Safeword: Storm Clouds(40)

She started to open hers, but she liked having the taste of him in her mouth and didn't want to wash it away just yet. She would before they got back to the marina so he wouldn't taste his own blood in her mouth. Humans sometimes got a bit touchy about that.

When they arrived at the marina he was in good shape and they held hands as they approached the big building that housed his yacht. As they got about thirty yards from it she heard a heartbeat that sounded like it was coming from his yacht. She at first assumed one of the boats near his yacht must have had a person on it, but as they got closer she really had to wonder. At about twenty yards away she stopped and held him back. "There is a heartbeat, coming from your yacht. Someone is in there."

"You can hear a heartbeat inside the yacht that is inside the building, from here?"



"Yes, I told you, I have excellent hearing."



"Kendra, excellent hearing is a bit of an understatement if you can hear a heartbeat from here."



"Wait here while I go investigate."



"No, it's my boat, I'll check it out. I was about to tell you to wait here, but... oh hell, let's just go together."

Kendra wasn't up to arguing with him about this so she just went, which meant that it looked to Eric like she disappeared again. She heard him outside saying, "Dammit, would you stop doing that!"

Before Eric made it to the building Kendra had the intruder immobilized. "Explain who you are and why you are here, now, before I start to hurt you."

Eric came sprinting into the yacht through the door that was open and into the room Kendra and the intruder were in. Kendra had the man down on the ground, her knee in the small of his back and one arm twisting his arm behind his back and up, painfully. Her other arm held his hair and pulled his head up and to the side at what looked like a painful angle.

"Umm, Kendra, please let him go. This is my uncle."

Kendra immediately released the man and stepped back. "Your uncle? Were you expecting him?"

"No, but he has a key and it's never been a problem before for him to let himself in. It wouldn't have been this time either if you hadn't, err, realized someone was here."

The man spoke. "Eric, is this your girlfriend? And if so, then what the hell have you gotten yourself into?"

"Hi Ranger. I'd like to introduce you to Kendra. Kendra, this is my Uncle, Ranger."

Ranger stood and tried to make it look like it didn't hurt. He pulled it off visually but she could smell differently. Kendra had probably hurt his back a little worse than was necessary, she felt kind of bad about that. She'd probably wrenched his shoulder and neck a bit, too. She felt like she should say something, apologize or something, but wasn't really sure what to say. Eric filled in the silence with, "Kendra, I told you my uncle is spec ops, I doubt anyone has single handedly taken him down in decades, so he's probably wondering what kind of training you've had and how you managed to sneak up on him and take him down."

"Spec ops? I heard you say it, but didn't know what it meant and didn't ask at the time. I figured it had something to do with the military since that is what your dad did. What does is mean?"

"Special Operations, it basically means he's a bad ass."

"Oh," she turned to Ranger, "Ranger, I'm sorry if I hurt you, I thought you were an intruder. I feel bad that we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot, should I let you knock me down so we'll be even?"

Ranger was standing at alert, as if he expected her to attack again at any minute, and he’d be ready for her this time. "What kind of training have you had, Kendra?"

"I think calling it training might be an overstatement. I've got some experience with a couple of flavors of martial arts, and lots of experience fighting with brothers. Nothing major, I guess I just got lucky with you. You must have felt safe here and just not been on guard or something."

He leveled his eyes at Kendra and said, "No", then looked at Eric. "How much do you know about this woman? What has she told you she does for a living?"

He sighed, "Ranger, I'm really not up for the third degree about Kendra right now. She took you down, your ego is bruised, end of story. Let's all get a drink and get to know each other. Nicely, with manners. And, as nice as it is to see you, why didn't you let me know you were coming?"

"I had a security company offer me a job. I wasn't planning on retiring from the government yet, but an old friend recommended me for this outfit and knew I was about to renegotiate my contract with the military. He told me it would be worth my while to come talk to them. They even flew me in on the company jet. I figured I got a free trip to come see you and no harm in seeing what they had to say. It all happened kind of fast or I'd have let you know ahead of time."