Cyberlink Cove

Chapter 11

*TWO WEEKS LATER*

CYBERLINK COVE (SKYHOOK ISLE)-2078

 

Gail’s eyes bugged comically out of her head. “What?!” she demanded, stunned. "You...you're pirates?! And...you want us to join you?!"

 

Mina shrugged. “Ya heard me. It was decided two nights ago.”

After pretending to be an ordinary establishment with a shady background in front of the siblings for around two weeks, the pirates had decided to recruit Gail and Sean to the cause only because they weren't sure how long they could keep up the charade. It had been sufficient time to determine that Gail and Sean had no affliation whatsoever with the government, but the two would still be watched closely for tell-tale signs that they were undercover workers for the government. Their case was largely aided by the fact Mina remembered Gail from that fateful night in the alleyway.

 

Meanwhile, Sean was staring at her in wonder. Gail hadn’t noticed it before, but now she realized that Sean almost looked up to the pirates-he had the same beliefs as them, and now that she thought about it, it slowly dawned on Gail that Sean had always wanted to be a pirate. And now, by a timely twist of fate, he had the opportunity.

 

Snapping out of his trance, Sean swallowed and nodded. “Yeah...we’d...we’d love to,” he said, a vigorous passion lighting up his glassy eyes. “It’d be an honor.”

 

At that, Mina burst into whole-hearted laughter. “Wow, I never knew being a pirate was an honor,” she said, still chuckling. “I like you, kid,” she said, looking at Sean fondly, genuine happiness in her russet eyes. “Like I said, welcome to the team. This is official headquarters, so you’ll have to go to the govs later and say you’ve been hired here ‘else they’ll kick you back to a factory. How old are you two?”

 

“I’m eighteen,” Sean said. “Gail just turned twenty.”

 

Mina pursed her lips slightly, deep in thought. “What?” Sean asked anxiously.

 

She shook her head. “Nothing,” she said. They’re awfully young, Mina thought to herself worriedly. Es was older than Gail, and her parents had been the leaders of the pirates before they’d died a few years earlier, leaving Francie in charge. The older generation of pirates was mostly dead. Many never made it out alive from various operations. Mina was grateful that the success rate the current pirates were having was actually fairly high. She absentmindedly knocked on the grainy wooden surface of the table, not wanting to jinx it.

 

Gail and Sean were looking expectantly at Mina. Just then, Francie walked in, raising an eyebrow at the two Irish siblings sitting at the table. “You told them?” Francie asked questioningly, gesturing towards Gail and Sean.

 

“Yes,” Mina answered her. Francie simply sat down next to Mina and surveyed Gail and Sean. They were dirty and shaken from the past few week's events, but relatively unscathed. Both were extremely scrawny due to years of eating poorly, though Sean had a bit of lean muscle to him and Gail was fairly athletic.