Chapter 2: The Cottons Of Coronado

The first two crewmembers Jeff and Susana met belonged in a cartoon. Jeff was positive the ancient merchant marine cap perched on the man's head looked old when it was brand new.

Susana snorted and made a faint "beep" noise as she fought hard not to laugh. "Oh my god," she whispered.

Jeff Cotton snorted and waited for the character in front of him say in a raspy voice, "I yam what I yam."

The tall, skinny female with mosquito bite sized almost-breasts was all skinny arms and legs clothed in loose fitting shorts and tee shirt. She stood ten inches taller than the man beside her. "Hi," she greeted them, "I'm Alice Seaman and this is my dad Mike.

"Popeye Mike" added in a friendly voice, "That's 'Seaman' with an A."

"As opposed to semen without the A," Alice added. She grinned as Jeff choked back a gasp and Susana snorted as she tried to not laugh out loud.

"I assume you are our captain and mate?" Jeff looked from one to the other.

"Only if we are all satisfied with one another." Mike looked back and forth between Jeff and Susana.

He continued, "Living aboard a blue water craft can be hard on peoples' nerves if they are mismatched."

Jeff nodded, "My daughter and I have never had a crew before. My ticket is for our old boat, the Huntress. Susana and I were crew enough."

Alice Seaman asked, "I understand you plan to live aboard, is that correct?"

"Yes," Susana answered. "We intend to make the O Susana our permanent residence." She paused, smiled and added, "At least for the time being."

"We also plan to travel a lot," Jeff told them.

John Hooker interrupted them. He cleared his throat and asked, "I have an appointment I must keep. I'm sorry."

He waved to a man and woman coming up the gangway and called back, "These are your stewards, Robin and Rene Waters."

It was obvious the pair, dressed in identical black Izod shirts and thin, eight-ounce denim slacks, were brother and sister.

Before Jeff or Susana could speak, a voice from the dock called, "Permission to come aboard!"

"Come on aboard," Susana answered and waved at the woman and young man who stood on the dock waiting for permission.

Jeff smiled a greeting at the pair and nodded to them. He surmised they were the mother and son protection team. "Hello, I'm Jeff Cotton and this is my daughter Susana," he greeted them.

"I'm Meredith Blake and this is my son Jason. We're here to discuss your security needs." She reached out to shake Jeff's hand.

Jeff looked at the woman and was unimpressed. I better let them down easy, he thought to himself. To Jeff, she looked about as dangerous as a grade school hall monitor. He took her hand and shook it once. When he let go, he started to try to let her down as gentle as he could.

She laughed at Jeff's reaction to her and her son Jason. "I take it you are under whelmed with us?"

Jeff blushed and tried to be diplomatic. He hated the thought he might hurt their feelings. "Ah, well, you see..." he tried to explain.

Her laughter gave Jeff an erection. She explained, "Jason and I make an effort to not stand out in a crowd."

Jason scowled and interrupted, "Meredith, if they don't want us, let's leave. Senor Galvan all but begged you to stay on and head up his security detail. We don't need to prove anything."

"Would that be Claudio Galvan?" Jeff asked in a soft voice. A faint smile played over his lips. He cocked his head and waited for the answer he knew was coming.

"Yes," Jason answered. "He's staying in a suite at the Torrey Pines Pacifica while he finds someone to replace us."

Meredith held up a hand and told her son, "Quiet. Not another word. We do not talk about past employers. You know better." Jason frowned and looked a little embarrassed.

"Here's your cell phone, Dad. I already punched in the number."

She handed him her cell phone and grinned as Jeff started to talk to the attorneys from the Department Of Justice. "What'll you give me if I tell you where Claudio Galvan is?" He grinned and told the person on the other end of the line, "I also want your first born to raise as my own."

"Stop," Susana said as Meredith started to unclip her phone. "If you call and warn Senor Galvan my dad will see you get at least twenty years for racketeering."

"What?" Jason asked.

"My dad has agreed to testify against that jerk. Galvan tried to force Dad to go into business with him and Dad turned him in."

"What are you talking about?" Meredith asked. "Jason and I worked security detail for his children. We never saw anything that remotely smacked of criminal activity."

Susana nodded her head. "I doubt he said anything around his family. I understand he keeps all his illegal activities far removed from his wife or children." Susana started to say more when Jeff waved her to silence.

Jeff told Meredith, "In about five minutes we shall be underway to San Diego for our shakedown cruise. We can all get acquainted while Captain seaman gets the kinks out. If we don't seem a good fit we'll give you plane fare back up here. That sound good to you?"

Jason looked at Meredith and she answered, "Yes."

Jeff looked at Susana with a down-your-nose mock formal air of authority. "You may give the order to get under way, Miss Cotton."

Susana looked down her nose at Captain Mike and told him, "You may commence our voyage, Captain."

Robin and Rene laughed at the charade and retreated to the galley. Jeff motioned for Meredith and Jason to follow him. Susana followed along. Once in the lounge, Susana took their drink orders. She served beers around, including one to Jason after Meredith okayed it.

Jeff smiled at the other three and began his remarks. "We have a somewhat delicate situation aboard the Oh Susana. We are four incestuous couples. We have two father and daughter combinations, Mike and Alice Seaman plus Susana and I."

Meredith pursed her lips and took a deep breath. "Why are Jason and I singled out for a private meeting, Mister Cotton? Why aren't Mike and Alice here, as well as Robin and Rene?"

"Look, Susana and I somehow slipped into our relationship quite recent, as it were. We are still looking for the boundaries that define whom we are, so far as the other is concerned."

Jason frowned and showed his impatience in a challenge, "So?" He stared his defiance at Jeff.

"Kid, you and your mother must be pretty good. No, make that damned good. I happen to know that damned Mexican thief never hires second rate, especially where his family is concerned. However, if you open your mouth once more just to smart off, you and your mother will be dropped off and sent back on a plane."

Susana was less than friendly. "Just shut your stupid mouth. Either get with the program or we cut you loose. Your mom looks like a good person. You're acting like a spoiled brat. So shut up."

"Jason," Meredith cautioned her son when he started to stand up. "Mister and Miss Cotton are absolutely correct. Please act like the professional I taught you to be."

She turned from her son to look at Jeff and Susana. "Jason had become quite close to Senorita Consuela Galvan during our employ as her security team. When she was sent to school in Switzerland, he was devastated.

"Jason and I are not monogamous," she added. She smiled at his discomfort and added, "We still work to define our relationship."

Jeff smiled at her candor. "Thank you for sharing that with us." He became serious and continued, "You two and Susana will be closer than mere bodyguards. If you accept this job, you will eventually have to hire four more people to assist you." He paused then added, "I figure at least four and perhaps more."

"They have to be female," Susana added. "I refuse to have hairy apes in the shower with me." She laughed at her father's expression.

"What about me?" Jason asked in his first attempt to make amends. "I'm male."

"I'll give you an exemption. You may carry my vibrator for me." She laughed at his shocked expression.

Jeff snorted and Meredith laughed, "We'll get you a silk lined box to carry it in."

Jason blushed. He looked at the others and began an embarrassed laugh. "I'm sorry I was so unprofessional acting. My mother did teach me better."

The other three laughed at his halfhearted attempt at humorous apology. Then he added in an indignant sounding voice, "But I don't do no stinkin' vibrators. It just isn't manly."

As soon as the laughter died down, Jeff told Meredith, "Galvan's overtures toward me are part of the reason I feel we need security. My daughter and I are vulnerable because of my upcoming divorce. Her mother is a greedy, vindictive bitch who can never have enough of anything. She is a wild card."

"How wild?" Jason asked, suddenly the professional he was trained to be.

Jeff frowned, and thought hard. "She wouldn't hire assassins, at least I don't think she would."

"Don't bet on it," Susana interrupted. "That bitch hates us, Dad. She is jealous of me because I have access to more money than she does. She hates you because you won't roll over and be her sub. She's a power freak."

"You know better than I, sweetheart. I spent the past year buried in an alcoholic haze." Jeff reached over and patted her shoulder. "I believe we should prepare for a worse case scenario."

"Let's take a nap and discuss this later." Susana stood and grabbed Jeff's hand.

Jeff followed her. As they left the salon, Jeff headed up toward the enclosed wheelhouse. "Captain Mike, please pull outside the normal shipping lanes and drop anchor whenever you get tired. There's no sense in pushing yourself. We have the whole weekend to reach San Diego."

Mike Seaman laughed. "Thanks for your concern, mister seaman. With all the advanced electronics we have aboard, I can stand wheel watch for days on end. All I need is occasional relief for a head call. This craft almost runs itself."

"I'm more accustomed to the Huntress, our last boat. She was well equipped, but we still had to keep a close eye on everything."

"Well, no matter. Annie and I can take this big beauty anywhere in the world. For her class, she is the best there is."

"Well, in that case I'll get out of your hair." Jeff grinned when the Popeye double removed his cap and rubbed his sparse hair.

Susana stood close behind him. "Jeff darling, you must learn to not be so hands on about everything. Mister Hook got us the beginning of a good crew. Why don't we let the crew do crew stuff while we do sex stuff? I'm horny." Captain Mike looked embarrassed.

Jeff blushed and tried to chastise his daughter. "Honey, could we be a little less blatant about our relationship?"

"Jeff, when we're aboard without any outsiders, we do not have to hide anything. So relax." She stood on tiptoe, grabbed his head and pulled it down to her lever and stuck her tongue between his lips. He hugged her tight against him and returned the kiss with interest.

When they broke apart, Susana told him, "Come along. Now I'm even hornier."

Jeff called to Meredith on the way back from the wheelhouse, "You have the stateroom next to ours."

Susana began to undress as soon as the door was closed behind them. "Hurry," she urged, "or I'll start without you. I'll call Jason in to get my vibrator for me."

Jeff looked at his naked daughter. He shucked off his own clothing and took her to bed. "I love you so," he whispered, closed his eyes and slept.

"Now isn't that just like a man?" Susana whispered to herself. Then she rolled over tight against him, licked his chest twice and closed her eyes.

They both came awake when Meredith came into the stateroom and shook Jeff's naked shoulder. "Better get dressed, we have visitors."

"Thanks," Jeff told her. As he rolled over he became aware Susana had a tight grip on his semi hard penis. He grinned.

"We sleep the same way, "Meredith told him. "That way I can always locate it in case of an emergency. She laughed at Susana's expression.

"We'll be right out." He slipped on a pair of shorts and his deck shoes.

When they reached the second deck, Jeff's eyes opened wide. Two men were rappelling down ropes from a helicopter that hovered twenty feet overhead. Two attaché cases were lowered on another line. The two men were dressed in expensive suits.

Ann Seaman came up the front ladder and yelled at the two, "Get those damned street shoes off of my deck."

Captain Mike came up behind her. He had a lethal looking automatic in his hand. "Sit on your dumb asses and get those shoes off. Now." He looked back and forth.

"I'll take those," Susana told them and snagged up their shoes.

"Okay," Mike looked back and forth at them. "You hailed us to stop dead in the water. You came aboard without permission and you didn't identify yourselves. I have a legal right to shoot you both and take your bodies to the nearest coast guard station for an inquest.

Meredith and Jason had spread out on each side of the newcomers. "Move very slow, gentlemen. Quick movements could be fatal." Her voice was low and non-threatening.

"Hey, we're..." One of the two intruders, the one nearest Jason started to say and brought his hand inside his suit coat.

Quick as thought, Jason advanced on the man, brought his hand back out from under his coat and dropped him face down the deck. "DEA, you fucking idiot!" the man yelled. "I was reaching for my ID."

"You were warned to make no sudden moves," Jeff told them. "You have only yourself to blame." He motioned to Jason and the drug agent was released with a sore arm.

"May I?" The other stranger realized how precarious their situation was. People with Jeff Cotton's wealth could not afford to take chances. He took his time as he reached inside his breast pocket and retrieved his identification.

Jeff stared back and forth at the two uninvited guests. "In one sentence, why are you here?"

"We want your boat." He stared back at Jeff. His eyes never wavered.

"Follow me down to the salon." Jeff led the way.

"Annie, take the helm," Mike ordered. He followed the pair of drug agents as they followed Jeff and Susana. Meredith had inserted herself in the lead and Jason slipped in between Mike and the second agent.

Once everyone was seated, Jeff demanded, "Okay, just what in hell is going on here? Don't try to play good-cop-bad-cop games. If you start that, I promise you more misery than you ever knew existed."

"My name is Lester Freeman. We are with the DEA. This craft has nearly a billion dollars in pure uncut cocaine bidden in the bulkheads. Due to a series of tactical errors..." The agent was interrupted.

"Tactical fuck ups, you mean." Captain Mike was at his most belligerent.

"Please permit me to continue uninterrupted," Freeman cut in on Mike's possible ongoing tirade.

"Go ahead," Susana said. She held onto Jeff's hand.

"The drugs were hidden during a refit and went almost undetected. Then, just as we were about to close in on the shipment, our team was recalled and the registered owners of the boat were murdered and the boat disappeared."

Jeff was impatient to get to the bottom line. "Since we know this is the craft loaded with the narcotics, I assume you have had it under surveillance, right?"

"Only in recent weeks. Then we learned that junk dealer planned to dismantle everything. We asked for authorization to confiscate your yacht and destroy the drugs. While we waited for court authorization, you bought the yacht and we had to come up with a new game plan."

"Let me guess, "Mike interrupted again. "You put the word out that the Oh Susana was still loaded with the drugs and about to come out of storage. Your plan was to nail the ones who made a move on the drugs and try to go on up the food chain another link and try for the big guys. Right?"