Book 1: The Rebirth of the Aztecs

Chapter 5 Part 3: Pirates in the Shadows

Thirty nautical miles southeast of the The Kra-ting Tongkam

Drake savored his rum like a good pirate captain hosting a high class party on his ship. There below his new meeting loft over the three decks beneath his feet the children of the rich and powerful, their entourages, and all the wannabe rich types played to their heart’s content. Blissful and unaware of the mountain of guns, ammo, and bad intentions surrounding them.

They didn’t notice the rough and ready look of the “bouncers” in the dark corners of the yacht, their shadows filtering in and out like wraiths on the prowl amongst the flashing lights on the music saturated decks. None of them questioned why there was so much security on a super yacht, or where half of them went this evening when they were still days away from port. Funny enough, none of them wondered at the robustness of the RHIB boats they’d ridden to the scuba excursions either, or why they needed powerful outboard motors that were designed for speed and quiet running.

The pirate captain shook his head as he finished his drink he was nursing. Evidently, not even a spyship for nebulous black international government organizations working for elitist cults questioned why a party ship was getting within nautical spitting distance of them on the open ocean either. The party boat was perfect cover, and the raves made good money too. They were making a steady profit off of their cover alone.

Wasn’t all roses and piles of international gold bits. There below him all manner of nonsense and drama played out. Even as Drake felt his mood sour at the thought he saw Morris move from his lair by the bar and the new attractive redheaded bartender. Morris seemed to be calling dibs on the petite little lady who was a master at mixing cocktails, and the art of watering them down as the clientele became too drunk to care. 

Beatrice had snatched her out of Auckland along with a host of personnel suited for proper service to the wealthy, spoiled, and posers they were using as cover. A far more difficult task than expected given the unique set of skills necessary not to mention the need for discretion. They were pirates with a cruise ship venire after all. By the look on Morris’ face the Pirate Captain figured they were going to get a reminder of that fact on the dance floor tonight.

Following the trajectory of the human missile with more bloodlust than your average pitbull in a dog fighting kennel, Drake found the source of his exmarine’s aggressive posture. Not every officer learned to read his men, but Stoneman had found the skill to be a natural progression in his career. Morris was one of his first privates he’d led into combat and the vet had a particular edge to his stalk when he had death on his mind. Today a poser wishing to join the affluent and corrupt was crossing the line. This particular brown noser had been busy selling ecstasy and other questionable substances to the party goers, but that wasn’t what had earned him the ire of the ranger marine on the prowl.

Drugs were par for the course on a party boat. The crew didn’t sell them themselves both for religious reasons and the unnecessary complications lugging the demon juices around would bring. Drake had decided to not stop the activity either as long as they paid attention to stop any overdoses or excessive issues. He had a mind to turn these party excursions as not only cover for their operations, but as fishing expeditions for intel.

These spoiled brats and desperate fools often heard more than the average soul when trapping around the mansions of the rich and powerful. The drunker they were and the higher they were, the more likely that intel would flow. Still, even unscrupulous pirates had limits. In this case Drake figured Morris was about to inform their “guest” that attempting to pull a Che and rape one of the new waiteresses the drug dealer had just rouphied on a table by the second deck’s pool was going beyond the pale.

Was this the first time the actions and spoiled nature of their “guests” and human drunken camouflage had required capital enforcement? No. Had Drake had to step in more than once to remind men used to purging invaders and cultists with holy fury to not ruin their cover on their maiden cruise? Oh yes he had. Was he or should he stop Morris from breaking this wannabe sewer rat and dumping him to the sharks? A hard question. 

The ship’s cover would be pointless if death and murder became associated with her, but on the other hand good help was hard to come by. Beatrice had outdone herself in hiring the actual cruise staff. Targeting them directly was an affront to the crew and the whole organization as a whole. Not to mention Beatrice was overprotective of her new staff’s well being even after only being their boss for a month.

How his tiny assassin lady had so many connections, and eyes for both the skilled and unscrupulous was beyond the simple farmer boy from the mountains. Drake was happy to have her around, and not just for the eye candy and private “after action” reports. Don was right. His mother would not approve. Father might get a good laugh out of it after getting over disowning his son for being banished. But at least they’d share a chuckle before the inevitable duel between father and son led to one or both them bleeding out. The Stonemans were men of honor. No exceptions. Drake wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Pirate Captain shook himself as he realized he was daydreaming about home again. The familiar twang of sorrow and uselessness didn’t have time to set in before Morris made contact with the face of the troublesome drug dealer. Any word of protest from the gaggle of partygoers was silenced by the blood in Morris' glare.

Stonman grunted with amusement as three more of his pirate bouncers swooped in to whisk the not quite deflowered waitress off to recover. Morris for his part dragged the squirming and bleeding drug dealer off by his shirt into the shadows by the bar where a small door led to the crew section of the ship.

Thinking on the situation, and how the party restarted without missing a beat, Drake figured no one was going to miss another drug dealer who stowed away on a cruise to sell drugs. Should have bought a ticket buddy. No record of him on the ship meant he was going to pay for his crimes on the sea. This pirate thing really was more satisfying than Stoneman had expected. Even with the Ranger Marines, who were notorious for purifying evil with sanctified violence, had red tape to wade through before they could take a shot. Being the boss was both freeing, and a headache at the same time.

“The good Baron has finished his call, and will be rejoining us shortly, captain. You might want to pause your brooding,” the sound of Beatrice’s reproachful warning pulled the Captain out of his revelry. He looked up intime to watch the assassin turned hostess glide into the meeting room with the grace of a queen on parade. He was happy Morris was so efficient. Beatrice might have carved the drug dealing kid up right there in front of everybody, and that wasn’t going to be ignored by the powers that be. She’d picked out the staff and trained them personally. She kind of reminded Drake of a mother hen if that hen was armed to the teeth with knives and poison. Better to tell her later after Morris had dealt with the freak.

Drake tensed as Beatrice appeared in his face faster than a tigress pouncing on an unattentive lover. Her low cut red dress was appropriate for her job being comfortable, but disarming to throw off rich boy party goers demanding to see the First Officer. Oh boy were those assets a double edged sword when used on Drake himself. Using every ounce of will power not dulled by the rum he’d just consumed the Pirate Captain forced himself to look up and into those very suspicious blue eyes. Drake knew she’d caught him peeking. She always caught him peeking. That was why she did it, and they both knew it.

“Are you hiding something from me Captain?” Beatrice asked with a dainty raised eyebrow

The Story Will Continue Every Monday

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