by Susan Stoker
The kids were caught in a massive rip current. They were quickly being swept farther and farther out to sea. Julie had learned all about rip currents last year before she’d been kidnapped. She’d taken a trip to Florida with some friends and had seen a small one down there. The lifeguard quickly leaped into action and had made sure the man caught in it made it back to shore. He’d then held an impromptu lesson on rip currents with the awestruck crowd; what caused them and, most importantly, what to do if you were ever caught in one.
And what you should never do was what the kids in the water were now doing. They were panicking and trying to swim directly back to shore. There was no way they were strong enough to fight the current and get back to the shallow water. The only thing they were doing was exhausting themselves and making the likelihood of drowning more like a probability.
Finally, when Julie didn’t think Patrick was going to pick up and she’d have to call the mysterious Tex, she heard, “Commander Hurt here.”
“Oh thank God! Patrick, it’s Julie.”
“What’s wrong?”
She was thankful he got right down to it. “I’m at La Jolla beach and there’s a rip current. A big one. There are about twenty kids caught in it and only three lifeguards. I don’t know what you can do all the way from down there, but I thought maybe—”
“I’m on it. Stay out of the water. You hear me?”
“Uh huh, hurry Patrick. It’s not looking good.”
“I will. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye.” Julie hung up the phone and stood, fidgeting from foot to foot. She chewed her nail, hoping to God she wouldn’t have to watch the kids disappear forever. Their heads were getting smaller and smaller as they were swept farther and farther out to sea.
“Johnnie!”
Julie turned at the sharp cry. A woman was rushing to the water trying frantically to grab her child, who’d wandered out just a bit too far. Julie wanted to rail at the mother for not watching her child more carefully. Who let their kid get in the ocean when it was obvious what was happening?
Acting without thinking, Julie dropped her cell phone on her towel and ran toward the little boy. Maybe she could get to him before he got sucked out into the ocean. She ran past the hysterical woman, yelling at her, “I’ll get him!” before diving into the water and swimming as hard as she could toward the panicking little boy.
Blocking out her own fear, not thinking about the danger she was putting herself in, Julie stroked hard through the water. Before long, she could feel herself being dragged along with the rip current. It actually helped propel her faster toward the child. He was bobbing up and down in the water, clearly panicking. The small waves were washing over his head every now and then and he’d inhale sea water. She finally got near enough that she could grab hold of his flailing arm. As most drowning people do, he latched onto her neck with both arms and tried to climb upward, toward the precious oxygen his body was craving, almost pulling her under in the process.
Julie tucked her head as she’d been taught in a lifeguarding class a long time ago and ducked under the water, making sure to keep hold of the boy. He immediately let go in order to stay near the surface of the water and Julie was able to turn him until his back was to her. She crawled back up his body until her head broke the surface. She put one arm around him and pulled him into her, holding him to her chest as she treaded water with her legs and her free arm.
“I’ve got you, you’re okay. Relax. Don’t fight me. Stop struggling.” Finally her words seemed to sink in, and the boy calmed. He still held onto the arm that was around his chest with both hands, his little fingernails digging in, but he’d stopped thrashing. Julie ignored the pain of her arms, and scrutinized her surroundings for the first time since she’d entered the water.
Her heart sank; they were way far away from the shore.
Resolutely, she looked around. Julie knew the best way to get out of a rip current was to swim parallel to the shoreline. Eventually they would break free of the strong current trying to carry them out to sea, but she had no idea how far she’d have to swim, or how far they’d be washed out before they were able to separate themselves from the grip of the water.
Julie wasn’t thinking about herself, or her dad, or her situation with Fiona and the SEALs, not even thinking about the horrible things that had happened to her when she was kidnapped. She was wholly focused on the little boy in her arms and getting them both back to the beach.
“What’s your name?” she asked him. She knew it was Johnnie, but wanted to keep him engaged with her, rather than on what was happening around him.
“J-J-Johnnie.”
“Mine is Julie. Hey, both our names start with the letter J. Cool right?”
“Yeah,” Johnnie said uncertainly.
“How old are you?”
“Five.”
“Five? You’re probably in kindergarten aren’t you?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Have you ever taken swimming lessons?”
“Yeah.” He perked up for the first time since Julie started talking with him. “I’m a good swimmer. Even my teacher says so.”
“So you know how to float?”
“Floating’s for babies.”
Julie couldn’t help but smile. “Okay then, here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m going to let go and—”
“Don’t let go!” Johnnie screamed and dug his nails into her arm again, harder this time.
“Johnnie, listen! I’m not going to let you get away from me. I’m only going to take my arm from around your chest so you can lie on your back. I need you to float on your back for me. I’m not going to leave you out here. Okay?”
“Promise?” His voice was wobbly and Julie could tell he was on the verge of tears.
“I promise, Johnnie. You can touch me the entire time. Okay?”
“Okay. Just don’t let go.”
“I won’t. Now, release my arm and lay back. I’m still right here with you.” Relieved when he did as she asked and tentatively put his head back until he was looking up at the sky. Julie kicked harder and put both hands under him, one at his shoulder blades and the other at the small of his back. She knew she couldn’t tread water next to him like this forever, but she needed to get him comfortable first. Julie tried to strategize her next course of action. Johnnie’s little body was rigid and he wasn’t exactly floating, but Julie figured she could work with it.
“Good job. You’re a very good floater, Johnnie. I’m proud of you. Now, I need one of the hands that’s under your back to help me swim, so you’ll only feel one of them, but I’m right here, I won’t let you out of my grasp.”
“Okay, Julie. I trust you.”
Julie breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God, she needed a hand to help her swim. She kicked her legs and took an experimental stroke with her arm. So far so good. She was moving sideways. She had no idea how long it would take for them to get out of the rip current, but any progress sideways rather than out to the vast never-ending ocean was good.
Slowly but surely, Julie moved them sideways, watching as the shore got smaller and smaller. Dear God, she had no idea rip currents could go on for so long. She thought once they got a certain distance away from the shore, they simply stopped. She’d obviously been wrong.
Just when she thought they’d never break free of the grip the ocean seemed to have on them, Julie felt the tension of the water decrease. She kept kicking and pulling with her arm until she was sure she was no longer pulling against the strong current. Thank God.
“Guess what, Johnnie?”
“What?”
“We’re going to start back in for the beach again. That sound okay to you?”
“Uh-huh. I want my mommy.”
“I know, and you’re being very brave.”
Julie realized that for the moment she wasn’t scared at all. It was amazing how, when you were trying to save someone else, you weren’t afraid for yourself. She vaguely wondered if that was how it
was for the SEALs when they were on a mission.
Another thought struck her. As scared as Johnnie was, and he’d hurt her when he’d been scared, it didn’t matter to her. She was going to do the best she could for him anyway.
It was an epiphany, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it.
“Do you want to try treading water for a moment, Johnnie?” Julie needed a break. She had a long way to swim back to shore and as much as she wanted to get to it, she knew if she didn’t rest for a second, she’d be in trouble.
She helped Johnnie upright and kept her hand on his elbow as she scissor-kicked her legs.
“I’m tired.”
“I know you are, baby, and we’re gonna get you back as soon as possible.”
“But I wanna be back nooooow,” Johnnie complained petulantly.
Julie figured rest time was over. It hadn’t been long enough, but the little boy was obviously too scared and tired to handle treading water for long.
“Okay, Johnnie. Lie back down and kick your legs, I’ll get us back to shore lickety-split.”
The little boy continued to complain while Julie towed him next to her and slowly made her way back to safety.
“Are we there yet? I want my mommy!” Julie felt helpless as the tears fell down his little face and disappeared into the blue water of the ocean.
She picked up her head at the sound of a motor in the distance. Thank God! The Calvary had arrived! There were four boats headed her way. They were flying across the water. If they’d been on dry land, they surely would’ve been breaking the law with how fast they were going. At the moment, however, Julie knew she’d never seen a better sight.
Julie turned to estimate where she’d escaped the rip current and was surprised to see heads bobbing quite a distance away from her. The boats zoomed past her and Johnnie’s location and toward the teenagers who’d originally gotten swept away.
“Why’d they go past us? Are we gonna die? I want my mommy!” Johnnie cried. Julie saw he’d turned his head and was watching as the rescue boats raced into the distance.
“They’ll be back for us. There are people worse off than us. People who can’t float as well as you can, buddy. Just stay floating, they’ll be back.”
Julie hoped like hell she wasn’t lying. The beach looked a long way away and she knew her strength was flagging. She honestly didn’t know if she’d be able to get them both all the way back to the shore.
Chapter Eleven
Patrick kept his eyes glued to the water in front of them as Cookie raced through the waves. As soon as he’d hung up with Julie, he’d mobilized his crew. They had all happened to be down at the SEAL training beach, showing some of the recruits some maneuvers.
Patrick had raced to them, barking orders as he ran. “This is not a drill! Rip current at La Jolla beach. At least twenty people caught.”
The team was moving before he’d finished speaking. Patrick was the only one not wearing the proper gear, but no one said a word. His battle dress uniform, blue and gray camouflage, was appropriate for everyday wear in the office, but on a mission on the ocean, not so much. Not caring, he leaped into a boat with Cookie and Wolf and the others got into the other two boats. Two other instructors on the beach jumped into the last boat and they were all on their way without knowing exactly what the situation was, only that if the Commander came racing down the beach yelling about a rip current, it was serious.
Patrick filled Cookie and Wolf in on what he knew as they raced across the water, their legs bending with the movement of the boat and the waves as if second nature.
“How’d you find out so quickly?” Wolf questioned.
“Julie called me. She was there as it happened.”
“Smart of her,” Wolf complimented.
They arrived at La Jolla beach and could see a couple of the lifeguards on jet skis in the general area where they needed to go, towing some of the teenagers back to shore.
The SEAL team immediately began to assist, pulling as many people into the boats as they could find. The surfers were all scared and mildly dehydrated from swallowing the salty water and being out in the sun for as long as they’d been, but generally all right. They’d been lucky.
Wolf, Cookie, and Hurt were the first back to shore with their boatload of rescued swimmers. They were greeted by a huge crowd of worried, scared, and curious onlookers. As the kids exited the SEAL boat, a panicked voice rung out over the other general chaos surrounding them.
“Where’s my baby? Did you find him?”
Thinking the lady shrieking at them was looking for her teenager, Cookie tried to calm her down. “The other boats are picking up the others. I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”
“But he’s just a baby. He can swim, but not that well. He’s only five!”
“Five?” Patrick questioned sharply.
“Yes! I was watching what was happening and didn’t realize he’d gone into the water. He’s always been curious about the lifeguards and he’s been going to swimming lessons. He must’ve either wanted a closer look or he thought he could help in some way. The current took him away from me before I could get to him. A lady ran in after him, but I haven’t seen her come in on any of the boats yet either. You have to find him! He’s my only child! Please!”
Patrick looked around uneasily and didn’t see Julie anywhere. “A woman went after him? Who?”
“I don’t know who, she just told me to stay put and she’d get him for me.”
Patrick turned to his men. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Wolf didn’t say a word, but after helping the last swimmer out, immediately climbed back into the boat, with Patrick following along behind him. Cookie pushed the inflatable raft with the powerful engine backwards until it had enough depth to turn around, then he leaped inside. Wolf took off, headed back out to sea.
Patrick and Cookie scanned the ocean surface with their binoculars. They didn’t see anyone else in the area where all the surfers and boogie boarders had been located.
“Widen the search,” Patrick ordered. “I don’t know what she knows about rips, but if she knew anything at all, she’d try to swim parallel to get out of it. It has to be why they weren’t in the general area with the others. They could be anywhere either right or left of the main current area.”
Nobody wanted to mention the possibility that she, and the missing little boy, could have drowned, but each of the men were thinking it.
Wolf cut the engine and grabbed a pair of binoculars. Cookie looked to the right, and Wolf and Patrick looked left. They scanned the surface of the ocean for anything that might look out of place. Spotting a person’s head bobbing in the waves was almost impossible. They all knew it, but none of them said a word.
Finally Wolf said calmly, “I might have something.” Cookie immediately dropped his binoculars and grabbed hold of the wheel, turning it to the left and heading to the area Wolf and Patrick had been scanning.
“Turn to your eleven o’clock,” Wolf ordered Cookie. “Yeah, right there. Straight ahead, we’ll run right into whatever it was I saw.”
Patrick dropped the binoculars he’d been squinting into, preferring to see with his own eyes whatever it was Wolf had spotted and praying it was Julie.
The boat slowly made its way to the dark spot in the ocean. As they got closer and closer, they could all make out a dark-haired head bobbing up and down. Then an arm raised and waved at them.
Thank God.
* * *
“Hey Johnnie, look!” Julie said excitedly. “A boat!”
“A boat? Where?” Johnnie asked, immediately sitting up in his excitement. Julie sucked in a mouthful of sea water as she struggled to keep the boy’s head above the surface.
“Move your legs, Johnnie,” she begged. “Tread water.”
“I’m too tired,” he whined, clinging to Julie’s neck.
Julie’s legs moved faster to keep both of their heads above water. She was holding Johnnie like she would if they we
re standing on firm ground. She had her hand under his bottom and he had both legs wrapped around her waist and both arms around her neck. Julie used her free hand to try to help keep them afloat.
Thinking back to Johnnie’s complaint, Julie agreed. She was also tired. Exhausted, but she could hang on for another minute or so until the boat reached them. It would suck to be so close to rescue to fail the little boy now.
Finally, after what seemed like hours but was only seconds, the boat was there.
It looked so much bigger now that it was right next to her than it did from far away. Earlier, she’d watched as the boat headed away from the shore and had stopped dead in the water. She’d wondered what they were doing, but hoped they were scanning the area for more people. She’d waved her hand over her head, praying they’d see her. She’d breathed a sigh of relief when it seemed they had.
Julie looked up and was shocked to see Patrick’s face peering down at her and Johnnie.
“Hi.”
If she had the energy and the free hand to smack herself in the forehead, she would’ve. “Hi?” That’s what she said to the man she thought she wanted to spend the rest of her life with after he kind of broke up with her and after she’d just spent what seemed like an hour treading water in the ocean not knowing if she’d ever put her feet on dry land again? Good lord, she was a dork.
“What’s his name?” Patrick was all business.
“Johnnie.”
“Hi, Johnnie. I’m Hurt. The guys with me are Cookie and Wolf. How about getting out of the ocean, huh?”
“I want my mommy.”
“I know, buddy. And we’ll get you to her in just a minute. Can you lift your arms so we can help you in the boat?”
“No! Don’t wanna let go of Julie.”
Julie turned her attention away from Patrick and Cookie. Shit. It had to be Cookie, didn’t it? It looked as if she was going to have to face him sooner rather than later. The choice had just been taken out of her hands. But first things first.
“Johnnie, it’s okay. I won’t let go until you’re safe in the boat. Okay? You’ve been such a brave boy this entire time. But let Cookie and Hurt help now. Yeah? They’re Navy SEALs…the best of the best. They’re almost like superheroes. They aren’t going to let anything bad happen to us. ”