody had happy smiles on their faces. I had my family: Dave, Stephanie, Anne-Marie and Danny. I also had my wider family: Fusion. I had never been happier.

Only twenty-six months previously, I had left New York, I had left Dave – I had been alone.

Then it had all gone so badly wrong...

I was running.

I was scared.

I was alone.

I had nothing, but the clothes on my back... And the blood on my hands.

My safety, my freedom, it had all been forsaken.