The Academy--The Bird and the Beetle

by C. L. Stone

  “Let us go,” I said quietly. “Let Marc go.”

  “Kate...”

  “If you want me to trust you,” I said, “let him go. I’ll send him back.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Just him?”

  I couldn’t look around him to see Marc if this was a good idea. I had a feeling he would tell me no so I thought it was best I couldn’t see him. “I want to see for myself,” I said. “I want to know for sure you aren’t killing anyone.”

  “It’ll still be dangerous,” Blake said. He pressed himself against me, against the helm, but lifted a hand, brushing those golden locks away from his cheek and out of his eyes. The unadulterated view caused my breath to catch. “But I swear, Kate. I swear on all your cute little toes. All this will stop more people from dying. If you really want to do people some good, you’ve got to trust me.”

  I hesitated, gritting my teeth. I swallowed hard. “Let me get Marc off the boat,” I said quietly. “Let me take him back. I’ll stay and make sure...”

  Blake nodded slowly. An inch at a time, he eased his body off of me. “I’m going to stand here,” he said, nodding toward the helm. “I’m going to still drive this thing.” He turned his attention to the man behind us.

  Marc was on his butt, holding his leg tenderly. The man lorded over him, holding the gun in Marc’s face.

  “Give him the gun back,” Blake said. He turned to Marc. “Sorry, man. You’ve got to understand, though. I thought you guys were here to kill me. But just so you know, if you try to shoot me now, you won’t make it off this ship.”

  Marc’s jaw clenched. The man standing over him held the gun out to him. Marc didn’t take it and just stared at Coaltar. The man dropped the gun next to Marc and backed out of the door, disappearing.

  I crossed the room, dipping down to help Marc as he tried to stand.

  “What are you doing?” he seethed through his teeth.

  “Getting you out of here.”

  “You can’t stay with him.”

  I leaned over and picked up the gun, shoving it back into his holster. I grabbed his arm, crossing it over my shoulders and tried to boost him to standing. “I’m going to make sure this stuff doesn’t kill anyone,” I said. What else could we do?

  “Look at me, Kayli,” he said, his two-colored eyes locked with mine. “He’s lying to you.”

  I squinted at him. “How do you know?”

  “I can tell.”

  “You couldn’t even see him.”

  “Trust me,” he gasped as he stood on one foot. “For once in your life, please. Trust me.”

  My heart fought against my ribs, threatening to explode where I stood. I tried to tell myself that maybe Marc was mistaken. Maybe he was hurt because it felt like I was choosing Blake over him. I wasn’t, or at least I didn’t think I was. I didn’t know if I could trust Blake completely until I saw no one was hurt because of this.

  But Marc’s eyes, those awful, unrelenting eyes, told me something else. Every time I’d lied to him, he called me out on it, so I knew he could tell for me. Maybe it was also the kiss I’d felt last night, and the breakfast from this morning. Maybe it was the way Raven and Axel, everyone, had helped me. If they had thought it was a good thing, if they thought dumping these drugs in the well wasn’t going to hurt anyone, they would have told me so before and avoided this mess.

  If it would have been good for everyone, they would have told me that, from the start. They wouldn’t have needed me.

  But how much was the lie and how much was Marc telling me whatever he could so I’d run off the boat with him instead? How much was jealousy talking through those pleading eyes?

  I turned on Coaltar, ready to ask him a few more questions to figure it out. Hoping to give Marc a chance to run off if he wanted.

  A lean figure cut through the side door. His face was grainy with overgrowth and his hair was cut short. There was something about him that was familiar and I couldn’t place it. He headed straight for Coaltar like he was very familiar with him.

  Coaltar’s eyes went wide when he spotted him. “I told you to stay below.” He jabbed a finger in the air at him. “Go...”

  “There’s someone down there,” the man said. “Knocked out the kitchen boy.” He turned, looking at me full on. His eyes widened. “Her? What’s she doing here?”

  I flinched. His voice set my mind reeling, back to a narrow alleyway, with a gun pointed at Blake.

  “You?” I pointed a finger at him. “What are you doing here?”

  But I didn’t really want an answer. Suddenly this whole thing was chaos. He was cleaned up, but I was sure. This was the guy who held us up in the street. But his clothes, the confident way he stood beside Blake, made it clear. The man worked for Coaltar.

  Blake held his hands out toward me, palms up in self-defense. “Now, wait a second...”

  “You!” I cried at him. I stabbed the air with my finger, pointing at him. My eyes flared. If I could have breathed fire, he’d be incinerated. “That was all a set up!”

  “Don’t ... you've got the wrong idea,” Blake said in a warning tone, as if he could stop my brain from putting together the pieces.

  “You tricked me?” I asked, incredulous. “You staged that whole thing?”

  “I didn’t—”

  “How much else was staged?” I asked. “And you made me feel bad for taking his wallet? And you lied to me again!”

  Blake grunted. “I just needed to make sure. You didn’t tell me anything about you. You clam up whenever I ask you anything personal.”

  "Tell me about it," Marc said, favoring his leg but stepping back a bit, out of the line of fire.

  “So you faked a hold up?” I yelled at Blake. “What was that about? You knew I’d come back looking for you. What did you expect me to do? Cry bloody murder? Call the police? Did you want me to think you were some sort of hero when you kicked him and got the gun?”

  Blake took a step forward, edging in. “Now, now, don’t go jumping to conclusions.”

  I threw my hands up in the air. “You lied this whole time? I can’t believe...”

  “Kayli,” he barked at me. He inched closer. “Just hang on a second. Let me explain.”

  It was as if the boat had stopped dead still, as well as the earth and the universe around us. I played what he said over in my mind again. “What did you call me?” I wailed at him, unable to contain the fury in my voice.

  “Kate,” he said, and then took a small inch back as if he realized he’d made a mistake. “Baby doll, listen to me.”

  “No, you just called me Kayli,” I said. I pointed a finger at him. “How long have you known?”

  He huffed, and straightened. “Like I’d let you walk into my house without knowing your name.”

  “You knew all this time?” I smashed a fist at the air toward him. “You lying jerk!”

  “You lied to me!” he cried out. “You’re not with the FBI. You’re not even on their radar. You gave me a false name. You couldn’t even tell me your name when you’ve fallen for me.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  He smirked in a smug way. “Admit it. You’re head over heels. It’s all over your face.”

  “Oh my god!” I didn’t want to hear it. And I certainly didn’t want to talk any more. I lunged sideways, finding the holster behind Marc’s back and I yanked out the gun, swinging the barrel around at Blake.

  “Whoa, whoa,” Blake said, as did the man next to him. They both stepped back, with their hands up in front protectively.

  Marc coughed once. “Easy, Bambi.”

  “Yeah, take it easy.” Blake flinched. “Wait, did you just call her Bambi?”

  “Stop calling me that,” I said.

  “It’s her nickname,” Marc said, a satisfied grin washing over his pained face. “She loves it.”

  “Ugh!” I howled out.

  I did have the gun pointed at Coaltar, and then suddenly he lunged for me. I scrambled to back up, but he was quick. He captured me
around the waist and then shoved the gun down to aim at the floor. His startling move shocked me. I squeezed the gun in my hand to hang on to it so he wouldn’t take it.

  The gun fired.

  I stood stock still, as if terrified I’d shot myself somehow and hadn’t felt it yet.

  Blake released me, slumping to the ground and then clutched at his bleeding thigh. “Shit! Kayli! You shot me in the leg.”

  My heart was wild in my ears. Maybe I could have gotten away with everything else, but I just shot a billionaire in the leg. I was headed to prison now.

  “Kayli,” Marc said, reaching for me. “Sweetie, the boat.”

  I nodded. For once, he had the right idea. I looked around, but the fake mugger had vanished, possibly off to warn the Coast Guard that a lunatic was onboard shooting everyone.

  I ran for the helm, and then gazed out the window. We were out in open water now. I scanned the horizon, unsure what to do.

  “Darling,” Blake said. He gasped, holding his knee. He rolled onto his side and tried to sit up. “Sweetie. Don’t do anything stupid.”

  I ignored him. I looked out at the water and then I spotted it, the red buoy. A sand bank or a rock just under the surface. I spotted more behind it, and realized we were at the river and little inlet between Folly Beach and Kiawah Island. There were rocks all over. If I could just angle the boat.

  I turned the helm, making the boat head west back toward land. I may not have known any controls, but I could turn a steering wheel.

  When the boat was aiming for the tiny island sitting in the middle of the river outlet, I straightened so the boat would head right for it.

  “Kayli!” Coaltar called after me. “Damn it. Don’t wreck my yacht.”

  I leapt over Coaltar on the floor and went for Marc.

  Marc gave a half laugh. “Wasn’t really what I meant, but I’ll go with your plan,” Marc said.

  I huffed and grabbed at his shoulder, easing myself under his arm so I could assist him out.

  “Doll face,” Coaltar cooed after me. He sucked air through his teeth in a pained breath and clutched at his thigh. “Sweetie. What do you want from me? You can’t leave me like this.”

  “Maybe if you had changed your mind,” I said coolly, closing off my heart, unwilling to look back at him. “Maybe if you hadn’t planned on killing a bunch of people. Maybe if you had been different and could just dump the drugs into the ocean and didn’t even think to hurt anyone else in some petty revenge. You’ll still make them sick. Someone could die. This war goes on whether or not you want it to. They’ll come back here. This has to stop. You can’t hurt people like this. If you hadn’t lied to me, maybe we could have found another way.”

  “Come on, Kayli,” he said. “You have to understand. Every dog has a few fleas.”

  Marc glanced over my shoulder, smirking at him. “You’ve got a few big ones. May want to get a collar, or a spray, or something for it.” He grimaced and I could tell he was biting back some of the pain from his own leg.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I said.

  He nodded, and used me like a crutch to hobble.

  “Kayli!” Coaltar called once more, and then flattened onto his back.

  And he laughed.

  It was a laugh that would haunt my dreams. Satisfaction, amused, not a hint of anger that I’d hurt him or for his boat that was about to crash. He relaxed against the floor and looked to be waiting. He was giving me what he thought I wanted.

  His was a laugh that, on the surface I cringed and tried to show Marc I thought was crazy.

  Secretly, inside, I luxuriated in it. I found my heart pounding in a way that I was proud. Despite all his dirty tricks, in the end, I’d won.

  This time.

  PROFESSIONALS

  I fled with Marc, helping him as best as I could. “We should hurry,” I said. “We should get off this boat before it crashes.”

  “I agree.”

  We made it back to the stairs, but he slid onto his butt so he could butt hop down each of the steps, and I helped him to stand once we got to the bottom.

  I was about to help him down the second set of stairs when a looming figure charged at us from a side door. I started to cover Marc, but he shoved me to the floor, taking the full brunt of the man.

  Marc went down, but in a flash, he was up again. While he still favored his leg, he punched the ogre man in the gut.

  The monster took the hit, but with his mass, he wasn’t going down. He took a small step back and then ducked low, aiming to head butt Marc against the wall.

  “Marc!” I cried out, and clamored up, ready to kick the guy, or claw his eyes out, whichever worked better. Probably both.

  Before I could ready a kick, a body dropped down from the stairs. A leg shot out, catching the brute in the back of the knee. The monster went down hard.

  Axel stood over him. He readied a fist and it landed straight into the guy’s throat. The man reeled back. Axel punched him again in the nose, and then again in the same spot.

  Marc stepped back, getting out of the way. The man went down. Axel hovered over him, fists tight. He was ready.

  But the monster didn’t get back up.

  “Axel,” I called.

  Axel looked up, his eyes a wild mess. He tapped his ear quickly. “Corey is telling me there’s another one at the balcony. He’s releasing the boat. I’ll go get him. Go ahead and get Marc to that balcony. I’ll get the boat.”

  I nodded. I went back for Marc, becoming the crutch again. Axel disappeared. I couldn’t believe what I just saw. Axel seemed like a rock, steady and waiting. Suddenly he became the hurricane force. The calm that hid a storm.

  Moving Marc was slow progress. He hopped a few steps and then needed to stop to catch his breath. “Just go,” he said. “This boat is going to crash.”

  “Raven!” I called when we were on the living room deck.

  Raven materialized from the bedroom section. He took one look at Marc and leapt forward to take the other side under his arm. “Holy shit, you shot him again.”

  “No,” Marc said. “Didn’t shoot me.”

  Raven’s eyebrows went up and he glanced at me for answers. “Who did she shoot?”

  “Too much to explain,” I said. “We have to go. Now.”

  Raven started walking beside Marc, and then gave up, heaving Marc up over his shoulder.

  “Christ!” Marc shouted. “Put me down.”

  Raven ignored this and ran for the bedroom. I followed.

  Out on the balcony, we looked down. Axel and the boat weren’t there.

  “Where is he?” I asked.

  “The yacht’s going at top speed,” Raven said. He gazed out across the water and pointed. “He’s way back there.”

  Axel was standing at the helm, soaked like he took a swim to catch the boat. He was trying to hurry and catch us.

  “We can’t wait,” I said.

  Raven crossed the balcony, putting Marc down on the floor. “You can swim, can’t you?”

  “With this leg?” Marc asked. “I can try.”

  “I was asking her.” He turned. “You up for it?”

  My heart thundered. “Sure.”

  “Don’t sound so confident.” Raven assisted Marc to standing. Marc gazed down over the edge of the balcony.

  “It’s a jump,” Marc said. He pulled himself up with a groan, swinging one leg over. “Help me with my other leg.”

  Raven stooped over, picking up his foot. Marc growled and yelped the whole time, cursing. Raven released his leg once he had it over the balcony edge.

  I got beside Raven, pushing myself up to sit next to him on the edge. I gazed down at the water. “It’s kind of high up,” I said.

  “We need to jump now,” Raven said. He hauled himself up and over. “On three.”

  “Three,” Marc called, his hand landing on my shoulder blades and he pushed.

  I cried out, probably a slur of curses all jumbled together, including Marc’s name into the mi
x. I had a flash of an idea, like in the cartoons where I had a split second of air and falling and I thought perhaps I would stop just before the water.

  I splashed down hard, in the most sprawled out belly flop ever performed. I sunk deep, and felt the push of a current. I was going under.

  Hands went around my body, and then clutched at me. I turned, finding Marc. His face was grim, and he was looking up at the surface. His hand flew out, above his head, and he swam, with me in his other arm. He clutched me toward his body.

  I did my best to help, kicking my legs, trying not to kick him in the effort.

  We surfaced, and I sputtered, feeling the slice of chill as the wind picked up around us, stronger than before, and completely icing my body. The water was cold, but it wasn’t so bad with the surprise of it. Now that we were on the surface, and the breeze swept around us, it was killer.

  I floated next to Marc, glancing around. “Where’s Raven?”

  Raven popped up a few feet from us. He jerked his head back and wiped water from his eyes. He growled. "It’s like Russian bath water."

  "Russians are fucked up,” Marc said.

  I pointed to Axel coming around in the boat. Marc pulled me up in the water. Raven got beside me. When Axel pulled alongside us, he killed the motor and leaned out.

  "Kayli," Axel said, reaching for my arm.

  Before I could protest, Marc and Raven pushed me at Axel. I was hauled up and tossed into the floor of the boat. I sprung up, reaching down for Marc's arm, as Raven assisted by pushing him, and Axel yanked him from under his armpits, leaning back with everything he had and sitting on the bottom of the boat to haul him in.

  We were starting to haul up Raven when a thundering rumble nearly startled me into falling back into the water. We finished hauling in Raven and turned together.

  The yacht had collided with the bank. It seemed to have turned slightly, as if someone had tried to redirect the boat, but it was too late. With the motor turned on and running, the yacht continued to shove itself onto the bank until the front crunched. It stopped and the engine suddenly died.

  I was about to make a comment when an explosion blasted out of one of the lower decks. Debris soared out. Some crashed into the water and other pieces soared up for a while before landing. A large hole was left, smoking and revealing an open fire.