Chapter 44

It was 0700 when the boat engines slowed down, and we seemed to come to a stop. Steph was already wearing her wetsuit over the top of a bikini, so I quickly strapped on the tanks to her back and handed her mask and fins. I lifted each of her feet, placing kisses on her toes, before pushing her feet into the fins and then busied myself with my own equipment. Once ready I took the weight of her tank as we walked through the door and onto the decking. We were leaving the boat from our bedroom deck seeing as it was low to the water and facing away from shore.

I didn't give Steph the opportunity to worry because I was holding her from behind as I tipped us backward over the rail. As we began to submerge, I was in front of her, my hands on either side of her head, my eyes looking intently into hers. After an initial moment of panic her face relaxed so I allowed to slowly sink, constantly watching her. Once we were fifteen feet under the surface, I checked our gauges and then took her hand to begin our swim. As we swam, I felt her grip on my hand relax, and felt as she came to my side. It seemed that Steph was comfortable, even enjoying the experience.

There were a few times when we stopped, for Steph to clear her mask so I took those opportunities to check our depth and the direction we were taking. It was so quiet as we swam with only the sound of the air moving through the regulators as I breathed in and the bubbles rising from behind me. As I saw fish swimming ahead of me, I would point to them for Steph to see, taking pleasure as her eyes lit up. It was as I looked ahead that I felt relief at seeing a group of divers ahead of us.

I adjusted Stephs buoyancy until we were level with them, watching the shoals of fish as they swam amongst the artificial reef that had been created, home to a growing culture of coral, which in turn attracted an impressive and colorful collection of fish and marine life. From schools of smaller tropical fish to a pair of sea turtles, game fish, and even octopuses, the reefs revealed an ever-changing display like a technicolor show underwater. I took the opportunity to allow us to drift as we watched the area, keeping an eye on other divers that were close by.

As the other divers began to swim away from the reef, I took Steph's hand in order to follow them. It seemed to me that going on shore as a group would give us sufficient cover from anyone who was watching. I wasn't the only man who helped a partner by lifting the air tank from them. I knew that Steph would struggle to walk with the extra weight and waited as she removed her mask to the top of her head and bent down to pull off the fins. Steph caught on quickly to what I was doing, and she started to move with a group of women ahead of us, even starting a conversation. To an onlooker we were part of that group and once again I was in awe of how easily she chatted away with them.

It wasn't long before the tanks were stacked at the edge of the beach. The road in front of us was Gulf Boulevard so I knew that we needed to head to our left to find the many shops and restaurants. Opening the dry bag, I handed Steph her hat and glasses before pulling the wetsuit down my body. In a few minutes we were like any other couple, dressed in swimwear strolling down the beach, my arm around her shoulder.

"That was amazing, I didn't think that I'd like it, but seeing all that sea life. Can we do it again?"

I was pleased that Steph had been able to experience scuba diving and thought of other places where I could take her for that to happen. I acknowledged to myself that just seeing how much she enjoyed it brought a great deal of pleasure to me. As we walked Steph looked out toward the sea so assumed it was because of her love of being close to the ocean.

"What was going to be happening on the boat?"

I turned to Steph not realizing that she had no idea what they were planning.

"They were going to be rowdy and looking as though they were drinking. Their cover is being four men on a stag outing. They'll continue to play the part as they leave the boat and disappear into New Orleans. Once they're sure they aren't being followed then they'll pick up the cars and come get us"

By this stage we'd walked past the large hotels and were heading off the beach and down the side of a sandy track to where I was sure there was a shop that would sell clothes. NAV BCH had Steph's eyes light up as she searched through the many racks. My board shorts were already dry so all that I needed was a T-shirt and some flip flops. With a pale turquoise T-shirt, white shorts and white sandals I was several dollars lighter, but we were ready to find a taxi to take us into Pensacola.

Having asked the driver where the best food could be found he took us to an Italian restaurant, Bonelli's Café Italia at 1217 N 9th Ave. I had to agree with Steph, their pizza was amazing and yes I did eat it because I wanted to share this time with Steph.

"I think that this place is a definite contender against Pinos and Shorties"

I looked at Steph as she said that knowing that it had been months since she'd been to either one of those.

"Do you miss being home, in Trenton?"

Wondering if she felt homesick for her friends or family. After a few moments of thinking she looked at me, a serious expression on her face.

"Not really. I don't miss having to chase skips, the shit that I had to put up with. Yeah, I miss Lula and Connie and hope they don't think badly of me for not being in touch"

"Lula was worried about you, she asked me to look for you"

I remembered meeting with Lula in that diner and the conversation that we'd had. How she was sure that something bad had happened to Steph.

"I sent a letter to Grandma and asked her to let people know that I was okay. That I had never been with Joe but had decided that I wanted time away from Trenton"

I was pleased that at least people would know that she was alive and hadn't been with Morelli. I never had broached the whole subject of Morelli with her, other than the brief story that she'd told me when we'd been at my house and her thoughts as to why he was killed.

"I'm sorry about Morelli Babe"

"So am I. We had so much history between us and looking back it wasn't a good history. That he actually believed that we were meant to be together confused the hell out of me until I realized that what we had wasn't real. Just his distorted version of what he wanted it to be. I really don't know what the hell he got involved with. I always saw him as a good cop, not a good boyfriend though"

"He followed you Babe, and then made a choice to take advantage of a situation"

"Yeah, one that got him killed"

From how Steph was talking it sounded as though that she had come to terms with what had happened to Morelli and seemed detached from any sorrow at his demise. I needed to change the conversation to something happier before she started to think too deeply about it.

"I spent some time with Julie when I was in Miami, she was asking after you"

We spent some time with me explaining about the visits that I'd made to my family and how my brother, Marcus, had manipulated those visits. I hadn't realized how much I told Steph about my family, something I'd never done before, but it felt good to share.

After finishing our meal and spending time over a coffee talking, I knew that it was time to move. After paying the bill, with cash of course. I held out my hand for Steph to take as she stood up from her seat.

"Thank you, for today. I loved the diving, but I really enjoyed how we talked just now"

"So did I Babe"

In some ways the day, that could have been full of pitfalls, had turned out better than I expected but now I had to decide what to do for the rest of the afternoon and evening. A check of my phone showed that there were no messages, making me wonder if the men had run into trouble at the dock. As we walked down the street, I turned onto a street named Palafox. Strolling down the street with Steph's arm linked through mine seemed surreal to me. I had never had the experience of doing it before. Of course, I was ever vigilant and was constantly watching our surroundings, there was no way I would let anyone sneak up on us. Steph seemed relaxed as she browsed around some of the shops, looking at the array of trinkets, souvenirs and clothing. Never once did she make a move to buy anything and in some ways, I was thinking how well she fit into the flow of people around us. As we came out of a shop I noticed her looking up and down the street, maybe she was more aware of the people around us than I gave her credit for.

"Have you heard anything yet?"

"No"

And that was really beginning to worry me. I was worried for the four men, which was silly really because I knew that they could look after themselves. No, I was worried about us and what the hell we were going to do. If the men had been seen and picked up people following them then it wasn't safe for us to stay here much longer. When it was discovered that Steph and I were missing then a search would start close to where the boat had been.

"We need to get away from here"

I said more to myself than to Steph. I couldn't risk using a card to hire a car and hadn't enough to buy one. Stealing one would only raise suspicion and have the police looking for us as well. Had I been on my own I might have risked hitching a ride with a truck driver but not with Steph with me. I felt a tug on my arm and stopped realizing that Steph had stopped walking and knew that she needed to be aware of our situation.

"I have to think of a way to get us away from here"

I watched as she turned away from me and walked across the street to an area that had some benches. Behind it there was a large parking area with people milling around, probably packing up after their day out. As I sat with my elbows on my knees, I was going through all of the choices that we had, deciding which course of action would be the safest. I honestly hadn't noticed that Steph wasn't sat down next to me and as I looked around for her, I was suddenly panicking. Surely she wouldn't have just left me or had someone been astute enough to see us and taken her? My mind refused to acknowledge either of those options so I started to walk around keeping an eye on the bench should she return.

It was the sound of her laughter that alerted me to where she was, so following the sound I stepped between parked cars and looked to the back of the parking lot. I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding in as I stood and watched her. I've always found it uncanny how Steph knows where I am and smiled back at her when she turned around and looked straight at me. She was leant against a large van talking to a tall blonde woman. The van, well let's say it stood out amongst the other parked vehicles, seeing as it had been painted in bright colors depicting, I think the beach. Though the yellow and red flowers certainly added a dimension to the artist's talent. Steph pushed away from the van and walked toward me, a smile gracing her beautiful face.

"I got us a lift. They're heading over to Tallahassee then over to Daytona Beach. Coral, the girl that I was talking to, is picking up her boyfriend in Tallahassee. The others are friends she's picked up on the way"

I didn't have the heart to refuse the lift that Steph had found for us, I knew that would upset her and it would maybe imply that I didn't trust her instincts. I nodded my head as I took her hand and accompanied her back to where Coral was waiting for us.

"Find a space and get settled. We're just waiting for Jorge to get his arse back here"

As I helped Steph through the side door Coral climbed in behind the steering wheel giving me a view of another woman sat up front. There was some basic equipment opposite us as we entered, some cupboards that ran from floor to ceiling, a sink and a worktop. Beyond that was a mattress at the back of the van that looked to be occupied already by a couple. I was waiting for movement to come from the bundle underneath a blanket and must have spent too long looking.

"House rules. No sex in my bus when there are other people in it"

I quirked a smile on hearing that, glad that I wasn't going to have to listen to the couple making out. I settled on a bench seat with Steph next to me trying to get a handle on what we were doing, this was probably way out of my comfort zone. Coral was tapping her hand on the wheel obviously becoming impatient. It gave me an opportunity to really look at her. Her hair was blonde and braided tightly against her head with the braids reaching down to her shoulders with different colored baubles at the end. She was fair skinned though carried a golden brown tan that looked darker against her white strappy top. I saw evidence of piercings in her ears, nose and eyebrow with a tattoo peeking up behind her top, though not visual enough to determine what it was. She wasn't skinny but looked to have defined muscles on her arms making me wonder what her occupation might be.

The girl sat next to her was the total opposite. Black skin with her hair cropped close to her scalp on one side and straightened down to her chin on the other side. Before I could really get much more of her appearance, I felt myself tense as the passenger door opened and young thin black kid got in.

Coral didn't waste any time, the engine started and we were suddenly pulling out of the parking lot onto the street. I pulled the material that served as a drape across the window and tried to relax. Steph brought her legs up onto the bench and before long she was snuggled to my side, with me holding her, fast asleep. I know I was awake for what seemed like hours, constantly on edge for the unexpected. It was surprisingly quiet as the van drove on the roads. No one seemed to want to talk, probably they were fast asleep.

I came awake instantly, totally disorientated to where I was. Had I had my gun in reach then I was sure I would have been holding it in my hand. Instantly recognition came to me, the van that we had hitched a lift with. The place was empty, the blanket on the mattress folded neatly but it was being on my own that concerned me. Steph wasn't next to me, or in the van. The door at the side was slid open so I tentatively stepped down onto grass. A look around showed that we were parked up under the shade of tress but even as I walked around, I couldn't see where Steph had gone. A look at my phone showed no new messages, but it did inform me that it was already 0800hrs. How the hell had I managed to sleep so late? I sighed as I realized that I'd been awake until 0400hrs, too pent up to allow sleep to take over. My concern now was where the hell everyone was.

I continued walking until I came around to the other side of the van and saw a track that led through the trees. Maybe if I ran, I might find someone so set off at a jog. Just as I was about to increase my speed I heard talking and rounding a corner on the track came across four people sat on a rug on the grass in a clearing.

"Hi there. You have a good sleep?"

A look at where the voice had come from had me recognizing the young woman who had been sat in the passenger seat next to Coral. I nodded my head in response but was looking around to find Steph.

"Michelle and Coral headed over to the market for breakfast. Oh, and Coral mentioned picking up some clothes for Michelle before they used the rest facilities"

"You want a coffee?"

I turned to see the boy named Jorge squatted over a fire that had a pot hung over it. In fact, as I looked there were all sorts of things set out by the side of the fire, from mugs to plates and pots.

"Coral left us to set the kitchen up. Great isn't it"

I took a mug from a woman that I hadn't seen before assuming that she'd been one of the bodies under the blanket. At least Steph had used a different name but it worried me that she'd gone off alone and left me.

"This is Jorge and I'm Nancy. The two over there are Cleo, Jorge's girlfriend and Gaia, my partner"

As Nancy told me the names of the people around us, I nodded my head at each of them, knowing they would expect a name from me.

"Mat"

Was the name that I said, knowing that it was a name that I'd once used when I was in South America on a mission. I felt that it was an anonymous name and covered a variety of names that could be shortened down to those three letters. I felt awkward being here with these four people, not knowing anything about them or even where we were. In the end I sat down on a large trunk from a fallen tree and sipped at my coffee. It seemed that maybe Nancy felt sorry for me so ended up sat next to me. At least from her chatter I discovered who these folk were, where they had come from and how they'd met. It took all of my patience to ignore her and try to seem interested.

It was the sound of breaking branches and the rustle of leaves that that had me turning to look in the direction of the noise. Coming through the trees I first spotted Coral and then saw Steph slightly behind her. I have to say that she looked totally different but to me she looked tired and maybe pale. I was quick to reach her and draw her to me feeling a calmness flow through me. She was okay, she was safe, and she was here with me.

"You should have woken me and I'd have gone with you"

I whispered into her hair. I felt the slight shake of her head before she spoke giving the reasons for being gone when I woke.

"You were fast asleep, and I knew that you needed your sleep. I woke early so Coral decided to help me change up my appearance"

I pushed her head away from me and looked into her eyes, suddenly worried at what she might have told Coral.

"I told her about my ex who was stalking me. That when we were at the beach, we thought we caught a glimpse of him so headed into town having to abandon our things on the beach"

I raised an eyebrow at her carefully constructed story, knowing that Steph would keep things close enough to some truth just in case she slipped up at a later stage with her story. It gave me an opportunity to look at the changes in her appearance. Her hair had been tightly braided to her head, with colorful beads laced in at the ends. She was now wearing a long flowing skirt that swirled around her ankles and a sleeveless white blouse tied in a knot at her waist.

"I like the look Michelle"

Letting her know that I was aware of the name that she had given to Coral. But to me she still looked tired and pale. I wasn't aware of her having any nightmares so was curious with her appearance.

"Are you feeling okay Babe, you look tired and a bit pale"

"I'm fine. Let's get some breakfast"

I watched as Steph turned away from me and walked over to the fire, using a cloth to hold the pot and pour some coffee into a mug before she sat down on one of the blankets. I sat down next to her curious as to what the woman would have brought for us to eat. I was actually surprised when fresh bagels appeared from a bag, along with cream cheese, and a variety of different fruits. Though I suppose if Coral had been buying the supplies, then she would have bought the things that she preferred to eat. It reminded me that I would need to give Coral some money to pay her for the food and the clothes that Steph was now wearing.

"When's Kit arriving?"

I assumed that was Coral's boyfriend. As the conversation continued as to what Kit was doing here in Tallahassee, I was keen to know when we would be leaving, though having not heard from any of the men I was wondering if heading down to the Keys was such a good idea. I felt Steph rest her head on my leg, so stroking her head, I was pleased as she fell asleep.

"He'll be here for lunch. He has to work this morning and collect his things first, then we can set off. Why don't you guys go down to the lake this morning"

I heard murmurs of agreement and some ideas of what they could do. It seemed swimming was a favorite option along with renting out a kayak. I wasn't too sure what I would be doing, obviously staying with Steph as she slept and then maybe we could take a look at the lake.

"Mat, maybe you could help me with the van. Coral was driving slowly over here, and I think that maybe the back tire could do to be changed out"

Not something that I wanted to do but if meant that we left on time then I'd help to change the tire. I hadn't actually noticed that the tire was going flat but then I hadn't been looking. I nodded my head at Jorge hoping that we had the right tools to do the job.

I watched as the others tidied away the plates and mugs that we'd used and as Nancy riddled the fire to deaden the flames. I wasn't sure where they disappeared to with the dirty crockery so assumed it was to wash them up. I wasn't going to be moving until I had to and that would only be when Steph woke up.

It was an hour later that I felt her stir so kissed her forehead as a way of greeting her. As her eyes opened and blinked at the brightness of the day, I ran my hand down her cheek.

"You slept well, how are you feeling?"

I'm not sure why I kept asking her that other than there was something that was worrying me. I suppose I had kept her awake during the nights on the boat when she should really have been recovering from the ordeal at that barn, so maybe it was her way of recuperating.

Once she was fully awake, I pulled her to her feet wanting to walk a little to stretch my muscles from having sat so long and I also needed to find some restrooms. We found ourselves at the shore of the lake each of us looking out over the still water. It was so calm, the reflection of the clouds ghosting across the water. The sound of people out on kayaks caught our attention, but even they seemed to respect the solitude that prevailed. I turned to look at Steph and watched her as she stared across the water, thinking that maybe it was the quiet that had her being so quiet. I was desperate to hear her talk, weird really. Whenever we did surveillance together, she could never stay quiet. Sometimes I had to blank out her incessant chatting but here I was missing it.

Turning I steered us back along the path with the intention of asking her some questions.

"Nancy told me that you went to a market this morning"

"Yeah. There were all kind of stalls from farmers selling fruit and veg to stalls that had clothes"

"Were there many people there?"

"Not really"

Hell this was difficult, I had never been one for making small talk.

"Jorge asked me to help change the tire on the van"

"That's nice"

Definitely not the answer that I was expecting and I was more sure that Steph wasn't herself. As we came to the van Jorge was already there and looked from the tire to me expectantly. Steph continued walking, muttering something about getting something to drink. I was glad to see Coral join her as they walked to the temporary camp that we'd been using. I focused back on the van and the job ahead of me.

Of course Coral didn't have a jack with her. It wasn't until I'd used a great deal of force to release the nut bolts and asked Jorge to pass it that we realized the dilemma we were in. The spare wheel looked in good condition but as Jorge had said the tire that was on looked as though it had a slow puncture. There was no way I was going to suggest calling out a garage so we went with what we had. A large collection of bricks and brute force.

I was half afraid the metalwork would give out as I strained to lift that damn van, then half afraid that I'd cut my hands to ribbons on the roughened metal. Nancy came to the rescue with some oven gloves, so as Jorge pushed in one brick at a time, I lifted the van. I didn't waste any time in removing the old tire and pushing the new one in place, half afraid that the whole thing was going to topple off the precarious stack of bricks. I'd got rid of my T-shirt hours ago so when Gaia handed me a bottle of water I poured it over my head, relishing the coolness as it ran down my back and coated my skin. I hadn't meant to make a show of it but looked up to see four sets of eyes staring at me.

"Shit, are you a model or something?"

"Or something"

I said as I pulled my shirt back on. I threw the wrench at Jorge for him to finish off and tighten the nuts before kicking at the stack of bricks to dislodge them. That had taken a hell of lot longer than I would have thought, though it had given me one hell of a workout. As I walked through the trees in search of Steph, I took a quick glance at my phone so relieved to see that a message had come through. It seemed the men had come through and were asking for a location for a pickup. I sent the coordinates, 30°30'04.5"N 84°18'39.2"W, for where we were, knowing there were plenty of places to hide while we checked on who would be turning up. Yeah, the phone was secure, but I wasn't going to be taking any chances that Hector had somehow been relieved of his phone and this was a trap.

Walking back to the clearing I was surprised not to see Steph or Coral, no I was annoyed because I had no idea where she was. I turned as Nancy followed me, carrying plates and mugs, setting them down by the fire.

"Where are S, Shell and Coral?"

"They went to pick up supplies for lunch for the rest of the journey and meet Kit. They shouldn't be too long"

How was it that I felt annoyed that Steph had once again disappeared without me knowing about it? Why would she do that when she knew the danger that could be following us? How the hell was I going to trust her when she went off without a word? What if someone recognized her, how the hell was I supposed to keep her safe? I felt my temper rising and almost welcomed it so when the two women appeared from the track I was ready to have it out with Steph.

"Where the hell have you been? Couldn't you at least have told me that you were leaving, again?"

Coral disappeared from sight, probably to avoid being in the middle of a fight between us. I'd expected Steph to go into rhino mode, shouting back at me, yeah, a good shouting match sounded cathartic to me. That her eyes went wide, and her body slumped wasn't what I was expecting. I saw the glisten of tears in her eyes and suddenly felt like shit for how I had spoken to her. Even as I approached her, she turned and ran away from me. Had I frightened her that much by shouting at her, but surely, she should understand how I felt as well?

I didn't hesitate to follow her, call it an ingrained reaction, she was hurting, and it was all my fault. As I followed her, my temper receded as I remembered the look on her face when I shouted at her. I found her down by the lake at the same place where we'd been this morning, except she was sat down on the stones, knees to her chest throwing pebbles into the water. I wasn't overly quiet as I approached, not wanting to scare her, but she showed no sign that she knew that I was there. I sat down next to her and eventually looked at her, surprised that tears were still flowing down her cheeks. She was miles away as she continued to look out across the water, still not aware that I was there or if she was then she was ignoring me.

"I'm sorry, Babe. I just got so worried about you"

I saw the shrug of her shoulders so at least she was listening to me.

"I'm sorry as well. I had a lot on my mind"