Matchmaker Bandit Novel Pt. 03

While the woman was well qualified, it wasn't the reason Andrea decided to hire her. The reason was that during the entire interview process, she noticed that try as she may, the woman could not seem to take her eyes off Bat. When she looked over at Bat, Andrea noticed that he was looking back at Lilly in a similar manner.

Andrea couldn't make up her mind whether it was lust or love but she figured the two young persons would have fun finding out.

They hired the woman on the spot. The very moment they decided to hire Lilly, Andrea wrote a note reminding her to make sure there were plenty of condoms on board. She didn't want to find out that what they all thought was seasickness to turn out to be morning sickness.

They all celebrated the hiring by going out to dinner that night after which. Then, they spent the next two weeks while Willie familiarized them with all with the workings of the ship and Lilly explained as much as she could to the others about how all the new upgrades worked.

All their affairs in order, the four planned to set sail Sunday morning.

Epilogue

It was almost midnight. Bat and Lilly were already shipboard making final preparations for launch.

Willie and Andrea were walking down the pier where 'The Escape' was docked when a rather large Asian looking man stepped in front of them from behind one of the cargo containers stored on the dock. Had she known the man was there, Andrea might have recognized the man with a pistol in his hands as North Korean.

A hot suddenly rang out from the shadows and the North Korean suddenly dropped his weapon as blood began trickling to the ground from the hand that had been holding it.

Before she knew what had happened, Willie jumped between Andrea and the man so as to shield her with is body.

Andrea screamed and grabbed hold of Willies arm with both hands.

A tall black man wearing blue jeans and an Atlanta Braves jacket stepped out of the shadows. He was holding a pistol aimed directly at the chest of the North Korean agent.

As he advanced, the stranger began speaking to the wounded man, "Tell your employer that William Bartholomew Dixon Sr. and his wife are both dead. Any more attempts on his son's life will incur the extreme displeasure of the United States Government. Ask them how they would like certain trade negations to be held up by red tape for the next few years? Do you understand what I'm saying or do you need me to translate it into Korean for you?"

The Asian man nodded.

"Leave it!" He added when the wounded man started to bend over to pick up his fallen weapon.

Andrea and Willie looked on as the black man held his pistol on the fleeing would-be attacker as he headed back down the pier.

When the man was almost out of site, an unmarked white van pulled up beside him and two men wearing black masks and black overalls jumped out and rushed him quickly into the van; then, the van sped off in the other direction.

After the it was out of sight, the tall black man said to them, "Don't worry about him, he won't bother you any more."

"What's going to happen to him?" Andrea asked.

The black man studied her for a several seconds then said, "He's going to have his prints, picture and a D.N.A. sample taken. After a few days, he will be found somewhere in Eastern Europe, bruised and battered but very alive."

Then he said to Willie, "Son, there are some of us old timers left around that feel that you are an innocent victim in all this. Your father, and eventually your mother, knew what they had signed on for, but you didn't get to make that choice. You should never have been left on that island for so long.

Bill was a good man and something must have happened to Bill or he would never have let you stay there as long as he did. He probably had a stroke and it affected his judgment.

Do you still have that card that Jeff gave you?"

Willie nodded.

"Good! Keep it with you at all times. If you ever need anything, call the number on the card and when the person answers the phone; say 'I'd like to talk to Mitchell Gant please?' Then, just tell the person on the other end what you need. Can you remember that son?"

Willie nodded again.

"You probably won't see me again, but somebody will be watching you until the storm has passed. Someone will always be watching over you son." The tall man turned to Andrea and said, "You take good care of him Ms. Marino." Then he said to Willie, "Goodbye Willie."

With that he waved his hand and a rather ordinary looking green car came down the street and stopped in front of him. He got in and was gone within seconds.

Just then Andrea looked up to see Lilly standing on the deck of 'The Escape' smiling down at her as she hastily tried to hide a pistol behind her back. While Andrea had only gotten a glance at it and didn't know much about firearms, she did know a silencer when she saw one.

As she boarded the ship, Andrea couldn't help but wonder what kind of a motley crew she had thrown herself in with.

The End of Part Three