Caught in the Investigation (Alessa and SolitaryMan)

[solitaryman]

Garth turned and saw Becca at the stern of the Raven, her hair blowing around from the breeze and her hands waved wildly back and forth as she tried to signal the patrol boat. He quickly scanned the patrol boat with his field glasses, and saw that the boat started to change course and head towards the Raven. "DAMN..." he muttered and then yelled at Cito, "PUSH HER OVERBOARD NOW..." and then kept his field glasses on the patrol boat.

Cito moved quickly towards Becca and came up behind her. He twirled her around and his right fist landed across her jaw. He saw her fly off the back of the boat, a splash in the surging water from the engines signaled her hitting the water. Then Garth yelled at the pilot, "FULL AHEAD..." and the Raven picked up speed and quickly left the scene heading quickly down the coast.

The 'patrol' boat that Garth thought he saw actually turned out to be another cabin cruiser. The name 'Albatross' painted on the bow and also on the stern. The boat slowed down and its lone occupant spotted Becca floating face down in the water. He acted quickly, took a grapling hook and moved it into the water on the starboard side. He hooked Becca on the back of the red tube top and pulled her to the side of the boat. Then he brought her aboard and laid her down on the deck. He looked up and saw the Raven had nearly disappeared off the horizon. The Albatross rocked gently in the surf, as its captain moved Becca down below over his left shoulder. Stripping her out of her wet clothes, he laid her in the bed of the master cabin, and covered her up to make her warm. He fetched a cup of coffee and added a shot of whiskey and brought it back to the cabin. He looked down at her as he waited for her to regain consciousness.

 

[Alessa]

Becca couldn't hear anything over the whipping wind and the drone of the engine, and simply waved for all she was worth. It wasn't until the last moment that she heard the footsteps, and turned to come face to face with Cito as his right fist connected with her jaw, shaking her teeth loose and sending her right off the back of the boat into the water. By the time she hit the water, she was unconscious once again.

She floated unaware as the other boat, the Albatross, hooked her clothing and hauled her roughly onto the boat. The captain slung her over his shoulder and carried her down to the cabin.. It took her a few minutes to regain consciousness, and she opened her eyes cautiously, wondering where she was now. "Wh.. what? Who.. who are you? Where am I?" She lay stretched out on the bunk, dripping wet and covered with a thick blanket, covering her exposed skin and helping her warm up quickly from the chilled waters.

 

[solitaryman]

The master cabin of the Albatross was pretty much standard, not as fancy as the Raven, but with ranch oak furniture through out the ship. It was smaller than the Raven but still a fast boat and it's shape fooled a lot of people to thinking it was a patrol boat. The walls of the master cabin had some photos of its captain as well as plaques from his days of his other profession, Special Agent for the FBI. The name on the plaques showed him to be Kyle Morris, former agent now turned bounty hunter and private investigator. He had left the FBI frustrated with all the red tape, and now could do things a lot differently and without all the pettiness and red tape of the bureaucracy. He looked down at Becca, as he smiled and held the coffee mug with the mixture of hot coffee and whiskey, "Here drink this, it will help you warm up," his free left hand carressed her wet hair softly.

"Welcome aboard the Albatross, don't worry, you're with a friend, name's Kyle Morris, I take it you're Becca O'Hare. Inspector Ward described you to a tee," he smiled, "see you had a run in with Garth. Glad I happened to be in the area." He then gather up her wet clothes and left the room for a few minutes. Then he came back in as he sat on the edge of the bed, "There's some clothes in the closet and dresser for you to pick out, otherwise when we hit Tampico you can shop for your own. They much the same that you were dressed in but hey, beggars can't be choosy can they, and you sure can't dress like a prim and proper FBI agent out here." He then stood up and took out his cell phone and hit a speed dial button. He looked at her as he spoke to the party on the other end of the call, "Kyle Morris here Arthur...yeah...I found her...in the water outside Tampico...looks like Garth tossed her overboard...yeah, she's soaked up half the gulf, but otherwise ok..yeah, I'll take good care of her..." then he hung up and sat back down on the edge of the bed. He watched her sip on the coffee and whiskey and smiled wryly, "So, let's talk about you and Garth."

 

[Alessa]

Becca trembled with gratitude as she realized who it was that had saved her. Someone she could trust, she was sure! She accepted the coffee with whiskey in it, drinking it and letting the fire go down her throat as he rubbed her red hair reassuringly.

He said he was Kyle Morris, introducing himself and then grabbing up her wet clothes.. those horrible, trampy clothes. He came back and sat on the bed, saying that there were other clothes for her to pick out, but that they were similar to what she had worn before. It beat being nude, she figured, and didn't plan on complaining at this point. After everything else, the style of clothes were the last thing on her mind.

He pulled out his phone and made a call, telling someone named Arthur that he found her outside of Tampico and that he'd take good care of her.

She smiled with relief and contentment as she took another swig of the loaded coffee. "Oh, thank God you found me, Kyle! It was a nightmare! Garth is one of the heads of the Madras Slave Ring!!! I managed to find them in Miami and even got inside their club, The Bird Cage - I'm guessing that's what all the money gets funneled through. Anyway, they grabbed me and I fought but they won and I ended up out here with those horrible people and gun running and drugs, and.. and.."

She realized she was babbling, letting it all come out at once. She sighed and caught her breath, holding the blanket close to her as she continued, "But.. how did you know to find me out here? How did you know where I was at all?"

 

[solitaryman]

Kyle listened to her talk about Garth and the ring. "It's a big sized ring that is for sure, and you got closer than most who have tried. I see he brought Whitaker under his wing to funnel his money, explains why Peter Hardin was fished out of the Lantano River, killed execution style. He was Garth's money launderer until he found out Hardin was skimming off the profits."

He watched her drink down the last of the loaded coffee, "Hope that warms you up some, far as finding you, it was Inspector Arthur Ward in Seattle that asked me to look you up. They heard your message, and the inflection of your voice was enough to tell him something was wrong. He knows you don't give up that quick. Ward and I go back a ways in the bureau, though we disagreed on policy and procedure. I decided to help him out and find you."

Kyle stood up as he smiled at Becca and took the empty coffee mug, "No need to be shy around me O'Hare, I've seen more than you're hiding under that blanket. Get yourself dressed, and join me up top in the wheelhouse, we'll talk more and get you set up with a weapon." Kyle left the master cabin and slid the door shut. He went through the small wardroom area and dropped the mug off in the galley sink. The Albatross was once a patrol boat that Kyle had bought and fixed up. He went up on deck and to the wheelhouse, took the engines out of idle, and weighed anchor as the Albatross began to move again through the water. He set course for his original destination, Tampico.

 

[Alessa]

Hardin was dead.. wow.. she didn't realize that. Still, it didn't surprise her. Garth was all about the money, and if Hardin was taking some for himself, well.. she wouldn't want to be the underwriter on his life insurance at that point, that was for sure. Bastard probably never even knew what was coming.

Setting down the empty cup of coffee, she smiled in thanks to Kyle as he told her that Inspector Ward had asked him to look out for her. Sweet ol' Ward.. figures he'd be the one to send the cavalry looking for her. And apparently it had worked. She was out of Garth's clutches now, free to get back to bringing them down!! No, after everything she'd been through, she wasn't about to give up.

Despite his words, she still waited for Kyle to leave before she got dressed. Enough people had seen her naked, and she had no intention of letting anyone else for a very long time. Her confidence and her modesty had both been shaken to the core. Shrugging it off, she watched as Kyle left and then slid out of the blanket.

Her trim, pale figure stood for a moment, stretching, her lean muscles turning her navel into an oval as it caught the light from the porthole, light spilling down her skin to set alight the thick mass of red hair over her mound. The stretch over, she rummaged through the closet and wardrobe and managed to come up with a red thong, blue jeans that were cut far too low for her comfort, and a red tank top with spaghetti straps. There were a few bras, but none of them fit, so once again she was forced to go without, blushing with awareness at how she jiggled with each movement.

Shaking it off, she pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail to keep it out of her eyes and moved to the top of the ship, standing behind Kyle in the wheelhouse. "Tampico is where we're going, right?" she asked him. "I should be able to pick up the trail there!"

 

[solitaryman]

Kyle had both hands on the wheel as he pointed the Albatross along the coast toward Tampico. He was glad to glance over to his left as he saw Becca stand beside him. He admired her red hair back in a ponytail, and the slight breeze slid her tanktop upwards showing off her back, belly and belly button in a vertical oval. His eyes gazed down at the jeans rode below her waist, and estimated 6 inches between the bottom of her belly button and the top of the waistline of her jeans.

"Tampico coming up on the port beam," he pointed to the coastline and the entrance to the harbor. He handed Becca the field glass so she could scan the coast and harbor. "Ward told me something about you going to Miami to see your sister, how did that turn out? Something tells me she is as beautiful as you are."

He raised an eyebrow as he looked back at her, "Yeah you can pick up his trail here that is for sure, just remember a few things. One, your badge won't do ya any good down here, it's a whole league and set of rules. Second, I can tell you don't like those clothes, but you can't dress prim and proper down here even if you want to. Gotta mix with the locals, so you keep that in mind when you shop for clothes, as I know you and all women do. There's a nice market place in Tampico where you can shop, and maybe pick up some information. And third, you got my help if you want it, I have a little beef with Garth myself, seeing he killed my last partner before I left the bureau, or knew of it, not much difference."

Kyle guided the Albatross into the harbor and into an empty berth along the pier. A cobblestone square was up along the docks and a fountain in the middle, then streets went off in all directions like spokes on a bicycle wheel. Kyle looked at Becca, "Let's go down below and get you fit up with a weapon and spending money." Once down in the small wardroom, Kyle opened a safe tucked away in the floor of the room, and handed her a pack of mixed denominations of bills, then shut the safe. Then he pushed a button hidden under the end of the bar, and the wall slid open. It hid a small arsenal of weapons, ammuntion, and holsters, etc., pistols of all calibers, as well as some rifles, and even assault rifles. "Take your pick Red," Kyle smiled as he looked at her.