Huddled together with Mike, I started to warm up, but then became aware of his proximity in a different sense. I could smell his maleness, which disconcerted me for a moment. The neoprene hoods we both wore, kept our heads warm and dry, but, here in the dark, I began to feel slightly hemmed in. I took my hood off and shook my hair free.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yup, just getting a little stuffy.”
I heard him take his hood off as well, but then strong arms reached out and he pulled me closer to him. We were both seated, with my back resting against his front, and his legs were astride with me sitting in the V.
“We need to share warmth,” he said. I sensed him grinning in the dark.
I didn’t resist, as it was rather pleasant feeling his breath on my neck.
After a few minutes, we heard the men return to the boat. They brought the boxes of supplies and left them in the hold, tying them down to prevent them sliding about.
Their accents betrayed that they were local men. Judging by their conversation and demeanour, they weren’t ex-military, but probably simple fishermen paid to run their boat more generously than they could make a living through fish.
The rain was back with a vengeance, so they all disappeared back to the dry wheelhouse and crew mess. Mike opened the door into the hold, allowing a little light into the locker.
“Now we wait until they get where they’re going and hope the boat stays there, otherwise we’ll have to swim for it,” he whispered.
I simply nodded.
We remained cuddled together for most of the trip, feeling the vibrations of the diesel throb up through the deck. His arms were wrapped around me and I almost went to sleep.
“You smell great,” he said, waking me up, as I felt his lips against my ear. Unfamiliar feelings coursed through my body.
“So do you,” I heard my voice reply.
I turned my head slightly, and our lips met in the dark. He kissed me with mounting passion, to which I responded. His tongue was quite forceful as it entered my mouth. I repelled it with my own and pushed hard to try to explore his mouth. His arms tightened around me, and I felt one of his hands slide down between my legs, where it started to rub the outside of my wetsuit. I made no effort to stop him, for I enjoyed it too much.
He broke away. “Have you any idea what you do to me?” he asked.
“Why don’t you tell me?” I said, kissing him again and rubbing the hardening lump in his wetsuit. Strange thoughts went through my head, for my memories of being the male came back hard and strong. I knew what I had felt like then, so knew what he was feeling now. The strange thing was that I didn’t feel that different, as I wanted him as much as he appeared to want me. Any doubt as to whether I was capable of allowing this man to screw me started to disappear.
“Ever since I first saw you, I’ve wanted you,” he said.
“What, from that time in London when you abducted me?”
“Yeah, you were hot, heck, you still are!”
“Oh yeah, for what?”
“I want you so bad!”
I felt myself becoming aroused, as my crotch beneath his fingers was tingling and becoming damper by the second.
“Like we can do anything about it here,” I said.
The wetsuits were each one piece, that had a zip at the neck, so were hard to get on and off in the open, let alone in an enclosed space like this.
“Why not? It’ll take at least an hour or so to get there.”
“They might hear and come take a look.”
“It’s pouring with rain, the engines are making a heck of a racket and they won’t want to leave the warmth and dry of the wheel house.”
“Have you got a condom?”
He stared at me with a curious smile on his lips.
“A condom?”
“Yup, you know; one of those things that prevent unwanted pregnancies and disease?”
“You’re kidding me?”
“Look, I packed a gun, a knife, stun grenades and some rope, I didn’t think I’d need a fucking contraceptive, it wasn’t in the plan, okay?”
We both started to laugh at the ludicrous situation, and then, knowing that the moment had passed, we settled down on the deck, huddled together for warmth.
“How about after?” he said.
“One or both of us might be dead.”
“Suppose for a moment we both survive.”
“Okay, you owe me dinner first.”
He started to chuckle and I rested my head against his chest. It was going to be a long and very dull trip.
The boat engine chugged away and, with the roll and pitch of the boat, I was lulled into a doze. I became alert as the engine noise altered and slowed down.
Mike eased the hatch up and took a peek.
“”It seems we’ve arrived.”
“Not soon enough!” I said, feeling faintly queasy.
“How do we do this?”
“It depends. If they unload and start to leave, we’ll have to swim for it. If they tie up, then we can wait for darkness before slipping ashore.”
It didn’t take the four men long to unload the boxes of provisions. The constant throb of the engine was a giveaway that this was not to be the boat’s final resting place, so my guess was right that these were locals, simply running an errand.
“Go now, before we have to swim for miles,” I hissed at Mike, before the boat started moving away from the quay. We slipped up through the hatch, onto the fore deck, where, in the torrential rain we were hidden from view of the wheelhouse by the davit, and then over the side. Once again, the cold water was a shock, and it took me a moment to get used to it. We’d managed to generate quite a heat between us.
The island was shaped roughly like a question mark, without the dot. There was a natural harbour, from which the trawler now sailed, leaving us slap bang in the centre of the bay. Feeling exposed and vulnerable, we dived and swam towards the wooden jetty at which the boat had just unloaded. Long enough for only two boats of that size at one time, the wooden supports were brand new, indicating that it hadn’t been in place very long. We surfaced underneath, as a couple of sets of feet walked on the wooden planks above our heads. It seems the supplies were being taken somewhere.
The owner of one set of legs swore in Arabic, a language with which I was familiar.
“What a fucking miserable place this is! How can anywhere be quite so wet and cold?”
“It’s not for much longer, Asad, another week, maybe two at the most. Then you can sit with your feet up by the pool, and never get cold again.”
“So, what will you spend your share on?”
“I’ll just invest it and wait and see what happens.”
“Invest in what? The Western stock markets will crumble, so dollars, Euros and Sterling will be worthless.”
“China, my friend, that’s where the future is, or even India. Believe me, the day of the white man is all but over.”
“Well, they’re welcome to this piece of shit of a country, I don’t understand why anyone lives here.”
The feet left the jetty and disappeared. We waited in the chilly water until we were certain that we were alone. Mike pointed upwards and then at his eyes. I nodded, as he climbed up the supports and looked over the top. He signalled to me that it was all clear and disappeared from view, so I clambered up to join him.
“Now what?” he asked.
“We have to find our way to where the professor is being housed. I need to secure the device or destroy it and all records. I suppose Uncle Sam briefed you to do the same?”
He grinned.
“When you come to the bit about me being disposable, just bear in mind that I was told the same thing about you,” I said.
“Okay, as I still owe you a dinner, and then, well, whatever, how about we do this together?” he asked.
“Suits me, but fuck with me and you’ll regret it!”
He stared at me, his smile frozen in place. Slowly he nodded. “I don’t doubt that, Rebecca, as I’ve seen what you can do when you’re pissed.”