Devlin's Defiance: Book Two of the Devlin Quatrology by Jake Devlin Page B

detail.”
    Gordy looked up at them
and out of the corner of his eye saw Rosemary coming onto the beach.
    “ Sounds like a
plan. I'll need a week or so to go through this all, but if that
works for you, I'd be happy to do it. Okay?”
    “ Great. We'll
look forward to hearing from you,” Bruce said.
    Steven added, “No
rush. We can't do anything about it until after the first of the
year, anyhow. Bureaucracy, you know.”
    “ I do,”
Gordy said. “Sounds good.” Glancing over at Rosemary,
he held out his hand and shook both of theirs, and with appropriate
goodbyes, the two professors headed back to the parking lot.
    Rosemary came over to
Gordy, set her chair down, and said, “What was that about?”
Gordy gave her an abbreviated outline of the conversation.
    “ That's great.
I'd be excited if I were in your shoes.”
    “ We'll see. And
I think you mean in my flip-flops.”
    Rosemary chuckled and
said, “Right; sorry.”
    “ So how ya doing
on this fine morning, Ro?”

- 29 -
    November
13, 2012 3:32 a.m. local time
    On the Aegean Sea

    As Cam sped away from
the monastery, towing the other jet ski behind her, she failed to
notice the naked and bloody bodies and body parts falling from above.
Further away, again enjoying the vibration of the jet ski on the
choppy water, she also failed to notice the scores of dorsal fins
carving the surface, swimming rapidly past her toward the monastery.
    Even further away, with
visions of Armando exaggerating the effect of the machine underneath
her, propelling her on to an unimaginably powerful, nearly volcanic
internal eruption, she also failed to notice the single huge dorsal
fin directly ahead of her.

- 30 -
    November
13, 2012 5:36 a.m. local time
    Aboard Defiance
    On
t he
Red Sea

    Jake awoke groggily,
finally noticing the rumpled and very damp and sticky red satin
coverlet under his back. To his right, her left arm stretched across
his chest and her left leg over his legs, her red hair tousled and
twisted, Pam slept with her mouth slightly open, her warm breath
regular against Jake's neck.
    To his left, JJ's
blonde hair, also tousled, but not at all twisted, flared around her
head as she lay on her back, her right arm lying across and down
Jake's stomach, her hand cupping his privates.
    Jake slowly lifted his
head and looked around the room, trying his best not to disturb his
naked bedmates. Scattered near the sides of the bed were several
ostrich, flamingo and marabou feathers, and on top of the
refrigerator/freezer were two empty cartons of Neapolitan ice cream
and a squeeze bottle of chocolate syrup. An odd-looking harness hung
on ropes halfway to the floor from the ceiling, and a riding crop,
whip and several narrow strips of leather with gold studs and metal
connecting rings were piled on the floor below it. Next to that was
a scattering of plastic and rubbery items that he recognized only
with some difficulty.
    All of that slowly
reawakened his memory, and he smiled, lay his head back down and
gradually drifted back to sleep.
    An hour later, he awoke
again as Pam lightly slid her fingertips across his cheek, chin and
lips, then kissed him gently on his lips.
    “ Time to get up,
sleepyhead,” she whispered. “The helo's coming for JJ in
less than two hours, about 8:30.”
    “ Mmmm,”
Jake mumbled.
    She kissed him again
and his eyes opened. He smiled up at her smiling face and pulled her
head down for another, deeper kiss.
    “ No, no, no, not
now; we don't have time; really. Time to rise and shine.”
    “ I can rise,
possibly.”
    “ Sorry, Jake;
later. But come on now; we gotta get going.”
    “ Okay, okay.
Where's my teeth?”
    “ Right here,
hon.” She pointed to a small glass on one of the nightstands.
    “ Thanks. Okay,
okay, I'm up. Shower.”
    “ But don't ask me
to join you this time. Later, okay?”
    “ Okay.”
    As he stood up, he
noticed that the suite had been completely straightened and cleaned;
nothing remained to show what had gone on