Again he heard his watch chirping: 'low oxygen sat levels, an abnormal heart rhythm, calls to emergency services imminent.' Taggart rolled over to the edge of his berth with nausea clawing up his throat, a headache spitting daylight into sodden pulses of bile screaming for release. He grabbed at the watch, found the face, and killed the alarm, then stumbled into the head, reaching for the tap of last resort. He splashed water on his face, found his toothbrush and toothpaste and tried to brush away the remnants of the dream lingering like a bad taste in his mouth.
Clyde was looking at him when he came out of the head, then he barked twice - letting Taggart in on a little secret: 'You slept for ten hours, asshole. Get me to a bush before I spray down your bed...'
"Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Come on, shipmate. Let's do the deed."
They clambered up the companionway and the first thing Taggart saw was lightning painting the night in shades of gray. "Fuck. Why didn't I get a god damn cat?"
He left Clyde in the cockpit while he ducked below for his foul weather jacket, then they hopped ashore and made for the bushes. Then he noticed that almost all the lights were out everywhere he looked, even across the river in Kiel.
Then he saw black shadows sliding across the water, echoes of that dream playing out before his eyes...only these shadows were huge.
Clyde looked up and saw them too, then he growled and backed away from the sight.
"Guided-missile frigates, Clyde. Locking up into the canal."
He looked east and saw several more warships strung out in spectral lines, their silent moves just enough to maintain steerageway as they waited to enter the lock - one by one by one...
"Well, that explains why the lights are out. This move ain't for public consumption, is it?" He knelt beside Clyde and rubbed his neck. "Nothing to worry about, Clyde...just a bunch of boys and their toys out to rehearse the end of the world."
Clyde looked at him - not at all convinced those shadows were friendly - then he circled twice and dumped a load. Taggart reached into a pocket and pulled out a plastic poop-bag and picked up the steaming turds, a shiver running up his spine as he did, then he tied the pouch and carried it over to a trash can. "Man, I can't tell you how much I love doing that, dude. You think you could, like, learn to use the head?"
"Whoof!"
"Yeah, I know...I know. Not in your contract, blah-blah-blah." He looked at his watch - 0345 - and shook his head. Three hours and change until the radio installers were slated to come, an hour and a half until the diner opened for breakfast. "Assuming I can hold it down, you mean?" He looked at his hands - not shaking yet - and decided a longish walk might feel good, so off they went through the wet grass.
But even out here in the rain and the shadows, Taggart was having a hard time casting away from the dream. The grass, the spectral shadows, the menacing lightning out here, now...something just didn't feel right. Like the world inside his dream was the real one, and he was walking along inside a dream right now - and that feeling shook him up, big time. He looked to the left and saw a line of trees and he sighed, then shook his head.
"Sorry Clyde, I'm not buyin' it. Let's go take a shower, okay?"
They made it below just before a heavy rain came for them, and he slipped a pod into the coffee maker as he peeled off his wet foulies. He put them away in the heated closet under the companionway steps - which he thought was the greatest invention since sliced bread - before he walked aft to the head compartment. Wet clothes off and into the washing machine, and he threw all his other dirties in too and started the wash cycle. Robe on and back to the coffee maker, add some cream and sugar then back to the head - Clyde dutifully standing in the shower looking just like...a wet dog.
Water on, rinse the old boy down - and what the fuck is that on your back? It wasn't there yesterday? It felt like a cyst, only about two inches in diameter, and when he touched it Clyde flinched. He sat on the toilet while he soaped-up the pup, then he rinsed and dried Clyde before he got back under the warm water and let it beat down on his neck.
Once out he felt a chill run down his spine and shook his head. "Time for a sweater," he said to himself, then he put a bowl of puppy-kibble on the galley floor, and once his jacket was on again he went topsides to check all Bandits lines. With everything secure, he walked up to the diner just as the Open sign started blinking into the fading night.
Eggs and ham, some modest variation of potatoes and a cup of tea later, he settled up and walked back to the marina; he saw a woman standing by Time Bandits as he approached his slip, so he pretended not to notice and walked right on by. She stood there, motionless as he passed - so he walked to the end of the pier and back onto land. He went to a bench and sat, never taking his eyes off the woman. He looked at his watch; a half-hour until the installers were due - and he asked himself why he hadn't taken the goddam Sig out from under the pillow and brought it along?
And the rain hadn't let up even a little - and yet, there she stood, inert, almost like some kind of talismanic statue - beyond here there be dragons! - but all he could think to do was just keep watching her, maybe try to find out what she was up to at this time of the morning.
"Fuck it," he said as he stood and walked back down to his pier. Suddenly angry at the intrusion he walked right up to her and stopped with his face just inches from hers. "Can I help you?" he barked.
And beneath the raincoat and wide-brimmed hat, he found Eva's shivering face, tear-streaked and lonely.
He grabbed her and pulled her close, held onto her like he was clinging to life itself, then he helped her aboard and down below. She was cold, real cold, so he took her aft, got her out of her wet things and into the shower, then he joined her and held her close as she clung to him.
"Feeling better now?" he whispered, and he felt her nod. He ran his fingers through her hair then kissed her, then held her closer still.
"Right, I've got people coming round soon. Let's get you dried off and into bed; you look exhausted."
"As soon as I could break away from her I returned to the airport. It was almost impossible but here I am."
"Here you are. Yes, and we need to get you off your feet, too."
He toweled her dry and helped her under the covers - and Clyde hopped up on the bed and slipped under the covers too - then he went topsides and helped the installers get their gear aboard and down below. The old man came down and looked around the fuse panels and circuit breakers, then at the electrical runs he'd need to make.
"I must get longer runs of optical cable," he told Henry. "Tell me, is that the only music system you have onboard?" he asked, pointing to the radio mounted next to the chart table, shaking his head.
"Yeah?"
The old man, still shaking his head, climbed up into the morning and left.
Taggart worked with the installers throughout the morning, helping them place items where he needed them to go, running cables from the chart table to the engine room, and testing voltages before each new head unit was installed. The old man came back just before noon and ripped out the factory-installed radio, installing a Fusion unit at the chart table and a remote head in the cockpit, by the wheel. Then he changed out all the speakers. The results were spectacular, and the installers left before mid-afternoon; Taggart handed the old man his gold bar, and they both smiled at the results, then shook hands.
Taggart then went aft to check on Eva and Clyde, also finding he'd left his phone by the bed - muted - and now in desperate need of a charge. It turned out that Clyde needed a walk too, and Eva needed more sleep, so he leashed Clyde and they went topsides for a strafing run at the bushes, then a bombing run near the line of trees. That done, they made it back to Bandits before another wave of really heavy rain hit.
Taggart got his phone plugged in and several calls and voice mails from Dina popped-up on the main display; listening to them he heard a frantic litany of cries for help because, apparently, Eva had disappeared and Dina wanted to know what to do. He growled, slipped another pod in the coffee maker, then called her.
"Where have you been?" she shrieked. "Why haven't you returned my calls?"
"It turns out, Dina dearest, that Eva found her way back here."
"She...what?!"
"I'm sorry, is there a bad connection on your end?"
"No dammit, I heard what you said. Why didn't you let me know?"
"I didn't have my phone with me, and I've been busy with other matters."
"I see. Well, so Henry isn't alone after all. I suppose you are most happy with the way this has turned out?"
"The work we accomplished today turned out nicely, yes. Thanks for asking..."
But by then she'd cut off the call.
Ten minutes later the phone chirped and this call was coming from a throwaway phone he'd bought Rolf before he left.
"Hey, Buddy, what's up?"
"Henry, it is Dina. She is being very ugly, saying very mean things about you. What has happened?"
"Eva came here."
"Oh, thank goodness she is safe. Did she have trouble getting there?"
"Yes, I think so. What about you? How are you doing?"
"Me? I am okay. But I am very much worried about Grandma-ma. She is saying hurtful things..."
"Like what?"
"That it was a mistake to marry you, that she really never loved you, those kinds of things."
"Oh, don't worry about all that. I've known that pretty much all along."
"What? How do you think this is so?"
"She was trying to protect your mother, Rolf. I think she was afraid your mother would fall in love with me and try to leave, so she intervened."
"My God, Henry...if you knew this how come you went along with it?"
"Because Dina is basically a good person and I like her. But the main reason was I knew she'd feel more comfortable - and more in control - if she thought she had me under her control."
