Page 403 of Hidden Depths
“Are Willow and Hazel with you?”
“Willow is.”
My blood froze.
“Where is Hazel?”
A man answered for her.
“Captain Sinclair.”
It wasn’t Ross.
The voice was younger.
Crueler.
“We have your little sister.”
A gun fired.
The transmission ended.
62
Ward
“Aship is wood, steel, and glass. A family is the reason a captain sails her into the fire.”
— James Sinclair
Flames climbed from Sea Whisper’s stern.
The explosion had knocked our response boat sideways.
I hit the deck hard enough to lose my breath.
Ben grabbed the railing before he went overboard. John pulled Lieutenant Akana away from the shattered windshield.
“Everyone up!” I shouted.
“I’m up,” Ben answered.
Blood had soaked through the bandage on his shoulder.
He ignored it.
Sea Whisper drifted thirty yards ahead.
The fire burned near the upper stern deck, but it hadn’t reached the fuel lines.
Not yet.
“Incendiary charge,” John said.
“A distraction,” Ben answered.
He was right.
