Kingdom Fall

What I didn’t expect was for Striker to take us to a large speed boat, docked by itself at a rundown pier that appeared abandoned long ago. He parked a little way in the trees, hiding the four-wheeler from the casual observer. That’s when I noticed something else.

“Who’s driving us?” Captaining the ship might have been the better word, but whatever.

“I am.”

If I’d been on my game, I might not have blurted, “Is there anything you can’t do?”

He smiled a bit. “It’s called guilt. My father’s. When we were supposed to be spending quality time as father and son, he’d eventually get a business call he couldn’t ignore. So I’d get lessons of some sort to keep me entertained.”

“That can’t be a bad thing,” I said.

“It can be when most of your trip was spent learning how to pilot a boat or a helicopter or whatever. Sure, it was cool at first, but when the trip was over, I realized I hadn’t spent any time with my dad. But this is a conversation for another time.” He checked his watch. “We have to go.”

We hurried to the boat as if we were being pursued. It didn’t help that he kept glancing back as if looking for someone. We stepped aboard the boat and climbed a few stairs to the galley. It was pretty impressive and looked like a boat a billionaire would own. Inside were sofas and woodgrain cabinets fit for a mansion. We went up another flight of stairs to an open air area. He sat in the captain’s seat, and I took a seat on the L-shaped bench behind it.

He put in the key, and the motor purred to life. I would have explored the boat, but I was curious about Striker’s boating abilities. To my surprise, he got up and went downstairs. Soon I felt the boat drift a little more. Then he was back, and we were off.

It wasn’t long before the party island was a distant memory. We passed other islands until far off from the others, another island came into view. We circled it. There was barely any beach to speak of. It almost looked like a mountain rising from water. After one time around, Striker cautiously approached what looked like a rock wall. He lifted the keys with a small box I thought was a key chain between his fingers. He aimed it at the wall, and suddenly the rock moved.

My jaw hit the floor as I felt as if I’d landed in a Bond movie. I would have asked Striker a million questions if he wasn’t slowly approaching the narrow opening. I had no desire to become a statistic. The rolling of the water wasn’t helping, and I didn’t want to mess with his concentration.

But he threaded the needle, getting us past the entrance and into some kind of hidden cove. I turned around and watched as the wall closed behind us.

“Holy hell,” I murmured.

He stopped the boat by a small pier and got out to tie us to the dock. Then he came and got me. “Ready?”

“I’m still trying to figure out how I ended up with Batman.”

That brought a smile to his face. “I’m not as cool as that. I don’t have all the gadgets.”

“What do you call this?” I spread my arms because the boat was impressive.

“Borrowed. It was better if we blended in.”

“Blended in? I’ve never been on a speedboat like this.”

“Actually, it’s considered a sports yacht.”

“Of course it is,” I said dryly.

“There are three staterooms with attached baths below deck.”

“The boat has everything, why are we here?”

“It’s safe.” He held out a hand, and I took it. The man had a way of making me feel exactly that—safe.

We exited the boat, and with rock walls all around us, I didn’t see anywhere we could go. But after the moving wall, I waited for something else to appear to be what it wasn’t.

“Up here,” he said.

I followed him up a path made of smooth stone. There was a rope attached to the wall, which we gripped. The climb was steep, but not too bad. At the top, a tunnel led us into a tropical oasis. It was as if we’d entered another world.

We stepped out of the tunnel onto an outdoor patio. Feet away to the left, a wall of windows gave a view into a home of some sort built onto the side of the rocky hill. In the low light, I saw hints of a kitchen and a living area with a large sofa. However, the view dead ahead caught my attention. I walked past an impressive lap pool to the edge of the cliff. The moon had risen, and the calm water below shimmered.

I took a chance and looked down but saw nothing but rocks. I took a step back—right into the solid chest of my savior. I turned, and he seemed to catch me as if I might fall.