Page 246 of Hidden Tide
“We won’t.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
The fear in her face is painfully familiar.
She doesn’t trust uniforms.
She doesn’t trust men carrying weapons.
But she trusts Ben.
He protected her when the ship exploded.
John helps the male prisoner toward the breach while Mark lifts the girl into his arms.
Piers pulls Ben’s arm across his shoulders.
Water rises around them.
They begin moving toward the cargo deck.
“Who are they?” Keating asks through the radio.
The man answers between breaths.
“My name is Robert Hale.”
Thomas rises abruptly inside the conference room.
“Robert?”
The prisoner looks toward John’s body camera.
“Who said that?”
“Thomas Greene,” Marquez answers. “Do you know him?”
Robert Hale stares into the camera.
“I worked for James Sinclair.”
Thomas grips the table.
“We thought you were dead.”
“So did Donald.”
“What did you do for Grandpa?” I ask.
Robert hears me through the secure channel.
“I kept the Blackwater shipping ledgers.”
“You knew what Donald was moving through the island?”
“Not at first.”
