Chapter 234 - :

Well away from the team's grim expectation, Nathaniel was currently lying down in a deckchair, wearing only a straw hat, sunglasses and bathing blue shorts. Not far from him, there was a long pool, many other long deckchairs positioned along its length and there was even a bar at the opposite side of it. Conforming to his habits, he was reading a book while listening distractly at the conversation going near him. It all changed when someone suddenly threw some water at him.

"Hey! Why did you do that?"

"I'm still angry at you and you weren't listening to us!" Camilla said in a rightful tone.

"You are always angry so that's beside the point. Hell Camilla, that's the only half decent book I find in this place." Nathaniel said, annoyed.

"You were still ignoring us."

"No I wasn't. You were talking about the prank I pulled on you three and were discussing on how to get back at me. I still don't know why you are still angry at me, I never said it was going to be dangerous, you misunderstood me."

"You mislead us into thinking that it will be dangerous." Na-Yung said, narrowing her pretty eyes at him.

"If it would be dangerous, I would never have taken your guns away. That was simply poor thinking on your part." Nathaniel said, fighting hard not to smirk.

"How did you do it? Weren"t you concerned about losing the money? I can't imagine renting the entire top deck of this cruise ship would be cheap." Lucie asked.

"It was easy really, I found this cruise while I was looking for an alternative way out of the island. I really like that way of leaving because sometimes, the biggest and most obvious way out is also the most unexpected one. I rent the entire deck to reduce our interaction with the other four hundred and twenty passengers to avoid being recognized. If we were to not have any need for it, I would just have canceled the payment as everything about that reservation is fake. Now, I��m going to pay for it because we are using it so we should at least enjoy it. In two days we will be back in Miami so in the meantime, we will use the pool and the mini bar as much as we want. The crew will left us alone, they are used to it and I bet we won't even be in their top100 of the most eccentric wealthy people they met in their career."

"What about the rest of the team? They are going to worry about us." Na-Yung asked.

"No, they won't. I left a message using one of our dropbox. They are going to be waiting for us in Miami." Nathaniel explains getting to his feet before stretching his arms.

"Plans inside of plans…" Lucie murmured quietly. "That's why you burn the cars, you wanted to attract law enforcement attention to the beach to make them think we had already left the island while we were in fact getting away using another means."

Nathaniel just acted like he didn't hear her and took a bottle of sunscreen before looking at Camilla.

"Camilla, catch!" He shouted suddenly, tossing her the bottle.

Surprised by the sudden shout, she instinctively reached for it but didn't realize in time that it was only a misdirection as Nathaniel pushed her into the pool. With a surprised yelp, she crashed into the water triggering a fit of laughter from Nathaniel, Lucie and Na-Yung.

"Na-Yung." Nathaniel said, almost singing her name.

"No! Don't you dare, I swear if… No! Release me!" Na-Yung shouted as Nathaniel took her in his arm in a bride carry and just tossed her into the pool unceremoniously.

Lucie reacted instantly, knowing that she would be next, she pounced on Nathaniel in the hope to push him into the water. She had a victorious smile when she saw him going to the water that turned into surprise when at the last instant he seized her right hand and dragged her into the water with him. Touching the bottom of the pool, Nathaniel used his feet to swim and gained some distance from the others. Getting through the surface, he removed his hair from his face and realized that he was facing three angry looking womens.

"Wait, don't be angry, we can still make peace." Nathaniel said quickly, starting to back away.

"You're dead!" They yell before jumping on him.

What followed was just the three of them trying to drown him with various degrees of success. The previously quiet deck was now filled with the sound of laughter and shout. At that moment, no one would have believed they were an elite black ops team.

*****

Los Angeles, 10/04/2013. 11:25.

Descending the cab outside of his house, Nathaniel paid the fare with a nice tip before getting his luggage out of the car trunk and walking to his house. With a smile on his face, he reminds him of the little vacation he just had with a part of his team. In fact, the more he was thinking about it, the more he wanted to take real vacation with the entire team. He will have to organize that soon.

Once they were back, the whole team had met and Scott had brought him up to speed. The hostages were fine, the two daughters of the Senators already back with their family. Nathaniel hadn't heard from William just yet but he was sure he would soon, not that he cared about congratulation at all. That wasn't why he was doing this and it wouldn't be why he would stop. What made what he did worthwhile for him was that the two unknown teenagers were reunited with their family now after the State Department managed to track their family down. The last thing he heard, was that the family was together at the Swedish consulate in Washington and were going to get back home tomorrow.

The elder man was already on his way home and the four college students from the UK were still at the hospital in Miami, one of them afflicted with a severe pneumonia. Based on his understanding, he will be okay which was good.

When he was a hundred feet away from the door, Nathaniel started to hear howling and meowing which made him smile. Putting his luggage near the front door, Nathaniel walks to the steel door going to the garden. The moment he opened it, a wolf suddenly pounced on him, starting to lick his face off where a cat was busy jumping on his legs.

"Andy! Jaydon! Yeah I missed you too little buddies!" He smiles, petting them joyfully.