AN: Once again I want to thank everyone for the encouragement. I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am enjoying the writing of it. Feel free to contact me or leave reviews, I love to hear what you think. Thanks!
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The girls were walking along the Riviera Deck, taking in all the sights and sounds as they nursed on fruit smoothies.
They heard fireworks off to the left and then saw the poof of smoke from it, but they must have been at a bad angle because they missed seeing the fireworks themselves.
They continued on, making their way toward the buffet. They heard more noises from a lower deck and assumed they were missing one hell of a party.
All of a sudden someone bumped hard into Alice and she lost her footing, having to grab on Bella's arm to steady herself. They turned around to complain when they saw the reason.
Large men with black hoods over their faces and armed to the teeth were running straight at them. The men ran into the crowd of passengers and demanded they all group together in one corner away from the rails.
Women started screaming, people were pushing and shoving as everyone panicked. The gunmen loomed over them all with their black hoods and coats, waving their rifles and threatening.
Rose and Alice grabbed Bella's hands so they wouldn't get separated.
It was indisputable that the gunmen were in charge now.
Everything was surreal. It moved in slow motion. The ones that tried to run were either hit or shot, the men fired their rifles up in the air and ordered everyone to be quiet.
It never got really quiet but in between the sniffles and sobs there wasn't as much screaming now.
They watched as the men would come and go, coordinating their messages and making demands.
It had been a few hours and all they heard was more gunshots, more explosions, and more screaming.
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The boys were picked up at the airport by a Guardian that had a boat big enough to get them close to the ship, close enough that is.
They shook his hand and dissipated. When they reformed, they were in a kitchen area on one of the lower decks.
Bella, can you hear me Bella? Babygirl, are you okay? Answer me Bella. I'm here on the ship. I'm coming to you.
Edward? It sounded like a whisper. She was scared.
Yes Bella, I'm here babygirl. We all are. We need to know what deck you are on and how many gunmen there are there.
We are on the Riviera Deck on the bow. I can see five men with guns, but they are coming and going pretty regularly. Please hurry Edward. I'm so scared.
We are hurrying Bella. Stay calm and tell Rose and Alice we are on our way.
"Bella, what is going on with you? You are squeezing the hell out of my arm" Alice fussed. "Rose did she say anything to you? Look at her."
"Bella, Bella, what's wrong? Rose she's crying! Something is wrong."
"They are here" was all Bella could whisper.
Alice grabbed her arm so tight, and Rose grabbed the other. They knew they couldn't make any noise. They knew they couldn't tip off the gunmen, but they felt relief flood over them.
The boys worked their way through the shadows trying to count the amount of gunmen they saw in each area and how they were communicating, etc. They were working their way to the girls instead of just dissipating and reforming. They needed the information.
They went to the Riviera Deck and contacted the girls.
Bella, we need to know if they counted the passengers in each area. We don't want to tip them off that we are here.
No, They never counted that I know of, they just gathered us all together and told us to stay in a group.
Ok, we are going to come into your group and make our way to you. Don't give anything away as we get to you. Warn the others around you ok?
Ok. I'll pass the word.
The boys moved slowly from the shadows into the back of the group. Inch by inch they moved up further, looking for the girls as they went.
Then Edward saw them huddled in the corner, scared, and crying. He signaled Jazz and Emmet and they moved over to them.
The boys moved up behind them and Edward gently moved his arms around Bella turning her around and drawing her back into his hug. Her legs went completely limp. She clung to him and wept silently. He looked at his brothers and they both had their girls in their arms and with the biggest smiles he had ever seen.
"Bella, it's ok we are going to get you girls out of here" he was careful to whisper.
She tried to talk to him between sobs, "I.........missed.......you.........so........ much........I ........tried..........to........contact.........you."
"It's ok babygirl, I'm here now. Calm down so we can figure out how to get out of this."
Bella nodded but refused to loosen her grip on Edward.
Now that the boys knew they were safe, they would be able to tend to the business at hand.
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They threw out a block and eased out of the crowd, backed into the shadows and dissipated.
They reformed on the bridge of the ship. They could see the Captain and his second in command tied to chairs and a hooded man standing by the helm. The captain was bleeding profusely from a gunshot on his side.
One of the henchmen was pacing back and forth and tossing out orders. They watched him a few minutes to confirm he was the one in charge.
It was fast and a lot less pain than he deserved. Emmet grabbed his rifle to keep it from hitting anyone and Jasper grabbed his head and in one swift flick he was history.
This would make it easier to finish their job. Take the head of the snake and it may thrash around a bit, but it can't crawl away.
They untied the Captain and his second and made sure he was comfortable, before heading to the communication room. They needed to send a message to the Interpol.
They waited in the shadows until two of the goons stepped out. They were silent and effective. Two inside now with the main radio man from the ship.
They were in and disarmed them before the goons knew anyone had come in the door. They tied them up and sat them in the corner.
They calmed the radio man and told him to send a message to the Interpol. Tell them that three Special Ops were onboard and had taken out the leader of the cartel.
They were working their way through the ship attempting to stabilize events. They would send further notice when it was safe for boarding.
They worked their way methodically throughout the ship. They didn't want to miss any of the goons and have it catch up to them later.
They would clear one area at a time and then leave all the goons in a corner tied up with ships crew holding guns on them.
They purposely waited the girl's section until last. They had to keep their mind on their work and they knew once they released the girls they wanted to leave with them and not have to worry about finishing anything.
The girls saw shadows step out slowly toward the two gunmen on the left side. They grabbed the guns and swung them to smash into their ribs. You could hear them break on impact. The goons went down as the boys stepped back into the darkness.
The two on the right side of them were hit within seconds. No one could have moved that fast. They stared at the guy in the front who was yelling out all the orders. His face was complete confusion as he looked side to side and saw his men on the floor rolling in pain.
Then he turned quickly behind him to stare into the face of Edward. His gun was grabbed and twisted so fast it snapped his arm. He came up in defense with his knife in his right hand. His hand was slapped and the knife went scooting across the floor. He was spun around again and both arms zip tied behind him despite his whines and complaints about the broken one.
After they secured these last gunmen, they handed their guns over to more of the ships crew and went to the girls.
It was still chaos and they were able to sneak the girls into a hallway to talk.
"Listen to us carefully. We are going to try something. We have never attempted this before and we are not sure we can. If it works, you will be out of here and safe in a few minutes. If it doesn't work, we will come back to you and ride it out with you until we get you to port."
Alice looked at them with trepidation, "Um, just what are you talking about doing?"
Jasper grinned as he answered her, "Dissipation, transforming into mist, you can call it several things."
All three of the girls stared at them with open mouths.
"We know people that can do it, we just have never tried to" Emmet explained.
"Bella, it's simple. You would close your eyes and let me hug you and when I say, take a deep breath. If it works, you will move with me to the boat so we can leave. If it doesn't, we will leave but nothing will happen to you. I promise." Edward tried to sound convincing.
The girls looked at each other as if trying to get their courage from one another. Then they nodded in agreement to try.
Each of the boys wrapped his arms tightly around them. They closed their eyes and on the count of three they took a deep breath.
They felt their bodies get light and their feet felt like they weren't touching ground. Then they were touching again and the boys were asking if they were ok. It was only a fraction of a second.
When they opened their eyes, they were on a much smaller boat. A couple of strange guys were there smiling at them, shaking hands with the boys and telling them job well done.
Emmet went to the radio and sent the all clear to the Interpol. They were speeding away and could barely see the cruise ship to the rear.
Bella looked up into Edward's eyes and held onto him. She was so grateful to them for everything but mostly just glad to be able to hold him again.
Edward handed her his cell phone. "Bella, call your dad and tell him you are safe. Don't give him any particulars; just say you are on your way home."
She nodded.
"Dad, it's me. Dad calm down and listen. We are safe. Rose and Alice are right beside me. They will call their folks too. We are on our way home. Yeah Dad, I know, I love you too. I will… I promise. Ok, I gotta let the others use the phone. I'll call you as soon as we are back. I love you, Dad."