Hold On
En Route to Bayside Marina – 11:25 AM
Breakfast had been a blur and a half. Lily saw Jeff across the table, accepted his silence for what it was; understated knowledge. Shane had bugged her about a dozen different topics for the whole of an hour, while Carter and Andy spent the entire time re-enacting the previous night's episode of American Idol and plotting out an escapade in silence. For what it seemed to matter, they were by far the most atrocious group of agents she could have imagined. And at the same time, they were just about the craziest, most strangely brilliant set of individual minds that the CIA could provide.
Somehow, perhaps in recognition of her paying the tab at the restaurant, Lily was gifted with the keys to one of the trucks, and awarded the opportunity to prove her driving skills in downtown Florida. Danny chided that he would impress beyond even her ability to turn the vehicle on, but she matched him in the spirit of things, in the understanding of knowing that Jeff trusted her, that he was ready to let her prove herself now. Shane had for whatever reason opted to ride with the other guys, leaving Jeff and her to their own devices. She wondered if maybe it was because she was still mad at him or not, or whether it was something else entirely. Her answer was found the moment that she saw Andy's hand run the length of her low back as she settled into the back seat of the first truck with him. Lily laughed as she walked with Jeff, reminding herself to bug Shane about it later.
"Take it easy on the bridge alright. I'm well aware of your fondness for the gas pedal…" Sands cooed from the passenger's side as she jumped up to the high driver's seat, and forced the keys into the ignition.
Rolling her eyes, she started the truck up with a rev of the heavy gusto, causing Danny to look out of the window of the car in front of her, yelling back annoyed. "Why don't you just sit back and pretend like you don't know me for five minutes…"she finally returned to him with a sideways grin that she knew he couldn't see, but could sense.
"As if I would give you the pleasure of such freedom." He nodded as he tugged his old baseball cap on, the one she thought she might never see again. Smiling wildly she cranked the radio up to some local station playing good beats, and rolled down all of the windows thereafter. The hot breeze blew in and around their heads as she slid her glasses over her nose, revving up the engine again for good measure. Jeff chuckled under his breath, knowing her level of patience all too well.
"What the fuck are they doing?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
Shaking his head, he moved his hand across, feeling out for where the edge of her leather seat was, where her leg met its end. He grasped his palm around her thigh, reaching up higher against the denim to push at her tense center. Lily gulped at the movement of his fingers, the cockney look on his face as he came closer to her, breathing. "Hit the gas." She attempted to ignore him for an added second. "Come on…you know you want to." He whispered to her, pushing hard at the junction of her thighs as she clenched at his interruption, as she sensed the heel of her Converse sneaker desiring to thrust down onto the gas pedal, the way he knew it would. "What are you waiting for, Andretti? I thought you were going to defy me from now on…?"
Her teeth tightened the same as her legs on his hand as it dove down further. Not thinking twice about anything beside his hot breath on her neck, the pad of his thumb pressing into a place that was all too sensitive for such action, she tore the wheel's clutch into drive, slammed the gas and swerved out of the valet lane, nearly taking off the taillight of Danny's vehicle. Sands, blind or not, heard the shouting, felt Lily's body writhe against him when she belted the Lord's name in vain of her own dangerous liaisons, and noted the jump, the storm the truck wove into as she pulled through the hotel parking lot and out onto the highway. Wholly, unconditionally satisfied, he leaned in against her and planted a teasing, wet kiss on her neck. "You Chatham girls…" he sighed in determined mockery, and then shrugged his hat off to place it on top of her head, for the first time in almost nine long years. "I was warned."
"And you refused to listen."
"God knows I tried…" another wicked grin crossed his lips as she sped up an extra ten miles an hour, drifting out over the bridge he attempted to warn of. Unable to see the view, he remembered it as soon as the bay breeze floated under his nose, through his hair. It felt like they were flying off the ramp, scanning over the water and slowly easing down into the waves. Lily was in control though, he felt this too. There was ease in the drive from there on, as they cut quick corners, listening in to the monotone voice of the GPS, and trying their damndest to sing along to the radio, tunes that reminded them of times just like this one. It was somewhere between, We Didn't Start the Fire and Masters of War, that they found the marina's docking lot.
Leaving the keys in the ignition, radio blaring in the empty area, Lily jumped out to meet Jeff on his side of the truck. He stood leaning against the door, lighting a cigarette and still tapping his boot to the music. She didn't feel thirty when she watched him like this, she felt like she was settled somewhere between eighteen and twenty, free, untouchable, with her heart on her shoulder. The way he lived was no different than it had been years ago, he was just better at it now, more confident, wittier.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you that smoking kills?" She wasn't serious, only playful. Jeff knew that Lily had never once cared about his terrible habit, even when she tried it herself. So he just shook his head with a wiry grin at her words, leaning harder into the door as she stood on the toes of his boots, holding onto his shirt. He exhaled smoke past her eyes, over her head, puff by puff as he calmed himself. He heard nothing but her breathing, no boats moving in the distance, no other cars, just them, and he was pleased at the opportunity it presented.
After a minute of pulling the last of the tobacco from the Shag paper, he tossed the butt down and slid over it with his boot heel as he turned from her arms, switching positions. His hands immediately took her wrists prisoner as she laughed, holding them against the window of the car over her head, and pressing his weight into her steadily. Breathing was her enemy now; her lungs were demons, traitors, as they closed up with his movement toward her. The blended scent of dried tobacco leaves and mint mouthwash stained her cheeks, her forehead as he murmured over her, "If you only knew…how badly…I'm debating the use of my blind card right now…" His mouth settled at her brow line, warming her temple as he spoke, while his hands moved down to lift both of her thighs up and around his waist. She still hadn't gotten used to the feeling of his hardened craving, pushing, probing at her again after so many years. "…I want to do things to you out here…that could get me twenty-five to life…"
Holding back the struggle with a low laugh, she held onto his neck as he pushed her body higher against the truck and harder against his. And as if her mind had been stolen by a hooker for the moment, incapable of adjusting to morals, she preceded to sigh sexily back at him, "What's stopping you?"
A little less than surprised by the response, he laughed and threw his head back as a resounding screech of tires interrupted the mood altogether. Regrettably, she slid down from his waist to land on the ground again, smiling at the second truck as they pulled up a few spaces away. She heard a deep growl in the pit of Jeff's stomach and shook her head from underneath his old cap, patting his chest in a pledge as she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. Shane and the guys jumped out of the car, howling about the scene, when he took the last opportunity to move down to her ear and whisper greedily, "Note to self…seduce Lily Hanson at a deserted marina…"
Shaking her head at the tickle of his voice, she giggled once more before Danny came in to break it up. "I really don't think the two of you seem to understand the importance of credit…in this country."
Andy laughed as they watched Danny check the truck's side for dents of abuse, and approached with his hand again at Shane's back, "Dude, Lily's a doctor. She was probably just testing Sands' stamina…or something." He winked once at Lily as her cheeks grew red, and Shane punched him in the shoulder. She grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her away toward the docks a minute later, both of them glancing back to see Sands' blindly roughing up the other two with his boots as he tossed them across the parking lot. The girls drifted down the steps of the dock, a paper in Shane's free hand giving some sort of detail, one she couldn't read in the rush of movement.
"What are we doing here?"
"Well that all depends…"
"On what?"
"On whether or not the FBI is still incompetent enough to get an address wrong."
She laughed, not fully understanding, but entertained merely by Shane's attitude towards the aforementioned agency, the enemy as Jeff had explained it to her years ago. 'I'm gonna work for the CIA one day, they're the hard-asses, they get the job done on one try. The FBI, are like a bunch of rabid, retarded squirrels…' She laughed in contemplation of the memory, and let Shane continue to pull her along, checking the names on the sides of yachts, sailboats, even small John boats. There were hundreds of them in this particular marina, just sitting around in the middle of what she considered a beautiful day, a warm and perfect day for sailing. It made her jealous.
"Are you looking for Tuzla's boat?"
"Yeah…actually…" she thought suddenly, "… you grew up with boats. You still any good at recognizing the make of one?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"They said it's a Monterey 282 Cruiser. It's white, and the name on it should be Samaria II. The docks are about a mile long…it's gonna take forever if we go together."
"Okay, I'll go down this way and call your cell if I find it. What about the guys…?" She asked, turning around simultaneously with Shane to see the three of them, still arguing, and beating each other up like fourteen years old boys. "Forget I asked." They laughed, glanced back at one another with a shake of their heads and then parted ways to search out the boat in question.
Lily took to the docks, the dozens of boats, followed by even more, names of people, places, lovers, all taking the back side of each vessel. There were no Monterey's in sight, mostly larger sailboats, travel yachts as well. She felt strangely at home in this place, weaving in and out of boats, watching them bob up and down in the cool water below, seeing only a few out in the bay as she glanced across at the bridge, the hot sun rising still. Trudging on, her cell phone in hand, she grew almost positive that either the boat wasn't here or Shane was bound to find it on her end first. At the drop of the shorter pier, she spun on the heels of her sneakers, and headed back to the parking lot.
It was in a quick instant though, as she glanced down a lone plank of stepping ground, to where only a few seagulls occupied the warmed wood. Settled alone in the water, tied off in a state of urgent privacy, was none other than the Samaria II, the bastard's pride and joy no doubt. Lily knew boats, she grew up on a coast that was full of them, all makes, all models, all modes of interest. This boat, a power sport Monterey, was a gem. 250 MPH, Hybrid Volvo motor by the looks of it, leather interior that gleamed in the sun as she approached it, and enough space for four curious agents and a tag along psychologist. Go figure the luck of U.S intelligence. She hadn't realized just how wide her smile was until she lifted her phone and saw a short reflection as she dialed Shane. The conversation was quick, eager, and provoked to the point at which Lily ended up breaking through the single lock on the fence it was held behind.
After only a few minutes, she heard Danny and Andy running down the docks to where she was, a cooler held between the two of them, a plan they had forgotten to let her in on apparently. "Hope Boston girls like Corona…" Carter teased as he brushed past her onto the floor of the boat, and Lily smiled as she looked beyond his shoulder to see Shane walking along slowly, Jeff's hand on her neck for balance, direction. He came to her a moment later, smiling as if he had expected something along these lines to occur, and moved his hand around her waist with very little mapping necessary, where it belonged best, as they jumped back on board. He walked her in the direction of where a wheel would, should be, a spark in his grin, an amusing excitement in his step as he fell to the white leather seat, and pulled her into his lap.
"I don't know if it's too wise to let the blind man drive…" she mocked, tangling her fingers into his messy hair, and kissing the corner of his mouth.
"Wow, I'm so glad you made the connection for me, Lil." If he had eyes, he would have rolled them at her. Instead he shook his head and turned her around so that her back was leaning into his chest, her head resting on his shoulder as he placed her hands out toward where he pictured the wheel. "That's why you're driving the boat, smartass."
"Uhm…" she hesitated without her bearings to even begin. There was no doubt in her mind that she could do it, that she knew as well as he always had how to start, operate, cruise a speedboat, a yacht, a sailboat, whatever have you. But the thought of doing it now, when the boat belonged to their enemy, a drug lord, a murderer with a hit list the length of the 30 foot boat itself, she was nervous. This though was only accentuated when she heard a loud grumble of argument come from behind where they were sitting, and turned to see Danny and Andy running back onto the boat with two black duffel bags. Sands head shifted at the anxious noise, screams, angered voices.
"Stop it right there…!" They did not of course, and only yelled as they came to toss the bags over the side of the boat, jumping on themselves.
"Fuck…fuck…go, start the damn thing!" Lily shifted as Carter yelled, Andy looking over the back of the seat as held out a copied key for her, a good trick by the CIA no doubt. Two security guards were next to come to the end of the dock, no guns of course, only important looking badges, starched pants, and wearied voices.
"This boat is not for public use…now get down from there…please, each of you."
Trembling in Jeff's lap, Lily begged him to listen, to which he only took her hand with the key and shifted it closer to the ignition hole, turning the boat on no sooner than the two guards had trampled onto the edge of the boat, struggling to get aboard.
"We're CIA gentleman…sadly we can't be touched…" Carter mocked them from the back end of the boat as they came closer to him from the gate.
"Lily!" Shane yelled from above and behind her head, "Let's go…"
Her hand was tightening on the wheel as she felt Jeff's boot come from behind her own leg and tap on the gas, waves rocking against the heart of the boat as the two guards yelled out over the rumbling sound and attempted to pull themselves on. Sands' hands were firm around Lily's waist as he leaned in to groan in her ear, "Defy me…" His voice drove her suddenly mad, and tugging back until the boat was in drive, she felt it grind out and away from the docks with a dangerous echo of water and wood as the two guards fell clear into the water. The guys and Shane shouted from behind her, chanting her on, painfully excited. Lily though could only focus on two things concurrently; one was the rush of bay mist in her face, her hair, as she piled through the waves in the direction of the distant bridge of the Gulf, driving a criminal's Monterey. The second, was the sensation of Jeff's hand as it secretively wound itself between her thighs again, tightly bound where she both wanted it and was afraid to admit she needed it.
She wasn't sure which one was more dangerous for her at this point.
