Desperado Dale (Scenic Route to Paradise) (14 page)

“Mind your own business, hag!” he shouted in
Greek although his face was only a few feet from hers. He jumped off the cab
footstep and waved vigorously, pointing up the road to Avliotes. Sam put the
truck into gear, starting forward as Karlo marched behind the truck toward Dale
and his accusers.

Thrump-thru-rump. And again, thrump-thru-rump!
Sam looked suspiciously at Bethania. The front right tire was flat. Looking
past her, Sam saw Karlo look briefly back at them but he continued toward Dale
and the others. “I need to check the tire,” he said to Bethania. She nodded.

They had gone but a dozen meters, not even on
the main thoroughfare yet. Sam pulled on the emergency brake and turned off the
engine.

The air was hissing to escape, as Sam inspected
the tire. A thin metal rod looking very much like a woman’s sturdy bobby pin
protruded from the tire valve. He pulled it free and the noise stopped. The
tire was not completely flat but it could not be driven upon. He looked at
Bethania. Her window was down. She was looking past him to the men standing
over Dale.

“The hand pump, it’s in the back. I put it
there, myself,” she told him.

He handed her the hairpin. “Yes, I saw you when
we stopped at lunch. I’ll get it and I’ll tell the girls to stay quiet,” he
replied as he started for the rear of the vehicle.

Dale stuck his head between his knees not
wanting to pass out.

Who knows what they’ll do to me if I blackout
?

Between kicks, Karlo asked Dale a number of
questions including why he had no paperwork.

“I told your
friends
here… I was robbed
in
Athens
and I came over here
hoping to find work in the vineyards. My papers are gone and the way things are
right now, I may never get it straightened out!” Dale gritted his teeth between
thoughts.

Karlo lit a cigarette, turning his back on
Dale’s beating. After some minutes he hailed Sam. “You! What are you doing with
that wheel? Come here!” Sam was actually procrastinating at Bethania’s orders.
The tire had been inflated but he was spinning it and fiddling with the
decrepit car jack, trying to look busy.

Slapping the sand from his greasy hands, Sam
came forward as Karlo’s companions hefted Dale up. They passed Karlo and Sam,
heading for the truck. The paisley scarf left in the dirt.

“Take him into town. We cannot… not now but we
want to talk to him some more. You know the tavern behind Georgios?” Karlo said
and then proceeded to give Sam directions. Sam nodded. He knew where it was.

As the sun was setting, making another gorgeous
horizon, a synagogue was burning in
Madrid
,
Damascus
was being leveled and three motorcycles headed
for a local restaurant in a northern town on the isle of Kerkyra.

Chapter 23  Winning the Lottery

     
  “Mac, you said to stay under the radar but you didn’t say I couldn’t
communicate at all!” Zeff said defensively while pulling his fingers through
his hair.
     
  Mac stood with arms folded just inches from the bulkier Zeff. Neither man
knew who would win a physical scuffle although at first glance, if the argument
came to blows, Mac looked the underdog.
     
  The entire boat heard his response as his voice was near to a shout. “You
gave away the farm!” The D’Almatan accent thickened beyond normal. “I don’t
care if it was Merry’s friend! Merry knows not to show every ace in her hand
but you…” spat Mac, turning to pace about the compact salon. Finally, Mac said,
“I am thankful the internet, cell phones and every other piece of modern
foolery has been down otherwise we would have some welcoming party tomorrow
when we arrive at the backdoor!”
     
  It was true that much of satellite communications had ceased some days
before. An EMP (electromagnetic pulse) had been used against
India
by
Pakistan
causing a temporary
blackout of satellite networking worldwide.
     
  “Okay, I get it!” replied Zeff hotly. “I’ll go in with Tino. Let me go.” Zeff
was afraid but he feared more his own wimpish behavior. He knew he was selfish
and spoiled; the realization unfolded before him as he traveled with selfless
Mac and the
Serendipity
crew and yet, he faced his self-interest
indifferently. Being chicken-hearted was another story.
     
 
Am I really a coward? Si, es verdad!
     
  The last months traveling from
Mexico
and now arriving at the Grecian Island of
Kerkyra had been a love/hate journey of self revelation. Without the money,
family notoriety and intellectual pride that had buoyed him for his first
thirty years, Zeff found he was actually weak and morally shallow.
     
  Tino and Junior had fled the salon where a meeting was being held for
tomorrow night’s incursion onto Kerkyra. They went opposite directions once the
information came forth that Zeff and Tina had been corresponding. Only Zeff who
had naively mentioned the email texts was in the dark about Mac’s explosive
response.
     
  “Oh? I send you with Tino and now both of you get captured and tortured. That
is a great suggestion!” huffed Mac.
     
  At the word ‘tortured,’ Zeff’s eyebrows shot up.
     
 
Sí. Okay. I am a coward but I will go anyway.
     
  Zeff could not fake his typically proud stance before Mac any longer. “I’m
sorry. I think perhaps I should go alone. You need Tino.” Zeff labeled himself
as Mac’s right hand man but the truth was Tino did the job of three men while
Zeff was only three-quarters seaman.
     
  Mac didn’t want to send either man to do a job that he, himself could do
quickly and efficiently. He couldn’t go. Neither man could sail the boat to
D’Almata. The final two hundred miles would be the trickiest because of
international skirmishes erupting in open waters.
     
  Mac stopped pacing. Standing before Zeff he said quietly, “In the old days, I
would just throw you over the poopdeck but we are short on crew. Besides, I
like you
and
you are not ready to meet your Maker. So, I’ll send you
ashore. If you return – good. If not, I’ll pray for your soul.”
     
  Relieved, Zeff felt like he had won the lottery. Later as he lay his head on
his pillow, he wondered about his joyful response to throw himself into danger
to regain Mac’s approval. His own psychology training reminded Zeff that he was
human to the core; his hope for acceptance and appreciation were embedded and
one within the heart of man... within his own heart.
   
    Closing his eyes, Zeff would have fallen into a restless sleep except he
saw words written in gold lettering parading across his imagination:
   
   
Your regard the esteem of mere men... this Malak of D’Almata, and not Me?
Fear rather Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell!
   
    Mystified, Zeff open and closed his eyes once again trying to recapture the
mental marquee.
Forgetting where he was, he sat up banging the cabin overhead. He
recalled that Mac was above deck on watch, Zeff pulled on his shorts and
grabbed up his Spanish Bible. Rubbing the growing bump on his forehead, he went
up in search of Mac and the God he served.
   

Chapter 24  
Ridiculous!

It can be said that Kerkyra is more ethnically
diverse than mainland
Greece
. Avliotes is typical of that diversity. Invaders, conquerors and
foreign cultures had overtaken the city many times. Because of their history,
the citizens had evolved into a sturdy group. They would not be easily defeated
militarily again. On that note, it could be said that the town’s people
understood the mounting threat of the battle within personified by the New Dawn
agents. Most of the people resisted their flatteries and veiled threats but as
always, there were an influential few who either from fear or desire for
personal gain joined with evil, like human cells siding with an encroaching
cancer.

Leaving Dale and the little girls at Sam’s
business connection’s warehouse, Bethania and Sam went to the bar behind Georgios.
Together they went in. The tavern was the typical island style of white
plastered walls and low ceiling with dark wooden beams running the length of
the big room. Even in better times, this establishment had never been a tourist
attraction. Avliotes was inland and the tourist spots were not the same as the
locals’ hangouts. There were a dozen or more men drinking and gambling. In
difficult economic times, men drank and gambled still.

A quick study of the room showed there were no
agents dressed in ominous black as the riders of the café racers had been. Sam
went to the bar and asked about the men.

You mean Karlos? No, he isn’t here.

Seemingly, nothing came of their trembling
appearance at the seedy saloon behind Georgios.

Debating with some heat from both Bethania and
Sam, they returned to the warehouse. Their discussion covered the topic of the
Jewish Messiah. Sam had never associated with orthodox Jews. His family was the
moderate sort who stood proudly Jewish with other westernized, politically
liberal Jews. These were relative moralist similar to other group-types like
American motorcycle gangs who when separated from their bros’ wouldn’t stand
for anything except to facilitate a run for cover. Since Biblical times, every
generation of Jew eventually came to the crossroad of truth. The decision to
stand and take their medicine as the whipping boy of humanity or slink away
into hopeful obscurity was the epiphany point. For a Jew to choose Jesus as
Messiah in Sam’s mind was like being bludgeoned to death only to be resurrected
to be beaten again… Neither Christians nor Jews were very popular at the
moment. Sam saw no benefit in identifying with Christians as a group or
especially with their celebrated leader – Jesus the Jew!

Its not that Sam didn’t believe in a sovereign
God, he did. The problem with Sam and many other young Jews was his inability
to reconcile a loving and so-called merciful God with what he processed as
reality.

If our God is real, the one true God then why
has He scattered us throughout the globe? Why are we persecuted? It’s obvious
that Jews have the corner on both wealth and genius; even our dissenters
acknowledge the facts! And yet, our weaknesses - our underbelly is always
revealed and while our leaders plan for peace, our God allows war. Everyone
loses but the Jews lose most!

Sam had explained his conclusions to Bethania
and she laughed softly. “You sound like our prophet Ezekiel from the
scriptures,” she said. “Our God tells the prophet that
Israel
will be scattered into
the nations but He – God will be a holy place for them. God is the Jews’
refuge! He will use them to establish His own purposes and He will show the
weakness of our ethnic pride…”

“Enough! Bethania your scriptural knowledge is
beyond me. I really don’t remember reading these ideas,” said Sam but he
wondered how his thoughts could be found pre-recorded in ancient texts that he
had never read.
Instead of allowing for a sovereign God... the God of the
Jews, Sam groped about for another explanation-

Was there a universal amoeba mind allowing osmosis
thought to meld the mental processes of humanity?

Ridiculous!

Chapter 25   A Short Time Ago

“You know, Anna,” began Jellybean in her
scratchy voice. “Your beautiful island and your interesting ancient history have
made such an impression on me. I think I should put more than a token
smattering of Greek recipes in my heirloom cookbook.”

The women were driving through Avliotes after
dropping Guppo at his family home on the western extremity of town. His mother
was excited about seeing her son but not as happy as he was to see her. Also,
she had no notion he had gone missing from her eldest daughter’s house two days
previous and so had not been anxious for the boy. Guppo for his part had left
word with the other geese herder, that he was catching a ride home with the
Americans.

Three days before when Anna drove into
Evangelos, Tina – not surprised but overjoyed nonetheless to see her cousin,
had a house full of children. With the addition of the Klein children, Liraz
and Adi, Tina had 20 orphans. All the children were either homeless or without
immediate family on Kerkyra.

After greeting and eating some lunch, Tina had
explained, “It has become a real operation as you might imagine!” She laughed
nervously, “I never planned this but it reminds me of what happened to you and
Dale in Philly when neighbors found out you took in stray Pits,” she said to
Anna. Dale and Anna had taken in a Pitbull puppy left abandoned on the sidewalk
and then they took in another that had been left tied to a streetlight, finding
suitable homes for both. Meanwhile word got out that Dale was rescuing
Pitbulls… There was a time when they had 17 dogs about their property. Only
after they moved across town when Gwyneth was born did people stop dropping
unwanted Pitbulls into their yard in the middle of the night.