“It’ll just be a few minutes. Now, please, help yourself to some orange juice. That’s an order, by the way…or shall I ask Alastair about that, too?” she whispered, a twinkle in her eye, enjoying tormenting the poor man.
Suarez put his hands together as if praying. “No, please, Ms Navarro…don’t bother him further. You’ve done quite enough. I will be especially grateful if you would not incite him further.”
At that moment, Holloway marched into the stateroom wearing his cashmere bathrobe and Gucci lambskin slippers. He was freshly shaven, his gray hair combed back flat, which made his bushy eyebrows loom even larger, but he appeared energetic and rested. Captain Suarez could only imagine how Ms. Navarro had satisfied him the previous evening. That would explain the discarded clothing. Lucky bastard, he mused.
“Goddamnit, Angel…I told you to put some clothes on,” he said disgustedly, glancing over at her as she still vigorously exercised.
“I do have clothes on, Alastair, I’m not naked. Besides, it doesn’t bother Eduardo…does it, honey? The captain and his crew watch me sunbathing all the time. How do you figure I keep from getting tan lines? Geez…you’re such an old prude,” she said obstinately, having no intention of stopping to accommodate his request.
“What do you want, Eduardo?” Holloway inquired, turning away from Angelina in annoyance.
“Just to update our position and ask where you want to berth this evening, sir. As you can see,” he continued, pointing out the port side window of the stateroom, “we are just a little past Key West. Shall we plot a course toward Nassau or would you rather head north toward Hilton Head?”
“Is that it, captain? Really…that’s your question?” he mocked. “I thought I made myself clear last evening that I wanted to keep this boat safe from that fucking hurricane. How do you propose we do that while berthed, you moron? You tell me…which is safer? The open ocean, where we have room to maneuver, or toward the mainland, where an unpredictable storm can ravage this boat?”
“The answer to your question is obvious, sir,” Suarez replied with as much dignity as possible. “I’m simply considering your wishes. We will comply with whatever you determine is in your best interest. The radar indicates that the storm has not varied from its path toward the interior of the gulf. I thought you might like to know that. I’ll be on the bridge if you need me, sir,” he concluded with a slight bow at the waist, backing slowly toward the door.
“Yes, yes. Keep us in open water for now. That will be all, Captain,” Holloway said dismissively, with a wave of his hand. “And send one of the stewards to clean up this room.”
As soon as Captain Suarez had departed, Holloway turned to Angelina, his face red with anger. He was about to address his objection to her nudity among the ship’s crew, when his PDA began vibrating to signal an incoming call. He picked up the satellite communication device that garbled his voice and cloaked his position, making the call impossible to trace.
“What is it now?” Holloway growled. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you until after Livermore. Are you still on for tonight?”
“Yes, Livermore’s on schedule…but there’s been another development,” Kilmer replied hesitantly. “We’ve been jacked-there’s somethin’ wonky with the Quantum equations we fingered. Weaver claims Conrad’s hidden somethin’ like a key. He says it’s common when someone’s toey about corporate espionage. Unfortunately, that’s the deal,” he said coolly.
The phone was silent for a few seconds before Holloway responded. Then his voice sounded like a far-off freight train barreling down the tracks, getting louder with each passing second.
“You son-of-a-bitch,” he began. “We talked about this! You gave me your word the machine would be functional with the Quantum equations. When I refused your extortion, you promised me that your guy was confident this was the last step,” he shouted, pausing momentarily to emphasize his verbatim recall of their conversation. “Who the fuck do you think you’re dealing with, Kilmer…some schmuck you can simply jerk around?”
“Listen, don’t go berko. Believe me…I’m pissed too. But spades are spades,” Kilmer responded in a steady voice. “There wasn’t a buckley’s chance a knowin’ this ‘til Mills was done with the proto-type. But no worries; Mills finished assembly and everythin’ else we lifted’s good as gold. All we need’s the key to start the engine…but we’re down without it. It’s the way Conrad designed it. No other way.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Holloway seethed. “How do you suggest I do that? When I set this thing up with Penburton, there was never any discussion about needing Conrad to make the device work. This will change everything. We went out of our way to set up his cousin specifically to throw off the authorities and that fucking agent from DOD. ”
“Well, it seems yer info from Penburton’s bogus. But we can do a u-ey an have Farley kidnap Conrad instead of killing ‘im, like planned. He’s got Conrad’s house staked out. We can still pin it on Marshall,” Kilmer said.
“No, no, no, you idiot. We can’t kidnap Dr. Conrad. I’ll come up with a reason forcing his cooperation. We’ll make him want to help us,” Holloway hastily responded, his lively imagination already working on the solution. “In the meantime, I don’t want your band of miscreants to fuck anything else up. Call Farley…tell him not to make a move. Don’t do anything until you hear from me. As soon as the Livermore job’s completed, I’ll let you know how to proceed. Understand?”
“Bloody well,” Kilmer replied, happy to be done with the call. “I’ll be callin’ yer t’morrow after the Livermore heist.”
All things considered, the call to Holloway hadn’t gone as badly as Kilmer feared. He was understandably pissed off, but hadn’t asked for his money back, which would have been difficult to defend. There would come a time when they would revisit the subject, but, mercifully, it wasn’t on this occasion. Instead, Holloway seemed keenly focused on how to compel Jarrod Conrad to willingly assist with the operation of the antigravity device. Kilmer suspected there would be something the Quantum informant could provide for leverage. In the meantime, he was free to refocus on the logistics of the pending Livermore job without further interference.
“Is everything okay, honey?” Angelina asked when Alastair threw the phone at the king-sized bed. She had been watching him nervously pace back and forth from the master suite to the stateroom, veins bulging from his neck and forehead, making demands and shouting in his usual ill-tempered manner. She had just stepped out of the shower and was naked in front of the mirror, still combing a eucalyptus-scented conditioner into her raven-black hair.
“No! Everything is not all right! Do I look all right? First, it’s this fucking hurricane and that idiot Suarez, then Crocodile Dundee tells me he’s ripped me off. On top of that, I hear from your own mouth that you’ve been parading around naked in front of the whole goddamned ship. I swear to God I’m going to fire every last one of you fucking ingrates,” he screamed uncontrollably, visibly shaking.
“Oh, my gracious…you’re so tense. Just calm down now, honey. Let’s see if I can relax you, Alastair. All this stress isn’t good for you, darling. Let Jade show you how much she appreciates living with you,” she murmured, moving eagerly toward him, displaying her magnificent naked body.
She felt him initially freeze, resisting her embrace, but slowly he relaxed when she breathed into his ear, whispering softly that she could hardly wait to take him into her mouth. She reached down to his waist and parted his bathrobe, taking him into her hand, slowly caressing his manhood.
“That’s it, honey, just relax. Let Jade show you how much she loves you,” she cooed, placing his left hand on one of her ample breasts. As she guided him, she felt him immediately stiffen, responding to both her touch and the feel of her nipple against his palm. She paused to passionately kiss him, her tongue darting lightly into his mouth, flicking the tip of his tongue, while her free hand further loosened the tie of his bathrobe. He was wearing boxers, which she adroitly slid past his knees.