Monday May 21

Simon’s warehouse

11:15 am

Nikki had just finished closing out her case notes on Scarpetti and Nazari. The field teams were able to intercept the last 2 weapons before being deployed so they had effectively locked down Nazri’s enterprise and all his players. The bioweapon was in the hands of the authorities and the public had no idea how close they came to falling victim to the senator and his lust for power. In the end, the senator got what he deserved for crawling into bed with the likes of Nazari. She wouldn’t be losing any sleep over either of them.

Nikki’s shoulder was feeling a lot better, but the follow up doctor visit this morning had her reeling. She had been feeling ill for the past several days and when she informed her doctor, he ran the usual tests and she wasn’t prepared for the results, not one little bit. Right then, Porn Star Dancing started playing and Nikki realized that the song had definitely grown on her. She opened the email up and read,

“Dear Butterfly,

I can’t wait to see you. There is a car at the entrance waiting for you. Props spinning in 40, don’t be late! Before you say it, I already cleared it with McShay. I’ll see you shortly.

Love,

Simon”

Props spinning in 40, what does that even mean, has he traded his jet in for a prop plane? There was only one way to find out. She grabbed her purse and her go bag and headed out to meet the car.

40 minutes later, Nikki was at a small marina not too far from Quantico on the Potomac. The driver gave her a slip number when he dropped her off and she made her way down to the slip where she saw a beautiful older motor yacht in the slip. As she drew closer, she noticed the name elegantly painted on the back of the boat, “My Butterfly” She looked up and there was Simon on the back of the boat looking even better than Nikki had remembered, that 1000 watt smile firmly in place.

“Hello Butterfly, what do you think of her?” He walked down and helped Nikki aboard and planted a kiss on her that had her props spinning. She still didn’t know what that meant, but there was definitely some spinning going on.

“It’s beautiful, have you had it long?” She asked while looking around at the boat. It was definitely an older model, but it was in pristine condition, the wood shiny and all of the stainless-steel blinding.

“I may have stretched the truth about disposing of Echo’s boat. He was nice enough to sign the title over to me before he went and played with the sharks. I have her stashed away in case I need to leave the area without using the usual methods of egress. What do you think of the name?” He asked taking her hand and leading her around the boat.

“I love it, it is beautifully painted, did you do the artwork?”

“Dante did.” Nikki’s eyebrows shot up, “Really?”

“Yeah, turns out he is quite the graphic artist. I saw what he did up in his apartment and when we got back, he painted the name for us.” Nikki was smiling and shaking her head, still these men continue to surprise her at every turn.

Simon showed her around and explained that Dante is back at the warehouse taking “care” of Tango. As Simon fired up the boat and finally explained to Nikki that the boat is propelled by propellers, or “props”, she felt kind of silly for not knowing that as she has lived on the eastern seaboard her entire life. Once they got out into open water and Simon engaged the auto pilot and they were at the helm holding hands she finally got up the courage and looked over at Simon,

“There’s something I need to tell you….”

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