The “Sea of Salt” is moving forward. “Sea of Salt” is the sequel to “Salt of the Eart” I’m on chapter 16 in the writing/draft stage. The following excerpt from chapter 6 introduces you to some shadowy characters that have been in the background so far. They meet Justin Nelson and his bride that has a reveal that becomes central to the plot that is unfolding. Keep in mind this is first draft material 🙂 Ada and Justin were enjoying the fifth day of their two-week honeymoon on Maui. They had rented a car and were enjoying the narrow road and bridges on the Road to Hana. “I think someone is following us,” Ada leaned into Justin as he drove the small SUV. Justin had been enjoying the scenery and his new bride and grumbling to himself that he hadn’t rented a full-size SUV for his longer legs. “Where?” he jerked his head nervously and the car veered out of its lane garnering a loud honk from an oncoming vehicle. Ada growled, “Keep your eyes on the road!” She leaned back in, “two cars back, a beige Toyota I think. I noticed them in Paia. They were both staring at you at the gift shop. I saw them again where we parked to see the Garden of Eden, but they never left their car.” The hair on the back of Justin’s neck stood up, “We probably should have agreed to a bodyguard for the trip.” “For our honeymoon?” Ada gave him a dour look. “I could have invited my brothers too… and my parents.” “Okay,” Justin paused. “They could be kidnappers. I’ve been through that once already. What did they look like?” “They are both short, not much taller than me,” she laughed nervously. But the shorter of the two looks like solid muscle. The other one is a bit taller, but he has a full head of hair, very curly.” Justin turned off to his left following a side road toward the ocean. “I don’t think we should go someplace isolated,” Ada cautioned. “I’m not,” Justin smiled without confidence. We’ll stop at Waianapanapa park. There should be plenty of people around. The black sand and rocky beach against the blue sky was very inviting, but rather than moving toward the beach, Justin pulled over near several other cars with people entering and exiting. The Toyota pulled over to the next available parking spot along the road, three parked cars back. Justin wearing brightly colored swimming shorts and a t-shirt that did not quite cover his midriff, and Ada wearing full length white beachwear and a white straw hat walked back to the Toyota hand-in-hand. Justin stopped and tapped on the front driver side window of the car. The electric motor of the window purred as it descended about three inches, and Justin could see the curly mop of hair of the driver. “Why are you following us?” Justin asked bluntly. The passenger of the Toyota leaned over the driver, “Dr and Mrs Nelson. We need to speak with you about an urgent matter.” Ada growled, “What is so urgent that you want to interrupt our vacation?” “Perhaps it would be better to discuss this somewhere private,” the curly headed man suggested. “Why? So you can stuff us in a bag and ship us to the Yakuza?” Justin snapped. “Yakuza?” both of the young men looked perplexed. “We wanted to talk about our fathers: Roger Eddington and Jake Rockwell. You might have known them better as Red and Rock.” Justin stood mouth agape, Ada recovered more quickly, “We’re so sorry for your loss. They were great men.” “We know, but they never finished what they started,” the curly headed man frowned. “We need your help.” A municipal ballpark was nearby, so they moved their cars to the park and sat at a nearby picnic bench. The curly haired man-boy started. He looked like he might be between 20 and 30, but sounded like he was still a teenager, I’m Jon-E and this is my friend E-tan. For starters, Roger and Jake were both pseudonyms and technically they weren’t parents as you know them but our guardians and sector leaders. R-kay and J-kay are closer to their real names.” E-tan continued, “When we learned the destination of your mission, we realized that you had likely discovered the cache of Kolob, so they managed to get berths on the ship. “We are not from Earth, although we have lived here for several generations,” Jon-E volunteered. “As we are refugees, so are you. We believe your ancestors came from Mars, most of ours were from Lantis, the planet that exploded creating what you refer to as the Asteroid Belt.” Justin remained silent, but Ada quizzed, “You’re not from Earth? You claim we’re not from Earth? Where are you getting your information? What source?” We can go into that later, but R-kay and J-kay were supposed to monitor your mission and if you were successful in retrieving kolob they were to either negotiate for, or if need be steal some kolob pearls.” “Why?” Justin jumped back into the conversation. “Our world, the moon you know as Enceladus, is dying. Our energy sources are nearly spent. It was by happenchance that we had a large research center in Enceladus when Lantis exploded,” Jon-E put his arms out open handed. “We need your help. We need to speak with your leader, Marshall Salt. We cannot get to him without your assistance. He always has bodyguards nearby to intercept and send us on our way.”
