Chapter Twelve

Mae had been on the deck of the Coast Guard Cutter for almost an hour, watching the action take place on the oil rig. First, a giant helicopter had landed, and lots of men in black had been loaded on it, including Edgar. She cringed at the thought, thankful Jason hadn’t been raised with that man in his life.

As she watched, the decks of the rig swarmed with activity. Hostages were offloaded, more operatives worked to secure the deck of the rig, everyone scurrying around with a purpose. But no Jason.

They then jumped into the water and disappeared. All was silent. The Cutter’s engines revved and started to move away, and Mae frantically watched the rig grow smaller and smaller. She never saw Jason and his khaki pants and t-shirt again. He hadn’t been one of the ones to jump ship, and she could only assume he was still in there, disarming the bomb.

Why he had to stay, she had no clue. He wasn’t in the Marines anymore. Why would they make him stay and diffuse something when the other more capable men were there?

Unless they weren’t more capable. He was EOD in the Marines, which meant he had a background in bomb stuff, so maybe he was the resident expert. The idea that her quiet, unassuming, totally-controlling-in-bed man was an expert in bomb stuff made her head spin.

And then a massive fire ball engulfed the rig her eyes were trained on, followed by the ear-shattering boom and a heat wave that knocked her off her feet and back against the wall of the ship.

It took a minute for Mae to realize what had happened, even as she watched the flames pour out of the oil rig. The Cutter she was on picked up speed, and the whole thing got smaller and smaller in her vision.

Mae began screaming for the Cutter to stop, they needed to go back. But nobody heard her. A man dressed all in navy blue came to her, wrapping a blanket around her, and tried to lead her away, but she fought him off. She couldn’t go.

“Fletch!” he yelled, calling the man who’d brought her here. He appeared, and his face softened as he looked at her. Striding over, he took her in his arms, even as she still fought him.

“They’re fine. They got off the rig before it blew,” he murmured in her ear as he stroked her back in a reassuring gesture.

“H-how do you know?”

He tapped something in his ear. “Because they’ve been talking. They jumped ship right before it blew. They’re swimming to a Zodiac and will meet up with us shortly.” His eyes were so kind and understanding, Mae wrapped her arms around him and held on tightly. He seemed so sure, she could only believe him, and she clung to the reality he presented. “How long have you and Jason been dating?”

“Not long, But I know. He’s it.”

“Yup. That’s the way it works. You want to head to mess and see if they have any coffee?”

“I want to wait where I can watch.” The flames rose high in the sky, almost dwarfed by thick plumes of black smoke. The acrid smell was reaching her nose, and Fletch wrinkled his face.

“We need to not be huffing this stuff. Come on.” He didn’t give Mae much choice as he led her inside. He was right, though. The smoke was making its way over to them from the oil rig, and it truly smelled awful.

She only hoped she wasn’t smelling burning flesh as well. Her imagination was working in overdrive as Fletch led her inside the ship. He gently pulled on her arm, tugging her into a common area with a couch. A few guys got up and made room for her. Grateful, yet feeling bad for displacing them, she smiled wanly.

“You don’t have to move,” she croaked out weakly.

“The adrenaline’s going to crash your system any minute now, Miss Torma. You’ll want to lie down.” Fletch motioned for her to do just that. As if he’d told them to, her muscles suddenly felt drained.

“But I want to wait for Jason.”

“I’ll make sure you get woken up when he gets here.” Fletch’s face was kind, and she appreciated it. The voices of other men in the room were a low murmur, just background noise for her. As Mae closed her eyes, she realized how exhausted she was.

She’d just rest for a minute.

**

Mae woke to someone shaking her shoulder. “Ma’am? We’re there. It’s time to debark.”

What? Where was Jason? Fletch said he’d wake her when Jason got here. He was supposed to be here. She couldn’t formulate any thoughts besides those. She sat up on the couch, and the first words out of her mouth were, “Where’s Fletch?” He’d lied to her. He said he would wake her when Jason was here.

The guy who had woken her simply shrugged. “I don’t know, ma’am. All those guys were picked up by helo about thirty minutes ago.”

He’d left her here? Mae’s brain scrambled to make sense of the events that led up to being here. She knew she was on a ship, away from Jason, and that Fletch had told her Jason would be back. But everything before that was really fuzzy. She’d slept hard.

Stiff, she stood on wobbly legs. As she followed the Coast Guard soldier out and onto topside, her brain slowly filtered the necessary information back to her. She looked over to the horizon and saw a large, orange glow burning brightly. She remembered the rig was over ten miles off shore, so she could only imagine how big the inferno still was.

Questions of whether or not Jason had made it off haunted her. Fletch had said he did, but then again, he’d also said he’d wake her.

Mae had only known him a matter of weeks, but in that short time, he’d become her everything. It was hard to explain, but Jason made her think of her future in realistic terms, instead of some vague, shadowy future she might get someday.

He was home to her.

And if he didn’t come back, she’d be lost. Mae knew she’d never be able to go back to work at ADS if he weren’t there anymore. Everyone knew they had a relationship now, and the pitying looks would be too much. The questions.

Oh God. She had to do the police stuff all over again.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Mae noticed flashing lights in the distance, lending credence to her prior thoughts.

Suddenly weary, she just wanted to go home, sink into her bed, and stay there for a week. But she couldn’t. She had to get this over with. She remembered Agent Harper and wondered what to say about him. Would he be there? Ready to take her away to some torture chamber, never to be seen again?

Fear gripped her, and her fight or flight instincts kicked in. Darting her eyes left and then right, she looked for a way out but couldn’t see well in the dark and had no idea where she would go if she did get away. Mae had no idea where they’d come ashore. They could be anywhere from Matagorda Bay to Louisiana. Or even Florida. It didn’t have to be Texas.

In the crowd of people near the police cars, a face turned to hers. A face she was beginning to think she’d never see again. Tousled hair, filthy clothes, and bloodshot eyes, but it was Jason.

She started running. So did he.

They came together in a mass of tangled limbs, nearly falling to the ground, his lips on hers, her hands clutching him tightly.

“Oh my God, I thought I’d never see you again.” She was crying and didn’t even care. Jason’s strong body engulfed hers in a hug so massive it threatened to break things, but it was perfect.

“That will never happen.”

Okay. Now she could do this. As long as she had Jason, she could do anything.