by Alexis Gold
“Mhmmm.” She moaned and gave a small nod.
“Yeah?” he gasped.
She pressed deeper. His shaft slid over her tongue, and his head hit the back of her throat. He gently thrust, so not to cause her discomfort, and felt the sensation of her wet, warm tongue and lips stroke him just right. He hissed, and his breath hitched as he felt the moment surge and swell, until he couldn’t stand it. With a deep groan, he released himself. His member shuddered, and he slumped in bliss as she slowly slid her lips off and spat in the drain as it swirled the water down the tub.
She stood up and smiled at him. “Have fun?”
He was leaning against the shower wall, panting in sexual exhaustion, but he nodded and beamed at her with an exhilarated grin.
Jenna nodded and gave a small smile back as she stepped out of the shower. “Good.”
*
Jenna sat at the large, dark, almost black dining room table, the deep, rich color a contrast to the tall, white walls and ceiling. She looked around as she ate her empanadas; the place really was spectacular. Cool, sleek colors and contemporary furniture made the tone and felt relaxed, complimented by the constant soft sound of the ocean and seagulls just outside the back door. The windows were tall and wide, letting in copious amounts of light, the light blocking curtains tied back to allow in the warm sun spots.
Lance came out of the bedroom fully dressed. Jenna looked him up and down and felt herself tingle down below. He was such a gorgeous man, with that thick dandy blonde hair, those broad shoulders, and perfect physique. He was a sight to behold. You could swap him out for a historical statue of a god and you couldn’t tell the difference.
Jenna had been with other attractive men, but none of them compared to Lance. She also couldn’t shake this feeling that there was more going on than just sex; the back and forth and the ease she had talking to him was unlike any other relationship she’d had.
Lance sat beside her, nudged her with his elbow, and flashed her a grin. “Thanks for the steamy shower session.”
Jenna rolled her eyes. “You’ve got jokes. I’ll give you that.”
Lance chuckled. “I’m hilarious.”
Jenna shook her head. “Mhmm. So our marina, we need to find out what the scoop is on this place. And I know just who to call.”
Lance’s face furrowed and a small smirk formed. “Ghos—”
Jenna silenced him with a look, and he closed his mouth and flashed an innocent smile. “Who, my dear?”
Jenna picked up her phone, pulled up Danielle’s number, and hit call. She picked up with a gasp.
“Did you find her?!” Danielle asked excitedly.
Jenna stood up and began pacing the room out of habit.
“Not yet, need your help.”
Jenna heard Danielle shuffle and the sound of her laptop turn on. Danielle worked in tech for the FBI; while her job was supposed to be beginner stuff, Danielle was advanced and was Jenna’s right-hand woman when it came to being able to find out ANY information. The woman could track anyone, find any location. Anything that could be done on a computer, Danielle could do it. It wasn’t technically legal, but Danielle didn’t seem to care when it came to helping find missing persons.
“Roger that, what do you need?”
“Marina Amanecer and a man named Franco Garcia. I can give you a description.” Jenna had written down his details and held the small note in her hand.
Danielle clicked away at the keys and could be heard reaching into a bag of popcorn and munching loudly.
“Ouch. If it’s the same guy, you found a real catch.”
Jenna felt herself tense up. “Only one on the search show up?”
“For your location, yeah. He’s a local baddie. I’m emailing you the picture and profile now. Dude has been caught in a couple drug rings, always seems to squirm his way out of much prison time. Affiliated with some gangs in the past, his history is all over the place. I’ll let you sift through that info. Now Marina Amanecer….”
Danielle clicked away again and let out a hiss. “You are not on a leisurely vacation, are you?”
Jenna let out a small laugh. “Not exactly.”
Danielle took a sip of a drink. “Ok, this place has a bloody past. It's been a constant stop over for drug trafficking. The FBI watched it for, no joke, twenty years until they were certain it had returned to a tourist spot. I’m sure they still have feelers over there, but it hasn’t been flagged in a few years. I’m guessing that has changed?”
Jenna looked to Lance, and he watched her with those intense green eyes. “I’m thinking so. We have some people that are tied to that location who might be tied to our missing woman.”
Danielle paused before asking, “Should I send backup to check that marina?”
Jenna shook her head. “No, not yet. I definitely don’t want them onto us anytime soon. After we finish up there and I have more information, I’ll let you know.”
“Sounds good, I’m sending you over all the files on the marina. You need anything else for now? Oh! Find any cute dudes for me?”
Jenna chuckled. “Well, I found one, but he’s not for you.”
Danielle gasped again. “Jenna! You fox! What did you do? Are you with him now? Tell me the deets!” She heard her best friend scramble in her wheely office chair.
“Tell ya later. Bye, sweetheart. Thanks, Danielle. Love ya.” Jenna hung up and turned back to Lance.
“I’ve got some info coming over. Background on the place sounds like what we expected, tied to drugs and connected to a local drug cartel.”
Lance nodded and sighed, his shoulders slouching a bit. “I really wish Lia would have stayed out of something like this.”
Jenna stepped up behind Lance, placed her delicate hands on his shoulders, and rubbed them gently. He let out a breath he was holding and relaxed under her touch.
“We’ll find her, Lance. If she’s as good as you say she is, she might have already slipped out of their grasp and is just laying low. We’ll just keep digging until we find her.”
Lance nodded and placed his hand on one of hers. Then he turned around and looked her in the eyes. “Thank you, Jenna. Really.”
He took her hand and kissed it gently; she felt herself blush at the sensation.
“Hey, it’s my job, and I’m pretty damn good at it, so we’ve got this.”
Lance nodded. “Sounds good, let's start digging through those documents.”
Jenna opened up her laptop, opened the files, and connected to the printer. She began printing page after page of meticulously filed information on the marina and Franco. She handed the pile on the marina to Lance; she took the stack on Franco, and they both got to work.
*
Hours later, the two had made progress in piecing together one small part of a much larger puzzle.
“Okay, so our best idea is that Franco is running another cartel through the marina, disguised as another business. So, we need to go down there and find him and see what he’s fronting this as. My bet is, he has a sales front and a warehouse front; if we can find those two, we’ll be able to start snooping around for Lia.” Jenna set down her pile of papers and looked up at Lance.
He gave a nod. “I’m trying not to worry that they whisked her away somewhere else, or worse…”
Jenna swallowed. “I know it’s tough, but usually in these cases, with someone like your sister, they want to keep her alive and use her for money. They probably have no idea quite how much she has, but she may have made a large purchase and they figured she had something they could use. My guess is she still hasn’t budged, so they’re currently trying to figure out how to…” Jenna paused and Lance met her eyes with concern, “break her.”
“Ahhh,” Lance replied, his fists clenched in anger.
“I know it’s not a ton to go on, and we still have a lot of dots to connect, but my instinct tells me we’re on the right track.”
Lance stood up and stepped behind her, then bent down and kissed her light
ly on the forehead. She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze; he squeezed back, and they held hands for a moment, until he released their grip and stepped away. He headed to the bedroom and returned with a backpack he had slid on his back.
“If that’s the case, we have a marina to visit.”
Chapter4
Lance and Jenna stood on the edge of the marina, the smell of gasoline, dead fish, and the salty ocean air making it hard to breathe. Jenna felt her nostrils sting at the mixed smells, as her eyes slowly scanned her surroundings and got the lay of the land.
The place was abuzz with people coming and going off boats in the warm early evening. Many walked down the long concrete stretch where a pop-up market had settled to catch tourists as they came and went. Fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, and meat were being flailed around by locals as they shouted over one another. Old warehouse structures sat behind them, and further down the way, they turned to shops and restaurants.
The marina itself consisted of a few fueling stations, a couple docks for repairs, and long stretches of anchor space. Empty boats floated softly on the waves, bobbing effortlessly in the evening breeze. A few men stood in a small station that had windows on all sides, a spot where boats could pull up and request fuel, get directions, or ask about repairs. The men laughed and sipped sodas as the day of work seemed to be coming to an end.
Lance nudged Jenna with his elbow and nodded down the strip. In the distance, there was an abandoned warehouse that overlooked the entire marina and market. Lance looked up at an opening on the fourth story.
“Lookout point?” she asked with a quirked eyebrow.
“We’ll be able to see everyone. Right now we’re limited.”
“Yeah, but what about—”
“I have supplies. Trust me on this one.”
Jenna gestured for him to lead, and she quickly followed. The two rushed through the bustling market and toward the warehouse, the exterior of which was covered in graffiti, new and old. The large front doors that butted up to the marina were barred closed; Lance swept past them and to the alley between this warehouse and the next. He trotted down the deserted way, Jenna scurrying to keep up. His eye caught sight of a pull down ladder, so he came to stop and pointed up.
“That’s our in.”
Jenna stared up at the ladder on the second story.
“How the hell are we going to get that? Why don’t we just—”
Before Jenna could finish, Lance had reached into his book bag and pulled out a rope. He tied it in a lasso and threw it up to the ladder. The rope snagged the hook, and as Lance gave it a powerful pull, the metal screeched and groaned as it unfolded in front of them.
Jenna gave Lance a stunned look, and he grinned back.
“The cowboy part was a little bit true.”
Lance grabbed the cool, rusted metal and hoisted himself up. Jenna quickly followed. When the two of them hopped up on the small metal escape pad outside the large glass window, Lance reached into his bag and pulled out a small crowbar and rag. He covered the crowbar with the rag and quietly smashed in the window.
“Have you just done a lot of snooping or watched a lot of crime movies?” Jenna asked with arms crossed.
Lance thought for a moment, ducked in the window, and held out a hand to help her in.
“A bit of both.”
Jenna took his hand. “Fair enough.”
Lance packed away his rope and crowbar, then pulled out a flashlight. As he swept the light around the room, long shadows from the sunset cast a cold darkness about the abandoned building. Dust, cobwebs, and grime covered every inch of the place. Papers and furniture were scattered everywhere, old graffiti tags covered the walls, and a busted door hung open.
Lance stepped forward and headed toward the door, Jenna following carefully as her eyes scanned the place for any potential danger. The two found the stairwell and headed up to the third floor, Lance tracking their progress in his mind as he led them down a long, dark hall with the burning glow of the orange sun at the end. As he and Jenna came to the large window they had seen from outside, the sun was still an hour from setting, but the streetlight below had come on. The faces of the people below were well lit as they came and went from the main street.
Lance leaned back against the wall and put his flashlight away, then reached in and pulled out two high powered binoculars. Jenna’s eyes widened in shock. These military grade tools weren’t just everyday binoculars; each one ran for about twenty thousand dollars.
“Where did you get those?” she asked in awe, as she took one and looked out, the scene below crystal clear.
“I’ve got some friends,” he replied simply, as he watched from behind his own set.
“I’d say,” Jenna grumbled. She was slightly jealous of his high tech tools, but couldn’t be more appreciative of them.
The two watched for the next hour as people came and went and the sun sank behind the ocean. The binoculars were set with night vision, and they had no issue keeping track of people as the darkness of night crept in. Jenna caught a familiar face come off a boat that had just parked for the night, and her heart leaped in her throat.
“I’ve got Franco in sight.”
“Where?”
“Two o’clock.”
Lance shifted his sight and locked in on the suspect. Jenna took out her notepad and quickly jotted down the boat license plate, then returned to Franco. The two watched as he approached another man with a smile; he shook his hand and pulled him in a hug, and the two stood for a moment and spoke. When Franco laughed, he would throw his head back and grab the man’s shoulder. The two stood there talking for the next few minutes, then began to walk down the long stretch towards other empty boats and away from the crowd.
Franco looked around once he reached the end of the marina, as if to make sure he wasn’t being watched. He ducked into another abandoned boat, and the other man waited patiently. Jenna quickly scribbled the number of that boat as well on her notepad. A moment later, Franco emerged with a small cooler. He smiled at the other man and patted the top of the cooler.
“What are we thinking?” Lance asked tensely. Jenna could feel the excitement rolling off him. If not for the case, she would grab him right there and press herself tight to his lips, feel his hard cock, and let him fuck her right there in the dirty, messy abandoned warehouse.
She shook the thought away, her eyebrows raised in shock at her own sudden urge.
The two men separated and started to go their separate ways down the main street. Jenna lowered her binoculars and handed them to Lance.
“You follow the guy with the cooler. I’m going to go talk to Franco.”
Lance tensed again, and his eyes shifted.
“I don’t like that plan. What if he attacks you?”
Jenna rolled her eyes. “Lance, I can handle myself. You need to find out what’s in that cooler. Just, don’t beat him up. I can't have you blow getting information from this guy. Follow him and see if you can get a glance without him knowing you’re watching, got it?”
Lance sighed and nodded as he grabbed his flashlight, and the two started down the hall at a jog. They quickly traced their tracks back to the escape ladder and were in the alley in moments. They headed toward the main street at a jog, and once they hit the end where the main stretch of marina was, they gave each other a nod and headed separate ways.
*
Jenna quickly walked down the concrete shore. The little market was beginning to tear down for the day, and the people were packing up the goods that remained. The shouts had ceased, and the bustle had died down to only a few people meandering around. Jenna’s eyes locked on a taller man with a long coat that guarded him from the surprisingly cool night air. Jenna could tell by his silhouette that it was Franco; he stood taller than most locals, his hair swept back in a neat ponytail. He was in his mid-forties, and his mug shot had revealed a scar that ran down his right cheek.
Jenna had spent hours talking to suspects during her tim
e as a cop; it was one of her favorite aspects of the job. Adrenaline pumped through her veins; every sense was on fire, and she felt the details of her surroundings converted to her in rapid sessions. Her shoes were silent as she hurried to close in on Franco. She wanted to follow him for a bit and see if he spoke to anyone else or stopped at any other spots to drop off or pick up any packages.
The marina’s long stretch of concrete turned into a main street where tall buildings hid the ocean and tourists gathered for fine dining, dancing, gambling and entertainment of all sorts. Franco began whistling to himself as he turned left and headed down the sidewalk of the main street. All the shops had their lights turned on, and those who had spent their days at the beach drinking were now laughing and stumbling their way down the walkway from bar to bar.
