Caught with Consequences Ch. 03

"Kimberly never made her flight to Missionville. She and Steven Baker took an American Airlines flight to Honolulu," Cassie said, shaking her head.

"Find them Cassie. Find them and bring my daughter home. I don't care how long it takes or how much it costs," Adele said resolutely.

*****

Under the Compact of Free Association, U.S. citizens do not need a visa to enter the Marshall Islands and they can stay indefinitely. A couple of bribes to immigration officials was all it took for Steven and Kimberly to enter the Republic of the Marshall Islands on their forged U.S. drivers licences.

There are two banks operating in RMI, the Bank of Guam and the Bank of Marshall Islands. The Bank of Guam complies with all U.S. banking legalities and administrative precedents whereas the Bank of Marshall Islands tends to turn a blind eye to these regulations in favour of large depositors. Steven Baker transferred all of the four million dollars ransom money into four separate investment accounts in the Bank of RMI. Steven and Kimberly took a ten-year lease on a small island in Majuro lagoon. Ekino Island is a small, white-beached, coral-fringed paradise with a substantially modernised colonial house and gardens surrounded by lush tropical foliage. Steven and Kimberly employed two local women to perform the domestic duties so that they could enjoy their paradise.

Steven purchased a Stabicraft 2150 fitted with two Yamaha F150 outboard motors which he had shipped in from Australia. This was their main means of transport around Majuro lagoon and could get them to Shoreline in Uliga where there were docking facilities for the boat and gave them access to the commercial area where there were shops, restaurants and bars, albeit not quite world standard. But when you live in paradise, five-star commercial outlets are not essential.

The counterfeiter who had forged their driver's licence was busy manufacturing false passports and once they had them in their possession, Kimberly and Steven could travel the world. It was a four hour flight west to Guam which was a hub into Asia or a four flight east to Honolulu where they could fly to anywhere in the USA and beyond.

Kimberly and Steven figured that once they made their initial outlays, they could maintain a luxurious, leisured lifestyle living on the remainder of the ransom money. Their stipend would be topped up by the balance of Kimberly's trust fund when she turned thirty. Adele had done such good job setting up the trust that only Kimberly or her children, if she ever had any, could access the fund.

Within three months of arriving in RMI Kimberly and Steven had insinuated themselves into the Expat community. Many U.S. citizens and Australian and New Zealand nationals with permanent residency lived in Majuro and many Asian families owned businesses on the atoll. The Marshall Islands and Majuro in particular is a cultural melting pot in the eastern belt of Micronesia. It is also surprisingly not very well known about, being off the tourist trail and of no real commercial consequence.

Kimberly lay on the pristine white sand of Ekino Island sunning herself and working on her already bronzed tan. Ehukai and Iwalani, the two 'house-Marys' were cleaning the house and preparing lunch; Steve would be back soon in the boat. He had gone into Uliga to attend to business and to do some shopping, they were getting low on beer.

She surveyed the small islets that ringed Majuro Lagoon: little palm tree strewn enclaves circling the pristine blue waters. Kimberly adored the lifestyle but was anxious for their passports to arrive so that she and Steve could take a long awaited holiday to Europe.

Kimberly heard the crunch of feet on sand and expected to see either Ehukai or Iwalani bringing her a drink and was surprised to see an attractive tall, long-legged woman wearing a black one-piece bathing suit and a colourful sarong approaching. Her black shoulder-length hair was professionally styled with subtle ruby highlights. She looked to be in her forties but she had a toned body and firm breasts. She sported tattoos on her upper arms, torso and thighs.

The woman smiled as she approached. She had a large straw basket slung over her shoulder and was swinging a pair of sandals from her left hand.

"Hi," the woman said as she came closer.

"Hi yourself. Do you know this is a private island?" Kimberly replied a little curtly.

"Oh shithouse mouse! I told the guy driving the boat that I wanted to go to Eneko Island. Is this not Eneko Island?" the woman looked troubled.

Eneko Island is one of Majuro's most beautiful and accessible beach getaways, owned by the Reimers family; they rent out the small rustic cottages on the island by the day or the week.

"Those guys sometimes get confused between Ekino and Eneko Islands, especially if their English isn't good. It's an honest mistake," Kimberly sat up on her beach towel.

"I'm sorry; I'll call Shoreline and get them to send me a boat," the woman rummaged in her bag to find her phone.

"Hey. Don't worry about it. We don't get that many visitors to our island so it's nice to have another ri-belle visit. Stay for lunch; my boyfriend will be back in our boat soon and he can take you to Eneko after," Kimberly smiled.

Ri-belle, pronounced ree-bellie, is Marshallese for white-skinned person.

"I feel like I'm intruding," the dark haired woman said.

"Nonsense; I'm Janet Williams," Kimberly Edwards said and held out her hand.

"I'm Kelsey Reka," Cassandra Rivers replied and shook Kimberly's hand.

"Come join me in the cabana, I'll get Ehukai and Iwalani to bring us some drinks and lay out lunch," Kimberly started to walk towards a bamboo cabana with a palm frond roof and beckoned Cassie to follow.

"Kelsey Reka, that's an unusual name," Kimberly smiled and she was beautiful.

Cassie realised why Adele adored her daughter.

"It's of German origin. My ancestors had a trading post here in the Marshall's in the eighteen hundreds and traded in copra. I'm a hopeless romantic when it comes to family history and I decided to finally come to RMI on holiday to see it for myself," Cassie said.

"It's a beautiful place," Kimberly smiled again.

"My boyfriend was a broker on Wall Street and made a fortune before the market crashed. Lucky for me he got out when he did and we decided to give up the rat-race and settle here," Kimberly recited their backstory by rote.

Iwalani brought the women two ice-cold XXXX Bitter beers. Despite the Republic's long association with the USA, the Queensland brewed ale is the Island's favourite beer.

"Those tattoos are interesting, especially the one you have there of a woman riding a motorbike," Kimberly pointed to the tattoo with words 'Biker Bitch' inked underneath it.

"Some would say I had misspent youth. I would say I've had an adventurous life," Cassie grinned.

"Yeah I get it. To a misspent youth," Kimberly proposed a toast and they raised their bottles, chinked them together and drank.

"Hey, here comes Johnathan now and he's motoring," Kimberly sometimes found it difficult to refer to Steven Baker by his new name Johnathan Drake.

The Stabicraft was hammering along at full throttle throwing out a large wake, bouncing over the wavelets. It barely slowed down as the driver cut the engine and the boat slid up the beach ending up halfway out of the water.

Steven Baker began sprinting towards the cabana screaming at the top of his lungs.

"He seems excited," Cassie casually sipped her beer.

"Something's got him riled that's for sure," Kimberly frowned.

"It's gone! Kimberly it's all gone! The money's gone!" the women heard him shout as he got close enough to hear.

Steven was panting and close to exhaustion by the time he got to the cabana.

He came to a sudden stop nearly falling over in the soft sand when he saw who was sitting with Kimberly.

"What the fuck is she doing here?" Steven was stunned.

"Hello Kimberly; your mothers send their regards," Cassie took a small silver automatic pistol out of her straw basket and put on the table within easy reach.

"Come and take a seat Steven; we have so much to talk about," Cassie smiled and waved him over.

"Who the fuck is she Steven?" Kimberly was still dumbfounded.

"She's Cassandra Rivers. Adele hired her to find you when I kidnapped you," Steven slid onto the bench beside Kimberly.

"And now I've found you," Cassie grinned.

"Steven isn't the only IT guru around; I have a couple of pretty good ones who work for me too. It took me a while to track you two down but when I did it didn't take long for my guys to find the money. They've just transferred it somewhere safe," Cassie took another sip of beer.

"Can I get another one of these before leave? They're delicious," Cassie waved her empty bottle at the house-Marys who were standing at a respectable distance, waiting to serve lunch.

"Where do you think we are going?" Kimberly said petulantly.

"Well you can stay here with your forged documents and no money and I can alert the appropriate authorities or you can come with me to Amata Kabua International Airport and board the private jet I've hired to take you home and explain yourself to Adele and Celia," Cassie took the ice-cold XXXX beer that Iwalani brought to her.

"What about Steven?" Kimberly said sullenly.

"What about Steven?" Cassie looked at him indifferently but she moved the pistol a little closer to her.

"My instructions are to bring you back. I have no instructions as to what to do with Steven," Cassie took another sip of beer.

"I won't go back without him," Kimberly snapped.

"Then I guess you're coming with us too Steve. If you want to that is?" Cassie smiled at Steven Baker who was still overwhelmed with the turn of events.

"Here comes our ride now," Cassie nodded at the two high-powered motorboats approaching the Island.

Even at this distance it was possible to see that the two occupants in each of the boats were big burly men.

Kimberly began to cry softly.

"What do you think Adele is going to say when I get home?" Kimberly whimpered.

"Oh I think Adele is going to be quite reasonable. It's Celia I'd be concerned about," Cassie finished her beer and slapped the bottle down on the table.

The End

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this story. I have tried to make it as factual as possible but it is fiction. As usual I request that you leave your comments, concerns and criticisms. Feedback stimulates me and encourages me to hopefully be a better a writer.

PS a special prize for anyone who remembers where the name Kelsey Reka came from.

Michele Nylons, July 2020.