Warning: There is swearing in this chapter! Don't hate me
This chapter is choppy but I had to edit because it would have been really boring otherwise (i.e. they went here, then there, … then they did this…. Then that… Drone!). Its not exciting in that it just had to happen for the plot to make sense, but I did my best to inject some Natalie and James moments into it. Sorry for making you wait for another update. I am happy to report that things are much better now and reading your comments has been a massive help. I will never be able to thank you enough for your support and your unwavering kindness. It is so reassuring to know that there are people out there that would care if I dropped off the face of the earth. And I want you all to know that I watch the stats on my stories very closely and even if you're one of those silent readers that rarely leaves reviews I would notice if you weren't around anymore and you would be sorely missed. I hope that my stories are a place you can come whenever you need a pick me up, (even though they can be depressing at times) and I wish the best for each and every one of you. I hope you enjoy.
"F*cking hell," Natalie swore under her breath.
"My thoughts exactly," James replied.
The travel-worn pair stood in the burning sands of Wake Island. Island was a generous description for the bed of coral that jutted out of the depths of the Pacific Ocean. As the small plane rolled off the landing strip behind them the thieves were left to face their new form of transportation. A rusted fishing boat waited just off the shore, bobbing with the tide that threatened to consume the tiny island. Several of the boat's leaks had been visibly patched with sheets of scrap metal and fraying ropes hung over the bow and cabin like a web. The vessel appeared utterly pathetic against the horizon of endless blue.
"Cake thought we should take something aged. Something that might look like it got washed away in a storm and set adrift, in case we draw any unwanted attention," James shrugged.
"As always, she has over-achieved. It looks positively ancient." They had lost contacted with Cake about an hour before the plane landed.
"Nervous?" James asked, and for once it didn't sound like a challenge.
"Terrified," she confessed.
Jay reached out to squeeze her hand before marching down the dune to the water line.
Natalie West scanned the horizon before trekking down after him, "There are no landmasses for miles. Can you navigate in open water?"
"Yes, but not as well as Mac," he admitted as he tossed his pack over a shoulder and began to wade out to the boat.
Natalie turned around to be confronted once more with the vast ocean. There was no conning your way out of drowning.
"Still think we should have left him with Siena?" James words were distorted by his victorious smirk.
Nat refused to give him the satisfaction, "Get in the boat, smartass," she called as she sloshed into the water.
James tossed his pack over the boat's sagging railing and struggled to hoist himself up after it. When he had made it over the edge he turned back to lift Natalie up only to find she had already scaled her way over the side of the boat without assistance. He couldn't fight the smile that crept over him.
She caught sight of this as she hauled up the anchor, "What?" she demanded.
"Nothing," James sobered himself.
Ignoring his repressed grin, , Nat padded her way over to the steering wheel, skirting around some cracked floorboards in her path, and announced, "Alright, you navigate. I drive. That is assuming this thing has a working engine." She turned the ignition and the boat responded by sputtering to life with great indignation.
James cleared the small table inside the cabin and unscrolled the maps while Natalie poked around the cabin in search of life preservers. Compass in hand, James peered out of the cracked glass window onto the endless swells that lay between them and their destination.
Natalie tossed a life jacket to him, snapping him out of his daze.
"How are we on gas?" He inquired.
"Full to the brim," she responded.
"Good, we'll need it. How does the engine look?"
"Well, it exists and appears to function so I would say better then I was expecting," Nat quipped.
A moment of silence followed while James addressed the maps and charts before Natalie assumed her position at the dash and spoke, "Now what?"
James took a steadying breath, "Now we head west."
They travelled four hours through endless blue before catching sight of land.
"There," James pointed it out, "Right where it's supposed to be."
Natalie's sigh of relief did not escape his notice. He hadn't realized until that moment how tense his own shoulders had been.
"Okay, where am I aiming?"
"For the north coast. There," he pointed, "Do you see that bay?"
Natalie squinted before nodding. As the puny little fishing boat approached land, vague outlines of the neighboring islands emerged from the haze of volcanic ash that permeated the air.
Another twenty minutes passed before they fell under the shadow of the island's eastern cliffs. Once Natalie had directed the boat toward the northern shore James instructed her to cut the engine, "We can drift in from here. No need to draw attention with the wake."
The pair took the time it gave them to gather their packs and plan their course on an old map of the islands Cake had managed to dig up for them. "We'll climb onto those rocks their to get to shore. I don't want risk leaving any footprints of the beach."
Natalie agreed and traced a line across the map, "If this map is any good then we should be able to cut across the valley here. So long as we stay under cover of the trees we shouldn't be visible to the drones."
"We'll have to play it by ear, I'm not sure how tall the foliage is in that region. But once we make it to those western cliffs we should have a good vantage point for surveillance on the main island. We should move quickly though. I want to be back by-" Natalie looked at him in anticipation for his next words but James hesitated, "Do you hear that?"
In confirmation Natalie ducked inside the cabin and James quickly followed suit. They crouched together against the rusted wall while listening to the surveillance drone scream across the sky above their heads. It was flying low. Did that mean they had been made? The thought raced through Natalie's mind. Neither dared to speak until the sound had died off.
James set his watch, "If Cake was right we have twenty seven minutes until the next pass over." Kai had been studying the clouded satellite images of the cluster of islands she had managed to steal when NASA wasn't looking. It appeared that several drones circled the main island and the surrounding landmasses on a twenty-four hour basis. The closer the pair got to the main island, the less time they would have between drones. While not large enough to support infrared tech or any such advanced tech the drones were undoubtedly equipped with cameras, which meant the thieves would have to stay out of sight.
Natalie matched her watch with his before replying, "Alright, then lets get moving."
A droplet of sweat tickled its way down Natalie's back. Or perhaps it was seawater that had fallen from her still drenched hair. Either way, it did little to cool the heat radiating off of her. In three hours they had trekked their way across half of the island, making good time despite the volcanic smog that permeated the humid jungle air and filled their lungs.
Every time a drone passed over their heads Natalie had to force herself to crawl back to her feet and continue placing one foot in front of the other. They had no time to stop and admire the cascading waterfalls and enchanting wildlife. But despite the fact that they were on a mission to save their skins, as well as those of their loved ones while being stalked by drones and facing the serious risk of being stranded in the middle of the pacific ocean, the two thieves felt oddly relaxed. They had abandoned all questions of morality on the mainland. The physically impossible challenge of breaking into a secret island facility seemed like child's play to them now. After all, impossible was their specialty.
The young heiress motivated herself to keep moving forward by letting her mind slip to frivolous memories of her family's chateau in the Austrian Alps. Images floated into her mind like delicate snowflakes; coaxing Mia down the slopes with promises of hot apple strudel waiting at the bottom, rolling in the snow banks before plunging into the thermal springs, watching the intricate flakes come to rest on the windowsill as Mia brushed out her tangled locks by the fireplace.
James had other thoughts to occupy his mind. He trailed behind Natalie and let himself be hypnotized by the roll of her hips. Fascinated at the way as those long limbs, swaying, reaching independently only met in the center of her, forming one perfect being. He traced the curve of her with his eyes, from her long neck downwards, letting his gaze rest at the small of her back where all motion seemed to converge on a single point. Underneath her pack, Natalie's tank had slid up, exposing her lower back. Jay was overcome with the desire to touch that central point of her, to lay a hand there as she walk and feel the wired muscles beneath that blanket of olive flesh.
James felt a pull at his own core as he drew closer to her and his disobedient hand slid across her skin coming to rest in the small of her back.
That elegant neck craned back towards him in alarm.
Panic and embarrassment coursed through him, "Down," he breathed.
The pair dropped low and shifted beneath the cover of the low-lying foliage. James left his hand at her back, stitching a finger through her belt loop. It felt as though every nerve in his hand had just been shocked to life. It was intoxicating. He justified the indulgent touch as a gesture of protection, one intended to reassure Natalie. Nothing more.
After a moment she pointed toward her watch with a perplexed expression.
James surveyed the sky before dismissing his own command, "You're right, too early. Sorry, thought I heard something."
At his confirmation Natalie broke her silence with a shrug, "Better safe then sorry and all that. We could use a rest anyways."
Reluctantly lifting his hand from her side, James nodded, "We can wait for the next drone to pass. Drink." He took the water bottle from her belt and popped the cap before handing it to her insistently.
"Always the gentleman," she teased before taking a healthy gulp.
"I bet you never thought you'd be here. On some random island in the middle of the Pacific," he commented as he watched her drink.
She handed him the bottle, "No, not really. But it's the sort of thing typical of you. So I suppose I knew I'd end up in situations like this eventually, seeing as I go where you go," Natalie's smile was tired, "Besides, Hawaii was always too touristy for my tastes anyway."
"Well, maybe we can pick up a keychain on our way out," he joked, "You know, for the memories."
She snorted, "Not necessary. I don't think I'll ever forget that damned boat."
"Don't start cursing it just yet. We need it to hold up for the return trip."
They let their tired chuckles drop for the moment into the silence of the forest. The vibrant plumage of tropical birds flitted to and fro above them. James watched them go in an attempt to distract himself from the electric hum that lingered in his fingertips.
"Look at that hair," Natalie mock scolded as she ran a hand through James' locks that were matted to his forehead with sweat. "You're lucky Cake doesn't have satellite access. She would have been on your case an hour ago."
"You think she's doing alright?" James inquired, "She's been a bit off lately."
Natalie's lips rolled into a tight frown, "I thought I was the only one who noticed."
He shook his head, "I've never known her to crack under pressure."
"It's more then Teller's threats," Natalie assured him, "She hasn't been herself for months now. The captivity is getting to her. We can't let- its just- I feel like I dragged her into all this and if her sentence is increased because of what I asked of her-"
James wasn't about to let Natalie pull the guilt onto herself. "Cake joined us of her own accord. You asked for one favour, she chose to stick around. That's on her, Nat."
The young heiress laughed to herself and rose to her feet.
"What is it? Tell me what you're thinking," his tone was curious now, not commanding.
"That's how it always starts, somebody asks for a favour, and then-" she motioned to their surroundings, "-then all of this happens."
No need for James to inquire about her thoughts in that moment. Their minds both fell back to that rainy morning in the London café where he had asked for the one favour that would change everything.
James remembered it all. The smell of Italian-style espressos roaming through the air. Droplets of rain tickling his scalp as they rolled their way through his damp hair. The shade of nail polish that adorned Nat's slender fingers that were laced around the mug.
Jay felt a pang of homesickness and realized he desperately wanted that moment back, "We should go back there. And bring the crew this time. They have good coffee."
Natalie was puzzled by this, "How do you know they have good coffee? You don't drink coffee."
"No, but I know you like their brew."
"But how-" she started to ask.
James gave a sheepish grin, and elaborated, "You take slow sips when you like the taste of something. And sometimes you slurp."
"I do not slurp!" she protested.
"Yes, you do."
Natalie dropped the point and forged on through the bush, "And for the record, the coffee was no great shakes."
"But you liked it all the same," James rose to follow her.
"My liking something does not make it good," she volleyed back.
"It does in my eyes," he stated without thinking.
Natalie paused to look back at him in contemplation. She wasn't sure how to process those words.
Jay shrugged in a casual manner as he passed her by, "You have good taste."
When he didn't hear Natalie's footsteps fall in line with his own James turned back in time to see her duck beneath the brush. He followed her lead and decided to pass the time studying the contours of her face as she watched the drone stream back.
"That's a bad idea if I've ever seen one," she commented as James crept closer to the edge of the cliff. The volcanic rock had been eroded away so that the summit of the cliff jutted precariously out over the ocean, not to mention to lack of foliage would leave the pair recklessly exposed to detection by the drones that now passed over them every twelve minutes or so.
"Do you have a better one?" James challenged. The heat was getting to him. "There is no way to see over these rocks without going to the edge."
Natalie surveyed their surroundings, "I've had my fill of cliffs thank you very much. Come on," she called back to him as she jogged into the forest.
James followed at a slower pace. How she could move so quickly without stumbling over all these roots was a mystery to him. But he followed her darting shadow as best as he could while keeping one eye on his path. That was, until her shadow disappeared altogether. Jay paused to listen for her footsteps and was met only with the sound of the flustered birds alerting their companions to the presence of two strangers crashing through their habitats.
"Nat?" James called into the shadows of the jungle.
"Up here," the answer came from above. Natalie was perched on the branch of a nearby banyan tree. Its vine like branches streamed to the forest floor where they disappeared into the earth. Nat's nimble frame moved between these branches with ease, climbing ever higher.
She paused in her ascent to call down to him, "Come on, Bishop. We've got work to do."
By the time James caught up Natalie had selected a perch for herself and had broken out the surveillance equipment.
"Quite the view," James noted when he came to rest beside her. No more then a kilometer away was the main island. Wilson Securities facility was visible under the plume of volcanic ash that floated up from the south side of the island.
"Have you got the camera?" She asked, already preoccupied with adjusting the binoculars.
"Right here," He removed the long-lens and camera from his pack.
The pair went silent as yet another drone roared above.
Hours passed in the comfortable silence they had become accustom to. Being together had become as easy as being alone. The still air was periodically shattered by the rumbled of passing drones and the scribble that followed as Nat jotted down the corresponding time in her note pad.
"Ready to send out the bugs?" James had assembled the snipers rifle. Wilson securities blocked any long distance transmissions from the island cluster, therefore Cake was unable to hack into their systems from her 'home-office', but with any luck the company would not be scanning for short-range transmissions. After all, who could possibly make it into the field of view of their drones without being spotted?
"Ready," she confirmed. If Jay's shots alerted the island's security the thieves would have to be ready to move quickly if they had any chance, however slim, of escaping.
Natalie watched him inhale deeply and adjust one of the rifle's many knobs. "Shoot straight," she advised.
A soft chuckle rocked his shoulders, "Thanks for the advice," he retorted sarcastically.
Inhaling again he pulled the trigger on the exhale.
Natalie checked the tablet in her hands and realized for the first time how clammy her hands had become, "Right on target. Nice shot," she congratulated him, "Care to do it again?"
"Don't mind if I do. Where next?"
"Eastern wall, just above the air vent."
James adjusted the gun, loaded the next bugged bullet and fired on the exhale.
"Three inches above target," Natalie noted.
"Damn. Should I try another?"
"Don't bother its still getting the data we need. Two down, fourteen to go."
James hit the following targets with remarkable accuracy, needing to repeat only two of the shots, and then a third, but Natalie maintained that that was simply because he was a perfectionist.
"Nice shooting," Natalie remarked as he disassembled the rifle. "You've got show me how to do that sometime."
"I've barely mastered it myself. You should ask-" James let his words fall away before his tongue had a chance to shape them.
"Dmitri." Natalie finished for him.
"He's a damn good shot," James admitted. "Who knows maybe he's putting his skills to good use in his new life," his tone had turned bitter.
Her brow furrowed, "A hit-man? You don't really think he'd go there do you?"
Jay sighed in defeat, "No, I don't think he's capable of that, I'm just-"
"Angry," Natalie nodded in understanding.
"How are the bugs doing?" he inquired, eager to change the topic.
"They seem to be transmitting fine," Natalie watched as the data streamed into her tablet. Cake's ingenious inventions had been designed to pick up echoes, vibrations, thermal images and frequencies to create a virtual map of the inner workings of the compound. If they functioned properly the crew would know where ever door, lock, and sensor was located in the first twenty levels of the structure.
The pair would have to hang around for the next sixteen hours as they waited for the bugs to work their magic and run a scan of every accessible level.
"So," James spoke as he dropped from the last branch to the jungle floor, "We have four hours until sundown, Miss West, what would you like to do?"
Natalie's eyes lit up with mischievous glee, "Strip, of course."
Their clothes were hidden beneath a nearby tree. On any other occasion Natalie might have felt exposed in her shorts and sports bra but she was far too distracted by the delightfully refreshing water to mind. Besides, it was only Jay.
She splashed her way into the river as James dunked his head. He surfaced with a great spray that doused Natalie's dry upper half.
"Feel better?" she laughed.
He was almost playful when he replied, "I feel perfect."
And he did indeed seem perfect to Natalie in the moment. James was not made of brawn like Mac, but the water slid down over his toned shoulders and back like a roman fountain. He pushed his wet hair back from his blue eyes that seemed to mirror the water. His lips were curled into one of those rare radiant and unabashed smiles, interrupted only by the endearing scar on his upper lip.
So many of his scars held their shared memories, and though she would never tell him, Natalie liked to think of those marks as hers. Just like the jagged silver line on her forearm belonged to him. They were everlasting proof that two people had collided in time, and changed one another in a way that could never be undone.
Natalie waded toward the edge of the stream where it fell away into a waterfall. She peered over the edge then sent a playful look James' way, "You know I still haven't repaid you for Italy, when you pushed me off that cliff."
James chuckled as he came to join her at the edge, "I didn't push you off a cliff. I tackled you."
She raised a brow. "And somehow that's better?"
"Of course," he slid a hand into hers, "I would never let you fall alone, Nat."
And once again, they were falling.
Not altogether happy with how that came out but its my birthday and I really wanted to get this chapter out as a present to myself. So lets talk future fanfics- After this story I have another (related) story that I am working on, but I also need ideas. I was thinking of starting a Percy Jackson fan fiction about the time after the war with Gaea (think high-school/uni stuff, camp drama, PTSD, developing romances and, of course, some epic monster battles). But I am certainly open to suggestions if you have a favourite series. I think I may have exhausted the Heist Society world. I hope to talk to you all again soon.
P.S. Also just realized that we have barely gotten into the story and I've already surpassed the word count of We Are Thieves. Madness! How on earth am I writing so little in so many words? Shall we see if we can surpass the number of reviews as well?