~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Need a lift there?" I asked.
Both men in the water craned their heads around as I brought the dinghy up alongside of them and their piece of driftwood. With Matt's help we hauled the two men out of the sea. Ortega had some nasty bruising going on, but seemed alright otherwise.
I waited for Flynn to catch his breath before asking, "So Flynn how was it to push the button?"
His face broke out into a grin as he launched right into it in ribald fashion, "You remember how it was Captain when you had a wom…………." Flynn's voice trailed off as his eyes found Christina's who had regained consciousness.
Flint swallowed the words he had been going to say and substituted, "It was a real dream moment Captain!" He winked at Christina upon finishing and she smiled and shook her head.
Flynn instantly sobered up as a look of heartfelt contrition came across his features, "Sorry about the boat Captain. I know you loved her."
"She was a good boat, but I have everything that matters right here in this boat. I have a great crew and you're what I don't want to lose most." I said.
Matt tapped my shoulder and gestured out into the water. I was steering us away from the destruction of the two Whalers, but off to our right was a lone swimmer. I pulled the prop over and came up alongside of the man.
The man stopped swimming and treaded water for a moment. From the look on his face I could tell he expected us to kill him.
"I'm not going back to shore, but you're welcome to come with us if you like." I said.
The man shook his head negatively, "I'll take my chances with swimming."
I glanced off to the shore a long ways off. I reached down and unsnapped a life preserver and tossed it out to him. As it splatted down beside him in the water I said, "It's a long swim my friend. You might need to rest every once and a while."
The man reluctantly grabbed a hold of the life preserver out of necessity's sake before asking, "Why you do this for me? We were trying to hunt you down and kill you!" The man exclaimed looking uncertain as to what was taking place.
"We don't have to be enemies. That's not what I want. Best of luck with your swim." I finished with before turning the rudder and heading out toward the offshore fog bank once more.
The man in the water watched us for a moment before beginning to swim toward shore again tugging the life preserver along after him.