Jasmine of the Black Lagoon
Chapter Seven
The crew aboard the Black Lagoon watched the Neo-Nazi's ship from a fair distance away, not risking being targeted by anti-tank missiles again. Dutch sat in his chair in the control room, leaning back and already nearing his second packet of cigarettes that night "what is it with that painting? I mean there's not much we can do if these guys have bad taste in politics and even worse taste in art. But still. Coming all the way out here with that kind of equipment and weaponry is not something you can do without a lot of money" he asked thoughtfully, not really expecting an answer from the people sitting around the cabin behind him. Airi was sitting behind him on the bench, shivering underneath a heavy blanket she got from Rio's bunk and staring thoughtfully into a coffee cup laced with sugar and spiked with rum "the investment is way out of proportion to their objectives. Hmmm. Wait a minute. Talk about spending too much money for the job" she paused, shoulders unhunching slightly "so that's it" she added thoughtfully.
"You're pretty smart Jasmine" Dutch said, surprising Airi from her thoughts "sounds familiar ha? We've been hired to find that same painting, and we're getting a lot of cash to do it". Airi pulled the blanket more securely around her; she was only wearing one of Rio's wife beaters and some panties underneath "you'd think it was valuable. But we're talking about an artist who was virtually unknown". Dutch glanced away from her, and the bare thigh she was flashing unknowingly "well hopefully that mystery is going to get solved tonight".
"I have a bad feeling about this" Airi confessed, expecting Dutch to laugh at her. Surprised when he didn't and just said "I'll watch his back". Airi flushed, sipping her burning hot coffee "Jasmine, go feed Rio will you?" Dutch said sighing, knowing something was up if Rio wasn't stalking the Japanese women's every step and hoping it didn't interfere with tonight's work "tell him they don't deliver pizza out here, so he'll have to give up and eat something from a can since all the food you made this morning has already disappeared down his abyss of a mouth".
Airi found Rio up on deck, unsettled at the feeling of him not being behind her every time she turned around like normal "Rio? I brought dinner. Dutch says you should probably have something to eat. Um, I'll leave it here". Rio didn't even glance at her, flustered Airi continued "um, if this is about what happened earlier on the U-boat, I..." Airi was interrupted when Rio reached up and pulled her roughly to sit between his legs. "Jaz, we're done talking about that" Airi tilted her head back to look at him but he just looked away and rested his cheek against her hair "I don't think there's any reason to go over all of that again, you got it?". Airi shivered at his cold tone, uneasy she started tucking in the blanket so the cold sea breeze couldn't reach her bare skin "um...right".
"It's a good night" Dutch said, putting out his cigarette in an over flowing ash tray "the moon is about to sink, then it'll get dark. And when that happens we'll raid those bastards". Benny stood a little behind his boss's chair "I've been keeping an eye on the course of their ship at the outer range of our radar". Dutch turned and smirked at him coldly "good work. Rio and I will take care of the rest, since they have their little painting; I'm guessing they're busy celebrating right now".
Now outside with the crew of the Black Lagoon, Dutch said while holding a heavy duty shot-gun "idiots. That's right, go ahead and keep toasting each other. We're gonna come in banging on all the walls, and raid you like the wild apaches". Airi stood to one side with Benny, wrapped tightly in Rio's blanket when they heard Rio's footsteps behind them. "Sorry, but we got one more errand to run partner" Dutch said without looking at the maroon haired man. Lifting his dead eyes from his feet Rio just said "sure, way not. Work's for me, I've got no complaints as long as I can kill who I want and steal what I want". Dutch looked behind him then, taking in Rio's demeanour silently.
Rio walked up to Airi who was looking at him wide eyed, never having heard this tone of voice before, even in the beginning when they first met. He stared down at her silently from a foot away, and Benny and Dutch watched silently when the Japanese women hesitated for only a moment, and were surprised when she reached from underneath the blanket she wore to touch his chest without fear. Normally in this mood Rio would shoot anyone and anything that so much as brushed up against him, so they tensed when Rio lifted a hand and wrapped some of her hair around it, relaxing some when he only bent down to her level and kissed her forehead, just standing there with his lips against her skin and her hand tightly holding onto his shirt. Airi tilted her head back, and she reached up a little to kiss under his chin "be safe". Rio didn't reply, just reached for the hand now over his heart and lifting it with his own, kissed her palm. He stepped back from her, their eyes never leaving each other's until Rio was walking past Benny, who he gave an unreadable look, before jumping down into the small boat besides the Black Lagoon with Dutch.
As Dutch started the small boat, he turned to Rio who was staring out towards sea "you seem down Rio, what's going on did something happen with Jasmine?". Rio didn't even turn to look at his boss; he just answered emotionlessly "nothing happened".
Aboard the enemy vessel one lone Nazi solider was walking drunkenly down the corridor when he saw a rope tied to the railing of the ship. Looking over he saw a small boat, his eyes widening in alarm and he turned yelling "hey I think we got trouble!". Suddenly Rio's modified Beretta 92FS's Cuttlass appeared pointing at the Neo-Nazi's face "and just like that the first little piggy met his end. Oink, oink, oink".
Airi and Benny heard the shots from the cabin of the Black Lagoon, Airi biting her thumb worriedly while Benny said while looking through binoculars "It's started". Airi glanced at him "hey Benny? Times like this, what are we supposed to do while we're waiting? Do we sit here, smoking, looking bored and worried?". Benny didn't even glance at her, yet he answered her immediately like he expected her to ask "when you two were being shot at earlier today, I noticed Dutch remained incredibly calm. To be honest I envied him for that, but hey, we're not really the type of people who can pull out a gun and shoot other human beings. Let's face it, that's why we watch the fort".
Rio stood over the now dead Nazi's body, walking away when Dutch cocked his shot-gun. "I'm making my way to the upper deck from the bow. I need you to turn this place into a cluster fuck, okay?" Dutch watched Rio walk quietly down some stairs to the lower levels "yeah, you don't need to ask twice. I'll eat till I get my fill. These bastards became the walking dead when they cornered Jasmine in the Sub, they just don't know it yet". And true to his word, Rio methodically checked every room that he past, and killed every living thing he found.
