Chapter 29
October 2003
"I'm not hungry." Lucero said.
Well that began the war. Salazar got that patient irritation look on his face and walked over to the rail where Lucero was looking over the water. He commenced yelling at her in Spanish and she started hollering back. The whole thing took up several minutes, but ended when Salazar raised his hand and backhanded his niece across the cheek. "Oh! Oh! No hitting! No hitting! Bad for the baby!" Penelope got up and ran over to her friend.
"That did no harm to the child." Salazar said, his voice crackling with anger. "My niece needs to learn reason. She needs to feed her child." He turned away coldly.
"He's right. You should. You know, eating for two and all of that." Penelope put her arm around Lucero's shoulders and guided her back to the table, settling her into a seat in front of a cleared space where her back would be to her uncle and the other men. "The rule is pacify the Unsub until the team finds you." She whispered.
"But..."
"Just do it." Penelope sighed as she saw some of the light go out of her friend's eyes, but was happy to see her nod. Hopefully Morgan and the others weren't too far behind them; hopefully they would get here soon. She looked up as the waiters brought out fresh trays. "See, eggs, toast, easy."
"Oh all right." Lucero was clearly not happy with this but she let Penelope fill her place and started picking at it at least.
"Good. Good good good." Okay, Lucero couldn't be relied on to deal with the Unsub, so it was going to be up to her. Penelope stood and straightened her dress and turned to face the Unsub.
Who had, thankfully, gone back to being charming. "I am so sorry you had to see that." Salazar said, coming up to her again. "Children can be so problematic at times. Some take so long to grow up."
"I understand. You know, family is just part of the job..."
"Of course. Come, join me." He swept her off toward the table where his niece was sitting. Along the way he plucked a canapé from a tray, some little bit of toast with what might be caviar on top and presented it to her lips. Pacify the Unsub, pacify the Unsub. Penelope took it with her teeth and suppressed her shivering when he purred with pleasure. "I must know how she found you."
"One of my friends in college introduced us." Lucero all but snarled. She was poking at some poached eggs with her toast. Penelope glared at her until she actually ate some. Thankfully Salazar took that moment to speak to a waiter, he didn't see his niece's eyes widen with longing, or hear her stomach rumble.
"Good. All that schooling was of some use then. Come. Had my niece told you about me?" He guided Penelope to the seat across from Lucero and began filing her plate with delicacies.
"No, not really."
"Ahhh." Movement caught her eye. Penelope looked up as another well dressed man came out on the deck, gathered up the others and they disappeared inside. Salazar watched this with interest. "Excuse me." He got up to see where they were going.
But just as he reached the cabin he came across someone coming out. "Hello Uncle." Spencer said, coming out on deck like he owned the place. "I was going to call you; I was just waiting for the storm to pass. Oh, Ernesto thought we should have some family time." He strode across the deck to Lucero's side. "How are you?"
She smiled and laid a hand over her belly. "We are fine."
"Sure?" He tipped up her chin to examine the bruise slowly growing on her cheek. When she nodded he plucked a bit of croissant from her plate and presented it to her lips. "Don't forget, you're eating for two now.
As Lucero took the bit of pastry slowly Salazar chuckled warmly. No, lustfully. Penelope looked over and realized that yes, he was wearing very lightweight pants. And this was his niece and ew, just ew ew ew. "I see you have finally come around Miguel. Good. But becoming a Fed?"
"It might be useful, at least in the short term. If we can keep them from suspecting anything." One of the waiters came out with champagne. "I took the liberty; I hope you don't mind..."
"Not at all! The return of a prodigal must always be celebrated." Salazar accepted a glass with a murmur of pleasure. "Eat, girl. Listen to your husband." Lucero rolled her eyes and went back to poking at her eggs. "You should eat as well, Miguel."
"I intend to." Among the platters weighing down the table was one of cooked chilies wrapped in bacon. Spencer reached over and snagged one, gave his wife a reassuring wink when her eyes went wide with fear, and took a healthy bite. His only reaction was a murmur of pleasure. "To be honest I missed your cooking."
That had Salazar laughing. "Finally! Now you will grow strong, you will see. Come, let us leave the women and discuss business." He gestured for Spencer to join him at the rail.
Penelope looked over at Lucero. She was just staring, wide eyed. "Eat." She hissed quietly.
Lucero nibbled at the toast and then went back to poking at the eggs. "I can't around him. I just can't."
"I know. Keep faking it." Penelope went back to toying with her own food, all the while watching Spencer and Salazar have champagne over by the rail.
Until Salazar was distracted. "What is that?" He asked, turning to a sound beneath them.
"Ernesto taking the tenders out, I believe." Spencer said calmly.
"What?" Salazar leaned over, just as a smaller boat pulled out of the docking bay under the ship and started speeding off, joined by another from the far side. Both were full of Salazar's men. "What is he doing?"
"Leaving." With that Penelope watched Spencer reach out, take the champagne bottle by the neck, flip it over, and bring it down hard on his uncle's head.
