Chapter 5

"Here we go." Burk said, he and the others moved away from the front door and into the living room. A second later, the front door slammed open as the couple spilled in; laughing and carrying on like lovers caught up in their lust.

Danny and the boys raised their weapons waiting to be noticed, but the couple kissed each other heatedly. The guy pushed Daniela back and she swung the door closed before he pushed her against it.

She giggled and gave a moan as the guy snuck a hand into her bikini bottom, not that they could tell from their angle but just assumed. Danny losing patience with the show cleared his throat loudly and Wolf switched on a light.

Daniela pulled back and gave a cheeky smile at them before she gasped in shock and push Augustus away from her.

"Oh my god, who are you?" she demanded.

"Listen-" Augustus started by Danny held up a finger silencing the man. He was smart as he shut given he had no weapons and his penis hanging out of his pants limp. This was not how Danny wanted to spend his night.

"No, you listen, we have the guns and we'd like you to zip your dick back into pants and take a seat." Danny told him. Augustus did as he was told and he moved to the chair Burk indicated.

"Sorry Gus, but you brought this on yourself." Daniela told him, dropping her act completely.

"You bitch!" Gus spat angrily.

"You stole from me, what do you expect?" Daniela told him snidely.

"It's business." He said defensively.

"Just like this is. I can't wait to hear you squeal like the pig you are." Daniela retorted gleefully.

"Be quiet." Danny told her, he turned his attention to Augustus who was tied to a chair as planned. "We know your family runs a large black market auction house. You tell us what we want to know and you get to go free." Danny told him.

"If I don't?" Gus asked him.

"I'll leave you alone with her and see what she can get out of you." Danny said pointing to Daniela who wore an excited smile.

"I have Sriracha sauce and a carving fork." Daniela said with an evil grin.

"He gave us the name of the person who bought him but no location. Only that Chandler was smuggled to the UK. Nothing more than that." Danny said as he and the others returned to the ship the following morning with Augustus Finch taken to quarters and secured. Doc Rios was with the poor sod right now.

"The US Navy will have to reimburse me for the Sriracha sauce." Daniela told Mike, he looked at her for a moment before moving to cabinet in the wardroom that contained their sauce selection. He pulled out the bottle and placed it on the table before Daniela.

"Here, our debt is paid." Mike said as he didn't want to know what happened. But knew he'd find out later.

"Thank you." Daniela said as she slung the bottle under her arm looking smug. Sasha and Azima hid smiles while the men who'd been there with Daniela; looked uneasy.

"Who are we looking for now?" Mike asked.

"Peter Smithfield." Danny told him.

"Who is he?" Mike asked Daniela. She gave a shrug.

"He means nothing to me, but I could find out. I have some friends but my agreement says I can set foot on UK soil." Daniela said throwing a pointed look at James.

"How about you?" Mike asked James.

"Peter Smithfield is a known Immune leader who disappeared when the Immunes disbanded." James said, Daniela shook her head.

"Please, they are trading with Giorgio as we speak." Daniela aid casually as if it was nothing. But really it was something incredibly serious.

"Trading what?" Mike asked her.

"I don't know, but he has business with them and no, I can't ask him or use other methods to get information because I'm not a fucking moron who wants to die. No one crosses Giorgio and comes out alive on the other side. If I did try to use him for information then he'd make me pay for it. Not the cute 'we'll trade a few hundred dollars' kind of payment either." Daniela told him firmly.

"The deal was you bring Tom back to us." James told her.

"Do you think I have a short term memory problem?" Daniela asked them all, annoyed at their constant reminders. They all stared at her giving her the answer she needed. She threw her hands up in the air. "Fine, but I need a phone and to be on the ground in the UK given MI5 is fucking useless. Honestly, what are you even doing here?" she asked James.

"I can call some people." James offered with a patronising smile.

"I'll talk with the President." Mike said not wanting to start a bickering match. All he cared about was that they had a solid lead they could follow. They just needed to pull some more strings.

Tom leaned back and closed his eyes. Euphoria of pleasure washed him away from the cold dank cell room. His eyes rolled up into his head and he sighed as the weight of everything he felt lifted away. He floated blissfully in his skin. He dreamed he was home, dreamed of a life that would never be his.

He'd be heartbroken when the high was over but for now he'd ride it as far as it took him.

"Why are you being such a dick?" Sasha asked James, she'd tracked him down to the comm room where he was waiting for a call from his people to given them clearance to go to the UK to follow the trail and also be sent a copy of everything MI5 had on Peter Smithfield.

"I'm helping." James said looking annoyed as he probably felt he was helping but Sasha felt he wasn't doing enough. After the day they came back from the black site, their fling had cooled to arctic temperatures.

"No, you're wasting space. We have a lead, first one in over four months that might pan out. You're sitting on your ass instead of making calls." Sasha told him in a calm manner even though she was pissed.

"MI5 are tracking all of Daniela's calls, she found the lead. I'm letting her take lead." He said simply as he stood up and stretched.

"What's your angle?" she asked him.

"We can track her calls and pull down whatever is left of her father's and her network of contacts." James told her.

"You don't care about Tom at all." Sasha said in disbelief as the first thing he'd claimed when he'd boarded the James was that his goal was to assist them in finding Tom. But now, it was just another lie.

"Of course not." James said in a matter of fact tone. "He's one man. Meaningless and undoubtedly replaceable given the world is still turning and peacefully so. The reason I'm here is to collect information for my government. The Nathan James crew will cross whatever lines they can and we turn that into intelligence to use at a later date." James added. Sasha's hand tightened into a fist, she was furious to the point she wanted to kill the bastard and toss his body overboard for the sharks.

"You're a real piece of work." Sasha told him.

"You warmed my bed, it was fun but you said it. 'Work comes first', and it does. It always does." James said throwing her words back at her. She now hated herself for sleeping with such scum.

"Then do something useful." Sasha told him, he smiled and moved in close. He placed his hands on her arms and spoke to her as if she were a pathetic woman begging for his attention.

"Why? You're all doing the hard work for me. The US make any concession it has to for one man. They'll give the UK whatever they want to get Daniela on their soil. It's beautiful and so was what we had. But it's over. Don't look at me like that. Remember rule number one; don't hate the player, Sasha. Hate the game." James whispered into her ear. She grabbed shirt and kneed him hard in the groin.

"I think I'll do both." She whispered as she pushed him away. He groaned in pain and fell to the floor in a pathetic mess.

A few hours later,

"You're not calling anyone." Wolf said as he stood in the comm. room with Daniela. They'd been in the small space for half an hour with Granderson. So far, Daniela had been flirting with Alisha instead of being productive.

"Don't you have better things to do?" she asked him as she smiled at Alisha. "Is he always such a hard ass?" she asked her.

"I wouldn't know as I outrank him and we work in different departments." Alisha replied in amusement.

"Love that." Daniela mused before she looked to Wolf with a droll look, "and I'm not calling anyone because I like my friends and MI5 has bugged your ship." Daniela told him.

"Excuse me?" Alisha asked her incredulously.

"Has he been in here alone?"Daniela asked them.

"Yes," Alisha said but she like anyone else thought it was fine given James was supposed to be on their side.

"Then I'd look for something that's out of place. He's a snake. I'd like to go see Giorgio though." Daniela told him.

"Why?" Wolf asked her, Daniela gave a tired sigh.

"Why do you think?" She drawled.

"Giorgio!" Daniela called out as she went to him. She wore a white linen long sleeve shirt with light blue short shorts. Her hair loose and sun glasses. She found him at one of the more upscale hotel bars, she just wished that she had Sasha with her as she made better arm candy than Burk and Wolf but she didn't get a choice in the matter. But at least they were in plain clothes, but it wasn't a good look for her; to be with two men. It showed distrust.

"Daniela, you're back. Tell me, do you know what happened to Augustus? I had business with him and he's not answering my calls." Giorgio said as he set his beer on the table and got up to embrace her. But she hadn't missed the suspicion in his eyes at seeing Wolf and Burk.

"I don't know, we left together but when I woke up in the morning he was gone. But you know how he is, he works on his own schedule." Daniela said dismissively as she stepped out of his arms and pushed her sunglasses onto her head.

"So you're not working with the Navy?" Giorgio asked her. Daniela laughed and frown at him.

"Navy?" She asked, shit he was onto her. She obviously forgotten how sharp he was. Or someone had told him as he grabbed her by the neck in a fierce grip and pulled a butterfly knife from seemingly no where and flicked it open and pressed the knife into her cheek; hard enough to feel the bite but not enough to draw blood.

Burk and Wolf tried to pull their weapons but was surrounded by men with more than enough firepower. They were outgunned and Daniela waved a hand at them to not fight.

"Don't lie to me and I won't fuck up your face." he told her in a careful and deliberate tone. "Your friends there are US Navy and I know that a US Navy ship is sitting out the ocean just over the horizon." He told her.

"I'm not lying." She said firmly, looking him straight in the eyes. Her hands gripped his forearm of the hand clutching her neck.

"Really? Because I heard that you were in a CIA black site courtesy of MI5 until a week ago." He told her, Fuck! James had fucked her over by slipping the information to Giorgio or Giorgio was more connected than she assumed. She smiled guilty.

"Maybe I stretched the truth." She conceded, Giorgio's eyes flashed with anger and his grip tightened. She winced in pain as the grip was bruising her. "They were trying to get me to snitch on my Father and his organisation. I said nothing. Four years, I said nothing." She promised him.

"How did you get out?" Giorgio asked her.

"They want me to find Tom Chandler. I bring him back to the ship, I'm free and clear. Full Immunity from all prosecution. They're not here for any of us. They just want their man back." She told him, he looked at her; sizing up her words.

"The name means nothing to me." He told her.

"He was some Navy Captain of the US Nathan James. I tried to pry the information of his location from Gus because that pendeja ransacked my properties. He owed me and I was pissed. You know how I hold a grudge." Daniela said with a shrug.

"Passionately." He said with a smile as he loved the darker side of her nature. He found it a turn on.

"But James Fletcher is on that vessel, so I was careful. He knows we're friends but he hasn't got anything on you. I swear, I saw the dossier on you. It's nothing to worry about. We have no wires and I never called you. So if they are looking to hang you. It's not me tying the rope." She assured him.

"So you came to me?" He asked looking pleased, his grip loosened and put the knife away. He waved the guards away and Burk looked confused but grateful to not be Swiss cheese.

"I need your help, I'll pay whatever you want. You know I'm good for it." She told him, he looked thoughtful before he smile.

"Hmm, a kiss to start with. I'll get you a location but it's up to you to get this man out of his troubles. Then I'll lay down the rest of my terms." He told her.

"Why don't you just kill me?" Tom asked him, the old man had stopped giving him drugs. He was in hell, as withdrawal kicked in. He felt like he was underwater, and needed to come up for a breath but was too far away from the surface. That horrible feeling, of having no oxygen left. His body burned, his skin crawling like he was cold but was slick with sweat, his head pounding, nose running, stomach cramping. He felt like it had been weeks since he'd felt the blissful numb feeling of the drug. He craved, he thirsted for the escape.

"If I shot you in the head, it would be over too quick for me. I'm still waiting for you to figure out who I am." The old man said as he moved his rook on the chess board. He was playing against himself as Tom couldn't think straight.

"I've made too many enemies." Tom said as he was bent over in pain. He swiped at his nose as wished the old man would give him drugs and just leave him in his hole.

"Think boy, you're too educated to not see it." The old man sighed. "My last name is Ramsey, if it helps." He told him.

"Immunes. Achilles." Tom bit out as he was hit with immense pain. He fought to not vomit. It came clear the man was a relation of Sean and Ned.

"There you go." The old man said as he continued to play the chess game as if everything was normal even though Tom was in hell."You killed my grandsons, my legacy given their father wasn't worth much. My daughter bless her soul couldn't take the loss."

"This is revenge." Tom said, it made sense why the old man hated him. Tears filled Tom's eyes. He had no control over his emotions as part of him felt he deserved this agony but the addiction raged at the idea that he couldn't get more drugs.

"Justice because you stole my world from me. So by keeping you here, I steal your world from you. I get to watch it slowly destroy you. You never thought you'd be here, strung out junkie. You're no fine man now, are you? No. I made you into someone you despise." The old man said gleefully.

"What do I have to do?" he asked.

"For what? more drugs?" the old man said.

"Yes." Tom said, it was all he wanted. The old man smiled as he poured him a cup of tea.

"It's not the usual strength, but –" the old man didn't get to finish as Tom downed the tea. He didn't give a shit that it scorched his throat. The old man laughed at Tom with glee. But Tom was already gone.

"For a kiss?" Mike asked in scepticism as Daniela stood in his stateroom with Wolf, Fletcher and Sasha. She had an iphone in her hand waiting for a phone call from Giorgio.

"Of course, he took over my father's empire in his demise. So he owes me, this is nothing compared to what he's taken on. He doesn't care about you as long as you stay out of his way." Daniela lied, they didn't need to know the truth.

"How long?" Mike asked, he didn't feel the need to look to closely at Giorgio's empire given the man was helping them. He also rationalised that Europe had its own government agencies and Military to handle their own problems without the US stepping in.

"I don't know. He'll call me on this burner and let me know." Daniela said, but a second later her phone rang. She smiled and answered the phone like an excited teenage girl hearing from a crush."Giorgio." she said she moved into Mike's bedroom and shut the door for privacy.

"You can't trust anything that man gives you." James told him.

"You have given me no joy. What are you even doing on this ship?" Mike asked him.

"I tried." James offered.

"Less than a week and she's gotten us closer to Tom's location than you ever had or could; it seems." Mike remarked as he opened the door to his stateroom.

"She's a criminal." James said as Mike motioned for Burk and Danny to step in.

"So are you." Mike said as he tossed the piece of tech; Alisha had pulled out of a panel in the comm room. "James Fletcher, you're under arrest." He told him, part of him felt good about this.

"You can't arrest me." James told him firmly. Mike's eyebrows rose in amusement.

"I can, you're standing on US sovereign soil. You committed several crimes; espionage among the top tier of offences. So I suggest you save whatever defence you have for betraying my trust and endangering my people for your bosses. Cause we're going to hold you here until we get back stateside." Mike told him.

"This is-" James stopped as he held his hands up in surrender and left the room with Danny and Burk as his escort.

"Wow, that was hot." Daniela told him as she'd come back into the room and seen it all.

"What do you have?" Mike asked ignoring her weird adoration of him and his crew.

"Giorgio came through as promised." She said as she gave him the iphone. He looked at the gallery app she had opened and saw floor plan and GPS coordinates. "Peter Smithfield is friends with some old man. Apparently it was compensation for his loss." Daniela said in a nonchalant manner.

"Name?" Mike asked as he flipped through everything on the phone that hadn't been there before.

"Otis Ramsey." Daniela said.

"Ramsey?" Mike asked in surprise.

"Yes, did I not speak English? Oh wait it'd be the same in any language." Daniela drawled sarcastically.

"We've possibly encountered his relatives. It didn't go well. What did it cost you?" Mike asked.

"Nothing I couldn't afford." Daniela said, Mike eyed her as he for some reason sensed that she was lying but decided to drop it for now.