Part 459: The Attack on Turboshaft

3:17 pm

Seth slowly woke up from his nap. He leaned over toward the nightstand to see what time it was. It was in the middle of the afternoon. He had to admit he enjoyed a life of a rock star. He partied most of the night, and during the day, he set up record deals and even worried about where his next music video would be filmed. The lead singer then looked around, seeing his wife Tanya on the nearby desk in the hotel suite. She was typing away on her lap top computer. “How is your MY Space profile coming?” he asked.

“I have to keep my fans happy.” She giggled.

Seth stood up and removed his shirt. He calmly walked over to the dresser and placed on a fresh one. The blonde woman stared at her husband with nothing but love in her eyes. Seth smirked as he combed his hair. “What’s that look all about?” he asked.

“Did you ever think you would have this life, rock star?” she asked.

“Actually, I didn’t,” he said, walking over to her, “But Fate let me to Charlie who had the connections. Now . . .Turboshaft is my dream made, reality.”

“You don’t know how happy that makes me.” Tanya said, standing up and hugging him.

“I know you’ve been patient with me, and I’ve loved every second spending this life with you.”

“I’ve been living vicariously through you, Sethie.” She giggled.

“I know that but I also know you weren’t prepared for this life. That’s why I wanted to make it up to you.”

Tanya slowly parted from him. Her soft blues eyes met his own with a slight look of concern. “Seth, what are you saying?” she inquired.

“Charlie, Dutch, Shanna, Karliegh and me have all been talking . . .we think we’ve reached a point in our career that Turboshaft is allowed a sabbatical.”

“Sabbatical?”

“Yeah, after we finished this tour, we’ve all agreed to take some time off to enjoy our personal lives.”

“Seth . .. are you serious?” Tanya said.

“We’ve got more than enough money to get by. Lords knows we could take five years off on just endorsement deals only. Heck, even Carrie Underwood is wanting to sing one of our songs and she’d have to pay us royalty fees.”

Tanya was nearly moved to tears with joy. She covered her mouth with her hands and stared up at her husband. “Five . .years?” she smiled, “Just . .just the three of us?”

“Just the three of us, baby.” He said, kissing her, “You’ve earned it.”

“Oh, I love you so much,” she said, holding onto his cheeks and kissing him.

Seth held onto Tanya as they stayed in the middle of the room. It was a life that he desired and he was so happy that Tanya went with them. Not to mention, they carried their son with them. Soon they would have the chance to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Their son, Brendon, will able to go to school and meet lots of friends. The older singer wasn’t ashamed to admit he had his charismatic attitude. And like the Asian Brendon to Seth, Little Brendon has practically adoptive Aaron as his older brother. “Where are the boys now?” he asked.

“While you were taking your nap, the others decided to go to that Putt-Putt across the street.” Tanya pointed.

“Mini-Golf! Sweet, let’s go join them.” Seth said.

Tanya just laughed as she sat down on the bed to put her shoes on. One of the many things she loved about her husband as that, even though on the outside he’s a grown and responsible man; on the inside, he was still just a kid. She then took his hand as she led them out of the room.


Once they got to the back entrance, Seth looked around and then stopped Georgie; one of their hired roadies. He wasn’t exactly a bodyguard but he was close enough. The tall black man waved to them as he stood near the bus. “Hey, Georgie!” Seth called, “Where are the boys?”

The black man pointed across the street. The Mini-Golf area had a tropical theme. There were large plastic versions of Giraffes, Lions, and Elephants. There was a small area on the corner of the entrance, where there was a typical hot dog stand. Charlie and Claire were over there with Aaron, while Brendon was hanging out with Karleigh and Shanna. Dutch laughed at the little kid joking that he was more of a stud than the lead guitarist. “Hot Dogs sounds pretty good right about now.” Seth commented as they got ready to walk across the street.

Tanya then laughed and pointed toward the Mini-Golf area. “Seth, look!” she laughed, “That Giraffe . . .looks pissed off.”

Seth smirked at the sight of it and it’s misshapen face. The leader singer just shook his head. “If there was one animal I’ve always wanted, it would be a pissed off giraffe.” He commented.

Their laughter was then interrupted by an SUV speeding toward them. Seth instinctly grabbed Tanya to move her out of the way. Georgie then got between them and the vehicle, wondering what was going on. Then another man hopped out of the passenger side. The blonde wife managed to have enough time to scream when she saw the assailant hoist out a shotgun from his overcoat. Georgie then grabbed Seth by the collar, forcing both of them back. The black man then did his best to get his gun out of his shoulder holster. However, the massive amount of buckshot slicing into his chest prevented such heroism. The big man flew up into the air by three feet, then landed on the asphalt parking lot with a loud, wet thud.

Charlie leaned up at the sound of gun fire noticing that Seth and Tanya were being fired on. By the time he stood up, poor Georgie was already dead. Then another man stood from the opposite side of the SUV, holding a strange shotgun type weapon. When he fired it toward them, it dropped a canister right on their table, spewing an awful gas. Charlie and Claire tried to get up but the fumes were knocking them out. Dutch tried to get up too but he found his eyes swelling up and his lungs burning. He had never been tear-gassed before but there was a first time for everything.

By the time the band was trying to get to their feet, two of the men had walked over with gas masks. One of the men gave Dutch a swift kick to his stomach, forcing him to take in more air and definitely more tear gas. The soldier then picked up the coughing from of Brendon. The other soldier then picked Aaron. “DADDY!” he tried to struggle.

“NO!” Charlie grunted as he made a move to grab the soldier.

However, the musician’s eyes were blurry and his nose was burning. He didn’t have the ability to make a decent fight. It allowed the soldier to ram his elbow into Charlie’s face. The guitarist grunted as blood shot out from his lower lip. The two soldiers then walked back to the SUV, while the other man fired on Seth. Once he left his rounds of his shotgun, he then opened fire with an UZI.

Seth and Tanya hid behind a parked truck. The bullet riddled into the side of the vehicle. The blonde woman was screaming in fear but the lead singer held onto her. One bullet ricocheted and took out the side window of their tour bus. Seth held up his arms, covering his wife best he could from the debris. Then the bullet barrage had stopped. Seth then looked back and saw his son, plus Aaron squirming in the arms of the men taking them. He saw his friend immobilized by the tear gas so he was the only one who had any chance of retrieving them. “They are taking Brendon and Aaron.” He whispered to his wife.

“WHAT?” she screamed in reply.

“Stay here.” He said, as he jumped up.

“SEETTTHHHH!!!” Tanya screamed.

The lead singer then darted across the parking lot. He quickly ran up to the body of his fallen bodyguard. He then grabbed the gun out of his shoulder holster and then ran after the SUV, as it was in the middle of turning around. The singer grunted as he felt his legs burning from the running up the street. However, the vehicle had his son and he wouldn’t let him go so easily.

Seth then made a wild jump and managed to grab the top rail of the back of the vehicle. He grunted as his force cracked open the back windshield. By the time he got his footing, he saw one of the men pointing the shotgun at him. Brendon screamed for his father to let go. The singer took his son’s advice and immediately jumped from the vehicle. The back windshield exploded in an array of glass and buckshot. Seth grunted as he landed hard on the asphalt road below; rolling with the momentum. The singer turned around just enough to see the black vehicle disappear over a side road. He didn’t even have enough time to get the license plate. “DAMN IT!!” he screamed.

Seth then stood up and began limping back down the side road between the Mini-Golf course and the hotel. He had a severe pain in his left thigh but he ignored it. He wondered what this was about. Who would have the resources for a tear-gas gun, not to mention be able to purchase an Uzi? It had been some years but even the way these men dressed seemed familiar to him. He was coming up with only one answer and he didn’t like it one bit.

By the time he walked back to the parking lot, Dutch had vomited. He finally grabbed a water bottled and doused his face with it; washing off the majority of the effects of the tear-gas but not all of it. Karliegh was trying to catch her breath. Shanna was holding onto Tanya who wouldn’t stop crying. Claire was in shock; but not devastated. Sadly, this wasn’t the first time Aaron was taken from her. Charlie was staring down at the body of Georgie, then crossed himself. “Let your eternal light shine down on him, O’Lord.” The musician whispered.

“They got both of them.” Seth whispered.

“Seth!” Tanya screamed, “WHY???”

“It’s a ransom demand.” Dutch coughed, “We need to call Hal and the cops.”

“It’s not a ransom demand.” The lead singer whispered, as a tear slid down his cheek, “No kidnappers would open fire . . on the people that was going to pay them off.”

“Seth, what are you saying?” Karleigh coughed.

“The Liberation.” Claire whispered, trying to keep from collapsing.

“NO BLOODY WAY!!” Charlie protested, “ This is a ransom attack nothing more. We need to call the cops right now!”

“Charlie, think of it. Who else we know could be this well equipped?” Seth mentioned.

Before Charlie could say anything else, his cell phone began to ring. As he hoisted it up from his holder on his belt, Seth’s cell phone began to ring. Then Dutch’s cell phone started to sing it’s ringtone. Shanna then heard Karliegh’s cell phone erupt to life, then her heard. Seth looked at all his friend, wondering why they would be getting a cell phone call all at the same time. The lead singer then answered his phone as did everybody. After a few sort seconds, they then all looked at their phones. Seth was the on who remembered something immediately. “A computer voice just said SIT, SIT, SIT on my phone.” Shanna whispered.

“SIT?” Dutch coughed, “Why . .why does that sound familiar?”

“Because a few years ago, you weren’t listening to Locke during thanksgiving dinner.” Seth said, dialing a number, “He mentioned he was going to create an automated message program that would call us all at once. Just in case we were all attacked at once or for some reason, needed to meet some where.”

“Seth, who . . .who are you calling?” Tanya tried to calm herself.

Seth stared into the air, as he listened. Then he winced at someone on the other end. It was an answering machine. “MIA, PICK UP THE PHONE!!” he bellowed.

Dutch stared at him, then immediately started dialing a number. Karleigh then started to dial another number, as did Shanna. Seth grunted as he looked back at his phone, hanging up the call. “I can’t get Mia.” He hissed.

“Hal is not answering either.” Dutch mentioned.

“Kellye? Kellye, pick up the phone please.” Karleigh said into the answering machine.

“Oh, no. Sawyer isn’t answering.”

“We’re not the only ones getting hit.” Charlie mentioned in fear of his friends in trouble.

“Get in Georgie’s truck,” the leader singer pointed, “Dutch, come with me.”

“Seth, what are we doing?” Shanna exclaimed.

“JUST GET IN THE TRUCK!!” he ordered as he and Dutch ran to the tour bus.

The two friends hopped on. Seth quickly worked his way toward the back while Dutch followed him. “Dutch, see that blue tarp taped to the roof?” Seth called back to him.

“Yeah?” he said, stopping below it.

“Tear it down.” The singer ordered.

Dutch then braced himself on two of the seat and reached up. He tried to grab for a loose piece of it but missed. When he grabbed it a second time, it ripped down and a manila envelope flopped to the floor board. The former surfer picked it up and looked it. It was a simple folder marked with SIT in black magic marker. Seth then ran back, holding the sword that his fallen friend had given him. “Open it.” Seth told him.

Dutch opened the envelope and looked at it. He checked the map and the directions, knowing where it was leading because he had surfed there many times; among other things. “It’s Vatigo Beach,” the guitarist said, “It’s Hurley’s beach house. Me and Karleigh spent a summer there, in 07.”

“Then that is where Locke wants us to meet up.” Seth said, motioning him forward.

“Will all our friends be there?”

“I hope so, Dutch,” the leader singer whispered, “I really hope so.”