Chapter 9:
The voices of the returning crew woke her. She never slept soundly when she was out in the field. Hearing soft, even breathing, she knew Flint was sleeping in the bed and hadn't woken up. Silently, she padded to the bathroom and dressed. She wasn't going to get back to sleep at this point.
She emerged on the deck, using the space to stretch, watching the men move around the boat, getting ready to cast off. She nodded at a few of them and one, hesitantly, mentioned coffee, in broken English, then broke into a grin when she responded to him in Italian. He led her to the galley and she enjoyed an early breakfast with the rest of the crew. She decided to play the disgruntled girlfriend, who had been hoping to spend some time alone on a romantic cruise with her boyfriend, who had then in turn invited his friends to come along. It helped to cover the fact that she was up and about so early, and, she thought, maybe to cover her appearance since her lack of sleep and emotional outburst from the night before didn't have her looking her best.
She chatted with the crew, who were impressed with her Italian, commenting that few Americans learned their language and always seemed to expect them to know English. She responded, quite flirtatiously, that anyone who had seriously shopped in Milan, or any other Italian store, really, should know and revere the language and culture. This caused quite a few chuckles from the men. She knew they wouldn't be a problem and were eating out of her hand. It always helped to befriend the ones her former colleagues called "the little guys." In Allie's experience, these "little guys" sometimes meant the fine line between capture and escape.
They soon had to excuse themselves to perform their various jobs, leaving her to lean against the railing, watching the water and enjoying the sunrise. She sighed, reflecting on the revelations of the previous evening. She was pretty sure her chance of joining GI Joe was between nil and none, but there were other avenues she could pursue, she thought vaguely. What was foremost in her mind was her upcoming meeting with her cousin and the coup her family was about to undertake.
What she hadn't told the Joes was that Destro was not only family, he was the current head of her clan, and in control of her family's business, MARS Industries. To oust the leader of the clan, not to mention removing him from the business, was a major deal and had only been done once, successfully, in the hundreds of years of her family's history. She sighed, knowing even if she received her invite to the Joe team, she'd have to wait until this matter was settled. She'd know more once they got to the Italian air base, where her cousin was to meet her. Yeah,that will help the Joes trust me even more, she thought bitterly, imagining Flint's reaction to that. He was the one Joe she couldn't quite figure out. He seemed suspicious of her, but then would seem to change on a dime and offer support. She guessed he was a "by the book" soldier and rarely went against orders. In her line of work, rules were bent all the time, and she couldn't fathom how the two of them would work together successfully in the future.
Flint leaned against the stairway, watching the myriad of emotions crossing her face. He had awoken when the ship had started to leave port and immediately had noticed her absence. He had quickly dressed and thought about waking the others to discuss the plans for their departure back to base this afternoon. Instead, he had found himself looking for her.
He needed to stop obsessing over her, he reprimanded himself. He didn't know what it was about the woman that had him trying to figure her out. He saw her body stiffen and realized she had realized she wasn't alone.
Walking over to her, he joined her at the railing, looking up at the sky. "Nice," he commented, enjoying the view.
She made a noise he thought was an agreement, but other than that, stayed silent. He found it strange that he was just enjoying her presence, not needing to cloud the moment with words.
Funny thing, she thought. The silence wasn't uncomfortable between the two and she didn't feel the need to fill the moment with words. His presence was strangely comforting, especially with the mess she was currently embroiled in.
"What are your plans?" he asked her, breaking up her train of thought. Did he know? she wondered. How did he know?
"What do you mean?" she asked cautiously.
He shrugged. "For the rest of the trip. We have, what, a couple more hours of our vacation, and then it's back to work, right?"
She almost breathed out a sigh of relief. He didn't know, didn't suspect. She was pretty sure he wouldn't be too happy with her plans, but she had called Hawk already and explained what she could about her situation, and he had told her to do what she had to.
She returned his shrug. "Not sure. Shame to waste this time, you know? You don't get luxuries like this too often," she said, offering an olive branch, inwardly flinching at her lie. He didn't need to know that this - the yacht, trip, the foreign places - was all too familiar to her.
Again, he surprised her by his thoughts. "I always figured being in MI-6 was kind of like James Bond, where you traveled the world, lived in a tux, drove fancy cars and got all the women…or in your case, all the men," he chuckled. "Figured this would be old hat to you."
She couldn't help but smile at him. "James Bond, huh? Yeah, MI-6 was many things…not sure if they lived up to the Bond reputation but then again…" she left the rest unsaid.
"Why did you leave? I mean, if you don't mind me asking."
She sighed, knowing this would come up at some point, especially after Hawk had announced that it was part of her resume.
"You know how they say some lives are like open books? Well, let's just say there are some pages we're better off not reading." She closed her eyes for a moment, collecting her thoughts, shaking her head slowly. She opened them, staring into his, and he was surprised by the hurt in her eyes. "There were things they would do, you know, to make sure it went the way they wanted it to. They weren't beyond doing anything, and I do mean anything, to achieve their goal. I drew the line at using children as bait," she finished softly, looking back out to sea.
"I probably shouldn't have told you that," she confessed, her voice hoarse with emotion. "Officially, if you ask them, I was burned out and they were glad to be rid of me, or some cock and bull story like that."
"Listen…" he began, but they were interrupted by the sound of voices coming up the stairs. Allie gave Flint a smile, and he realized the mask was back in place. He realized she had opened up to him and been herself, or at least one of her true selves, with him. He wanted to do something…pat her shoulder, give her a pep talk, anything….to let her know it was okay to have morals and standards, to walk away from something when you knew it was wrong - but the moment was gone.
The team spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool or, in Road Block's case, trying some sea fishing. The guys were surprised by the sincerity of the crew's farewells to Lady Jaye, but then again, she was an attractive female, so they assumed that it was just an Italian thing. She spoke briefly to them in Italian and thanked them for the journey.
A car was waiting for the team to take them back to the air base. Allie had been trying to figure out a way to tell the guys she wasn't heading back with them and still hadn't said anything when they arrived at the base.
She realized her time was up when Ace commented on the jet landing on the runway when they arrived.
Giving a low whistle, he started speculating on engine size and specs.
"It's a prototype," stated Lady Jaye, her hand blocking the glare of the sun. The others looked to her in surprise.
"It looks a bit like the Rattlers that Cobra uses," Flint said, eyes squinting as he studied it.
"Yes, it does," Lady Jaye replied sharply. "Excuse me."
She walked over to where the pilot was jumping out of the cockpit. The rest of the team was shocked when the pilot and their female agent embraced and then began a conversation in low tones.
Lady Jaye walked the pilot over to them. "I've already talked to Hawk, and you need to continue on without me," she said, aware that her words weren't sounding like she meant them to. She paused and took a breath. The pilot rubbed her back in an all too familiar way, Flint noticed through narrowed eyes.
"This is highly unusual," Flint stated, wanting to ask who the hell the pilot was and why she knew him so well.
Lady Jaye looked embarrassed. "I have some family matters to take care of. Hawk's granted me permission to take care of it before returning to base. This is Ian, my cousin," she said, finally introducing the pilot.
The three Joes exchanged glances. "So, we're leaving you here?" Road Block was the first to speak.
"Ian's giving me a ride home. I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't an emergency," she said in way of apology. "I know it's not standard procedure, but you can call Hawk himself…" she added defensively.
Ace looked thoughtful. "Well, that's all well and good but….I have some questions about this bird," he said, turning to the pilot.