AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her fierce expression morphed into a stricken one. “He has to.”
CHAPTER 31
Teresa stared at Alex with wide eyes, nearly panting.
Alex swam to her, maintaining eye contact as he placed his hands on her shoulders, speaking softly. “It’s ok. You’re doing a great job. They are coming for us.” He backed up and addressed the group again. “We’ve been in a steady current, and it’s a strong one. But we’re gonna be fine, ok? The Coast Guard has the coordinates of where the boat sank, and they know the direction and strength of the current we’re in right now.”
Alex paused, looking around the circle. “Listen. I’ve been in worse situations than this. You guys don’t need to worry until I start to. And I’m not even close yet.” He cracked a small smile. “It’s just taking a bit longer. You guys are doing great—keep it up.”
He turned his piercing gaze back to Teresa. “You have to trust me, ok? We will be all right.” She stared at him and nodded, drinking in his every word and needing to believe.
Alex made another swim around the outer perimeter of the circle, verifying all the tanks were still tight, then looked down at his hands. They were shredded and bleeding from being submerged for so long and wrestling with everyone’s gear.
Once again, Alex checked his watch. It was 3:30.
Now he had them talking about the best and worst movie of all time. Two guys were having a spirited discussion about it.
“You’re crazy. Return of the King was so much better. The Two Towers dragged, man.”
Mary spoke up. “What about Forrest Gump?” Lots of appreciative murmurs resulted from this suggestion.
They’re hanging in there. Just keep it up . . .
Alex said, “You’re all wrong. The best movie ever made was clearly Rambo.” He grinned, submerging to move to the outside of the circle again.
They had been floating in the water for nearly four hours. Alex had been watching a smudge on the horizon for the past fifteen minutes. As it got closer, the smudge became a large ship—definitely the Coast Guard vessel at last. He turned back to the group, making sure the SMBs had air. Alex had refilled them an hour ago, so they were full. He swam into the middle of the circle again.
“Ok, guys. I hate to interrupt you.” Alex cleared his raw throat and turned to Ben, who was bald on top and sunburned now. “But seriously. Notting Hill? I might need to revoke your man card.” He smiled as everyone laughed.
“Ok, listen up!” Alex continued. “I’ve been watching something on the horizon for a while, and I’m confident it’s our rescue ship.” Everyone cheered, and he had to smile when no one dropped hands. “Don’t change anything you’re doing. You guys are doing a great job.”
He rotated in a circle, making eye contact with everyone, even Turtle Guy. “Seriously. I couldn’t ask for a better group. Thank you.”
Another fifteen minutes passed before the vessel approached, finally discharging a Zodiac to pick them up. As the rubber craft approached the group, a crewman called out, “Good afternoon, guys. Heard you called an Uber?”
Alex closed his eyes and heaved a big breath.
There were two crewmen in the Zodiac, so they had to make two trips to rescue the entire group. Tommy and Alex were in the second group. He made sure Tommy was safely climbing the ladder into the Zodiac before quickly swimming to the opposite side and heaving himself aboard in one single motion, smiling at the familiar action.
He and Tommy exchanged a relieved nod as Alex removed his fins. Tommy drifted his gaze down and widened his eyes. Alex also looked, knowing Tommy was staring at his water-logged, bleeding hands. He quickly hooked his thumbs around his BCD straps and looked to the horizon.
As the Zodiac made its way back to the Coast Guard vessel, Alex finally relaxed.
* * *
Alex looked around the room, trying to stave off exhaustion. The dive group sat around a table in the ship’s commissary. All were wearing Coast Guard T-shirts and scrub-type bottoms that had been handed out in the sick bay. Rescue and warm food had put everyone in a good mood, and they were underway back to the resort.
Alex sat off by himself and gazed down at his new flip-flops and Coast Guard shirt. The adrenaline was long gone, and now he was drained. He was on his fifth bottle of water but had no appetite for food. Taking another swallow, he tried to soothe his scratchy, sore throat. He inspected his bare hands and snorted softly. The medic in the sick bay had wanted to bandage them, but Alex had simply said, “I don’t think so,” and given him his best command stare.
The guy had held both arms up. “Ok, man. They aren’t deep or anything, so you should be ok as long as they don’t start bleeding again. Don’t use your hands too much, or they’ll open up again.” He cleaned the wounds up and trimmed back the abraded flesh, then Alex went on his way. The medic looked happy to see him go.
An older man with captain’s bars and salt-and-pepper hair entered the commissary and got their attention. “Hello folks, I’m Captain Barnes. I’d like to apologize for taking longer than we thought to get to you. That was quite a current you were in. We picked you up over ten miles out from your last-known location. Which of you is the dive leader, please?”
Alex straightened but remained seated. “I am, sir. Alex Monroe.”
The captain approached and held out his hand. Alex immediately stood, and they shook hands. He ignored the pain in his hand.
“Son, I’d like to thank you for helping make this rescue a whole lot easier than it could have been.”
