The plane touched down to a soft landing in the early evening hours. Dusk had settled on the tropical island that was a haven for those wanting the security of the British Empire around them and the gentle warmth that prevails over most of the Caribbean. It was a private airstrip used only by those with permission to be there. It was at the far west end of the island beyond what is known as Nine Mile Beach. Set among the swaying palm trees and lush plants was the compound that had become the center of operations for what was loosely called "The Group”.
Descending the aircraft gangway, small electric golf carts rolled up with a driver and security officer hanging onto the back of each running board, armed with both a side arm and small shoulder automatic weapon. Black jump suits seemed to be the accepted attire of these men who never stopped moving their eyes, covering every direction of the compass. The golf carts whipped off the ramp and headed up a small lane with ground lighting and just wide enough for the carts, which curved up a half mile to the main house.
Sir Charles stood on the steps awaiting our arrival. Fists on his hips, chest out, chin up. He was a tall and extremely thin with a deep tan and a full head of silver gray hair fashionably styled. His loose fitting tropicals of khaki tan, made him look more like a big game hunter or tour guide than the single most important person in the world in regards to the alien "phenomena and visitation”. They needed to just start calling it what it was: Invasion.
Ellen was the first he embraced as she got off the cart. From where I sat in the third cart, it looked stiff and almost like cardboard characters touching each other. Harv was next with a handshake and gentle slap on the back by Sir Charles and then I stepped forward.
"Dr. Humphrey. ” He sized me up like a lion he was hunting in the savannah. "I have heard a lot about you. Greetings and welcome to my humble piece of paradise. ” Sir Charles appraised me with his eyes quickly and extended his hand. The grip was strong for a man his age and even though his face was wrinkled and burnt from years in the tropics, his eyes were vital and alive. I could tell that immediately they were the eyes of a hunter,
"The pleasure is all mine, Sir Charles. ” I answered and saw the two Sepoys coming down the steps.
"We’ll see if that is the case or not. ” Sir Charles turned at their approach. "If you and Dr. Gilpsen will go with my men they will arrange baths and changes of clothes for you before dinner which will be in an hour or so. My daughter and I have some things to talk about and I am sure you will both understand. ”
He turned without another word and put an arm around Ellen who stiffened at his touch and they walked off the steps toward another house set back in the vegetation to the north of the main complex.
"Come sir. ” One of the Hindu Sepoys took my arm gently and guided me up the stairs onto the large porch of the colonial style house, as I watched her walk away with Sir Charles.
"Welcome to Fantasy Island. ” Harv said in a Spanish Ricardo Montaban voice. "The only thing we need now is Herve Valachez yelling, 'da plane, da plane! ’ for Christ sakes. ”
I would have appreciated the humor almost any other time, but he had noted that as they got closer to this place Ellen had grown more edgy and now watching her walk with her father gave me cold chills down my spine.
# # # # if
The rooms were like something out of a fine travel magazine. They opened out onto their own verandas with views of the sea through the trees. The large glass doors provided fresh air to circulate through and the fans built into the ceiling provided the right ambiance for the setting. A mosquito net hung around the four-poster bed and the room was filled with tropical nostalgia including a glass-framed picture of Hemingway standing next to a swordfish. It looked like the real thing. The Sepoy had laid out all new clothes, including a soft tropical two-piece suit that was the most desirable considering the heat and humidity. Showering and shaving, I dressed and looked at myself in the long mirror in a heavy wooded frame. The fit of the suit was perfect and I saw Ellen’s reflection on the veranda. She wore a thin yellow flowing dress that accented her figure and made her hair stand out with a rare beauty.
"Are you alright? ” I asked gently.
"I’m fine. I’ll be better as soon as we’re on that airplane and away from here. ” She walked in and sat on the end of my bed, looking up at me while I took a cigarette from a case and lit it.
"You don’t like him much, do you? ” I turned while blowing smoke toward the fan and watched it circulate into invisibleness.
"My mother died when I was fourteen when we lived in London. My mother was American and met Sir Charles, who was just General Charles Montgomery at that time, when she was in England doing research at Oxford into the principals of nuclear reactions before the war. Anyway, after she died, it was expected that I take on the role of the lady of the house. A teenage girl that had to make sure dinner parties were arranged, seating charts done, guests occupied with the right wines and foods. So I didn’t have much of the formative period that most kids get to go through. I was a responsible adult by the time I was sixteen and then we moved here, where everything was done by someone else, and my time was spent in close proximity to my father who had acquired power and responsibility for The Group. He was always near me. ” She paused and looked at me and I stared back at her with grave concern. Ellen read my mind.
"No, no! Don’t get the wrong idea. He never touched me in that way. He’s much too dignified for that sort of father/daughter relationship. Hell, I thought he was much too dignified to touch anyone, ever. But he watched me all the time. I met a boy from one of the small coastal towns when I was seventeen. His father ran a fishing boat out of one of the small villages down the coast. We would meet and walk on the beach, talk about the future and all the things young people do. One day he wasn’t there anymore. His father’s boat was gone, the family had moved and he hadn’t even left me a note or anything. I was crushed but when you’re young you get over things like that. But when it happens more than once, you start to wonder if no one is good enough for you in your father’s eyes.
"In college, he had one of his guys, ” she motioned outside to a guard that was walking around the deck, "watching me all the time, so when I finished and went to work for the agency I had some degree of freedom. Then Harv hired me. I was sure it was at my father’s insistence, but Harv is like the bad uncle everyone doesn’t want in their family, but has. Harv would tell him only part of what I was doing and then
distort it in my favor. It became our inside joke. Then you came into my life and everything gets misconstrued again. I wanted to be close to you, but was fearful that if I did you would end up going away. Now here we are and I’m afraid for Harv, that something is going to happen to him. ” She looked out the window at the sea and I looked out, too, not sure what to say.
"Dinner, sir, is served. ” The Sepoy had gently knocked and then opened the door. Seeing Ellen he bowed deeply. "With all apology for interrupting, but Sir Charles is waiting for both of you downstairs. ”
I crushed out my cigarette and Ellen stood up looking at the beach in the distance. "I used to swim nude in the moonlight. It was as if I was getting away with something. ” She walked over to me not taking my offered arm as we descended the steps to the main floor.
"Do be careful. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. ” She said.
"I always am. ”
But I wasn’t very convinced.