“We’re going to be in town another couple of days. I’m not someone comfortable with inexplicable loose ends. The goons were in a spot on the harbor no one lets goons hang out on a regular basis. That means something else was going on we interrupted. We don’t know if they decided to follow us after we ran into them or someone on the boat told them to scare the shit out of us. If so, that person may decide we saw something we shouldn’t have.”
“Damnit, Nick! Your imagination never leaves anything alone. I figured this incident was a done deal… a one time occurrence. You have me thinking it’s a Columbian Cartel operation or a floating meth lab we wandered upon. Doesn’t anything ever just happen, you deal with it, and it’s over?”
“Not to my recollection.” Nick listened to the kids laughing at Rachel’s tirade over his cautious nature when it came to unforeseen occurrences. “How many times have I been wrong when I follow through on checking my hunches?”
“Never,” Rachel admitted. “I’m done. Take me back to the hotel so I can hold Quinn and pretend I’m a real mommy on vacation.”
“As opposed to what truth, dear?”
“A captive traveler locked inside an out of control starship with the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, plunging to the surface of an unknown planet.”
“Well… okay… very creative.” Nick took her hand. “Enjoy your evening, babe. I’m accepting of your perception concerning my rather acute paranoia as long as you’re not thinking of me as Groot.”
Rachel shook her head at the mention of the plant like ‘Guardian of the Galaxy’. “I’m thinking of you more as Drax.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Nick countered. “Drax is dumber than a bag of hammers. I would be the far ahead thinker, Star-Lord.”
“One more word out of you and I cast you as Groot and tell everyone. You’ll be hearing ‘I am Groot’ until your eyeballs pop from their sockets.”
“That’s just mean.”
*
The three men dressed in casual clothes sat around the galley kitchen playing cards with the man from earlier in the evening, still wearing his Bowler hat. They all had drinks. No one was touching the cards anymore. The tension in the air was palpable.
“We sent you to find out what those tourists saw and five supposedly bad-ass street dudes come running back with their tails between their legs. The only real info you came back with was how to get your nuts busted and frightened out of your minds by some stranger with a couple kids and a dog. What’s wrong with that picture, Sammy?”
Sammy considered his words carefully. “I’ve been to the sand, Murray. I know a killer when I see one. I don’t know what the woman, kids, and dog were to him, but that guy was no tourist stroller. Talkin’ killin’ and doin’ killin’ are two different things. The man was a shooter. I had Urkels watching my back and not a shooter amongst them. I learned a long time ago not to push people who don’t push. They didn’t see anything. Ray got his balls busted for nothing. They happened to be walking by the boat during supply day. So what? I know you guys don’t want… oh shit!”
Murray and his two cohorts glanced behind them at the cabin entrance where Sammy was staring in a trancelike state. Three men whom they had no clue where they came from entered the cabin with silenced MP5’s. That they weren’t wearing masks or gloves sent a chill down Sammy’s spine.
“Hi guys,” Nick said. “Go on with your discussion. Sammy… nice seeing you again, buddy. Who are these nicely dressed guys?”
Sammy didn’t hesitate. He pointed. “Murray Durance, Pinter Caulfield, and Kel Florencia. They own the boat. Dude… how the hell you get in here?”
“You’ve been around the block, Sammy. My associates and I aren’t stray cats looking for a way inside out of the rain. We make it rain. We heard supply day. I figured as much when I saw you and the goons hanging around a very expensive boat like this. Here’s the deal. I want to know what the hell you would think was so important the three of you head honchos would send Sammy and the goons after a family.”
“Fuck you!” The man pointed out as Murray said, pounding the table a split second before Nick shot him between the eyes. The others tipped over chairs, shouting gasps of shock and bewilderment while Gus and John merely moved to cover them.
“Sammy… throw a towel down around Murry’s head. Yeah, that’ll do. Thanks. That’s an incorrect answer. Pinter, you and Kel stand. Put your hands behind you. Sneeze and I put a round through your nuts. Not you, Sammy.”
Pinter and Kel stood reluctantly to be restrained by Gus. They were then duct taped to the chairs. Sammy finished the blood mopping. Nick gestured for him to sit down.
“What about you Pinter? Would you like to take a crack at an answer or do you want to see what’s behind door #2? It won’t be an easy death like Murry got. He was the example I like to use when strangers don’t understand I’ll do anything without a thought to make you talk.”
“Cocaine,” Sammy said before Pinter could say anything. “We were making deals for it from the gangs distributing around Boston. Their hold is filled. They get their product from the Sinaloa Cartel.