Tempest - Kris Michaels Page 0,28

did I miss?"

Tempest deadpanned, "Nothing. Your partner seems to think one of you has impulse control issues."

Browning whooped with laughter and slapped his leg a couple times before he pointed to Smoke. "Y-yeah...You."

Smoke batted Browning's hand away. "I don't have impulse control issues. I see something I want to do, and I do it. How is this an issue?"

"Shall we bring up the op in the Azores." Tempest tossed one of many ops Smoke had complicated because he was “having fun”.

"What? No way man, I blew the boat to smithereens. There was no problem."

"Right and where were you supposed to have the boat explode?"

Smoke shrugged. "Out at sea."

"And where did it blow up?"

"The pier, but you gotta remember, they made an unscheduled change of course."

"Because the father learned you were screwing around with his daughter, and he was coming back to kill you," Tempest rebutted.

Smoke snapped his head toward his partner. "I wasn't screwing around with anyone. The daughter had the hots for me because she thought I was him."

Browning's chuckles diminished, and he shrugged. Tempest raised an eyebrow and met Smoke's frown in the mirror. Well then, he had called it right. Smoke was interested in his partner. Whether it was sexual or not he didn't have a clue, but Smoke explaining his actions to anyone, not brandishing them proudly, was a new wrinkle in his friend's behavior.

"Do you have secure comms on the boat?"

"Yeah. We do." Smoke's answer was clipped.

"Take us there. I'll need to brief Anubis on my suspicions, and we'll need to make a plan of action."

"Fair enough." Smoke hit the turn signal indicator and navigated his way to the harbor.

"Shit. This is your boat?"

"Well, technically, my baby is considered a ship. Meet my lady, the Dark Angel."

"Y-yacht," Browning interjected.

"Yeah, I can see that. Fuck man, how much did this thing cost?" Tempest stared at the sleek lines, darkly tinted windows, and the host of antennas and radar attachments to the... well hell, up there would be a bridge, wouldn't it?

"Oh, you know, it would be really expensive except the guy who used to own it died somehow, and what do you know? When I changed the name and country of registration it kind of became mine." Smoke shrugged. "Funny how shit happens."

"Holy hell, this is magnificent. Why the hell are you staying in my 1960's piece of shit house?" Two... no three levels on this thing. A hundred-foot-long if it was an inch.

"Well, we like this area, and when we're here, I can get some maintenance done on her."

"This is better than I could have hoped for. Get me on board this thing, we've got work to do."

Smoke led the way onto the opulent yacht. Browning headed inside, and Tempest put a hand out, stopping his friend. "Is there something between the two of you that I stepped on?"

The man ran his hands through his hair. "No, but he is special to me. I'd like him to respect me. I don't want him to think I'm a manwhore, you know what I mean? Thank God I'm not usually around people who know about my past.” Smoke drew a breath and gazed into the ship's opulent living area. "Sage is one of the best people I know. He makes me want to be a better person. To bring myself up to his standard."

"Damn. Does he know how you feel?" Tempest crossed his arms over his chest. If his lesson in hell had taught him anything it was life was too fucking short not to grab what you want. He had a plan, and he was going to execute it. If destiny was a righteous bitch, he'd end up with Pilar, and with her information he'd find and take out Stratus and the fucking Fates.

"No, it isn't like that, man. There are damn good reasons for my respect and this topic is closed. Permanently." Smoke moved past him and into the now well-lit interior of the vessel. "Comms are up in the bridge. Follow me."

Tempest narrowed his eyes. It wasn't like Smoke to be so possessive of a person. He'd attached himself to his new partner. Not like in the past. There was something between them, but it didn't appear to be sexual. Again, another first for Smoke. He trailed Smoke through the well-appointed ship and up to the bridge. By the time they'd arrived, Browning had already powered up the ship's systems. "Shut the door behind you. This room is shielded. No one is going to