Leanna O’Regan ran her hands over her slicked over her scalp and squeezed the sea water out as she continued to run them through the length behind her head and back. With her arms up, she looked warily across the interior of the round, cone-shaped orange inflatable life raft at the young, thin blonde man sitting across from her. He was looking at her, with a slight smile on his face and shifting his sitting position with the waves that lifted the raft gently. Leanna immediately dropped her arms down over her chest, shifting uncomfortably on her side of the raft, folding her bare legs under her. She pulled uncomfortably on her still wet t-shirt with the red piping and her white Adidas shorts with blue stripes.

Leanna looked away from the young man, out through the open entrance of the life raft, seeing the expanse of water that continued to the horizon. The sky was turning dark blue, wisps of clouds glowing pink and orange in the setting sun. She looked back at the young man, his pale face sweating and his light-grey uniform just as wet as her t-shirt and shorts. “I’m hot… could you open the windows, Lucky?”

Lucretius stood up, unsteady on the raft’s fabric floor and stepped over to one of the clear plastic windows in the walls of the raft. “They don’t open, I think. There are vents in the roof… maybe I can roll them up to open them.” He reached up, swaying on his tip-toes to gather the flaps over the vents near the point in the covered raft’s roof. He took off his uniform’s jacket and dropped it to the floor, revealing that he was wearing a white sleeveless undershirt. He sat back down again, and quickly rubbed his short blonde hair with this hands, making it stand up on the top of his head where it was longer. “There… does that help? You’re not kidding it’s hot in here.”

Leanna relaxed a bit as she felt the cold ocean breeze flow through the raft, and she lightly closed her eyes. “What a nightmare of a day. First I get wind that Rosa is in trouble and I try to bring her to safety-“

“Rosa’s in trouble?” Lucretius asked, alarmed. “Is Theo with her?”

“Rosa and your son are safe. Arfie is with them, and they are under the protection of a good friend,” Leanna said, here eyes still closed. She let her arms drop down to her lap, and her dark brown eyes snapped open again, glaring at Lucretius. “What were you doing on that ship? What do you know about Dante Valderez?” she demanded.

Lucretius bit his upper lip and answered nervously, “I… I was assigned to it, as part of the draft to the Southeast Asiatic War. I didn’t have a choice… I don’t really know why I ended up there. It’s a secret battle station, I don’t know too much about it other than my duties and my living quarters.” Lucky’s face lit up, saying, “Isn’t it amazing, though! It’s huge! There are over a dozen deck levels, and it is capable of reconfiguring the shape of its hull. It’s a technical marvel for 1977.”

“It’s also clearly a warship that is firing guided missiles on the citizens the military is supposed to protect,” Leanna said sharply. “You men and your toys and war games!”

Lucky looked down and said quietly, “Like I said, I didn’t choose the assignment. I’m just glad I’m not fighting in the SEA War. I’m bothered to see that it’s firing on American targets. That wasn’t right to attack Ojai. That General Thompson is a real jerk. He’s nuts.”

“And Dante Valderez?” Leanna asked sharply.

“I don’t know much about Dante,” Lucky offered, “That was the most I’ve seen of him when he brought you to the bridge. I heard he was a war hero in Europe and fought a couple years ago in the Southeast Asiatic War. I think that’s where he was injured in battle and now has to wear that oxygen mask and tank all the time. Wow, wasn’t his face a mess! You saw it up close…” Lucky shuddered and ran his hand across his jaw and rubbed his nose.

Leanna continued to stare at Lucretius, who was still looking away from her, out the raft entrance across the water. She asked in a steady voice, “So why did you follow us off the bridge?”

“I saw it was you, and I was wondering why you were impersonating Rosa. Is Rosa in trouble because of your involvement in the California Independence Movement?” Lucky asked.

Leanna didn’t answer his question, but instead asked another one, “Did you hear what Dante was saying to me? You obviously didn’t go back to the bridge.”

“No, I was too far away. You looked angry and scared at whatever it was he was telling you.” Lucky answered. “What did he say?”

Leanna ignored his question again, mulling over his response. She then asked, “Why did you try to come save me and throw this life raft overboard? You had no reason to believe I survived the fall.”

Lucky’s face contorted and his face turned red, “Well don’t think it was because I cared about you! I want to know that my wife – ex-wife, OK – and son were OK!”

Leanna jumped across the raft from her calm sitting position and slapped the young man across the face, shouting at him, “I don’t believe a word you’re saying! General Thompson sent you after me! Now, stop lying to me, because take a good look outside this raft and wake up! No one is going to find us! We’re good as dead!”

Enraged, Lucretius shouted back at Leanna, “Me stop lying? How about you? What did you tell Rosa to make her leave Ojai?”

“Ha! I told her to trust me, and she did,” Leanna growled and stood up in the middle of the life raft and then softened her stance. “Well, since neither of us have anything to lose anymore, I think I will tell you what I haven’t even told Rosa yet,” she said and sat back down opposite the red-faced young man.

“Rosa is the sole heir to the Jardine fortune, a fortune large enough to fund a new nation. Dante Valderez is out to take her rightful inheritance!”

*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***