The cutter Triton was a very large boat in comparison to Beverly's Chris Craft, but it was still nothing like even the smallest of cruise ships so the walk down to the sick bay was not a long one. A Corpsman gave her some blankets and a dry uniform to change into as she came in. She put it on and went down the hall to find Dana.
Just ahead, and in a room to the left, Beverly found the injured Coast Guardsmen with their fluid bottles dangling from wire stands above them. One had been sedated and was snoring heavily. The other, less severely injured man looked up and smiled as she walked by.
To her guard's good fortune, Dana had calmed down quickly and was asleep in a room just to the right of where the Coast Guardsmen had been found. Beverly allowed the man to leave and then quietly sat down to wait, knowing Dana needed to rest more than anything else. Heavy eyed with exhaustion herself, she fought sleep realizing Dana could still be unpredictable if she woke without a guard and found her asleep. Dana wasn't a prisoner, so she wasn't restrained in any way, but the door to the sick bay was always open for quick access.
Beverly had been there about thirty minutes and was about to drift off involuntarily when Dana woke and noticed her.
"Hello, Dr. Anderson." Dana said in a low, subdued voice. "What are you doing here? Are you sick?"
"I might be," Beverly said, "I'm still trembling from the cold, but that's not why I'm here. I just came down to check on you. Are you warm enough?"
"Yes, I'm warm enough." Tears were starting to form in Dana's eyes when she went on, "I wanted to tell you how sorry I am that I didn't believe you on the boat. I don't trust people much, but I should have trusted you. We could have died, and it would have been my fault!"
"Dana, people are the way they are for a reason and I'm sure you've had more than adequate reason not to trust people right off. You may not view it the way I do, but you've been abused and neglected your whole life and you tend to look at people that don't treat you that way with some degree of suspicion. You're used to being victimized, although you don't understand it that way." Beverly then stopped to assess her reaction to this suggestion.
"Why do you keep thinking I'm a victim, Dr. Anderson?" Dana asked defensively. "I get paid very well for what I do and I was well on my way to being a movie star when you guys interfered. I even had my picture on the wall to prove it!"
Beverly knew this wasn't the time or place to try and explain to Dana why she actually was a victim. Instead, she chose to change the subject.
"Dana, did you ever have to do anything else on that boat, other than make movies for them?"
"I guess I don't know what you mean," Dana replied.
"Well, for one thing, Dana, I know that occasionally mob VIP's came aboard the boat to be entertained."
"So, are you asking if I slept with them?"
"Yes, did you have to do that, Dana? Was that part of the deal?" Beverly asked.
"Sure I did. I usually got a little something extra for getting it on with them and, if I'm good, sometimes they ask for me again and pay me more the next time. That's how doll-mother got to be a headliner at the buns. She kept the right people happy, especially Bud."
Beverly was dreading the next question, but it had to be asked.
"So, does that mean you've been on the boat to 'work' at other times too, Dana?"
"Oh, sure, several times. This was maybe my fifth movie, or at least it would have been before you guys showed up."
By then, Beverly was having a hard time containing her anger. It was one thing to use adults for this sort of sleazy business , but to get children involved in it was even more disgusting and she wanted terribly to help Dana understand this. She knew it wouldn't be easy.
"Dana, do you understand that those people you were with didn't care in the least that you had locked yourself in that studio totally unaware that the boat was sinking?"
"Yes, I understand. That's why I'm talking to you now. You stayed down there when you didn't have to, trying to talk me out. I could have caused you to die, and I know I owe you for that."
"You don't owe me anything, Dana," Beverly was getting frustrated. "I just want you to understand who you're dealing with here. Those people aren't your friends! They could care less about you personally. They'll keep you around as long as they can use you to get what they want and then they'll toss you aside like yesterday's newspaper."
Beverly could see Dana was still not convinced, but went on anyway.
"In your case, tossing you aside meant trying to kill you because you know too much. Barbie's death was a tragedy, but do you think they cared? Dana, they stuffed her behind a couch!"
Dana wrinkled her forehead and rolled her eyes in an expression of disbelief.
"No, Dr. Anderson, you've got them all wrong. They really liked my mom. She was a very important person to them."
"That's kind of what I mean, Dana. You're dealing with cold blooded professionals that you can't believe, you can't trust, and you can't see it. These people can be teddy bears one minute and cut your throat the next. It isn't personal with them, it's a job. There's nothing moral about it, but it's still just a job to them and their antisocial personalities are well suited to it."
"But, they were always good to me. I never had a problem with them at all. I can't see how what you're saying could be true." Dana argued.
"They treated you well because they were getting what they wanted from you. There was no reason for them not to. If you had gone against them in any way or if the tide had turned against them as it did today, they would've had reason to treat you much differently. Just as they did by not telling you the boat was sinking. These people are what psychiatrists call 'sociopaths,' Dana. They know right from wrong, they just don't give a damn."
Dana had been trying to listen, but wasn't really up to what she was beginning to consider a lecture, especially one that ran down people she had considered her friends just a few hours before. The fact remained, though, that Beverly had been a big part of why she was alive right now; her former friends really didn't tell her about the boat and were going to let her die. Maybe the doc was being straight with her after all.
"If that's the way it is, Dr. Anderson, that kind of person is all I've ever known. All I know right now is that you saved my life awhile ago and that gives you the benefit of the doubt."
That comment brought a smile to Beverly's face. She reached out and patted Dana on the shoulder, hoping she could safely take this small step toward building a bond between them.
"Thanks, Dana. That means a lot to me. There's something else very important that you need to know, and I'm sure Agent Baker will go into this with you. The fact is that you and I are both in serious danger. The mob knows what you know and that the boat and its operations have been compromised. They have to be worried that you, and I for that matter, will be called as witnesses at some point in all this. The smart thing for them to try and do is eliminate us before we have a chance to testify against them."
This caught Dana off guard. She had very quickly gone from being a mob movie star to being on the mob's hit list and she was having a hard time accepting her new status.
"Do you really think they would do that!" she asked, in disbelief.
"Yes I do, Dana, they've already killed a good friend of mine associated with all this. In fact, I honestly believe we'll both have to be protected from them somehow. I'm not even sure how I'll be able to continue to work, given the situation as it is now."
Beverly was even shocked to hear these words coming from her mouth. How could she not work? She'd spent years preparing herself to do what she does. It seemed inconceivable that something like this could happen, and so unfair.
She was deep in this thought when Tom came into the sick bay. Beverly looked up, saw him, and immediately felt a sense of security in his presence. He was beginning to strike Beverly as being a rather nice guy to have around.
"Hello, ladies. I just wanted to make sure you were both recovering from your ordeal and staying warm. The Lieutenant told me he was going to have a corpsman give you one of their uniforms to change into, Beverly. I have to say, you look pretty good as a coastie!"
Just the sound of his voice was uplifting and Beverly was glad he came in when he did.
"Thanks for coming to check on us, Tom. We were just talking about what we might be in for after all this. I was telling Dana that we may be in some degree of danger, given what we know, and we may have to be protected in some way should the mob assume we'll be testifying against them in court."
Tom's smile quickly faded and was replaced by a look of acknowledgement and concern.
"I'm afraid what Dr. Anderson told you is true, Dana. You and those injured guys we captured are definitely going to be considered a danger to the mob's well being. You're the only eyewitnesses available to the prosecution that can tell what went on in that boat. In fact, if it weren't for you and the CPS issue, we wouldn't even have had a reason to chase them into the open waters of the gulf. We could justify it because, thanks to the doctor, we knew you were on board and she had gathered overwhelming evidence that you had been abused."
Dana's expression indicated she might be coming to understand her situation better now, and was starting to be convinced what Beverly had told her might actually be true. She had to place some weight on what her doctor AND the FBI had to say.
"Dana doesn't see what's been going on in the boat as abuse," Beverly said, "because that's all she's ever known and it's become 'normal' for her. What I need to try and help her see is that a normal adolescence doesn't involve having sex with the boyfriends of her mother, people acting in porn movies, and mob moguls."
"Dr. Anderson is right, Dana. That's the reason we have laws to protect people your age. Sometimes unacceptable things seem like a good thing to someone until they have the experience to know otherwise. Anyway, enough lecturing. I came down here to make sure you're alright and talk to you about the danger you're in. This will definitely end up in court and you'll have to testify to things the mob doesn't want to come out. They'll know it's coming and will try to do whatever they need to keep you from being there. Unfortunately, the surest way to accomplish that is to eliminate you."
This was hard information for Dana to swallow, thinking these people were her friends just a short time before, and there was still a slight look of uncertainty in her eyes.
"I'm afraid you're in the cross-hairs too, Beverly. You know too much now, starting with what you found out during your conversation with Dana and her mother."
Tom's mention of Barbie brought tears to Dana's eyes. She really hadn't had time to think about it, and the reminder her mother was dead and of her startling appearance in the boat hit her hard. Beverly wanted to reach over and console her, but thought better of it. It would take time to build a trusting relationship that would allow closer contact.
"Maybe we should let Dana get some rest now, Tom. We'll get back to shore before long and sleep may be a long time off for her."
After adjusting her blanket, Beverly put her hand on Dana's shoulder and said, "Get some rest while you can, Dana. I'll be back after awhile."
Dana smiled and shut her eyes as Beverly and Tom left the room. They instructed the guard to resume his watch and headed back to the bridge, visiting along the way.
"She seems like a fairly nice kid underneath the tough exterior," Tom said.
"You're right. I think she may have been perfectly fine under other circumstances. Instead, look what she's been subjected to. There's a theory in psychiatry that part of a person's makeup is due to 'nature' or heredity, and the other part is formed by 'nurture', or the environment a person comes up in. I can't say anything definite about Dana's genetic susceptibilities, but it's obvious that her environment has been worse than bad."
"From my perspective," Tom replied, "the environment wins out. All too many people are exposed to the shady side of life from early on. For some, that's all they ever know and they end up following in the footsteps of those that were their bad examples. We see the result in jails and prisons all the time, unfortunately."
"Yes. I can't help but think there are a lot of people out there that were doomed to have problems in life from the very beginning."