Only once in his fifteen years had anyone really wanted to know what he was going through. He barely remembered what any of his other teachers looked like or anything they had said over the years, but he remembered Mrs. Cunningham. He remembered the way she had gotten in his face about things. She hadn’t tried to coddle him or be his friend, but something about her had made him trust her.
Mrs. Cunningham had even stood up to the hard-nosed principal the day he’d gotten suspended. She knew the other kid had started the fight, that Eric had just been defending himself, but the principal hadn’t cared. Instead, he had kicked him out of school for three days, and now Eric was stuck in this stupid chair twice a week, for an hour at a time, while his anger grew degree by degree.
* * *
Riley tapped away at her computer keyboard, realigning names on her spreadsheets to cover all of the needed volunteer positions. She could hardly believe it was already Friday and that her second week with the SEAL team was coming to a close. The training exercises were already planned, or at least sketched out. She was surprised by the amount of variance Kel had allowed for, but she understood the necessity. No one could be sure what would happen in a real situation, not even the gunman himself.
For the past week, she had met with various college drama classes to make sure she had more than enough people to fill the classroom seats and create the chaos that would surely occur in a real emergency. Once she realized that Kel didn’t want any of the volunteers to participate in the same training exercise more than once, she had started talking to some of the English professors in an attempt to find fresh faces for the four subsequent courses.
Her cooking lessons with Amy had continued each night as Amy expanded her repertoire, and Brent and the others continued to help Tristan work on his truck. Riley was starting to get used to having the whole gang around. Some nights only Brent and Amy came, and their after-dinner activities changed from night to night, but Tristan was becoming a constant presence in her home.
She was already looking forward to the date they had planned for the next day. She hadn’t been to Kerr Lake in years, and she knew she couldn’t pass up the opportunity of going boating. Not that she would pass up a chance to spend the day with Tristan anyway. But she was a little worried that she thought of him so often during the day. Still, Riley couldn’t deny that he had helped her overcome her fear of Sedgely Hall. She knew she would never like the building, but she had at least learned to function there without constantly thinking about that one day of horror two years before. Instead she found herself thinking about Tristan and the way he could make her laugh with little more than a look.
He hadn’t pushed her for more information about herself, and she guessed that he was waiting for her to offer to tell him about the scars she was hiding. For so long, she had trapped those memories in the corner of her mind. Even right after the massacre, she had never really volunteered information. Sure, she had answered some questions from the police, and occasionally she had even answered her family’s questions, but she had never actually recounted everything that had happened.
She let out a sigh. She knew Tristan needed her to confide in him, but she wasn’t quite sure how to find the words. Could she even bring herself to remember that day in its entirety? And if so, could she really find a way to explain what she had seen? As she struggled to focus once more on her work, she wished she could erase her memories of the massacre once and for all.
10
“You’re going scuba diving? In a lake?” Riley looked at Tristan suspiciously.
“It’s been a few weeks since any of us have been on a dive,” Tristan said as though that explained everything. “We’re only going down for about half an hour.” He shot a mischievous grin at her. “That should give you just enough time to teach Amy how to make chicken salad.”
“Very funny.” Riley watched him check over what looked like complicated equipment. “I think you guys are getting a little too spoiled with us cooking every night.”
Tristan looked at her, considered a minute, and then nodded. “Yeah.”
Riley laughed. She couldn’t deny that she and Amy had likewise benefited from the arrangements of the past week. The main reason Tristan had been working so hard on his truck was so he could tow the boat he and his teammates had rented. Now they were all lounging on deck on a perfect Saturday afternoon, the warm sun on their faces as Quinn stood at the wheel and headed for deeper water.
“Why didn’t Marilyn come today?” Riley asked Tristan.
“Kel said she had to go back to Virginia Beach for a couple of days. She’s been working from home as a legal transcriptionist so she can meet up with Kel when we’re on temporary assignment. I guess she had some meeting yesterday that she couldn’t miss.”
“It’s great that she has a job she can basically take with her anywhere.”
Tristan nodded as he finished lining up the equipment.
The sound of boat motors in the distance was suddenly interrupted by a loud boom. Just as Tristan and Riley looked up, Quinn called out, “Hey, we’ve got a problem up here.”
Riley turned her gaze to where Quinn was pointing, and her mouth dropped open. “Oh my gosh!” Just over a mile away, two boats were motionless in the water; it appeared they had collided. She stared as she tried to grasp the seriousness of the situation. The two boats were obviously damaged, and it looked like one was starting to sink.
“Looks like we’re in rescue mode,” Kel said as he grabbed a pair of binoculars and sized up the situation.
The SEALs sprang into action. Quinn was already steering the boat toward the collision, and Seth quickly moved to his side to contact the local authorities on the radio. When Seth got the rescue squad on the phone, he was brief and to the point. He gave their location and described the situation. “We’ve got two damaged vessels, one with a hull breach and the other with a smoking engine.”
Riley looked up and saw that the modest houseboat did indeed have a gash visible in the hull right at water level. It was beginning to list onto its side. Just a few yards away from the houseboat, black smoke billowed from a little speedboat.
“This doesn’t look good.” Tristan shook his head, squinting to watch a woman jump into the water from the houseboat. Shouts of confusion sounded from those still on deck. A man helped lower two frightened children into the water, both of them clinging tightly to their lifejackets. The others onboard the houseboat were hastily fastening their lifejackets. On the speedboat, a young couple was examining the damage to their vessel.
Kel called out the basics for Seth to relay to the rescue squad. “Two adults on the speedboat, one man and one woman. On the houseboat, it looks like a couple of families.” Kel scanned the deck and the water near the houseboat as he counted. “On the houseboat, I’ve got a visual on four adults, two teenage boys, and two young children.”
Brent zipped up his wetsuit as Quinn steered toward the damaged boats. The two teenagers and a middle-aged couple entered the water while one man continued to scramble on deck.
“That speedboat is going to blow,” Brent said, pointing at the slick of oil on the water.
“How can you tell?” Riley asked, amazed at the way these men had instantly switched into rescue mode.
“With the way that engine is sparking, it’s just a matter of time before the fuel catches fire,” Brent told her.
Quinn steered wide to avoid the oil slick and shook his head in disbelief. “Man, what are the chances that we would just happen to show up right now?”
Kel handed Brent the binoculars and turned to face everyone else. “Quinn, you make the drop and then bring the boat back to a safe distance. Brent and Seth, start with the couple on the speedboat. Tristan, you start with the two little kids in the water. I’ll check out the houseboat for anyone left onboard. Quinn, once you’re clear, come out and help us.”
Amy’s eyes locked on Brent’s, but she spoke to everyone. “Be careful.”
Brent leaned over
and gave her a quick kiss. “We will.” Then he moved to the side of the boat with his teammates as Quinn increased speed.
Riley’s eyes widened as they approached the speedboat. Quinn barely even slowed as Brent and Seth jumped into the water one at a time. They looked totally relaxed as they submerged beneath the wake of the boat. A moment later they both reappeared and swam efficiently toward the smaller boat.
Riley’s gaze darted back to where Tristan and Kel were preparing to enter the water. Tristan’s eyes met hers, and she felt the sudden tension vibrating from him.
“Stay on the boat,” he told her, his voice low and serious. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
Before she could do more than nod, Tristan turned his attention back to the water and stepped off of the boat, followed immediately by Kel. As they started toward the houseboat, Quinn steered the rented boat back toward the open water, not slowing until they were at a safe distance over a quarter of a mile away.
Riley swallowed hard as she tried to get past the shock of their situation. She turned to Quinn and asked, “What can we do to help?”
“There’s a life preserver over on the side. Grab that and throw it out as far as you can. We need to shorten the distance they have to swim so that we can get them all on board quickly in case that boat blows.” He motioned to Amy. “Take over the radio while I see if I can scrounge up some more rescue equipment.”
Riley grabbed the life preserver and threw it out over the water. When it didn’t go as far as she wanted, she pulled it back in and tried a second time. Her eyes scanned the surface of the water, looking for Tristan. She spotted him swimming toward her, both of the children clinging tightly to him. He carried one of them in a lifeguard hold, and the other was hanging onto his neck. The adults were following behind Tristan, except for one woman, who was motioning frantically to the man still on deck talking to Kel.
A second rope was hurled out over the water beside Riley. She turned to see that Quinn had attached a rope to a plastic water jug to make another life preserver. He tied the rope to the boat railing and then turned to Amy. “I’m going to swim out and help. I need you to be ready to pull out of here if we signal you.”
Nervously, Amy nodded.
Quinn glanced out at the speedboat and then over at Riley. “You’d better find the first-aid kit. Looks like we’re going to need it.”
Quinn splashed into the water as Riley followed his gaze. The couple on the speedboat apparently didn’t want to be rescued and were refusing to leave their vessel in spite of Brent’s persuasion. Riley just blinked when Brent’s fist came up suddenly. As he gently lowered the man to the deck, Riley asked Amy, “Did your husband just do what I think he did?”
“You mean did he knock that guy out in order to save his life?” Amy nodded. “Yeah.”
The woman appeared to become more agreeable once Brent slid her companion over the side of the boat to where Seth was waiting to bring him in. Seth started towing the man toward them as Brent entered the water with the woman.
Amy got off the radio and turned to Riley. “A rescue cutter is heading our way, but it’s going to be a few minutes before it gets here.”
“I can’t believe this.” Riley shook her head. “What would these people have done if we hadn’t been on the lake today?”
“I don’t know,” Amy said quietly as she gripped her hands together.
Riley tied off the end of her life preserver and started rummaging through the storage compartment until she found the first-aid kit. She set it on the seat beside Amy and then moved back to where the lines were tied. Quinn was now just a dark spot in the water as he neared the remaining passengers from the houseboat.
Tristan was nearly to the line that was tied to the milk jug, but he continued forward with the two kids. He was just a few yards away when Kel’s voice came over the radio. “We’ve got a missing nine-year-old boy. We think he’s trapped below deck.”
Amy grabbed the binoculars and started scanning the surface as Tristan reached the side of the boat. Riley reached for the little girl’s arm and helped lift her into the boat. By the time she turned around, Tristan had already boosted the older brother up onto the deck as well.
“What did Kel say about a missing kid?” Tristan asked, pulling himself up onto the deck.
“A nine-year-old boy,” Amy told him.
Riley squatted down next to the two frightened children, who were now sitting in the boat, shivering. “The other boy, is he your brother?” she asked.
The boy, who looked to be about seven, nodded solemnly. “He was downstairs.”
“Amy, you’re going to have to drop me,” Tristan said urgently as he started strapping on his scuba gear. “Swing wide around the folks in the water and get me as close to that hole in the side as you can. As soon as you do, get back over here full speed.” He paused and looked at her as he strapped on his tank. “Can you do that?”
Amy nodded.
“Good.” Tristan moved to sit down on the back of the boat as Riley quickly untied the lines attached to the life preservers.
Realizing that she probably didn’t have time to pull the life preservers in, she left them floating in the water as Amy gunned the engine and moved back into the danger zone. Riley felt a flood of panic as she considered what Tristan was about to do. The little boy might already be dead, but Tristan was going to risk his life anyway.
Suddenly, Riley smelled smoke. She looked up and covered her mouth with her hands. “The speedboat is on fire!”
Flames were licking at the side of the engine less than a hundred yards from where Seth was towing the unconscious man toward the abandoned life preservers. Behind him, Brent had slowed to help the woman beside him, who was beginning to flounder.
Kel and the children’s father were now in the water, quickly trying to move away from the houseboat so that Amy would have a clear area to navigate through. The other adults and the teenagers were bobbing in the water with their lifejackets keeping them afloat, not sure where to turn now that their destination had moved on them.
“Keep going straight and don’t slow down,” Tristan called out to Amy. He turned his gaze to Riley. Concern flashed in his eyes, and he called out once more. “As soon as I hit the water, you get the heck out of here. Let everyone come to you.”
Amy nodded. The wake rocked the speedboat as they passed. When they were within five yards of the houseboat, Tristan splashed into the water. He disappeared under the surface, and Riley couldn’t see him anywhere. The boat was listing dangerously to one side, and the gash in the hull was now completely beneath the lake’s surface.
Panic clawed at Riley’s throat as she thought about the danger Tristan was in. She had considered that she might not see him after this project was over, but what if he died trying to save the little boy? She might have been able to stand the idea of him being on some distant corner of the world doing his thing, but dead? It couldn’t happen. Please don’t let it happen! Please keep him safe! The prayer echoed over and over in her head.
The little girl beside Riley started to whimper, startling Riley back to the problem at hand. She amended her silent prayer to add a request for the missing boy and those still in the water. Then she grabbed a couple of towels and wrapped them around the shivering children. She then shrugged out of her T-shirt to reveal her plain red swimming suit.
Riley leaned down and spoke softly to the children. “I’m going to help get the rest of your family, so don’t move, okay?”
The two little heads nodded, and Riley stood to see Amy slowing back down as she reached their previous position. The life preservers were still bobbing in the water, but the lines had sunk below the surface, out of reach. Riley could see the flames climbing higher and the weariness of the swimmers heading toward the boat.
“I’m going to go get the lines for the life preservers,” Riley told Amy. “I don’t think we have much time.”
“Be careful,” Amy called to her as Riley took off her shorts a
nd slid into the frigid water.
Already shivering, Riley started toward the bobbing objects, keeping her head above water. Quinn was now leading the houseboat passengers toward her and had closed to within a hundred yards, with Kel swimming behind the group in case anyone needed help. Brent was now helping the woman who had been on the speedboat. She had clearly gotten tired and was letting him pull her to safety.
Riley reached the life preserver first and grasped the rope attached to it before heading for the water jug. As soon as she had both of them she headed back to the boat with the lines in tow. She tossed them into the boat before climbing up the little ladder. Still shivering, she grabbed the life preserver and threw it out toward Seth, who was the closest to the boat. It went a few feet past him, and she pulled it toward her until he could reach it.
“Amy, can you help pull them in?” Riley asked breathlessly.
“Yeah.” Amy grabbed the rope and nodded to the water jug. “I’ve got this one. Go ahead and throw that one out.”
With a nod, Riley picked up the water jug, this time throwing it out toward Quinn. He grabbed it and motioned for one of the bobbing orange figures to take it. As Riley struggled to pull a teenager toward her, Quinn grabbed onto the life jacket of the woman nearest him and started bringing her in himself.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Seth was at the side of the boat with the semiconscious victim, Brent reached the back of the boat, and the boy Riley had been pulling let go to grab onto the boat as well. Riley stood up and threw the water jug out over the water once more as Seth started helping everyone into the boat.
The little boat became crowded with shivering bodies. The Navy SEALs seemed unaffected by the cold water, due largely to the wetsuits they were wearing. Riley tried to fight a rising sense of panic as she anxiously scanned the water for any sign of Tristan. The panic-stricken parents were gripping the railing beside her, obviously praying for the safe return of their son.
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