#118: Henry Drake - And Your Point Is?

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“So how’d that happened and who got her?” Henry asked. Bob was one HARD man from the looks of it. He pitied the ones who’d kidnapped his wife. Henry didn’t figure that they would die easy but he was damn certain that they would die. Bob would see to it if they didn’t kill him first.

Henry might just have a little bit to say about that. He could probably even the numbers up some.

Bob was still talking. He was pretty drunk.

“I should have KNOWN dammit.” he grumbled “There was something damn suspicious about the way her pa died and her mother too. It happened after those druggies moved in.”

“Drugs?” Henry asked..that did NOT sound good.

“Yeah...” Bob slurred his words...he wouldn’t be awake much longer. “at first I didn’t think much about it. Who cares if someone smokes a little weed. I’ve never done it but I could give a damn less if other people do.”

“Then one day they tried to get my little Angel to do drugs.” Bob was going fast...his head was almost touching the table.

“She wouldn’t have any part of it.” he said “That girl is fiesty and knows how to fight. I taught her. She tossed three of them in the water then kicked the last one so hard he’s probably still squeaking in soprano.”

Then Bob’s head hit the table...he was OUT.

“Huh.” I’d have like to see that” Henry wasn’t in all that much better shape than Bob was. He WAS in good enough shape to see to security. It didn’t take much, only a few thoughts to Fluffy by way of his neural interface. The deck grew a roof...walls..and became water tight. Nothing much could get to them underwater. Fluffy submerged.

About the same time that Henry’s head hit the table too.

The two old vets...snored.

Next ’morning’

“That smells good” Bob said when he regained consciousness. “What is it?”

“Bacon and coffee” Henry said “want some?”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Bob replied “ You’ll make someone a pretty good wife.”

“NOT LIKELY” Henry replied. “I’ve been a bachelor my whole life. At my age I’m not likely to change.”

“That’s what I thought” Bob told him “Angel thought otherwise. That gal is a force of nature. When she get’s something in her head nothing can stop her.”

“So what’s your plan?” Henry asked him.

“I’m tracking her.” Bob said. “I know where they are When I catch them I’m gonna kill the ones that took her.”

‘How are you tracking them?” Henry asked. “Boats don’t leave a trail.”

“I got a drone.” Bob said. “I’m kind of a techie myself...it comes with being a prepper. I send the drone WAY HIGH in the air and I can see where they are. I’ve been following them for days.”

“How are you keeping up?” Henry asked. “Can Bob go as fast as a Cabin Cruiser?”

“ Not quite but Bob is not as slow as you’d think. Bob is electric, it’s got tons of the best batteries I could find, in a trough below the waterline that runs from stem to stern. See those solar panels on his roof? When the sun shines, that keeps em charged, he can really get up and go.”

“I’ve been following them. I’ll send the drone up...get a bearing...go like hell for a while...and do it again. They ain’t going very fast, skeered of running out of fuel I guess and they don’t travel at night. Landlubers I bet. Skeered of running in the dark.” Bob said.

“I notice a while back that they changed course. They almost made a right angle turn. That’s why you didn’t see them go by. I’m cutting across the angle. I figure I’ll catch them pretty soon.”

“I’m with you there” Henry told him “Perhaps I can help.”

Thank you kindly.” Bob said “ I could use it.”

“One more thing” Henry said

“What that?” Bob replied

“ You haven’t finished your story.” Henry grinned. “You left out a bunch.”

“Yeah I did.” Bob told him. “here’s what happened.”

“After her mom died Angel moved in with me on BOB.” Bob continued his story “ None of the old timers that had lived there a long time thought nothing about it. The new crowd thought otherwise. One of them called Child Protective Services. Something about Child Abuse.”

“I’ve heard of CPS” Henry said “nothing good.”

“You got that right” Bob looked like he wanted to spit. “They sent a Harpy to take my gal away from me. I wasn’t having it. I told her to go away. She did, then came back with some goons. They said they was taking her whether I liked it or not. I told them the hell they were. Over my dead body. They said they could arrange that then Angel appeared out of nowhere with one of my guns point right at them. They decided that day wasn’t the day.”

“They told me they’d see me in court.” He did spit this time “ They begin to wage ‘law-fare’ against me. They figured I didn’t have any money to pay for lawyers. Angel fooled them again. Her folks had a stash in their boat. Pretty big one too. They’d brought a pretty good chunk of change with them when they (legally) immigrated. Over the years they’d added to it. I used it to pay the lawyers. We fought the CPS to a standstill, but that wasn’t all.”

“What next?” Henry asked.

“When Angel come of age she asked me to marry her.” Bob grinned. “ I accepted of course. We invited the CPS to the wedding. They declined. Angel had a birth certificate and it was as legal as church. The CPS couldn’t do a thing.” he finished.

“So how’d they kidnap her?” Henry asked.

“The water was rising pretty good by then.” Bob said “Didn’t bother us though. We lived on a boat. It bothered the druggies a lot. One day a big cabin cruiser showed up to gather them all up. It seems it was a pretty big drug operation. They were smuggling the stuff in and warehousing it near where I lived. That explained a lot.”

“ I guess it did.” Henry agreed. “what happened next?”

“The CPS Harpy was on the boat. When they arrived me and Angel was frolicking and playing in the water. They slipped up close and we didn’t see them. They grabbed Angel while I was in the water. When I come out I put up a pretty good fight but there were too many of them. They won.” Bob said

“The evil bastards didn’t kill me outright. The damn fools wanted me to suffer. They tied a heavy weight to my leg. They’d made damn sure that I couldn’t untie it. They partly melted the knot. It was a nylon rope. They didn’t tie my hands. They wanted me to struggle until I drowned. I put on a good show. I’d splash around a lot then go under, then I’d come up for air and struggle some more. They got a big kick out of it. Any time I got too close to the dock one of the goons pushed me away with a boat hook. Finally I went under for good. ” He said.

“It appears that you survived” Henry said “How’d you manage that?

“I fooled ‘em.” Like I said earlier I got a fake leg. It’s the latest thing from the VA. Cybernetic they said. Well it needs a battery to power the damn thing and the battery is in a little compartment behind a door. One day I slammed my leg against something hard and it kinda mess up the little door. I hammered it back into shape as best I could but it still had a jagged edge. They missed that. When I was underwater I bent over and rubbed the rope against that edge. Finally I cut the rope.
I can hold my breath a long time...not near as long as Angel but pretty good for a white guy.” he said.

“The water was kinda murky so they couldn’t see me when I was down. When I went under for the last time I swam underwater to BOB. I climbed up into him from the other side. They couldn’t see me. I’d planned on getting a gun. When I came back out on the deck they were half way to the horizon. As soon as they were out of sight I took out after them.”

“And that brings us to now” Henry said.

“Yup it do” Bob agreed.

Henry quit grinning. Well let’s see what I can do to help you out. “here..put this on.”

“What is it?” Bob looked at the neuro-loop that Henry held out to him.

“Trusssssst me.” Henry hissed. Trying to imitate a snake. “You’re rilly, rilly gonna like this. Mind the sting.”

Bob put it on. “Yup..it stings...now what can it dooooooooo”

He opened his eyes in surprise.

“To tell the truth I dunno what ALL it can do.” Henry told him. “A whole lot more than what I know that’s for sure. But I can tell you what I DO know... and I have an instruction manual and some build plans to help us if we need it, and I’ll help you get your wife back if you’ll have me.”

“I could definitely use some help, like I said.” Bob admitted. “It’ll be dangerous.”

“And your point is?” Henry had been aching to use that comeback ever since he’d heard a kid say it a looong time ago.

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The Previous Episode was
#117: Naomi - Release the Guilt…
The First Episode was
# 1 : Prologue…
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Book One: SoulStone
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