Rising Tide: CATU Book 3 Ch. 03

The Indian Ocean, 27°25'26.14" S 71°27'17.34" E

ETA in four minutes, ma'am!" Captain Dimmek shouts over the roar of the engine.

Sam nods her head in acknowledgement. She is a little nervous at having to parachute out of the plane and potentially into the ocean. She was given the basics on how to parachute, given there wasn't much time to learn much more than a crash course offered.

Sam had parachuted once when she was a child. Her father had jumped from an airplane once in his life and decided it was an experience that everyone should do at least one time. So he took Sam parachuting. She couldn't remember much, except the feeling she had. It was a feeling of both fear and excitement. Afterward, she decided it was fun but vowed never to do it again unless it was necessary. Never did she think the necessary part would ever come up.

Sam knows a difficult task lay ahead of her and is a bit daunted by it. Here she is a lone agent against two entire armies. And without knowing what condition Spencer was in, how she was going to pull off a rescue.

Her resolve is strengthened at the thought of Spencer. She loves him and misses him so dearly and is prepared to go to the ends of the earth for him. She knows he'd do the same for her. Her only regret is waiting this long to do something about it.

Damn the bureaucracy of it all. I should have gone AWOL and went after him a long time ago.

It was always should have. A conflict she struggles with everyday for the last two months. Two long months of what she considered hell.

"Ma'am?" Captain Dimmek asks again.

Sam comes out of her reverie, blinking as if just realizing where she was. "Yes Captain?"

"You have," Dimmek looks at his watch, "twenty seconds ma'am."

"I'm ready Captain," she says.

Standing up, she makes her way to the back of the plane. Captain Dimmek presses a button and the cargo door begins opening. The wind whips at Sam, the cold stinging at her skin.

Thank God I put my hair up.

Sam watches the lights above her head turn from red to yellow. She takes a calming breath. When the light turns green, she releases the breath and without hesitation, leaps.

She plummets, the wind howling in her ears. The ice cold air prickles at her face. But none of this bothers her as she lets the fear subside and her training take over. She releases her grip on all her worries and expectations. It was time to let her training and experience take over.

She falls in what seems like forever. Once she clears the cloud cover, the Gidra comes into view. At the site of the ship, she pulls the cord, releasing the chute. The yank of the chute catches the air and is enough to make it feel like her stomach dropped to her feet.

Sam descends at just enough speed to match that of the ship. There is one guard on the top deck and she knows if he spots her, this mission will be over before it begins.

Sam angles her chute, lining up for a direct line with the guard. The guard lights a cigarette and has just taken a long drag, when Sam releases the chute to land right on top of him. With the guard out cold, Sam turns to see the chute disappear into the night.

So far, so good.

——

MikeGrines sat in a rundown black van on the corner of the street that Senator Rustlin's house is located on, the late night breeze feeling cool on his face. He looks at his watch in anticipation.

Any minute now.

As soon as the thought forms, the senator is walking out his front door. He doesn't know how Roger pulled it off, but it happened. The envelope that was left untouched contained everything he needed to perform his own little investigation. Everything from money to several passports, should the need to leave the country arise. What amazes him the most though is instructions to wait here at this time. At first he didn't believe the senator would be leaving at this time of night, but here he was.

Senator Rustlin rushes to his car, moving with a sense of urgency. As the senator speeds off, he begins to exit the van when the passenger door opens. Grines is caught off guard for a moment, his instincts scream danger. Before he can react, a voice catches his attention. "Relax Grines and close the door."

He doesn't recognize it, but quickly turns to match the voice to a face. He doesn't recognize the man either, but he has the feeling he isn't in any danger. He closes the door as the man begins to speak.

"Major Duncan Graves, Army Intelligence."

"You're not here by mere coincidence," Grines says with a frown. He isn't sure why Army Intel is here and with technically being an outlaw, he doesn't like it.

"Relax, I'm not here to arrest you or anything," Graves says, noting Grines' uneasiness. "I'm actually here to assist you."

Grines is now bewildered. He was unprepared to see any representative from the government here, especially one saying he was here to help. "How can I trust you?" he asks, thinking that was the best question to ask first.

"Roger called in a favor, that's why the senator is in such a hurry to leave. He just received a phone call about his office being broke into. You don't have much time." Graves pulls out an ear piece and hands it to Grines. "I'll be in contact with you. We need you to collect data off his computer while you're in there. Use this Flash Drive, when it has completed its task, push this button and the device will do the rest."

Without wasting any more time, Grines jumps out of the van and races to the house.

——

Samslowly makes her way to the first deck. The boat doesn't seem heavily guarded, but the fact it is patrolled meant the Russians were being cautious. She has a few hours before the boat docks, but she doesn't want to waste time searching for information. She determines it is time to ask someone.

The deck is mostly dark except for the places lit up by the moonlight. Hiding by a dinghy, she waits and watches the movements of a couple guards. The opportunity to strike comes in a matter of minutes.

As one of the guards walks toward the stern, the other stops to gaze out at the open sea, lighting a cigarette. Quickly and silently, she runs up and grabs the guard in a choke hold.

The guard lets out a startled gasp before she squeezes, crushing the man's windpipe. She drops the man just in time to turn and catch the other guard. Sliding her knife from its sheath, she presses the coldMythrilblade against the guard's throat, forcing him to back into the wall. "Poniztye oruzhiye," she says forcefully. "Drop the gun."

The guard does as he is instructed. Fear takes hold of him. He stays silent only because his fright prevents him from speaking. Urine begins to run down his leg and form a puddle on the deck.

Sam shakes her head in disbelief. "Skachitye mne, ged kompyuter sudna," Sam says more forcefully than the last time. "Tell me where the ship's computers are."

The guard stammers and prompts Sam to push the blade deeper into his throat, causing it to cut into the skin.

"Tretya paluba, Komnata Dva Dva Odin," the man says after gathering up his courage to speak. "Third deck, Room Two Two One."

"Dvizhenie" she says, motioning with the knife. "Move"

She guides the man to the railing. She feels a tinge of empathy for the young man, but can't leave a chance for him to sound the alarm. Raising the knife, she strikes him in the back of the head. The man falls overboard into the water. The splash covered by the sound of the boat's engines.

——

Grinesuses a bathroom window to enter the house. Senator Rustlin isn't married, so there isn't a reason to worry about noise. One of the items that was in the envelope provided by Roger was a map of the senator's house. The first stop is the home office.

Following the map, the office is located directly across the hall from the bathroom he just broke into. A large locked door blocked the way into the office. Normally, if the situation called for no noise or the owners never having an inclination of an intruder, he would use stealth and pick to lock. In this situation though, he doesn't care one way or the other. The Flash Card he carries, he figures would do irreversible damage to the senator's computer, so he figures it would be useless to go through the secret process.

Getting his footing planted, he kicks the door with all the force he can gather. The door splinters, but doesn't move much.

What the hell is this door made of?

It takes him three more solid kicks before the door breaks apart, flying on its hinges.

"What's going on in there Grines?" Graves asks over the ear piece, he'd given him.

"Just a battle with the door," he replies.

"You can't pick a lock?"

"It's a little late now. How much time do I got?"

"The senator is just now arriving at his office. You have twenty minutes max."

"Plenty of time."

Grines races over to the computer. Pushing the monitor button, the screen pops up, the computer already running and ready. He doesn't know exactly what the device Graves gave him would do, but he is sure if he uses it now, he wouldn't retrieve any information for himself.

Instead he pulls out a Flash Card of his own. Like everything else, Roger had him prepared for the task of finding information. The Flash Card he uses would seek out the information he needed, without any having to perform any work himself.

He slips the card into the port and the program on the card goes to work. Within moments, a green light pops on the card. He pulls it out and inserts the other card. As the card goes to work a noise comes from another part of the house. "Graves. I've got a noise in the house, got any eyes on it?" he asks, his attention focused at the entrance to the office.

"I've got nothing. Get the job done and get out," Graves says sternly.

Footsteps begin to fall in the hall, which leads him to believe the person in the house entered through the back door in the kitchen. As Grines begins moving toward the doorway, a sizzling noise erupts from behind him. He turns to see smoke rising from the port where the Flash Card used to be. The monitor was is longer working and the computer is eerily silent.

Damn, that's one bad ass device.

He turns back just in time to see a man standing in front of him.

"Who the hell are you?" the man roars.

Grines doesn't waste any time. With a quick movement, he grabs the man, yanking him forward and slams his head into the door frame. The force exerted from the blow is enough to knock the man unconscious. He lets the man fall to the floor as relief courses through him. The fact that the man doesn't have gun is a relief beyond his being caught off guard.

"The task is complete," he whispers over the hidden microphone. There is no response. "Graves, do you copy," he says louder this time. Still no response. "God damn it," he curses softly to himself.

Suddenly headlights flash through the house's window. Grines can hear the screech of a car as it comes to a halt in the drive way.

Twenty minutes my ass.

Grines races to the window he entered the house through. As the front door opens with Senator Rustlin walking in cursing to himself, he was diving out the bathroom window into the cool night.

——

Samfinds her way to the ship's computer room without incident. The room is lit by the monitors of the computers that fill the room. There are several work stations available to her as she enters the room. Moving to the closest, she slips the Flash Card into the computer port. While the program on the card goes to work, Sam sits in front of the next computer and begins looking for information on Spencer.

Two minutes later, the Flash Card sends its information to the satellite uplink before disintegrating in a flash of light. Sam isn't able to find anything on Spencer before the virus the Flash Card uploads into the computer system shutting everything down.

She moves toward the door, ready to make her escape from the ship. Before she can reach the door to the room, it flies open. Soldiers begin filing into the room. She turns to head out the only other door, when that one flies open as well.

Sam and the soldiers are shocked to see a woman standing in the doorway.

"Stryelya! Stryelya ikh oboikh!" the commander yells, pointing at both women. "Shoot! Shoot them both!"

"Get down," the woman says calmly. She produces a small remote and smiles.

Sam does as she is told and dives toward the woman's feet, covering her head. The woman presses a button. The soldiers are instantly caught in the subsequent explosion. Body parts fly in all directions, hitting the walls and computers.

Sam gets to her knees and looks around at the damage. Half the room is in flames and the woman remains standing, not a scratch or piece of ruffled clothing. "Who are you?" she asks the woman, looking her over for some sign of the explosion affecting her.

"We don't have time for that now. If you want to live and help your lover, you'll come with me."

Footfalls and shouts reverberate through the passageways. Sam looks over her shoulder. "Guess I don't have a choice." She follows the woman through the passageways to the top deck. "How do we plan to escape?" she asks the woman when they reached the railing.

"We jump."

Sam expects the answer and since it is pretty much her escape route, she is prepared. She pulls off her pack to inspect it, but finds it is shredded from the debris caused by the explosion.

"Don't worry. I have a boat waiting for my signal," the woman says, answering the unasked question.

They jump over the rail and into the water. Soldiers begin filing onto the deck, commands being issued to find the intruders.

"Better get that signal going before they decide to look over the side."

"Got it covered," the woman says, producing a remote similar to the one she used before. With a push of the button, the ship erupts into a floating husk.

——

Sotell me what Talilith has planned," Natalya says as she walks out of the bathroom, covered with just a robe.

Sergey rolls over from his stomach to face her. "Apparently she plans to rescue Maltaus' prisoner," he says smiling.

"By herself?" Natalya says. A shocked look shadowing her face.

"No. She doesn't care enough for their cause to do it by herself. She plans to help his lover."

"The seeds are planted, but we need to put this fully in our control." She drops the robe before moving onto the bed. She stroked Sergey's face and then pulls him in for a kiss. "You accepted everything you were supposed to tell her?"

"Everything. It was flawless, easier than I expected."

"Good," she purrs. "She believes by sleeping you, she is extracting information from you. When they come to rescue him, Talilith will be in for a surprise."

"I will be glad to dispose of Agent Roberts," he says with a grin.

"No. I will need you on another task, but first..." She lets the sentence hang. The robe drops to the floor and she crawls on top of Sergey, biting him playfully.

She sighs and wriggles up and down his form in lurid invitation. Sergey's strong arms are already stroking her from the shoulder down to her round hips. He removes the sheet covering him and Natalya gasps when she feels the heat and hardness of his cock pressing between my cheeks.

He nuzzles the back of her neck, nibbling gently, causing goose bumps to surface all over her naked body. Natalya turns her head slightly so they can kiss and then his hands eagerly claim her damp pussy. Helplessly, she moans as he teases my clit and then toys with her tight ass.

He easily flips Natalya to her stomach and then crouches over her, his hardened cock sliding lengthwise between her aroused ass cheeks. Natalya is amazingly wet and she squirms as his talented hands find her nipples and sharply squeeze.

"Now, please, now," she begs him shamelessly as his hips grind against her willing body. He lifts Natalya to her hands and knees. She moans when he parts her legs and effortlessly slides his cock into her drenched pussy from behind. "Yes, oh yes," she breathes.

His hands are on her hips as he roughly strokes and she reaches down between her thighs to find her clit. She squeals when Sergey inserts a finger into her surprised ass. She moans as he keeps his finger sliding in and out with his hard cock thrusts. He bites her neck and whispers into her ear. "You're my little bitch," he murmurs. "Only little bitches give up their asses so easily."

Sergey replaces one finger with two as he continues to tease her body and arouse her with his words. "Tell me how bad you want it my little bitch."

Whimpering in anticipation, she manages to stammer, "Please, oh please."

He chuckles as he pulls out of her pussy then and fits the head of his cock against her asshole. Natalya keeps still as he slowly and relentlessly pushes all of his thickness into her. She shudders with excitement as she feels her ass stretch wide and completely filled.

He caresses her shoulders, her waist and her nipples without moving, giving her body time to adjust. And then without warning he pulls out of her clenching ass. Before allowing her time to process he roughly slides back inside and Natalya yelps as he begins to fuck her with increasing force. She is furiously squeezes her clit and can't help but orgasm as he pounds into her again and again.

Natalya shouts as she climaxes. She tightly clutches her shaking body. Sergey gives a few more powerful thrusts and quickly follows, grabbing her hips hard, forcing his cock as far as he can into her ass. His last few strokes are well lubricated with copious amounts of his deposited cum.

They are covered with perspiration, both shuddering, both exhausted. He carefully pulls out of her tender ass and they collapse back onto the bed, breathing hard.

——

Noware you ready to tell me who you are and what's going on?" Sam asks the mysterious woman.

On the woman's word, the explosion of the ship is the signal to pick them up. Shortly after leaving area with the boat, Sam begins her questioning. The only response she has received is to wait and all her questions would be answered.

"My name is Talilith Maykov," she pauses to let the name have its effect. "I am your aunt, your mother's sister. I know you're wondering why you were never told about me. Simply put, your father didn't know. Now the hard part, which you may not want to accept, is I'm aDjinn, a type of demon, the same as your mother."

"My mother was no demon!" Sam yells, standing up and throwing her hands into the air.

"Please have a seat," Talilith says calmly.

"I won't accept this! Your kind are responsible for all that has happened. My friend Sara is dead because of you!"

"Not because of me. I'm on your side Samantha, believe it or not."

"Why should I believe you? You think saving me then feeding this bullshit will make me trust you?"

"Whether you trust me or not, we can help each other."

"Help each other?" Sam questions as she paces around the small living quarters of the boat.

"You are trying to save Spencer, no?"

"What do you know of Spence?" Sam asks, stopping hard and spinning to look at Talilith.

"I know where he is at and how we can save him."

"And what do you get out of helping me?" Sam asks almost sarcastically.

"I get revenge for Dasha's death and help hinderWinter."

Talilith sits looking at Sam with a smile, her posture confident. Sam stands staring her down, waiting for Talilith to budge. After two minutes Sam gives in. "Let's say I can trust you to help me, what makes me believe my mother was a demon?"

"ADjinn."

"Yeah, whatever. A demon is still a demon in my book," Sam spats and waves her hand through the air in dismissal. Sam is trying hard to be confrontational, hoping to Talilith would reveal any real intentions she has. Inside she is having her own struggle over these new revelations.