Chapter Text
Part One
It had been grey all day, not cold or hot or sunny, just grey. Maybe it was the greyness of the day that had drained the crew of The Vast Explorer, rather than the countless dives they had made since eight that morning. Nearly ten hours of diving and all they had to show their client were a few baubles that had scattered around the outside of the wreck. The gang plank from the water seemed longer than when they had set off that morning, as the three member crew dragged themselves up it to the dock.
Mackenzie Previn stared ahead of her at the youngest member of the crew, Gabriel Patterson. He was just as tired as they were but he somehow managed to still have energy. She had to shake her head. He was full of surprises. Though she had to admit that there were times when he was a typical kid and man, but for the most part he was full of surprises. He took being held hostage well, and being lost under the desert for a few hours exceptionally well. It worried her that he could work through things like that almost as well as she could. Feeling as though she and Gabe were the only two making the walk, Mac turned see what was keeping Judson.
"The Bag." She heard someone say behind her. Great first they dive all day to find nothing really and now some jerk was trying to hold them up for it. Quickly setting her pack down, Mac retrieved her gun.
"There's nothing in there." She heard Gabe say. Slowly she made her way toward Gabe and whoever else was there.
"I can see that, boyo. There's three of ya, which one has the goods?"
There were three men. One was obviously in charge of the other two. He was older more towards his early sixties than the other two. They appeared to be under forty. One of the younger ones had hold of Gabe, while the older man interrogated him. The other man had disappeared around a corner.
"Can I interrupt, or is this a private affair?" She said as she stepped off the gang plank.
"Sure ya can," the older man said with a brogue, turning to face Mac. "I twas just askin' the lad here which one of ya had the treasure, Ya wouldn't happen to know would ya, Lass?"
"Yes I would know." She moved closer to the man her gun firm in grasp behind her back. "None of us. There was no treasure."
"Whoa," Judson said as he came up behind Mac. "What's going on here?" He caught a quick glimpse of Mac's gun.
"I want what was brought up from that ship," The old man said pointing to the sea..
"There wasn't any treasure. Just a few pieces of china and some costume jewelry nothing worth steeling." Judson stepped out from behind Mac.
"You're lying." The old man moved toward Gabe. "Give me that bag or I'll kill `im." He pulled Gabe toward him and away from the younger man.
"Fine, but there's nothing of value in there." Judson set the bag on the ground and backed away.
Quickly the young man snatched up the bag and began riffling through it's contents. Fury etched across the young man's face as he tossed the bag aside.
"`e wasn't lying, Da," his brogue almost thicker than that of the old man. "There's noting in there worth anyting."
"Now you see that we don't have anything, why don't you let him go?"
"You forget that ya saw us," he pulled Gabe along the building with him, "and I'll not come back." Quickly he shoved Gabe away when the third man appeared with a car from around the corner.
"What about the boat, Da?"
"Check it out, but be quick about it." The old man pulled a gun from inside the car and took aim at Gabe. "Don't ya be going anywhere."
"Let him go." Mac took aim the old man's head. "You can search the boat and take what you want but you let him go."
"He'll be all right. I'll not harm him."
"No!" the young man on the boat roared when he heard Mac cock her gun. Running to the top of the gang plank he fired at her.
"Judson!" she shouted pulling him to cover before returning fire.
The dark haired young man fired at Mac's position as he ran to his father. Anger and fear brimmed in him as he saw the kid who was supposed to be the hostage leaning over his father. Coming up behind Gabe he pressed his gun into the back of Gabe's skull. "Help him up," he ordered. "Put him in the car."
Taking a deep breath Gabe did as he was told. Careful to not harm the old man any more than the bullet had already done, Gabe pulled the man to feet. Quickly his fingers worked to pull on the handle and open the door. Once he had it, Gabe helped the man sit in the back.
"All right." Gabe turned to face his new captor.
"Good." He grabbed Gabe by the shoulder of his wet suit and pushed him toward Mac. With smile that belonged to the devil, he fired his weapon at Mac's position. Running quickly toward the car he aimed his weapon at Gabe, and fired. He smiled as he got in the car and it pulled away. Gabe had folded and fallen to the ground from his last shot.
"Judson, you all right?" Mac asked after she heard the car speed off. Something wasn't right, she could feel it. There was blood on the air. She prayed that it belonged to the men that'd attacked them and not Judson or Gabe. She knew that she was all right, and Judson said that he was all right . . . Oh God, she thought as she quickly moved from behind that barrel that had been her cover only moments earlier.
Scanning the dock quickly she spotted a still form halfway between her cover and where that car had been. No, she thought again as she recognized the colour of the dive suit. "Judson!" her voice was shrill and not the stern level of calm that she usually kept. Landing hard on her knees she quickly looked Gabe over. There were only two holes in him, and he was breathing.
"Gabe?" Judson knelt next to his young friend.
"He's alive." She quickly began to remove the bloodied, damp wet suit from Gabe's still body. What have I done?! How could I've been do damn stupid?! The thoughts swirled through her mind as she began to tear at the wet suit around the holes oozing with blood. This can't be happening. She dumped the contents of the bag she'd tossed on the ground. Scrambling to find something, anything to use as a bandage, she never even noticed that Judson had managed to find a first aid kit and was already pulling a compression bandage from its packaging.
"Help'll be here soon." He looked at her with a sad look in his green eyes. "It's not your fault."
What was there to say? She thought grabbing another bandage from the kit, ripping it open she placed it over the wound she'd been dealing with and pressed down hard. A low grunt escaped Gabe's lips the moment that she added the pressure to the wound. Damn it, I just keep causing him pain. She eased the pressure some, using her free hand to check for a pulse.
"Easy," she heard Judson said. Feeling as though she weren't really there, not really participating in the gruesome scene she looked from Judson to Gabe. Gabe had regained consciousness. It was all there in his brown eyes, the pain that he was in and the disbelief at the situation. She hated herself and the actions she'd taken right in that one moment with the look in his eyes. Knowing that he didn't blame her for what'd happened did little to ease her guilt over the fact that she was the cause of all his pain.
If she hadn't pulled her weapon, if they'd just given the men what they had or if she hadn't shot at them then maybe she wouldn't be here kneeling at her friend's side trying to keep his blood in his body. She couldn't bring herself to look at Gabe's paling face. He was so still. How could he be so still when not even five minutes ago he was bounding with energy? How could she have let this happen? She could hear Judson mumbling reassurances to Gabe while he pressed down on the wound to Gabe's left side, wishing all the while that she could be the one with the holes in her and not Gabe. He didn't deserve it; he deserved more so much more.
Since he'd come on board he'd worked so hard to show them that he belonged and that he was more than the rich kid everyone believed he was.
tbc