I stretched –
My arm flailed as it emerged from the water and swept in open air. Then the second arm slapped down and my face breached. I drew in a deep lungful of air, crying out in relief. The air was cool, salty, and tasted of pure ambrosia.
I rolled on my back, sucking in the air like a racer at the end of a fiercely contested marathon. One phrase rang out in my thoughts like the cheers of a thousand spectators.
I was alive.
After an eon, my thundering heart gentled to a more normal rhythm. I wiped at my eyes and angled my feet down so I was treading water. I turned in a slow circle, taking stock of my situation.
The ebony sky stretched out high above me, a sprinkling of stars dusting the firmament. There were no clouds hiding them away – but there was no moon, either. At least the seas were fairly calm, with only three foot waves. A patchy fog swirled. And while the water temperature was cool, I’d been in far worse. All I had to do was get back to the ship, and –
As I turned, the glistening Christmas-tree lights of the cruise ship came into view. I stopped in disbelief.
The ship should be curving. It should be making a long, graceful arc around to pick me up. There should be people on the deck with searchlights, a team ready to lower a rescue boat for me, and Evan at the middle, anxiously scouring the waves for any sign of life.
Instead, the ship was off in the distance, serenely sailing away from me as if there were not a care in the world.
I pushed down the panic which welled up within me. Now was absolutely not the time. Right now I had just one thing to focus on.
I drew in a deep breath, then bellowed at the top of my lungs, “Evan!”
A strong voice carried to me from fairly close ahead. “Amanda!”
I blinked in relief laced with confusion.
Had the man actually jumped in after me?
“Evan!” I called again, setting out with strong strokes in his direction. “Evan, I’m coming toward you.”
“Amanda, thank God,” he groaned, and then his fingers brushed mine in the water.
Every ounce of my being wanted me to wrap my arms around him, to curl up in his strong embrace and let the world go. But we were both treading water in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, our ship had sailed, and there was no convenient plank of wood drifting nearby to climb upon and stare deeply into each other’s eyes.
Chapter 2
I gazed at Evan, gratitude pouring out of every bone in my body. If there was any person in the world I’d choose to be at my side in this treacherous situation, Evan was the one.
He treaded water in front of me, his eyes scanning the parts of my body within view. “You’re sure you’re all right? Nothing broken?”
I offered him a reassuring smile. “I’ve been swimming all my life, and those cliff divers were always an obsession of mine. I studied them for seven days straight when I was on vacation. I’d never jumped from this high myself, but thank goodness the technique is a straightforward one.”
I looked him over, shaking my head. “But I had no choice about going in. You jumped in after me! Are you sure you’re all right?”
He gave a wry grin. “My brother, Brandon, was determined to become a Navy Seal when we were growing up. We must have jumped off of every bridge, cliff, and boat we could find. Now he’s a Coast Guard rescue diver, and we take on even higher challenges so he stays prepared.” He glanced after the ship. “That’s fairly high, but it’s not the tallest I’ve done.”
Relief was easing the tension in my muscles. “I’m glad you’re the one here with me, then.” I looked around in a circle, at the fog which was billowing in rolling tumbleweeds. “So we’re both safe and sound, floating in the Atlantic Ocean. Now what? Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket should be relatively close.”
“First, I tossed in a ring before I leapt. The water isn’t that cold, relatively, but it’s still best to conserve our strength. Stay with me. Let’s see if we can find it.”
I nodded, and we paddled in the direction perpendicular to that of the ship’s path. Luck was with us – in only a few minutes we spotted its bright white color against the dark background and both put an arm to it. Just having that small sense of security helped my pulse calm.
I smiled encouragingly at him. “Well done. What’s next? One of the two islands?”
He shook his head. “The coasts can be fairly rocky, even if we did make it there, and with this fog we could easily be moving even further out to sea. While I know you’re an excellent swimmer, this is after all the region that Jaws was written about. No need to stay in the water any longer than necessary.”
I splashed some water at him. “Thanks for that lovely reminder. So what do we do?”
Now that we had a hold of the ring, he was able to take his free hand and twine it into mine. “Why, we wait for rescue, of course.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “But our ship sailed off into the sunset.”
He nudged a head toward his hip. “My team leaves little to chance. My phone is being GPS tracked. About ten minutes ago the team saw it go from an elevation of one-hundred feet to zero feet in about ten seconds – and then go dead. I’m sure they’ll have an idea what happened.”
“OK, then what? They call over to a boat on Nantucket and have it start searching in that last known coordinate? We could be drifting with the current.”
His eyes twinkled. “My brother, Brandon, is a rescue diver, remember? One of the best in the country. He normally works out of Miami and has handled hundreds of rescues. He’s been in Boston these past few weeks, keeping an eye on things.” He gave a shrug. “Brandon is in a helicopter already, if my guess is right, and will be at our location in probably a half hour, having accounted fully for wind, tide, and heck, jellyfish migration patterns.” He rubbed my hand. “I trust my brother with my life.”
His certainty was contagious. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “A half hour, hmm? I wonder what mischief we could get up to in thirty minutes.” I arched an eyebrow at him. “After all, there you are in your tux, and here I am in my elegant, crimson dress …”
He laughed. “That would probably be a first for Brandon, to find a rescuee in flagrante delicto. But as tempting as your offer is, I’ll wait until we get on shore before I take you up on that.”
His gaze warmed with desire. “But not a second longer.”
Chapter 3
I would swear it was only twenty minutes before we heard the distinctive chop-chop-chop sound of the rotor blades whipping through the air. In another minute the breathtaking sight of a rescue chopper gracefully circled through the air. The searchlight centered in on us, and we both held up a hand to wave and shield our eyes.
Then there was a splash, and Brandon had joined us in the water. He was about Evan’s height and build, but with sandy brown hair tinted gold from the Florida sun.
He swam over to our ring, looking from Evan to me in surprise before asking with quick efficiency, “Are you both all right? Any injuries?”
Evan’s voice was cheery. “None at all. We’d like to thank you for coming so quickly. I hear the seals are getting fairly active on Cape Cod, and it’s drawing in the whites.”
“That it is,” agreed Brandon. He looked to me. “Can I assume this is the famous Amanda?”
I blushed. “I’m Amanda, although I didn’t realize I was famous.”
A harness landed near us in the water, attached by a rope to the copter. Brandon swam to it and held it out to me. “Ladies first, of course.”
I didn’t argue. I moved to the harness and let him buckle me in. He made a waving motion, and then the next thing I knew I was being hoisted high in the air. Now that the danger was past, it was actually pretty fun, being suspended over the fog-coated ocean. All too soon I was pulled into the copter and unsnapped. Then it was sent down again.
A few minutes later Evan was sitting at my side, his arm around me, towels draped on our shoulders. Brandon sat on the opposite benc
h. He shook his head as he looked at us. “So, would someone like to explain what that was all about? Amanda, I know you love swimming and diving, but don’t tell me that Evan boasted about the jumps we’ve done and wanted to prove something to you.”
I looked up at Evan, my eyes shining with pride. “Quite the opposite. My ex-boyfriend flung me in the water – and Evan bravely dove in after me.”
Brandon glanced between us in shock. “Jeff? He threw you over the railing?”
I nodded my head. “That he did. In one of those typical ‘If I can’t have her, nobody will’ scenes that seems so popular in modern movies. I just never thought it happened in real life.”
Brandon looked to Evan. “We have to cancel the operation immediately. This has just gone too far. The risk –”
My voice grew sharp. “Cancel it? Because of me? Not on your life! We have to take Sven down. Think of all the innocent lives Sven and his pushers are destroying! We can’t just let those bastards stay in business. If you had to start fresh, with a whole new infiltration, it could take you months. Maybe years. What if someone dies in the meantime?”
Brandon’s gaze was serious. “You almost died.”
I waved a hand. “Jeff knows I’m a great swimmer. Heck, it’s like throwing a duck into a pond to teach it a lesson. And, besides, Jeff isn’t the one we’re after. Sure, lock him up. I’m sure you guys can think up an excuse. But we can still go after Sven and his crew.”
Evan drew his hand down my cheek. “It’s admirable that you want to have this finished. And maybe you’re right. Once we land in Nantucket, I can leave you there. You’ll be safe. Then I’ll –”
“No,” I stated with determination. “Kayla will be waiting for me in my room. She’ll raise a huge fuss if the ship lands and I’m not there to disembark with her. What am I going to do, call her from Nantucket? Then she’ll go talk to Sven and everything you’ve all sacrificed for – risked for - will be in jeopardy.”
Brandon raised an eyebrow. “As compared with now, where Sven and the others know you’ve been thrown overboard? What will you say when you reappear on ship – and how are we even going to be able to do that?”
I smiled at them both. “Simple. You’re going to get us on a fast boat, we’ll catch up to them, and we’ll climb into the tender hatch.”
Both men looked at me in shock, but just then the helicopter banked as we neared Nantucket Airport, known fondly as ACK. The white buildings of the Nantucket Inn complex lay just alongside it, and I smiled.
“Perfect. It’s a shame it’s not spring – their cherry blossoms are simply spectacular.”
Evan raised an eyebrow. “I guess you’ve been here before?”
I nodded. “My family stays here for the wine festival each spring. Absolutely gorgeous time to be on the island.”
I turned to Brandon. “So, Evan and I get showered, the clothes get cleaned as best they can, and then you pop us on a speedboat. I bet we could be back on board within three hours, and none the wiser.”
Evan shook his head. “How about the fact that they saw both you and me go over the railing?”
The helicopter touched down, and the rotors’ furious whirl slowly eased. “The men saw us go over the railing, but with the fog, I doubt they saw us hit the water,” I responded. “And with all the ship’s ambient noise, they wouldn’t have heard the splash. So we simply say we landed on a lower deck and were bruised but not broken.”
Brandon looked to Evan, his brow furrowed. “Do you think they’d believe it?”
Evan shrugged, leaning over to release the safety gate. “They’d be hard pressed to believe any other solution to us being there, dry, clean, safe, and sound. It could work.”
He turned to me and frowned. “However, Amanda, this means you’ll be back on the ship again. I’ve been trying for days to get you off that thing.”
“And you know exactly why I have to stay,” I retorted. I added a pleading tone to my voice. “You’re so close. Mere hours from putting that group away for good. You just need them on shore and documented discussing the heroin sales. And then all of this is over.”
Evan’s gaze darkened. “Jeff is going to be out of the picture,” he stated. “There’s no way I’m bending on that.”
We walked across the tarmac toward the gate in the fence. “I agree,” I reassured him. “He’s too volatile. He could ruin everything without knowing it. So you stick him in the brig – or incapacitate him somehow – until this is all over.” My eyes flashed. “I wouldn’t mind that one bit.”
Evan looked between me and Brandon. “But that means we still need a third partner in order for Sven’s setup to work. Who are we going to bring in at this late date?”
Then his eyes settled on Brandon, and a large grin spread on his face.
Brandon put his hands up in the air. “Oh, no. The last time you roped me into –”
“You only got eight stitches, not ten,” interrupted Evan with a smile. “And, besides, you had fun. Admit it.”
Brandon sighed, but the corner of his mouth turned up. “All right. What do you need me to do?”
Chapter 4
Nantucket Inn was exactly as I remembered it – quaint, comfortable, with friendly staff and a seaside feel. Someone must have called ahead, because a key was waiting for us the moment we stepped up to the desk running along the right-hand side of the lobby. The receptionist, a dark-skinned woman whose accent spoke of tropical islands, nudged her head to the opposite door. “First set of buildings, third door on the right. Everything is ready for you.”
Evan picked up the key, turning to Brandon. “Is forty-five minutes enough time?”
Brandon walked with us as we crossed the polished wood floor, and he pushed the back door open for us. “Plenty of time. You just hand your clothes out to me and I’ll get them cleaned and pressed.” He glanced at our shoeless feet. “And I’ll find shoes, of course.” We crossed the small paved area. “That gives you two time to recoup and shower. By the time you’re all ready to go, the boat will be waiting to take us to catch up to the cruise ship. They were taking it slow as it is – they know to drop it down to a crawl until we catch them.”
We walked the short distance to the first set of buildings, and in a moment we were before the door. Evan paused a minute, then turned to his brother, his eyes steady.
“I knew you’d find us – that you’d be there when we needed you. Thank you.”
Brandon pulled him into a warm hug, gently tousling Evan’s hair. “We’re there for each other,” he murmured. “I’m just glad you’re both safe.”
He stepped back, and his eyes twinkled. “Now get in there and get naked.”
Evan pressed open the door and I stepped into the room. It was more personable than most hotel rooms, with rust-brown blankets on the two queen-sized beds and a blonde-wood desk between them. He shut the door behind him with a firm click, turned to me …
It seemed that neither of us moved, but suddenly we were in each other’s arms, entwined, entangled, our kiss deeper than the Mariana Trench. He must have abandoned his jacket before he jumped. My fingers worked at the edges of his white shirt, tugging the sodden, wet fabric out of his belt, pulling it hard to peel it over his muscular back and onto the floor. Then it was his turn, drawing down the zipper, helping me shimmy out of my dress. I hadn’t realized how cold the fabric was until it was released off of me.
I shivered as the air hit my body, and he drew me in against his bare chest, the heat of his body radiating through mine, soaking into me. His voice murmured in my ear, “A hot shower,” as he undid the clasp at my back, and my bra fell on top of my dress.
My nipples sprang into hard life, and I wasn’t sure if they were triggered by the brisk air or the stunning man who stood before me. His hair was still slicked back and wet, his body glistening from the efforts he’d gone through to keep me alive.
He had saved me.
Emotion soaked through me, and I dove at him again, kissing him harder. Our
hands feverishly roamed over each other, reassuring ourselves that we really were all right, that we had survived the plunge and made it to solid land. His tux pants were on the ground and he had half drawn me up in his arms before he groaned, releasing me.
“Damn clothes need cleaning, and Brandon’s out there waiting,” he muttered. He roughly grabbed the items up in his arms, then turned to the door. “You best –”
“- get that shower ready,” I replied, striding to the privacy of the bathroom and closing the door behind me.
The room was comfortable enough, with a marble sink and large, ivory tub. I barely saw the elegant, flower-shaped soaps in a porcelain dish. My laser focus was on the turning of the dial and the burst of warm, billowing water which thundered into the room. I nearly melted with the joy of it.
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