Chapter 41
Final showdown in the rain, upper deck of the G-Spot
Jasmine was about to make a break for it. Like she didn’t have a care in the world, she was carefully lowering a ladder over the side of the boat.
Gabby ran through their options. Her feet were untied, and her wrists, almost. None of Markus’s ropes were undone, but his ankle ties were loose enough to shuffle. Conceivably, Gabby could charge Jasmine and tackle her, but she only had one chance.
Phil still hadn’t revived. He was going to sleep through the entire high-stakes escape.
Maybe he was drugged, but it reminded Gabby of how he’d slept through the kids’ holiday program last year.
Not even the sixth-grade trumpet section had woken him up.
At the end, he’d said, “Great job, kids,” not having heard a thing.
If he survived this, it would be the same.
“You know that radial ass-kicking move that Genesis loves?” Markus whispered. “The one from Power Couple?”
He couldn’t be serious. “I took down a yoga tent when I tried to stand on one leg and kick.”
“I’m here too.” Markus locked eyes with her. “We’ve got this, Gabs.”
And it hit her. She had a partner. “I got this” had never been doable, not with the amount of work that she had on her plate.
She was a mom and a spy. But a love life didn’t have to be another thing that she needed to squeeze into her schedule.
True romance brought a partner, someone who she could kick butt with together.
Someone who could lift her up when she was down, even if it was to strike Jasmine in the face.
Just because Phil slept through holiday programs didn’t mean every guy would. She had forgotten that. A real romance wasn’t about flowers and chocolate; it was building a life and taking care of each other. It was we got this.
Without a partner, Gabby didn’t have it all; she’d just been doing it all.
While her brain was exploding with this epiphany, Markus tried explaining, “It’s like that yoga move, but we’re going to do it together.
I’ll do the balancing, and you do the kicking.
It’s the one from the end of Power Couple. ”
Gabby was overcome, overheating, and melting at the same time.
Tears pricked at the back of her eyes. They might be at the beginning of a physical battle, but she’d just come out victorious in a mental battle she’d been fighting for years.
Gabby’d rather fight a bitch any day than be trapped in her own self-imposed, over-scheduled hell again.
She took a steadying breath and pulled it together.
“We’ve got this,” she said, echoing a tagline she really believed in now. “You can count on me. Next time your ex tells me that you’ve joined a cult and are colluding with a megalomaniac, I’ll ask you first. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”
He laughed. “Deal. Same.” With a nod toward Jasmine, he said, “Let’s do this.”
Gabby and Markus hustled across the deck as quickly as possible. G was sprawled on the deck, bleeding.
Jasmine saw their concern and said, “If he’s not dead now, he will be soon.
” Then, evil villain-style, Jasmine pointed a flare gun at the boat itself and fired.
The flare lodged in the deck, glowing hot and red in the wooden floorboards and spewing smoke.
It looked bad, but easy enough to put out, if they got to it quickly. If they didn’t…
“Is that flare gun enough to set the boat on fire?” Gabby asked, already knowing the answer.
Markus nodded.
Those were the flames Sheridan had seen in her vision. The G-Spot was about to burn up with everyone on it.
With a look of annoyance, Jasmine said, “And now I’m going to have to do something about you two pains in the asses.”
Instead of shooting them, Jasmine squared off Mortal Kombat style. “I always enjoy a fair fight.”
Gabby didn’t point out that Jasmine was the only one with a gun, and Markus was bound. Hardly fair, Jasmine.
Before Markus had a chance to prepare, Jasmine kicked him in the chest. But even tied up, he hopped back and avoided the full impact of the kick.
That was it. Gabby wasn’t going to take any more.
It was time for radial ass-kicking. It seemed like a move that only worked in the movies, but with their wrists bound, it was their only real option.
Even if it wasn’t, it’s not like they had time to make another plan.
Markus turned so that he and Gabby were back-to-back. They locked arms, and he hefted her into the air.
Jasmine started to laugh. “Are you two really? This is great.”
Gabby gripped Markus with all she had and bicycle-kicked with her legs, smacking into Jasmine and cutting her evil laugh off mid-chortle. Gabby’s feet connected squarely with Jasmine’s center mass with enough force to send her sprawling backwards. Jasmine’s flare gun clattered to the ground.
In a weird flourish, the immense train of her stupid dress swooshed over Jasmine’s prone form. In the background, the deck was starting to smoke.
Gabby and Markus might not have attended all the classes or paid that much attention at the Power Couple Retreat, but they were the power couple, fighting back-to-back against their enemies.
Gabby kicked the flare gun farther away from Jasmine, unholstered her engagement taser, and depressed the button. The electrodes launched with a loud snap, and Jasmine’s muscles seized up as the taser hissed.
“That was better than a ring,” Gabby said, holding the taser up.
“I knew you’d like it.” He smiled. “And I’m glad you didn’t use it on me this time.”
With danger averted and their argument done, Gabby turned to Markus and he to her. He leaned in, about to kiss her, when Phil groaned from the other side of the deck.
“I suppose we better untie Phil and let the hostages out first,” Markus said.
“Also, the boat’s on fire,” Gabby pointed out. It was starting to smell like a gunpowdery bonfire.
After Markus found a fire extinguisher and put out the developing blaze, he checked G’s pulse. “He’s alive!” Markus said, already putting pressure on the shoulder wound.
Gabby had been sure he was dead. Sheridan said one person was going to die this week, and she’d just heard Jasmine shoot G.
Mean girls were the worst. You wanted their approval and love so much that, by the time you realized it wasn’t worth it, they’d killed a journalist and tried to pin it on the president of the United States.
Gabby had to hand it to Jasmine. That was ballsy.
If only she’d done actual work instead of figuring out loopholes, she would have been a superstar.
“Do we have any gauze?” Markus looked up from the wound.
Gabby looked around and said, “How about tulle?” Before he could answer, she cut a section from under her skirt and handed it over. Then she ripped the cups out of her bra to pack the wound. They always fell out in the wash anyway. Bra pads were becoming the loose socks of the 2020s.
“He’s gonna be fine,” Markus said.
“That’s good because he’s your best friend lately. It’d be a shame to lose him.”
While Markus tended to his friend, Gabby untied Phil, who had suffered just enough of an injury to feel like he’d done something. And really, he had. Phil had served a valuable role analyzing the finances and using his endless font of movie quotes to unlock the mystery.
Speaking of exes, a cigarette boat appeared on the horizon, going about one hundred miles per hour. Bow up and its engine roaring like a jet, the boat was coming in like Miami Vice.
Gabby’s thoughts turned to pirates or maybe drug dealers.
Markus glanced at his watch. “Valentina’s late.”
No, she was right on time. If she’d arrived any earlier, Gabby and Markus wouldn’t have had time to clean up their own mess and prove their worth.
Gabby sat back in awe of the woman’s style. Even if Jasmine had managed to escape, Valentina probably would have caught her. She was only a few minutes behind.
“I don’t know, Markus. Our exes really showed up for us today.”
Valentina cruised in, barely losing speed, whipped the boat around, and docked alongside the G-Spot like she was a professional boat racer, if that was a thing.
“I love her,” Gabby said.
Markus laughed. “Let’s just hope she doesn’t fire us.”
“She’s not going to. We saved the day. Plus, CYA. And that means covering our asses too, so she can claim this win along with us.”
Valentina climbed up the ladder that Jasmine had lowered for herself and came aboard looking like one of Charlie’s Angels.
“Thought I’d drop by and see how things were going,” she said, looking around and nodding at the two subdued suspects. “Looks like you have things handled.”
“We do. No casualties, and you’re here for the glory part of the mission. It’s time to free the hostages.”
While Valentina surveyed the scene, Gabby pointed to her train. “Would you help me with this, Markus?” She was going to trip if she had to run around in a damn wedding dress. “Lana showed me how, but I can’t do it on my own.”
“I’m going to DIY it,” Markus said. He wadded up a bunch of fabric and zip-tied it like he was making an arrest. He eyeballed his work skeptically. “Don’t tell Lana I did this.”
“She’s going to see it in two seconds,” Gabby reminded him. “But you can remind her that you just saved her life.”
“No, we saved her life.”
As Jasmine had advertised, the hostages were enjoying a delicious dinner in a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous dining room with chandeliers, and Persian carpets, and tables appropriate for royals. It was all smooth jazz and oysters, zero awareness of danger.
“So what’s going on, you’re not getting married anymore?” Justin asked. “Jasmine made some sort of announcement about you calling it off before we started dinner.”
“Not tonight,” Gabby said. “We can talk about it more later.”
To Gabby’s immense relief, her mom and Sheridan were alive and well, dining with the rest of the guests. Gabby hurried over to them. “Are you both okay? I was worried!” Her mom seemed caught off guard when Gabby wrapped her in a hug.
“Gia, I owe you an apology. Markus seems like a very nice young man.”
“Now that he saved you, huh?” Gabby teased.
“What?” Her mom’s expression was pure confusion.
“Oh, nothing.” Apparently, even her mom missed the danger, which was fine. Gabby would prefer not to explain it. “You were saying?”
“I’m sorry. I never should have come down here to interrupt your wedding. You’re a grown woman, and I need to respect your choice.” She took a deep breath and said, “I’ll stop meddling.”
You could have knocked Gabby over with a feather.
“I’ve been talking to Sheridan, working on my uncommon sense.”
Gabby opened her arms and embraced her mom. “Thank you. Apology accepted.”
Sheridan sidled up to Gabby a few moments later. “What happened? I know you’re hiding something.”
Gabby quickly summarized the situation, explaining that Jasmine was the real threat but was now zip-tied and ready to be booked.
Sheridan released a breath. “Damn. I got everything wrong. It’s mortifying.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll get your psychic vision machine working again after an actual vacation. If you were stressed to begin with, this must have made it worse.”
Sheridan nodded emphatically. “But no more vacations. I need to make dinner and shovel my own walkway, get re-centered.”
With everything wrapped up, Gabby hauled herself to the bridge. She stood with Valentina and Markus by the controls. As the resort came into view and they aimed for the Inner-G docks, they debriefed Valentina on everything that had happened.
“In addition to Amanda Duvall’s murder, Jasmine’s going to be charged with quite a few counts of attempted murder, blackmail, extortion, invasion of privacy… who knows what else.”
“What about Genesis and Naomi?” Gabby asked. They appeared to be clear of everything the EOD had originally suspected them of. Gabby hoped so. It was nice for Markus to bro out with a friend.
“They’re not going to get away scot-free.
At the very least, Genesis violated the executive order that prohibits American citizens from doing business with North Korea, and I’d be shocked if this place filed taxes.
Plus, the entire Sheridan abduction.” Valentina thought about it for a second.
“But they might get that immunity deal now, or at least reduced sentences, for flipping on Jasmine.”
Gabby should have known that anyone who was selling inner beauty in a bottle was rotten. Shame on her for falling for it.
As the yacht pulled into the shelter of the bay, Valentina said, “I’ll withdraw my request to put you on administrative leave.”
Gabby exhaled with relief.
“Good job, Agents.”
Gabby stood tall and proud. For the second time, she’d accomplished the nearly impossible and saved the day. And she’d given birth twice and risen from her divorce like a phoenix. At this moment, she was feeling all of it.
“Just never bring your family on a mission again, and for fuck’s sake, follow an order if I give it to you.
” Valentina gave them both a severe warning look and then sighed.
“You two get some rest tonight. I’m going to book Jasmine and take Genesis and Naomi in for questioning.
We’ll be executing a search of the main offices and the Loves’ mansion. ”
Valentina walked down below, leaving Gabby and Markus standing on the upper deck as the rest of the passengers disembarked.
Gabby stood on her tippy-toes in her Crocs, and Markus leaned down and wrapped her in his arms. With the stars sparkling on the ocean waves and a cool ocean breeze whipping through her wedding updo, Gabby’s heart set sail.
It was just them. No more lies. Well, they would continue lying to everyone else because it was the literal definition of their job, but no more lying to each other.
She shut her eyes and pressed her cheek to his. “We did it.”
“Let’s go enjoy that honeymoon cottage,” he said. “We earned it.”