I entered the bar as I had done many times before. The difference this time was that I was there as Annie. I was in equal parts feeling exhilarated and mightily nervous. There was always a chance that I might have been recognised but I thought those chances were pretty slim. I make for a pretty convincing girl, and when I'm Annie I look miles different from my usual self. My heart was pounding, nevertheless.

CHAPTER 56
I stared at her back, just for a couple of seconds, wondering what she had meant, or if she had meant anything at all. It was a word used freely by both Geeta and Kul, as well as some of our customers, and she might not have meant anything at all by it, caught up as she was in her excitement at the birds and the dolphins.

Leave it for now, Rhodes. I called Vern over, and showed him the cracks in the exposed rock.

Hope's Light

Chapter 6

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Six - Potatoes

“Why does one without need seek passage?”

The grey-cloaked spirit towering over me stood thirty-feet tall. With sandals straddling slowly rocking parallel top decks of a slender felwood boat, the voice boomed out from under a deep and shadowed hood. If the barren expanse behind had any features other than scattered ancient bone, the sound would have echoed mightily - but as things were it simply resounded loudly from above.

And given the message, I’d barely started this undercover investigation and already my cover was blown. Joy.

CHAPTER 55
Friday morning duly arrived, and we made a fine group as we entered the conference suite in the boatyard’s business centre. Maz was in her very best suit, sharp enough to slice whatever you might need paper-thin, Chad was amazingly neat and both Kul and I had done our best to match them. We’d picked up Martin and Trudy from the biodiesel company at the reception, and once inside, we were introduced to three suits from the ferry company, along with another pair I gathered Kul hadn’t been expecting. Just as I was bracing myself for a typical stuffed-shirt meeting, the leading Ferry Suit simply grinned and held out his hand for a shake.