Sixteen
Clarity smiled at the woman with red hair who was intent on kissing her, and checked the miniature electronic camera in her pocket from her seat in the Princess motorboat, as the night wind of Acapulco Bay blew on her face. She peeked to her left and guessed the shape of a motorboat in the shadows, labelled 'policia'. She hoped her setup would work, but most importantly, she hoped that Mexican police was not as corrupt as legend indicated. She watched her own motorboat leave the Acapulco strip on her left and head towards a quiet cove.
Anchored parallel to the coast of Isla Roqueta, the Costa Amalfitana glowed, a sleek made to order Aerocruiser V superyacht with two decks, measuring over one hundred feet, built by Danish Yachts, was lit with bright lights. Clarity checked the top of her swimsuit below her high cut dress by Laurentino, a distant cousin of Valentino, according to the woman owning the night club clothe renting store, was in place. She hoped that they would be able to dive off the deck, as she always enjoyed a night swim after dinner.
The cook, named Flavio greeted them from the yacht and picked up a crate full of meat, vegetables and fruit, as they docked near the stern of the ship. Once on board, Clarity disappeared and started searching for Miss Tik. She counted about one hundred people on the yacht, invited to the open air buffet on the upper deck, and found Miss Tik and Cactus walking back and forth in front of a lacquered wooden door leading to an exclusive lounge.
At half past midnight, the Chief Executive Officer of the Summer Breeze Company came out of the lounge and summoned Miss Tik and Cactus to a teak deck below them.
“Hello, I am the super taster,” said Miss Tik to the CEO.
Clarity followed them from the upper deck, until she saw Miss Tik take out a piece of paper. With the zoom of her pocket camera, she focused on the small sheet, labelled formula number five and took several pictures. As she moved to get a better view on the paper held by Miss Tik, the visor on the camera became dark and the silhouette of Miss Tik was replaced by a large hand. It was Cactus.
“You´re going overboard,” said the head of maintenance, “give me that camera.”
“No way,” said Clarity, running towards the bow of the ship. She walked inside the boat through an open glass window and reached the bridge, followed by the heavy steps of Cactus. She ran past an officer who was working on a set of waypoints for the next day´s trip, grabbed a cell phone from a folding table, and dialled a number.
“You can come and find me, it´s a good time,” she said, “they´re after me.”
The sound of sirens reverberated inside the walls of the bridge, signalling a police motorboat named 'Sirocco' approaching the yacht´s bow.
“Policía, todo el mundo adentro del barco,” said a man´s voice. Clarity recognized the voice of Juarez, surrounded by several beauty pageant winners clinging to his back, and she started running towards the front of the ship. Cactus caught her when she stepped out of the saloon on to the front deck, and the head of maintenance picked her up like a feather, lifting her above his head. Clarity looked in front of her and saw the dark water and the Acapulco Bay strip in the distance.
“Stop right there, lay her down.” Clarity turned her head with difficulty and saw Juarez and several police officers struggling to get past the beauty pagents moving forward and escorting Ms. Avenworth. Behind them, Lanai and LT were following the scene closely. Cactus mumbled an unintelligible curse in Spanish, and placed Clarity down on the floor, ripping the seam of her dress, and leaving her in swimsuit gear. Sighing with relief, refreshed by the wind blowing, the girl with auburn hair saw the CEO of Summer Breeze soft drinks walk towards them with Miss Tik.
“This woman is a fraud,” she said, “she´s not a super taster, that formula belongs to Ms. Avenworth here. She is the real super taster and should be the one offering this new cocktail to you sir,” said Clarity, looking at the CEO straight in the eye.
Clarity saw Ms. Avenworth step forward and prove her identity with a security card from the lab. Juarez had verified her employment as well and Miss Tik had no other choice but to say she stole the formula and set up Clarity with Cactus in order to give her a better chance of selling the new cocktail. Clarity saw Juarez handcuff the head of administration and Cactus, escorting them to the police boat. One of the beauty pagent winners wanted to get handcuffed as well, but Juarez denied the request, because he never mixed business with pleasure.
“No handcuffs for you, Norwegian-guanabana, they can be dangerous. I will question you about Acapulco´s history later in bed, at the Boca Chica hotel, nice and naked, in glorious splendor, to bring out the glamorous nature of your personality. After that, we´ll play scrabble across your breasts, and you can teach me new words in Norwegian.”
Clarity saw the CEO step aside with Ms. Avenworth. “So the formula belongs to you then,” said the CEO, pointing to Ms. Avenworth.
“It belongs to the lab, but I am the representative. We would like to make an offer for this formula. The combination of fruit and Damiana will turn it into an overnight success. Of course, we would settle for an advance sum and let you run the risk of marketing and promotion.”
“Let´s talk inside, I think we can work out a deal” said the CEO.
“Ok, I want this girl, Clarity, to be included in the deal,” said Ms. Avenworth.