Spring Tide (Zodiac Forces Book 1) by Tami Veldura

Author:Tami Veldura [Veldura, Tami]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LoveLight Press
Published: 2016-05-26T23:00:00+00:00

11

Lunch at the table. Chicken and veggies. At least Cardinal wasn't going to come down with a bought of scurvy. She shoveled the food automatically. Trying to linger over the peas. She didn't want to rush back into the berth. Besides, there was some restlessness to Natalie that Cardinal would bet money lead straight back to their kiss. She tried not to snort into her water. She was betting more than money, wasn't she?

Natalie sat with her hands folded on the pistol. But her fingers rolled against the tabletop. “Why did you decide to come look for me?”

“We found your bottle message,” Cardinal maintained. It made for a good story, right? Rescue the princess from the evils of her past life. Except Natalie didn't seem to know if she was in a bad situation or not. Sometimes Cardinal saw passionate hate, but it was rare. Far more often was a frightening dose of ennui.

Natalie pressed, “From years ago. There was no guarantee you would find me.”

Cardinal smiled. “Zodiac hardly works on guarantees. And you underestimate Whip's ability to find an adventure when she goes looking.” And Cardinal never thought she'd thank God for that. Without Whip's insistence, Cardinal wouldn't have even that small leverage of knowing Natalie's history.

“Is she enjoying this adventure?” Natalie seemed genuinely curious. As if being a hostage automatically meant their lives were done. Was that how fourteen-year-old Natalie felt when Alexander first told her she wouldn't be going home?

Cardinal tried to lighten the idea a bit. “She will when it's over. She'll embellish the story until it's almost unbelievable.”

“What happens then?” Natalie's fingers laced with each other and Cardinal got the distinct impression that she'd never had this kind of conversation before. Other people's futures weren't a topic she was familiar with.

“Then she finds another adventure.” Cardinal sipped at her orange juice, less interested in it than Natalie's furrowing brow at the moment.

“What will you do when the adventure is over, follow her?”

“I'm not overly fond of kidnappings so I think I'll avoid the Mediterranean work for a while. But Whip and I are partners, so we'll go together. Maybe Zodiac needs us in French Polynesia.”

“But you'll continue?” Natalie leaned forward, as if it were a significant point for her. As if she didn't understand the drive of continued work in the future despite the setback of the present, like her entire life had come crashing to a halt when she had been brought aboard this boat.

Cardinal didn't know how to explain that the world was so much more than these curved walls. “Sure. There are bad people all over the world that need catching. That's our job. And I'd like to see French Polynesia. I hear the wildlife is excellent. I think I'd like to go scuba diving.”

Natalie leaned back. Then forward again, voice a little more pressing. “But I have taken you from your assignment; I wasn't it, I know it. I sunk your boat, all your supplies—”

Cardinal laughed. “Whip and I can manage without a little toilet paper for a while.

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