Page 99 of Fire and Rain
Santee recovered Crane’s pistol, checked him for weapons, and cuffed him, then took over the helm, restarting the engine and moving the boat slowly forward.
“The Sea Nymph is moving again,” Zeke said. “Should we match speed?”
“No,” James said. “Follow the PIW. She’s our priority. Let’s not drown her with rotor wash.”
Trey clipped into the hook. “Eden is now at our eleven o’clock. The waves are carrying her off, but she’s got a strobe.”
“I’ve got my eye on her,” Zeke said.
“Preparing to send down the rescue swimmer to retrieve the PIW.” Sean started the safety check, but a sudden gust of wind sent the helo pitching.
Alarms shrieked.
Trey was tossed forward and slammed his knee into the door’s lock stile and cried out. “Shit! My knee.”
While James and Zeke worked to regain control of the helo, Sean dragged Trey away from the edge. “Are you okay, man?”
They needed to get Eden out of the water—now.
“I smashed my knee on the locking mechanism. I think it’s broken.”
“The swimmer is injured. He thinks he’s got a broken knee.”
Lines of pain on Trey’s face told Sean it was serious. “I can’t straighten it.”
“Roger that.” James muted the cabin. “What the hell do we do now? We’ve got a PIW, an injured asshole, and Santee, and no rescue swimmer.”
Trey tried to straighten his knee once again, grimaced. “There’s no way I can swim in rough water if I can’t kick. Maybe Santee can get close enough to Eden to toss her a rope and pull her back on board.”
Sean had a better idea. “Send me down. Drop me in the water. You know I can swim as well as any AST.”
“Have you ever retrieved a survivor, McKenna?” James asked.
“No, but I’ve seen it done a thousand times.” He quickly went over the controls with Trey, who already knew how they worked. Then he slipped into a vest and went through the safety check, his pulse picking up. “Lower me into the water. I’ll swim over to Eden. Then send down the strap. Make sure to hold the line so it doesn’t get caught by the wind. Youdon’twant it hitting the tail rotor. Anything I should know?”
“That water is going to be colder than you can imagine. The rotor wash will feel like a hurricane in your face. Some people think they’re drowning when it hits them and panic. Just keep your head and hold onto Eden.”
“Thanks, Trey.”
“Sorry, man.”
“It’s not your fault.” Sean scooted to the edge, nothing below him but thirty feet of air and churning ocean. It felt surreal. “Here I go.”
“McKenna is leaving the cabin.”
Sean felt himself fall, the cable catching him and lowering him steadily toward the waves. He looked for Eden, watched for that strobe, and saw her about fifty yards to the helo’s starboard side. Then he hit the water and went under.
Even with the survival suit, it was a shock to the system, the water so cold it made his teeth ache. He surfaced, looked up to see Trey watching him and gave him a thumbs-up. Then he unhooked the hoist cable and swam in the direction where he’d last seen Eden.
But where was she?
ChapterTwenty-Two
Eden was socold that her bones ached, her body shaking, her teeth chattering, saltwater stinging the cut on her cheek and the laceration on her scalp.
Just stay conscious. Stay alive.
She did her best to tread water, to stay on top of the swells, but the waves were relentless, crashing over her one after the other, carrying her far from theSea Nymphand the helicopter. She couldn’t even see the boat now. If she hadn’t been wearing the life jacket, she would be lost.
