MERCURY'S SECRET

by Tobias Roote

  Cupping one in each hand, her body responding as her nipples hardened to my touch. She mewled quietly as I took each between my fingers and gently rolled them, I could feel the rhythmic shivers of pleasure running down her spine making her squirm in my lap.

  Letting go of me she put her hands behind her head and grabbing the back of her shirt, slipping it over her head, she cast it aside. The view of her naked body as she arched, excited me as her breasts very firm and pointed became exposed.

  I pushed her arms back up enjoying the look and the sensation of her slim body as my hands continued caressing. As she arched her back to present her breasts, I took them one by one into my mouth and nibbled until she began to writhe sensually.

  Going on the attack, Alice grabbed the bottom of my shirt and yanking it up, pulled it over my head dropping it on top of hers. I sat up and put my arms around her until she was fully wrapped within my embrace, her body now pressed against my chest driving my passion to new heights.

  Her hands began digging between my flesh and shorts. She expertly flipped the button and lifted herself slightly off my lap to undo the zip, I stood, still embracing her, so my shorts dropped from my hips and fell to the deck. Alice took the opportunity to wrap her legs loosely around my waist as each now naked and entwined held fast to the other not wanting to allow any distance between us. I was so hard I felt I could support her weight on my shaft. I groaned as I sat again, relaxing my hold on her.

  Now, pushing her hands down between us she took hold of my shaft and held it with one hand while exploring underneath with the other and grabbing hold of my balls she squeezed them until I felt pain all the way inside my groin adding to my pleasure; I felt my shaft swell further as it grew to bursting. Her hands moved back now up to my chest and clawed at my nipples, not sparing me in pursuit of inflicting sensory pain on me.

  I felt the head slide around her wet opening looking for the way in, as lifting herself slightly to adjust position, she dropped back driving me deep within her crying out as she felt me impale her, biting my shoulder as her arms wrapped around me.

  As her muscles clenched I felt myself sucked into her depths pulling me in while holding me tight inside. Her rhythm and our positions were made for each other as we both felt the effects of the tension of the last two days and the mounting fury of our passion.

  We rode the ecstasy together all the way, hands and mouths working frantically, building a mad frenzy as we explored each other voraciously. All too soon, I felt myself begin to lose control, and sensing it Alice cried out as her legs tightened harder around me pulling me deeper inside, taking every inch of me as I suddenly exploded within her, the act sparking her own climax.

  She shuddered as her own orgasm erupted on the wave of my climax adding to our frenzy as we spent ourselves totally barely holding onto each other.

  We slowly came down from the giddy height of our passion and kissed slowly and deeply, Alice's hands cupping themselves around my face as mine continued to caress her body, loving the feel of every part of her. Wanting to know every inch of her body again, and again. Eventually we gave up and relaxed, Alice groaned.

  “Ooh! Not bad, 'Old Man'!“ she gasped, huskily in my ear.

  We stayed like that for what seemed an age, complete acceptance of each other. The boat rocking gently to the swell of the calm sea, adding its motion to the wonderful sense of peace and fulfilment.

  Finally, when I felt Alice's body begin to cool from our exertion’s I picked her up in my arms and carried her, with her legs still entwined around my body and head snuggled into my shoulder to the large bed. There, taking the time to explore each other completely we spent ourselves again until finally, still wrapped in each others arms, we slept.

  CHAPTER 13

  For the next few days we spent considerable time getting to know each other. There were occasional visitors that stayed a morning, or an afternoon. Watching them come and go it seemed to be a regular day trip location from Villefranche, or Marseilles for the idle rich.

  As most of the boats had GPS trackers it was possible to monitor them on the navigation system. If a motorboat turned up without GPS I paid particular attention until I was satisfied it was not a threat.

  Half way through the fifth day, a motorboat with a pair of massive 500hp Evinrudes plonked on the back turned up with a gaggle of Italian girls and a couple of bronzed men in their thirties. They dropped anchor hooked up the aft ladder and then all leapt into the water where they frolicked for a few hours. Not a stitch of clothing between them.

  We sat on deck and watched them, they had anchored at a reasonable distance, but a light current had swung them closer than I would have liked. Something about the situation left me on edge and I remained within easy reach of the shotgun in the main cabin and my gun hidden behind the lounge cushion.

  When one of the men came out with a camera and started taking pictures of the girls, then switched to pictures of the Monastery above and behind us. I was watching as he panned for shots and my flesh crawled as the direction of the lens turned towards our boat, quickly snapping Alice on the foredeck. He waved nonchalantly at me, as if by way of an apology for the intrusion and returned below deck with the offending instrument.

  Ten minutes later the man came up on deck said something to the others, everyone got aboard while they made ready to depart. The girls looked a little sullen, but the men were efficient and worked well together, like a well oiled team.

  As they manoeuvred away from us with their big engines, the girls waved at us, but I wasn’t watching them. I concentrated on the camera man on his mobile. They were still too close to us for comfort and he wasn't speaking Italian, my lip reading wasn't so good, but I caught some of the words 'devushki' 'zdes' - ‘the girl is here’ - Russians.

  That night we decided that sleeping on the boat was not an option. We were approximately a mile from the Italian beach. We had an inflatable, which was conveniently black. I loaded all of the arms into it under cover of dusk and checking the landing points, as well as spending some time watching the likely lookout areas. We moved all necessary items into the dinghy.

  We couldn't afford a major incident so the booby traps that John had installed, were left deactivated. Besides we might want to use the boat again and it wouldn’t be much use to us at the bottom of the deep lagoon.

  We needed to be more subtle. I chose some khaki brown canisters that John really should not have had in his possession and wired them into the boats electrical system using some of my stuff and bits from the boats tool kit.

  I left Mercury on board on Patrol. He was our advance scout, also bait. If they saw him aboard it would reassure them enough to think we were still below deck. We paddled to the shoreline of the Island where I had decided on a reasonable vantage point that offered us some protection from above as well as from the sea. It was all we had.

  Fifteen minutes later with the dinghy hidden behind some rocks and us in a sheltered position, we settled down to wait. It would be quite a while, I figured.

  Alice had on a fleece that I had found in the cupboard and snuggled into me with an affected simpering that had me chuckling. She was irrepressible and a lot of fun when stuck in a tight situation. We cuddled together for a while, then as it began to truly darken I told her to remain totally quiet, no pebbles, no coughing, nothing in case anyone was above. Sound travels a long way on water especially at night.

  I quietly checked my armoury, I had already cleaned and oiled them during our stay on the boat. Not as enjoyable as sex, but at least it ensured I got a rest from Alice's insatiable appetite. Then putting on my night vision goggles I waited for what I knew would be a late night visit from our unknown enemy. I estimated three hours. They would give us time to roll in the hay and then fall asleep. Then they would time it for arrival under cover of a patch of cloud if there was one, there were certainly a few around tonight.

  I sat there reminiscing, the times I had been put ashore in a black one man dinghy, sometimes off
the back of a submarine, others off a trawler. Once even off the side of an oil tanker! Imagine a wall as high as you can see and a boom winch with you on the end of it. Hitting the water which was travelling at twenty plus miles per hour underneath you and having to pull away from being dragged into the undertow. I'd almost lost my kit and balls’d up the mission on that one.

  I almost failed to notice the black neoprene clad figure pulling itself out of the water up at the stern of the boat. Mercury whuffed at the same moment letting me know. I cannot stand barking dogs, so he was trained not to. Just the right message at the right time. I took out the dog whistle and gave it three short blasts.

  I knew Mercury would hear it and go onto Silent patrol, he would also keep out of the way until I told him to jump ship. That wasn’t so much the training as he tended to back off from trouble, when you cannot bark your lungs out, there is very little you can achieve as a small terrier. I used to have a large dog that never made a sound, yet would happily take your arm off if you weren’t supposed to be there.

  As I expected following the lone swimmer, a black dinghy, not unlike ours, moved silently around the back of the Island and made swiftly towards the boat. I sensed Alice tense as she saw them. She kept quiet and still. I leaned towards her and whispered. “There is bound to be a spotter above us so no movement.” She squeezed my leg in response.

  I now worried about Mercury, he had been left behind in case I hadn't seen them coming so he could warn us, but now if he jumped two things could happen. Firstly, they could shoot him, and secondly if he headed for shore, they might conclude he was coming to us and follow him in. He was a very bright dog, he survived in the wilds before I took him in so he had street-smarts in spades. I decided to wait it out and see what happened.

  My night vision glasses showed three in the boat plus one swimmer. A team of four. What about the spotter I was sure they would use on in this scenario, I would have done. I would have dropped off the spotter around the other side and awaited a signal confirming ‘in position’ before proceeding around the headland.

  As the dinghy tied up at the boat’s stern the swimmer was passed a short rifle. I couldn’t see what make it was from here, a silenced Uzi, I thought likeliest. He made off towards the cabin and the others pulled themselves up and followed him, two either side now, all armed and with night vision. I was glad we weren’t on board, we would be sitting ducks in the cabin.

  Good, they had all gone below. I took out the remote control I had set up, and pressed two of the buttons at the same time. A nice quiet surprise, hopefully. I then used the whistle and was rewarded with a very small splash off the rear of the boat. Good dog, he had hunkered down in the well of the aft landing, they had gone right past him.

  I waited a few minutes, then heard a commotion on the boat. We didn't have to wait long, the swimmer appeared in the doorway, staggering forward and falling over the side. The splash was big enough to get the Spotter’s attention if he was there. I took my silenced sniper rifle, a round already chambered and placing the barrel on the stone I lined up the shot I wanted.

  As the diver surfaced I placed my round straight into his head just at the waterline. He sank immediately. If there was a spotter he wouldn't have heard, or seen anything, the muted muzzle flash had been hidden by an old fishing sock over the end.

  I saw Mercury come to shore and using the dog whistle signalled for him to go to cover and hold. I had trained him to do that so that we could trap wild cats and then he would pop out behind them driving them towards me where I blasted them at short range, making a quick, clean kill.

  We waited. We waited an hour. The gas would keep them out for five to six hours, but it had nowhere to dissipate so they might get an overdose and suffer fatal exposure. I wasn’t concerned about that. We could afford to be patient. After another thirty minutes I was about to give the all-clear when I heard the distinctive sound of a gun stock scraping rock up and to our right.

  Our spotter. Remembering the favoured choice of other spotter on the beach, I decided he would probably have a Vinty, a lovely piece of work, multi-shot, gas propelled and highly accurate. He was moving: down? up? away? Coming down wouldn't be easy, he might have a rope and could rappel down, but I didn't think so.

  I decided he was more than likely moving position to try and get some idea of where we were hiding. He would have been ordered to take us out. He would be sighting through the windows and seeing nothing. Probably getting a little cranky too having no idea what had happened except his lift home had not materialised from the cabin. He would have to make for the dinghy and I guessed he would wait until first light of morning. We couldn’t afford to wait that long. Alice was getting cold, I could feel her shivering against me. I needed to move, or become stiff to the point of uselessness. I decided on action.

  I tapped Alice on the shoulder. She understood what that meant and quietly took the rifle from me. I had my Glock at my back, silencer attached and I had my knife. The black gear I had found was meant for this, and my blackened face ensured there was no reflection as I began to climb. As I did the blood circulation seemed to reach my legs again and I felt pins and needles as it caused my legs to burst into pain. I worked through it and kept climbing.

  Judging I had thirty feet to go as I needed to have a clear line of sight, I kept moving crab wise and upwards. The bet was that he was using night vision goggles and I hoped so because he was about to get a nasty shock. Moving into a good position and facing in the Spotters rough direction I made sure my goggles and my face were turned away from the sea and then pointed the TV remote at the boat and pressed the button.

  It took about twenty seconds for the TV to switch itself on from standby and then the noise from the film 'Gone in 60 Seconds' car chase screamed out of the surround sound speakers and colour illuminated the inside of the boat. I waited another two seconds so that anyone would be looking directly at the boat and then hit the other remote and all of the boats searchlights, trained on the cliff top all burst into life together illuminating the cliff and hopefully blinding the Spotter.

  Yep! There he was, pulling off the goggles as the bright light temporarily blinded him, a fair shot. I lined up the target and put three silenced shots into him. Tap, tap and another tap in the head. Quickly changing my location in case there was another with him, I continued to climb and then took another look around. All clear.

  I climbed the last few feet, keeping down to avoid any silhouette reaching the fifth enemy soldier, to find him dead. I took his rifle and patted him down. This one had a mobile, so I removed the battery and put the device into my pocket, replaced my Glock and then tipped the assassin over the cliff, giving a low whistle as I did so to let Alice know it wasn't me coming down the hard way.

  Five minutes later I was back down the cliff. I went to the body of the Spotter and pulled him into the water, setting him adrift he would sink with all that gear on. Then pulling out the dinghy, we quietly and quickly returned to the boat.

  Keeping Alice in the dinghy until it was safe, I sent Mercury ahead following right behind him to check all combatants were down. Keeping my breathing shallow until the air was cleared. I found two in a heap together and one by the bed.

  Removing the canisters carefully, I opened all the windows to get any remaining gas out of the boat. Then, while it was clearing I dragged them all out and up to the bows. I called Alice and left her to it as she transferred everything back into the boat from the dinghy and tidied up down below.

  Meanwhile, checking the bodies, I discovered they were all dead. That stuff was obviously not what I thought it was, or it was too high a concentration. I roped them all to one big piece of chain and sent them into the deep waters of the lagoon along with the holdall containing their guns, pocket contents, ID’s and canisters. The weight would keep them down for long enough. If any of the bodies drifted, they would remain pretty much untraceable.

  I had no compunction at all about having killed them, if they had live
d they would have killed us. If we had kept them prisoner, they could have escaped and then killed us. They could have been rescued and we could be taken out by the rescue team. They would have slowed us down, brought attention to us at the wrong moment, and we would have had to share the boat with them. None of that those scenarios would have helped us survive.

  Whichever way you looked at it, the only way we were safe was if they were dead. So far we had been very lucky; vigilance, innovation and surprise had been our friends. It wouldn't always be that easy, I was sure.

  Starting the engines and with all the lights off, no tracking or radar, we moved out slowly, keeping the wake down to almost an eddy and reducing the possibility of anyone seeing us. Sailing directly out to sea while remaining in the shadow of the Sanctuary until we could no longer see it against the coastline, helped shield us from any observation from shore.

  Then, when we could stay black no longer, I switched on the transponder, turned it to maximum and kept up a steady trawl speed running at an angle to the coast that would bring us into French waters shortly. When we got into a shipping lane, I kept away from other ships, turned off the transponder moving in amongst them for an hour before changing direction and heading for Spain.

  The idea was that we kept moving, hopefully giving John and Abbey as much breathing space as possible. I was certain now that they were still alive and running because the enemy obviously wanted Alice as a bargaining chip and had now made two attempts to either eliminate, or capture her; I just didn’t know which at this stage. Nothing was ever what it seemed.

  If John was dead already, they wouldn't have to chase us down, just wait until we surfaced before taking us out at a time and place of their choosing. This meant we were either the main targets, or we were the distraction which indicated we were also important to the enemy in some way. I was thinking about the memory stick in my pocket.