Quintessentially True

Dares and Danger

The yacht skimmed seamlessly through the clear turquoise waters. The sun was beating from overhead, but the sea spray lessened the insufferable heat. Maya had retreated into the bridge and Robbie was with her, demonstrating his skill to the rather bored-looking girl. Annelise and Alex were stretched out on adjacent deck chairs.

"So. Your friend." Robbie ventured, lightly nudging Maya's elbow. They looked out the window at the twin, sun-kissed, lithe blonds. Maya couldn't help herself.

"You might have a chance," she offered. "Annelise really likes guys who are....multi-talented." Robbie's face lit up, his hands suddenly moving about in flurry; smoothing his hair, ruffling it up again, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, rubbing the back of his neck. "I dare you to ask her out before.....our little group disbands!" She chuckled and continued before he could protest. "And your friend?"

"My friend? Oh, Alex? Yeah, he's interested in you alright. I can just tell. Alex likes....well, to be honest, I've never seen Alex with a girl before." Maya glanced at Robbie with an eyebrow raised. "No, he's not into guys. I think."

"Well, I was actually asking what his deal was, but thanks for the information. It just seems a little weird that his family put documents in the paintings and then the paintings got stolen and he's going on this wild whirlwind chase to bring them back." She decided to test the waters. "It's almost too crazy to be true." He gulped. A slight tick that anyone else might not have caught. She rounded on him. "Robbie? Is there something else that's being hidden from us?" His eyes looked everywhere but at her. He was almost at the breaking point. "Robbie." She laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You can trust me."

"I've known Alex for about a year now, and he's never given me any reason to doubt him. But recently..." Maya's breath caught in her throat.

"Recently?"

" We were at his house, and I was working on some codes to bypass security mainframes of any places we might have to, uh, enter without permission, and I happened to bypass THEIR security mainframe."

"Their. The Fitzpatricks' security?" Her hands stilled in anticipation of the news. "What did you see, Robbie?"

"Their family has secrets, Maya. The documents; that's just some crap he fed you and me. There are no documents. Their family is old and powerful, and they have a lot of secrets to attest to that."

"What do you mean by that? Does he know you know?"

A smug smirk came on Robbie's face. "The Master leaves no tracks, babe. Of course he doesn't know!" He paled slightly, the grin slipping off his face. "They're involved with a lot of dangerous and powerful people, Maya. The kind of people that can make you disappear without a trace."

An awful kind of silence filled the cabin. The sun was setting outside; the sky was washed in purple and scarlet and the breeze became a biting chill. Annelise was strolling leisurely to the girls' cabin. Maya watched Alex light the braziers. "He seems like a decent fellow." His golden hair shone a more orange hue in the firelight. "But power and glory come with a price, don't they?" She turned back to the Asian boy, who was now watching her with careful eyes. "What did you see?"

"You catch everything, don't you? But listen, you can't confront Alex about this. Not yet. It'll immediately trace back to me. Just keep it on the DL for now, yeah?"

"Got it. Sure. Just tell me!"

"Those paintings.....they're lined with codes. It's a clever piece of engineering and technology, really. They've encrypted these codes- I'm not sure how, I haven't been able to crack them- but these codes that are somehow affiliated with all their money and assets."

A droll look came over Maya's face. "Seriously? So they're still leaving valuable things in the wrong place, regardless of whether the story is fake or not. Why can't they just put it in the bank like normal people?" She crossed her arms and huffed. "Rich people. It's just money!"

A sort of amused look joined wariness on Robbie's face. "It's not just money, Maya. It's blood money."