This is the SEQUEL (means you read to other one first) to Unusual Escape. Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Evil Genius or any of the following books.
The night was dark on the docks. The day had started out bright and clear, but had eventually clouded over until the sky was clogged with clouds. Not a hint of moonlight could slip through the blanket.
The slap of wavelets on wood echoed softly all around in the harbor. Boats creaked and ropes complained as the tide lifted the vessels up a few feet. The light mounted to one of the post flickered dangerously, throwing a section of the multi-tiered wood into shadow.
The policeman lounging near the flickering light yawned widely. He wasn't quite sure how he had ended up with this bad of a job. Guarding a boat? What, was it going to sail itself away in the dead of night?
He glanced over his shoulder to admire the sleek design of the catamaran. The curve of the two hulls looked like it would slice through waves with ease. Everything about it seemed graceful, somehow. From the sweep of the hulls to the spike of the boom and the curve of the engine blades in the back. Right down to the grey and mahogany coloring.
He had never been told why the boat had to be guarded, or why it had even been impounded in the first place. Most boats taken were sold off at an auction. But not this one. For some reason he had never been told, this boat was special.
If he knew the story, if he had been told, he might have been more vigilant.
In the dark water under the dock, a little away from the dozing policeman, a head peeked out of the water. Water ran down straight, sandy blond hair, dark with water. Flickering light slid over skin tanned from weeks in the water and caught in the eyes. One glimmered blue, the other a chocolate brown.
Anna waited under the dock, clinging to the post to keep from drifting with the tide. She had been watching for a few days now, and she knew that the guard was getting ready to leave to get a cup of coffee. He'd never stay awake otherwise.
As she waited her eyes ran over her boat again. She had been all around it and under it, and was confident that the hull had suffered no damage. It had been a few weeks since she had left Cadel standing on her boat as a police speeder closed in on them. She hadn't liked leaving him, but she would do anything to prevent getting stuck back in a lab.
There had been other chances to steal her boat back before. When the guard had to visit the bathroom, when he had dozed off on watch, when he had been chatting with a friend on the phone, his back to the boat. But then she had waited for tonight. Tonight, there was no moon. Tonight, there would bee no light to reveal where the boat had gone after it had slipped away from the docks.
Anna hovered in the water while the guard slipped into a doze. She waited until he shook himself away and got to his feet. Her head slipped soundlessly under the water as he turned his back on her catamaran.
The guards head was muddled with sleep. The only clear though on his mind was the rich taste of the venders coffee. He didn't think to look back, so he didn't see the dark figure haul itself up the ladder of the catamaran as he walked down the dock.
It was quite a job to pull herself up the ladder using only her arms, but it wasn't the first time Anna had done it. She slid onto the deck, her brown seals tail, courtesy of her geneticist father who had experimented on his unborn child years ago, was heavy out of the water. But the catamaran, named Miranda's Hope after her mother, had been designed by her to her specific needs. Anna slid easily across the slick deck and settled into the groove in the deck behind the specially lowered wheel. Only half of it stood above the deck.
Anna stroked the smooth wood of the wheel. For her, Miranda's Hope would always be home.
Her right hand settled easily on the waterproof control panel. This, along with a series of winches ranged around her, allowed Anna to control everything aboard the catamaran even when she couldn't walk.
Anna pressed a button and the tall mast folded over where it met the deck and settled into a well cut for it. A lid slid over and the mast was completely hidden, making the boat into a aerodynamic speeder. Anna started the motors, one on either hull. Putting both in reverse, she eased away from the dock. The mooring ropes, cut before she had boarded Miranda's Hope, fell slack against the dock. The boat slipped away from the dock and out into the darkness and the ocean.
The guard didn't hear a thing. He walked back over, blowing on his steaming coffee. The warm drink had woken him right up. He was so absorbed in the coffee, on what he was going to do tomorrow, that he didn't notice the empty space where the catamaran used to be until he got right up to his post. The he saw the mooring ropes, hanging empty against the dock.
He stared at the ropes for a solid minute. His brain tried to figure out what had happened. He had turned his back for a little bit and the boat had vanished into thin air. He hadn't heard a thing! Hadn't seen anything unusual. With shaking fingers he reached for his communicator and called headquarters.
Out on the open ocean, Anna tilted her head back and smiled. The salty breeze was whipping her short hair around and had filled the sails, urging the boat forward. She had used one of the towels that were still in the compartment close to the wheel to dry most of the water out of the thick brown fur on her tail. Now she stood proud and tall on the helm of her ship, flying over the waves. Perfectly free.
Comments? Suggestions? Thoughts?
Please? Pretty Please?
Pretty Please With A Cherry On Top?