“Well, now they know,” she said. “I doubt there’s anything they can do, but, if there is, I’m sure they’re on it.”
He rolled his head toward her and smiled, as he said, “You can bet your ass they’re on it all right.”
*
That was excellent news about Tabi getting the phone call through to Cain. Ryland had been wondering, worried about how to get a message out that he and Garret were alive and that Bullard needed to be searched for. He had to be out there somewhere. Bullard was a tough one, and Ryland would not mark him as missing or dead at this point in time.
Just because nobody knew where he was, well, that was often Bullard’s way. The fact was, as far as Ryland was concerned, the plane crash was sabotage, and he knew that Bullard would immediately be considering that himself. That fact alone created a lot more reasons why Bullard would likely stay under, if he’d survived.
Their debris had drifted a long way, spread out over at least a one-mile-long area, with the tides spreading it even farther. It would have been pretty damn easy for Bullard to not see them either. As it was, it was good news all around.
He looked at the woman who had rescued him and asked, “I don’t suppose you’d make another phone call, would you?”
She nodded. “Of course,” she said. “What number?” she asked, as she pulled out her phone. He read off the number, and, when a woman answered at the other end, he reached out a hand.
Tabi handed over her cell, and he said, “Ice?”
“Hey, Ryland. How was the trip?”
“A little rough,” he said. “We were blown out of the sky. Garret is badly hurt, and Bullard is missing. Garret and I are on a navy cruiser, out in the middle of the ocean.”
There was a short gasp and then a moment of silence.
He winced, remembering the relationship that Ice had with Bullard. “I’m sorry,” he said regretfully. “No easy way to tell you something like that.”
“No,” she said, her voice faint, before it strengthened and became brisk. “Do you have the coordinates?”
“I have the approximate coordinates, where we went down, yes,” he said. “Where we’re at right now, I’m not sure. I know that the US Navy is getting ready to get us off here, depending on the weather. We’re in the middle of a big storm.”
“They’ll wait for morning,” she said. “You’re safe where you are, and, unless Garret needs emergency surgery that they can’t provide on board, they’ll probably keep you there.”
“That was my take too,” he said. “I don’t want to think about Bullard hanging on to a piece of plywood out in the middle of the ocean, like we were.”
She paused, then asked, “How badly hurt are you?”
“I don’t deserve to be alive,” he said boldly. “But I’ll be honest and say the damage, though it’ll hurt like shit for quite a while, is rather minimal. My right leg was dislocated at the ankle and knee joints, several fractures on the tibia, right arm, and a couple fingers that I don’t know if they even x-rayed or not, but they’re probably broken. Still, not a whole lot we can do about it.” He held up his right hand and twisted it around, noting how much swelling was going on in his fingers. “The back, a couple ribs—you know.” He tried to pass it all off.
Her tone was very sympathetic when she said, “At least you’re alive. And Garret?”
He heard the note of fear in her voice. “He’s alive,” he said softly, “but he’s in bad shape. I know one of his legs was looking beyond rough, but it’s soft tissue damage that I’m really worried about. And the fact that he hasn’t woken up, from whatever knocked him out. Well, I’m afraid of a brain injury.”
“If anybody can pull out of it, it would be Garret,” Ice said. “Is a doctor there for me to talk to?”
“I don’t think so,” he said, looking around. He held a hand over the receiver and asked, “Is a doctor here? Ice is looking for an update on Garret’s condition.” He watched as Tabi walked through the double doors out of his room and told Ice, “Tabi has gone to see if anybody is out there at the moment.”
“Tabi?” Ice asked curiously. “Navy?”
“No,” he said. “Angel.”
She gave a snort at that.
“I’m not kidding,” he said. “She saw us on our makeshift raft. I don’t know how. Probably from the birds flying above. She was out sailing and came to check it out and managed to save the two of us. Then headed toward the navy ship that met us, and they managed to get us to the ship via a Zodiac, but the storm really came up in between the two trips to get us both off. She lost a mast, and then her boat went under. It’s all the navy could do to save her at that point in time too.”
“Damn,” Ice said. “You’ve really been in hot water, haven’t you?”
“Icy, freezing cold water actually, but yes,” he corrected. “When I get back on my feet, I’ll do something about her boat.”
“And I’m sure you’ll get lots of help with that from the rest of us,” Ice said swiftly. “Anybody who does a good deed, like saving the two of you, deserves at a bare minimum to have her property replaced. Did she get hurt?”
“No, I don’t think so.” But he stopped and said, “Shit. You know what? I didn’t even ask her.”
“Well, you probably should,” she said, with a note of humor. “When you get guardian angels like that, it’s always a good idea to keep them in good shape, well rested, and knowing they’re appreciated, in case you need them again.”
“True enough,” he said.
Just then Tabi walked back in and shook her head.
“No, on the doc right now,” he said into the phone.
“Fine,” Ice said. “I’ll go through official channels and get it within the next hour anyway.”
He had no doubt about that. “If you find out something, let me know.”
“And how would you like me to do that?” she asked.
He winced and said, “This is Tabi’s phone. You could always send her a text message, at least over the next twenty-four hours maybe, while we’re both confined to the ship. I have no idea when we’ll hit land, so I don’t know what we’re doing after that. Tabi was on a holiday, and honestly I’m not even sure what part of the world we’ll end up in.”
“Good point,” she said. “Maybe Perth, depending on where you’re traveling right now,” she says. “I’ve got you heading toward Australia.”
“We were flying over the Micronesia Islands.”
“Maybe,” she said. “This computer, although it’s supposed to be updated, is plotting the coordinates a bit off. Probably due to the storm. I’ll find out for you.”
“Thank you,” he said. “And Bullard?”
“You know me. I scuttled up to send a crew while we were chatting,” she said. “We’re on it.” And, with that, she hung up.
He laughed and returned the phone to Tabi. “There’s nobody in the world like Ice,” he said, in admiration.