Page 46 of Dublin's Danger Dancer

“I think something in the air just got in my lungs, that’s all.”

“That’s good,” he says, “because now seems like the perfect time to...” He stands over me, hooking a finger around my Bardot dress strap, slipping the dress from the side of shoulder further down. “Find out what’s underneath this exquisite dress,” he says, stroking my arm.

A wailing siren sounds. “This is the Spanish naval authorities. We are boarding your ship.”

Liam lets out a deep grunt. “Not now, for feck’s sake,” he says in a much too relaxed manner for a man whose ship is about to be searched by the authorities on the way to do what I presumed was a drug deal.

He leans in and whispers, “How do you feel about being caught by the authorities?”

I swallow, a hard lump forming in my throat.

“I want our first time to be special.” I lie, lifting my eyelashes to him.

“Me too, baby,” he says, kissing my forehead. “Let’s ‌see what’s happening.”

Once we reach the deck, Freddie, Tanya, Admir and Anastasia are saying hello to the men boarding the ship.

The Spanish men are throwing their heads, their tanned, sea weathered skin wrinkling around the eyes as they laugh. They’re all wearing heavy gold necklaces and rings.

Freddie introduces me to a man he calls the Admiral.

“Admiral, this is Liam’s girl, Ciara.” I shake his hand while I stare at the Policía label on his uniform.

“It was a funny stunt you pulled there announcing that you are coming aboard to raid us,” says Liam, shaking the admiral’s hand and nodding hello to the other men.

“I have to keep you on your toes, somehow. Isn’t that what the English say?”

“I keep telling you, we are feckin Irish.”

“All the same to me,” he says.

“All the same to you as long as you keep getting paid.” Liam says despondently.

“We’re going to have some Spanish tapas, fresh catch, for dinner. You’ll stay and join us, admiral?” asks Freddie,

“Of course, once we conclude business,” he says, staring intently at Liam.

Freddie, the Admiral and Liam ascend a set of steps to the top deck of the boat.

I hadn’t told anyone coming here and especially not Fergus. I knew he’d have a heart attack if he knew I was here. Jurisdictional issues aside, I was now a witness to the Spanish authorities taking bribes. Not that my testimony would stand up in court.

Tanya scoots to my side, chatting incessantly about some bag that Freddie had bought her. While Anastasia rolls her eyes at us and turns on the heel.

“I’ve got a bit of a headache,” I say “I’m going to go to my cabin.”

“Here, take this with you,” she says, thrusting a bottle of water at me. “Dehydration is the main cause of headaches.”

I take the water and descend the stairs back to the cabin at the back of the ship. I find a stairwell and tentatively creep up back to the main deck. I’m just below where Liam, Freddie and the admiral are speaking about their payments. I squish myself into a corner to overhear what was being said.

“We are currently paying you fifteen percent of everything we transport and we intend to keep that at fifteen,” says Liam.

The admiral, who is puffing on a cigarette, presses his hand into the railing and breathes the cigar smoke out into the ocean air.

“Understand me. It is not me. It is my men. I have a lot of people to pay the same as you and I need twenty-five percent, not fifteen. That is the only way we can do this with none of you going to prison.”

“I don’t like the way you’re talking to my nephew,” says Freddie

“Of course we can work something out for fifteen, but we can’t give you the full service. You will be taking more risks.”

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