“It’s exactly what I needed. It’s been a lot of fun, and I love all the islands. Speaking of which, I need to get back to it. See you at school.”
I saw that both Tracy and Pam had called and figured I’d better call my baby mama first.
“Why didn’t you call me sooner?” Pam pouted.
“My mom took my phone away. What’s up?” I asked.
“I need you to come home. My back hurts, and my feet ache,” she complained.
“Hang on,” I said, and three-wayed in my brother.
“Hey, Pam’s on the line with us,” I told Greg.
“Okay,” was my brother’s brilliant response.
“She needs a massage, and I was hoping you’d be able to work her in today.”
“Yeah, no problem. You’re paying in babysitting services, I hope.”
“Of course. Did you talk to Mom?” I asked.
“No, why?” Greg asked.
“She had some skin cancer removed last Friday. They say she’s fine, but you should call her,” I said.
There was a pause. I knew what Greg was thinking; I’d thought the same.
“Okay, I will. How’s your trip?”
“I wish you were here. It’s been great stress relief. We should do a guys’ week this summer.”
“I could use some guy-time,” Greg said. “I’ll call Mom, and I’ll be over in an hour to see you, Pam.”
Greg hung up.
“Better?” I asked.
“But I won’t get my happy ending.”
I snorted at the little hussy.
“If you ask, you might,” I said.
“Oh … but I want you.”
“I’ll be home on Sunday, and I promise to come see you.”
That seemed to make Pam happy.
I decided to text everyone else back and tell them I’d be home Sunday.
◊◊◊
Sophie had given us a list of activities available in Trinidad. Brook, Cassidy, and I combed through the list to see what we hadn’t done yet on our trip. Four items jumped out at us: jet skis, helicopter ride, pulled behind a boat while attached to a giant parachute, and horseback riding. The dads decided they would join us on the first two, but after that they had a couple of golf courses calling their names. The moms wanted to do the helicopter and horseback riding. They felt another trip to a day spa was in order as well.
We figured out the logistics for the next two days.
We decided to take the helicopter ride first. Sophie arranged for a cab to pick us all up and drop us off. It was kind of fun to be all riding together in the big taxi. Everyone was in high spirits, because our vacation adventure was ending, and everyone had seemed to draw even closer together because of the time we’d spent on the boat.
As the taxi drove off, we were suddenly accosted by five men ranging in age from fifteen to twenty-five. It was as if they appeared out of nowhere. They were dressed nicely enough for natives, but they looked meaner than hell. No, that wasn’t right. They looked like they didn’t care one way or another what happened.
“Give us your money,” the leader ordered.
“You might want to run away while you can,” Cassidy said, stepping forward.
She started that quiver she gets when she’s been given permission to hurt me. I don’t think I’d ever been so glad to see it as now. I took a step to her left so she could see me, but gave her enough room to act if needed. At the same time, I motioned for everyone else to get well behind us.
Ian began to step forward, looking every bit the blustery tourist. Luckily for him, Dad grabbed Ian’s arm, and forcibly pulled him back.
Their leader was visibly pissed that a girl would stand up to him. He motioned for his wingmen to start spreading out, which they did, and then he reached into his pocket. Our training kicked in. Cassidy didn’t give him a chance to pull out whatever it was. And I sure wasn’t going to give them the opportunity to surround us or to get between us and our loved ones. We both attacked at the same time and caught the thugs completely by surprise. Cassidy was a blur.
She stuck the heel of her foot into the leader’s temple. He stiffened with a sharp grunt, then keeled over and began to twitch.
I hooked the knee of my first opponent to unbalance him and then did a front kick to his chin, resulting in a sickening crack as his jaw broke. He didn’t do anything like fall back or stagger; he just dropped as blood gushed out of his mouth.
The other three froze for a moment, then one of them smiled evilly and pulled out a knife. I heard the ‘snick’ as the switchblade flipped open. He started advancing on me, twirling the blade in his hand, clearly thinking he had the upper hand. He also ignored Cassidy, apparently believing her putting his leader down was a fluke. That was a big mistake … BIG mistake!
His eyes might have had time to register a blur coming in on his right, and then there was a crack and two thuds. I was sure he didn’t see the hits, they were so fast; all he did was hear them.
