Chapter 9 #2
“Yes, sir,” Simon responded.
J.D. turned his skiff and slowly drew the line taut. Then he eased his little boat forward, dragging the houseboat in its wake.
“Keep trying to reach Mitchell,” Holly said. “At this rate, we might not get back to the dock until sometime next week.”
Simon called Mitch several times over the hour-and-a-half it took J.D. to tow the houseboat back to its dock.
Simon spent the time cooking scrambled eggs and bacon, saving back a paper plate full for J.D. for when they finally made it back to where they’d started the night before.
As they approached the dock, J.D. parked his skiff on the other side, took the lead line and walked with it up to the post that had been the anchor for the houseboat for a number of years.
He held up the cut line, his bushy white eyebrows forming a V over his nose. “This line has been cut.”
Simon adjusted the gangway, lining it up with the dock before he stepped across and joined J.D.
Holly followed him to reaffirm that the houseboat’s voyage into the bayou hadn’t been an accident.
Back on land, Simon called 911 and reported the vandalism and the explosion that could have caused a conflagration sufficient to consume the houseboat and force Simon and Holly to abandon ship in the middle of the alligator-infested bayou. He called Remy to bring him up to date as well.
Deputy Shelby Taylor showed up to take their statements. The fire chief arrived shortly after and collected evidence he would have analyzed.
Though they couldn’t state the obvious until the results came in, the sheriff and the police chief were convinced someone had tried to kill Holly and Simon.
Once they had the houseboat secure and their statements taken, Simon helped Holly up into his truck.
“You sure you want to go see the nutria seer and go house hunting after all that has happened this morning?” Holly asked.
“LaShawda has a few homes for us to tour,” Simon said as he drove out onto the road and turned toward town.
“Afterward, we can have lunch at the diner and decide whether or not we want to stay at the houseboat tonight or hole up in the boarding house. At least it won’t float out into the bayou where alligator mamas are guarding their nests. ”
Holly’s lips twitched. “That bothered you, didn’t it?”
He shot a glance her way. “It didn’t bother you?”
She shrugged. “Maybe for a moment when the fire flared up, but we put it out pretty quickly and didn’t have to abandon ship.”
Simon shook his head. “I don’t like it,” he said.
“That was too close. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied, I might’ve caught on to the sabotage sooner.
” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly.
“What happened last night...though amazing... made me forget why I’m here in the first place.
” He shot a glance her way. “To protect you.” Simon’s lips pressed into a thin line.
“I failed when I surrendered to my desire.”
Holly sensed what he would say next and braced herself.
“Until this—whatever it is that’s happening— is resolved, I can’t lose focus.” He stared straight ahead.
Holly’s heart sank into the pit of her belly. “Which means we won’t be making love again,” she stated softly. As badly as it hurt to say it, she was convinced it was the right thing to do. Whoever was after her and her loved ones might now target Simon.
“You’re right,” Holly said. “We can’t be intimate. It puts you at risk and makes us lose focus on finding the source of the troubles.”
Simon reached across the console, clasped her hand and brought it to his lips. “When whatever is happening is resolved, we can reconnect. Reevaluate.” He met her gaze briefly across the console. “I’m not giving up on us. Not after last night.”
“I’m not holding you to it,” Holly said. “People do crazy things under stress. We might change our minds or discover that we don’t have as much in common as we think we do. We might realize we have different needs and desires after all is said and done.”
His lips twisted. “You’re really killing my buzz.” He gave her a tight smile and squeezed her hand before he let go. “I know what I want and desire. I want and desire you.”
Holly’s chest swelled with longing and something she suspected could be love, though she wasn’t ready to admit it aloud. They had to overcome so much more before they could launch into the selfish pursuit of anything resembling commitment.
No, Simon hadn’t declared his love for her. And why would he? They hadn’t known each other long enough to know. Yeah, the sex had been mind-blowing. But was that enough?
Why was she even contemplating a future with the Brotherhood Protector who had only stuck around because it was his job to protect her?
He had no obligation to do anything else. He wasn’t required to love her.
Simon’s jaw clenched. They’d had a close call that morning. He couldn’t let things get away from him like they had. All because he’d made love to Holly.
If he fell in love with Holly, it was all on him. Not the job. He couldn’t afford to fall in love. Couldn’t afford to lose focus. Protecting Holly was what he had to do. And he’d nearly failed. Had they not extinguished the fire...
His gut knotted. He should have been on top of everything. Should have seen the lines had been cut. Should have felt the shift and sway of the houseboat moving away from the dock and out into the bayou. And he should have inspected every inch for explosives or incendiary devices.
Simon’s cell phone chirped. He slowed his truck and pulled the phone from his pocket. “It’s Swede.” He answered the call. “Glad you called. We’ve had another incident.”
“Tell me about it,” Swede said.
Simon filled him in.
“I’ll let Hank know what’s going on,” Swede said. “I also have some news for you.”
“Yeah?” Simon set the phone on speaker. “Go ahead, you’re on speaker. I’m with Holly.”
“I did some more digging into Holly’s parents, Bastian and Evangeline Gautier. They were environmental scientists, yes?”
“That’s right,” Holly answered. “They worked in the bayou. It was their passion to protect the ecosystem.”
“Their names came up as employed by BioEnergen, a company in research and development of biological energy solutions.”
Holly frowned. “No. They were working for the Bayou Resilience Project.”
“I did find something about a non-profit by that name whose mission statement is to protect and preserve the bayous. More specifically, to stop harmful industrial practices, chemical runoff, and violations of environmental law.”
“That’s right,” Holly said. “They were trying to come up with ways to encourage corporations to join the fight to preserve.”
“It appears that the Bayou Resilience Project was a cover corporation for BioEnergen. A year ago, BioEnergen was shut down, supposedly for violating EPA standards. The facility was abandoned. I ran a search on the dark web and discovered the EPA violations were what got released to the press. In actuality, the factory was raided in a joint operation by the FBI and the CIA based on intel that they were about to sell classified information to the Russians.”
Holly shook her head. “My parents were scientists, not international spies.”
“No, but they were working for BioEnergen on a secret project our foreign adversaries were interested in getting their hands on.”
Holly glanced across the console at Simon. “They never told me that. All they talked about was their work preserving the environment.”
“I found where a Dr. Armand Duval testified that during the raid, all the data and research notes that had been compiled on the special project they’d been working on for the past two years had been erased from the company’s computer database.
The two scientists who’d developed the data were the masterminds behind the research and development.
It was the entirety of their work that had been lost.”
“Are you telling me that the two scientists were my mother and father?” Holly shook her head. “They told me they were working to save the bayou, not to work for the very kinds of corporations that threaten the existence of the bayou through negligent practices.”
“Sorry, but from what I can tell, they were knee-deep in R&D for BioEnergen, an energy company looking for alternatives to oil and oil derivatives.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” Holly said. “They were passionate about their home, about the bayou and their work to save it. They were just as passionate about our country and wouldn’t sell out to Russia.”
“I went a step further and got the coordinates of the BioEnergen facility that was shut down,” Swede continued.
“Though it was supposed to be completely shut down, it’s still drawing power.
I was able to tap into satellite images generated within the past week.
For a place that’s supposed to be abandoned, there’ve been people coming and going. ”
“Maybe we should go there now instead of house hunting,” Simon suggested.
“Since someone is targeting Holly, I thought it best to send someone else to gather intel,” Swede said. “I’ve spoken to Remy. He’s sending a two-man team out there with cameras and binoculars. They’re just going out to observe, not engage.”
Simon nodded. “If the people at the abandoned facility are the ones who murdered Paul, caused Holly’s parents to disappear and are now using scare tactics with Holly, it might be better that they don’t know we’re on to them. At least until we have a little more information.”
“Exactly,” Swede said.
“I want to be with that two-man team,” Holly said.
“You’re being watched,” Swede said. “To keep anyone from knowing we’re observing them, you and Simon need to continue with your normal plans. That will lead your stalkers away from the team heading out into the bayou to observe and take images of the people using the facility.”
Holly frowned. “I’d rather know what’s going on, but I get it.”
“We’ll brief you as soon as the team returns with information,” Swede promised. “For now, out here.”
“Out here,” Simon echoed and ended the call.
Holly shot a glance toward Simon, her lips twisting into a grimace. “I guess we’re going to visit the seer my Mémère insisted we see about the curse and our future.”
“You still think you’re cursed?” Simon asked. “Curses don’t cut anchoring lines or use explosive incendiary devices.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Holly said. “But when Mémère says to do something, you do it. She has her reasons.”
Simon shrugged. “Okay. Let’s go have our fortunes read by an animal.”
Holly fought back a grin. She believed in Voodoo and magic. However, Simon was right. Curses didn’t cut lines or set off explosives. The data Swede had accumulated about BioEnergen had made Holly lose confidence in a curse being the source of her problems.
What worried her was that she believed a curse would be easier to deal with than going toe-to-toe with murderous humans.