Page 102 of Fire and Rain
Christ.
He’d been terrified that he was going to lose her.
“You did one hell of a job out there. I’ve never seen an AET change places with a rescue swimmer to save someone’s life. I’m betting you’ll get a medal out of this.”
“A medal?” Sean laughed. “Nah. I’ll be lucky if I still have a job.”
Captain Walcott met them at the hangar door and drew them aside. “Spurrier, McKenna, well done. I listened in the entire time, which included a stretch where you muted your feed.”
James explained. “We needed to plan and didn’t want to clutter the radio.”
“Right.” Walcott stopped, lowered his voice. “Before we go into this debriefing, I need you to know that there are two versions of what happened out there this afternoon. The first is that you responded to the PLB but went beyond SAR mission parameters, triggering a hostage crisis, breaking a few regulations, and somehow getting back with the victim, the suspect, and the flight crew alive.”
Sean wasn’t sure he much liked that version. “What’s the other option?”
“The second version says you responded to the PLB, found the victim in immediate danger, and acted heroically in extremely unusual and difficult circumstances to save her life.”
James nodded. “That’s definitely what happened.”
Sean agreed. “Yes, that’s exactly what happened out there.”
“Good.” Walcott leveled his gaze at them. “The first version comes with potential unpleasantness and consequences.”
Sean shared a look with James as they walked to the debriefing room, where they spent the next hour going over the mission in detail with Walcott and Chief Allen and answering their many questions. As the meeting went on, Sean grew impatient and tired, the after-effects of adrenaline hitting him in a way they hadn’t since …
The night Justin died.
But this time, there’d been a mostly happy ending.
How was Eden? Was her concussion serious?
Had she heard him say that he loved her?
“One last question.” Chief Allen looked straight at Sean. “The fact that you were able to change places with Trey Nash on the spur of the moment and finish this evolution amazes me. Have you trained as an AST?”
“No, sir, but I worked with one of the best until he was killed.” Sean’s throat went tight. “I knew his job, and he knew mine. We were a team and flew more than a hundred missions together. After Trey was injured, I just changed the plan and moved ahead. There was no way inhellI was going to let Eden die.”
“Well, I’m impressed, McKenna.” Walcott’s gaze shifted from Sean to James and back again. “I’m going to be putting you in for a commendation. You’re dismissed. I expect you have somewhere else you’d rather be.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Sean left the room.
James stayed. “If you have a moment, sir…”
The door closed.
Sean wanted a hot shower and a meal. Then he would head to the hospital to see Eden.
* * *
Eden had just finished tellingBaba, her mother, and her sisters the whole story when Sean stuck his head through the door. Everyone except Baba stood when they saw him, Anya’s squeal making Eden’s head ache.
“It’s him! You saved our sister’s life. Thank you!”
Sean seemed bemused. “The sister posse is here.”
Still, Eden couldn’t help but smile as Sean worked his way through a sea of hugging women to reach her side.
He leaned down, kissed Eden’s forehead. “Hey.”
