🔍 Silver Tongue (Slow Updates) 🔎

There's Other Fish in the Sea...But I Wish I Had More Bacon

Heavy shoes thudded on the top deck above me, shaking dust all over my bacon. It really pissed me off too. More than the boarding and people likely looking to return me to my safety of nothingness, the worst part of the moment was not being able to enjoy the last bite of the hickory smoked goodness that Patience had managed to cook to perfection.

I wanted to scream, but I would make things worse. But I was pissed and did the next best thing; I thrust my middle finger to the ceiling.

Then I panicked.

I was pretty screwed when it came down to it. The houseboat was only three rooms big and the kitchen, if you could call it that, could probably fit three and a half people tops. I might have a better chance if I hid under the bed in the other room.

The ambient noise of the ocean muffled everything above ground to a low mumble, so I cracked the door to the hallway, hoping I moved quicker than the Coast Guard. Assuming that was the CG and not someone more sinister. If that was the case, I was a goner anyway.

Thankfully, no one stood in the hallway. I closed the door to the kitchen and tiptoed into the bedroom, closing the door behind me. And not a moment too soon.

"Is someone cooking bacon?" an unfamiliar male voice asked.

"I just had some a little while ago," Patience said.

"And he didn't have the decency to save me any," Charity quipped, her voice taking on a flirty tone.

I clasped my hands over my mouth. Too close and coming this way. I darted to the bed and lifted the sheet.

It had a box base, with no space for me to hide under.

Of course, it did.

The chair caught my eyes next, but as my pursuer wasn't five, hiding behind it wasn't an option. I hightailed to the bathroom instead.

I slipped into the shower, pulling the translucent door closed behind me. It was the best I could do. If – when, really, if I were being honest – the Coast Guard looked here, I'd be on a one-way flight back to D.C.

"...and so, she says, you love the ocean so much, why don't you stay out there!" the stranger said as the door squeaked open. "That's why I ended up joining the Coast Guard. Because of a crazy ex and a shitty weekend on my uncle's rickety Pontoon. I'm always amazed at how much better these things have gotten. You a fan of Deadpool?"

Deadpool? These sea officers must have a lot of time of their hands...

Shit! My pajamas!

"Yeah," Patience's deep voice added. "Pretty cool movie."

"Uh huh," the patrolman said. "You sure you don't want to introduce me to anyone else on this boat?"

I clamped both hands over my mouth. If I got us caught over my stupid night clothes, I'd jump overboard myself as punishment for my stupidity.

I had started to scrap together an explanation of why I was on the boat and in the shower fully clothed, when Patience spoke up.

"Look," he said, his voice taking a gravelly tone. "I think we've been more than accommodating of your search, but you didn't come on this boat with any papers, accusing us of any crime and I'd appreciate if you left now."

I held my breath like I was the difference between the officer backing down and Patience going to jail.

"He's just frustrated," Charity said with her sultry voice. "You interrupted some 'us time'. We get so little of that with my husband back in town. Why don't we just go back above deck and fill out that report?"

"They'll be no need, Mrs. Williamson," the patrolman said, his voice flat. "It's not my job to police other people's marriages."

There was a curt silence, followed by footsteps leaving the room.

A heavy weight crashed on the bed, which I assumed to the apparently not-so-gentle giant. I still held inside the shower, just in case the patrolman would do one of those quick "got ya" turnarounds. A few more minutes later and a nearby engine started, so I stepped outside.

Patience lay back, bent at the knees, with his black flat against the bed's white down comforter. He exhaled as I entered the room. "I thought I was going to have to throw that guy overboard," he said. "Good thinking, Emily, hiding in the shower. Diligence went through all the trouble of registering our path, but this shit happens."

"Couldn't you have told him to screw off, earlier?" I asked.

He rose so that he sat on the edge of the bed. "Yeah, we could have," he said. "But sometimes it's easier to cooperate. If you're nice and act like you have nothing to hide, people's natural inclination is trust. Most people aren't as thorough as our last visitor. He still probably would have found you, if Charity hadn't flashed so much cleavage."

I folded my arms and leaned against the doorway. "You weren't actually going to throw him overboard, though, were you?" I asked.

Patience raised an eyebrow and let it drop. "Don't ask questions when you're not going to like the answer."

I gave him a half-smile, but he drew his lips into a line and his neck muscles tensed. There was a darkness behind his eyes that made me wonder just what kind of people my brother was cavorting with.

A tense few heartbeats passed, so I tried to lighten the mood. "If I wanted more bacon, would that be one of those questions I should ask or...?"

He shook his head. "I made you the last of it."

Part of me thought this was a sweet gesture, that he'd made the last of the bacon for me. Another piece, however, wanted to murder him for introducing me to such ambrosia, only to take it away.

I plopped next to him on the bed, far enough away to be polite, but close enough to see the bags under his eyes. They looked fresh, like the man hadn't slept in days. It reminded me why I was here and why talking about bacon was the last thing I should have been doing.

"You think he's okay?" I asked, suddenly tired. "He's gotta be okay, right."

Patience sighed. "Silver Tongue hasn't found a problem he couldn't talk his way out of. He'll make his way out before we find him and scold us why we jeopardized the mission." He smiled. "It'll be the best scolding I've ever had."

I sat with him in comfortable silence for a bit. I wished I had his confidence, but Ivan wasn't Silver Tongue to me; he was my brother. I needed to find him and fast.

Just no more surprises.