Terrors of the High Seas

Chapter

Eight

DAR BLEW THE wet hair out of her eyes and leaned forward, peering with a scowl through the rain lashed darkness. The weather had worsened severely, and the boat was now being tossed by fifteen-foot seas. Dar had turned on the big searchlight on the bow, but it really did very little to penetrate the darkness. The light reflected off the huge raindrops and almost made it seem like she was plowing into a silver curtain.

The Bertram rolled in a swell and Dar turned into the wave, watching both her radar and sonar with careful eyes. She was concentrating so hard, she didn’t hear Kerry come up the ladder and almost jumped right through the console topper when her partner plopped down in the seat next to her. “Yeeeah!”

Kerry sniffled and pulled her jacket closer. “Sorry.” She patted Dar’s back. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Mmph.” Dar collected her composure. She glanced at Kerry, watching her slit her eyes against the rain. “Y’know, there’s no reason for you to suffer up here in this mess.”

“Yes, there is,” Kerry disagreed. She carefully put her elbows on the console. “I can either sit up here and brave the best Mother Nature can offer, or I can stay downstairs and chuck my cookies.”

“Ah.” Dar peered more closely at her. “Yeah, you look a little…”

“Just call me Kermit,” Kerry admitted, swallowing. “Didn’t think I got seasick.”

“I think you can blame the weather this time,” Dar comforted.

Kerry grimaced, and then managed a wan smile as the Bertram rolled in the waves again.

“Watch the horizon,” Dar advised, reaching over and circling Kerry’s wrist with two long fingers.

“Honey, I love you,” Kerry leaned against Dar’s shoulder, “but you don’t have to hold my hand, really.”

Dar chuckled softly as she pressed down on Kerry’s wrist with her fingertips. “Try calling him again,” she suggested, more to distract Kerry than because she believed the man in distress would 72 Melissa Good answer. There had been no response to their last two hails, and Dar was afraid their unlucky friend had run into potentially fatal trouble.

Kerry took a few deep breaths, and then picked up the mic.

“Siren of the Sea, Siren of the Sea, this is Dixieland Yankee. Do you copy? Over.” She paused and listened to the crackling, closing her eyes as the boat hit a trough and pitched down.

Dar shifted her grip slightly and then pressed again, watching Kerry’s face carefully. After a moment, her eyelashes flickered open and a look of mild surprise appeared. “Better?” Dar asked hopefully.

“Eyah,” Kerry murmured. “Did you do that?”

Dar smirked.

“Ooh. I love you,” Kerry said. “Hang on. Siren of the Sea, Siren of the Sea, do you copy?”

A harsh buzz suddenly cut the static, then a second. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky, and they both ducked in reflex. Dar grabbed Kerry and shielded her as she felt every hair on her body stand up. For that brief instant, the imperiled boat was forgotten; the storm was forgotten. Dar heard a loud crack, and then the glare vanished, leaving a wild blast of thunder in its wake.

“Holy shit.” Dar looked up, searching the topmast anxiously, then her eyes went to their instruments, hoping like hell they hadn’t lost the GPS or the sonar. She relaxed when the iridescent glow of the apparatus remained steady. “Wow.”

“Dar?” Kerry’s voice was muffled. “I think you can let me up now.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Dar straightened, but kept one arm around Kerry’s shoulders.

“You all right up there?” Charlie’s voice suddenly erupted in the radio. “That sucker hit the water just off the stern.”

“We’re fine,” Kerry answered. “Everything’s all right.”

Dar glanced up at the sky. “This isn’t gonna work. I’m going to turn and get out of here,” she decided. “We’ll report the mayday when we get into dock.” She reset their course and checked the depth. “I’m not risking you or the boat.”

“Dar.”

Dar turned and looked her in the eye. “Yes?”

Kerry knew that look. She knew Dar didn’t like to be challenged, especially when she was off balance and scared. Kerry could see the jangled nerves in her lover’s eyes, and by the short, restless motions of her hands on the controls she knew that Dar’s temper was very much on edge. “We’re all he’s got,” she said very gently. “Can we try for a few more minutes?”

Dar very much wanted to say no, Kerry could read it. “Let me call him one more time and see if he can at least give us a click. If Terrors of the High Seas 73

not,” she watched the rain plaster Dar’s hair to her forehead, half obscuring her eyes, “at least we tried.”

A deep breath preceded her capitulation. “Okay,” Dar said briefly. “Then, please, Kerry, go below.”

“Okay,” Kerry agreed, flexing her hand around the mic. She hesitated, set it down, then reached out and caught Dar’s hand, squeezing it. “Thanks.”

“Grumph.” Dar adjusted the throttles and started the boat on a long, shallow curve to cut across the swells. She didn’t want to turn too sharply and get caught inside them, since the waves were cresting up to around twenty feet.

“Siren of the Sea… Siren of the Sea…if you can hear this, please key in twice.” Kerry requested, speaking clearly. She listened intently to the hiss. “Siren of the Sea, please key in twice if you receive this. We are trying to locate you.”

The hiss broke, returned, and then broke again. Kerry grinned, then looked up at Dar.

“Could be coincidence.”

“Siren of the Sea, please key in twice again.”

Two clicks answered her again, and then a voice crackled through. “I’m here! Help!”

Dar sighed and shook her head. “We still don’t have a chance of finding him,” she said. “All I’ve seen on radar for the last half hour is…” Dar stopped, leaned closer to the small scope. “Wait.”

She increased the magnitude of the pulse and studied the screen, unsure. It might be a tiny blip, but then it might not. “Could just be wave return.” But she was already swinging the wheel around and gunning the engines. “Either way, if that’s not him we’re going back.”

“Right.” Kerry put the mic down and stood. “I’m going to go up on the bow.”

Dar’s eyes widened. “Not without a safety belt,” she stated flatly. “I don’t want you launched overboard.”

“Aye, Aye, cap’n.” Kerry patted Dar, then made her way to the stairs, carefully climbed down them and stepped onto the pitching deck. Charlie and Bud were standing in the cabin doorway. “We think we see him,” she said.

“’Bout time.” Bud picked up the rope and floatation gear and slung it over his broad shoulder. “Seems like a lotta trouble for some jackass who didn’t have the sense to get out of the rain.” He got up onto the railing and walked around to the bow.

Kerry counted to ten under her breath as she got a double clipped safety rope and hooked one end onto the rail, then followed him. The wind hit her as she went around to the front of the boat, driving rain right into her eyes. Kerry gamely struggled forward, careful to keep her footing as she edged around the large cruiser 74 Melissa Good cabin and emerged onto the sloping bow of the boat. It was pitching up and down, and seawater was crashing over the rails, chilling her even through her jacket.

She got to the very front of the boat and knelt, peering into the darkness. The swells rose and fell, making it hard to see anything at all. All Kerry could see was ruffling waves and rain.

“There.” Bud was standing next to her. “To starboard.”

Kerry strained her eyes. “I don’t see anything… Oh. Wait!” In a break in the waves, she spotted a flash of white, then it disappeared. Her mind tried to resolve it as part of a sailboat, and failed. “Wh…”

Dar, apparently, had also seen it. The Bertram altered course to starboard, and the engine speed diminished.

Kerry leaned forward. Then the waves broke again, and she got another look. “He’s capsized!” she yelled, recognizing the white flash as an overturned hull.

“Yeap.” Bud didn’t seem surprised. “Jerk probably didn’t bring the sail in.”

Kerry stood up, biting her tongue to keep back the sharp words. Their boat worked itself closer, and she could see the upended boat more clearly. “He’s on the back!” She pointed at a dark, forlorn-looking figure clinging to the hull.

Then her eyes almost came out of her head as the sea in front of her dropped, and they were looking downslope at the shipwreck from twenty feet up. Kerry’s stomach almost came out of her nostrils as the wave crested, then she hung on as the Bertram rode the wave down, its forward motion slowed.

The wave picked up the sailing boat and lifted it, then a cross wave unexpectedly tossed it to one side. As Kerry watched in horror, the small figure on the back flew off into the water and disappeared. Without really thinking once, much less twice, she unclipped her safety rope and jumped to the top of the railing, then leaped out into the darkness.

Hitting the water was a total shock. It was cold, and it grabbed her mercilessly and whirled her around. Kerry fought her way to the surface and realized she’d probably just made a really big mistake. A wave nearly swamped her, but she rode through it, then felt something hit her on the shoulder. She whirled to find the floatation ring next to her and grabbed it.

The storm was too loud for her to hear any shouting, but she knew it was there. A dagger of hot fear hit her in the gut, and she got an arm around the ring, glad for its buoyancy. Trying not to swallow the seawater constantly washing over her head, she turned and started for the last place she’d seen the hapless boater.

At first, it was hard to make any headway. Then Kerry discovered if she found the right waves, they’d take her where she Terrors of the High Seas 75

wanted to go. She waited for one, then swam into it and let it carry her down and across the bow of the capsized boat.

The searchlight suddenly penetrated the rain, blazing across the choppy water. It tracked over Kerry, pausing a moment before it reluctantly moved on. Kerry’s eyes followed it, then she lunged forward as she caught just a glimpse of a hand near the back end of the boat. She struggled toward it, hearing the rumbling roar of the big diesels behind her as the Bertram fought to hold its position in the water.

Kerry got her head above water and yelled. “Hey!” She flailed with her arms through the wave, feeling under the surface near the edge of the capsized hull. Three times and nothing, then suddenly her hand touched something that wasn’t water and wasn’t boat.

Her fingers closed, with a brief, heartfelt prayer to God that it was a person and not a shark she was grabbing onto. She felt cloth and pulled hard, heaving backwards with all the strength she could muster. It was like pulling at a wet, sand filled sack. “C’mon!”

Kerry gave another tug. An arm broke the surface, then a dark, wet head.

For a moment, Kerry wasn’t sure she’d been in time. Then the head lifted and the other arm flailed out, smacking against the boat.

The man coughed, spitting up a mouthful of water.

“Here!” Kerry got his hands around the life preserver. “Hang on!” It wasn’t easy, but she wrapped the device around him, then turned her head, searching for the boat on the other end of the line.

Her strength was draining out of her, and the chill water was starting to make her shiver. Warm though the seas were this far south, at night, in a rainstorm, they were no bathtub.

“Kerry!”

Dar’s voice through a loudspeaker was the last thing she’d expected. She blinked through the rain, hanging on to the rope.

“Clip on to the rope! We’ll pull you in!”

Oh. Kerry fumbled at her waist, finding the belt, then the big metal clip that hung from it. She clipped it onto the rescue rope and wrapped her arm around her rescuee, feeling the powerful tug as she began to be towed back to the Dixieland Yankee.

The waves swamped over them. Kerry felt her body aching from the strain of remaining upright, and she reached up and clasped her hand over a knot in the rope to get a better grip. They got closer and closer to the boat, and as they did, she realized how high the bow was over their head. She was used to coming aboard from the stern, and now she wondered how they were going to manage.

The Bertram lunged forward and Kerry crashed into the hull, slamming her shoulder into the fiberglass. It knocked the wind out of her, and she dazedly pushed off before the belt tightened around 76 Melissa Good her waist and she realized she was being pulled right up out of the water. “Hold on! Hold on!” she yelled, scrambling to make sure the straps on the preserver were tight. The man inside it seemed dazed, and he clutched at the rope with uncertain fingers.

Kerry felt her body clear the water, and she sucked in a breath against the painful grip of the single belt that supported her weight.

She kept one hand on the hull and tried hard not to kick out, her other hand tangled in the man’s sodden shirt as they were fished up out of the sea.

When they were about halfway up, lightning crackled and the boat rolled, pitching down so far her feet hit the water again. Kerry gasped as the wave rolled back the other way, slamming her against the bow with stunning force. In reflex, she reached a hand up, feeling for the railing and hoping like hell that didn’t happen again.

Her back thumped against the hull and she felt a tingling start below where the belt was wrapped around her, the edges digging into her ribcage and almost cutting off her ability to breathe. She tried to pull up with her arms, but it didn’t help, and she was on the verge of panic when suddenly hands were grabbing her arms and shirt.

The belt was released and Kerry was lifted over the railing, arms closing around her body and supporting her with a powerful strength she immediately recognized. She turned her head and buried her face against Dar’s shirt, knowing now she was safe and everything would be fine.

“Got ’im!” Bud’s voice broke through the rain. “Charlie! Get the hell outta here!”

Kerry felt the boat begin to move. The rain was still pelting her.

Now that it was over, the adrenaline rushed out of her and she felt too weak to move. It was easier to just sit on the deck, wrapped in Dar’s arms and half in her lap, limp as a dishrag. She could hear the man she’d rescued coughing, gagging up the seawater he’d swallowed. Her own mouth felt like she’d been sucking on caviar, and her throat was raw from yelling. “Buh.”

Dar’s arms tightened around her. “Let’s get inside. I think my little hero here needs some hot tea.”

Hero. Kerry blinked. ”What?”

“He-ro,” Dar whispered into her ear. “That’s someone who does something stupidly brave and gets away with it.”

Kerry frowned as she thought about what she’d done. Good grief. I just saved someone’s life, didn’t I? A tiny, incredulous smile crossed her face at the totally new sensation.

Wow.

Terrors of the High Seas 77

HAVING RESUMED THE con, Dar shut down the engines, reaching up and pushing the rain hood off her head before she stood up. They’d outrun the storm, and now its fury was nothing but a heavy rumbling and flashes of light on the horizon. Dar exhaled, leaning against the console and trying to summon up the strength to go down the stairs. She was exhausted. Moreso, she suspected, from the intense, emotional stress than from the physical activity. Her hands were shaking, she noticed, and she had a headache that started at the nape of her neck and worked upward from there.

It was well after midnight, and heading for St. Johns tonight was out of the question. Even if the weather wasn’t chancy, she didn’t trust herself to pilot the boat, and so further investigation into their mysterious pirate encounter would have to wait for the morning.

Ah well. Dar shook herself. Buck up, Paladar, and git yer ass moving. She walked to the ladder and slowly made her way down it, stepped onto the deck and pushed open the cabin door. Dar entered and closed the door behind her.

Inside the cabin, Kerry was curled up on the couch in her robe.

Bud and Charlie were sitting at the table, and their rescued sailboat owner was across from Kerry, swathed in a big towel.

Dar put a heavy clamp down on her immediate instincts, which were urging her to throw everyone off the boat so she could concentrate on her somewhat pale, and definitely ragged looking partner. Instead, she went to the galley and put on some water, fiddling restlessly with a spoon while she waited for it to heat.

“I was trying to get back into port,” the rescued man was saying. “I don’t know what happened. One minute, I was pulling in the mainsail, the next thing I knew, my engine dropped out and everything started going nuts.”

“That can be scary, Bob,” Kerry murmured. “I capsized in Lake Michigan once. Not fun.”

“You can sure say that again!” Bob shook his head. He addressed Bud and Charlie. “You folks got a phone?”

“Nope,” Bud answered. “Marine radio.” He got up and walked out.

Bob blinked. “Something I said?” he asked hesitantly.

“Naw,” Charlie reassured him. “Just been a long day.” He cleared his throat. “Well, Mr. Gallareaux, I’m sure glad it all turned out all right. We got a spare bunk up top, if you like. You can get a run over to St. Johns tomorrow.”

Bob looked pathetically grateful. “You all have been so nice.”

He glanced over at Dar, then looked at Kerry. “How can I repay you? You saved my life.” He had kind, hazel eyes and a nice face, slightly rounded with high cheekbones.

78 Melissa Good A visible blush colored Kerry’s skin. “I’m glad we could help.”

She smiled at him.

Now it was his turn to blush to the roots of his red, curly hair.

“I feel like an idiot,” he admitted. “I’ve been sailing since I was a kid. It’s not like I’m a neo, but that storm caught me flat.”

“Weather’s like that down here,” Charlie said placidly. “Well, let’s let these ladies get some rest. It’s been a busy night for ’em.”

He got to his feet and limped awkwardly toward the door. “We can kick the generator back on since it’s late watch.”

Bob stood, removing the towel from around him. “I appreciate the offer. I’m about tapped.”

“We’re heading to St. Johns ourselves tomorrow,” Kerry said.

“If you want a ride over, we can take you.” Out of habit, her eyes flicked over to the Dar, who watched silently. “Right?”

Dar nodded. “Sure.”

“Thanks,” he replied simply. “Maybe I can start salvaging what I’ve got left there.” Bob folded the towel and put it on the table, then followed Charlie. At the door, he turned and looked at them.

“I owe you.” His eyes met Kerry’s, then he slipped out the door and closed it behind him.

After a moment of silence, Kerry rolled her head toward Dar and let out a half groan, half sigh. “Got any Advil to go with that incredibly wonderful smelling coffee over there?”

Dar blinked. “Headache?” she asked.

“Everything-ache.” Kerry was glad everyone was gone. “I feel like I was run over by a truck.” She cautiously straightened, wincing as her body protested. “Ow.”

Dar gladly chucked her emotional turmoil in favor of this new issue to focus on. She brought over two cups of coffee and a bottle of Advil, set them down, then took a seat next to Kerry on the couch. “Where does it hurt?”

Kerry put a hand on her belly. “That belt nearly killed me,” she joked wanly.

Dar untied her robe and opened it. “Jesus.” Her eyes widened at the lurid bruise circling Kerry's waist. “I bet that hurts.” She touched the bruise, then gently turned Kerry over. “All across your back, too.”

Kerry found herself nestled against Dar's chest. It was nice, even though she was still damp. “Honey, you need to change.

You’re wet,” she murmured. “You'll catch cold.”

Dar examined another bruise crossing Kerry's spine. She probed carefully. “Does this hurt?”

“A little,” Kerry replied. “More like an ache,” she added. “I don’t think anything’s seriously damaged.”

“Thank you for your opinion, Dr. Stuart,” Dar remarked dryly.

“Did you hit your head anywhere?” She slid her fingers up into Terrors of the High Seas 79

Kerry's thick, blonde hair and felt for any telltale bumps.

“No, I don’t think so,” Kerry said. “I’m just sore—that water was brutal.”

Dar stroked the back of her neck and gave her a pat. “Well, that’s what you get for being a hero,” she told her partner. “You scared the sense out of me, you know that, right?”

Kerry rolled over and stretched out her body, putting her head in Dar’s lap and looking up at her. “I scared the sense out of me, too,” she replied. “I realized in mid air just what an incredibly stupid thing I was doing.”

Dar’s smile was fleeting.

Kerry studied Dar’s face, seeing the residual tension in it. Her eyes were bloodshot and there was a deep furrow between her brows. She lifted her hand and touched Dar’s cheek. “Do heroic things always seem so dumb?” Kerry asked. “I mean, when you think about what you did?”

Dar let her hand rest on Kerry's stomach, her thumb rubbing gently against the soft skin above her belly button. “Um.” She exhaled, letting some of the tension dissipate. “It's a lot like pitching new technology.”

Kerry blinked. “Huh?”

“If it works, you’re a visionary genius; if it doesn’t, you’re a whacko,” Dar explained. “You saved that guy’s life—and it took a ton of guts to do it. You took a chance, and it worked.”

“Hm.”

“Just like I took a chance going through those reefs, and it worked,” Dar added quietly. “If it hadn’t, we’d be in real trouble right now, and if the waves hadn’t broken right, you could have been in real trouble when you jumped.” Dar cleared her throat, then leaned over and picked up the coffee, took a sip of it.

“Catching cold already?” Kerry teased, hearing the hoarse note in Dar’s usually mellow tone.

“No.” Dar put the cup down. “I was screaming your name so loud I lost my voice for a while.” She sighed, her shoulders unlocking and slumping a little. She lifted a hand and rubbed her temples. “I think I’ll have some of those Advil, too.”

“Tell you what." Kerry heaved herself up off the couch. She tied her robe closed again, then took her cup of coffee and gulped down a mouthful. “Instead of drugs, how about we get you out of those wet clothes, and get us both into that nice, dry, soft bed.”

“Yeah,” Dar agreed. “That sounds great.” She stood up and stretched, wincing at the pops as her back and shoulders released their wound up tension. “Hope that storm bypasses us.”

“God, me too.” Kerry stifled a yawn. “I want a nice, peaceful night’s cuddle with you before we have to figure out what the heck is going on around here.”

80 Melissa Good

“Cuddle,” Dar mused. “Yeah. I think I need a cuddle,” she admitted. “I feel sandblasted.”

Kerry captured Dar’s hand and led her toward the bedroom.

Inside, she turned and unbuckled the belt holding up Dar’s shorts, unbuttoned them, and let them drop to the cabin floor. The dim light in the room threw Dar’s face into shadows, but Kerry could hear her still-tense exhalation as she stripped off her short-sleeved denim shirt and tossed it onto the dresser.

Kerry removed her robe as Dar slipped out of her swimsuit.

She set the robe down as Dar sat down on the bed and moved over to give Kerry space to climb in next to her.

It was dark with the hatches shut, and very quiet. The boat was rocking gently, its violent pitching just a fading memory as Kerry carefully lowered herself onto the soft surface. She reached for Dar, and found open arms waiting as they slid together into a tangled embrace. They both sighed, then chuckled.

“What a day,” Dar said with a yawn.

“Mm.” With her ear pressed against Dar’s chest, Kerry could hear her heart beat. As she listened, one hand idly stroking Dar’s side, the beats slowed and the tense body beside her relaxed, as did her own. “Hey, Dar?” she asked after a little while.

“Hm?” Dar’s low murmur answered.

“Do you think those guys were just looking for a quick score?”

Kerry asked, her mind still churning despite her exhaustion. “The pirates? Maybe they just saw an expensive boat, out at night, all alone.”

Dar was quiet for a bit, apparently thinking. “Maybe,” she replied eventually. “Boat this size, out this far…could be.”

Kerry yawned again, her eyes closing against her will. “But you don’t think so, do ya?”

“Given that their yacht could financially eat this one for breakfast?” Dar snorted softly. “Let you know tomorrow once I get a database run on ’em,” she replied, rubbing Kerry’s back lightly.

It was quiet again for a while. Kerry kept her eyes closed, but sleep was kept at bay by recent memories of the night. “Dar?” she whispered.

“Yes?” Dar seemed wide-awake.

“I didn’t jump into the water to be a hero or anything stupid like that.”

“I know.” Dar stroked Kerry’s cheek. “I didn’t think you did,”

she replied. “Something had to be done, you were there, and you did it.”

“Yeah.” A pause. “Is that how it is with you, when you do stuff like this?”

“Stuff like what?”

“Heroic stuff. Like that time you stopped those carjackers and Terrors of the High Seas 81

saved me; that kind of stuff.” Kerry said. “Or what you told me you did for that lady in that bar when you were younger.”

“Ah…” Dar cleared her throat. “Yeah.” She sounded vaguely sheepish. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

“Mmph.” Kerry drew in a breath, then released it with a contented grunt.

The boat rocked. Thunder rumbled softly in the distance. Peace draped at last over two sorely tested souls.