“Wonderful. You use that word all the time, Abby, to describe everything.”
“Well, he is! He’s got a dry sense of humor, he’s very open and honest about how he feels and he has an honor about him that’s hard to match in any other man I’ve ever met.”
“Sounds serious.”
“Nonsense.”
“Abby, I hear that wistful sound in your voice. As long as I’ve known you, and met your significant others from time to time, I’ve never heard that tone in your voice before.”
“You’re hearing things,” Abby said, then she went on to tell Susan about the three weeks that Alec was going to remain stateside with her and the whale-protection efforts.
“Awesome,” Susan whispered after hearing about the entire plan. “This Lieutenant Atkin sure sounds like a can-do man.”
“He really is, Susan. I’ll bet the guy ends up as commandant of the Coast Guard someday with the way he gets things done.”
“Well…maybe I should pencil in some time for this dinner you’re proposing.”
“Great! Well, Supermom, I’ll let you go.”
“Listen, you be careful out at sea, Abby. That Russian hunk won’t always be around to save your rear.”
“If I get into trouble, he’ll be right at my side,” Abby assured her gently. “Give Courtney a hug and kiss for me, will you? And I’ll be in touch. Believe me, I know you’re going to like Tim.”
Laughing, Susan whispered dramatically, “You never give up, do you, Abby? Always the idealist. The one who believes in right, goodness and positive endings. I love you. Take care.”
Abby hung up the receiver and placed the phone back on the bedstand, then sat on her bed, thinking. She hurt for Susan, for all the bad things that had happened to her. Nothing had gone right in her personal life since the divorce. The few men she’d dated were selfish and only wanted her for one thing: sex.
Abby knew not all men were like that. Susan had yet to have an experience with one of those kind of men. Tim, she felt, was just what Susan needed. If only she could get them together, Abby knew it would work.
Smoothing out the goose-down comforter around her, she mulled over Susan’s other comments. Abby wondered if her voice had grown wistful when she talked about Alec. Every day spent around him made her feel as if some kind of bonding were continuing to take place. She could feel it, that subtle, delicious tension that had always been strung between them from the first moment she’d become conscious and seen him sitting at her bedside.
As Abby closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath, flashes of the past two days shuttered across her lids. They were all of Alec, his expressions, the heated looks he’d give her when he didn’t think she was watching him, his engaging smile. There was such stability about him, such quiet, calm confidence. All of those things appealed greatly to her. And on top of it all, he’d saved her life. Was she merely feeling this way out of gratefulness? Or were her electric emotions that leapt every time he touched her or looked at her caused by something else?
No man had ever affected Abby this way. Confused, she sighed and slowly got off the bed. Next week they’d be on board the Argonaut. Abby hungered for the sea again, to go back and protect her whales. She also looked forward to the time when they could be alone, truly alone, on board the ship. Private time with Alec had been at a premium, and she had so much she wanted to ask of him, explore with him. Yes, being on the Argonaut would be a very special time with a very special man.
Chapter Six
“ABBY, BE CAREFUL out there.”
Abby forced a slight smile for Alec. She felt the firm strength of his hand on her arm as she stood on the lurching, wet deck of the Argonaut, out in the Bering Sea. No more than half a mile away was a Japanese whaling fleet consisting of the factory ship and eight catcher ships. It was the catchers that actively hunted the humpback whales now visible a few miles away from the Argonaut. The catchers were smaller, faster ships, designed for killing the whales. Once a whale was harpooned, it was taken to the factory ship, where it was cut up and stored.
Brad, the SOWF photographer, was preparing to have an inflatable rubber Zodiac put over the side of the salmon trawler. This would be the first showdown with the Japanese fleet in the Argonaut’s three days at sea. The early-May afternoon was gray, and it would soon start to rain. Abby would be steering the Zodiac, keeping it between the fleeing pod of humpback whales and the catcher ships ready to start firing their harpoons.
“I’ll be very careful,” she promised.
“Abby! We’re ready,” Brad called.
Glancing to the left, she saw the Zodiac in the grayish-green water, Brad sitting in the craft, holding it close to the trawler. Waves were four and five feet high in a confused sea, a dangerous combination when trying to ease the motor-driven Zodiac through the surrounding pattern.
“I’ve got to go, Alec.”
Reluctantly, he released her arm. Abby was dressed in a bulky bright orange survival suit in case she was dumped into the frigid Artic water, and a life vest to keep her afloat. Alec saw the fear lurking in her eyes, but he also saw the determination in the set of her lovely mouth. The past three days had been close to heaven in his opinion. Although representatives of three major networks were on board, he and Abby had still had peace and quiet at night, each sleeping alone, their cabins next to the other’s.
As Abby entered the bobbing, bucking Zodiac, Alec leaned over the rail. On either side of him, video cameras from the networks were taking pictures.
“Abby!” he shouted.
Her head jerked up.
“Stay safe, moya edinstvenaya.”
She grinned and lifted her mittened hand. Her heart swelled with a fierce tidal wave of feeling. Every day had brought her closer and closer to Alec in a subtle but powerful way. He had brought a wealth of unknown emotions into the fabric of her life.
Brad was situated in the center of the Zodiac and threw her a thumbs-up. The small engine on the Zodiac sputtered and then roared to life, and Abby guided the small boat away from the lee of the Argonaut. The last thing she saw as they headed around the bow was Alec’s darkened features beneath the trooper cap he wore with his uniform. His mouth was grimly set, and he was gripping the rail of the trawler, watching her. As she carefully read the confused wave direction, zigzagging around the swells, her heart and focus were divided between Alec and her whales.
Ahead Abby could see the geysers of spray that the huge, barnacled humpbacks were releasing as they surfaced to gulp in another volume of fresh air. Coming up steadily behind them was a catcher ship. She looked up at the vessel, the steel-barbed harpoon readied to be fired. Brad not only manned the video camera wrapped in plastic to keep it dry from the water as they dodged the waves, but the radio as well.
As they zigzagged in front of the catcher, the massive prow of the whaler rose and fell within four hundred yards of the Zodiac. Abby knew if the engine on the Zodiac failed, they’d be smashed within moments by that bow. Heart pounding, she carefully kept her Zodiac placed between the catcher and the pod of whales. In this group, Abby counted four males, five females and five three-month-old calves. As if the adult humpbacks realized they were in danger, they had placed the babies between them, so that the pod fanned out in a semicircle, like a crescent moon, so that the calves provided less of a target. Because of the calves, the pod couldn’t move at the full twelve-knot speed of which an adult humpback is capable. They were easy targets for the Japanese.
“Abby,” Brad shouted, “they’re preparing to launch the first harpoon!”
Lifting her wet face, Abby wiped the brine away. More water droplets were flung across the Zodiac as it was caught by a wave. The Zodiac lifted, shifted and then slid into a trough. Brad clung to the anchored radio unit in the center of the craft in order not to be thrown overboard. Abby flattened herself so that the Zodiac wouldn’t tip over.
Jerking her chin up, Abby glanced over her shoulder. The catcher was angling to the left. Quick
ly, she turned the Zodiac to intercept the catcher. A wave caught her as she raced to place the craft between the harpoon and the whales.
“Better hurry!” Brad shouted, catching the action with the video camera that rested on his shoulder.
Would the Japanese fire the harpoon? In the past week and a half, they’d suffered worldwide condemnation through the press for what they’d done to the Argonaut. The U.S. had officially ignored Captain Stratman’s charges against the Japanese, so nothing had been done to punish the catcher ship for ramming the Argonaut. With this particular whaling fleet, Abby had no guarantee that this catcher would back off and hunt another day. She tried to prepare herself for the eventuality that the catcher would ram them in order to harpoon the fleeing humpbacks.
If the harpoon was fired, it could conceivably strike the Zodiac or the occupants. If the harpoon did slam into the Zodiac, Abby knew the craft would sink immediately. She or Brad might be killed or injured. Staring up at the rusty harpoon less than six hundred yards away, Abby’s throat tightened with tension.
Ahead of her, she could hear the whales blowing. Constantly having to dodge the erratic waves and try to ensure the Zodiac wouldn’t be caught and flipped, Abby had to also keep an eye on the catcher. It was a deadly dance between her, the sea and the ship.
“Abby, there’s an ice floe ahead! If the whales make that, the Japanese can’t follow them!” Brad crowed loudly across the roar of the craft.
Squinting, Abby could barely make out the ice floe. It was at least five miles away. Too far.
“Watch it!” Brad yelled.
Eyes moving to the catcher, Abby saw the ship changing direction once again, to get a good firing angle on the pod. The loaded harpoon was now being aimed directly at them, or more specifically, at a cow and her calf, who were decidedly lagging behind the rest of the pod just ahead of the Zodiac. Heartbeat increasing, Abby realized with a sinking feeling that the small calf had tired and was trying to rest. The mother was gently nudging him along, but he simply wanted to rest and not swim.
“Brad, call the Argonaut!” Abby shouted. “Tell them we’re staying to protect this mother and calf from the fleet!”
Alec was on the bridge with Captain Stratman when the call came in over the radio.
“Damn,” Stratman growled. He clenched the pipe between his teeth, heaving the Argonaut to port and heading directly toward where the Zodiac that was moving around in a slow circle to protect the whales.
“What are you going to do?” Alec demanded.
“Try to warn that catcher to move off,” he said grimly. The Argonaut shifted and Stratman pointed the bow directly at the Japanese ship.
Holding on to the brass railing inside the bridge, Alec watched tautly. Abby was holding her position near the mother and calf. The catcher was bearing down on them at full speed. “He doesn’t care if you’re here or not, Captain. You’d better have another plan of attack.”
“I can’t put myself between him and Abby! He’ll ram me again.”
Alec’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t afford not to put your ship between them. That catcher will strike both the Zodiac and the whales if you don’t.”
Stratman flashed Alec an irritated look. On the bridge with them were all the news crews, their Minicams rolling. In a lowered voice, he told his first mate, Gary Gent, “You order Abby out of the area. Let those bastards have the whales! Tell her I can’t protect her. We talked about this before she went out, that I wouldn’t put my ship in jeopardy again. She knew, dammit!”
“Yes, sir!” Gent replied, getting on the radio immediately.
“John,” Brad radioed back, his voice strained, “Abby is refusing to leave. Repeat, we aren’t leaving. Abby wants these whales protected. Over.”
“Damn,” Stratman whispered under his breath. “Gent, tell ‘em I ain’t gonna risk this vessel! If I become a wedge, that catcher will ram us to smithereens. Tell her that and tell her to get the hell out of there!”
Alec’s grip on the brass rail tightened. He could see the positions of the players involved. The Japanese ship was rapidly closing the distance. Abby again refused to move and leave the whales as targets. The only ship that could make a difference and save both the whales and the Zodiac was the Argonaut.
“Captain, you’ve got to put your ship between Abby and the catcher,” Alec said tensely.
“No way. I ain’t gonna risk this ship. Insurance is paying for repairs this time, but they said they won’t if it happens again.” He pointed an angry finger in the direction of the catcher. “Dammit, this guy plays for keeps! This particular fleet ain’t like the rest of the whaling fleets we’ve encountered. The rest have all backed down, but he ain’t going to!”
Abby’s life was at stake, and so was Brad’s. Alec glared at the small man. There was no time left. A decision had to be made.
“Give me the helm, Captain Stratman,” Alec ordered coolly.
“What?”
“Let me assume command.”
Stratman’s eyes widened enormously. “You’re outa your mind if—”
Alec shoved his face into the captain’s face. “Stratman, you get on the radio to that Japanese catcher. You tell him an officer from the Soviet navy has taken over command of your trawler. You tell him if he wants to risk ramming me, he’s ramming the Soviet Union. I can make life so miserable for him politically that it will make tangling with that Zodiac look like child’s play. This is an international incident in the making. I don’t think that captain will risk it. Now do it!”
Gripping the wheel, Alec watched as Stratman leapt aside. Instantly, the American captain was on the radio, screaming at the Japanese catcher. Wrenching the Argonaut tightly to port, Alec aimed the bow directly into the oncoming waves. There was little time. Very little. The tension was palpable on the bridge. Alec had not forgotten about the news teams on the bridge. He was risking his navy career, and worse, possible censure by his government for taking this action. He didn’t care. If Abby was courageous enough, foolish enough, to try to save the mother and calf, then someone had to rise to the occasion and equal her bravery. She deserved nothing less.
The radio traffic increased markedly. Alec kept the trawler pointed directly between the Zodiac and the catcher. Stratman was screaming into the microphone, and Alec could hear the Japanese skipper shrieking back. Threats moved heatedly back and forth across the airwaves. Alec steadied the trawler, less than half a mile from where the Zodiac bobbed on the restless ocean.
“They ain’t gonna do it!” Stratman roared. “They don’t give a damn about an international incident! The captain said he’s in international waters and those whales are fair game!”
“Fine,” Alec ground out softly. He swung the helm rapidly, the Argonaut’s bow aimed directly at the catcher bearing down on them less than a mile away. “Then that captain is going to have to ram us.”
“What?” Stratman croaked in disbelief. “Not with my ship, you ain’t!”
Alec swung on him, his voice angry. “Captain, get a hold of yourself. Where are your priorities? What’s important here? An old scow or two people’s lives?”
Stratman glared at him and then at the cameras. “Shut those damn things off!”
“Sorry,” one newswoman said, “you agreed to let us tape, Captain. I can’t.”
Swinging around, Stratman hissed at Alec, “They’ll sink us!”
Alec shook his head. “No, they won’t. When I get in position, I want you to make a call to the skipper of that catcher. Tell him the Argonaut has suddenly developed engine trouble and we’re dead in the water.” Alec grimly watched the ship approaching. “Tell him we’ve got newspeople on board and they’re recording this confrontation. If he rams a vessel dead in the water, his license as a sea captain is as good as gone, and he knows that. No, he won’t risk his license.”
Shaking his head, Stratman muttered, “Rostov, you’ve got more cards up your sleeve than a damned Las Vegas poker player.”
“Is that
a compliment or insult?”
Grabbing the microphone, Stratman snarled, “You take it any way you want! You’re responsible for the outcome of this situation!”
Sweat stood out on Alec’s upper lip. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. He leaned over, pulling both engine throttles back to idle position. “Make that call now.” Jockeying the throttles gingerly with one hand, Alec made sure the Argonaut stayed between Abby and the catcher.
The catcher had a full head of steam, and Alec knew it would take at least half a mile for the ship to change course. They were less than a mile apart now. He keyed his hearing to Stratman, but kept his attention on the position of the Argonaut and the direction of the waves.
“He’s mad,” Stratman declared after giving the Japanese skipper the story.
“That’s his problem,” Alec said dryly. His long fingers remained tense across the throttles, playing them gently, keeping the bow in the direction of the catcher. “Look back. What’s Abby doing?”
Stratman craned a look over his shoulder. “She’s still circling that mother and calf.”
Alec didn’t expect Abby to back down. He knew she wouldn’t. He didn’t want her to. “Demand the skipper give you an answer, Captain.”
“Give the guy some time to think about this, will you?” Stratman exploded. “You just can’t keep pushing like this!”
In a steel tone, Alec whispered, “The way you win a situation like this is to be more aggressive than the other party, Captain. Make the call.”
Grumpily, Stratman called the Japanese skipper once again.
Alec knew the catcher was coming up on the point of no return. He stared hard at the bow of the whaler. If it didn’t begin to move to one side or the other, then he was faced with a real crisis. He couldn’t afford to allow Stratman’s trawler to be rammed. And he couldn’t allow Abby or Brad to be killed, either. Sweat dripped from him, soaking into the fabric of his uniform.
“Look!” a newswoman cried triumphantly, “the catcher’s turning! He’s turning!”
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