by Liz Turner
Two men stepped up and slipped cable ties around Figo’s wrists, securing him in case he tried to make an escape.
Maximus followed the scent all the way back to Derek’s precious hiding place. The captain slipped the panel out from behind the fire extinguisher and slid out the packet of cocaine.
“Outstanding work, Maximus!” Gabriella enthused, scratching at Maximus’s velvety ears. He was still panting from the excitement, the scent of cocaine stifling his hypersensitive nose.
The group received a few shocked stares from passengers as the captain, two security guards, Gabriella, and the rottweiler led a restrained man towards the ship’s cells.
“I know nothing about that parcel!” Derek protested angrily. “Ronnie probably hid it there!”
“Funny,” the captain said as he keyed open the security office door. “Ronnie said the same thing about you when we found his parcel. No honor among thieves, I guess.”
Derek stepped inside his own space, his jaw dropping as his eyes settled on Ronnie clutching at the bars from the inside of his cell.
“Maximus has had a busy night,” Gabriella said with a chuckle.
“You’ll stay in holding for the rest of the cruise. Your vice will take over. We’ll do you both a kindness and hand you over to the Californian police department when we arrive back home,” the captain said.
“You should have taken the get-out-of-jail free card while you still had the chance,” Gabriella said.
Epilogue
Mending Hearts
“You can’t really fire Sarah,” Gabriella complained, handing her husband a cup of tea.
“She broke the rules,” Nick countered. “Look at Derek—he’s living proof of what happens when you break the rules.”
“Sarah is not Derek!”
“I know.” Nick sighed. “But we have to make an example out of her. Otherwise, we’ll lose control of the staff and have a mutiny on our hands.”
Gabriella snorted. “That’s extreme. Besides,” she kissed her husband gently, “I remember a certain junior crew man who followed a passenger while she was on a cruise…”
“They assigned him to protect her. That was different…”
“Oh. Well, what about when this junior crew man kissed the passenger under the stars and was caught by his overseer?”
Captain Nicolas Fischer shifted uncomfortably in his seat, aware that his wife had just presented an irrefutable case against him. He couldn’t have helped to fall in love with Gabriella, even if he had tried not to. So how could he hypocritically try to force Sarah to do what he had failed to? Had he chosen his career over Gabriella, he would have lost out on the best part of his life—having a wife to hold, love, and care for.
“I’ll talk to them in the morning,” Nick relented with a defeated sigh.
Gabriella smiled, still seeing the same passionate and bold deckhand behind her husband’s shrewd amber eyes.
*** The End ***
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