Okay but try not to murd.., p.25
Okay, But Try Not to Murder Anyone 8, page 25
I wandered back to the bar area where a few more hungover guests appeared. I had time to kill, so I grabbed another plate of food. I had to admit, Bannister sure knew how to throw a party. And take care of his hungover guests. Bloody Marys were being sucked down while trays of greasy bacon and sausages disappeared faster than the employees could keep it stocked.
After my second plate of breakfast, I heard music. The DJ from last night was back, and the party was starting again. Some of the guests grimaced at the noise, but others raised their hands and started dancing along. It wasn’t long before I saw the drugs coming out, and I shook my head.
I was in for another long day of enduring a bunch of rich party animals.
I hung around the party area and hoped to get eyes on Bannister, and he showed up a couple hours later when the party was in full swing, looking refreshed and relaxed. He was clearly pleased with the way the weekend was going, and his guests’ willingness to party. I made sure I had a virgin cocktail in my hand when he was doing the rounds. I even took a shot of expensive whiskey, just one, so that my breath would smell like booze, like everyone else’s did.
Ever the host, Bannister had a full day of entertainment planned for his guests. He kept us liquored up while performers appeared from every nook and cranny of the guest area. There were contortionists, pole dancers, fire breathers, aerialists, lion tamers, knife swallowers, and more. The guests ate it up and were watching the performances with their glassy eyes and open wallets. The more the guests partied, the higher the bids on the artifacts got.
Throughout the day, though, I noticed something interesting.
Bannister came and went throughout the partying and performances, but he never once checked the artifacts or the bids. Of course, I was sure he had a livestream of the bids connected to his own phone or computer, and there were plenty of cameras pointed at the artifacts, so he didn’t really need to look. But not even a glance their way for appearances sent my Spidey-Sense tingling.
What was he up to? As greedy as he was, surely he’d want to know how high the bids were getting, so he could calculate his auctioneer’s cut. Guests were milling around the artifacts and bidding more all the time, but if anything, Bannister seemed to ignore that area of the party completely.
I made a mental note of that to tell the others, and then I focused on blending in with the other guests again. Bird-Sloan got a lot of attention from the other guests, especially the more they drank, and she seemed to revel in it. She preened and happily accepted their treats in the form of torn off bacon bits, and I had to stop a few excitable guests from trying to feed her some of their cocktails. I spotted Penelope a few times throughout the day, but she seemed to be avoiding me, which was fine by me.
Bannister had another lunch buffet to keep guests fed during the day, and then as the night progressed, Bannister stood on another chair and tapped a glass until he had everyone’s attention. Once all eyes were on him, he smiled and spread his arms wide.
“Is everyone having a good time?” Bannister asked loudly.
“Wooooo!” The crowd cheered and applauded wildly.
I joined in, but I was laser focused on Bannister and what he was planning on doing with this drunken crowd.
“Excellent, excellent,” Bannister said as the noise died down. “I see everyone has been very generous with the bidding, that’s what I like to see.”
There was another cheer from the crowd as I felt my kinetic energy rise to the surface of my skin. Even my powers knew there was something sinister going on.
“I’ve arranged for a special treat tonight,” Bannister continued as he lowered his voice conspiratorially, and the crowd eagerly leaned in. “I hope you’ll all join me on a little moonlight cruise around the island.”
Again, the crowd went wild. I cheered and clapped along with them, and even Bird-Sloan gave a little squawk for effect.
“Wonderful, that’s what I like to hear.” Bannister nodded in satisfaction. “If you’ll just follow my lovely employees here, they’ll lead you out to the yacht.”
Without hesitation, the guests started to follow the uniformed employees out toward the beach. I shook my head slightly at how easily the drunk crowd was led, but I followed along, too. The wooden path was lit with tiki lights as the employees herded the crowd toward the shore, and I spotted Bannister at the back of the crowd, speaking to an employee.
I slowed my steps until I was toward the back, and then I stepped on my shoelace so it came untied.
“Oops,” I said in a louder than necessary tone before I stepped off the path and into the sand. I bent down slowly to tie my shoe, and the rest of the guests passed me.
Then it was just Bannister and the other employee left at the back of the crowd.
Bannister glanced down at me and gestured somewhere behind me. I turned to see a security guard step out of the shadows, holding an M16. Bannister just nodded at the guy, and then he continued walking. The security guard stayed back a respectable distance, but he was clearly just there to keep an eye on me to make sure I rejoined the rest of the crowd.
I finished tying my shoe, and I took this chance to slip the penjig earring out of my pocket and discreetly slip it into my ear. Then I hopped back on the path and stayed a bit behind Bannister, just enough so I could hear his thoughts.
Bannister clapped the employee on the back, and the employee nodded, hopped off the wooden path, and started jogging on the sand in the direction of Bannister’s mansion. The crowd was loud in front of Bannister, but I focused my energy on sorting through the noises and isolating Bannister’s thoughts. I took a few steps closer, and I finally started getting a read on him.
… like these drunk idiots.
They’ll soon realize their mistakes.
Once they’re onboard, I’ve got exactly one hour...
The wooden path underneath me creaked, and Bannister whipped his head around.
“What are you doing?” Bannister demanded with a deep scowl.
“Oh, sorry, I was just trying to catch up with the group,” I said as I reached up to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. At least that’s what it looked like, but I pulled the earring out of my ear at the same time, and Bannister didn’t seem to notice. “Didn’t mean to sneak up on you there.”
“Of course not,” Bannister said, and his face shifted into that bright smile he’d donned all weekend. “I won’t stand in your way.”
He stepped aside and gestured me ahead, and I had no choice but to pass him and jog to catch up with the back of the crowd. But my Spidey-Senses were still tingling.
I knew Bannister was planning something on this yacht trip.
“Sloan, go warn the others,” I said in a low voice. “Something is about to happen. Make sure they’re on alert.”
Sloan flapped her wings and took off into the night.
“Oh, no, where’s the birdie going?” a drunk woman tittered in front of me.
“She’s just stretching her wings,” I said as I forced a smile. “She’ll come back.”
I let myself be herded onto the yacht with the other guests, and as soon as we were on board, we were each handed a long champagne flute with bubbling pale liquid inside. Everyone else downed their flutes immediately. I kept my lips tight as I pretended to sip the champagne, but as soon as I got the chance, I dumped the contents overboard.
I kept a close eye on Bannister and the time. He was planning something exactly one hour after we all boarded the yacht, but that was all the information I’d gotten so far.
Bannister made another cheesy welcome on board speech as we set sail, and then the DJs and performers came out, and it was Party 2.0. The yacht sailed around the island while the party raged onboard.
Forty-five minutes after we’d boarded, I noticed a few of the guests seemed to be getting seasick or something. Quite a few of them were retching over the sides of the boat, and some of them were sliding down the walls, groaning as they went.
Within another ten minutes, the vast majority of guests were incapacitated, and I realized what happened. The champagne had been spiked. I couldn’t tell what it had been spiked with, but everyone was sick.
I realized I needed to make it look like I was unwell, too, so I clutched my stomach and fell to my knees while my eyes flitted around the deck. All of the performers and DJs had disappeared, and Bannister was nowhere to be seen.
This was bad.
I looked up into the night sky for Sloan, but I couldn’t see her. Suddenly, the acrid smell of smoke reached my nostrils. I whipped my head around, and my heart sank as I saw the orange glow coming from the helm.
The yacht was on fire.
Chapter 18
“Fuck, I’m so sick of fires,” I grumbled, but I shot to my feet and dropped the sick act.
If the boat was on fire, Bannister wasn’t on it anymore.
That bastard. So, this had been his plan all along. Get everyone on a boat and then sink it, since all of the artifacts were safely back at the island, away from harm’s reach.
“Kak, kak, kak! Kak, kak, kak!”
I looked up to see Sloan. She was circling overhead, and her shiny feathers were glistening in the glow of the flames. Once she saw me looking at her, she tilted to the left, and I followed her to the port side of the ship and flung myself against the railing to get away from the thick gray smoke that had started to pour onto the deck.
I spotted a small speedboat about a mile away, and I could see Bannister watching the carnage through a pair of binoculars. I dramatically sank down in fake agony so Bannister thought I was a goner like the rest of them, but once I was out of sight, I pressed my finger to my hidden earpiece.
“Team Nerd, can you hear me?” I shouted.
“Jonah!” Laura’s voice buzzed in my ear. “What’s going on? We’ve lost visuals.”
“We’re coming to you now,” Mary added in an anxious tone.
“The yacht is on fire,” I explained quickly. “The drinks were spiked, everyone is passed out.”
“Shit,” Laura muttered. “Sammy, call in the reserves.”
“Done,” I heard Sammy say in the background.
“Jonah, what do you need?” Laura asked in my ear. “Can you get any of the guests to safety?”
“Umm,” I said as I glanced around at the dozens of passed out guests on the deck.
Many of them had vomit dripping from their mouths, or their heads were resting in a puddle of sick, and I shuddered. I knew Bannister was a sick bastard, but it takes a special kind of evil to schmooze up to everyone like they were good friends, then drug them and leave them to die on a burning boat.
“Lifeboats, life vests, anything?” Laura pressed.
“Yes,” I said as I sprang into action. I started pulling every orange life preserver I could see off their hooks and tossing them onto the deck. “There are rings, I can get a few of the more sober guests off the boat and safely into the water.”
“Good, that’s a start,” Laura coached through my earpiece.
“We’re less than five minutes away,” Mary assured me.
“Good,” I said as I kneeled down next to a semi-conscious guest. “Because this fire is raging, I’m going to need some help.”
Sloan screeched as she hovered around my head.
I grunted as I tried to get an uncooperative, half-conscious woman into the lifebuoy. She tried to slap me away, but the effects of the alcohol and whatever poison Bannister had spiked her with were still strong in her system. I managed to slither the ring over her body, and then I helped her to her feet. She leaned against me heavily as she stumbled to the railing with me, and her eyes blinked in confusion as she seemed to become just a bit more lucid.
“Hey,” I said gently. “What’s your name?”
“Lotte,” she slurred, but she shook her head as the gravity of the situation finally hit her. Then her eyes widened in fright as the flames crackled nearby.
“Lotte, you’re going to have to go into the water,” I explained quickly as I helped her climb up onto the railing. “It’s going to be a shock, but you need to keep your head above the water. Do you hear me?”
“Uh-huh,” Lotte mumbled uncertainly as she eyed the inky water below us.
Sloan suddenly flew down to nip at my hands.
I glanced behind me and saw more of the guests stirring as the heat from the flames, and smoke from the fire permeated their booze and drug-induced stupors. There were a few weak screams, and I knew I had to help them before mass panic ensued.
“Alright, take a deep breath,” I said.
“But...” Lotte protested.
“I’m sorry, there’s no time,” I cut her off. “You need to get overboard for your own safety. Now, take a deep breath and jump. I’ll be right here if you need it.”
Lotte nodded and looked at me while she filled her lungs up with air. Her face was twisted in fear, but she leaped over the side of the yacht and into the sea below. I heard the splash of the water, and I could just see her silhouette in the glow of the flames.
Sloan screeched as she dove over the edge of the yacht herself, and I watched as she glided down to Lotte in the water below and checked to make sure her head was above water.
“Good job, Lotte!” I shouted down. “Sloan, stay there, I’ll send a few more overboard!”
Sloan flapped her wings in recognition, and when I turned back to the deck, I saw a man crawling toward me with a fearful expression on his face.
“I got you,” I said as I grabbed another ring and hurried to him.
I hoisted the man to his feet, and he thanked me profusely in slurred words as I helped him with the ring. He was lucid enough to understand he needed to get off the yacht, so it took a lot less convincing to get him to jump overboard.
I watched as Sloan hovered nearby to make sure everyone’s heads were above the water, and then I glanced over at Bannister’s small speedboat, which had receded another mile into the horizon. I squinted through the dark to see Bannister waving his arms furiously on the bow of the speedboat, but he made no attempt to return to the yacht. He probably figured even if a few guests did manage to get overboard, they were drunk enough that they’d just drown anyway. And if it weren’t for Sloan lifeguarding in her falcon form, that might be true.
I managed to get three more guests overboard before the bright lights of the team’s yacht appeared nearby.
“Thank god,” I sighed and tapped my earpiece. “We’ve got five guests in the water, port side.”
“We’re lowering the rescue boat now,” Laura said in my ear.
“Hurry,” I said as I looked over to where Bannister’s speedboat was. “Bannister is getting away!”
“No, he’s not,” Laura said smugly.
Suddenly, the sea and sky were flooded with bright lights, and I looked across the horizon to see no less than five large ships with their search lights pointed directly at Bannister’s speedboat.
“Richard Bannister, DO NOT FLEE!” a booming voice sounded.
I had to shield my eyes from the floodlights as I watched a swarm of soldiers board Bannister’s speedboat. Within moments, Bannister had his hands on his head as dozens of uniformed American soldiers surrounded him with their guns drawn.
“Fuck, yes!” I said as I pumped my fist in the air.
We’d done it. Bannister was finally caught.
I swung my gaze around at the smaller yacht the team was on. Mary and Laura were waving with both hands each from the bow of the ship, and together we cheered loudly from our separate yachts.
Suddenly, there was an explosion behind me, and I had to duck down to avoid the flying debris from whatever the fire caused to blow up.
“Jonah!” I heard Mary’s frantic voice scream.
“I’m okay!” I shouted, but I looked around the deck, and I knew I had to get off this sinking ship.
And fast.
“We’ve got two more rescue boats on the way,” Sammy said in my ear. “They’ll be here within minutes. Get as many people off the boat as you can.”
“You got it,” I replied.
I didn’t waste any time. I just tossed the orange rings on four more passengers and chucked them overboard. Bird-Sloan was still down there making sure none of their heads submerged in the water. Then Mary and Laura appeared in the small lifeboat from our yacht, and they started to drag the sodden guests onboard the small boat and ferried them back to the yacht.
A couple minutes later, two more boats appeared on the starboard side, and within seconds, the ship was swarmed with more uniformed soldiers, who started their rescue mission straight away. A few of the soldiers combated the fire with some extinguishers, while the rest of them herded the drunken guests to safety.
A tall, mustached man in uniform stood out from the crowd. His head swiveled left and right while he searched the faces of the guests, and then he frowned and opened his mouth.
“Jonah Patterson?” he called out in a booming voice.
“That’s me,” I said, and I waved my hand to get his attention while I jogged up to him.
The man grunted and looked me up and down as I came to a stop in front of him.
“You don’t look like the picture I have on file,” he said suspiciously.
For a moment, I’d forgotten I was still appearing as Augustus Van Blair.
“Undercover,” I explained. “My FBI badge number is eight-six-eight-three-oh-oh-nine.”
The man pulled a piece of paper out of his side pocket, glanced it over, nodded, and returned the paper to his pocket before he turned to me and stuck a hand out.
“Lieutenant Colonel Marshall,” the man said as he pumped my hand up and down. “Congratulations are in order. You’ve just taken down one of the most wanted criminals in the world and saved the lives of everyone on board this ship.”
“Just part of the job.” I grinned as I shook his hand.
“He’s asking for you,” Marshall said in a serious tone when the handshake ended.
“Who? Bannister?”
“That’s right,” the officer said with a nod. “We have him in custody. I don’t know what your relationship is with him, but you’re under no obligation to face him. We just need your signature for the arrest warrant.”
