Hi guys! As promised here's a bit from Matt's POV about when he went to disable that bomb.

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POV Matt: Bomb

Saying goodbye to Dani was hard. We hadn't said it out loud yet before though I'd been feeling it for sometime. Love, in a way I was relieved to hear it say it before I headed off to do a mission involving a bomb while I had zero intel and only Thorne for back up.

I couldn't bring myself to look back as I waded into the water, pack with supplies strapped to my back. I needed to get my head in the game right now, focus on the task at hand and not worry about what was happening with Dani and if she was safe. I had to trust that Noah and Orly would keep her safe on the journey to the McLaren home. That all of them together was the best strategy and that Josh and George weren't about to betray us.

When I let my change slide through me, I let thoughts of what I was leaving behind slide away too. I focused on pushing my body into a hard pace instead, setting out towards the approximate coordinates I had so that I could rendevous with Thorne, disable whatever opposition there might be and dismantle the bomb.

I checked my diving watch sporadically, making sure I was headed the right way and that I had time. I was quicker to arrive at the location than Thorne and took a moment to dive deep and get in some recon. Quickly locating the whale watching yacht and the black box attached to the hull beneath the water, it was set onto the metal below the engine and would do significant damage if the charge was high enough.

I saw no sign of any Corenths at first, but daring to get a little closer, to get a look at the people standing out on deck I spotted one of them. Dave. He was standing on deck, up against the railing, and acting like he hadn't a care in the world. There was a satisfied smirk on his face even, as if he confident this would go off without a hitch.

It was no secret that I'd worked as a combat diver in the navy, that I had some knowledge of bombs. Of course, most of my missions had been heavily classified so he couldn't possibly know just how close to my skillset this particular trap lay. If Dave was on the boat, he was hoping to draw me aboard, he wouldn't risk blowing himself up so that made me wonder if the bomb wasn't a fake.

Or maybe, he was there to make me think I could safely approach the bomb underwater, only to be attacked my his sons underwater. I didn't know how many of them were here. Deciding, since for the moment we still had time, to back off and meet up with Thorne, I swam off.

As I surfaced a good distance away, hopefully far enough that we wouldn't draw immediate attention. I clung to the side of the small dingy Thorne had taken out, his own boat the Cavara by the looks of it. I knew it had a high speed, powerful engine and maneuvered like a dream.

"There you are, I was starting to worry that they'd already gotten to you mate," Throne said gruffly. He was in his diving suit, tanks already strapped to his back, fully geared up by the looks of it and running a final check. "What's the plan? Did you see it?"

I quickly explained the specs I'd noted on the bomb attached to the hull of the ship and my speculation that there might be another inside since Dave was aboard. "You didn't see any of the others?" When I shook my head Thorne sighed, "This is risky, we have no way of knowing how many of them are hiding. How's the terrain below?"

Flat, sandy, it didn't appear to hold many places for hiding but that's what made it dangerous. A merman could easily make some kind of shelter with sand, lie flat and hide. We could breath underwater and it didn't matter how long we stayed under. It was entirely possible I'd already swam past one of them.

"Do you think Dave will disappear the moment we approach the bomb? Then they'll pin us against the hull with some ranged weaponry and set off the bomb as soon as their man is clear?" I suggested and Thorne nodded grimly. "Yeah that sounds exactly like what they've got planned."

Well, knowing was half the battle, though of course we couldn't be a hundred percent sure. If their plan deviated but we'd inflexibly pinned our plan of action on this course, we could cause our own demise. "Did you call the coastguard?" I asked.

"Yes, they're on their way, I told them my credentials and that I suspect they're going to blow it quicker than they can get here," he explained. "But they possibly radioed up the ship by now to try and verify or negotiate." Okay, short time frame, I could work with that. I had a plan and I quickly outlined it to Thorne, making sure he was going to be okay with the spotlight.

Then I dove, swimming low and focusing on my control of the water set the sand at the bottom of the sea to churning. It took a bit of effort, but in a minute I had it churned up so much that the people on the yacht were exclaiming in surprise over suddenly lack of clarity in the water.

Swimming in a zigzagging pattern I set my senses wide open and focused on what I could feel drifting through the currents. I could sense the shapes of the Cavara and the whale-watching yacht drifting above me. A pod of whales in the distance off to the west, their large bodies sending ripples through the water I could sense even from far away.

Closing my eyes I paused, drifting through the currents myself, focusing entirely on what was around me in the water. There, a shape that was distinctly merman. And then a splash from near the yacht and another merman, this one heading rapidly toward the Cavara, that had to be Dave who must have spotted us and known we were up to no good, churning up the water.

I knew what I'd agreed on with Thorne but still, for a moment I hesitated, should I warn him? Then I forced myself to act, trusting that my friend would fend for himself. Twisting out of my languid float while I'd been tracing, I darted forward, toward the hidden merman that I'd located. I made sure to keep my path to an unpredictable zigzag as I closed in, aware that my opponent would have been able to trace me the same way.

I was on him before he knew it, his form crystallizing as I stopped churning up the sand from the bottom. My vision picking him up now that I was near by, damn it! It was Clayton, the oldest of the Corenths and hardly a worthy adversary. I didn't want to hurt an old man, even if he was holding a very deadly looking underwater riffle. I knew he'd fought in WWI and would know how to aim that damn thing.

Having the element of surprise, it was like I swooped down from him from above. I had only a very short moment to calculate my plan of action but it was enough. Whacking the old man hard on the wrist, I had him fumble the weapon and I snatched it away from him before he could react. He was quick enough in the water that he turned on me, keeping me from coming him at him from the back when I darted around him.

His eyes were sharp still, and he pulled his face in an angry snarl, clearly upset that I'd taken away his only advantage. Being my senior by nearly sixty years, he had experience on his side, if not the agility. He was by far the best out of the Corenths at throwing water punches, I had to twist and turn hard to keep my body from being blasted by a highly condensed current. I had the stamina too though, darting around the old man for only a short while until he tired and then easily subduing and restraining him.

I put his hands in cuffs, a precaution because I knew my brother had once used water to quite literally saw his way out of rope bindings. Then I dragged him with me, lugging him up to the Cavarna where hopefully, Thorne had dealt with Dave. I worried that seeing only the eldest two here so far meant that they'd sent out Clay and Gavin to go after Dani.

As we broke the surface I saw that, as expected, Thorne had Dave up in his boat, cuffed and face down. He was triumphantly holding a detonator in his hands but quickly stowed that and helped me drag the oldest Corenth aboard. "Go, I'll baby sit these two while you dismantle the bomb, then I'll sit tight with them until the coastguard gets here and take all the credit." My mate grinned at me, indicating his now soaked wetsuit. "I let some air out of my tanks to make it look like I was under for a while and the soak is courtesy of our friend here." He irreverently tapped a foot to Dave's butt.

I grinned back at him, indicated the two now bare-assed captives and suggested he put them in some shorts so it wouldn't look so suspicious. Then I dove, clearing my mind of all distractions, even if my brain tried hard to throw all kinds of images of Dani in trouble at me. I had a very bad feeling about the lack of Gavin and Clay. At least they hadn't succeeded in blowing everything up, of taking me out. As soon as I took care of this tiny little bomb, I'd hurry to the McLaren home and check in. She was going to be fine. She was probably sitting on the deck sipping mango juice and laughing at Dev and Mitch's antics.

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Sorry no dramatic, countdown moment, where he heroically ends up disabling the bomb at the last second.

Anyway, hope you liked it!

Current votes regarding the sequel are as followed right now:

1. Noah = 5 votes

2. Thorne = 5 votes

3. Whitaker brother = 2 votes

4. Josh = 1 vote

5. George = 0 votes :-( poor George nobody likes him? hahaha

6. Fletcher = 7 votes

7. Kahlon family = 1 vote

Sooooo right now the winner seems to be Fletcher? But... you can still vote if you haven't yet. You've got till the the end of May. ^.^

Much love,

Robin