Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Zain stared at Saylor, all the pieces from today clicking into place. Why she’d been edgy on the ship. The voices and gunfire she’d thought she’d heard. How she’d paled when she’d looked at the guy’s face. Though, based on Mac’s account, there shouldn’t have been any gunfire.
He inched closer, wanting to tug her into his arms but aware she was too raw for that level of contact. “Do you want to tell us about it?”
She paled, not that her skin could get much whiter, but he noticed. “I would, but… I don’t remember anything. At least, nothing important.”
“In this kind of situation, any detail’s important.” He focused on Mackenzie. “It sounds like you found her.”
Mac glanced at Saylor, waiting until she nodded before sighing. “As soon as I got the call that they’d lost contact with the ship, I cashed in a bunch of markers and got myself assigned to the rescue team. I found her in a battered Zodiac three days later — bleeding with extreme hypothermia.”
Saylor closed her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her middle, looking as if she might fly apart at any moment. She sucked in a few shallow breaths, the harsh rasp like a knife against his skin. “I’d be dead if Mac hadn’t braved the weather to look for me.”
“All I did was fly the chopper. You survived in near impossible conditions.” Mac gave Saylor’s hand a squeeze. “I don’t know how you did it. How you held on that long. Kept that boat upright through storm after storm. I’ve never been so proud of you.”
Saylor retched a bit. “Yeah, well, not everyone saw it that way.”
“And they’re wrong.”
Chase cleared his throat. “You mentioned Saylor was bleeding. Was it a head injury?”
Mac pursed her lips. “She had a laceration on her temple from a fall, and a gunshot wound to her right shoulder blade.”
“What?” Zain glanced at his buddies then back at Mac. “How the hell does the Coast Guard chalk the incident up to a system failure if Saylor was shot?”
Mac held up one hand. “I know. I questioned it, too, but the whole ordeal skirted some controversial lines, and I think they did whatever was necessary to bury any hint that something sinister happened out there. Wrote it off as her having a bad encounter after she’d abandoned ship.”
Jordan shook her head. “Which translates into a top-secret research mission gone wrong, and them covering their asses.”
“Something like that. And honestly, I was just so damn happy to have my best friend back alive that it wasn’t worth the fight.”
Chase shuffled over beside Zain. “You know that retrograde amnesia is common with that kind of trauma, right? That you could still regain your memory.”
Saylor huffed. “It’s been a year, and all I get are snippets. And nothing that gives any answers to what really happened on that ship.”
“That can all change in a heartbeat. The right trigger, at the right time.” Chase sighed. “Just, don’t push it. It sounds as if the Coast Guard had all the facts they cared about to close the case.”
“It’s not closed for me.”
Zain raked his hand through his hair. “We have connections. We could make a few calls — get you whatever intel the Coast Guard might have withheld, if it’ll help.”
She attempted a smile but failed. “Thanks, I might take you up on that.”
Which was code for them letting the issue go before she had another episode.
“Just say the word.” He met her gaze, judging if he could ask one more question. “Before we drop this, there’s just one more thing. When we found that body, you looked as if you’d seen a ghost. Do those snippets include flashes of anything like that?”
Her demeanor changed instantly, and she looked as if she wanted to claw her way out of her own skin before she closed her eyes, her breathing near frantic, again .
Zain reached out and pulled her against his chest. “Breathe, sweetheart. Forget I asked.”
She shook her head, pushing away before stumbling back until she’d braced her ass against the wall. “I…” She took a few more breaths, only slightly less panicked than before. “You already think I’m crazy. I don’t need to confirm those thoughts.”
Zain frowned, reclaiming the lost distance. “I don’t think you’re crazy. I think something apocalyptic happened on that ship, and the only coping strategy your brain has in order to maintain any semblance of normalcy is to keep it from you. Nothing you say will change that.”
A few tears glistened in her eyes, and she swiped at her cheek after a couple broke free. “I thought he looked… familiar.”
“A co-worker?”
She pursed her lips, looking past him at his teammates for a moment. “One of the scientists who was stationed…”
Her voice trailed off, a few more tears slipping free.
Zain cursed under his breath. He shouldn’t have pushed it, but it was too late to uncross that line, now. “He looked like someone from the Vigilant .”
She glanced around the room, again, then nodded. “I know it’s not possible, that everyone else died, but…”
“Hey, it’s not impossible. And we can definitely do some digging. Do you remember his name?”
“I was only on the ship for about a week before…” She waved her hand between them. “I knew the officers. Th e research personnel were on a need-to-know basis, and I, apparently, didn’t need-to-know.”
Foster stood and moved to the other side of the coffee table. “Wait. You weren’t part of the actual crew?”
Saylor shook her head. “I was security for Rear Admiral Brad Maddox. He was performing a routine inspection as well as some kind of audit on the mission. We were only going to be on the ship for two weeks.”
“Shit.” Foster scrubbed a hand down his face, glancing at Mac then back to Saylor. “But this dead guy looked like one of the researchers.”
“Actually, he kinda morphed into the captain’s face for a moment but yeah.” Saylor groaned as her head tilted back. “See? Crazy.”
Zain slipped her hand into his, waiting until she looked at him. “Then, it’s a good job we spent twenty years dealing in crazy. We’ll get photos of everyone assigned to the Vigilant . Either he’ll be there, or he won’t, but at least you’ll know.”
“He was part of the top-secret mission. His photo isn’t on any list, and I promise you, I spent an obnoxious amount of time trying to dig up anything about that ship and the classified research. But it’s all been buried or burned.”
Chase held up his cell. “I’ll call Bodie. Get him to work his magic. If that doesn’t pan out, we have other options, but we’ll start in-house. See how far we get.”
Her shoulders drooped, and she nodded, looking more than a bit lost. “Thanks.” She focused on Zain. “It’s late, and I know I said I’d stay, it’s just… ”
Zain’s heart skipped, but he managed a smile. “I’ll drive you home.”
She nodded, gave Mac a hug, then headed for the door. “Thanks for dinner, and for everything back on the ship. Things likely would have turned out much worse if you guys hadn’t shown up.”
Foster scoffed. “Please, you would have tossed Atticus in your Zodiac and outrun everyone. We’re lucky you were there to run interference.” He waved at Zain. “And that Zain hasn’t lost his touch.”
Zain rolled his eyes. “Glad I’m an afterthought, jackass.”
“She did pilot the boat.”
Zain stared at her, all that heat from earlier sizzling back to life. Talk about crazy. “Yeah, she did.”
Kash met them on the porch. “I grabbed your keys, buddy. They’re in the truck. And I put your jeans and bra in there, too, Saylor. Your other clothes were beyond repair.”
She grunted. “That was one of my favorite sweaters, too.”
Kash grinned. “Guess Zain knows what to get you when the opportunity pops up.”
Zain groaned, ushering her forward before Kash made the situation more awkward. He opened her door, waiting until she buckled her seat belt before going to the driver’s side. He blasted the heat once the engine was running, then backed up and headed for the road.
They traveled in silence, her gaze fixed on the landscape rushing past. Thick fog reduced the visibility as rain pelted the windshield .
He turned onto the winding drive, parking in front of her boathouse and loft. When she didn’t stir, he gently touched her arm. “Saylor?”
She jerked awake, looking as if she was ready to hand him his ass, before she groaned. “Sorry, I guess I drifted off.”
“Between the rescue last night and today’s adventure, I’m surprised you’re not in a coma.”
She glanced at her place, toying with some of her hair. “Already tried that once. It’s not nearly as fun as it sounds.”
Great. He’d managed to say the one thing that brought all those ugly memories back to the forefront. “I didn’t mean?—”
“It’s okay. And before you drive yourself crazy with all those unanswered questions, I was in one for about a week, then in and out of consciousness for another three days before I really woke up. Mac stayed the entire time.”
He reached up and brushed his thumb along her jaw. “I’m glad she was there for you. Hell of a thing to go through on your own.”
She merely nodded, then opened the door. “Sorry I ruined the evening.”
“You didn’t ruin anything.” He stepped out and met her at the front of his truck. “I’ll walk you to your door.”
“You don’t have to. You can see me from here.”
“Are you asking me to break a promise I made to my mother? ”
Saylor raised an eyebrow. “You promised your mother you’d walk women to their door?”
“When I was sixteen. Haven’t broken it, yet.”
She smiled, crinkling a few lines around her eyes. She took his hand, then walked beside him, closer than he’d expected. They climbed the stairs, stopping a few feet back.
She spun toward him, long shadows stretching across the left side of her face from the lights strung along the dock. “I assume you’re gonna want to clear my place, too?”
He stepped in close. “Greer did say she felt as if something was off.”
Saylor snagged her lower lip, then pressed her body against his. “If I really didn’t ruin the moment earlier, I’d love for you to come inside for more than just a security check. Unless that’s off the table.”