To the reader:

Thanks to so many of you. I want to note my new friends from Australia and France.

FYI: The US and Hungary top the charts.

Chapter 43

Time to think

The darken bedroom possesses a brief slimmer of light from the moon. An outline of a female figure straddling a still shape is barely visible through an indescribable haze.

A deep inhale comes from the masculine frame beneath her. His nude body does a slow turn from one side to the other.

As he maneuvers into a desired position for comfort, strong feminine fingers guide him further away from the mattress until he lies on his back.

The only sound is soft breaths from the unknowing form.

Long slender fingers slide up his bare chest until each hand sits on either side of his throat.

He rolls a head of wavy black hair, as thumbs meet just below his Adam's Apple.

"You have betrayed me." Her whispers are barely audible. "I give all of me to you." Her head of shoulder length ashey blond hair leans back and looks upward at the dim ceiling. "I warned you. I warned you."

Fingers creep to the nape of his neck.

Emerald green eyes open.
"No!" He screams. "No!" His body is soaked from perspiration. Eyes blink keeping time with a shaking head.

"My darling, my darling." Angel sits up, her hand strokes his back.

"You were dreaming. My precious. My love." She eases him downward. "You had a nightmare. It's my fault." She uses her fingers to brush the sweat from his forehead. "Is it because of what I did today? Or a mission in your past?" She kisses his neck. "I sometimes feel, you are too pure a spirit to have done what your government asked you to do." Her hand brushes a flushed cheek. "You are so sensitive to the world around you. That is why, I love you. Love you forever."

He has loss the power of speech. Fear can do that.

"When this is over, your past will be forgotten. My Joe, we will need nothing." She glides her nude torso over his moist skin. She places a kiss on his clammy chest.

"I know someday, I will wear this." She holds the crucifix between her fingers. "It will mean our love will truly last for all eternity."
Joe wants to speak. He thinks of a sarcastic comment.

Yeah! You get to wear the cross when I'm dead and minutes before you slit your throat.

Again, the all too real vision of moments before stifles any attempt to add humor to this touching scene.

"My sweet darling. I hear your heartbeat. It's like a machine gun." She reaches down to his groin. "Hmm," she moans. "Is my little baby always ready?" Her grip below his waist tightens. "No wonder those frustrated women of Bristol Cove cant' keep their eyes and at times," she giggles, "their hands off you."

"Rest my precious, Angel will do all the work." She lifts her left leg and rolls on top of him.

"The bitch's daughter is safe and secure." She chuckles. "Did I sound like a super-agent, using such technical terms?" Angel's hips begin to move in a slow circular motion. "Don't worry my darling, that little log cabin or whatever you rented is perfect." As the movement of her hips increase, spread fingers reach for erect breasts. The tempo of their breathing mirrors his lower-half thrusts upward. Shoulder length hair begins to twirl, as Angel's body quivers. Her mind is on the task at hand, while her lover thinks of the horrific scene in his dreams. And how that vision could someday become real.

A solemn home in Bristol Cove

Sitting on the king size bed, three figures surround a toddler. All that can be heard in the room are gentle breaths from the little boy wrapped in a one piece snug fitting cotton footy. Dolphins in all aspects of their play dot the material.

"He is growing so fast, soon he'll need…" Ryn's voice ebbs as she clutches the front of her chest.

"Ryn, we'll get her back. We'll end that woman's evil forever." Ben embraces his trembling lover.

"Oh, Ben…" She buries her head into his shoulder.

Maddie is silent. With all that they have been through, she has never seen Ryn in such a state.

As Ben lowers Ryn to the bed, she puts her arm over Little Ted's stomach. Her focus is stolen by the rising and lowering of the sleeping child's milk filled belly.

Ben looks at Maddie, and whispers. "Outside," he tilts his head toward the hallway.

"Maddie, you've been so quiet." He continues to speak softly as he closes the bedroom door.

"Mad, my father gave me one of those devices his tech friend gave him. It neutralizes the bugging devices without the damn Navy knowing." He inhales, as he looks at the clock on the wall. "Three A.M, she can't take much more of this. I hope she can get some rest." Stopping, he expects Maddie to speak.

"Maddie, you can talk. I have been trying to figure out a few odd things about that maniac's visit to Helen."

The young woman needs all the energy she can just to utter a single tries to answer Ben.

She fails.

Maddie stands ready to cry out, waiting for his next few words. Words that will tear to shreds an already damaged heart.

"She knows too much. There is no way, she could have found out all this stuff on her own."
Her mind is in turmoil.

No, please Ben…no.

"She has to have someone inside Bristol Cove. Someone working with her." He runs his fingers through light brown hair. But, if it was the Navy or the people we know," he exhales paying no attention to the grim expression on the woman to his front.

"I thought of Nicole…even Chief Hawkins." Ben turns and takes a step toward the door. Opening it he peeks inside.

Yes, maybe it is one of them? Her thoughts are aimed at anyone, except the most logical candidate.

"She's asleep, let's go downstairs. I have to figure how to tell my parents. Especially my dad." He looks back at Maddie as they descend believing she will comment about the close relationship between Ted and Hope.

Going to the beige sofa, he continues to speak, still unaware of the silent and grim looking expression covering her face.

"Nicole and Xander are too close for her to do that. Even Ryn says, she can feel Nicole's love is real." He lets out a gust of air to symbolize his disgust. "And Chief Hawkins helped us escape from the sub." He leans his head forward, "I can't think, Maddie. If it was them? Why the stem cells. Why does Tia want stem cells?" He looks at her. "They could get Stem cells from the Lab."

She remains quiet and still, for fear that any sound or movement might show preceptive Ben the war being fought in her mind.

Oh no! Please, no. Please, don't think of Joe. No, please don't. He is not involved. No!"

"Who is the bastard that helped kidnap my daughter? The person I will..." His teeth grind as claw-like fingers tighten into a fist.

Maddie stares at the anxious Ben. He continues to rub his teeth over a lower lip, a technique she often saw when he had been presented with a difficult problem. Those times concerned solving a math equation or a chemical sequence. Not realizing the only one that could possibly be involved is the man she was falling in love with.

"Maddie, I think I have an idea at who might be that person?"

Dark eyes stare at him. The dryness of her throat causes the young shaken woman to swallow. She cringes as a burning sensation slithers into her mouth.

Notes to the reader:

I don't know about you, but this is getting intense.

Please, if you wish, feel free to comment about what is happening and what might happen-(or what you would enjoy reading.)