Page 25 of Under Pressure
What he couldn’t understand was why his team didn’t seemas impacted as he was. He was tired. They were all running around with the energy of ten monkeys. And Sean was usually the one with the energy of twenty energy drinks.
The best part of this assignment was being on his boat out on the ocean. He’d always found solace out here, even back when he was a teenager. He took a deep breath of the cool morning air, loving the scent of the briny breeze, and the deep hum of the motor on his boat.
Knox Miller, the team’s weapon specialist, sat on the bench seat at the port side of the boat, as Grayson, Gray, Braddock, one of the team leaders and their sharpshooter, stood on the same side of the boat. They both stared off in the direction of the Diamond Cove lighthouse as Sean brought them in. Even on a boat, Gray had an unnerving stillness about him.
“Are you seeing this?” Knox kept his gaze firmly planted in the distance.
“Yep.” Gray nodded.
“See what?” Sean turned his attention. “Is there finally a mobile donut ship?” That’d be awesome—even better if they had cream puffs, but that might be a bit of a stretch.
Knox lifted a massive dark brown hand and pointed at the cliff’s edge a good half mile off.
A woman, her blond hair lifting off her shoulders and dancing in the sunlight, stood there, arms out like she was about to fly. Before Sean could even think, she’d sprung up into the air, and launched off the side into a perfect swan dive.
“Whoa!” Knox scrambled to his feet just as Sean yanked the boat in that direction and hit the accelerator. Knox lost his footing and fell back on the bench seat.
The woman entered the water barely making a splash. They waited in silence as Sean counted to himself. One Mississippi . . . two Mississippi . . . His eyes didn’t leave the spot she’d gone in.
Knox darted to the end of the boat and put up the flag that let other boats know there was someone in the water.
Four Mississippi . . .
“What are you putting the flag up for?” Gray groaned, signaling around the ocean. “There’s no one else out here. It’s six-thirty in the morning.”
Five Mississippi . . .
“Instinct.” Knox grinned back at him, probably already anticipating diving in after the woman and rescuing her.
She broke the surface, and Sean took a deep breath. He slowed the boat as the woman glanced up the cliff and waved. She was fine. A group of what appeared to be senior citizens stood at the top and waved back at her, and then she was off. Swimming along the cliffside with speed and agility.
“That . . . washot,” Knox drawled.
“You’d think a female scallop was hot,” Sean said with a smirk, his heart still pumping unnaturally fast—not that he’d ever let on how much that’d scared him.
Knox put a hand to his chest. “Can I help it if I can see any woman’s beauty—inside and out?”
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what you’re seeing—her inner beauty.” Sean aimed his boat for the mouth of Diamond Cove Bay.
A weird smile crossed Knox’s face.
Gray slapped Knox in the arm. “Get your mind out of the gutter, soldier.”
Knox waggled a finger at him. “Uh, uh. Out here you’re not my commander. You’re just my cranky business partner. Which means I can keep my mind firmly in the gutter if I want to.” He booped Gray’s nose.
Gray lunged for Knox, grabbing his finger, then turned his back to Knox putting his arm, and finger in a choke hold under his arm. Sean sat back to enjoy the show.
Knox was a wily one and flipped over Gray’s back forcing the hold loose, and making both men drop to the wood deck. They scrambled to their feet and lunged, and Sean, with a chuckle, swerved the boat hard to the right, knocking them off their feet and firmly on their backsides.
They glared up at him.
“What was that for?” Gray grumbled.
Sean stood, casually rested an arm on the steering wheel, and stared down at his friends lying in a heap. “You might not have to listen to Gray, but while you two are on my boat, you have to listen to me. Next man to start a fight, goes overboard.”
“Heartless,” Knox laughed, and even Gray let a smile slip. “I like that.”
Laughing, he came around the steering column and grabbed Gray’s hand, pulling him to his feet, then Knox after that. “I can’t wait for Mack and Liam to get back from Mayport Naval Base.” The Commanding Officer of their mission, James “Jimmy” Barrett kept calling one or two of the guys in at a time for briefings.
