Diesel (The Mavericks Book 13) by Dale Mayer (motivational books for men .txt) 📗

“They’ve walked past, yes,” he said.

“Great. Now what?”

He pointed at the junk boat ahead of them. “Now we’re getting on this one.” He stopped and turned to watch the two military police, but they were at the beginning of the dock and were talking to a group of men. He quickly ushered her inside the junk boat and had her sit under the overhang. She tucked inside, and he was beside her. The junk pushed away from the dock in a slow, gentle movement, just like all the rest, and very quickly they were milling around in the water, one of many junk boats.

She looked at him and said, “So Marge gets to go on a Zodiac, and we’re on a junk.”

“Yep,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that nobody would have any reason to look for another Zodiac.”

“I get that,” she said, “but we’ll never get anywhere at this speed.”

He just smiled at her and said, “Oh ye of little faith.”

She rolled her eyes at him.

He said, “Sit down, relax, and just enjoy.”

Chapter 7

Eva couldn’t believe how her world had flipped, and here she was now, sitting in a Chinese junk boat out in the harbor, casually floating along. She didn’t know who the pilot was. All she knew was that Diesel was right beside her, completely unconcerned. It took time, but slowly she felt some of the tension easing off her shoulders.

When she finally took a deep breath, he smiled at her and said, “Feel better?”

She nodded. “I’d feel better yet again if we were farther away.”

“Well, surprise, surprise,” he said, “that wish is about to happen.”

She looked up at him and looked around and said, “I can’t see anything.”

“But you didn’t see the junk boat coming at you either, did you?”

She smiled. “No, that’s true.”

As it was, they pulled up to a powerboat, as if selling wares again. Instead she was escorted onto the powerboat, and he joined her. She watched as the junk boat then pulled away, and she was seated a little bit lower than normal height, had she sat on deck. Not quite down below but where nobody saw her. And the boat fired up and took off at a fast speed out toward the ocean. “Now where are we going?”

“The same place that Marge is,” he said.

“I hope so,” she said quietly. “I want to make sure she’s okay.”

“Well, we’re working on it,” he said.

She nodded. And it wasn’t very long, and they saw a destroyer—a huge naval ship—in front of them. “Wow,” she said. “Am I going on that?”

“You are,” he said cheerfully.

She shook her head. “Almost nobody gets to go on these.”

“No, they don’t, not unless there’s a purpose.” He said, “In this case, you have a purpose, and we are cleared to go on board.”

Getting on board wasn’t as easy as it sounded, but she made it, and, by the time they were led through a series of small narrow hallways and stairs, they came to a door. With a hard rap, the door was opened. She was nudged gently inside, and Jerricho waited for them.

She smiled up at him. “Hey,” she said, “I still don’t quite understand how we got here, but we’re here.”

“And you should be feeling much more secure,” he said. “You’re on a US Navy destroyer. It won’t be easy for anybody to take you off here.”

She thought about it, nodded, and said, “You know what? That’s one of the best pieces of news I’ve heard in a long time. Where’s Marge?” she asked.

At that, his smile fell away.

“Please tell me that she’s okay,” she cried out.

“Well, it’s not so much that she’s okay or not okay,” he said. “She certainly arrived here safe and sound. However, I don’t know if you noticed, but she’s got some health issues. So she’s in the medical center right now, getting checked over by the doctor.”

Eva took a long slow deep breath. “I thought I saw a couple lumps, but, when I asked her about them, she wouldn’t talk to me.”

“No, and she’s been pulling that same silent treatment and wouldn’t discuss anything with me. In fact, I think she felt like I was a bit of a turncoat for taking her to the medical clinic.”

“But it would make sense to have her checked over,” Eva argued. “I mean, we have to think about how long she was a captive there.”

“Exactly,” Diesel said. “And, on that same note,” he said, “we’ll take you in and get you checked over.”

She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t there all that long.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “We’re also checking for subcutaneous tracking devices.”

She looked at him in shock. “In that case, shouldn’t you have checked us at the apartment?”

“We actually did,” he said, “but they have better software here.”

“Great,” she said. “Because, if they’ll track us here, isn’t that seriously bad news?”

“You might want to think about exactly where you are right now,” he said.

“True.” She turned to follow Diesel back out again. As she walked, she asked, “Do I have to?”

“In the spirit of cooperation,” he said, “absolutely. They can force you, but remember. You’re a guest, and they have allowed us on board as part of your rescue.”

“Right,” she said, “and it is probably the right thing to get done.”

“It absolutely is,” he said. “You have no idea what you might have been fed or given or injected with, when you were out cold. We just don’t know.”

She shivered at the thought. “I really don’t like the idea of a tracking device. I was just hoping to be as far away from that nightmare as possible.”

“All it’ll tell them, if you’re here at this point, is that we have successfully rescued you,” he murmured. “That might make them pissed, but they can’t come up against a destroyer to get you back.”

She nodded slowly. “No, they won’t,” she said. “Honestly I’m not all that big a deal in this whole research mess anyway. I’ve never quite