CL Hart -From A Distance (17 page)

Cori stood up and looked at Kenzie with deep concern. "What else hurts?"

"Nothing," Kenzie lied as the two women locked eyes. "Just fix up my side...please."

You're not as tough as you think you are.
Cori looked up into the eyes of her would-be killer. Their gazes held for a few moments as Cori bit at her lip in contemplation. It was only then that she realized her hands were still holding Kenzie's waist. She could feel the warmth of the firm, toned skin radiating beneath her hands.

Kenzie felt the change in the pressure of Cori's touch as she tilted her head back in challenge.

"What...else...hurts," Cori asked. When Kenzie did not reply, Cori moved her hands along her ribcage and gave each rib a forceful push. The woman's stoic expression never changed, but her eyes sparkled with gold.
She's enjoying this,
Cori thought, and that spurred her on. Slowly sliding her hands down Kenzie's firm flesh, she stopped on her hips and pressed hard, looking for any sign that something else was giving Kenzie pain.

"I said, 'nothing'."

Cori's eyebrows furrowed in frustration.
That hiss came from somewhere.
Thinking back to their plunge into the water, she recalled Kenzie's death-defying grab. With her eyes focused on Kenzie's face, Cori reached up and pressed on her right shoulder.

"Son of a bitch!"

The sudden intake of breath and the color draining from Kenzie's face gave Cori the information she was searching for.

"Don't tell me 'nothing'," Cori commented, deliberately poking her shoulder again.

Kenzie's eyes rolled in pain as she reached out and grabbed Cori's arm. "What the hell was that for?" she said in anger.

"That was for the back of your hand when we were in my car - and for your fist in my face in my apartment. We need to get the rest of your shirt off."

Kenzie licked at her lips, certain that she saw a twinkle of satisfied revenge in Cori's eyes.

Manny came back into the galley with his makeshift medical supplies. "I got wha..." He stopped short at the sight of the half-naked woman. He was a tough old seaman, but a young, good looking woman in a bra still made him blush. He cleared his throat and made the sign of the cross over himself. "I got what you asked for... Hope fishing line will ah...work. I threw everything into somc.um boiling water, so it's as sterile as you're gonna get on a fishing boat." Kenzie showed no sign of modesty or embarrassment as Manny did his best not to gawk at the sight of her bare skin above her skimpy bra.

Cori was concentrating on her examination of Kenzie's shoulder, and paid little attention to his discomfort. "I'm gonna need a hand here Manny, assuming you're up to it." Cori stepped back from her patient. "She's dislocated her shoulder and I won't have the strength to perform the reduction."

Manny took his eyes off Kenzie's cleavage and looked at the unnatural bulge at the front of her shoulder. He carefully placed the items on the table and reached into his back pocket, pulling out a silver flask. "You're gonna need this," he said, offering the alcohol to Kenzie.

"What is it?"

"Tequila."

She accepted it, but hesitated before taking a drink. "Before we carry on with this, I think we need to talk."

"I think we need to do this first-"

Kenzie cut Cori off. "No, we need to deal with this first." She turned to the captain. "As uninvited guests aboard your boat...how long will you let us stay on board, and how far will you take us?"

"Depends. How far you want to go, and," he eyed her suspiciously, "who you're running from?"

They were fair questions. Kenzie answered, though it made her feel uncomfortable. "I'm not really sure who's after us, but I can tell you, they aren't amateurs." She looked at Cori before continuing. "I don't have the money now, but I'm good for it.

Unfortunately you'll have to take my word for it, but I'll pay you handsomely...if you're willing to take us north...at least as far as you can?"

The captain didn't answer right away, so Kenzie took a long drink of the tequila. A shudder went through her body as the alcohol burned down her throat. She had to swallow several times before the fumes left her mouth.

"You want mainland or Baja?" the captain asked as she took several smaller sips from the silver flask.

"Baja." Kenzie wiped tequila from her lips. Keeping one eye on the captain, she watched Cori prepare what few medical supplies there were. She knew her pain was going to get worse before it got better.

Manny removed his hat to scratch his head. Taking his unexpected passengers across the Gulf to the Baja of California was a risk, a big risk, but if the financial reward they were offering was real... He looked the two women over and considered his options. The blonde was a bossy little piece of dynamite, but he knew the one with the gun was in charge.

"I can take you as far as San Felipe, but it will be dangerous...and costly," he added.

"Fine." The boat pitched wildly to starboard and without thinking, Kenzie reached out to steady herself. A flash of searing pain exploded through her unstable shoulder. This time she couldn't conceal her pain, letting out a loud hiss from between clenched teeth.

"Okay, enough of this talk, we need to fix this shoulder," Cori said.

Kenzie's face grew pale and Cori was certain she was going to faint, so she slid her hands around Kenzie's bare midriff. "Trust me," Cori whispered into her ear as her hands tightened their hold.

Kenzie studied the upraised eyes. Didn't Cori understand that she was not really the trusting kind? She hadn't relied on anyone since she had been teamed with John Mifflin. Still, this was different. She had little choice. Not only was her body in need, but something stirring inside made her want to believe Cori.

Manny took in the situation and made a decision. "I think we should do this in my quarters. There's not nearly enough room around that table."

"Okay," Cori said, while the silent Kenzie only nodded.

Surprisingly the tequila was already affecting Kenzie, so Cori slid her hands around her waist and guided her down the narrow hallway to the captain's quarters. It was a small room, but there was more than enough space to work on Kenzie's injuries.

Cori carefully deposited Kenzie on the bed. "You need to drink more," she said as she handed over the flask.

Kenzie was going to protest, but the look in Cori's eyes told her she didn't have the strength or will for that much of a fight. Putting the tequila to her lips, she took several large gulps and then placed it on the night table next to the bed. The alcohol shook her body sending another sharp slice of pain through her shoulder. "Errrggg!" she grunted through clenched teeth.

"Okay, let's get this shoulder back into place. Hope you're ready." Cori sat down on the bed next to Kenzie. Bringing her legs up, she carefully maneuvered around Kenzie's waist and locked her ankles together. As she brought one arm around Kenzie's chest and the other around her back, she noted how warm Kenzie was. Carefully, she wiggled tightly against Kenzie's side, trying not to think about her forearms pressing into Kenzie's breasts. She looked at Manny and nodded. "Alright." The captain moved to Kenzie's side and took her hand. "Have you done this before?" Cori quickly interjected.

"Si.
Working on a fishing trawler, you have to be ready to do just about anything, but I ain't sticking around while you sew her up. I've got a boat I've got to get back to."

"Fair enough. Okay, Kenzie, lean over into me." Cori tightened her hold.

Kenzie started to relax into Cori's care, but something sharp and hard, forced her forward. "Hang on." Pulling her 9mm from her waistband, she leaned past Cori to place it next to the tequila. As an afterthought, she took one more long pull on the nearly empty flask. "Okay." Closing her eyes, she leaned over into Cori's damp shirt as Manny's calloused hands circled her arm.

Cori felt Kenzie shiver in her grasp. She squeezed a little tighter, pulling Kenzie's uninjured shoulder against her chest. Cori could feel her tense just as Manny pulled her arm. A gut wrenching
thunk
filled the small room as Kenzie did her best to muffle a cry. Cori whispered a shushing sound into her ear, but she was unsure if Kenzie heard it as her head flopped over onto Cori's shoulder.

"She's out," Manny said as he laid her arm against her side. "I suggest you sew her back together before she wakes up. You can stay here in my room, just don't make a mess." Manny laid Kenzie's limp body out on his rumpled bed as Cori looked around the cramped quarters.
How on earth could we possibly leave it any messier than it already is?

"You two are in real trouble, aren't ya?" he asked, watching Cori as she laid a towel over Kenzie's chest. She was awfully young to be in this much trouble, but it didn't matter. He had already decided to help them, more for this little one than for the sullen woman on his bed.

Cori nodded slightly to Manny's question as she turned to face him. He looked to be in his sixties. His dark skin weathered from the elements, his eyes dark from years of struggle, but he appeared to be streetwise, and, in Cori's opinion, friendly.

"We didn't do anything wrong," she said, her voice strong, "but we seem to have attracted the attention of some bad people."

"You were on that ferry weren't you?"

Cori nodded reluctantly.

"But they didn't stop when you went over the side?"

Cori was quiet for a moment, pondering how and what to say. "Can we say that they didn't even know we were there, never mind that we went overboard, and leave it at that?"

He accepted what little she offered with a dip of his head. "Where exactly are you headed?"

Where? Good question.
Cori was not sure, but as far north as they could get in Mexico. "Assuming you take us to San Felipe, we'll make our way to Tijuana, then San Diego. Beyond that, I'm not really sure."

Manny nodded. "I'll do what I can, but I won't promise." With that, he left the young woman to care for her friend.

The door shut with a soft click and Cori turned back to tend to Kenzie's wounds. The light in the room was not very good, so she pulled the overhead lamp closer to see what she was doing. Pre-med had been a long time ago. She hoped she could remember what little she'd been taught. Kneeling down beside the half-naked woman, she removed the towel from Kenzie's chest, uncovering her wounds. After a quick examination to determine the full extent of Kenzie's injuries, Cori decided it would be better just to cut off her soiled bra. Once that was done, she used a clean, damp towel to begin wiping away the blood. The view in front of her was far more pleasant than she could have imagined as she ran a needle and fishing line through the jagged edges of flesh.

When the make-do stitches were finished, she sat back and looked over what she had done. The sutures were ugly and unprofessional, but she figured they were better than leaving the skin gaping open. Checking over Kenzie's hands, she decided none of the dozen or so cuts were deep enough to require stitches. Her next undertaking was to remove the many slivers of wood they both acquired while crawling through the hole in the cattle trailer. When her body was free of wood splinters, she started on Kenzie's.

It took her longer than she anticipated, but eventually all that remained were red and swollen scratches over much of Kenzie's body. She gently ran her hand over the taut skin of Kenzie's abdomen, feeling for any slivers she might have missed.

It had been a long time since she'd had her hands on a woman's naked body, and she could not help the feelings that touching Kenzie was stirring in her. There were several scars marring Kenzie's strong body, but they appeared to be old and well healed. Kneeling closer to Kenzie's head, she parted the hair to get a good look at where the bullet had grazed her temple a couple of days earlier. The swim in the ocean had cleaned the scab from the wound, leaving behind a small gouge of skin, which should heal easily. Cori swallowed hard at the realization of how close that bullet had come to ending Kenzie's life. She reached out and lightly brushed the old bruise and stitches on Kenzie's high cheekbone.
And where did you get these?
She tenderly fingered the sutures. Cori decided they had been in place long enough. With a couple of snips, she removed the dark thread and then sat back to study Kenzie's face.
Thirties? Late thirties,
she decided.
Hard to tell, but regardless, she sure is beautiful.
"Especially when you're not pointing a gun at me," Cori whispered.