“Yep,” Mike said. “And see how the water is changing?” he added, pointing over the side.
“Getting pretty blue,” she said, nodding.
“Not real blue, yet,” Mike said. “You’ll see.”
“Beers,” Pam said. “But getting them up there…”
Courtney retrieved the Fosters and put them in holders.
“All I could find,” Pam said.
“If you’re stuck on something else, we’ll get it when we get back,” Mike said.
“We can at least buy our own beers,” Pam said, frowning.
“Ah, ah,” Mike said. “And take all my fun away?”
“This is good,” Courtney said, taking a swig of the Fosters and rolling the cap in her hand. “Trash?”
Mike took it from her and flicked it over the side.
“Don’t look so shocked,” he said, grinning. “It’ll sink to the bottom and decompose. Little fish will use it for shelter in the meantime. You don’t want to deprive them, do you?”
“I’m just so kneejerk about littering,” Pam said, then tossed hers over the side. “But that felt really fun.”
“Simple guilty pleasures are the most fun,” Mike said, flicking his over the side. “Better than complicated guilty pleasures.”
“What are complicated guilty pleasures?” Courtney asked.
“Think about it,” Mike replied, grinning. “What, you don’t have any complicated guilty pleasures?”
“I’m lost here,” Pam admitted. “Could you explain?”
“Not without getting more graphic than I’d like to,” Mike said. “But I’ll ask a rhetorical question: What do you fantasize about when you masturbate?” He looked from side to side and nodded. “The light dawns. Those can be very complicated guilty pleasures. And don’t ask me, nonrhetorically, please.”
“I won’t,” Courtney said, blushing. “But, you know, complicated guilty pleasures can be fun, too,” she added, wiggling from side to side.
“Don’t tease an old dog,” Mike said. “He might have one bite left.”
“So what are your complicated guilty pleasures, Mike?” Courtney asked coquettishly.
“I told you not to tease,” Mike said, frowning. “Some of my guilty pleasures are really complicated. And really dark. I don’t think we know each other well enough to get into them. But I’ll tell you one: I’ve serviced a few targets in my day, and if I’ve got a regret, it’s that I probably won’t be able to service any more.”
“Serviced targets?” Pam asked carefully.
“Killed bad guys,” Mike answered. “I don’t get any nightmares from serviced targets, even the ones that I’ve had to look at for some time. Screwed-up ops, I flashback on those. I had a bad one in Rumrunners the night I met you two. But targets? No problem.”
That provoked a rather long silence.
“Okay, now I’m having some problems,” Courtney said finally. “I hadn’t really internalized that I was out in a boat with a guy who used to kill people for a living. Has actually killed people, is what I mean.”
“Bad guys,” Mike said. “But, yeah, I told you not to tease an old dog. If you want to turn around I will,” he said, reaching for the wheel.
“No,” Courtney said, leaning forward and touching his hand. “Don’t. It just takes some getting used to. But I’d guess that with what happened to you,” she said, gesturing at the scars, “some of the same things happened to… targets.”
“Quite a few,” Mike said, having a clear image of the stairway. “But there are some very bad people in the world that desperately need servicing.”
“Syria,” Pam said, darkly.
“That was one of those good missions,” Mike admitted. “Very clear cut. But those aren’t the only bad people in the world, ladies.”
Courtney leaned over and laid her hand on his shoulder, then leaned further over to kiss his cheek.
“Thank you for servicing targets,” she said, rubbing his shoulder. “And I won’t tease you about your complicated guilty pleasures. Much.”
“If you do I’ll tease you right back,” Mike said, grinning. “I spent a lot of time in the body and fender shop. And the only thing to read was what the nurses had, which were very very trashy romances. Based on those…”
“Don’t go there,” Courtney said, leaning back and laughing. “I’ll definitely stop teasing.”
“Birds,” Mike said, picking up the binoculars and focusing them in. “Yeah, they’re feeding on a surface shoal.” He put his feet down and touched the wheel, turning the boat to starboard slowly. Even with his care, the tuna tower still leaned to the side.
“Whoa!” Pam said, grasping the rail. “That’s a little…”
“Exciting?” Mike asked, straightening out. “Courtney, think you can take the wheel?”
“Maybe,” she said as he stood up.
“I’ll back off on the speed,” he said, throttling down. “It won’t sway so much. You see those birds,” he added, pointing.
“Yeah?”
“Steer for them,” he said, picking up his beer and going to the ladder.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To get out the rods.”
“I’m steering this boat,” Courtney said nervously.
“I know,” Pam replied just as nervously.
“I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“I know,” Pam said, trying to sound supportive. “Just… steer for the birds.”
“They’ve moved,” Courtney said, turning the wheel slightly. The boat turned, and she had to turn back and forth a couple of times to get lined up, the tuna tower swaying, to her, dangerously.
“You’re doing great!” Mike yelled from the deck.
“He’s…” Courtney said and stopped.
“Yeah,” Pam replied. “Is it just me…”
“No,” Courtney said. “And did you see those pecs?”
“Yeah,” Pam said. “And he said women aren’t visual. God, what does he do, work out all day?”
“I know,” Courtney said, steering a touch to port. “It was all I could do to not run my finger over them just to see if they were real.”
“Oh, they’re real, all right,” Pam said. “And you know what gets me?”
“Not a single come-on,” Courtney said. “He’s not gay, I can tell that. But he’s not…”
“I know. It’s like he’s waiting for us to make the first move.”
“I know. It’s weird. And that thing about… servicing targets.”
“He’s actually killed people,” Pam said. “I mean, not just maybe. Has. No muss, no bragging, no bullshit.”
“Which just makes it worse,” Courtney admitted. “When he mentioned romance novels I just about wet my pants.”
“You too?” Pam said, shaking her head. “He said he stocked up for female visitors. I wonder if there’s a vibrator on board.”
“You mean other than the seats?” Courtney said. “Besides, who needs a vibrator. I’ve just been crossing my legs and rocking!”
“Courtney, you are such a slut,” Pam said, closing her eyes and leaning back in the chair. “And he wants to go fishing!”
Chapter Four
“Courtney,” Mike called. “You did great, but I’ve got it from down here. You want to come on down?”
“What’s up?” Courtney asked, sliding down to the flying bridge and looking around. Two heavy rods had been rigged aft, and two more that she pegged as “regular” rods with normal reels were set to one side.
“There’s a school of bait fish under the birds,” Mike said, throttling down. “What I’m going to do is point the boat at them and let out the lines. When we go through we should hook on to whatever is feeding on them, probably dolphin. I’ve got to get you rigged, though.”