FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 4

Ellie scanned the sea floor with a powerful light as she swam. Another smaller light was mounted on her chest. It wasn’t that she couldn’t see anything without it, but the light at this depth was dim enough she could easily miss things. Ellie had been doing a grid search in the area provided to her by her client. A wealthy but sentimental man was quite upset that his grandson had managed to sink a yacht that his grandfather had bought after making it big. The recovery would most likely be far more expensive than buying a new and more modern yacht, but that didn’t matter to her client so Ellie was happy to help.

Her lamp caught something and she swung back for a closer look. It was definitely a ship of some kind. Ellie’s long eel tail propelled her through the water towards it. As she inspected the wreck she could see the name Annabelle painted clearly on the side.

Well, there she is. Ellie smiled slightly. Step one of this job was complete. Now it was time to inspect the damage. It had sunk less than a week ago, and according to her information there was a hole ripped in the port side that had caused it to sink. Unfortunately, the ship was resting on its port side so after a quick inspection revealed no obvious damage on the exterior Ellie could see, she decided to enter the ship to inspect it from the inside.

The hatch was open and she had no problem swimming inside. As long as her body was, her tail was as flexible as any eel. She shook her head as she took in all the classic appointments of this antique boat.

That spoiled brat had no respect for something like this, otherwise he would have tried to save it after that collision. Of course, being drunk probably didn’t help either. Well, according to Mr. Weaver, if he wants to see a penny of his inheritance He’s going to be working his fingers to the bone to restore this old girl once I get it in a dry dock.

That thought made her smirk a bit. Ellie eventually found the hole in the hull. It wasn’t really that bad. He should have been able to limp back to the yacht club with the bilge pump going. At any rate, it wouldn’t be too hard for her to patch it up and re-float the Annabelle, at least well enough to tow her back to port. But first she would need to check back in with her support boat.

Ellie attached a reel of line firmly to a brass rail of the yacht. She also attached a powerful strobe light as well and switched it on. Between them both it should make finding her way back down to the Annabelle much easier. Ellie took the reel and started to slowly ascend, unwinding the line as she did so.

Ellie paused on her way up. Letting herself relax and adjust to the decreasing water pressure, she also switched off her unneeded search lights. Ellie broke the surface and attached the other end of the reel to a temporary float. She scanned the ocean looking for her support boat. She spotted it and sighed. She would have to signal them. She pulled an emergency beacon from her belt and activated it. For good measure she placed a strobe light on the float. It didn't take long before the boat's engines came online and it started to move towards her.

Ellie closed the distance once it was close enough. Josh smiled as she pulled up alongside the boat.

“Found the yacht then?”

“Yup.” She gripped onto the ladder on the side of the small boat.

“How’s she look?” Bob, the owner/captain of the Sea Cucumber asked from the wheel.

“Not too bad. It’s not a large hole and I don’t think she’s that much worse for wear after a week on the seabed. I think we can re-float the old girl.”

“That’s good, I feel for the old guy, one sailor to another.”

"Let me get a proper float and mark the coordinates." Josh said as he started towards a storage locker.

"Before you do that Josh, are there any sandwiches left in the cooler? I'm starving."

Josh laughed, "I think so, unless Bob went behind my back."

"Hey! You know I'm a vegetarian!" Bob called out from the wheel. “I’m not about to eat that crap you packed!”

Ellie laughed as she waited on her snack.

"Want a soda too?" Josh asked as he opened the cooler.

"Yeah, I'd like something that doesn't taste like seawater, please."

Josh snagged a cola along with a roast turkey sandwich and placed them on a tray near the water line. As soon as she had dried off her hands Ellie devoured the sandwich. As Ellie ate Josh attached a more rugged buoy to the line and logged their current coordinates. He had to admit even with the time spent waiting for Ellie to find something, it was somehow less boring than delivering pizza.

Josh had never spent much time out on the ocean before agreeing to lend a hand to Ellie several months ago. She needed some extra help, and it was his day off anyway so he agreed. After a few more jobs and some help back at her shack with the dryer part of her business, Ellie offered to hire him on as her first employee. Josh jumped at the chance, though he still picked up the occasional shift at Captain’s Pizza.

The job wasn’t always exciting, and for stuff closer to home Ellie would just swim out on her own without contracting the Sea Cucumber leaving him alone in the boat shed, but it was still better paying, and he really enjoyed being out on the sea. Bob claimed he heard the siren’s call and was doomed. That had earned the retired master chief a large splash from Ellie, but Josh wasn’t sure if the old sailor was completely wrong.

Ellie relaxed as she sipped her cola. Given the time of day, there was no point in coming back out once they got the equipment to re-float the Annabelle loaded up. Still, she had budgeted for three days of searching in her estimate to Mr. Weaver. Ellie could contact him with the good news once they got back to the marina.

“I take it we’re heading back for the day.” Josh said as he checked a few things on his laptop.

“Yeah, it’ll take us all day tomorrow to get her re-floated and tugged to the shipyard from my experience. Still, since I thought it would take us longer to find the Annabelle, we’re still ahead of schedule.”

“Careful there, you don’t want to taunt the universe into fucking with us.” Josh smirked.

“Don’t you worry, I’m sure there will be some kind of complication tomorrow.” She smirked back up at Josh.

***

Ellie dove down once more, confirming her markers were still in place and that the coordinates they recorded were good. That done she headed back up to the surface.

Bob's boat had drifted a bit while she was under, but not so far it was any trouble for her to swim to it.

"Are we all set to head back then?" Josh asked once she had reached the boat.

"Yeah, everything looks good here. Let's get you home for dinner."

"Sounds good to me," Bob said as he went to the side of the boat where a small pod-like object was resting. "Hey Josh, give me a hand with the drag pod."

Ellie and Bob had built the pod themselves. It protected her from the wake and securely held her as she was dragged behind the boat.

"I don't know how you can handle being in there." Josh said once it was over the side.

Ellie shrugged, "Small spaces never really bothered me. Maybe the choice of an eel tail was more fitting than they realized.” she flicked her long tail as she considered it. “Anyway, I'll probably just take a nap until we're back in the marina."

After the pod was properly flooded, Ellie entered, strapping herself into it. She hit a switch that sent a signal to Bob that she was ready to go. Up on the boat he started the engine and made a slow turn to get them heading in the right direction. Once his heading was set he cranked up the throttle.

Ellie silently sighed. She had spent hours swimming deep, and the water flowing over her long exposed tail was soothing. She didn't bother fighting it and nodded off. She didn’t dream, she usually didn’t these days, but nonetheless the nap was refreshing to her. As Bob slowed down, the shift in speed and vibrations roused Ellie. She yawned silently as Bob made his way back to his berth. Once he cut the engine Ellie unstrapped herself and slipped out of the drag pod.

"Did you have a good nap?" Josh asked as Bob tied down his boat.

"I did," Ellie smiled up at him, "I at least have enough energy to swim back home."

"Why don't you go ahead and do that, I'll help Bob finish up here then head back."

"I'll see you there. Have a good night Bob, don't drink all your pay tonight." she joked.

"You know I avoid the bar on wing night," Bob winked, "Besides, we all need to get out early tomorrow morning."

"That’s true. Well good night, see you in the morning, does around 5:30 sound good?"

“Sounds about right, I’ll head down to your place first thing and we can get the rest of the gear loaded up.

“Ok, see you then!” she waved before diving.

It didn't take Ellie long until she reached her boat shed. After letting herself in, she swam to the surface. She had just finished putting away her gear when she heard the door open.

"Ellie, are you back?" Josh called out.

"Yeah, what took you so long?" she smirked.

He smiled back, "I'm going to send some emails and do a few more office-things before I head home. Are you going to give our client a call then?"

"Yeah, oh! Let me get the camera, I want you to send the picture proof we found the yacht." She swam to Josh with the divecam.

"I was just about to ask for that," he bent over to retrieve it, "thanks."

Ellie waited until Josh was back at his desk before slipping back underwater. She pulled off her top and simply floated for a bit relaxing. Ellie then picked out her favorite blue floral bikini top and tied it on. She then swam back up to the surface. Josh was at his own desk, just something he had found at a yard sale to set his laptop on.

"I’m going to give Mr. Weaver a call now to update him.” she said as she swam to her own desk.

“I’ll try to not type too loudly.” was his snarky reply.

It earned a smile from Ellie as she dried off her hands to handle the phone. After several rings Mr. Weaver’s personal assistant picked up. After a brief explanation he put Ellie on through to his boss.

“Hello Ms. Derstine, Brian tells me you have some good news for me.”

“Yes, sir. We found the Annabelle today, in the general location you thought she had sunk in. We have the location marked and we will be heading out tomorrow to attempt to salvage it.”

“That is good news, and sooner than I had expected to hear it.”

“Luck was with us, I wasn’t even half way through the search grid when I spotted it.”

“How bad is she?”

“I feel fairly confident we can re-float her, at least well enough to get her to the shipyard. As for the rest, well, she has been on the seabed for a week at this point.”

There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone. “I understand. Still the sooner we can get her into a dry-dock, the sooner I can put my idiot grandson to work on her. I will make sure the shipyard will be ready to receive you as soon as you can tow it in. Please keep me updated, I’d like to be there when you bring Annabelle home.”

“Of course, Mr. Weaver. Josh will be sending an email to Brian with the coordinates and some photos I took of her.

“Thank you very much, Ms. Derstine. I will hopefully see you tomorrow.”

“You are quite welcome, sir, have a good night.” She ended the call and looked over to Josh. “Did you get that email sent?”

"Yeah, and Brian has already confirmed receipt." he said, turning around in his chair. “

“Good, then we can finally call it a day then.”

Ellie smiled as she opened the door to a small fridge and pulled out a pair of beers. She swam to Josh who was now sitting on the edge of the deck and handed one to him.

"Thanks," Josh said before cracking open the beer, "so, how do you think tomorrow will go?"

"I don’t know for sure, things can go sideways when re-floating a sunken ship, and that can be literal. But, she’s in good condition, and the hole shouldn’t be too hard to patch. Once I get her on the surface it’s going to be up to you to run the pumps and get her high enough to tow it to the shipyard.”

"Sounds simple enough. Since this job is going smoothly, should I put some feelers out to find us the next one?

"No, let’s wait until we have the Annabelle back at the shipyard. With how unpredictable recovery jobs are, I like to be finished before I start a new one. Besides, a successful job and a happy client help us find new clients."

"Yeah, we’re probably due for the universe to crush our spirits again anyway" he smirked.

"Hey, I'm just being realistic." Ellie took a long drink, "Anyway, how's your mom doing?"

"Better, she started gardening again." he smiled slightly, "It's good to see her doing it again."

"Yeah, that's good…"

Ellie looked at the webbed fingers on her hand. She'd never considered planting a flower before, but now messing about in a garden was just as possible as walking on the moon for her, or even just walking.

"You ok there Ellie?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking." she finished her beer, "I think we can call it a day."

"Oh, hey, mom wanted to know if you liked the leftovers I brought the other day."

"They were great! I don't remember the last time I had a pot roast.'' The talk of food lifted her spirits a bit.

"Well, it's meatloaf tonight, I'll bring you some tomorrow."

"You'll have to bring your mom around some time so I can meet her."

"I'll let her know that," Josh finished up his beer, "Anything else you need before I head out?"

"I'm fine, I'm just going to make a sandwich and watch some videos."

"OK, don't stay up too late. See you tomorrow!"

"Night Josh."

She waited until she heard his car turn over, after two tries, before slipping out of her top. She slipped under the water and just floated looking up at the surface.

So many things I never got to try...always time to do them later, huh? God, I was so stupid! I might be stuck as a mermaid but damn it, I'm not going to have any more regrets!

Her head was just breaking the surface when the phone started to ring.

"Eel Bait Recovery and Salvage, Ellie speaking."

"Is this Ellie Derstine?"

"I'm the only Ellie here, how can I help you?"

“Ms. Dearstine, I represent the Orion Talent Group. Recently around the office talk of the mermaid performances came up, and after viewing several videos everyone agreed your solo performance was by far the most enchanting.”

“Thanks, I guess, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“We are aware of the situation, but there has been some interest in reviving the mermaid shows.”

“As much fun as performing was, I’ve moved on. If you found this number you know I run my own business now.”

“We are aware of your current business venture, and although you did find something uniquely suited to a mermaid we are willing to make you a substantial offer to sign with us.”

“And what happens to my business?”

“In addition to a signing bonus we are willing to buy you out for the current estimated value of your equipment, facilities, et cetera.”

“That’s…” the call she had received months ago popped into her mind

“An offer that’s too good…”

“That’s quite the offer,” she grabbed a pad and started to jot things down, “And how much of a signing bonus are you offering?”

“Ten thousand dollars, with a commitment of five years on the contract.”

“I see. What about my accommodations? I need more than just a corporate condo.”

“We managed to locate the original tank used for your solo performances. And we are planning on a residential tank at least equal to what you had in the park. Additionally, we have converted a tanker truck to work as a transport for you and any other mermaids who sign with us.”

“Oh, that’s interesting, after all if you're not on the Florida coast I didn’t know how I would get to your facilities. Speaking of which, where are you located?”

“We have several facilities in the US, one of the reasons we need the transport you see.”

“This isn’t a decision I can make right now. Do you have a number or email I can get back to you with in a few days?”

“I understand, this is a big decision. Let me give you my direct number, it's 505-555-4537, feel free to call back any time if you have any further questions.”

“Oh, I will, good night.” she was smirking as she hung up the phone.

Immediately she opened up her email client and started to transcribe her notes. She had never heard of the Orion Talent Group, but she knew better than most when an offer was too good to be true. She sent the email directly to Agent Harper, and a copy of it with a warning to Lisa. with the emails sent she quickly dialed the FBI agent.

“Ellie? Is everything alright?” Harper asked as soon as he picked up the call.

“I hope so, You got time to talk?”

“Just doing some paperwork, what’s up?”

“I just sent you an email, but I wanted to get in contact with you to be sure. I think I got a call from someone who made me too good of an offer.”

“Hold on, I’m pulling up your email now,” she could hear him tapping on his keyboard, “Orion Talent Group, Hmm...haven’t heard of them.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“Neither really, just means I’m starting from square one on this.”

“I don’t trust them, they didn’t give me a location when I asked. A signing bonus is fine, but offering to buy me out? Nobody is that big of an asset.”

“I agree,” Agent Harper sighed, “Ellie, don’t initiate any further contact with them.”

“What if they call me, or show up at my door?”

“Let me know if they contact you, but I’d avoid meeting with them in person.”

“Don’t worry, I have a camera at my front door for a reason, and I have a few hidey holes in the local waters I can slip away to.”

“Good. I’ll be in touch as soon as I learn anything more on this Orion Talent Group.”

“Hopefully it’s just your run of the mill scam, I’ll be waiting on your call. Sorry for ruining your night.”

“This stack of files would have ruined my night; a possible lead on these assholes just made my night. Take care of yourself, Ellie.”

“You too, Harper.” she ended the call and sighed.

Her eyes immediately went to her speargun and diver’s knife. But she shook her head.

Come on, once the FBI looks into them, they will either be busted or vanish into the night. But they said they had that truck...

Ellie went back to her phone and placed another call.

“Chief Blair, how can I help you?”

“Chief, It’s Ellie.”

“Ellie, what’s up? Is Stanton protesting outside your home again?”

“No, thank god, this is something different. I kind of need a favor from you.”

“What kind of favor?” Blair sounded curious.

“You know I’m blind when it comes to anything past the marina and beaches. I wonder if you could keep an eye out for any strange vehicles, big ones like a tanker truck.”

“We don’t see many of them, outside of deliveries to the gas station. But why are you concerned?”

“Look, I'm pushing the trust I have with a friend asking this, but I can't risk not knowing. I'm not asking you to tail them or chase them out of town, just let me know if you see one."

"Ellie, just tell me are you in trouble?"

"Not yet, and I plan to keep it that way. Also, if you happen to get a call from the FBI about my safety, we didn't have this conversation."

There was a long pause before the chief replied, "I'll keep an eye out, but if something spooks you, don't wait on the feds, there’s a whole ocean you can bug out to. You hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

***

Josh pulled into his mom's garage. He was glad there was room for both their cars so his scrapheap wasn't visible from the street. He gave his car a quick inspection to make sure nothing was falling off before heading inside.

"I'm home!" he called out.

"In the kitchen!" his mom replied. "How was your ocean voyage today?"

"Fruitful," Josh opened the fridge and pulled out a beer, "we got lucky and Ellie found the sunk ship on her first dive."

"That is pretty lucky, did you buy a lotto ticket on the way home too?" she grinned.

"No mom, I didn't." He chuckled. "I just hope bringing the yacht back to the surface isn't a disaster because we lucked out on finding it."

"I'm sure it'll work out for you two." She took a sip of her wine, "things seem to be looking up since you started working together."

"It's certainly more fulfilling than delivering pizza." he smiled as he twisted the cap off the beer.

She raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you still doing that on the side?"

"That's a favor to Ralph, and I'm trying to save up for a new car before my current one explodes."

"You could always borrow my car. Other than grocery shopping I pretty much walk everywhere down here. It’s one of the reasons we picked Blalva Beach to retire too."

"I understand that, but when I’m on the water all day it leaves you stranded if some kind of emergency happens. I’ll keep driving my car till it stops.” He paused to take a sip of his beer. “And after that, Ellie lined me up with a scrap guy to take it off my hands.”

“Honestly, I was surprised it survived the trip down here," his mother shook her head, “Anyway I was wondering, do you have any plans this weekend?”

“I’m helping out Ralph Friday night, but otherwise no. What are you planning?”

“I was thinking of going out to the beach on Saturday. Maybe you could introduce me to Ellie there?”

“Ellie had asked me to bring you around sometime to meet you, but I can run it past her tomorrow.”

***

The Sea Cucumber slowly towed the Annabelle in. Apart from the noise and exhaust from the pumps, Josh was enjoying the slow cruise to the shipyard. He was on the deck of the salvaged yacht manning the pumps. Josh had brought a book and was enjoying the read. As the sun started to get low, he rigged and switched on some lights on the bow and stern of the Annabelle.

When the shipyard came into view, a pair of tugs came out to meet them. Josh worked the ropes Ellie had rigged to work the Annabelle’s rudder so it came to a stop and didn’t so much as bump the Sea Cucumber. Once he helped the tugs get tied on, Josh released the line and climbed down to join Bob back on his ship. Ellie popped up from her pod once the tugs started to tow the Annabelle to the dry-dock.

“Hey Ellie, they said Mr. Weaver is waiting for us by the dock.”

“Alright, let’s go meet with our client.

It didn’t take Bob too long to reach the docks where an older man in a suit was patiently waiting in the last bit of the day’s sunlight. Ellie popped out from the water immediately and called up to her client.

“I’m down here, Mr. Weaver!”

Even with being aware of the fact Ellie was a mermaid, he was still a bit surprised. Mr. Weaver went to the edge of the dock and looked down at a smiling Ellie.

“Sorry if I kept you waiting all day, we had to pump out a lot of water before we could even think of towing her.”

Mr. Weaver let out a soft laugh, “I’d thought I’d be waiting a lot longer when I first approached you, I can’t complain about my wait this evening.”

“The good news is, I don’t think the hull sustained any additional damage, or at least nothing I could find while we were pumping her out.”

The old man nodded. “It was good to just see her floating again. I know it seems crazy spending so much money to recover her, but she is a part of my life and our family history. So many memories…you can’t put a price on that.”

“I’m happy we could help recover those memories sir.” Ellie said with a soft smile.

“I have a cashier's check for the balance, as well as a little bonus of sorts.

Ellie shook her head. “There’s no need, there was no bonus structure in the contract.”

“I never said it was money.” a smile started to curl the corner of his mouth. “You see, as part of his punishment my grandson is going to be giving up alcohol until the Annabelle is seaworthy again. To help keep him honest, I had his personal bar cleared out.” He pointed over to several boxes stacked on the pier behind him. “I’m not a man to waste good spirits by dumping them down the drain, so I figured I would treat you and your crew to a few drinks on his tab.”

Bob and Josh were laughing back on the boat.

“I was never one to turn down a drink. Thank you, Mr. Weaver.”

“Thank you for bringing her home.”

***

Back at the shop Ellie, Bob, and Josh were celebrating. The radio was playing in the background of the old boat shed and a stack of Captain’s Pizza had been delivered. For drinks they were cracking open the top shelf spirits provided by Mr. weaver.

“Do I even want to know what a fifth of this scotch costs?” She asked as Bob poured a portion into three mismatched juice glasses.

“No.” Bob smirked, “Just sip it slowly and we’ll leave it at that.”

Ellie smirked back and took a sip. “Mmm, still not a big fan of scotch, but that is good.”

Josh chuckled, but nodded in agreement after taking a sip of his own glass.

“Glad to hear that. I know you wanted to split up the bonus between us, but I couldn’t in good conscience walk off with this bottle without sharing it.”

“It’s a good way to toast a successful job.” Ellie said, lifting up her glass.

Bob and Josh clinked their juice glasses together with Ellie. It was then that the door buzzer went off.

“Who’s coming around now?” Ellie said as she slid to the door monitor.

She saw it was Chief Blair standing by the intercom. Without a second thought she buzzed in the police chief.

“Ellie?” He called out as soon as he entered the shed.

“Right here, Chief, Is something wrong?”

The man sighed, “So far, no.” he nodded to Bob and Josh. Just had something I needed to talk to you about, privately.”

“Come on, Josh.” Bob said getting up from his chair, “I have a cigar I want to light up anyway.”

“Yeah, sure…” Josh said, keeping his eyes on Ellie as they made their way to the back porch.

Chief Blair waited until the door was shut before speaking. “Sorry to interrupt your little party.” he picked up one of the bottles and whistled, “You’re really going all out!”

“Heh, yeah, the booze is a gift from our client, punishing his grandson for drunkenly sinking the family yacht by giving away all his liquor. If you see something you or Rosa would like, help yourself.”

“Thank you, but I avoid spirits, it's a long story.” he returned the bottle. “Anyway, you remember that thing you wanted me to watch out for? A suspicious tanker truck?”

“Shit, one showed up?”

“Sort of. Just listen to the whole story, ok? Highway pulled over a tanker truck this morning, one of his lights was out. Pretty standard thing. Anyway the officer was inspecting the truck for any other less obvious violations then he noticed the top of the tank was strange. The driver tried to be evasive, but eventually he was forced to open it up. It had a hatch long and wide enough to fit a person through easily and apparently some kind of crane to facilitate it.”

“Fucking hell…What happened to the truck?”

“Some high priced lawyer showed up, with some private security goons as the officer was radioing in for assistance.” Basically said there was nothing that violated any DOT regulations apart from the light that was out, and they already had a road crew on the way to fix that and unless the officer wanted a world of legal trouble he would just write the ticket and get out of there.”

Ellie narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, nothing illegal about a mermaid kidnap-mobile, is there?”

“A buddy of mine relayed the story. He was on the interstate when it happened coming this way. I got his tag and DOT numbers and the boys are going to be on the lookout for this guy, but no sign of him yet.”

“Looks like we need to make a call in to Agent Harper.”

“Probably.” the chief said.

***

Agent Harper was just sitting down at his desk. It had been a busy day for him. Two more members had been brought into the task force and he had spent most of his day bringing the two agents up to speed with the current state of affairs. He needed the help, however, as things were getting deeper and darker than they had ever expected since Atargatis Entertainment had been shut down. Harper was just getting into his emails when his desk phone rang with an outside line.

“Augmented Humans Investigation division, Special Agent Harper speaking.” he responded while still scanning through his inbox.

“Harper, It’s me, Ellie.”

“Ellie?” Harper sat up straight in his chair, “What can I do for you?”

“We have a problem, But if it’s ok I’d like to put you on speaker with Chief Blair.”

His brow furrowed slightly “He’s your local police chief?”

“Yeah, and a friend. I’ll be honest with you Harper, I asked the Chief to keep an eye out for any suspicious trucks, like the kind that could transport a mermaid.”

Harper let out a long sigh.

“Sir, that’s all she told me, and besides the safety of this community and all of its residents is my responsibility. Not to mention after all Ellie has done for the department, me and the boys can keep an eye on the road for her. Now let me tell you what the story I heard from my friend in the highway patrol.”

Harper was jotting down notes as he listened to the story, his face getting more worried by the minute.

“I need to get on the phone with the highway department about this.”

“Yeah, don’t bother. Something fishy is going on there. I didn’t get to this part of the story with Ellie yet. Somebody is pulling strings to cover up the entire incident. I can get you my buddy’s personal number but I don’t think you want to talk to that station at least.

“Damn it, I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ve been running into a few walls here the past few months. I’ve got some other calls to make on my end, but I’m coming down there. Needless to say this is serious, but it’s also the biggest lead we’ve had in months. Chief Blair, keep a look out for that truck like you’re already doing, but don’t step in unless they actually try something with Ellie. We don’t want to spook them and I want a lot more than just the man driving that truck.”

“I understand, and I’ll relay it to the boys. Let me know when you get here.”

“Trust me, I will. Ellie-”

“I’m not going anywhere, I’m between jobs anyway. But first sign of trouble I’ve already got a few hiding spots with some supplies stashed I will swim to.

“I need to get things moving up here. I’m going to try and get down there by tomorrow.”

“See you then.” Ellie said as she hung up the phone. “God damn! It just had to be tonight, didn’t it?” she slapped the water surface angrily with her tail.

“Ellie? Josh called from the porch door. “Why didn’t you tell us about this?”

“It’s rude to eavesdrop,” Blair said, glaring at Josh, “especially with sensitive information.”

“Don’t blame the kid, it was my idea.” Bob said as he closed the door behind them. “And don’t try to shove that southern manners BS on the two of us.”

“Ellie’s our friend too, you know! We aren’t going to just stand by and do nothing.”

“Now hold up, friends or not you are both civilians, and don’t you start,” he pointed to Bob, “once you retired you became one again.”

“We’re not going to go all vigilante,” Bob said as he placed his empty glass on a counter, “But I’m not about to leave her all alone. Besides, That FBI guy doesn’t want you to spook these assholes, and keeping a cruiser parked outside would do just that.”

“You two boys are going to do this no matter what I say, aren’t you?”

“Somebody has to do the shopping anyway.” Josh said as he crossed his arms.

“This is a damn fool idea, but my job is to minimize danger so this is how it will work. You two will not engage at all. You see something funny you call me and warn Ellie.” he turned to the water, “And you, you run, er, swim and hide as fast as that tail can take you.”

“This is why you had me get that burner phone, isn’t it?” Josh asked Ellie.

“Yeah, I have it stashed in a safe place with some other supplies. I needed some way to contact Chief Blair to see if the coast was clear.”

“I’m going to head back to the station, I need to talk to the on duty officers and set up a few things before Harper gets here.”

“We’ll keep you on speed dial, Chief.” Josh assured him.

After the chief left, Ellie slipped lower in the water.

“I’m sorry guys, I-I need a few minutes.” she then sank down to her wet room to think.

The party now over, Josh put away the fancy alcohol and started a pot of coffee. He was worried about Ellie, but he couldn’t exactly jump in the water to check on her. Bob had stepped out, he said to get something from out of his car. The coffee was just starting to fill the pot when Bob returned with a large case.

“What’s that”

“My shotgun.” Bob said as he placed the case on the counter and started to unlock it.

“You’re not serious.” Once the lid opened, he saw that Bob was completely serious. “Didn’t you hear Blair?”

“Loud and clear.” Bob said as he removed the gun from the case and reached for a box of shells. “But people with this kind of power, do you think they aren’t going to bust through the door armed?” he started to load the shotgun. “Someone kicks in that door, they are getting a faceful of buckshot. I don’t care what the consequences are to me, I ain't losing another friend.”

“Just…be careful with that.”

“Just remember to buzz in when you come back with the groceries.” Bob said as he closed the gun case.

“You know I have a key, right?, and besides that, there's a camera at the door.

Ellie floated down, the talk above fading into not more than a murmur. She wrapped her long tail around herself as she rested on her bed.

Damn it! I didn’t want Josh and Bob mixed up in this…Josh especially, he’s had to deal with enough stuff in his life as it is. Ellie shook her head slowly. Everything was just starting to get better. My business…having friends. But no, things can always get worse, and for me doubly so. What the hell am I going to do?

________________________________________

Original story and setting by Syntaxerror37

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