Page 38 of Go, Rogue

Chapter

15

McGann, McNeil, and Rogers are still poring over the navigation tables when the alarm comes clanging through the ship. McGann’s head snaps up at the sound of the shouts erupting through the calm afternoon.

No.

The cry of “Fire!” is the most feared sound on a sailing ship because it represents the worst disaster possible at sea.

A bloody goddamned fire.

It’s the last thing they need.

“Fire stations,” McGann yells, and the three men quickly break apart.

McNeil goes back to the wheel to ensure they remain on course, Rogers to direct the men into the fire teams, and McGann to find Catherine.

Catherine, Catherine, Catherine.

Her name repeats in his head amid the shouts of the men responding to the alarm.

He takes the rungs of the ladder below deck two and three at a time and then he rushes through the long passageway to their cabin.

Must find her.

He takes note of his surroundings as he flies past. Rogers’s door is closed, the crew berths are empty, and there’s something dark smearing the deck.

Is that blood? What in hell?

He throws open the door to their shared room, but she isn’t inside.

“Menace!?!”

She isn’t there.

Where is she?

He can hear the crew moving into positions and Rogers giving commands. McGann has personally overseen their training for this eventuality, drilling the men over and over on the protocol for fire. He trusts them to take their stations and do what needs to be done.

“Menace!” he yells again as he searches their cabin and water closet, and then makes his way out into the passageway.

He begins at one end and works his way down to the other, methodically examining each space as he goes.

Find her.

Save her.

“Fire in the mess!” He hears Rogers yell, and then the scuffle of men and boots as the buckets are hauled to the mess to douse it.

But then, “fire in the rigging!” And, “fire in the berthing!”

What in hell?

There are fires everywhere. And no Catherine. He can hear the sound of his own blood rushing in his ears, drowning out everything else.

Where is she?

“Update?” McGann yells to Rogers as they pass in the corridor. “Three suppressed, the men are working on a fourth. Where are they coming from?”