She let out a slow breath and said, “Well, that’s good to know because this isn’t exactly the way I pictured my life ending.”
“No,” he said. “One good deed deserves another. You saved the lives of two men, so don’t worry. We’ll make sure we get you out of here.”
She gave him a bright smile and nodded. “They’re missing another friend of theirs too,” she said, motioning toward the plane’s debris floating in the ocean.
He looked at her curiously. “Did you see anyone?”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t even coming out to check because they were so far out,” she said. “But I thought I saw movement, so I went to look. I’m sure glad I did.”
“So am I,” Ryland said from the other side of her.
After that, the wind picked up, and it was too damn hard to hear. The wind caught their voices and carried them off in the opposite direction, making it almost impossible to communicate. The loud whistle of the winds and the deafening roar of the waves were all they heard, as Mother Nature broke overhead, obviously in a tempest of some kind.
Tucking her head in against the edges of her life jacket, she curled up in the smallest ball that she could and closed her eyes against the wind and the water, wishing she were anywhere else but here.
Chapter 2
A hard poke had Tabi Sutherland lifting her head. The seaman beside her pointed, and she saw the side of the big naval ship ahead of her. She was stunned. It was just so massive as it rose above her. She was also numb from the cold rainwater. If she was expected to climb, they were out of luck; her limbs had stiffened in the cold. “Jesus,” she said. “I didn’t realize how big it was.”
“It’s pretty scary,” he said. “Especially if you’ve never been close to one before.”
When the Zodiac moved into the shadow of the big ship, she thought in her mind that the waves had increased just that much more. As they pulled up to the side, lines were tossed. They were snugged up close, but it was a challenge to get everybody up and off. This weather just added to it. By the time she stood on the deck, shivering from the cold and the wind, she was grateful to see Ryland being carried indoors. As she stood here, with the one lonely bag, purse inside, in her hand, she looked around at the wide-open space and the metal decking. “What do I do now?”
Just then a navy man in a white uniform approached. He smiled and said, “Petty Officer Joe Smithson. We have a room for you, but we’ll get the doctor to check you over first.”
She smiled. “I’m not injured,” she said. “That was my boat that went under though, so I could really use a hot shower and a chance to dry off.”
“That can be arranged. Follow me, please.” She followed him down the stairs and through a long hallway until she was shown a small room. “This is yours,” he said. “When you’re done, we’ll see you two floors up.”
“Sure,” she said, looking around the tiny-ass room. And just like that he was gone.
But then, what did she expect? It was a huge ship, and hundreds of people were probably on board. However, she was pleased to see she had a small bathroom all to herself. She stripped down out of her wet clothing and stepped into the hot spray, ever mindful of the water issue on a ship like this. As soon as she was clean and warmed up, she shut it off and grabbed the towel, dried off, and stepped out in the bedroom to get dressed.
The trouble was, the clothes in her bag—even though it was waterproof—weren’t much drier than what she’d had on. She pulled them out and frowned. What she needed was something drier than what she had. When a hard knock came on the door, she grabbed a T-shirt, threw it on, and wrapped the towel around her. She opened the door a crack to see the same petty officer.
He said, “Here’s some fresh clothes. Don’t know that they’ll fit, but they’re dry.”
At that, her face lit in delight. “Thanks, I was trying to figure out what I would do. The only change of clothes I had in my bag were soaked too.”
“I’m not sure about your shoes,” he said doubtfully, looking at her bare feet.
“I’m okay with wet shoes,” she said.
“If you give me all your wet clothes,” he said, “we’ll get them dried for you.”
“Perfect, just give me a minute.” She closed the door and emptied the bag of clean dry clothes on her bunk. She tried on the clothing he’d given her. The pants were a reasonable fit. The shirt was tight across the chest, but it would do. She packed up all her wet clothing in the bag the seaman had brought her. Anything that was fabric she bundled up with her wet clothes. Dressed again, she opened the door. “My shoes are just soft canvas runners,” she said.
He nodded, as she handed the bag off to him. “May I come with you now?” she asked. “I don’t really know where I’m supposed to go.” As she spoke, she quickly braided her long blond hair and brought it down around her shoulder.
He nodded and said, “I’ll take you upstairs, where there’s hot food and coffee waiting. Plus our captain wants to hear what happened.”
“Of course,” she said in a formal tone. Something was very odd about being in such a regimented area, where everybody else followed orders. But she didn’t know which orders were hers to follow. So once again, she felt like a fish out of water. In this case, literally. As she followed him down the hallway and back up the stairs, she asked, “How are the two men?”
“They’re in sick bay,” he said. “I don’t have an update yet.”
“Right,” she said. “Is it possible to see them?”
“It will be in a little bit,” he said with a bright smile.
“Thank you,” she said. “I really appreciate the navy’s assistance. It was getting a little close for comfort out there in that storm.”
“And I’m sure those two men you saved appreciated the rescue too.”
She laughed. “Hopefully, because, man, that was a rough go there for a while.”
“I’m sure it was,” he said. “We heard reports of the plane going down and knew we were the closest in the area, but we were still way too far out to save anybody in the short-term.”
“Well, thankfully we’re here,” she said, “and that’s the least of our issues right now.”
“Exactly. Did you hear any of the details?”
“No, outside of the fact that they said the plane blew up, and, by the time they were hit, they barely had time to get out.”
“When it’s flying that low, it becomes quite a catastrophe just to stay alive.”
“Well, it was, but thankfully they made it,” she said. “Although they’re missing one man.”
“I know. The Coast Guard is out looking,” he said.
“Good.”
He led her to the mess hall. “There’s hot coffee and tea here, if you want something.”
She immediately reached for a cup and the coffeepot. Once that was filled, she snagged a muffin and said, “This will do for a start.”
He just chuckled and said, “Dinner will be here in an hour or so.” He walked her to where two navy men sat, both in uniform. Both men stood and shook her hand. She heard their names, but, at this point, names and faces were a blur, although one was the captain. She smiled when they asked her to seat herself, and she sat down. As soon as she sat, the men sat down too.