Throughout the evening, and into the night, Adam stayed topside, coming below only when he needed to top-up his drink. He had his binoculars and was constantly scanning the harbor waterfront area and the streets and buildings bordering the bay. It appeared the fires had been brought under control and there were no longer the sounds of gunfire or disturbances. Occasionally, the wail of an emergency vehicle echoed out of the ominous quiet and across the dark waters.

Ava hadn't tried to engage Adam in any meaningful conversation. They had spent the first full day back in port working together returning Vendetta to ship-shape. Today, they had caught up on much-needed sleep and recuperation, keeping to themselves for the most part.

But now, Ava had prepared a simple microwave meal and had taken it topside. As she approached Adam on the fore-deck, Ava asked, "How's your leg, Adam?"

"Huh?" He lowered the binoculars and twisted round. "Pretty fair, Slim. Tender, but the color and temperature are good. I'll likely skip the hospital. You did well." He placed the binoculars on the cabin deck. "And would ya look at this," he said, eyeing the tray. "You're always popping up with exactly what I need. And you're the guest. I oughta be doing this for you."

"Right. Nuked lasagna, big deal." She handed him a bowl.

"You save my life, serve me gourmet meals. It is a big deal. I'm lucky you've stuck with me, Ava." He cupped the palm of his hand along her lower cheek. "You shoulda left me for the sharks."

Ava put her hand over his, let him take the weight of her head, she said, "Hmm, yeah, I thought about it, Sailor. But I still owe you a couple."

Later, Ava was lying on her bunk, alternating between deep thoughts and cat-naps. The current deep-thought topics were 'right' and 'wrong'... the basics.

She was angry with Adam for not abandoning his vengeful objective. And she considered her anger completely justified. It was murder for Pete's sake! But on the other hand, she couldn't help admiring his courage and tenacity: Sacrificing the easy-life; sailing to the other side of the world, engaging in unlawful and dangerous activities with scary characters; risking life and limb... all for, well... justice, that's what the bottom line was, Adam East was out for justice. And if he didn't make it happen, it was unlikely anybody else would. Badaki and his gang operated with near impunity in Yemen. If any person deserved to be executed, it was Badaki.

But it was still wrong, Ava reminded herself with reproach.

And, since it was self-reproach time, to be brutally honest, she may as well come clean and admit to herself that it possibly wasn't Badaki's murder that was upsetting her most. Truth be told? It could be her bruised pride. It hurt and infuriated Ava, to no end, that no matter what she did or said, Adam remained bound and determined to seek out his bone-headed revenge.

Ava drifted off into another round of twenty winks while wondering whether she'd give the relationship thing one more shot.

She woke when she heard Adam come below at twenty-one. The lavender night was warm and still, she was lying nude, under no cover. Ava had left the cabin door ajar and the night-light on. Adam spent a short time in the shower and then spoke in a low throaty voice at her door. "Expecting company, Slim?"

"More like trolling for it, Sailor. The Devil made me do it. Come on in." She stuffed a pillow behind her head. "But, your leg; sure you're up to it?"

"Well I do feel a bit of stiffness coming on. But what do you think?"

He stepped into the cabin with nothing on but a fresh bandage and smile. His hair was wet and tousled. He almost looked as though he were a young boy... if it weren't for the ripped body, and the 'stiffness coming on'.

Ava said, "What do I think? I think you're always popping up with exactly what I need, Pinocchio." She raised her open arms to him.

"Speaking of trolling," Adam said as he came forward, "how is it that all you need to do is ditch the shitty robes, take a shower and you come out looking as though you'd spent a day at the spa?"

Ava took his outstretched hand and pulled him in, saying, "No comment; a girl must have her secrets."

In days of yore, soldiers would traditionally engage in excessive reverie the night before battle. Eating and drinking like there was no tomorrow; indulging like it was their final opportunity... because, in fact, it could very well be just that. Ava was in that particular state of mind when she made love with Adam on this night; a state of heightened awareness and sensuality: Apprehension, fear and anxiety eclipsed by an exhilarating aura of an existential joie de vivre. And she sensed that Adam was dwelling in the exact same zip-code, body and soul.

Slow and easy. That's how it began. Adam knelt in and kissed her softly but then he took Ava by her calves. He lifted her legs and he lay crosswise on the bunk and draped them over his right hip. He propped himself with bent elbow so he could look her in the eye.

Ava smiled and sighed. She'd not tire of looking at Adam. But in a way, the amazing symmetry and proportion of his facial features –emphasized because of the tiny scar and chipped tooth– tipped her off balance; set a catch of longing in her throat, as though she needed somehow to drink him in, absorb his essence. His shiny hair, clear bright eyes and peerless teeth, the well-defined line of his jaw. She'd like to drain her sense and sensibilities and soak in his masculine allure. But she had to resist, stay connected.

So they chatted. About nothing, anything, everything... except Yemen, Badaki, murder, and the morning. Adam spun yarns of his sailing adventures in the South Pacific; Ava told him about one of her crazy misadventures while camping in the Adirondacks. And all the while, Adam used his right hand to explore and massage her toes, and feet, and legs, her tummy and her breasts, her arms and her hands.

As Ava related a story about her high school after-prom, Adam took each of the fingers of her right hand and used his lips and teeth and tongue, in the same manner he had taken her toes the first time they'd made love on Vendetta. It became so luscious, and so distracting, Ava did not reach the part where everybody simultaneously hit their headlights.

Instead, she closed her eyes and opened her legs, reached her left hand down to take hold of Adam's astonishingly rigid prick. He moaned and Ava felt an extra measure of pressure on the fingers of her right hand as he bit down. She applied more force on the low grip she had taken on him. She felt a knot of urgency begin to clench deep inside her lower belly. She waggled his prick, manipulated its silky purple head up and down and around the florid flesh of her nether lips, slipping and dipping it inside occasionally where she was even more lubricious and sensitive. She teased herself with it.

Adam let go Ava's right hand and slid his fingers inside her. He massaged her gently and lovingly. It was so comforting and blissful Ava wished it could last forever. Later, she would ask him whether he'd apprenticed with Dr. Grafenberg. Because Adam East knew precisely where 'the spot' was... and what to do with it when he got there. All she uttered now was, "uh-huh, uh-huh", over and over, till nothing remained but a barely audible, low-throated whimper.

His sense of her sexual proclivities seemed preternatural. He danced her effortlessly on the quivering thin edge between anticipation and frustration. Ava's fidelity to her agnostic leanings was in peril. On this particular night, she could be easily swayed to believe she was, indeed, born of Adam's rib.

When she could no longer endure the overwhelming desire, Ava manipulated his penis in more vigorous and concentrated swirls round her clitoris. Coupled with Adam's magic-fingered, internal massage it was only one arrested heartbeat until, inevitably, the little slices-of-death throes rolled through Ava, toes to nose, violently contracting every muscle fiber in her body. It was so sustained, and took her with such ferocity, it almost frightened her.

But in the same manner as the tide, it did eventually subside. It left her wasted and with a ringing in her ears. Her limbs felt as though they'd become detached from her body. A fine sheen of perspiration had formed on the flushed skin of her belly and chest and shoulders. Ava breathed deeply and tried to gather herself, return to Earth. She felt Adam's cock pulse and twitch in her hand. She slipped it all the way inside and was gratified when she heard him sigh with relief. Ava reached behind her head and yanked the pillow out. She let her arms flop overhead.

She was a ragdoll. Ava wanted Adam to take her at his whim and fancy. And he did. Rolling her and bending her, stretching her back and apart. Grabbing and kneading and kissing and hugging her. He was indefatigable and she was open and wanting, wanton and willing.

When he took her from behind, Adam nibbled the rim of Ava's ear. She could detect the salty female scent of her own body on his ragged breaths. He pressed his cool moist lips inside and whispered with a smoky timbre. Much of what he uttered was indiscernible. But Ava caught enough of his professions to know he adored her for all that she was; and that he would be eternally grateful for the offerings she had graciously chosen to bestow upon him; that he believed her body, and taste, and scent were precious gifts from heaven.

It broke Ava's heart. Though she treasured his intimate declarations and knew they were spoken with nothing less than the deepest of sincerity, Ava was aware of their ominous source: she knew Adam feared this would be his last opportunity to say these things to her, in this way. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be, she mused. Maybe that's the essence of mortality; the consolation prize for all that was forfeited for that first stolen bite of forbidden fruit. If this were the truth, then Ava was content in the bargain.

She had no idea how long they made love. She lost track of how many times they came. She wouldn't recall when exhaustion and sleep finally overcame her.

It was a session of love and love making that would establish a point-of-no-return for Ava. She knew, for however long she was to be granted life, she would remember this night with fondness and incredulity. And, at the time, it had set the high-water mark in her sexual life. Adam had guided her on an intoxicating passage through paradise...

Into the Land of Nod?