Thirty:

“Where did you even get these diving suits?! I cannot be a party to this much illegal activity!”

Penny complained, and I sighed.

“They were a loaner from a friend who wishes to remain nameless and faceless to you, miss I am the fuzz. Not to go all peer-pressure on you, but we really do need to do this, or neither of us is going to leave this city any other way but a pine box.”

She was still having issues plentiful about the glaringly illegal portion of our sting tactic. While she knew that I was not entirely required to color inside the lines for every single aspect of a case I built as a PI, Penny was struggling to grasp my need for her now.

“I swear to God, if I can just get ahead of this shit, I am never going to do anything bad again!”

Penny swore and somehow, I gathered that to include me, which was sad.

“That’s it, just make yourself some empty promises and carry on with the task at hand and get into this scuba gear.”

Penny’s withering look told me she was not at all pleased with me. I had the sinking suspicion that there might not be a repeat of last night in my future, not while we were so entirely different, and our moral compass was not aligned. I also suspected that part of Penny’s struggle was with her first shooting as well. She seemed to have categorized everything still happening as part of that. Which meant she was coming down rather hard on herself for her every involvement with any questionable activity.

Perhaps it was both guilt and her blind sense of fair play?

***

We finished securing our dive equipment and I pointed off to the left side beyond the harbor at the incoming massive cargo ship. I spoke into the com built into the dive mask.

“We’re just going to take a little swim over to that, and we are going to use the anchor to climb up. I also have grappling hooks as well should we need them. Keep your mask on when we get to the deck and stay down. We’re not really there to steal, just to replace one container. This one container is all I will need to sew up the rest of this case and make a sting.”

I told Penny, and she frowned at me through the mask.

“If that’s all, why not just approach the ship’s captain like normal law enforcers?”

I sighed and said, “Because, I don’t know who else’s pay role he might be on. I need this done with zero information leaks. Penny the number one issue with building a case in this city is the piss-poor leaky ships that are the various branches of law enforcement. The number two problem is that the perps will see the bust coming.”

She seemed to stew on what I said, but we climbed over the rail and jumped into the water. The Atlantic was cooler than the hot Georgia temperature might suggest. This was a much more temperate Ocean than the Pacific or at least from what I have often been told by west coasters.

As I stroked with wide arching motions and wiggled my feet rapidly with the flippers, I soon picked up a decent speed to my swim. The tide was still low thankfully, and the current was not too bad this early. Small waves crashed over us as we made our pace towards the ship. We each had a small oxygen tank, though we probably didn’t need one for a surface swim. I had access so I figured we should be as safe as possible.

Penny kept my pace remarkably well as I could anticipate from her recent Police academy graduation. She seemed to have slipped into a focus that expelled her obvious reservations and empowers her to further utilize her skills for what she was doing. More action, less thinking, which was probably for the best right now.

“We’ll be upon the ship in about a minute or two, so be ready to climb. I have checked the logs and all the data Shen sent me about the crew size, the habits, and the patrol paths. If we take the correct path on the port side, we will be able to avoid the patrol. They should be wrapping up their rounds in the next five minutes or so, which is why I decided to start this dive right now.”

I informed Penny. She did not get to read all the detailed logs and all the information Shen had access to. This was part of the reason I did not approach the captain. I knew he either worked for Shen or he was being monitored as if by the NSA. With the modern mob being able to hire black hats to help keep tabs on their interest, that second option was not a stretch. However, keeping a captain on the payroll was far more likely in this situation.

Penny did not understand that the entire bull in a china shop routine was going to get us killed. So, I was keeping her on a very tight leash, and she was resenting it. Aside from the whole drunken hot sex, I was behaving a lot more like a training officer towards her than her own TO was. I could tell that he had not reached out to Penny once since she became mixed up in all of this.

Part of me understood, but the rest of me didn’t care. If you are responsible for another life, that becomes your priority above saving your skin.

We approached the barnacle-encrusted lower hull of the ship and I struggled to latch onto the massive anchor. This process seemed a lot easier in the movies than it was in real-life. Penny cursed and I grabbed her flailing arm, as I desperately locked my legs around the chain and pulled her towards me for dear life. 

Her weight was not so much an issue as the force of the sea trying to latch on to her and pull her down.

“Wrap your free arm around the chain.”

I told her, and Penny whipped her arm out and hooked it around the chain half-blind as I helped her stabilize herself on the anchor.

“How in God’s name are you expecting us to climb this slick-ass chain up?”

I shrugged and said, “Not sure yet, just gonna have to wing it and hope it all pans out, Penny.”

Her eyes told me what she thought of my not-plan. What did she want from me? I was making most of this shit up as I went, utilizing my instinct and my deductive reasoning skills to augment and further survival chances. Even I would have loved to make this an easy case with an easy sting set up from the ground up, but that was not in the cards.

“Henry, did you get eyes above?”

I asked into the com, and I heard his all too cheerful tone cut in.

“Hey there, thought you had forgotten about me in your little swim!”

He chirped and I rolled my eyes as I struggled to make headway up the chain. It was not at all like climbing a rope. I was making a few feet every minute now, which was not cutting it. I needed to be on the deck now or I risked losing my window onto the ship.

“We managed a wireless hack on the deck camera grid, but we cannot move them, or risk being detected in the system.”

Henry informed me, and I grumbled about that being too damn easy.

“Check the left side and tell me when you see the guards finish their pass so I can fire off this grappling hook.”

He chuckled and said, “Girl you just should have been an action star the way you like to find reasons to use those really crazy toys of yours!”

I snorted but otherwise did not comment his quasi-observation. He was not wrong, per-se, just playing up the actual joy I gained from using specialty tools to get a job done. The truth was, I am a very simple chick. I love catching perps, and I love using my mind to solve mysteries. If I so-happen to get to grapple aboard a cargo ship almost like something out of a Batgirl comic, then so be it! Besides, a little cardio goes a long way to keeping a girl fit and fine.

“You should be clear now.”

He told me, and I exclaimed, “Should be?!”

Penny seemed to mirror my complaint, all though she seemed disciplined enough not to verbalize her anxieties while in the middle of a fubar operation.

“Yeah, should be, as in they are off the cameras now and in-between the next series of surveillance cameras as they walk towards the front deck, whatever you call it again.”

“The stern,”

I clarified, and he made a humming sound, as I pulled the grappling device from the pocket on the tool bag I had attached to my suit. It was fast access water-proof pouch for all the goodies I had deemed important for this trip.

“Ok, let’s get going Penny.”

I told her, and I raised the hook and aimed up, angling it forward enough that it would certainly bite the barbed hooks into the side of the ship.

The densely compressed air burst free and fired the grappling gun as I felt it bite into the materials of the hull, I was soon being pulled up rapidly. It felt like being whipped into motion on a fast-moving rollercoaster ride, only without the restraints and the seats. My heart was in my throat, and I soon, all too soon came to the side of the ship and I wildly flailed my right hand and contacted the railing on the side of the deck.

There was a profound sense of relief as I pulled myself over and scanned the area for any sign that someone has detected us. I didn’t see anyone in my slightly narrowed view through the goggles of my scuba mask.

I then clicked the release and sent the handle of the gun back down to Penny.

“Incoming, just use the blue button to propel yourself up. Grab the rail once you get up here.”

I told her, and I could practically feel her anxiety on the other end, as I sent the gun down. I was terrified that something would go wrong, and Penny would end up drowning in the Atlantic, all because I was pulling her along into this. The truth was, I might be able to do all this solo, but the risk was way higher and way more likely I would be discovered that way. As much as I enjoyed doing risky assignments and taking on any challenge put before me, I was not one to gamble with the odds when I could help it. Load the dice in your favor whenever you can because life certainly rigs them against you often enough. If anyone knows this, it’s an orphaned military brat.

“Shit!”

Penny exclaimed, as I shot up like a dervish and I caught her hand as she reached wildly for the deck rail. I helped her firm grip and stabilize against the rail, and then I helped pull her over. My heart seemed to be lurching twice as hard as I struggled to pull Penny down on the deck. My fear for myself seemed nothing compared to how much I feared for Penny’s safety. It was not simply because we made love, but rather because I felt a connection for the first time in a long time. She was the first real breath of air I had in years.

This was something I had to grapple with as we crouched, and I pulled her towards the left-side door down onto the cargo levels below.