CHAPTER 51 (PART - A)



Benton’s palms were sweating, his heart was racing, and every moment seemed like an eternity. The two young Asian women were close behind Benton feeling alive for the first time in weeks. Their thoughts were of getting off this dreadful ship and ending their nightmares. Slowly Benton opened the door into the stairwell poking his head out with one hand up behind him. Benton listened for almost a minute making sure it was perfectly quiet; and then he led them quietly up the stairwell. Each step they took seemed to echo loudly. Any second, his abductors were going to appear was all Benton could think of. He held tightly onto the club like torch until they reached the main deck.

Benton could see it was late at night and the front side of the deck was the only side illuminated. A crew was busy working with cranes and loading equipment; and, one man seemed to have a loud mouth over all shouting curses with every chance he got. Benton could see they were not too far from the coast, but thought better of simply just jumping off and swimming to shore. The two young women were nervously staying close to their savior.

“Good this makes things easy… now all we need to do is find a life boat” Benton thought.
“This way” Benton whispered and motioned with his hands.

Everyone’s attention seemed to be focused elsewhere for the moment as they crept to the other side of the ship. Benton kept looking over the railing hoping to see a life boat somewhere, but didn’t see any. Benton kept looking over his shoulder as they were frantically trying to find the means to escape. It was already dark and difficult to see trying not to use their torches. To make things more difficult a big patch of fog began to roll in.

“Great! The fog chooses a good time to come in!” Benton sighed.
The fog was quickly making more difficult to see. Benton suddenly could hear voices up ahead. Benton did his best to keep a clear mind. He looked around trying to find anywhere they could hide. The deck had crates stacked up and chained. Benton saw a single crate that could be used as a way of climbing the crates.

“Come!” Benton whispered.

The young women didn’t need to know English to understand what they needed to do. Benton dashed toward the center of the deck and began climbing the three to four crate high stacks. Each crate was just a bit over a meter high. Benton had no problem getting up on to the highest stacks near the center. The taller Asian woman was agile enough to climb without any help. The shorter young woman was not as skilled at climbing. The sounds of the footsteps and voices were getting louder. Benton reached down and helped pull her up and motioned for them to do what he was doing. Benton lied flat on the crates above not daring to make a sound.

“I hear Gaspar is one pissed off man!” a voice with a Russian accent said.
“I know…his girls are missing” another voice with a Russian accent replied.
“Who cares about them, it’s not our fault women want nothing to do with that bruto ragazzo. Tintin’s brother is missing and if Herr Wagner finds out it’s curtains for all of us…capisce!” a third voice with an Italian accent said a bit more urgently.

Benton knew that from that point on, things were going to get a bit hairy for them. If they were going to escape they better do it now. Benton couldn’t tell how many people were walking by, only that with the combination of it being night and the fog rolling in, they seemed to be undetected. The winds began to pick up, thunder began rumbling in the background, and flashes of lightning began lighting up the western skies.

“We’ve got to get off this ship and fast!” Benton said under his breath as he began scouting around for any sign of a life boat.
He continued looking as each flash of lightning in the distance became brighter. By the third flash he finally located a lifeboat.
“There’s a guardian angel watching out for us!” Benton thought as he tactfully decided to hang and drop off the other side of the stack of crates. The young Asian women were both frightened but anything else would be better than being locked away for the whims of a brutal pervert.

“Come on, I’ll catch you if you fall” Benton whispered realizing they couldn’t understand him except with his gestures.

Both young ladies were determined to escape and that determination gave them the drive to keep going. There were a couple other lifeboats Benton spotted but ran for the closest one. Benton began to unseal the covering of the lifeboat nervously watching over his shoulder. The two young Asian women both were watching behind Benton as he was trying to untie the knots until he finally was able to remove the covering allowing them to get in the lifeboat.

Benton was looking for the device that would lower them into the water but was having a hard time finding it. He turned on his torch and began searching around the apparatus it was hanging from. After a couple of moments Benton spotted the crank that would lower them into the water. At that moment once they got in, a couple of terrible growling Dobermans seemed to appear out of thin air. Both women screamed as the Dobermans barked loudly preparing to jump in the boat.

“Turn the crank!” Benton yelled using the butt of his torch as a club to keep the
Dobermans from jumping in the boat. One Doberman snapped at Benton over extending itself getting walloped by the end of the torch. The two women were cowering back away in fear as Benton had to stop turning the crank to fend off their assailants.

“Their over here!” a voice shouted.
“Hurry! Turn the crank!” Benton yelled again as he swung the baton like torch at the snapping Dobermans. The younger Asian girl quickly began turning the crank with some difficulty, but then the other girl began to help, and finally Benton could hear them turning it swiftly.

“Faster! I don’t know how much longer I can keep these blood thirsty hounds away!” Benton began sweating then saw the bigger threat coming their way.
“Shit!” Benton cursed under his breath as he saw a big buffed man with a black bandana and four crewmen running their way.
“Bite them you worthless mutts!” the bigger man shouted.

The two young women began turning the crank even faster and before they knew it the boat began dropping bit by bit until it was almost completely loose from the cables. The sudden jolts caused Benton to drop the torch in the bottom of the lifeboat. The Dobermans were still yelping loudly as they were no longer in reach, and a few more sudden falls, and the boat dropped the last several feet into the water causing all three of them to be knocked to the bottom.

“You stupid bastards!” the buffed man shouted.
“Sorry boss” one of the crewmen said apologetically.
Benton shook his head recovering from a minor daze. He poked his head out of the boat as the waves began carrying them away. He could see the buffed man with even more crewmen now and four Dobermans standing over the rail pointing at them. Then he saw the real danger as the buffed man pulled out a gun.

“As if things weren’t difficult enough already!” Benton complained under his breath.
Benton ducked back down looking for the oars. Each one was held in place on the insides of the life boat. Benton was feeling around the sides until he found one of the oars.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Benton looked up to see they were being fired upon. BANG! Another bullet hit the very back of the boat as Benton frantically began trying to paddle further away from the ship.

BANG! BANG! A couple more rounds were popped off as Benton ducked down while trying to paddle. Benton knew they were sitting ducks as they were not moving fast enough. Suddenly their boat began to move faster away from the ship. Surprisingly the two young women were able to find the other oar and both of them were trying to paddle on the opposite side.

A couple more shots were fired off at them and more curses were shouted, but soon they were disappearing in the fog now as it was beginning to get thicker. Now they were more determined to use their reserve strength to try to paddle for shore. For almost thirty minutes they paddled furiously. Benton could see the few lights that lit the shore line but also could hear a motor boat coming from up ahead.

“Certainly we would have heard them pass by?” Benton thought. The fog was making visibility even more difficult as he used a torch to look ahead every few strokes. The shoreline lights were now the only thing visible as the clouds began blocking the night light from the skies. Benton noticed both women were shivering as they paddled so he took off his grey trench coat and handed it to them.

“Here, this should keep you warm” he said holding it out in front of them.
One of the young women looked up and took the big trench coat trying to wrap it around both of them as they continued to row. Luckily Benton had on a nice thick green sweater underneath with a linen shirt underneath. Even near the beginning of summer it could be quite cool out at sea where they were. The waves continued to become rougher requiring them to paddle with more strength. It was tiring and the water was not warm when it splashed out up on them occasionally. Benton could feel the chill affecting him too. They could finally see a light approaching as it became brighter through the fog.

“Ahoy there!” a man’s voice shouted as the boat approached.
“Ahoy!” Benton replied.
“What are ya doin’ out here in the middle of the night?!” the voice demanded.
“We are trying to get to shore” Benton said carefully not wanting to divulge their situation so quickly.
“I see that, but why are ya out here?” the voice asked again.
“We were out rowing until we got caught in some rough waters” Benton fabricated.

The voice didn’t respond and Benton was starting to think it might be safer if they continued to shore unassisted. The two young women were huddled close together covered with Benton’s trench coat with both helping the other to continue to row. Benton hesitated for a moment then put more power into his strokes. Benton noticed the bigger speed boat approached them from the right until they were finally right there.

“We can take ashore if you like” a short man dressed in simple fisherman’s clothes said.
“We’re fine, I think we will be able to make it ourselves” Benton quickly replied rowing with more vigor.
“I insist” the man said a bit forcefully.
Benton looked up and saw the short man had some other fishermen companions standing there with a gun trained on them.
“What do you want?” Benton suddenly demanded.
“I was radioed and informed that some cargo had fallen off its ship and needed to be returned” the man said calmly, but Benton and the young women ignored him continuing to row.

“Stop rowing!” the man suddenly shouted firing a warning shot in the air.
The two young women began crying clinging together as Benton helplessly held the oar in his hands.
“What do you want us to do?” Benton demanded.
“Like I said, I’m going to return some lost cargo back to its ship” the man smiled
“We’re not cargo!” Benton shouted as they were bobbing up and down in the water.
The other two men took out their guns cocking them back.
“I’m afraid you’re the cargo, now if ya don’t mind, you’ll be boarding my ship now and no shenanigans” the short man said with his Irish accent coming on a bit thicker.

One of the fishermen used a hooked pike to pull the boat close enough for them get on.
“Come on now, we don’t have all night!” the short man prompted.
The two Asian young women were crying. One of them looked to Benton not sure they knew what to do. The waves began splashing against their boat and they were getting soaked. Benton frowned and slowly began to board the boat while having guns pointed at them.

“Ok lasses get on!” the short man yelled.
“They don’t speak English” Benton defended them.
“I’m sure they understand sign language hehehehe!” the crude little man laughed pointing his gun at the young women motioning for them to come on board.

The taller Asian young woman tried to help keep the younger one keep calm as they slowly with Benton’s help got on the other boat. Benton pitied the two young women wondering what fate would befall them. One of them couldn’t have been older than seventeen. They looked so distraught with sorrow and fear. He didn’t know to what extent what they had endured and for how long.

“Hey why don’t you let these two go, they’ve suffered enough” Benton spoke up.
“I’ve been told specifically three, and I don’t want to suffer the wrath of the Lieutenant” the short man said as he had his men prod them near the front of the boat when suddenly the younger Asian girl began repeating a phrase in her native language crying. The other young woman tried to console her.

“What’s she saying!?” the short man asked suspiciously.
“I don’t know, but whatever she’s saying I can assure you she doesn’t want to go back to that Hell hole” Benton emphasized.
“Well too bad!” the short man replied coldly as they began to return back to the Sea Serpent.

The ride back was swift and they were brought up and prodded onto the main deck. There were at least twenty crewmen standing around like mindless zombies staring straight ahead. The two young women were clinging to Benton when a buffed man came stomping up to them. They were cold, wet, hungry, and tired. The buffed man looked at them with contempt.

“So you’re the cause of this!” he said shaking his finger in Benton’s face.
Benton didn’t respond but stood stoically.
“I should kill you right now! I’ve killed for less you know!” he shouted spraying Benton’s face with spittle.
Benton wiped his face, and then the man grabbed him by his green jumper sweater.
“Are you pokin’ fun at me punk!?” he demanded.
“Enough!” a voice thundered over the buff man’s.
“You’re lucky! Next time you’re a dead man! GOT IT!?” he said throwing Benton down to the deck licking his lips.
“No! No!” the younger Asian girl screamed as the buff man reached out to grab her and the other girl.

“You little tramps are coming with me! How dare you try to escape!” he growled as he dragged them away.
“Coward!” Benton spat.
The buffed man spun around with both of the young women in each arm.
“I’ll deal with you later you little punk!” the buffed man eyed Benton menacingly before disappearing below the deck.

“A coward is he?” a familiar voice said.
Benton looked up to see Herr Wagner walking around in his General’s outfit. A few other people dressed in black robes and masks stood not far behind him.
“You!” Benton began to feel rage.
At that moment Herr Wagner quickly glided up to him and back handed him across the face knocking him back down to the deck.
“I warned you what would happen, but you young people have strange ideas of being heroes” Herr Wagner said with disappointment in his voice.
“It’s not my fault your men are all doped up on drugs” Benton said sarcastically shaking his head slightly dazed.
Herr Wagner glided up to him again with ease and delivered another harsh back hand knocking him back down.

“You have anything else idiotic you would like to say?” Herr Wagner said adjusting his glove.
Benton crawled up and gathered his jacket with one of the torches in lying underneath it. Benton took more time to recover from the blow but quickly sprung up to his feet with the baton like torch in his hand and ran at Herr Wagner.
“Murderer!” Benton screamed.

Some of the robed men and crewmen moved in to stop Benton but Herr Wagner waved them off as Benton came rushing in and swung the bottom of the torch at him. Herr Wagner caught the bottom of the baton in his hand and used the momentum of Benton’s swing to pick him up by the back of his sweater and toss him several feet across the deck. Benton lied there wincing in pain trying to catch his breath, but his anger gave him reserved strength to slowly get back up on his feet.

“I hope that’s not all you’ve got” Herr Wagner said mockingly drawing laughter from everyone around him.
“You murdered my grandmother you nazi bastard!” Benton spat.
“Oh dear, such stinging words” Herr Wagner frowned mockingly drawing more laughter.
“You’ll pay!” Benton shouted.
“You amuse me young man with your antics… now show me some more of your stupidity” Herr Wanger continued to mock him until another robed man with a bird mask on approached him.
“Oh…I see…” Herr Wagner nodded thoughtfully.

Benton looked for anything around on the deck that could be used as a weapon desperately until he spotted a small bolt. He quickly grabbed it and chucked it at Herr Wagner hitting him in the back of the head. Herr Wagner scratched his head regarding Benton disapprovingly, and almost instantly was standing next to Benton as he grabbed him by the throat lifting him off his feet.

“You know, I’ve killed for less insolence than that” Herr Wagner whispered as Benton choked dangling his legs. His grasp was cold.
“Lucky for you, you still play a big role in what’s about to take place you worm!” Herr Wagner finished dropping Benton back down to the deck as he lied there coughing and gasping for air.

“Take him down below and put him in place, we have a very important shipment to pick up!” Herr Wagner announced.
Benton tried to sit up but was whacked on the back of the head. Everything began spinning and darkness took him once again.

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