One Tequila

by Tricia O'Malley

  Undo this bond

  At once set me free

  As I must respond

  For my light is in need

  As I will, so mote it be.

  I tugged at my hands – and just like that, they were free.

  “It worked!” I hissed, reaching forward to grab Trace in a hug. He leaned awkwardly into me, his hands still tied behind his back. He chuckled softly into my neck and my heart sang. There had to be a way out of this for us.

  “Luna would be very proud,” Trace said softly.

  “I'm going to try modifying the spell for you.”

  Trace sat quietly, his eyes searching mine as I took a deep breath and focused, thinking about what I would say.

  Undo this bond

  At once set Trace free

  As he must respond

  For his light is in need

  As I will, so mote it be.

  “Holy shit,” Trace whispered as his hands broke free from behind his back. He caught me in a bear hug and we tumbled to the floor, so giddy at being released that we didn't care.

  “It worked! I can do magic!” I laughed, even though my arms stung with pain from hours of being tied behind my back.

  “You can work your magic on me anytime,” Trace leered, and I found myself laughing at him, knowing that we could flirt and joke and it would be okay. One way or the other. It just had to be.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  A while later – it could have been three hours or twenty minutes for all I knew – Trace sat down with a frustrated sigh.

  “There is literally nothing in here that I can use to take the hinges off of these doors.” Defeated, he banged his hand against his head.

  “Hey, you tried,” I said, hating that we had gotten such a rush from freeing our hands but were now feeling like we were stuck again.

  “Do you think anyone will come looking for us?” Trace asked wearily.

  Yes.

  Oh, so absolutely yes.

  “Trace! Beau will be looking for us. He told me to text him when I got to the docks and I never did. Yesterday when I went a minute past when I was supposed to text, he texted me right away!”

  “But they have your phone. Don't you think they'll text him back?”

  “Not unless they figure out my code, silly,” I sang, feeling happy and knowing that help was on the way.

  “There's just one problem with that.”

  “What?”

  “How will he know where we went?”

  “Shit,” I said, coming quickly down from that little high I was on.

  “Can you like…read his mind or something? Send him a message?”

  Trace was making a circular motion by his head with his finger that would normally imply that someone was crazy, but I caught his drift.

  “Hmm, that's an excellent question. I suppose I've never really tried to do any long-distance type of telepathy,” I mused.

  “No time like the present, dear,” Trace said drolly.

  “Yes, I suppose now would be as good a time as any,” I said primly and then waved at him to shush up.

  Closing my eyes again, I drew a deep breath in through my nose, centering myself, and dropped my mental shields. To orientate myself, I began to scan the area closest to me. I caught a wisp of Trace's mental signature but moved on quickly before I dipped too far into whatever he had going on in there. Lord knows it would distract me. Moving on, I expanded my reach to outside of the concrete bunker we were in.

  “I'm picking up some mental signatures a ways from here. Probably like down by the beach or dock. Maybe on a patio. At least three of them. It seems like it's Rambo, Dupree, and Luca.”

  “Anyone in the house?”

  “Hmm,” I said, casting a wider net and picking up four more mental signatures inside the house.

  “Four inside.”

  “Seven total, three standing guard.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Can you go off the island?”

  “Let me try.”

  Blowing out a breath, I opened my mind, allowing my astral self to travel past the island. And gasped when what sounded like a voice on a loudspeaker was shouting my name.

  “Althea! So help me God, I pray you can hear me. We are coming.”

  “Did you hear that?” I gasped, convinced that the voice had been outside on a bullhorn it had come through so loudly.

  “Nothing?” Trace asked in confusion.

  “It's Cash. It's Cash! He must be like screaming to me in his head or something. They're coming!”

  “That guy,” Trace said, derision in his voice.

  “Shut up so I can listen,” I said.

  “We are on a boat close to the island. I wish I knew where they were keeping you,” Cash was thinking.

  “Shit,” I whispered.

  “What?” Trace hissed.

  “He's on a boat but they don't know where they are keeping us.”

  “Well, send him a mental image of where we are? Duh,” Trace said, shaking his head at me.

  “Oh, you think this is so easy? It's not like I can just shoot him a text message with a picture of where we are,” I said, glaring at Trace.

  “Would you just? Close your eyes and focus, woman,” Trace hissed again.

  “Fine, but I'm going to remember your attitude,” I said on a sniff and closed my eyes again to focus on Cash's mental signature. Finding it again, I couldn't help but feel his wash of concern for us and in that instant, I knew what a truly good man he was.

  “Cash, we are in the concrete bunker to the right of the house,” I said urgently in my head. Knowing that someone without strong abilities like mine would have trouble picking up what I was sending, I began to alternate repeating where we were with sending a mental image of where we were.

  “Concrete bunker,” Cash finally repeated and tears filled my eyes.

  “He heard me. Oh my God, he heard me,” I said, grabbing Trace's arms and shaking him in excitement.

  “Yes!” Trace said, shooting his arm in the air.

  “That doesn't solve the problem of Larry, Moe, and Curly on the patio though,” I said. “Or how we are going to get out of this bunker.”

  “Do you think the breaking spell will work on the lock?”

  Well, shoot.

  I swear, give a girl all the tools and she's still bound to mess a few things up, am-I-right?

  “Well, I suppose we can try,” I said with a sniff, knowing my face was probably bright red.

  “Can you tell how close Cash is?” Trace asked, having forgone calling him “that guy” for the moment.

  I closed my eyes and reached out again.

  “Thea, we are close to the island. Just out of view behind the point and hoping to stay off the radar. If you can make any sort of distraction, now's the time.”

  “He wants a distraction.”

  “Well, let's give him one.”

  “On it,” I said, focusing my eyes on the door.

  Undo this bond

  At once set us free

  As we must respond

  For our light is in need

  As I will, so mote it be.

  The click of the lock falling from the door had to be one of the best sounds that I've ever heard in my life.

  “Ready to run for it?” Trace asked, pulling me to a standing position.

  “Let me take my flip-flops off,” I said, sliding out of my sandals, and running my hands down my body to tuck my tank in. As my hand slid over my shorts, I remembered the pouch that Miss Elva had given me.

  Just a tip here, I'm probably not the best person to get stuck in a crisis with.

  Pulling the pouch out, I cupped it in my palm, praying that Miss Elva had meant what she had said about providing protection for me. Because we were about to hightail it across an open beach with three armed men trying to stop us.

  “Clear?” I asked as Trace peeked out of the crack in the door.

  “As much as I can see.”

  “Do it,”
I whispered and bit down hard on my lower lip when Trace whipped the door open. For a moment, I was blinded by the sudden wash of light as we had been sitting in the dark for so long, and I stumbled as we leapt from the bunker.

  “To the dock,” Trace shouted, and I squinted, my eyes adjusting to the light and seeing the most glorious sight I could have asked for.

  A luxury speedboat, Cash at the helm and Beau with a machine gun at the front, was cruising up to dock.

  Don't get me started on Beau holding a machine gun. I'm not sure which was scarier, him at the helm in his perfectly coordinated outfit or the three men who tore over the sand dune to block our path.

  “Thea!” Trace shouted, just as Dupree raised his gun at my face.

  “No!” I screeched and threw Miss Elva's pouch at their feet.

  There was silence as the three men stopped for a second and stared at the pouch in confusion.

  Ka-boom!

  A scream tore from my throat as I raced past an explosion of smoke and noxious fumes that had me coughing into my hand, my eyes watering from the putrid smell. Refusing to look back, I ran side by side with Trace to the end of the dock where Cash held the boat to the dock with one hand.

  “Jump!” Beau screamed and we both did, slipping and sliding our way across a cushy bench before we tumbled onto the floor.

  “Hold on!' Cash shouted as he floored it, sending Trace and me rolling across the floor of the boat, staring up in awe as Beau fired off rounds at the beach. He looked magnificent and I swear if I'd had my phone on me, I'd have taken his picture.

  I held my breath as the boat rocketed away from the shore, tears streaming down my face. Moments later, Cash cut the engine to slow us down a bit.

  And I was promptly plucked from the floor and pulled into a bear hug by Cash. Shocked, I held on, my body trembling, and I pressed my cheek against his arm and looked back at where the island was fading in the distance. I could see the three men racing to their boat.

  “They're coming after us,” I said, straightening.

  “No worries,” Cash said, turning me so I could look out of the other side of the boat.

  And there stood Chief Thomas at the helm of his Coast Guard boat, with at least ten police and FBI boats behind.

  “I knew I liked him,” I said, smiling and waving at Chief Thomas.

  “Mmhm, so do I,” Beau said, smiling cheekily at Chief Thomas in his uniform.

  “I would suggest putting that illegal semi-automatic weapon down,” Cash said gently and Beau jumped.

  “Whoopsie,” he said on a laugh, gently lowering the gun to the bench and waving again. I saw Chief Thomas shake his head, but they had bigger fish to fry right now.

  “This is the police!” a man shouted from the bullhorn and I saw the men on the beach scramble away from their boat and flee up to the house.

  “There's seven people in there,” I told Cash.

  Nodding, he picked up his walkie-talkie and I saw Chief Thomas do the same on his end.

  “Should we stay and help or something?” I asked and Cash looked down at me and laughed.

  “I think we've all done enough. Cocktails on your porch in twenty minutes.”

  The man had read my mind.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Back at the docks, we stopped by where my bike was locked.

  “I need to get my bike.”

  Cash looked at me like I had a screw loose, which, in all fairness, I probably do.

  “We can throw it in my trunk,” he said, stopping to look at me.

  “No, I'd like to ride home.”

  “Yeah, 'cause the last time you rode away on your bike things went so well,” Beau said, rolling his eyes.

  “Hey, all the bad guys are back there on the island getting their asses handed to them,” I said indignantly.

  “Or so you think,” Cash said.

  “I just need to take care of something on the way home,” I said.

  “You've got twenty minutes or I’m coming after you,” Cash warned, stopping to drop a kiss on my lips. I felt my cheeks heat and couldn't bring myself to look at Trace.

  I waved to them as I swung onto my bike, feeling a little strange to be leaving the docks without my dive bag on my back, and pedaled my way down the street, pulling to the side halfway home and propping my bike against a front porch.

  The light was low, the sun just setting, so it had been over twelve hours since I had last been here in the wee hours of the morning.

  “Hmpf, looks like you did alright for yourself then,” Miss Elva called from her porch and I shaded my eyes from the setting sun to look up at her.

  “You should sell that little bag of tricks you got going on there,” I said as I climbed the stairs to where she sat, rocking in her chair, no shotgun in sight.

  “He, he, he,” Miss Elva chortled, the mountain rumbling again as she laughed.

  “Thank you,” I said, bending down to wrap my arms around her, surprised to learn she smelled like cinnamon and vanilla. Pressing my lips to her cheek in a kiss, I squeezed one more time before letting her go.

  “You're a good one, Miss Althea. I couldn't let you go without a few tricks up your sleeve.”

  “That was quite a trick,” I agreed as I leaned back against the porch, crossing my arms as I studied her.

  Miss Elva shrugged nonchalantly, but a pleased smile crossed her face.

  “That had to have been the largest stink bomb I've ever seen,” I said and the mountain rumbled again as Miss Elva slapped her knee and chuckled.

  “So that's what it ended up being? You never do know,” she said, wiping her eyes.

  “You never know?” I squeaked, raising my eyebrows at her.

  “I charmed it so it was what it needed to be,” Miss Elva said.

  “We needed a big distraction,” I said and filled her in on the story. By the end of it, she was no longer laughing.

  “Shoot, girl, I would have given you more pouches had I known you'd go and get into this much trouble.”

  “It all worked out. And I'm glad I can say that. I have to go now, we need to spring Luna,” I said, never having thought that I would have to utter those words in my life.

  “You give that girl a hug from me. Tell her to come see me. There's some things we can work on together,” she said as I descended the wooden porch steps.

  “Will do. If I could cook, you'd be getting a homemade apple pie. I like you too much to poison you though,” I called, smiling as her chuckle followed me down the road.

  It's good to have friends in all the right places.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Hank's ears poked over the windowsill when I pulled up to my house. A happier sight I have never seen, I thought as I locked my bike to the porch and pushed the door open.

  “Hey, buddy,” I said, dropping to my knees and wrapping my arms around him as he licked my face in joy.

  “Hey buddy yourself.”

  “Luna!” I shouted, springing up to rush across the room to where Luna stood by the breakfast counter. Launching myself at her, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, never wanting to let go.

  We squeezed each other, not saying anything, just letting the goodness flow before we pulled apart, both wiping happy tears.

  “When I said find the killer, you didn't have to go and be all dramatic about it,” she said, poking me in the shoulder.

  “You know me – total drama queen,” I said.

  “Ladies? We stopped and got a gallon of my specialty margarita mix and the ice is melting,” Beau called from the patio.

  Walking onto the patio, it felt like my heart was going to burst with happiness. Until I saw Trace. Holding ice to the bruise on his face, he sat across from Cash, looking everywhere but at him.

  Looks like I had a few more loose ends to tie up, I thought. I wondered how this would all play out.

  “Drink for you, my dear,” Beau said, handing me a margarita on the rocks with a perfectly salted rim. I plopped onto the couch next t
o Cash, too tired to care if Trace took it the wrong way, and took a long slug of my drink.

  “Still the best,” I said, holding my drink up to Beau.

  “Cheers,” we all said, clinking our glasses.

  “Okay, I have to know. How did you know where we were?” I asked, turning to Cash.

  “Why don't you start at the beginning?” Beau interrupted, stopping Cash from answering my question.

  “Well, I guess that starts with Trace,” I said, gesturing to where he sat. “I got to the boat and Luca had already knocked him out.”

  “Luca,” Beau said sadly, shaking his head.

  “I know. It's awful,” I said, turning to Luna. “By the way, you were right. Even though Theodore is a pompous twit, he just really loves his wife.” I filled her in on the incident at the store, causing both Trace and Cash to shake their heads at me.

  “What else happened?” Beau said quickly, moving past Theodore threatening me in the shop.

  “Well, I can't say much,” Trace said, detailing how he had climbed onto the boat with his hands full of gear and then it had been lights out until he woke up to see me sitting across from him on the floor of the boat. “I didn't even know it was Luca until I finally came too on the floor of the boat.”

  “And I saw your hand sticking out from the bench so I just rushed onto the boat without looking,” I said, shrugging as Beau shook his head at me. “What? I don't always think straight.”

  “No kidding,” Luna said.

  “Hey!”

  “So why did Luca do this?” Luna asked and I realized that I was the only one who knew Luca's story.

  “Greed,” I said sadly, taking another sip of my drink as I filled everyone in on the neat little drug operation they planned to run through his deli.

  “I suppose that means the space is open for your restaurant,” Cash mused, smiling at Beau.

  “Oh yeah!” Beau sprung up and did a wiggle dance and then sat down, putting his serious face on. “I mean, how awful.”

  “Right,” I said, laughing at Beau as he tried to look sad about the day's events.

  “Back to my original question – how did you know where we were?”

  A look of guilt crossed Cash's face and I raised an eyebrow at him.