Tuesday, June 13th, 2017
Baie du Grand Soufre
Marseilles, France
21:24 GMT+2 (19:24 GMT June 13th)
CHARLIE ONE: Nemesis, Stripe, Ajax, Intrepid, Resolute & Arbiter
COMÈTE – LOWER DECK
The four guest cabins were arranged together in a group – two to port and two to starboard.
The first pair were approximate mirror images of one another. Stripe grinned as he saw a single stocking tied around the door handle of the door to their left – that was the generic signal for 'stay out; I'm getting off with a woman/man', depending on sexual preferences. The boy shrugged as he gently eased down on the handle and he pushed open the cabin door. He expected to find someone having wild passionate sex, but no. Yes, there was a naked woman on the bed, but while she was stunning, her long deep brown hair extending quite a way down her exquisite back, that was not the elephant in the room. It was more the man whom she was garrotting. It was one of the hottest things Stripe had ever witnessed. The man had obviously been having his way as his penis was erect and glistening in the little light which pervaded the cabin. It took precious seconds for the woman to notice the invader, but it also took precious seconds for Stripe to react to what he was witnessing. Neither the man nor the woman were primary targets, but while all the guests aboard were supposed to be on Hit Girl's shit list, maybe the woman wasn't as she was killing one of the bad guys – it was a conundrum, to say the very least!
Stripe finally got his shit together as a small titanium throwing knife embedded itself into his right shoulder. The blade failed to penetrate the armour and he simply knocked the blade out as he ran at the woman. Behind Stripe, Intrepid's jaw dropped beneath her mask as she witnessed Stripe fighting a naked women who had blood dripping down her bare breasts. Intrepid then noticed the man on the bed whose neck was convulsing with blood – the man was obviously dead, his eyes bulging in death. The girl assumed he went to his death happy as she noticed that his dick was sticking out. Stripe quickly recognised the style of fighting; the woman was not an ordinary woman. She was highly skilled, and she swiftly had Stripe on the deck, but then she collapsed as Nemesis cracked her over the head with the suppressor on her MP5SD.
"Stop messing around with the naked bitch, Stripe!" Nemesis growled as she hauled the boy to his feet. "Bet you enjoyed that, boy!"
"Fuck, yeah!" Stripe commented as he took a digital photo of the unconscious assassin, ensuring that he got a bit more than just her face.
"Dirty bastard!" Intrepid commented as she noticed what Stripe was doing. "Ajax not enough for you, Stripe?"
"These boobs are three times the size," Stripe commented as he turned to take a few photos of the 'crime scene' and the dead man. "I'll get a good picture of the man's dick for you, Intrepid."
Nemesis was unhappy – finding the woman had been very unexpected, to say the least, and she reported that up the chain of command before they moved across the passageway and into the next guest cabin.
OSCAR ONE: Hit Girl, Shadow, Stormtide, Foxtail, Rampart & Wildcat
COMÈTE – MAIN DECK
The team split up.
Hit Girl, Stormtide, and Wildcat moved back aft while Shadow took Foxtail and Rampart forward. Each team would come at the next deck up, the bridge deck' from opposite ends. Hit Girl hoped that by then, the Brits would have finished on the lower deck and they would then come up to join them. Swiftly, Shadow led her team forward to the main staircase which led upward and downward. They took the stairs leading upward, and with Rampart covering their rear, Shadow and Foxtail moved upwards, step by step, slowly, and with their weapons raised and pointed at the top of the stairs. Hit Girl led her team back aft to the stairs which the dead security detail member had used prior to his untimely death. They had the shortest route, so they stopped at the base of the stairs and they waited for Shadow's team to reach the next deck.
Shadow came to the top of the staircase and she looked left and right. To her left, was a door leading through to the captain's cabin, the bridge, and the yacht's office. To her right, she could hear many voices – far too many voices for there to be only the two marks and twelve guests aboard.
"Hit Girl, we're at the top of the stairs and there appears to be a few more aboard than we had anticipated."
"We'll cope," came the decidedly vague response from aft.
Shadow looked over at Foxtail who simply shrugged.
CHARLIE ONE: Nemesis, Stripe, Ajax, Intrepid, Resolute & Arbiter
COMÈTE – LOWER DECK
The starboard cabin had been empty.
The next pair of cabins were, however, occupied. As Ajax pushed open the door to the next starboard cabin, she found a man pulling on a fresh white shirt.
"Who the bloody-hell are you?" he demanded.
Ajax took a single step forward, towards the man who had backed further into the cabin to the end of the king-sized bed. Ajax never saw the hand emerge from the bathroom to the right and grab the muzzle of her MP5SD. Ajax found the weapon jerked out of her hands and she stumbled after it. The vigilante was then kicked in the head by a smart red high-heeled shoe and she fell to the plush carpet of the cabin. Behind her, Intrepid entered the cabin and she put a bullet into the man's face as he brought up a pistol from under his black dinner jacket which lay on the bed. The woman had backed into the bathroom but not fast enough as Ajax had grasped her weapon and stitched a burst of three bullets across the bathroom door which was not armoured. Intrepid shoved open the bathroom door to find the woman dead – her chest a bloody mess. As for the cabin, the outer bulkhead would take some scrubbing.
"Cabin is clear," she reported.
As for the fourth guest cabin, Arbiter had caught out a young woman who appeared to be the valet to a female guest aboard. The woman had tried to resist, but the butt of the MP5SD had seen off any resistance. As Arbiter secured the woman with a gag and tied her wrists and ankles, Nemesis peered in.
"Very neat," she commented.
Before heading up to see how Hit Girl was getting on, they peered into an empty smaller cabin on the starboard side which was allocated to the resident pilot.
OSCAR ONE: Hit Girl, Shadow, Stormtide, Foxtail, Rampart & Wildcat
COMÈTE – BRIDGE DECK
Shadow stepped out of the stairwell and onto the bridge deck.
Turning aft, she and Foxtail passed through a short corridor before they emerged into the first of the main entertaining spaces of the superyacht which extended right aft to the winter garden at the stern, the sky lounge. Rampart came up behind them and the three vigilantes spread out side-by-side with Foxtail in the centre and Shadow on the left flank. It took just thirty seconds for them to be noticed by the closest group of five men and two women who were seated on couches to the left. But before any of them could do anything heroic, Rampart coldly blew the head off a member of the security detail who had been standing off to the right. The bullet from the suppressed Glock 26 entered the man's face and blasted the back of his skull, and much of his brain matter along with some blood, across two of the five picture windows on the port side of the vessel. There was a scream and eighteen more heads turned in their direction – six men in dinner jackets, four women in cocktail dresses, four crewmembers (three men and a woman), and four more of the security detail in ordinary suits. Rampart's warning had clearly sunk in and there were no overt attempts to bring a weapon to bear. Then there was a further commotion as two more women and a man were thrust into the space from further aft by Hit Girl and her team.
Hit Girl strode directly towards one of the women standing over to Shadow's left, "Hello, Susan, glad we could meet again."
The woman looked like she had eaten something distinctly sour as she glared into the masked face. The mask bore purple markings, and Susan knew exactly who stood before her.
"Hello, you purple cunt!" Susan Cummings responded drily. "You owe me a fucking yacht!"
"Lost it, have you?" Hit Girl replied as she realised how sore Cummings was, despite it having been over a year. "I know where it is if that helps. A dozen fucking fathoms down, somewhere in the fucking Bay of fucking Biscay."
"Where's that other fucking bitch, Nemesis?" Cummings growled, remembering exactly who had last been aboard her yacht with Hit Girl and who had then had the gall to storm her mansion and then to taunt her about the loss of her father's yacht.
"Somebody call?" an electronically enhanced voice drawled.
Heads turned to see three vigilantes appear to stand with Shadow, Foxtail, and Rampart. Three more appeared at the opposite end of the space to join Stormtide and Wildcat. One of the three new arrivals stepped forward and she marched straight up to Cummings and she punched the woman in the face. Nemesis glanced at Hit Girl who nodded her assent and then as Cummings regained her feet, blood spilling down her face from the broken nose, Nemesis raised her MP5SD and she put a single round into the woman's chest. The woman crashed backwards, catching a low table as she went which was knocked asunder. A look of shock spread across her face and her hands feebly tried to stem the flow of blood. Nemesis then shot the woman a second time, the bullet taking her in the forehead.
"Sorry for that interruption," Hit Girl growled as she ran her eyes across everyone present. "A little bit of overdue housekeeping if you will. Now, anyone else we know?"
"Just one," Nemesis growled, and she walked up to a tall man wearing a pale cream evening suit. "Hello, Gabriel, you traitorous frog bastard!"
"What do you think you are doing aboard here?" Gabriel Agreste demanded in heavily accented English. "Who are you?"
"She is called Hit Girl," a voice stated and a man who had been sitting in a chair to port stood up. "Hello, Hit Girl, I am Séverin Coulomb and you have invaded my yacht – how dare you!"
There were many gasps from all around and some screams at the revelation of who stood in their midst. Hit Girl, however, was surprised by the accent, which was more English than French, not to mention the English mannerisms.
"I assume you have come for me?"
"I'll take any trash I can find," Hit Girl responded coldly.
"The only trash I see is what has invaded my yacht and murdered my guests," Coulomb continued. "You think I am unprepared for pirate scum?"
Hit Girl was unfazed by the verbal sparring, but she recognised when things were about to go to shit.
21:31 GMT+2 (19:31 GMT June 13th)
Romeo Oscar: Kick-Ass & Trojan
The RHIB rocked gently on the swell as it lay hove to a dozen yards from Romeo Charlie.
Kick-Ass gazed up at the giant superyacht, praying that the dozen friends and family they had put aboard would all come back alive. He had listened to the radio chatter, pleased to hear his wife's voice as well as the voices of the others. However, he had then become very worried as the picture windows on the bridge deck suddenly lit up with what could only be the flashes of gunfire.
Was the gunfire friendly . . . or unfriendly?
OSCAR ONE: Hit Girl, Shadow, Stormtide, Foxtail, Rampart & Wildcat
CHARLIE ONE: Nemesis, Stripe, Ajax, Intrepid, Resolute & Arbiter
COMÈTE – BRIDGE DECK
Decidedly unfriendly!
Rampart had turned to look back down the corridor behind them just as three men had appeared from the direction of the bridge beyond the staircase. They were swiftly joined by two more men coming up from below. Each of the men were armed with Heckler & Koch G36K submachineguns and they had opened fire the very moment they had seen Rampart. Her body armour had taken six rounds and she had fallen backward into the sky lounge. Shadow had dragged Rampart out of the line of fire, even as Foxtail and Ajax had dropped to their knees and returned fire.
Hit Girl glared at Coulomb who simply grinned back as he grabbed Agreste and they dived towards the four members of the security detail who swiftly took advantage of the distraction and they drew their pistols, firing off several shots before all but one was cut down by Wildcat and Resolute. Arbiter and Intrepid had retreated into the winter garden and they had come under attack from the stairwell where two of the security detail had engaged them with pistols. Stormtide managed to grab Agreste and she shoved the man into a round table with four chairs and the man fell to the deck. As he tried to scramble to his feet, Stormtide punched him in the side of the head and he fell back to the deck. Undercover of the gunfire from the stairwell, Coulomb was able to reach the stairs and he took them three at a time as he headed up to the sun deck above – and the helicopter to safety.
Rampart quickly figured out where Coulomb was headed, and she grabbed Stripe. The pair of them dived to the left and found themselves in the pantry where three crewmembers were cowering from the gunfire. None of them moved as the two vigilantes took a right and pushed through a doorway. There, they found the crew staircase which would lead them up onto the sun deck at the opposite end to the heli-deck. They raced up the stairs, coming out in the cinema. Ahead of them, beyond the comfortable leather furniture and a bar, glass doors opened up onto the heli-deck. The Bell 429 helicopter was readily visible, and Rampart could see the anti-collision lights blinking and then the whine of the two Pratt & Whitney Canada turboshaft engines could be heard as they spooled up. The rotor blades were spinning wildly and that told Rampart that they did not have long. The pair raced outside; guns raised. They could not open fire – the helicopter might explode and take them and everyone else with it.
"Get in the back – get Coulomb!" Rampart shouted at Stripe who nodded.
While Stripe raced around to the right side of the Bell helicopter, Rampart made for the left side and the vacant co-pilot's seat. Yanking open the door, she attempted to climb into the vacant seat, but just as she did so, the pilot yanked up on the collective and the helicopter leapt into the air. Rampart was left hanging onto the open cabin door and standing on the left landing skid as they rose vertically upwards. In the passenger compartment, Stripe had yanked open the sliding door and leapt aboard just moments before. Coulomb had attempted to fight, but he had received the muzzle of Stripe's submachinegun to the side of his head and the angry wound had knocked most of the fight out of the entrepreneur. Stripe now looked on in horror as Rampart fought to climb aboard as the down blast from the wildly spinning rotor disk above her head threatened to tear her grip from the door.
With immense relief, Rampart heaved on her muscles and she almost fell into the co-pilot's seat of the helicopter and she pointed her pistol at the pilot's head. Then the pilot made a mistake as the man thought himself safe and untouchable with them airborne and hovering three hundred feet in the air.
"Shoot me, and we crash and die," the pilot challenged with a grin.
Rampart simply shrugged.
"I don't need you," her electronically enhanced voice growled. "Now, get the fuck out of my helicopter!"
The pilot's grin faded very quickly as he summed up the situation, and his courage vanished. He pushed open his door and jumped out, landing in the water beside the superyacht. Rampart holstered her pistol then grasped the cyclic and collective, taking control of the unfamiliar helicopter. It was to be her very first landing aboard something other than dryland, but that did not faze the young pilot as she brought the helicopter down towards the green lights of the heli-deck and she sighed with relief as the skids touched down on the heli-deck within the inner orange-lit circle. A brief look over the cockpit and she quickly found the engine control switches and she shut them off, leaving the rotor blades to gently wind down to a stop on their own.
"Nice flying," Stripe commented to his fellow Predator.
"Thank you, Stripe," Rampart replied.
"Oh, almost forgot," Stripe said as he squeezed the trigger on his MP5SD, and Coulomb's head exploded all over the cabin.
"Messy cunt!" Rampart growled as she climbed down from the helicopter and she fired off a stream of bullets into the cockpit instruments to ensure that the machine did not fly again any time soon.
"Vandal!" Stripe countered.
Rampart grinned beneath her mask as the pair of vigilantes headed back inside the superyacht.
OSCAR ONE: Hit Girl, Shadow, Stormtide, Foxtail, Rampart & Wildcat
CHARLIE ONE: Nemesis, Stripe, Ajax, Intrepid, Resolute & Arbiter
COMÈTE – BRIDGE DECK
The fight had pretty much died out as the security detail was overwhelmed by the armour-clad vigilantes.
Stripe and Rampart descended into the winter garden to find the combined Fusion/Vengeance assault force mopping up. There did not appear to be any casualties on their side but almost all of the security detail lay dead or badly wounded. Blood was everywhere. Several of the guests had caught bullets and they lay on the deck, some bleeding to death.
"I have Coulomb's wife," Shadow advised as she checked out a dead woman. "She caught a bullet, it looks like."
"Mission completed," Nemesis commented. "Time to call in the boats."
"I agree," Hit Girl responded. "Your team did good."
"They always do," Nemesis responded.
"Coulomb?" Hit Girl asked Rampart when she and Stripe appeared.
"We took a brief flight, but he did not survive," Rampart reported.
"You just can't keep your feet on the ground, can you?" Hit Girl sighed.
"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Ajax demanded of Stripe.
"Rampart took me flying," Stripe replied.
"Did she now," Ajax growled.
"Give him a good fucking from me as a reward," Rampart suggested as she walked off.
"Oh, I will," Ajax muttered as Hit Girl stepped over to Foxtail.
"Agreste?"
"He's vanished," Foxtail replied. "We could search, but..."
"We don't have time," Hit Girl finished. "Let's roll!"
"Romeo Oscar, Romeo Charlie, this is Nemesis; it's time to go."
"Copy, Nemesis; inbound," Kick-Ass replied.
After a last glance around the blood-spattered deck, Hit Girl ran for the stairs leading aft and down.
..._...
As they headed aft, Stripe decided to check on the beautiful naked woman.
Stripe re-entered the cabin to find the dead man, still dead, but there was no sign of the naked beauty he had fought. Instead, all he found was a wig of deep brown hair lying on the deck where he had left her. The woman's clothing was gone and so was she. Another mystery, but not one to be solved right then. Stripe left the cabin and he rejoined his team as they headed aft, through the fitness suite and back outside to where they found the two RHIBs waiting and the other team. Everyone boarded the RHIBs with relief and once safely aboard, Sleuth and Kick-Ass turned the RHIB's away from the superyacht and the dead, pointing their bows into the darkness of the Baie du Grand Soufre and the Mediterranean Sea.
Over to the right, they could make out a green light flashing a group of three every twelve seconds which marked the southern tip of Ile Ratonneau, just two-thirds of a nautical mile away to the west, which marked their exfiltration route.
21:50 GMT+2 (19:50 GMT June 13th)
CALEDONIA
Amber had received three surprise visitors while the assault teams had been away.
The actual visitor had been Lucy, but two other girls had chosen to tag along for the short walk along the dock to the other vessel. Amber had never actually spoken with Stephanie before, although she had seen the girl around in Scotland, once or twice. As for the other girl, her name was Abigail. Both younger girls were obviously English, but Lucy had an American accent. As to why they had come over, that quickly became painfully obvious. Amber and the three girls had sat down in a corner of the upper salon where they were well out of the way. Stephanie had then coaxed out of Amber the events of that fateful night when she had been stripped and interrogated. Everything she had felt and thought spilled out for the first time. Along with those feelings and those thoughts, had come the tears. Abigail and Stephanie knew what it was like to be rejected by others and treated like shit. Lucy could also relate to how Amber felt. Amber knew slightly more, having been briefed by Mindy, the previous night, but she was sworn to secrecy, and she valued her life.
As the time had passed, it had become increasingly obvious that nobody had bothered to take the time to sit down with Amber and take her through what had occurred. But then, it came out that the boy, Jeremy Lai, had tried to talk to Amber but Amber had not been very receptive to the boy's attempts to help. After half an hour of listening to Amber, Abigail was beginning to feel very depressed. Stephanie was doing her best to put a positive spin on Amber's downfall, but Amber could not see anything good in what had happened to her. Even the grilling which she had endured when she had first been brought into Vengeance had scared the living daylights out of the girl. At one point, Abigail could see Amber going the same way that she had done – slit her wrist; she still had the small wavy scar to remind her of that very bad and very painful decision.
"You were there with my brother," Stephanie said towards the end.
"Jamie?"
"Yes."
"Annoying little shit!" Amber growled.
Stephanie and Abigail both burst out laughing.
"That's Jamie," Stephanie admitted.
The conversation ceased as Scarlett appeared.
"The RHIBs are on their way back," she advised them all.
Lucy, Stephanie, and Abigail headed back to OCEAN VIGILANTE while Scarlett sat down next to Amber.
"Did it feel good to talk?" Scarlett asked.
"Yes," Amber admitted. "I should have talked with you and Jeremy much earlier. Thanks for being there for me."
Scarlett smiled.
"You're my friend, Amber, never forget that."
Amber smiled back.
22:18 GMT+2 (20:18 GMT June 13th)
OCEAN VIGILANTE & CALEDONIA
The trip back had taken longer to ensure that nobody was following them.
However, both RHIBs were successfully stowed within each yacht and the crews were stripping off their body armour and their weapons were being returned to the relevant armouries. It had been a very unremarkable, if damp, trip back in the RHIBs. They had been further out to sea and more exposed to the wind and the sea, but the trip back had been at speed which had softened the ride – a blessing to those with bruises.
Once back aboard, those who had not been taking a direct part in the operation were on hand to assist those who had been fighting out of their amour and take their weapons. On OCEAN VIGIALNTE, Danny and Anne-Marie were there to assist Megan and Mindy while Becky insisted on helping Chloe. It was much the same aboard CALEDONIA where Kaitlin insisted on being there for Cassie. Olivia was not overly amused to be helped by Amber, but Craig's expression warned the girl to keep her mouth shut. Scarlett gathered up the weapons from Dakota and Charlotte, leaving Electra to look after Jake.
It had been a fairly successful night – the primary targets were dead, but a secondary target had escaped; however, the timely demise of Susan Cummings had given Mindy and Cassie something to smile about.
22:18 GMT+2 (21:18 GMT June 13th)
OCEAN VIGILANTE
Willow was not happy.
As she lay on her bunk, on her stomach, the sixteen-year-old scowled into her duvet as she grimaced with the pain. Jen knelt beside the bunk and she gently tended to the nasty bruises lined up along the girl's back. The six bullets had not penetrated her body armour, but the kinetic energy had still passed through the armour and the combat suit.
"Nothing permanent, Willow," Jen smiled. "I gather you did very well, tonight; Mindy is singing your praises."
Willow groaned at the pain, but she forced a smile; she had enjoyed the night out – it had been a first for her, fighting on the ground, and she had really enjoyed it. Having the opportunity to get aboard a helicopter again had also been fun – even if it had only been for mere minutes.
"She is?" Willow asked, a little surprised.
"You still don't get it, do you, Willow," Jen responded in an exasperated tone. "Mindy thinks well of you – she can't exactly hate everyone who hates or wants to kill her eldest daughter now, can she?"
Willow laughed, hard enough for her bruises to hurt.
"Stop being your own worst enemy," Jen suggested. "Right, that's you done."
Willow rolled over and she sat up, pulling her towel up over her chest.
"Thanks, Jen. I still have a lot to learn. A lot to get used to."
"You're doing well, Willow," Jen replied. "I remember seeing to a girl with a bullet wound in her head. I remember seeing to a girl who was struggling with her punishment. You are very different to that girl, Willow. You are a young woman with a future. You are a young woman with the world before her. You are a Predator – there's nothing you can do about that – but you are no longer a Marauder; you've shrugged off that mantel with honour, Willow. You are no longer Bandit; you are Rampart and a key member of Fusion. Do you think Mindy would have given you your rank and position if she thought you didn't deserve it?"
Willow grinned at the rhetorical question and she nodded.
"Thank you, Jen – I needed that."
"You don't have a mother anymore, Willow, but if you ever need to talk, then I am here to listen, okay?"
Willow nodded, finally getting it, and the young woman felt like a massive weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
..._...
Just as Jen left the cabin, Lucy knocked and entered.
"How did it go?" Lucy asked.
Willow grinned enormously.
"It was fucking awesome!" Willow responded in a manner which Lucy had not seen in many years. "I fucking rocked!"
"I heard you took to the skies."
"That was cool – I was dangling off the left skid as the bastard took us airborne. He tried to make out that he was important and that if I killed him, we would all crash. Bastard had no idea that I was a fucking Kestrel! Damn, the adrenalin was something awesome!"
Lucy raised an eyebrow, knowing that Willow was still coming down from that adrenalin surge. However, seeing the normally morose girl so happy was something, not to mention that Willow tended to avoid Lucy.
"I've really landed on my feet, haven't I?" Willow grinned.
"We all have, Willow, we all have," Lucy admitted. "Do you miss Bandit?"
"No. Strange when you think about it. Getting shot in the head was probably the best thing that ever happened to me."
"You should have told me," Lucy grinned as she prodded Willow in the dead centre of her forehead. "I'd have damn well shot you in the head, fucking years ago!"
"Funny bitch!"
"Get dressed and we can go up on deck – enjoy the view."
Willow quickly pulled on a loose T-shirt – her bruises made a bra too sore to wear – and a pair of light shorts before she pushed her feet into a pair of leather sandals.
22:28 GMT+2 (21:28 GMT June 13th)
OCEAN VIGILANTE
Mindy was just leaving her suite, her hands behind her head, putting her hair up in a ponytail, when she was almost knocked down by a giggling girl.
She was pleasantly surprised to discover that the giggling girl was actually Willow of all people. Lucy simply shrugged as they both ran off and up onto the deck. Mindy just chuckled, pleased to see Willow and Lucy getting on well together. It was also good to see Willow so happy. It also made Mindy happy – seeing her plans turn into success felt really good. Especially when she was able to help young people to turn their lives around. She never regretted her path of choice. Seeing Willow laughing and giggling was proof that she was changing lives for the better.
"Was that Willow?" Stephanie asked as she met up with Mindy in the main saloon.
"I think so," Mindy responded.
"Another success to chalk up," Stephanie admitted before she sighed. "To think that I wanted to kill her at one point."
"She did take that..."
"I know, I know. But that's what we are here for, isn't it? We help people who can't help themselves. We're about giving people a second chance at life. Damn we're good!"
"Yes, we are," Mindy confirmed.
Mother and daughter headed upwards to the sky deck where they found Danny, Anne-Marie, and Jamie waiting. Joshua handed the two girls a soft drink each just as Dave arrived and he was passed a cold beer. Across the water, on the corresponding sun deck, David and Jasper could be seen raising their own glasses of cold beer towards the OCEAN VIGILANTE. Dave responded, raising his own glass. Both vessels had something to celebrate as they decompressed after the mission and enjoyed the warm night air of Marseilles.
"Mom! Mom! Mom!"
"What! What! What!" Mindy responded.
"Come and sit down," Anne-Marie insisted as she pointed to a seat between herself and Megan.
Mindy rolled her eyes as she slipped in between the two girls. Across the table Chloe began dealing out cards.
"What are we playing?" Mindy asked.
"Poker," Becky responded.
"How would you know how to play poker?" Mindy asked.
"The men who held me played poker – I watched," Becky replied quite reasonably. "Plus, Megan taught me a bit."
"Megan?"
"I play poker with Curtis," Megan grinned, her cheeks turning pink.
"Strip poker," Curtis clarified with a dirty smirk.
"I might have known!" Mindy laughed as she turned to the twins. "And you two?"
"Steph taught us," Danny said.
"We learned to play poker and gamble in Phase 1," Jamie admitted as Stephanie nodded.
"Mindy, no cheating," Joshua cautioned.
"Would I?" Mindy asked innocently.
"Yes, you would," Abby confirmed as she grabbed a cold Coke from the fridge behind the bar. "You used to con me and Chloe at Safehouse A, remember?"
"Oh, yeah," Mindy groused.
Joshua threw everyone a large bag of M&Ms each.
"Yellows are worth five. Brown are worth ten. Green are worth twenty. Red are worth fifty. Orange are worth a hundred. Mindy, stop eating the currency! Okay, antes in, please! Minimum of fifty buy in."
At the aft end of the sky deck, Jennifer and Patrick sat with Hailee and Mathilda, Patrick with a beer, and the women with glasses of white wine. It was truly amazing, Mathilda thought, to see everyone relaxing and having fun after a night of danger. There was another card game going on at the forward end of the deck involving the older kids which included Tommy and Abigail as well as Xiāngxìn and Lin. Eva and Willow were the loudest and they kept the entertainment going even though Freya and Ariana were a little unsure about what they were getting themselves into. Marty eventually appeared on the deck to join in the fun and stand down for a couple of hours before it was time for everyone to turn in.
Everyone ignored the police boats and helicopters which were gathering a few nautical miles away where there had been a 'bad shipping accident' according to the news.
Wednesday, June 14th, 2017
00:28 GMT+2 (22:28 GMT June 13th)
CALEDONIA
Electra lay in her bunk with Yvette beside her.
The two girls were illuminated in the darkness by Electra's tablet which displayed the image of two other girls, namely Ruth and Stephanie.
"Mum kept eating the chips, so we actually have no idea who won," Stephanie explained. "Willow ended up naked as they were playing strip poker at her table and she was only wearing two items of clothing. For some reason Megan also ended up naked – that might have been due to Curtis - as did SD . . . fucking nutters the lot of 'em!"
"You can talk!" Yvette laughed.
"Okay – I concede your argument," Stephanie admitted.
"Girls, it's time for bed – we have an early start," Cassie cautioned.
"What were those screams a few minutes ago?" Electra asked.
"I had to Taser Harper and Rylee for getting a little too full of themselves – not a full charge, just enough to remind them who's in charge," Cassie grinned.
"I'm going to sleep before I get Tasered," Electra stated, and Yvette nodded. "Night guys."
"Night!" Stephanie and Ruth replied, and the screen went blank.
"Night, girls," Cassie laughed.
"Night, Cassie."
00:35 GMT+2 (22:35 GMT June 13th)
CALEDONIA
"They all in bed?"
"Yes," Cassie confirmed as she pulled off her sports bra, shorts, and knickers. "Finally! I don't think Rylee ever believed that I would actually Taser her. Oh, well, we all live and learn, I suppose."
Andrew laughed as the naked and very beautiful Cassie slipped into the queen-sized bed beside her husband and she felt his arm reach across her bare breasts. Then she kissed him, and she felt so safe. His arms pulled her in close and she felt his warmth on her back. She felt his love. She closed her eyes and thought about everything that was happening. She was very happy. Everything was just perfect.
She had her husband. She had her children. She had her life.
Killing Susan Cummings had simply been the icing on the cake.
00:35 GMT+2 (22:35 GMT June 13th)
OCEAN VIGILANTE
Shannon smiled as her father leaned down to kiss her goodnight.
"Love you, Dad."
"I love you, too, Shannon."
"What about me?"
"Goodnight, Marc," Patrick chuckled.
"I'll give you a kiss," Shannon told the boy. "Be good and you might get a blowjob."
"I hate it when you're on your period," Marc groused. "For so many reasons!"
"Be nice or you get to jerk yourself off!"
"Night, kids!" Patrick laughed as he stepped out of the cabin and pulled the door closed behind him.
Patrick peeked his head into another cabin – his two youngest children were fast asleep in their bunks. He gave each one of them a kiss before he pulled their cabin door closed and the man strolled up two decks to the bridge where he had the watch. The bridge consoles were powered up and dimly lit. He walked over to the starboard bridge wing where he found his watch partner.
"Hi," Saoirse said.
"You decided to put some clothes on, I see."
"Things got a little out of hand," Saoirse grimaced. "Could have been worse, I suppose. Willow seems a totally different person – weird, really."
"Did you enjoy the night out?"
"It felt good to get back at the enemy," the sixteen-year-old admitted.
"It always does. Who has the watch on Caledonia?"
"Marinette and Scarlett, I believe."
"Okay, we have three hours and twenty-one minutes to kill. How about we get some coffee?"
"A nice idea."
The middle watch sucked, and it always felt like it was the longest.