Just Different Devils by Jinx Schwartz Page B

all that normal but on occasion they do travel alone. We suspect these loners reconnect with pods at some point. Why don't you ask Chino about her?"
    "Uh, well, uh..."
    "Oh, crap. Are you two on the outs again?"
    "No, of course not. I'm working with Hetta on a charter."
    In the background Rosario said, "With Nacho. "
    Diane's eyes grew wide. "Let me guess. Jenks and Chino don't know this?"
    "Not exactly."
    "You two need keepers."
     
     
    "Are we the only ones who don't think we're nuts?"
    "I think you're nuts," Jan said. She sipped her iced tea and put it down on the deck next to her lounge chair. "Evidently I am considered guilty by association."
    "Po Thang, how about you? Are we bonkers?"
    "Woof."
    "See, he doesn't think so."
    "Matter of interpretation."
    An idea sprang to mind. "Oh, oh, I've got it! Agent double-oh-D!"
    Both Jan and Po Thang cocked their heads, Jan in question, and the dog maybe thinking my excitement involved food, or a walk, or something other than the boredom of hanging around on the boat with a couple of chatting chicas.
    "Double-Oh-Dawg. Critter cam, and chip."
    "Genius! Po Thang, how would you like to go for nice long boat ride with your Uncle Nacho mañana ?"
    "Woof."
     
    Po Thang has the distinction of not only belonging to moi, he is also imbedded with a state-of-the-art GPS tracker invented by his Uncle Craig, veterinarian extraordinaire . These gizmos are normally implanted in large farm animals so ranchers riding souped up ATVs can run 'em to ground. However, when Po Thang exhibited a propensity for straying like a free range dogie—which I suspect is how he ended up stranded on the lonely mountainside on Baja's Mex 1 where we found and rescued him—we chipped his wayward rear end.
    I'd tried a collar unit, but it didn't have the range and wasn't completely waterproof, so when he went to the beach I had to remove it. Po Thang, after all, is a water-lovin' dog. Now, with his embedded chip, and if he's within ten miles, I can find him with my handy dandy tracker unit.
    And, when he took to diving for gold coins during our summer expedition/treasure hunt with Chino last summer, we also fitted him with a critter cam, just in case he tried to skim off the top.
    And now he had a new mission: Agent Double O Dawg.
     
     
     

Chapter Sixteen
     
     
    " ¡No, absolutamente no!" Tio Nacho declared.
    "Aw come on, Nacho. Po Thang likes you, and he's stuck on the boat because he can't go ashore, which, after all is your doing because you want us to anchor here. Before you start fishing, you can run him over to the coast or another island and let him run on the beach for awhile. He won't be any trouble."
    "And besides," Jan whined, "we're stuck here all day, cooking and cleaning, while you go off for a fun day of fishing."
    "You sound like my first wife. Nag, nag, nag."
    Jan and I exchanged a look. Nacho was married at some point? What about now? "First? How many wives have there been?"
    "None of your business. ¡Jesus y Maria! help me, I feel like I have two of them now ."
    "Poor baby. Let me fetch your slippers, pipe, and a nice drink of something tasty. Say, arsenic?"
    Nacho stomped off to his cabin. We heard the galumph of the shower's water pump, the length of time he showered grating on my nerves. Water conservation on a boat is important. I flipped off the water pump at the master, thereby ensuring his uber shower didn't last more than three more gallons.
    When he emerged ten minutes later, thick black hair water-sparkled, I expected to get an earful, but instead a wide smile revealed extra-white teeth against that beautiful café au lait complexion of his. Either he had hatched a shortened shower-inspired plot to tie me to the anchor and pitch me overboard, or his mood had altered.  He shook the note he'd left under his mattress for me to find. "I can see you got my message. You never disappoint."
    Rats, he'd booby-trapped his billet-doux so if it moved he'd know it. I handed him a glass of