Chapter 13
Emory and Gloria Danfield and their children stood quietly on the darkened beach, not saying anything to heighten the feelings of inner shame and humiliation each of them felt in his own way. Rafael had tired of this amusement, and he and the others had launched their tiny boat from the opposite end of this small empty key and now it was tied alongside their rented cruiser. Maria had left with the others, but now she had returned, on foot, as her male companions pored over their boat's supplies and disabled its engines and radio. Emory winced as he saw the short one throw a handful of gutted wires and tubes from the ship-to-shore into the sea. He wondered how long it would be before they would be found-they weren't exactly lost on some desert isle, but this place was far enough off the beaten track to go unnoticed for days, maybe a week. He hoped they'd leave enough food to keep them from starving, but he knew better than to bring it up. Just the mention might give the big nasty one the idea of taking it all, leaving them to die a lingering death if they weren't soon rescued.
Maria stopped in front of them in the darkness now that the fire had burned down to one softly glowing coal. She looked first to Danny and Janice, for it seemed that they shared some common bond, but the teenagers couldn't bear to face her. She had been their hope; she wasn't like the others. Or at least it seemed that way at first, but not now. Now they could see her for what she was ... she was as cruel and vicious as Rafael.
She glanced up at Emory and his eyes caught hers in the dim starlight. A message seemed to pass between them, some glimmer of understanding that was passed without words, without sounds.
"Maria, come on!" shouted Juan from their little craft. She knew it was time to leave, that daylight was only a couple of hours away and that they had a rendezvous awaiting them. Her hand went out to Emory and he returned it, surprised at this gesture, and then she turned on her heels and dashed across the beach and waded into the shallow warm Caribbean. They all watched as she was hauled aboard, her wet clothes clinging like a second skin. Rafael cast them a vicious look, the sneer of the conqueror over the vanquished and then they were gone, disappearing across the dark water and into the night.
Emory watched until the boat was out of sight, then spoke, "She left me this." Gloria struck a match and held it close to the paper in his hands and Emory read aloud the scrawled pencil note that was all they had left of this night:
Please forgive me. I did what had to be done. Better you than some pig like Rafael. In time, your daughter will understand and forgive you.
As for these animals, they have betrayed the very oath we all swore to die for and when we reach the U.S., I have friends who will deal with them as they so deserve.
Do not worry for your safety. I will notify the authorities and you will be rescued soon. Please remember me as a friend.
Each of them stared for a few moments at the note, as if by looking closer they could fathom some meaning to their hidden personal confusion and anxieties that had surfaced this unforgettable night. Finally, Gloria broke the silence. "I'm going out to the boat and try to rest. Maybe they left us our bunks if nothing else."
"Yeah, me too," added Danny, a little anxious now as he sensed the warmth of his mother's touch. Her arm was around his shoulders and he could feel something strange, something unusual about her gesture. Somewhere in his mind, he sensed what it was, but he was afraid to bring it out, afraid to come face to face with this reality and deal with it like a man.
Gloria felt his nervousness as she cuddled him to her side. And she too had sensed something had changed — there was a new, secret urge guiding her thoughts, urging her onward, something weird and wonderful born out of this night's terror. What had happened, Emory and Janice and that awful thing they had been forced to do, all of that somehow fused into one singular notion and now that was all that mattered inside her. She felt that she owed Danny something, that there was something she could do — must do — to make things all right again. She squeezed him to her side and felt the strength of his young virile body against hers in the dark. "Coming, Danny?"
They started toward the water's edge and Gloria glanced back finally but her husband and their daughter were not to be seen. At first she was alarmed, but then a muffled sigh came across the sand and she smiled. Yes, it was a woman's moan, not that of a little girl and she knew everything was finally the way it should be.