The Waiting Room
~ Chapter Six
One Little Monkey
“Please,
Mort. Stop before you hurt yourself.” Axel rushed to the desk
just
as Mort went down for the third time. When his head hit the desk he
stayed down.
“I don’t even want to look at them
anymore.”
he thought to himself. With his head still on the desk he quietly
pulled the desk drawer open, slipping the bottle out and bringing it
between his legs under the desk.
He tugged at the cork,
releasing it from the bottle with a soft popping sound. Sparrow did a
one-eighty turn on his heel, his eyes narrowed in Mort’s
direction.
“Ye do have a bottle, and ye not be sharing. Not a fair way
to play the game, I’d say. Now be a good little Morty and
share
with me hearties. We’d be wanting to drink up too ye know?
The ale
is getting a bit on the stale side.”
He began to advance
towards Rainey. With a curse, Mort threw the bottle back into the
drawer and slammed it shut. The sudden sound brought Lerner to his
feet, cocking his M-16, shouting “Halt or I’ll
shoot” except it
was in Vietnamese and no one understood what he said.
Sands
had heard the automatic weapon and instinctively pulled his own
weapon again, unsure where to aim. BonBon and Ichabod had been
standing in his direct fire and each let out their own girlish
screams running to opposite corners. The CIA agent followed the cries,
disgusted that they were emotionally falling apart.
“Jesus!”
Sands threatened, “Will you two cry-babies stop the water
works
before we all drown in here or before I shoot one of you!”
“Shoot-her” came a slow, southern drawl.
“Shut
up, Mort!” came a chorus of voices that shouted back at the
man at
the desk, his face hidden beneath a black brimmed hat.
“Cease
this instant!” Victor shouted above the din. He slapped a
small
riding whip into his hand, and began pacing about the room.
“We
need to concentrate. We need to work together to get out of here. The
longer we stay here the less chance we have of being heard from
again. You!” He pointed the whip in Sparrow’s
direction.
Jack’s
body lulled around to look behind him but saw no one there. He
circled back to face the Cuban, his brow furrowed, his lips pursed,
as he pointed to himself.
“Yes, you! Senior Barrie brings
us news from the outside and tells me that you have the best chance
of getting out soon.” Sparrow's eyebrows arched in surprise,
then
his wicked little gold-filled pirate smile smirked across his face.
“Well, in that case,” he sidled up in front of
Victor,
both hands gesturing, pointing in his direction, barely standing on
two feet, “I’ll be sure to parlay on your behalf.
Or say hello to
your Aunt Fanny, which ever ye would be preferring.” He
managed to
turn around and headed back to the bar.
“Let’s celebrate
me upcoming freedom! Barkeep, drinks on the house fer me friends
here!”
“The drinks are already free here, Sparrow.”
Jack spun around to face the crowd, giving them an evil eye,
but could not decipher who had said it. As he turned back to the bar
those nearby could hear him mumble, “That’s Captain
Jack Sparrow”
He downed a drink, slamming the empty glass to the bar.
“I
can’t be leaving without that monkey!” He called
out.
“Oh,
about the monkey,” Barrie took a small step towards the
Captain.
Jack turned to face the Scotsman, his eyes narrowed to slits as
he waited for Barrie’s words.
“Someone by the name of
Shelley has it.”