by Selena Kitt
"We didn't have any kind of network setup beyond our tour guide. I knew we needed to get it off the boat in case we were searched, but Alexander didn't want it out of our control, either. The storage bin was ours but unlikely to be searched. We planned on moving it the following day ... when we saw you canvassing the marina that night, we packed enough food to last us a while and ran."
"To the island," Cardinal finished. "Without a satellite picture to identify your boat we would have never found you. We might have found the ivory eventually."
The fading light from the stairwell suddenly blinked out and the dark blue digital marine pattern of the Pisces operative descending occupied the space. He held his rifle up. "Hands up." He requested. "All of you."
Whiplash stood. "I didn't even feel you board the boat."
The first Pisces secured Natalie's hands behind her back with a proper set of cuffs. A second descended the stairs. "That's our job," he said with a bit of a smile. "Numbers?"
They recited their IDs. The Pisces checked them for weapons, removed a pistol from Whiplash, and nodded. "As you were. These are the two hostiles?"
"Correct," Cardinal said. "One has a broken nose. The other was shot four or five days ago. There was a third, addicted to fire eyes, shot in the chest twice and died. He was dumped off the boat outside of the marina four days ago. We can give you a rough location."
"Any more of the drug?"
Whiplash nodded. "Navigation table, third drawer down on the right."
The first Pisces located the bag and pocketed it.
The second urged Alexander and his lackey up, passing them forward to be led out of the boat. "Anything else we should know about?"
"Natalie," Cardinal said, nodding at the cuffed woman. "She helped us more than anything else."
"We've been informed."
They all exited the lower cabin, Pisces framing Natalie front and back. She shied away from Alexander. "What now? What do you want?"
There were more Pisces above deck, at least two on Millefiori, and another three on the stealth boat Pisces had brought. The one who had asked their numbers was clearly the leader of the small group as he directed his men in brief hand signals. "You'll be brought to a place where we can hold you for a while. Everyone will be debriefed, and then you'll be dispositioned."
"How long? What is debriefed?" Natalie pulled a bit at the cuffs on her wrists.
Cardinal put a hand on her shoulder. "Easy. Relax. We're all going to be debriefed. They want the whole story. Then we'll decide what to do next."
"Don't leave me," she whispered, eyes wide.
"Not on your life," Cardinal agreed, turning to address the captain. "Pisces, do you have a radio to our Aries?"
"On the boat."
Cardinal walked Natalie by the elbow. They followed Whiplash across the small dock and to the dark, slim Pisces watercraft docked in Millefiori's shadow. It was longer than the pirate boat and properly outfitted for months at sea. Alexander and his man were lead below decks first. When she and Natalie reached the lower level, the two had been locked behind a door. She guided Natalie to a bench beside the captain's desk.
"She'll have to be secured as well," one of the Pisces said.
"Not with them, please. Cardinal—"
"Relax. You'll be in your own room." To the Pisces she said, "I need her here for another minute—let me talk with my Aries. You're welcome to watch her." Without asking for leave, she dialed the phone and smiled at Cleo's familiar, sleepy greeting.
"Cleo—"
"Cardinal! Pisces picked you up!"
"Yeah, we're all okay. Have some questions, but we’re okay."
"Fire away."
"First, there's no ivory on the boat. They stashed it at the dock so we'll have to head back and pick it up."
"Actually ... I got a call from a guy, what was his name ... here we are: Dwight, Frank. Says you saved him from drowning."
"He was on the tourist boat the pirates scuttled before we could get there. I gave him your card."
"Yeah. Well, he called because he ran into that tourist boat's captain after you got him back on land. Apparently, your pirates made the man more than a little angry. Made me promise to replace his boat if he gave me information."
"Which you did."
"Which I have no authority to enforce but the Commander will help me get it sorted. I hope. Anyway, the captain spilled his side of things and led us to the right slip, which let me pressure the marina authority. They buckled and lead us to the island. I had Pisces on your tail yesterday afternoon."
"Heh." Cardinal picked at the peeling corner of a tide book. "You had us rescued before I could."
"Tell me about that. You have three for extraction?"
"We found Natalie."
Cleo was silent on the other end for a heartbeat. "Bowman?" The sound of papers sliding. "The girl from the bottle?"
"One and the same. She helped us get control of the pirate boat. Does she have to be tried like the others? Is there some other process we can use?"
"Is she with you now?"
"Yes."
"Write this down somewhere. Have her read it back to me. I can get paperwork farther if I have a voice recording."
Cardinal found a pen and scratch pad on the desk. She wrote a short statement as Cleo dictated to her. She turned the paper toward Natalie and held the phone up to her ear. "Say this." she pointed.
Natalie read, "My name is Natalie Bowman and I request criminal asylum. I have been held against my will for–" she tripped over the number and shot a wide-eyed look at Cardinal. "For ten years."
Cardinal nodded and pulled the phone back. "You got all that?"
"Yeah. Technically speaking she's a citizen and we have an excellent record of her kidnapping, so there's a good chance we don't need to go down that path at all."
"Whiplash and I can testify against her father. He told us he sold her for fire eyes."
"It'll be up to her if she wants to press the charges—the case is expired at this point but I can pull up the files and pass them over to Libra."
"Please."
"She'll need to stay locked up like the others until you're in our territory. I can't do anything until we have legal influence."
"Understood."
"Get some sleep, Cards. I'll call in the morning."
"Yes, mom." Cardinal smiled. "Thank you, Cleo."
"My pleasure."
She hung up the phone and stood. Natalie did as well, anxious. "What now?"
Cardinal smiled. "Now we show you to your room. Pisces?"
He took Natalie by the arm and led her to a small berth with a lock. Cramped but clean. Cardinal squeezed Natalie's shoulder and made her turn. "We're headed back to the marina. We're going to drop off Alexander and his pal with the authorities; it'll be up to them to punish them."
"Or not," Natalie said frankly.
"Don't underestimate Cleo's persuasive power. Either way they're not your problem anymore. Never again. We drop them off, and then we're going home. All of us."
"I want to go home," she said softly.
Cardinal kissed her forehead. "I love you, Wildflower."
Natalie smiled. "I love you, too."
Cardinal let the Pisces shut the door between them and lock it firm. She put her hand on the seam and sighed. Another door, another hurdle ... but this time she was on the outside and had friends that could help. Finally fighting for something right.
The boat purred to life and curved away from the island.
"Cards, you coming up?" Whiplash called downstairs.
Cardinal ran above decks and grabbed Whiplash around the waist. Wind tangled their hair. They spun on deck and laughed. The stars blinked.
"Hey, hey," Whiplash said, "I have the best idea. We should take our next mission down south."
Cardinal put her down and raked her fingers in her hair, feeling lighter than she had in a long time. "What? Why?"
"I've always wanted to find myself a nice Austra
lian boy."
"Whip!" She smacked her partner's shoulder.
"What? It'll be fun! An adventure!"
About the Author
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Thank you for reading Spring Tide by Tami Veldura.
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More from LoveLight Press
LoveLight Press is a small independent publisher specializing in LGBT Romance. Why not visit our website or join our mailing list to see our latest titles?
More from Tami Veldura
Perihelion (scifi, trans M/M)
En Memoriam (vampire M/M)
Blood In The Water (pirates M/M)
Baited (contemporary M/M)
Stealing Serenity (contemporary M/M)
A new Zodiac Forces short coming soon: Gemini
Closer Than Touch (M/M)
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Lucky Break (Reedsville Roosters) - WINNERS (sports) by Holley Trent
Chapter 1
If there was one thing Edy Wallace hated more than baseball, it was baseball players, and she’d given up on feeling sorry about that.
Staring at Al Felton and his smarmy leer reinforced her revulsion of the two things. Even high on painkillers and leaning precariously on his crutches between her father and Al’s Reedsville Roosters teammate, Cameron Moreno, he couldn’t stop himself from teasing.
“Why ya lookin’ so mean?” Al snorted. “Not nice, you being so mean. You should smile. Won’t kill you to smile, witchy woman.”
Stupid jocks. All the same.
She was happy Al had broken his leg because it meant he was hurting. She wanted him to hurt.
She cleared her throat, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked to her father. “What exactly do you expect me to do with him?”
Pop shrugged. “I figured since you were heading that way, you could take him home.”
“Why can’t you fly him home?”
“Because you driving him is easier on the team’s budget than us putting him on a plane. How’s he gonna fly with that big-ass cast, anyway? He can’t bend his knee.”
Her gaze fell down the third baseman’s body to the cast that ran from thigh to foot. He’d broken…something-or-other. Edy had sort of tuned Pop out once the pitch of his voice dropped to a particular range. She knew him too well. She’d been standing behind her station wagon packing up her camping gear when he’d walked up, and had felt it in her bones that he was about to ask her for a favor. Pop didn’t ask for favors very often—he figured he didn’t have the right to, and he was right about that—but when he did ask, they tended to be whoppers. He hadn’t disappointed. He wanted her to play babysitter and chauffeur from the Texas Hill Country all the way to Baton Rouge.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and sucked in a calming breath. “Are you sure you can’t just keep him with you?”
Cameron adjusted Felton’s arm around his neck, and groaned. “Come on, Edy. He’s just gonna bitch and moan all season. We can’t do nothin’ with him, and there’s no point of him sitting around. He’s on the disabled list now. Gotta pull someone else up.”
Edy clucked her tongue and shook her head. “You have the hardest time keeping players, huh, Pop? How many starters have you lost in three seasons? Five?”
“Now, you hush with that. And what do you expect? Up until a couple of years ago, we were the worst team in the minor league. Most of the guys I had couldn’t hit a beach ball if it were tossed at them.”
Cameron cleared his throat.
Pop sighed. “Present company excluded. We’re getting better. This is just a minor setback, is all. It’s not like losing a captain or anything.” He said that last part through clenched teeth and fixed his glare on the ranch house they were standing in the driveway of.
The Roosters, at the moment, were on Emilie Beaudelaire’s Texas ranch. The heiress had graciously let them use some pasture space for their spring training exercises. Their home field back in Florida had been flooded out during a freak spring storm system, and they weren’t allowed back yet…because the turf was all mud. They probably shouldn’t have ripped all the sod out to get rid of the weeds.
The Roosters’ last captain was shacking up with Emilie. He’d quit the team…as had his longtime partner. Supposedly, Marshall and Thompson had the strongest arms on the team, so they’d left Pop somewhat in a lurch. Edy could see how being on the ranch would cause Pop some angst, but hell—it wasn’t her fault he couldn’t keep players. She did everything she could to avoid them.
The only reason she was in Texas at all was because Emilie threw a twice-annual shindig called Camp Out that was part music festival, part group camping event, and part bacchanal.
Edy had enjoyed relaxing in her little pop-up trailer over the long weekend, listening to music and catching up on reading. The barbecue had been nice, too. She was pretty sure she’d eaten ten pounds of ribs, not that she kept count anymore. It didn’t matter if she ate or not. Tits, ass, and thighs like hers didn’t go away with starvation. She’d learned that the hard way.
She took another breath and smoothed back her ponytail. “I just don’t know what you want me to do with him, Pop. I was going to take the slow route back to Baton Rouge. I built this vacation into the office’s annual holiday. I don’t have to be back at work until next Monday. I’ve got a hotel room booked for tonight and something else planned for tomorrow.”
“No reason you can’t go slow,” Pop said, propping a drooping Al up a little more.
Al’s eyelids were sagging, but that lecherous sneer of his remained fixed. It must have been some kind of perverse gift.
Edy groaned and shifted her weight. She looked at Pop, who seemed extremely tired, and Cameron, who just looked bored with it all.
“Know the feeling, guy,” she muttered and threw up her hands. “Fine. Whatever. I don’t know how you’re going to fit him in my car with his leg like that, but do what you have to do.”
“Thanks, Edy!” Pop called out, already herding the busted player toward the station wagon. “Don’t you worry. Even if we have to fold down the backseat and lay him flat as a corpse, we’ll get him in there.”
“Pretty sure it’s illegal to travel like that.”
Cameron scoffed. “Not like the cops would be able to see him. Just try not to make any hard turns. We’d like him back next season.”
“Too bad he couldn’t have been one of the expendable ones, huh?”
“You said it, not me.”
“I was joking, Cameron.”
Pop flinched and pulled open the back of Edy’s station wagon.
“Hey. It’s not like we’re rolling deep with talent,” Cameron said. “We have maybe seven strong players, which is more than we had three years ago, but if we lose just one, it hurts.”
Pop pulled out Edy’s luggage and toted them back to the trailer.
Obviously, he hadn’t been joking about putting down that back seat.
He swapped the luggage out for some blankets and a pillow and made Al a little pallet.
Then he opened the left rear passenger door and crooked his thumb toward it. “All right, Felton. Scoot on in there. Try not to arouse the suspicions of the five-oh, so don’t sit up, don’t wave your arms, hell—don’t even breathe too hard so you don’t fog the windows. If you give Edy a hard time, I will personally fly to Louisiana and kick your ass with my cleats on.”
Al’s pale green eyes rolled back in his head and he let his lips sputter. “Yesh, shur. Ay-yi-yi, shur.”
Edy cringed. “What the hell kind of painkillers do they have him on?”
Cameron got the swaying player into the doorway and took his crutche
s from him. “Dunno. Might want to have something for him to throw up in just in case, though. I think whatever it is was a pretty high dosage. I mean, he broke his leg in two places. Shit probably hurts.”
“How’d he break it, anyway?”
Al, inside the car, smacked his hand over Cameron’s mouth. “Don’t shay onnnne word. Comprehendo?”
Cameron narrowed his eyes at his teammate, took a step back, and closed the door.