Page 72 of Endless Depths

“Yeah.” I grimace.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought that up.”

“Nah. You’re good.” I roll over to float on my back. “We might as well relax while we wait.”

An eagle flies overhead. They’re all over the place up here.

“I hate this part of the drill,” Alejo says. “I wish I never knew how long it can take for theBriarto circle back to rescue someone.”

“Right? If Seb hadn’t already slowed theBriarto a crawl before Cole went over, you guys probably wouldn’t have found us.”

Alejo heaves a sigh laden with guilt.

“Hey, Alejo?”

“Yeah?”

“You did everything you were supposed to do that night.”

“I lost sight of Seb.”

“So did I. That storm, those waves…” I take a deep breath and force the memories away. “You saved two men when one would have been a miracle.”

He smiles thinly.

Briar’sengine drones nearer, and she finally comes into view.

Alejo does a great job getting into the sling, but once the crane pulls him out of the water, there’s no one to keep me company. Only the echoing memory of Seb saving me.

Captains go last. I love you, brother.

“Watch out,” Cole says, standing at the rail dressed in his survival suit. Then he jumps.

Panic overrides my logic. Can he swim? He probably can, right? But has he tried since he got hurt?

“What the hell are you doing?” I yell, swimming over to him. “I don’t need to be rescued.”

Cole closes the distance with the sling in hand. “I know, but I need to know I can do this.”

“Great, well, you did it, so go ahead and get your ass back up there.”

He passes me the sling. “You first. You’ve been in longer.”

I don’t hear Cole. I hear Seb.I’ll take the next one. Captains go last.

“Cole, I swear to god, get in the damn sling or I will put you in.”

“What is this, a leisurely swim?” Lawrence yells down.

“I outrank you,” Cole says.

“I’m a captain and co-owner. You can’t pull rank.”

He throws the sling at me and swims away. Asshole.

“Cole!”

He turns back to me and treads water. “I need to know you can leave me down here if it comes down to it. We can’t let what happened last year happen again.”