Drama, Love, And Dangerous Weapons

[Mrs. Martinez's POV]
I looked over at my daughter, who was sleeping. I hadn’t seen her in so long, and to finally be able to hug her, and see her everyday was a miracle. But I couldn’t help feeling some sort of wariness, because I knew that if my daughter was with me, she would be in some sort of danger.

I turned to Jazz, who I had met a few years ago. He was staring at my daughter with a strange look that I couldn’t put my finger on quite yet.

“Jazz, thank you.” He turned to me.

“For what, Miss Martinez?” His face was puzzled.

“For taking care of her, Jazz. I’m glad that you have. She’s growing up well, and I have to thank you for that. You and Miss Becker have done a great job.” I could tell that he was slightly embarrassed by my praise. It was then that it clicked what he was staring at my daughter with. It was obvious he loved her, and not like a brotherly love.

He loved her like a prince would love his princess.

I smiled. I couldn’t have picked anyone better for her. I followed his eyes to the sleeping figure of this new boy, Avery. I could tell that he cared about my daughter, too. Call it a mother’s instinct. I hoped though that their conflicting feelings wouldn’t put us in danger, as boys’ egos sometimes do.

I turned to him, and gave him a piece of advice that I wish someone had told me a long time ago.

“Jazz, sometimes you don’t realize just what you have in front of you, until it’s gone. You have to take chances, and tell what you want to tell, because there may not be a later.” I ruffled his hair as I stood up.

“I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight, Jazz.” I slid into the bunk above my daughter, and fell asleep.

~*~
[Jazz's POV]
I sat there, thinking about what Miss Martinez had told me. I didn’t understand it at first, but as I thought about it some more, it started to make sense.

She was trying to tell me to tell Pippa how I felt.

Huh.

I guess what they say about a mother’s instinct is true.

I sighed, and stood up. I knew that she was right, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t even know how she felt about me.

But I did know one thing.

I would tell Pippa before Avery did.

I didn’t even know the guy. And neither did she! For all we know, this guy could be some sort of spy for an enemy, or an assassin sent to take us out like Jason and Maria.

Avery snorted in his sleep, and I jumped. I shook my head, and crawled into the bed across from Pippa. All this spy stuff was going to my head. Avery was just a normal guy, who had been orphaned at a young age. Who was I to judge him?

I closed my eyes, and drifted to sleep, hoping that there would be a tomorrow.

~*~

[Pippa's POV]
I woke up on the submarine, and outside the water was still dark. I’m guessing that it was early morning, because I felt refreshed. I rolled out of the bed, and walked over to the kitchen, and then I heard someone talking.

“Yes, I’m here. No, they don’t. I know what to do, I’m not incompetent. You’ll just have to trust me. Fine.” The person hung up their phone, and I slipped past them, walking back to my bed.

“Jazz! Jazz! Wake up!” I started pushing him, and he rolled over, facing me.

“What is it, Pip?” He asked groggily.

“Someone…Someone…I think someone’s spying on us! Someone on the ship! I just heard them talking to someone on a phone! It sounded like they were spying on us! Jazz, wake up!!” I kept pushing him, until he sat up.

“I’m up, I’m up! Now what is this about someone spying on us?”

I pointed towards the kitchen, towards the closed sliding door. He rolled his eyes.

“Pippa, come on. Nobody could really be spying on us without us knowing.” I just bit my lip.

He didn’t believe me.

The door slid open, and my mom, Phoenix and Avery came out.

“Where were you guys?” I asked, nervous.

“Kitchen.” My mom said.

“Front of the sub, checking on the ship.” Avery said.

“With Avery.” Phoenix said. Avery cast her a look, and I sent one to Jazz.

Someone was lying, and I wanted to find out whom.

I didn’t want anyone knowing that I was suspicious, so I just nodded. “Oh, okay.” I smiled, and made a mental note to myself to rule out my mom. I honestly didn’t think that she could have been the one that was spying on us.

They gave me weird looks, and then went about their business. “Jazz, it’s got to be either Phoenix or Avery. But I can’t imagine either of them turning on us.”

He sighed. “Pippa, you know what the first rule is.” I nodded.

“Never rule out any possible suspects.” He nodded, and then moved to the kitchen.

“First we’ll need to rule out their alibi’s.” The oven was still warm, and there was a plate of hot pancakes sitting on the table.

“Looks like your mom’s alibi is solid.” He murmured, moving out of the room. I followed him to the control room, right behind the kitchen. The control panel was warm, and when Jazz swiped the panel for recent fingerprints, Avery’s came up from only a few minutes ago.

“He’s clear.” Jazz said, a bit begrudgingly. “But Phoenix isn’t. I didn’t find her prints anywhere.”

“She might not have touched anything, Jazz.” He looked over at me.

“Or she might have been lying. You saw the look as plainly as I did; we couldn’t call ourselves spies if we didn’t. He knew something was up with her. We might have found our spy.”

I sighed. “I just don’t see it. She knows less about this than anyone. I doubt that she’s the spy.”

“Never rule out any suspects, Pip.” I nodded. He was right, but I still didn’t see how innocent, naïve Phoenix could be the culprit.

“Kids, breakfast!” I heard my mom shout from the kitchen, and walked over. Hot pancakes were waiting for us, along with orange juice.

“This looks delicious, Miss Martinez!” Avery said, sitting down. She smiled.

“I’m glad it does. We were lucky that there was some pancake mix in the stuff you grabbed. Butter and syrup as well. Well, don’t just stand there gawking! Eat, please!” We followed my mother’s request, and started to eat the pancakes like there was no tomorrow.

“Momma, these are delicious!”

“I agree, Miss Martinez, you sure can cook!” Not one to be outdone, Jazz tried to top Avery’s compliment. I rolled my eyes, and shared a Look with Phoenix.

“Boys,” I mouthed, and shook my head. She smiled understandingly.

As soon as breakfast was finished, we put all of the dishes into the submarine’s dishwasher, and walked into the control room to see how close we were getting to our destination.

We were pretty close, and my mom started getting nervous.

“Oh, I hope he’s still there, I hope that he remembers me, oh dear, what have I gotten us into? Oh no, oh dear.” She kept fretting like that for a few minutes, until I tried to comfort her.

“Mom, I’m sure whoever is there is going to remember you. It’s going to be okay, Momma, don’t worry.” I got up, and squeezed her hand. She looked down on me, smiling.

“I’m sorry for being such a worrywart. It’s just it’s been so long since I’ve been to Spain, and what if everything has changed?”

“Mom, I’m sure we can handle it if everything has changed. Don’t worry.” She smiled again, and nodded, stroking my hair.

“You’re right, my dear. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“Miss Martinez? We’re approaching the dock soon.” Avery said, looking up from the chair he was sitting in.

“Good. That’s good. We should get everything together.” My mom stood up, and walked towards the kitchen. I got up and helped her pack things, and soon Jazz was helping us too. I could feel the submarine rising as we packed.

We got all of the food into knapsacks, and it was then that we noticed Phoenix was gone.

“Avery, where’s your sister?” He looked around, and shrugged.

“I thought she was with you guys.”

We shook our heads, and looked around the submarine. Sure, it was big for its class, but the submarine wasn’t that big. She couldn’t have been hiding somewhere far.

“Phoenix! Where are you?” I shouted, and still, there was no reply.

“Jazz, what do you think is going on?” He shook his head. “I don’t know Pippa.”

We all put on knapsacks, and turned to Avery.

“She’ll hear when we land, and come out from hiding. The best we can do is just go outside and wait there.” We nodded, and he put on his backpack, carrying Phoenix’s. When the submarine finally stopped, Avery popped the hatch, and we climbed out, onto the island that was waiting for us.

But it wasn’t the only thing waiting for us.

“Agent Pippa, Agent Jazz. Agent Avery. Ex-agent Mirabel. We’ve been waiting for you.” Standing in front of us were several men in suits, pointing guns at our heads.

“What?” I asked, breathless.

Phoenix walked up to the front of the group.

“Your trip ends here.”