Island Retreat

Chapter 4

DEA Agent Chris Hensley was on the mainland, trying desperately to get a phone connection to his superiors. They were the ones who had set up this cluster-fuck of a deal without considering the possibility of collateral damage. They were concerned with recovering the diamonds and other contraband that their suspects were delivering to a buyer on 'an island off of the Belize mainland'. He had narrowed which island down to two possibilities, which was why he was constantly kayaking back and forth between the two, trying to get a feed on what the hell was actually going on. Their sources had indicated that the drop would be in the next couple of days, but had not come through with even one name yet. All he had was somewhat vague descriptions that could fit half of the men in that part of the world, other than the large scar on one man's neck.

This whole operation did not feel right. Thrown together at the last minute, sketchy info at best, and he had been pulled off of another case he was working to be the lead operative on this one. Made no sense to him, but not much did these days. There had been a huge shake up from the inside out of the agency and the field ops were feeling the brunt of the backlash. Typical.

When he had first set eyes on Sebastian, he thought he may have found one of those he was looking for, for about 10 seconds. His dark hair and beard, the mistrust in his eyes, athletic build; his whole persona ... It all fit until he realized who the man was and that the look in his eyes was pure jealousy. Not that he blamed the guy. Abby was a beautiful woman, easy going, intelligent and funny with a ready smile and contagious laugh. He hoped that the two of them would be elsewhere when the drop came, if it did, to their island. He truly didn't want either of them hurt. He knew that Sebastian was suspicious of him already; maybe he should have a talk with him...

What they had thought would be a quick little shower turned into a long, soft rain that lasted nearly two hours. Abby and Sebastian sat on the covered deck for quite a while, just watching and listening to the sounds of the ocean as the rain pattered down. It wasn't a bad storm like the ones they were used to. No rumbles of thunder or flashes of lightening. No wind other than the usual breeze off the ocean. It was peaceful and comforting. They rocked back and forth in the glider, talking softly about every little thing under the sun, drinking some fruity concoction that housekeeping had brought, along with a couple of bottles of wine and more cheeses and crackers and some of the largest grapes Abby had ever seen. When the woman asked if there was anything special that they would like, Sebastian asked for pizza and Abby wondered if they could throw together a taco salad.

Marina grinned widely at both of them, nodded and assured them they could have both or either for dinner that night. They decided to go with the pizza first, making Sebastian pump his fist saying, "YESSSSSS!" and he gave Marina the thumbs up, making her giggle as she left the two of them alone. That had been a couple of hours earlier and they had not seen another soul since then. Sebastian kept expecting to see Chris strutting down the beach at any moment, flexing his muscles and offering Abby a ride in his kayak...

The rain began to dwindle and soon it turned into sporadic sprinkles as the sun burst through the clouds and gave everything a beautiful glowing brightness. It couldn't have been 20 minutes later, when a boat arrived in the water in front of their bungalow, ready to take them for a ride around the cluster of islands that they were a part of.

Abby looked at Sebastian to see if he still wanted to take the tour; he was looking and acting quite comfortable right where he was; but he cocked his head and told the man "Yes. Let us do a few things inside. It will just take a couple of minutes."

The man nodded as Seb pulled Abby up from the glider and they went inside. They both used the bathroom, they grabbed a couple of bottles of water, Abby picked up a scrunchy from the coffee table to pull her hair back and after locking the door, they were soon on their way.