I can't sleep a wink. I feel the responsibility crushing me. I keep agonizing over whether my return to Kongkea or the Sorceress's takeover would be worst case scenario for the Island nation.
Now as I watch the clock digits turn to morning, I know what I have to do. I just pray to any god out there that whatever happens Mitch never regrets his decision and never grows to hate me.
"Morning Is, you must have slept well after the excitement you never woke me up last night." Mitch comments as he climbs down from his top bunk.
I cringe knowing I promised not to lie but hating it is going to make him worry. "I actually don't think I slept at all last night. I was too anxious about today. There are so many things that could go wrong. I mean somehow, we both have to get off this boat and to your brothers without getting shot and killed or caught which would just delay the killed and change the method." I sigh wearily, "do you have any brilliant ideas?"
"Simplest answer is the best?" Mitch questions shrugging, "We can try to blend into the crowd of passengers disembarking? Although they watch those points pretty closely specifically to keep us from doing just that. Maybe we could get away with it though, ya know since they wouldn't be able to shoot us in the crowd?"
"Let's call that the 'surrender ourselves to their mercy' plan. They might not be able to shoot us, but you know all they would have to do is walk up behind us in the crowd and place a 'friendly' hand on our shoulder and we would be at their mercy, of which they have none." I sigh rubbing my temple hating my plan more and more.
"I have never asked Is, but you have all those fancy mind tricks I have seen you use on passengers, Why don't you ever use them on the staff?" Mitch asks gently and I know he has to have been wondering for a while.
"I was in a bad way when I came into their employ," I mutter unable to believe I am admitting this to him, "I was hooked on something nasty and made a mistake by thinking I could trust one of them. I asked him to help me get clean. Of course, to have enough power over me to force me clean I had to give him a tool to make him immune to my 'mind tricks' as you called them. It's a different tool than I gave you, generally it is less foolproof so if I needed to, I could fight back against him. Problem is for each person in an area I need to fight against the difficulty grows exponentially. He betrayed me and now everyone on staff has the tool, and now I would burn out before getting anywhere."
"Oh, I'm sorry Is, I didn't mean to..." Mitch trails off as I wave my hand brushing away his apology.
"I should have told you much sooner. It doesn't stop us from fighting them but even with your improvements and my skills..." Now it is my turn to trail off as he shakes his head. We both know we don't have the manpower or weaponry to outplay the guards I don't need to say it.
We sit in silence a moment both thinking hard. Finally, I sigh. I had hoped we would come up with something better than my plan from my sleepless night.
"If you are up to it, we could jump off the boat and swim from here instead of waiting until we dock." I sigh hating my plan more as I hear it out loud, "We are near enough to port that the man-overboard alarms should be turned off to prepare for docking and with all the docking preparations the staff's attention should be on the front and sides of the boat where the normal disembark points are. If we manage to slip to the back and jump into the water really stupidly close to the engines, then security might not notice. If we are lucky that is. I think the shadows and the boat's wake will make us harder to see... It will also make it harder for us to swim though. but best case if no one sees us the staff might not notice we've fled until tomorrow when they come to move us to the next ship."
Mitch stares seemingly equal parts shocked and considering, "What about once we reach the docks? They have an army of dudes with guns, and we will be a bit conspicuous if we climb on to the dock far from any other passengers and dripping wet... besides we will have to search the crowd right near this boat's dock to find my brothers... Do you think we can honestly do it?" Mitch sounds cautious but not afraid.
I find myself feeling a wave of pride wash over me as I hear him reason out the potential issues with my plan, the Brady who ran away from Kongkea would never have analyzed my idea like this. I shake my head focusing my thoughts on the issue at hand once more.
"Honestly, I don't know but it's the best plan I can come up with. Ideally, we would be able to change the meeting place but that would require us meeting up with them... which doesn't change the problem. If we were allowed off the boat today maybe I could slip them a message, but..." I shake my head once again cutting off saying what we both know that it would be the same punishment whether I was trying to pass a note or escape.
Mitch nods a grim look on his face. "Risks have to be taken to reap rewards... Are you sure me returning to Kongkea is worth this risk? We could die today if we try this."
"You have to return. The island will die without you." I feel weary down to my very bones "Good news is the guys on the dock with guns might not be immune to my 'mind tricks' so I might be able to pull off some miracles."
Mitch nods then an anxious look settles on his face, "Is, I don't think I am ready for them to know how much I have changed. I don't want them to have any leverage to learning about this arrangement we have been living under... can... can we keep this place a secret? I would rather them think I flaked on them to have fun cruising around the world than know the truth." His shoulders sag
"Mitch," I breathe out, "Are you sure? that is a lot to hide."
"Yeah. I am sure." He looks me in the eye, and I see his determination, "I don't want them to know about all this. And you have shown me the value of being underestimated... Also, I want to know if they actually want the Brady they knew back or if they only want me to appease the Island's magic, ya know?"
I nod understanding I have felt that same desire many times, I hope it turns out better for Mitch and that they actually want him not just what he represents.
"We are running out of time though so we will have to work out details later," Now that the decisions have been made, I am up and throwing our essentials into waterproofed bags, "For now I will follow your lead and switch to calling you Brady around them it should help, once we get a minute we can iron it out into a profile like we would with any other alias. You did well with fooling the passengers your people should be no different especially since it isn't a completefabrication."
I stand and hand Mitch his pack as he grabs his guitar, "Ready for one more impossible adventure before we dumb you down?"
"Always with you Is." Mitch smiles and we head out the door keeping our heads down and avoiding cameras the best we can until we reach the rear of the boat.
I double check for cameras, as we step to the railing. Peering around the edge of the boat I can make out the outlines of the docks bustling with life and crime, even a polished dock like this one built for cruise lines can't hide its true colors from someone who knows where to look.
I look once more at Mitch and he nods; no more words are needed now. Then we place climb over the railing, grasp hands, and plunge feet first into the roiling sea below praying for a miracle.