Olive smiled at Rania.“It’s nice to meet you as well.”
Jerry leaned in and spoke softly.“Undercover op.I’ll tell you about it later.”
“But, aren’t Bill and Lynda married?”She had seen that they shared the same cabin, and they wore rings.
Jerry chuckled.“Yeah.Now they are.There was this undercover op where they faked it first, though.”
Bill watched Olive take a drink from her water and raised an eyebrow.“Speaking of wives, got something to share, Jerry Maguire?”
Lynda saw her hand and smiled, bringing her hands together.“Oh, how exciting!”
Heat fused Olive’s cheeks.“I think we’ll let the couple of the hour take the spotlight for now,” she said.“Our time will come.”
Jerry picked her hand up and kissed the knuckle near the ring.“It certainly will.”
Jerry settled back against his chair in the promenade lounge, listening to Fisher grumble into his laptop.Sanders nudged his elbow.“What’s he doing?”
Jerry pointed at the Cybertruck sitting in front of the casino, about fifty yards down the promenade.Apparently, it could be won by signing up for an unwanted membership in the casino.“Some guy he knows from a hacking course he went to a few months ago dared him.Said he couldn’t hack into it.”
Fisher paused and looked at him, narrowing his eyes.“Certified Ethical Hacker course.He was the class leader, and I was the senior NCO.He’s never outdone me.He’s not going to this time.”
“Memaw never did say I was the smartest person in the room,” Sanders said, opening the lid of his soda.“Certified, eh?Hysterical.”
“You say that now,” Fisher said, “but assume your infrastructure goes down—because some bad actor got into the system—and those of us with training don’t exist.You’d be the first to complain about your warm soda pop.”With that, Fisher hit the ENTER key and raised an eyebrow as the lights on the truck turned on.
“Well, heck yeah, I would be.”He shuddered.“Who’d want to drink a warm soda?Heaven forbid.”
A ship-wide announcement interrupted their jovial conversation.“Hello, passengers, this is your Activities Coordinator!Ready for some fun?Join us at 1:00 PM for a comedy juggling act on the Lido Deck, or test your skills at our 4:00 PM trivia challenge in the Starlight Lounge.Shuffleboard fans, meet us on Deck 12 at 5:30 PM!”
“Shuffleboard, anyone?”Jerry chuckled and shook his head.He popped a peanut into his mouth, its salty, roasted crunch grounding him amid the sprawl of stories, chased by the faint, caramel fizz of his soda.
Swanson arrived and grabbed a chair from an empty table.“Pot Pie,” Sanders said, “What’s the good word, brother?”
“Daddy and Peña will be here momentarily.Ozzy too.He’s meeting with the chaplain’s assistant right now.”The waitress appeared, and he ordered a sparkling water before directing his attention back to the group.
“Found a skeet shooting game in the arcade,” Jerry said.“Sites are way off, though.”
Yet another announcement interrupted them.“Hello again, passengers.Just a friendly reminder: on day 4, everyone must disembark between 7:00 AM and 11:00 AM for our private island visit while the crew completes essential drills and maintenance.See your newsletter for more.Have a fantastic day!”
Sanders said, “If they keep doing that every few minutes, I will find it mighty tedious.”
“You know, there was a time,” Brock said, “when you could shoot actual skeet with an actual firearm right from the deck.”
“No kidding?”Jerry shook his head.“The way security screened us when we boarded, I can’t imagine them allowing that these days.”
Sanders said, “I think it was more on account of the broken skeet and buckshot littering the ocean could hurt the fish and such.”
Jerry said, “So, not an issue that people would have live ammo and firearms then?”
“Whatever.But there’s ways they could have done it.Just like ranges, you know?Laser shots instead of birdshot.Skeet made of fish food.”Sanders rubbed his chin.“I mean, if it hasn’t been invented yet…”
“Get on that in all your spare time, partner,” Swanson said.“Don’t you worry about a thing.I’ll handle our caseload.”
Daniel Swanson and Bill Sanders had formed a private security company, utilizing the many skills they’d acquired during their time in the Special Forces.Brock chuckled.“You guys busy?”
“Dude.The second y’all get out, you need to come see us.We have so much work, and there are just some things that we can’t handle.”He gestured at Fisher.“Like our boy here.I could use him nine ways to Sunday and still have work piled up.”
Jerry shook his head.“Not getting out any time soon.”
