Page 45 of Wild Tempest

I raised my hands innocently. "We're just going to cuddle," I said. "I'm not that easy."

She rolled her eyes. Tempest could have any man she wanted at the snap of her fingers.

I crawled into bed. Tempest curled up in front of me. She grabbed my arm and wrapped it around her. She felt good. I intended to remain a perfect gentleman unless prompted to act otherwise.

We lay there in the darkness, the boat rolling and groaning.

"I'm really sorry," she said in a soft voice. "This is all my fault. I hope Jack’s okay. We’re stuck on this boat because of me.”

"It's nobody's fault. It's just the way things worked out.”

"I don't want to die,” she said in a meek voice. “There are so many things I haven't done. So much I need to do.”

"You’ll get to do them. Just take it one day at a time. Today, we're alive. Tomorrow is a new day. The weather will clear eventually. We'll have an opportunity to make it back to the Titan,” I said in an optimistic voice. “With a little time and ingenuity, we can build a raft. Maybe the Morya will drift into a shipping lane."

"That hasn't happened in five years. Something tells me this ship is never getting out of the Devil’s Tide.”

"Then we better get off the ship," I teased.

The weather hammered the rusty scrap heap, and the deck tossed all night. I was surprised we didn’t fall out of the bunk. I managed to doze off and get a little shut-eye with Tempest in my arms, but it was that thin, nervous sleep.

I woke in the middle of the night, got dressed, then went looking for Jack again.

His stateroom was still empty.

I quietly checked on Dale. Asleep in his bunk, he seemed to be okay for the moment.

With my sidearm and my flashlight, I searched the level again, checking compartments, peering through viewports in the hatches.

I didn’t see any sign of Jack.

On Level 01, I went through all the compartments again, then moved down to the main deck. My flashlight cut the darkness as I stepped into the mess hall. The beam raked across the empty tables. Chairs slid with the rolling deck.

I moved aft and finally found JD asleep on a couch in the theater room. It was a nice one for a boat this size. A large flatscreen display. Comfortable seating. A great place to watch a movie or a game while at sea. Nothing had screened here in a long time.

He wasn’t here when I looked earlier, was he?

Relief washed over me. I shook Jack’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Jack peeled open annoyed eyes, his forehead still misted with sweat. “I was okay until you stuck that flashlight in my face.”

“What are you doing down here?”

Jack looked around, confused. “Where am I?”

“You’re on the Almaz Morya.”

With a wrinkled brow, he replied, “I know that.”

“What are you doing in the theater room?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you remember coming in here?”

He thought for a moment. “I don’t know.”

“Do you remember standing on the deck in the rain?”