She thought about it, her gaze up at the sky, as he kept an eye on their surroundings.
He loved the meditative look, that peace on her face. “You look very peaceful now.”
“Maybe the fight to improve myself,” she murmured, “is already over, and I just didn’t tell myself. Maybe it’s just I had to struggle for so long, and then you turn around, and you realize it’s no longer an issue.”
“That’s what the passage of time is for,” he said. “That decade’s come and gone. The one that’s been there, driving you crazy, while you were so busy. And now it’s, … it’s over and done, and you don’t know what to do about it. It’s … not an issue. Just let it all go.”
She nodded slowly. “Maybe, when I get back from this, I’ll contact my parents.”
“And something like what you’ve just gone through, that would make complete sense to contact your parents. Heads up,” he said suddenly, peering through the horizon. He could make out shapes up ahead.
“What are you seeing?” She peered out the side. “It’s so dark I can’t make anything out,” she said, a strange note to her voice.
“I’m not sure,” he said, “but we’ve got boats.” He turned and looked back at Killian and whistled once.
Killian nodded and checked out his view of the horizon and then came forward. With that, the three of them stared into the ocean, the great big waterway in front of them. Killian said, “I count three.”
“I do too,” Jerricho said, his voice going hard.
“Three what?” Brenna said.
“Ships.”
“Is one ours?”
“Possibly,” Killian said. “But then they’re either being escorted or it’s been taken over.”
“I don’t like the sound of either of those,” she said. “How the hell would we find out?”
“The only way we’ll find out,” Jerricho said, his voice dark, “is as we get closer.”
“And, of course, getting closer means getting into a more dangerous position because we’ll be within their arm’s reach, right?” she asked in a quivering voice.
He looked at her, nodded, and said, “Hang on to that rifle.”
She looked back at him and looked to where it sat, beside Jessie, and said, “Good point.” And she quickly disappeared.
“You sure you want to let her have a rifle?” Killian said.
“I taught her to shoot way back when,” he murmured. “She’s good with it.”
He looked at him in surprise.
He grinned that lopsided grin. “Hey, we had some good times too.”
“I’ll say. Sounds like you just might be right back there now again.”
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “But it’s nice to know that we can be friends at this stage of our lives. Especially if it’s about to be cut short,” he said, motioning at the scene in front of them. “The more I look at this, the more I think that ship’s in trouble.”
“The question is, is it our rescue ship?” he said.
“I think the answer to that is a flat-out yes.”
Chapter 7
Brenna sat slightly apart from the other women, the rifle Jerricho had given her across her knees, as she stared out at the sea. She could tell from the men’s discussion that something wasn’t quite right. She studied the boats around her. The last thing she would do was get taken captive again.
Just then Jessie woke, got up, and walked toward her. “What’s going on?” she asked in a low whisper.
“We’re supposed to rendezvous with a ship that’s picking us up,” she said, her voice equally low. “But the ship up ahead appears to have an escort.”
Jessie’s eyes widened in the darkness. “An escort? What kind of an escort?”
“That’s up for discussion,” she said. “We have no way of knowing at this point.”
“Okay, so that’s not good.” She motioned at the rifle. “How come you have one of those?”
She smiled. “Jerricho taught me to shoot years ago,” she said. “I took to it very well. And now, because he knew that I could shoot and had done a lot of it back then with him, he thinks that I’m okay to have a weapon.”
“I wouldn’t mind having one myself,” she said enviously.
“No, I get it,” she said. “I was thinking to myself that I won’t get taken captive again.”
Jessie looked at her in horror. “Jesus,” she said, “neither am I.”
“But we have to stay strong and realize that that’s not the likely scenario. Against all odds, these men got us out, and we are here, and we’re safe.”
“And heading for disaster apparently,” Jessie said, her tone caustic.
“I trust these men,” she muttered. “And, even though the odds don’t look in our favor right now, it feels very much like we can do this.”
“We’ll do it,” Jessie said, with a strong vote of confidence. “But, Jesus, there are a lot of us to look after.”
“And maybe that’s something we should be helping to do,” she said. “Is there any place to hide the women?”
“Unless they need us to get off the ship really fast,” she pointed out, “we could go below deck. But then how will we get off fast? A lot of us are here.”
“And that just complicates the issue.” Brenna studied the boats as they approached. “The men don’t like it at all.”
“How can you tell?”
“Look how stiff they’re standing, and look at the way they’re holding their weapons.”
“Okay, but they’re not doing anything about it.”
“No, they’re still giving the impression that all is well,” Brenna said, “but it’s obvious that it isn’t.”
“I’m of two minds to go talk to the guys,” Jessie said, “but I’m afraid then it’ll tip off whoever is approaching that I’m here. I’m female, and that’s something then that could just make us more of a target. If they think all the women are here, we’ll just confirm what they’re hoping.”
“And if it isn’t the same men?”
“You mean, the same group of kidnapping gunmen? All we’re doing is tipping them off, letting them know that I’m here anyway,” Jessie said. “At the moment it just looks like two men to these boats. Two white men,” Jessie added in a soft voice.
“Yes, but they’re heavily tanned, so I’m not exactly sure that that would be picked up, particularly not in this light.”
“But the gunmen coming aren’t fools.”
“Nope, they aren’t.
“And they’re likely to shoot first and to ask questions later,” Jessie said. “Won’t our guys do that too?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Brenna said. “Jerricho and Killian will do what they need to do to get us out of here, but they won’t shoot until fired upon.”
“Too bad,” Jessie said. “I think if I had a weapon myself right now, I’d take them out as soon as they were within range.”