Stranded

Chapter Seven -- Uneasy Alliance

Day Five 

Sonny and Taggart both slept well into the day. They had stayed up very late talking, and the hour, as well as the subject matter, exhausted them both. Sonny told Taggart the story of his life; about Mike and Deke and Joe Scully. He told Taggart how Deke used to beat him mercilessly, often locking him the closet first. He told Taggart how Deke's favorite weapon was his belt, but how he used the end with the buckle, and how that was what caused the scar on Sonny's back. Taggart listened quietly, only occasionally asking questions like, "why didn't you tell anyone? Why didn't you find help?" "Deke was a cop, Taggart; who was going to go against him?" When Sonny had finished, Taggart told him he was sorry. "For what? You didn't do any of it," Sonny graciously replied. "I know, but I'm still sorry. I'm sorry that bastard hurt you, and your mother. And I'm sorry that I've kept it going all these years." "Well that you are responsible for," Sonny stated. "I know. Can you forgive me?" "I don’t know; it'll take some time, but maybe I'll get there," Sonny replied. "Well, I guess that's all I can ask right now," Taggart responded sadly.

When Sonny woke, he set about his usual routine of finding food for breakfast. Taggart still couldn't help, or walk. His broken leg was setting, but probably not in the way in needed to, and it still hurt too much to put any weight on. Sonny actually felt sorry for the guy. He also felt like a huge weight had been lifted off. Now that Taggart knew, and accepted, the truth about Deke, he wouldn't use Deke as a weapon to hurt Sonny. When he returned with the food, Taggart had woken up. He looked up at the sky and figured it was about 11 AM. "We slept late, huh?" "Yeah. Here's breakfast…or lunch." "Thanks man," Taggart replied, taking the food. "So, what about your men?" "My men?" "Will they look for us? They seem pretty loyal…especially anger-boy." "Well, Jason hasn't been around for a while, but I'm sure Benny will have someone looking for me. Maybe he called Jason." "You don't think someone would try to make a move, you know, take advantage of the situation?" "Take advantage of the situation to take over a coffee import business? I doubt it." Taggart burst into laughter, and Sonny couldn't help but join in. "I gotta hand it to you Corinthos, you're a cool one," Taggart said when he calmed down. Sonny gave him a deep dimpled smile, "damn straight." "You know," Taggart added, "if we do get home, not much has changed. I mean, I don’t blame you for Deke's death now, and I know you're not the monster I thought you were, but I'm still a cop, and you're still a…coffee merchant." Sonny stared at him, "that's right." "And I'm still going to bring you down if you cross the line." "If you catch me crossing the line, you mean." Taggart laughed again, "yeah…right."

Meanwhile…

"How many islands are out here?" Jason asked the boat owner. "Hundreds. I know they searched a few, but they couldn't check every one." "Well we will," Jason stated. Johnny silently groaned; he had no doubt Jason meant that. People always accused Jason of being a machine, and Johnny knew when it came to certain things, that's just what he was. For Sonny, he would search day and night, non-stop, until he died from exhaustion himself. He would never give up. Johnny prayed that the first island they stopped at would be the one Sonny was waiting on. That was…if he was still alive.

Next