by Dale Mayer
The trip to the coast guard ship was simple and the transition easy. They were quickly ushered into a medical room, where a doctor waited for them. He gave Sandrine a quick cursory once-over and then sat down for a longer checkup on Brenda. Sandrine stayed with Brenda for support and for further information for the doctor, while they went through what had happened, her injuries and the reactions she had. Sandrine filled in the details of symptoms that occurred while Brenda was unconscious or sleeping.
Finally the doctor nodded. “Both of you had a pretty near miss,” he said. “Any which way you look at it, you’re lucky to be alive.”
“I know,” they both said, nearly in unison. And, with that, they were both led to a room with bunks inside. Brenda sagged on the bottom one and said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.”
Still worried about the pale color on her friend’s face, Sandrine helped her get under the covers. “Are you sure you don’t want to strip off first?”
Brenda shook her head. “No, I’m not that comfortable yet. I just want to sleep.” She patted Sandrine’s cheek and said, “Thank you for watching over me.”
“I’m just so grateful you weren’t hurt even worse,” she said. “It was pretty rough watching you with blood oozing out of your head and clearly delirious and talking crazy,” she said. “But I’m so glad you pulled through.” As soon as Brenda seemed comfortable and her eyes started to droop, Sandrine stepped out into the hallway in time to see Keane coming out of a nearby room.
“I wasn’t sure if you guys would even stay on board,” she said with a bright, welcoming smile.
“Just for a little while. I’m heading out again in a bit,” he said. “I just got back from the second boat. We collected a couple bodies.”
“A couple?”
His face sobered. “We couldn’t find the one in the water.”
She groaned. “That’ll provide ugly thoughts for my nightmares to feed on.”
“I know,” he said. “Me too. I’m sorry about that.” He looked down the galley. “Are you heading up?”
“I was hoping to,” she said. “Honestly I haven’t seen Scott and Greg yet.”
“That’s another issue,” he said. “They’re here, but I think they’re in one of the lounges. They know that you’re both on board, but I don’t think they’ve been told anything else.”
“The thing is, Brenda’s asleep,” she said. “She didn’t even want to see her boyfriend first.”
“Are things okay with them?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “This trip has definitely been a bit of an eye-opener. She buckled under pressure from Greg and agreed to bring Scott on our trip. But, when she heard all of it as to why I broke up with him to begin with, she was pretty angry. Then, after seeing him push me in, I think she’s really confused.”
“Understood,” he said. “Come on. You can come with me,” he said. “We’ll go on up and see if we can get you a cup of coffee and maybe some real food. Although I’m not sure they carry that much on board.”
“A kitchen or something should be here, right?”
“There will be,” he reassured her. “At least coffee and maybe some sandwiches.”
She smiled. “It’s hard to believe it’s still morning,” she said. “A part of me says I should go crash, but I’m still too keyed up. I feel like I should wait a little bit longer and then have a nap.” He motioned for her to walk down the aisle in front of them. She came to the first set of stairs and hesitated. She looked at him, and he smiled.
“Let’s go on up.”
As she did, she spotted a large lounge off to the side. Computers were available on both sides, and chairs were at one end. A couple men were there working. Not Scott and Greg thankfully. She walked inside the room with Keane at her side, studying the general layout. “This is pretty fascinating.” She smiled at the two men.
“It is. We have living quarters on these big coast guard cutters,” one man said. “The smaller ones are just for day trips, but these are meant to go out for a few days at a time.”
A man in uniform stepped forward to join them. He reached out to shake her hand. “Captain Schmidt, at your service,” he said in a gruff voice.
She smiled up at him. “Thank you so much for the rescue, Captain.”
He gave a clipped nod in response. “Sounds like you had a difficult experience.”
“Definitely. Quite the time of it,” she said softly.
A voice came from behind the captain. “Sandrine?”
She looked at Keane. “That’ll be Scott.”
Suddenly Greg was right here too. He reached out and wrapped her in a gentle hug. “I’m so damn glad you two survived,” he said.
Sandrine searched his face but couldn’t see any sign of deception. She stepped out of Greg’s embrace. “Brenda’s sleeping. She’s doing better but not feeling very strong yet. It’s been an ordeal.”
He wiped tears from the corner of his eyes and nodded. “After all she’s been through, that’s totally okay. Hopefully she’ll feel good enough to come up. Otherwise, maybe I can go down.” He looked at the captain.
“Maybe later when she’s awake but not right now as long as she’s sleeping. Rest is what she needs, I’m sure. And I’ll speak to the doctor about her condition and check in with her. I’ll report more to you later.”
Just then Sandrine could see Scott.
He gave her an affable look and a big beaming smile. “I’m so glad you survived that terrible storm,” he cried out. He stepped forward and gave her a hug, even though she was stiff and unwelcoming. As soon as he let her go, she stepped closer to Keane to stop Scott from trying another move like that again.
The coast guard captain looked at Sandrine and Scott and said, “Maybe you’d like to tell us all what happened.”
“Do I have to?” she asked.
His quick nod convinced her that she might as well get it over with.
She sighed and said, “Yes, of course I do. Is there any chance of a cup of coffee?”
“Absolutely, and I understand Lennox made you some lovely fish for breakfast,” the captain said with a grin, completely changing his expression, making him even more approachable.
“Absolutely,” she said, “and I was grateful to have it, but, if any other food is here,” she said with a smile, “I would appreciate it.”
“We can probably find a few things,” he said.
She was led over to an area with a comfortable chair and a love seat. She immediately sat in the love seat, and Keane sat beside her.
Scott looked at Keane and asked, “So, are you the guy who rescued her?”
Keane nodded but didn’t reach out a hand. “I’m one of a two-man team sent looking for them, yes.”
“How did you know where to find them?”
“Wasn’t too hard with their last-known GPS location,” he said. “We cleared the other islands, then searched that biggest one. We found them in the third quadrant.”
“It’s amazing they survived it all,” Scott said.
“Particularly considering the odds against them,” Keane said.
She looked at him. He just gave her a quick smile, but she could see the anger in the back of his gaze. She looked at Scott and Greg and asked, “You guys made it back okay?”
“We made it, but we were hours getting back home again,” Greg said. “We made it back to shore and sent out the alarms. We told the coast guard what had happened and that started the circus.”
“A circus with a good ending,” she said. She sagged into the couch, absolutely loving the fact that she had comfort again. “You don’t realize how much you take the simple things in life for granted until you do without them.”
Just then a man walked toward her with a tray. A small table was clicked open in front of her, and the tray placed beside her.
She looked at it and smiled. “Well, I see a lot of food here,” she said, laughing.
“You eat whatever you like,” the captain sai
d. “We all know what it’s like to be without a meal or two.”
She nodded. “I really hope I never go through another scenario like that again.”
“How bad was it?” Greg asked anxiously.
“Well, it was way worse,” she said, “because I had terrible nightmares about the boat and how I ended up in the water,” she said smoothly, without even looking at Scott, “plus, being afraid that I would never reach Brenda. … In the end, I woke up on the island, locked inside this weird little fortress. Some guy turned up, giving me a little plastic container with some fish and some biscuits, telling me how he saved us from drowning and brought us to the island. But then he left, and it just went downhill from there.”
“So bizarre,” Greg said, shaking his head. “I mean, it’s awesome that he saved you and that they put you on the island, but what happened after that? I mean, we only got bits and pieces of what happened.”
“Well, I think a lot of it is also Brenda’s story,” she said. “So maybe we’ll wait for a bunch of it until she’s up to it, if you don’t mind,” she said. With that, she picked up the cup of coffee, looked at it and smiled. “Ah, real coffee.” She glanced sideways at Keane. “Of course I still really appreciated the cup of tea.”
He laughed. “Go ahead and eat,” he said. “This is definitely what you’ve been waiting for.”
She hugged the cup, took a sip and just closed her eyes, sagging gently into the corner of the love seat. “Nothing quite like a good cup of coffee.” She drank half of it, just holding the cup and sipping. Finally she put it down and looked at the feast in front of her: a breakfast sandwich and several muffins, some pastries, fruit and even yogurt. She picked up the breakfast sandwich and said, “This I will take care of, no problem.”
The men had an easy conversation around her as she ate, though she caught the edge in Keane’s voice every time he spoke. A definite sense of unrest was in Scott’s gaze as he studied her. The captain asked a few more questions, and she answered everything she could. For now. What she hadn’t considered was the cost for this rescue. She hated to even bring it up and decided she wouldn’t ask about it in the open like that. She would ask Keane about it privately. When she got to the end of the breakfast sandwich, she started in on the muffin, but, halfway through, she knew she couldn’t finish it. Putting the muffin on the plate, she handed it to Keane. “Can you finish this for me?”
“Wow,” he said, “I figured you’d get more down than that.”
She shook her head. “No, and somehow the coffee’s making me really tired.”
As a matter of fact, with her feet curled up on the couch and a big pillow beside her, resting her body into the corner, she was almost too relaxed. “I probably should go back down and have a nap with Brenda,” she said. “I don’t really want her to wake up alone either.”
“I could go down there,” Greg said anxiously.
She looked at him, smiled and said, “Not until the captain says so.”
He sagged in his chair and nodded. “I guess that’s fair.” But he wasn’t terribly impressed with the idea.
She looked at Keane and said, “Otherwise, I’ll fall asleep right here.”
“No, we won’t do that,” he said. He helped her to her feet, smiled at the rest of the men and said, “If you’ll excuse us, she’s going below for a nap.” Then he slowly led her to the stairs.
“How come I’m so tired now?” she asked. Going down the stairs was almost a chore. He led her back to her room and said, “Part of it is just the end of the adrenaline wearing off. Finally knowing that you’re safe and that everything’s okay.”
“If you say so.” She yawned.
He opened the door and checked on Brenda. “She’s still asleep.” He looked up at the top bunk, then smiled. “Will you get up there okay?”
She nodded. “I’ll be fine.” She stumbled to the ladder, completely shocked at how absolutely exhausted she was. “Don’t let me sleep too late though, please,” she said anxiously. “And please don’t let Scott come in while I’m sleeping.”
He looked at her in surprise. “Do you think he’ll try?”
“I don’t know, but he’ll probably try to come down when Greg does, at least. I don’t want either one of them in here while I’m sleeping,” she said. “I won’t sleep soundly if I’m afraid somebody will come in.”
“Well, I can sit here and keep watch, if you want,” he said. “I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine, but—”
She looked at the small quarters and said, “There isn’t any room for you to sit here and wait,” she said, “so don’t worry about it.”
“If I sit in my bunk across the hall and keep the door open, I can see if anybody tries to come in or out of your place.”
She looked at him for a long moment. “I hate to ask you—”
He shook his head firmly. “You’re not asking,” he said. “I just offered.”
She smiled, then whispered, “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d really appreciate it. I feel like we’ve been through so much already, and I’m seeing danger where there isn’t any. But I don’t know. I just felt very uneasy up there.”
“Good enough for me,” he said. “Now lie down,” he ordered in a gentle voice.
She collapsed downward and tucked the pillow up under her head and whispered, “I’m so damn tired.”
“So, for that reason, you’ll sleep.” He stretched up a little bit over the upper bunk to drop a kiss on her forehead. “Now be a good girl and sleep.”
She smiled and whispered, “That’s one order I’m happy to take.” With that, she closed her eyes and dropped off into a deep sleep.
Keane sat on the side of his cabin, without even a chair. In such a very small sleeping area, he was content to just sit in the corner on his phone as he went through the information he had. And that was damn little. He was more concerned about Sandrine’s ex-boyfriend and the look on his face when he’d seen her. He had hugged her, and she had allowed it, but stiffly. Of course the fact that she’d snuggled up closer to Keane afterward had warmed his heart.
But he also understood that she was trying to get away from a predator. They’d be home in a few hours, and that was important, so she could get back to a normal life. But what would that mean for her? What would it mean for this boyfriend of hers? Ex-boyfriend, he corrected himself mentally. His phone rang just then, and he answered it to hear Lennox on the other end. “The body recoveries are done and stowed, so everybody is heading back to port now.”
“Good enough. Do we have an ETA?”
“They’re figuring two and a half hours.”
“Okay. She’s likely to sleep that long anyway.”
“And then what?” Lennox asked curiously.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I guess drop her off at her apartment, a job well done. A weird job but, hey, I’ll take it.”
Lennox laughed. “So my job to head up next will be a search and rescue too?”
“Hell, they’ll probably send you off into the bowels of Africa or some dang thing,” he said, laughing.
“Hey, don’t say that,” he said. “It seems like this one was a bit of an anomaly.”
“No, I don’t think so. Nico’s job was pretty wild too.”
“So we’re just out there to help whoever needs a hand?”
“Sounds like it,” Keane said. “You know I’m okay with that.”
“I’m not having a problem with that part of it,” Lennox said. “It certainly beats the heavy military drilling. But we have to keep in shape too. We Mavericks don’t have the same schedule for that.”
“No, I think we’ll set that up ourselves.”
“Yeah, but one of the best things would be a gym with everybody,” Lennox said. “It kept us all motivated and fit as SEALs.”
“As Mavericks, we’re scattered in a lot of locations,” he said, “but, anytime you want to go, just let me know.”
“Good to know,” he said. “I’ll hang up now and talk to a couple of th
e coast guard guys. They’ve still got a bunch of questions on the extra visitors we had. … Hang on a minute,” he said.
Keane waited, knowing from Lennox’s voice that something was up.
“You there? They’ve spotted another boat up ahead.”
“What kind of boat?” Keane asked, standing up.
“A small black Zodiac, but they said it appears to be struggling.”
“Any passengers on board?”
“The guardsmen have gone up on deck to see,” he said. “I’m standing at the pilot’s station. The storm is picking up again.”
Keane paced in his tiny space.
“Okay, somebody is on board, but they aren’t sure if he’s okay or not.”
“You know who’s coming to mind?”
“Of course. Carlos. The guy who killed his partner and supposedly made a run for a new life.”
“Yeah. What are the chances that the smugglers realized he was going in the wrong direction?”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” he said.
“I’ll be right up,” Keane said. Then he stopped. “I promised Sandrine I’d stay here.”
“Stay where?” Lennox asked curiously.
“I’m in the room across from where the girls are sleeping,” he said. “She said she wouldn’t sleep, afraid Scott would sneak in.”
Lennox was silent for a moment. “She’s that worried?”
“Yeah. But I don’t know if it’s residual stress from the island or what. No way to tell really until she gets some rest.”
“Interesting,” he said.
“It is. I’m just not too sure what the end result will be here.”
“Okay, well, I’ve got this. I’ll keep you posted.”
Just then Keane heard a knock on the door across the hall. Keane hung up the phone to see Greg.
Greg looked at him in surprise and said, “I was hoping to talk to Brenda.”
“They’re both sleeping,” Keane said, motioning at the closed door, to Greg who was still knocking on the women’s door. “Did you want something?”
Greg’s face fell. “I’ve been waiting to see her,” he said. “It breaks my heart to know that I can’t touch her yet.”
“I guess that depends on if you had anything to do with her going into the water in the first place.”
