Page 97 of Fire and Rain
Eden foughtto keep the bow up, slowing to about nine knots. She was exhausted, her hands and shoulders aching from gripping the wheel so hard. She was also freezing. The cockpit was open to the rear, allowing some sea spray and rain to get in, soaking her skin.
Charlie launched himself to his feet and staggered over to her, shouting to be heard above the storm, anger on his greenish face. He’d spent most of the past hour vomiting over the side. “Why are you slowing down?”
“I have to maintain control of the boat and keep the bow up. These are six- to nine-foot swells. If the waves crack the bow, we sink. If we take on too much water, we sink. Do you want to end up as fish food?” She took the next wave head-on.
“Make this thing go faster!”
“We can’t! Do you want to reach Homer or not?”
He glared at her. “You’re making shit up.”
“I want to live as much as you do.Don’ttell me how to pilot my boat! I can’t babysit you and keep us afloat at the same time!”
He swore, backed off, leaving Eden to focus on the ship. She aimed the bow into each wave, trying to stay on course, resigned to taking Charlie to Homer.
She was certain the Coast Guard knew where she was, but she’d belatedly realized they wouldn’t send a SAR team after her. They would leave rescuing her to a cutter crew carrying federal agents and maybe operatives from the Coast Guard’s Maritime Security Response Team. That meant she had no choice but to face this storm and trust that help would find her in Homer.
Sean.
Would she see him again?
He must know she was missing by now and would be angry and worried. She hoped he was with her family, but he wasn’t the kind of man who’d find it easy to stand by and do nothing. That’s why he’d gone into the Coast Guard in the first place. He was probably being a pain in Captain Walcott’s butt.
Thomp-thomp-thomp
Was that her imagination, or was there a helo somewhere nearby?
She listened intently, but with the engine, wind, rain, and waves, it was hard to hear anything. She glanced over at Charlie, who sat in one of the lounge seats looking miserable. He didn’t look like he’d heard anything. If he had, he’d be…
Thomp-thomp-thomp
As if out of a vision, an H-60 appeared ahead of theSea Nymph, hovering at about fifty feet above the water. To Eden, it looked like an orange-and-white angel.
Charlie drew his pistol, jumped to his feet—but found it hard to stay upright. “You called them? I told you I’d kill—”
“No, I didn’t call them.” Eden tried not to look afraid, but she was.
Charlie was clearly desperate now, and desperate people did terrible things.“I don’t believe you.”
“How could I? You turned the radio off.” Eden risked taking one hand off the wheel for a second to point. “See? It’s still off. I don’t know how they found us, but they did. It’s over, Charlie.”
“Like hell it is. Just keep going.”
“That’s crazy. We can’t outrun them.”
“No, but we can outlast them. They’ll run out of fuel eventually.”
“What would be the point of that? If they know where we are, they’ll just watch us via satellite and have a cutter waiting for us in Homer.”
Okay, so she’d made that up. The Coast Guard wasn’t going to tap military satellites to track theSea Nymph, but she hoped Charlie didn’t know that.
“I have to turn the radio on.” Without waiting for his permission, Eden switched it on and took the handpiece. “Coast Guard helicopter, this is the Sea—”
The blow took her by surprise, pain exploding in her cheek and skull as her head struck the bulkhead. The handset slipped from her grasp as she slumped to the floor.
Charlie grabbed the handset. “We’re fine here, Coast Guard. We don’t need your help.”
“Sea Nymph, this is Coast Guard Rescue Six-Zero-Three-Two, maintain current speed and course, and prepare to be boarded.”
