Chapter 16
“There’s been an accident!” one of the Coasties shouted as he ran past Trigger and the rest of the Deltas on his way to where the boats had parked, a couple blocks from the staging area.
Without hesitation, all six men followed the man from the Coast Guard.
As they ran, Trigger shouted to Lefty, “Where’s Brain?”
“Don’t know. Haven’t seen him in hours,” Lefty returned.
Trigger shouted to the others, “Anyone seen Brain and Aspen lately?”
No one had.
Trigger mentally swore. It was possible they were still out on another boat, rescuing people, but throughout the night, they’d all managed to touch base here and there, even if it was in passing.
But if no one had seen or heard from either of them in hours, something was wrong. Trigger knew it without question. He’d never doubted his sixth senses before, and wasn’t about to start now.
“What happened?” Doc asked one of the men rushing to get the boats ready to head out to wherever the accident had occurred.
“I don’t know the details, but a boat hit a downed power line, and I guess because of the gas in the tank, there was an explosion.”
Trigger winced.
“Who was onboard?” Grover barked out.
“No one knows. The boat was outside our search parameters, and we’re still trying to account for all the vessels under our command,” the Coastie said distractedly. “We could use your help if you’re willing,” he added.
Without hesitation, the six Deltas jumped into the two boats heading out to check on the situation.
Trigger, Lefty, and Oz were in one, with Doc, Grover, and Lucky in the other. After a very long, dark night, the sun was finally beginning to inch over the horizon. Everywhere Trigger looked was devastation. Trees down, debris in the streets, and cars abandoned and floating as far as he could see.
The water was receding, but not quickly enough. A small benefit to the rescue boats, as it meant they could get to the area where the explosion was reported.
Trigger couldn’t shake the horrible feeling that Brain and Aspen were involved. There was no reason for them not to have been seen in hours, and the only conclusion he could come to was that they were somehow in the boat that had exploded.
He felt sick inside. The entire team knew the time might come when they lost a man on a dangerous mission overseas, but to die here in the States because of a freak accident was too awful to think about.
Not to mention…Brain hadn’t had his team at his back. That ate at Trigger more than anything else. They’d always had each other’s backs, and the thought of his friend hurt and dying alone was almost more than he could bear.
Then Trigger remembered that Brain wasn’t alone. He had Aspen.
The farther they got from the staging area, the poorer the area became.
This wasn’t a good part of town on the best of days, but as the water receded, Trigger knew looting would break out and desperate citizens would do whatever it took to survive, including possibly attacking them on their boats for whatever they could get… water, food, first-aid supplies.
The boats slowed as they neared the area where reports of an explosion were heard. Trigger, Lefty, and Oz leaned forward, all their attention on searching for anything out of the ordinary.
Within a minute, Grover shouted from the other boat and pointed off to the right. Both boats immediately turned in that direction.
Trigger winced as they came upon an aluminum boat spinning in circles in a whirlpool. The back end had been blown off the boat, and there was no sign of the motor…or of anyone who might’ve been inside.
“Shit! Look up,” the Coastie driving Trigger’s boat said in a horrified tone.
In tandem, Trigger, Lefty, and Oz looked into the trees above their heads. Without the flooding, the tops of the trees would’ve normally stood at least thirty feet above ground, but because of the water level, they were almost right under the lowest leaves.
And stuck in the tree branches was a leg. There was a boot on the foot, but the rest of the body wasn’t attached to the limb.
Trigger looked left, then right, and used his chin to point out what he was seeing. “There’s the rest of him.”
A torso was draped over another thick branch, with an arm on another.
“That’s Spence,” Oz said quietly.
Trigger took a second look. “Fuck,” he swore.
The other boat pulled up alongside, and Lucky said, “Isn’t that Sergeant Spence?”
“Yeah,” Trigger said solemnly.
“What happened?” Doc asked.
“If I had to guess, I’d say he caught a downed line with his motor. Probably spun the boat around and hit another live wire. The sparks probably caught the gas tank on fire and blew,” Lucky suggested.
Trigger’s stomach rolled. He didn’t like the man, but his death had certainly been gruesome.
“Hey, look!” Lefty shouted, pointing toward the still-spinning boat. Even though half of it was missing, it hadn’t completely sunk, the swirling of the water keeping it afloat.
Trigger glanced over—and his adrenaline spiked.
At the front of the boat, wedged under a seat, was a black bag with a red cross.
Aspen’s medical bag. He’d recognize it anywhere. She’d told the team once that she’d gone out and bought her own bag because the Army-issued ones were all too big for her frame, and she preferred a more comfortable and reliable bag to hold her supplies.
And if Aspen had been in the boat, so had Brain.
But where were they now?
“Spread out!” Trigger barked, immediately looking around to see if he could spot any sign of his teammate and his woman.
“That’s Aspen’s bag,” Lucky said unnecessarily.
“I know. They were in that boat,” Trigger said.
“If they were in there when the back blew off, they might’ve survived,” Doc added.
“Maybe,” Trigger said, but another thought came to him. He pulled out his walkie-talkie and asked to speak with the major in charge of organizing the rescue effort from the staging area.
As the Coastie drove the boat slowly around the area where they’d found Spence’s body, searching for Brain and Aspen, Trigger had a quick conversation with the major. When he put down his radio, his lips pressed together grimly.
“What?” Oz asked.
“No one was authorized to come out this far, as we already knew. In fact, it was strictly prohibited.”
“What were they doing out here then?” Lefty asked.
“The major also told me he’s got a local on his hands who’s not happy about his boat being stolen. He’d brought it in to assist in the rescues, said he left it to take a piss, and when he came back, it was gone.”
“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” Oz asked.
“If you’re thinkin’ Spence decided this was the perfect time and place to deal with his bullshit juvenile anger toward Aspen, and possibly Brain as well, then yeah.”
“Fuck,” Lefty swore. “So where are they?”
“Don’t know. But we need to find them. Now,” Trigger said.
He whistled at the other boat, and when it came close, he explained his suspicions to his teammates.
“We should report back to base,” the Coastie driving the other boat said.
“Negative,” Grover growled. “We’ll radio back the coordinates of Spence’s body, but we aren’t leaving until we find our teammate.”
The driver blinked in surprise but immediately nodded.
“They could be almost anywhere,” Trigger said. “Lucky, you guys go down the next street over. We’ll head down this one. We stay near each other; don’t go driving off. This isn’t the best part of town to be alone in. Got it?”
“Got it,” everyone agreed.
“They’re around here somewhere,” Trigger mumbled as they began their search pattern.
“Brain’s a tough son-of-a-bitch,” Lefty agreed.
“And there’s no way he’d let anything happen to Aspen,” Oz added.
Trigger didn’t want to think about what Spence might’ve done to his friend and Aspen.
All sorts of worst-case scenarios ran through his head, but he refused to give them any more than a passing thought.
Brain was counting on his team to keep a level head and find them. And that’s what they were going to do.
Aspen shivered on the step she was still sitting on.
The water had receded enough that she was no longer waist deep in the foul-smelling stuff, but the roads were still flooded, and she and Kane weren’t going anywhere.
She’d thought about trying to break a window to get inside the dilapidated house, but wasn’t willing to leave Kane to do so.
She’d heard an explosion hours earlier, when it was still dark, but no one had come to investigate as far as she could tell. Aspen thought she’d heard noises closer by a few times, but after yelling for help until she was hoarse, no one had appeared.
Now the sun had risen, giving the area an unearthly feel. Everywhere she looked was water. There were no signs of any people, only a few birds chirping merrily in the trees and the sound of water rushing by in the street.
Kane hadn’t woken up yet either, which was scaring the shit out of Aspen. He’d stirred a few times but hadn’t said anything. It was obvious he had a head injury, most certainly a concussion, but maybe something worse. Without him being awake to talk to her, she couldn’t be sure.
She’d fallen asleep with her head on his chest once, but the nightmares had come immediately, waking her up and keeping her from even attempting to get any rest after that.
She was terrified Kane would die. She’d never forgive herself if that happened, because it was her fault he was lying so still under her. If she hadn’t approached him in the bar, Derek wouldn’t even have known he existed.
But then again, she wouldn’t have fallen in love either.
Just when Aspen was coming to terms with the fact that she was going to have to leave Kane and swim somewhere to find help, she thought she heard something.
Tilting her head to the side, she held her breath and listened…
A boat motor!
She’d know that sound anywhere after spending so much time on them the night before.