Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

knives, a handgun. You get the idea. This is Alaska. A man never knows what he’s going to come up against.”
    “We’d like to see the slingshot.” Garrett doubted it would tell them anything, but it might make Kendrick squirm.
    “You gotta warrant?” Kendrick acted bored with the conversation.
    So much for squirming. Garrett had no witnesses. He couldn’t search the boat without a warrant, and he couldn’t haul Kendrick’s ass up on charges without him confessing. He didn’t see Kendrick volunteering to do that. Right now, all he had was speculation. The reality of the situation stank like this boat.
    Fishy.
    Garrett paused. Why did the Albatross smell so bad? He looked at the deck. It was wet. There had been no rain in the forecast for a change. Had the man been fishing in closed waters? Was that the reason they hadn’t been able to find him?
    “Judd, something smell fishy to you?” Garrett signaled to Judd, pointing at the wet deck.
    “Something does smell rank.” Judd caught on.
    “What you got in the holds, Kendrick?” Garrett asked. He smiled when not only Kendrick squirmed, but so did his crew.
    Gotcha .
    “Like I said,” Kendrick repeated, his eyes hardening to steel. “You got a search warrant?”
    “Don’t need one if there’s suspicion of illegal fishing.” Garrett looked at Judd. “Do we?”
    “Nope.” Judd’s smile was as wide as Garrett’s.
    He gestured to the skull-tatted crewman. “Open the holds.” The crewman glanced at Kendrick. Garrett swore steam wafted off the man’s body. The crewman moved toward the hold, bent, and lifted the cover.
    “Well, well. What do we have here?” A brailer full of fresh red salmon lay packed like sardines in a can. Man, he loved his job. “Open the other holds. Please,” Garrett instructed politely, enjoying himself.
    Jerky man swore and kicked a bucket. Kendrick eyed Garrett with malice, and Garrett smiled wider in return.
    “Didn’t you hear?” Judd asked, shaking his head. “Crime doesn’t pay.”
    “Kendrick,” Garrett added. “I hope you don’t have any priors. You could be looking at jail time, if that’s the case.” He couldn’t help doing some taunting of his own. This was the most fun he’d had in days.
    Kendrick stared at him, his face getting redder as each fish hold revealed more illegally caught salmon.

C HAPTER E IGHTEEN
    They returned from escorting the Albatross to the tender, confiscating the drift boat’s catch, and writing Kendrick up for fishing in closed waters. Skip grinned ear to ear, looking happy as he steered the Calypso back to the mouth of the river. Garrett filled his empty stomach with a bag of salt and vinegar chips.
    They badly needed to get some real food.
    “Can you believe Kendrick had eight thousand pounds of illegally caught fish on his boat?” Judd shook his head again, reaching over and helping himself to Garrett’s chips.
    Yes, Garrett could. The man thought he was above the law. Kendrick had been taught a lesson this morning, and Garrett had enjoyed being the one to teach it. “The State of Alaska is a little richer today.”
    “Wait until Kendrick shows up in court, and they fine him ten thousand big ones, and possibly confiscate his boat and gear.” Judd chuckled and shook his head. “You should have seen the SEAL man, Skip. One minute he was ready to tear Kendrick apart, the next he was smiling like a kid at a surprise birthday party.”
    “Did you touch Kendrick?” Skip asked, worry stealing his happy grin.
    “Naw,” Judd answered as he dug his hand into Garrett’s bag of chips again. “I pulled him back in time.”
    Garrett shoved the bag at him and wished he’d stuff his mouth.
    “What do you mean you pulled him back in time?” Skip’s shrewd eyes narrowed.
    “I didn’t touch the scumbag,” Garrett pointed out, knowing it was too late to stop the unofficial advice Skip would deal out. It sucked that Skip was right. He’d never lost his cool on the job. He knew Sonya was at the heart of the reason why.
    “This time.” Skip tightened his jaw. “Face it, man. Your relationship with Sonya Savonski is interfering with your ability to do your job.”
    “I don’t have a relationship with Sonya.” Hell, they hadn’t even slept together. Even though he battled a serious need to. A relationship implied that they were a couple. She was ashamed to be seen with him.
    “Right.” Judd scoffed, a few crumbs flew out of his mouth. “What would you call it