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She put her leg over. The guard yelled at her again.
Oh, that stubborn woman put other leg over. Held on.
“Stop!” Not his voice, but he wanted to shout it.
Stop, Shae!
Below, the waves thundered against the hull.
He leaped at her just as she pushed off.
His arm grabbed her, slammed her hard against the rail, himself. Without thinking, he clamped his hand over her mouth. “Gotcha.”
Behind him, Fraser met the guard head-on.
Ned heard the scuffle behind him but didn’t look as he pulled Shae over the rail, set her down.
She rounded on him, her fist cocked. He grabbed her wrist—
“It’s me. It’s me—”
It took a full second, the slam of one heartbeat, an indrawn breath and then— “Ned?”
Who else did she expect?
And then she launched herself at him, her arms around his neck, her legs wrapped around him, shaking so hard he staggered back against the wall.
Then he just held her too.
Shae. Smelly, grimy, crying, nearly cutting off his air supply, butShae.
He wanted to cry too.
“It’s okay, honey. I’m here. I’m right here.”
“We have company,” Fraser said. “Let’s go.” He grabbed Shae and pulled her off Ned.
“Honey, we gotta run.”
She stared at Fraser, then back at Ned, wide-eyed.
Ned took her hand. “C’mon.”
And this was where his big exfil plan had Fraser’s eyes widening. Because, yeah, it might not be much different than taking a header off the side of the boat.
But this way, they might not freeze to death.
Fraser turned and cuffed one of the guards, and Ned heard his jaw break as he went down. Then, “Go—go!”
“Stay behind me!”
She nodded, and he fixed her hand onto his jacket pocket. “Don’t let go.”
Then he took off, Shae in step with him, down the gangway, toward the stern of the ship. They rounded the back, toward the dockside, and there, below, he spotted Pavel’s little fishing boat.
He pulled out a flashlight and turned it on. Pointed it down, across the water.
Pavel’s boat came to life.
