Page 118 of Hidden Depths
"I request permission to speak."
Not board.
Speak.
There was a difference.
A very important difference.
I answered with my own bridge loudhailer.
"You already are."
A smile touched the corners of his mouth.
"So I am."
He lowered the trumpet.
Then called again.
"My name is Nathan Hale."
"I served beside your grandfather for nearly forty years."
Storm's breath caught.
Forty years.
That wasn't a passing acquaintance.
That was a lifetime.
Ben glanced at Ward.
Neither man said a word.
They were listening as carefully as I was.
Nathan continued.
"James Sinclair once saved my life."
"He also made me promise something."
Storm tightened her grip on the rail.
"What promise?"
The old captain's eyes softened.
"That if anything ever happened to him..."
"...I'd watch over his family."
Silence settled over both vessels.
Even the gulls seemed to disappear.
