WTC9: The Yacht

The party settled around the yacht cabin, with music playing. Neil with Tammy and Lisa sat at the poker table to chat with Larry, now that the card game had stopped. Larry’s men stayed there too. Abhay and Marvin went out to the deck with Maya and her friends.

Theo and the Four went to the sofas. Pualie and Lennon were having a good time and leading the conversation. They brought up Neil’s Irizaro paintings, then they switched over to the topic of yachts. Lennon wanted to have one himself one day; Paulie, with the aid of Google, advised him on the best types. The girls were the judges of which yachts would be the best. Theo was quiet.

- What do you think Theo? – asked Lennon – He’s all quiet, but with all the connections he has here, I say he will be the first one to own a yacht among all of us.

- I don’t like yachts, I’d rather keep the cash if I had it. Maybe start a company.

- Man, don’t act all humble – said Lennon – and why don’t you tell us what’s really going on here? Everyone we talked to at the party is telling us you are some kind of a ganster.

- No, no, you know I’m in the HVAC businesses!

- Come on, what’s going on dude? Tell us! – everyone wanted to know.

Theo gave in. Looking around constantly to make sure the conversation is not overheard, he explained how Larry and Kick tried to intimidate his crew at work, how he and Darius – the young man with Larry – killed Kick’s dog and beat Kick half to death, how he met Marco, and how he saw an opportunity to earn some extra cash when he went to the first pool party at McCrackens. He did not reveal however, the scale of his transactions, saying that he only sold enough to cover his party costs, things like the Range Rover.

- Man, you are a ganster, ha ha! – Paulie and Lennon were overjoyed; they high-fived Theo.

- And that coke is prime grade, let me tell you – said Lennon.

- Unbelievable! You should be careful – the girls said.

Theo scanned the faces of his friends. Lennon’s was filled with admiration, Paulie was smiling and shaking his head. Nikki, whom he barely knew, didn’t seem to care much, while Laura assumed a shy posture, looking down at her feet while slurping at the straw of her cocktail, processing.

- It’s crazy I know. Well, you guys enjoy the party! I’ve got to say hi to Marco and them. You know, my capo.

Theo walked over alone to the poker table.

- The man of the hour! – Neil greeted him merrily – So, I heard you work with Larry and Marco?

 - Well, my last job we were contracted at Larry’s Horseshoe plaza – Theo specified. 

- And you, Marco, where do you work again? – asked Neil. Marco was catatonic as usual, to the point where he almost looked cross-eyed. Even his eyes were giving up on the labor of lining up with each other. 

- I work in property management – was his simple and short reply.

- Okay… - no one believed it. Theo suddenly laughed:

- Yeah, Marco is a VP of Operations, and Kick over there, such a gentleman by the way, is in charge of compliance and such things. I think he has a juris doctor, in fact. Ha ha!

- Yes, Theo worked for me before, and I would like him to worked for me again – Larry steered the conversation back on track – We are building a new golf course and we are going to need a lot of HVAC and electrical work at the club house. Theo, you get a crew together, and I will hire you. You should consider doing it on your own, forget about Raul. I heard he fired you anyways, he he!

- I don’t know, Larry – said Theo – I’ve been considering changing careers, you know. 

- Honey, you should definitely take that job – said Lisa – sounds like a very big project. 

- Yes, Theo – said Neil – if fact, I’m considering putting up some capital there myself. What do you say to that Larry?

- I can consider that, yes. We were looking for more partners.

Tammy nudged Neil.

 - But honey, we were saying that we will slow down with investments after the vineyard deal. 

- Honey, but the vineyard and everything else we’ve done so far is turning great cash flows. The risk is behind us now. We’ve got to keep rolling the dice while we are on a winning streak. Right Larry? And look at this man’s yacht, eh? Looks like he knows what he’s doing. Don’t you Larry?

Larry may have blushed: - I always say, a man has to mind the wisdom of his fairer half, but I really do think that this golf course is going to be something special.

Theo took his cognac left the poker table and went out to the dock for some fresh air. He refuelled on cocaine. He then went back in, this time to join Abhay, Marvin, and Maya and her friends. They were standing in the open space, some dancing to the music. He took Marvin aside.

- Marvin, how do you know these people? – asked Theo.

-  What do you mean? I made friends with Abhay at Neil’s, and I’ve known Marco for a while, because we are both friends with Darius.

-  You know Darius? – Theo was surprised.

- Yeah, man. Darius and I went to middle school together.

- Did you bring them here? 

- What? No, Abhay brought them here. Right, Abhay? - Danny

- Yeah. I told you already, Larry and I have been doing business together - shouted Abhay

- What business? What were you doing together? The MMA stuff? -

- No, actually it’s something else.

Theo didn’t need to hear any more. Anyway, at that moment Lisa sprung up from somewhere and took Theo by the hands to dance together. Theo was not in the mood. While dancing he was looking around him for signs that would explain the strange arrival of the yacht that brought together and made clash the worlds that he hoped would forever stay apart. He noticed Marvin talking to Kick and Larry. He began to feel sick.

- Honey, are you okay, you’ve turned terribly pale – said Laura.

- I’m going to have a seat – said Theo and went back to sit on the sofa.  

- Are you okay? – his suburban friends began asking him in turn, looking at his stony, sweaty and unresponsive face.

- Maybe not. Maybe I should go to the washroom. 

- I got some aspirin in my room – said Paulie – here’s the key card. Go over there and grab some pills, they are in my blue bag, in the front zipper. Okay?

- Okay, okay – Theo mumbled and left the cabin.

The music turned off and Neil yelled an announcement:

- Listen up, everyone! We are going up to my patio to continue my party! I got barbecue up there, and much more booze, and much louder music, and much more space!

Larry feigned some reluctance but caved in soon enough. His crew began to file out, except for Kick and Marco, whom he asked to remain on board and mind the yacht. Marco was actually the captain; he was licensed, and he drove the thing. When the guests had disembarked, he climbed up into the control cabin, while Kick took up watch at the poker table, playing Candy Crush, smoking cigarettes, and blasting gangster rap.

* * *

Theo had found the toilet in the lower level of the yacht. After some twenty minutes of merely trying to regain his wits, he washed his face with cold water. He then snorted some more coke and began to regain his swagger. When he showed up to the main cabin, he was surprised that it was empty, except for Kick, who stood up from the table in surprise and walked up right to his face.

- What are you still doing here, bitch? Trying to rob the place, huh? – Kick licked his lips – you don’t want to be alone on a boat with me, bro! 

Theo slapped him in the face and grabbed him by the throat, then shoved him into a wall. He was teeming with range. He squeezed Kick’s throat and whispered violently:

- Listen, you skinny fucking dog – I’m a capo now, and you are still only a horny little poodle. Your job is to bark at junkies and obey your masters, which now include me. You fucking bark at me again, and I’ll put you away. Not like last time, you understand?

The truth was that Kick, though tall and athletic built, had a rather thin body and a damaged psyche. In a moment of cocaine-induced lucidity, Theo realized that he can bully the man as long as he roars at him loudly enough. He let go of the guys throat, spat at his feet, and turned to leave, seeing in Kick’s face a certain amount of darkness, but also a certain amount of despondency. It wasn’t to end that way, however.

Kicked violently pushed Theo from the back and when Theo turned around, he saw that Kick had pulled out a butterfly knife and was lustfully inviting him to attack. Theo feinted a pounce and Kick swiped at the air between them. Theo swiftly countered with a backhand that landed straight on Kick’s jaw, knocking him cold on his face. He kicked the knife away from his opponent and bent over to see that he is alive, but deeply concussed. As he stood up and turned, he saw Marco at the back end of the cabin. He was looking at him lazy-eyed as always, only this time his eyeballs were moving around faster. 

- What did you do, you moron? Did you stab him? 

- No, I just knocked him out, look – as Theo bent to flip the body Marco pulled out a gun from his waist. 

- Oh no, don’t move. Step away slowly from the body. 

- Marco, I just KO-ed him, dude, he’ll be up in two minutes.

At that moment, Kick began to moan and tried to get up. He got on his knees and tried to swing his arms, thinking he is still in the middle of a fight. Marco looked at Kick curiously, and then looked at Theo still, pointing a gun at him. He took a pitcher of water and threw it on Kick’s head.

- Get to your senses you idiot and explain to me what happened?!

- Marco, just shoot him. Just fucking shoot him, man. We’ll dump him in the lake. Let me shoot him! Marco, you heard what Larry and that other guy were saying at the table – this bitch is going to take your job and take my job; you want him to be your boss and order you around like a punk?!

Kick motioned his hands towards the back of his waist, at which point Theo dashed through the front exit of the cabin and out on the front deck. Before he disappeared down a set of stairs on the side, he heard the clank of bullets lodging in the metallic wall of the yacht. Then, the sound of human commotion died out, letting a violent hip-hop track fuse ridiculously with the faint dance music from the mansion - and then the hip-hop died.

Marco’s voice yelled somewhere from the top:

- Just get off the boat, Theo! We won’t do anything to you; Kick is a moron he shouldn’t have fired; you know he’s a moron! We’ll let you get off! …

As Kick was about to turn a corner on a lower deck, gun in hand, he was suddenly thrown back by a violent blow. An axe in the arms of Theo swung its sharp end violently in his chest, knocking him back against a wall. Seeing his victim in death throes, Theo grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him overboard. He wiped down the axe handle with his shirt and threw the axe in the lake too. He then tossed a life vest from the wall into the water, picked up Kick’s gun from the floor, and jumped over the railing into the lake himself. In the water, he fished out Kick’s lifeless body and pushed the life vest under it, making it float visibly several yards from they yacht. All the while he kept an eye on the deck from which he jumped; it had some light shining on it, but the water was shrouded in protective darkness. He then quietly swam right to the curved edge of the yacht, keeping everything below his nose in the water.

It seemed like an eternity, but it was probably less than three minutes later that a powerful flashlight shone from the deck above and searched the waters, fixing for a few seconds on Kick’s body and then turning off. Complete silence for another agonising length of time. Then, Theo heard Marco having a phone conversation.

- Who said he went to his room? Who’s everyone? Are you sure?... Yes, I can wait twenty minutes, but you need to be here, alone, very soon! - he then hung up.

Theo heard faint footsteps walking away. Then, from the rear deck, he heard a splash in the water and the motor of a Jet Ski. Marco drove it in a tight arc and then toward’s Kick body. He stopped next to it, shone the flashlight at it again and then at the surrounding water. He then laid the flashlight on the base of the Jet Ski, tucked away his pistol, and picked up a ten-foot boat hook from the far side. He stood up and leaned towards Kick’s body, trying to hook at and pull it towards him. The hook slipped often, so he had to repeatedly paw at the body. 

It was when the body had floated within a grasping distance that Marco noticed the life jacked under it and raised himself in surprise. In that moment Theo, who had stealthily swam up within three meters Jet Ski, pointed the gun at his now large target and fired several shots into his chest. Marco too fell in the water, lifeless. Theo pulled the life jacked from under his first victim, letting it float next to the two corpses. He tossed the gun further into the lake, emptied whatever drugs he had on him into the water, and swam ashore. 

He came up on the side of the beach facing the guesthouse, away from the main building where the party was still going loud. He was completely engulfed by darkness. He looked at the yacht he left behind. It and the wharf it was tied to were completely lifeless.

He snuck across the dead yard of the guest house and through its deserted hallways, then silently entered his room. He went to the washroom and vomited in the bathtub. He began to shiver from being soaked for so long, but also from an emotion that began to take hold of him: it was an emotion he had never felt before, at least not in intensity. It was perhaps a form of loneliness utter loneliness and vulnerability. He remembered the dying faces – they were the only ones left in the universe, and they seemed to mock him from somewhere far away, from another dimension. They were inviting him there. He begun to pray: “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” He repeated in whispers, compulsively, faster and faster, and with all the energy and conviction he could muster. “The Lord is my shepherd,” he then said.

A dark shape begun to shift across the blinding yellow glow of the washroom tiles. It had a deaf sort of a grin, and a shriek of a reptile. Theo jumped from his curled position over the toilet with superhuman speed and strength and he caught the demon; it was less than a meter in length, brown and probably ugly, but he didn’t want to look at it, he grabbed it by the throat and squeezed until the creature perished in his grip and then vanished. Theo then promptly returned to his still recoiled body, over the toilet, and felt its heartbeat with a violent pulse, cold sweat streaming all over it. He felt a caress over his back of the head, of warmth and softness such as he never felt before, not even from his mother. He heard a soft voice tell him: “Take care of yourself.” Then the apparitions ended.

He had a couple of grams of cocaine there and ten Oxycontin pills. He ate five of them and flushed the rest down the toilet together with cocaine. He took a beer out of the fridge and walked out onto the private terrace. He turned on the jacuzzi and got into it without taking off any of his clothes. The music and the clamour still blared idiotically from the big mansion. Theo smoked a cigarette in the jacuzzi, looking at the moonlit bay. There was a renewed round of fireworks from the mansions on the opposite shore. Theo grinned, and then passed out.