This was tuning out to be the worst honeymoon Kermit Griffin had ever experienced. An ex-husband, an ex-lover, a case of espionage, and now a murder. Of course, he'd had wonderful honeymoons before ….. and had terrible marriages afterwards. Maybe he'd consider this a harbinger of good things to come. Their life together could only get better after a hostage crisis at the wedding and now this ….

Kermit Griffin had taken it upon himself to guard Dr. Ogawa. After escorting the doctor to his cabin to change his vomit-tinged clothes, he had walked them both to Interrogation, where they'd both been grilled for about an hour. Ogawa had fingered Jason as the main suspect, relating the argument he'd overheard between Jason and Emma about Karen and also his own propositioning of Emma Thornton three hours before she died.

Kermit had played the wounded husband, explaining that he'd come to Jason's suite to find him and tell him to stay away from his wife. The investigators had expressed sympathy over his plight - having your new wife's ex-husband come on board during your honeymoon was certainly disturbing, they'd told Kermit in commiseration. They had let him go with a pat on his back, an offer of a free bottle of wine for his troubles, and an instruction to bring his wife to see them. Her statement would be needed as well.

After leaving Ogawa to the authorities for more questioning, he'd set off to find Karen, finding her listening to a concert on the Observation Deck. Quickly bringing her up to date on current events as they walked to the investigator's office, he stayed by her side while she gave her brief statement and then left her to deal with her ex-husband, the reason for all of their problems. What had Karen ever seen in that guy?

Now, he was sitting in the sitting room of Dr. Ogawa's stateroom, drinking Scotch and dealing with a damn fool physicist.

"Mr. Griffin. I would like to thank you for all of your help. I don't know what I would have done without you. You don't have to stay here anymore, I will be fine now."

Kermit weighed how much he should reveal to Dr. Ogawa. For all he knew, the good doctor knew what was going on better than he did. "I'll stay, Doctor.. He could still be out there." Kermit said, purposely vague.

Dr. Ogawa looked at him sharply. "Who?! Mr. Simms is in custody. He cannot harm me."

"No, but the murderer of your 'date' could."

"What do you mean, Mr. Griffin? Mr. Simms is the killer of that poor girl."

"I think not." Kermit decided to lay some cards on the table. "Look, Dr. Ogawa. We know all about your experiments. There are many people who would kill for the information that's in your head. The woman you were about to sleep with, among them."

Dr. Ogawa stared in shock at his savior, turned unknown threat. "How do you know about my work? How do you know this girl? Who are you?"

"I'm just a man on his honeymoon. Unfortunately, fate seems to be conspiring against me." He stood up from the oversized chair and walked over to the bar for a glass of Scotch. "You have a commodity to sell, Dr. Ogawa. For a man who's playing deadly games, you don't seem to get the score. There are people who aren't on your bidding list that want in on the game. Emma Thornton was one of them."

Dr. Ogawa's face grew cold, his voice hard. "Alright, Mr. Griffin. I see you know my secrets but I still don't know you're stake in this. This is none of your business."

"Your business is spilling into my life and I don't take kindly to interlopers, Dr. Ogawa. Personally, I don't care who you sell your box of poison to. You make a bomb. Another man will make a better one. The world will roll on. But, my wife is down in Interrogation being questioned because of your secrets. Her son's father is incarcerated because your date was trying to horn in on your little arms auction. That makes it my business."

Dr. Ogawa looked at Kermit, his eyes growing wider at each passing word from Kermit's lips. He just shook his head as Kermit answered his other question about the beautiful woman he'd wanted so badly.

"And as for your date, Emma Thornton was a player that I encountered before during my years as a police officer. She was hired to seduce you. Whoever is responsible for Ms. Thornton's death … and I doubt that it was Jason Simms… is still aboard this ship. That puts everyone who's been in contact with you in danger. I'm here to see that you make it off this ship alive before this killer strikes again and takes someone else with you.

"What do you suggest, Mr. Griffin? That I take a life boat off this ship?"

"That's a thought, though my plan might be more comfortable. I have connections in Jakarta. I can get you on a plane back to the city when the Sea Goddess stops at Larantuka tomorrow. From there, you're on your own. I have ten more days on this boat and I would prefer to spend them with my wife. Not finding dead bodies." Casually, Kermit took out his gun and started to clean it, using a table napkin for a buff rag as he continued speaking.

"Of course, if you don't take my offer, I could just report you to the Indonesian authorities as a suspected nuclear arms merchant. And with that new non-proliferation treaty that Indonesia just signed, they won't take too kindly to an arms merchant on their shores. Of course, they could decide to keep you and make you work for them. I imagine that a nuclear weapon might raise their standing in the world stage. No skin off my nose. "

Ogawa stared at Kermit for a second more before downing the drink in his hand in one shot. "It looks like I have no choice, Mr. Griffin. You would be doing me a favor, no matter your motives. I'll start packing." He turned to return to his bedroom when he heard a knock on the door. He jumped three feet in the air and looked to Kermit for instructions.

Kermit pulled out his Desert Eagle and walked to one side of the door, indicating to the doctor that he could open the door. Slowly, Dr. Ogawa inched to the front door and opened it just a crack to inquire who was knocking at close to midnight.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Dr. Ogawa. Would-" Karen's question was interrupted as Kermit strode to the door from his position and greeted his wife by taking her by the arm and pulling her into the stateroom before re-bolting the door.

Karen glanced at her husband in mild surprise before turning to address the doctor who's stateroom she'd been dragged into. She nodded to their host, the cause of all of their troubles. "I see Kermit is here, Dr. Ogawa." Her face was impassive. "May I speak to him alone?"

"Of course, dear lady. As I was telling your husband, I will go pack now." With that, Ogawa walked to his bedroom and disappeared inside, closing the inner door behind him.

When he was gone, Karen melted into Kermit's arms and looked up into his eyes. "I take it he knows the score."

"Oh, yeah. Explained to him the Griffin way."

"With a threat." Karen smiled. "Good. The man has caused enough trouble." Karen released her husband, walked over to the bar, and poured herself a glass of Scotch. Taking a sip of the fiery liquid, she flopped into the nearest chair and related to Kermit all that Jason had told her. After finishing her story and her scotch, she looked to Kermit for the next move. "So what's the plan?"

"The plan is we send him on his way by plane back to the big island and we go back to our honeymoon. " He sat down beside her and captured a small hand in his as he told her his story. "I'll make a 'suggestion' that Ogawa seek asylum at the US Embassy. Jason should go with him. He'll get him through the maze of red tape."

Karen looked at him slyly, "Are you sure you don't just want to get my ex-husband out of the way?"

One side of Kermit's mouth rose in his trademark crooked grin. "What gave me away?"

"Oh, a woman just knows these things …. What about Emma's killer, the unknown threat outside this door?"

Kermit pulled out a second gun from his coat pocket and placed it in the hand he held. "There's your wedding gift. I meant to give it to you on our last day in paradise before we re-joined the big, bad elements of our fair city, but you know me …. Always impatient.

Karen transferred the gun to her right hand with a laugh. "But I thought you were my wedding gift.…" She wrapped her other hand behind his head and pulled him into a kiss as a thank you. Then she turned her attention back to the gift in her hand.

The gun felt like it had been made especially for her - which knowing Kermit, it probably had. It was plain. No pearl handles or fancy sights for her.

Kermit watched her weigh the gun in her hand and examine the chamber then he picked up the thread of their previous conversation. "Getting back to the topic at hand, whoever's out there should follow Ogawa wherever he goes. Hopefully they'll come out of the woodwork to stop his departure and we can nail them." Kermit shrugged. He couldn't take care of every eventuality. "I can arrange for a few men to meet us at the airport, but until then we're on our own."

"OK, this means I need to clear up Jason's alibi with the investigators downstairs before daylight so that Jason can leave custody. You need to make a few calls to Jakarta before our friends will be allowed to leave the ship. They aren't going to just let them leave the Sea Goddess without permission from someone higher up and my police connections don't reach to Indonesia."

"So true."

Firmly back into captain mode, Karen continued breaking down the plan. "Then there's Ogawa. We can't just leave him here alone while we do these errands. One of us has to stay with him at all times until he is safely away."

"Both of us. I'm not letting you out of my sight until we get Ogawa and your ex on the plane. Too dangerous. Haven't you heard of letting your fingers do the walking? I can handle my end of things with the cell phone." He pulled out the mentioned item from his other coat pocket. "You can get on the courtesy phone to ship's security and explain about Jason's alibi. They can check it out. After I'm though, the locals should be getting a call that should take care of the authorization and logistic problems for both Ogawa and Jason. We won't have to leave the cabin."

"What about Emma's body? I'd rather not have her sailing with us until the end of the cruise."

"Jason's employer - Bill Hardy you said? I remember that name from somewhere- won't want a body floating around spurring questions. She'll probably end up on the plane with Ogawa and Jason. They can all travel together." Kermit picked up the cell phone to start things rolling but Karen pulled the cell phone out of his hand to stop him.

"Kermit … we haven't had a chance to talk about Emma…."

Kermit ran a hand through Karen's hair and stared at her tenderly. "It's okay." He kissed her softly. "No feelings there besides pity. Nobody should die like that."

She smiled, the knot in her stomach she's ignored for two days dissolving on the spot. "Good." She kissed him and handed him the cell phone. "Let's get to work."

******************************

At half-past five, a groggy Karen woke to the sound of knocking on the door of the doctor's stateroom. Legs draped over the end of a couch, arms sprawled to the side, she groaned in pain as she lifted herself to a sitting position. A glance over at Kermit revealed that he was awake as well. Actually, he looked like he had never been to sleep. Night Owl.

She watched him reach for his gun. Nodding in readiness, she moved to one side of the door while he reached for the door knob.

Two unfamiliar ship's security guards stood at the door with Jason Simms. Showing their badges and letting themselves in, they uncuffed her ex-husband and pushed him towards Kermit.

"Captain Simms?" The security guard looked at Kermit skeptically as if he didn't think a real captain would wear sunglasses indoors.

"Yes?" Karen stepped into his vision from her perch at the other side of the door. "I'm Captain Simms."

If he looked surprised to see a woman addressed as captain, it never showed in his face as he carried out his orders. "We have been instructed to remand this prisoner into your custody. We will escort you and your guests to the launch, if you are ready? Their luggage is already on board."

"You're a little early, aren't you," Karen paused briefly as she looked for the guard's name tag, "Lieutenant Sung? We were scheduled to leave at 6:00. But we can be ready in just a moment." She looked over at Jason Simms, a question in her eyes. "You OK, Jason?"

He smiled ruefully. "More than ready to leave this cursed boat."

Turning in the direction of the sleeping quarters next, Karen saw Dr. Ogawa come out of bedroom doorway with a small carrying case in his hand.

"I am also ready, Captain Simms," said the diminutive doctor as he walked to center of the room. "I too am eager to leave the 'cursed boat'."

Karen and Kermit shared a mirthless smile. After being silent since before the arrival of the two security guards and their guest, Kermit finally addressed the two guards.

"Are you armed?" he asked briskly.

"Armed, sir?"

"Yes. The killer of the dead woman you should have stowed in the launch is still at large. We expect trouble."

The guard looked skeptical. "Oh, I don't think that those people are still on board. The evening of the woman's death, we had a night party launch to the last island we visited. We expect that they disembarked there and escaped to the city after killing the woman. There should be no danger; but we are armed in case of any eventuality."

"Good. We," Kermit referred to Karen with a wave of his hand, "won't be able to assist you. Since we're on our honeymoon, we didn't bring our weapons with us."

Dr. Ogawa looked over at Kermit in surprise. Karen glanced surreptitiously at Kermit before quickly stepping in to corroborate Kermit's statement.

"Yes, a lack of foresight on our part." Karen said with just the right hint of chagrin on her face as she shrugged at the security guards. She looked out of the corner of her eye at Ogawa who had schooled his features since his initial reaction. Good.

"Understandable, madam. It is unfortunate that your trip has been interrupted."

Jason Simms broke into the conversation impatiently. "Can we go? This small talk isn't getting us anywhere near our destination."

"Agreed," Kermit said, to the surprise of both Karen and her ex-husband. "Let's get this show on the road."

Karen walked to Jason while Kermit gestured to Dr. Ogawa to proceed in front of him. Everyone filed out of the room. One security guard led the silent processional in front of Karen and Dr. Ogawa while the other took up a position behind Kermit who stood beside Jason on the two person walkway.

Her thoughts roiled as she weighed counter-strategies against an attack. Her gun still securely hidden underneath her jacket, she looked back at Kermit nonchalantly, trying to have a silent conversation while still looking where she was going. Slowing her steps to be closer to Kermit, she mechanically followed the first guard to the launch landing area.

A small deck, able to fit the approximately thirty people who usually boarded the Sea Goddess' launches at any one time, the staging area was deserted. Three benches were situated for guests' comfort and a 'Welcome' sign graced the ropes that hung from the hull. Still in the same loose formation, Karen and her companions filed onto the dock from the upstairs steps.

As she looked at the launch docked at the Goddess' side which was loaded with luggage and what looked like a coroner's bag but devoid of a pilot or deck hands, Karen was not surprised to see the ushering guard ahead of her turn and brandish a gun at her and her walking partners.

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