The Last Templar

Chapter 78

Reilly managed to fire up the inflatable's motor and, peering into the blinding curtain of rain and spray, he steered toward where he thought he'd last seen the capsized Savarona. He was winging it as best he could in the constantly shifting landscape around him, riding on instinct and on hope, as he'd lost all sense of direction. The water was so frothy and die air so wet that it was almost impossible to tell where the sea ended and the sky began.

The sea rose and fell in vertiginous swells, one wave breaking over him and flooding the small craft just as quickly as another would rock the water out of it. He hung on as it climbed up and down the walls of water, its motor rising to a hellish scream every time it was thrown over a wave and its propeller spun free.

Interminable minutes later, he spotted it, a dark brown angular shape jutting out of a trough that looked like a hole in the sea. Muscles straining, he pointed the small outboard toward it, but kept getting thrown off course by uncooperative, battling waves. He had to constantly adjust his heading as he caught glimpses of the overturned trawler between the mountains of water.

There was still no sign of Tess.

The closer he got to it, the more horrific the sight became. Debris was scattered around the hull, floating alongside it in an eerily synchronized dance of death. The aft section of the ship was now completely submerged, and its prow, pointing out of the sea like an angled iceberg, was slowly sliding beneath the waves that washed over it.

Desperately, he searched for survivors and for Tess, his hope fading, then surging when, to the far side of the hull, he spotted her, bobbing in an orange life jacket, thrashing her arms wildly.

Steering the inflatable toward her, he maneuvered around the massive, barnacle-encrusted hull and edged closer to her, his eyes darting from her to the treacherous waves that were hammering them without remorse. When he was near enough, he reached out with one hand and grabbed at her outstretched arm, missed, then desperately reached out again, and this time, their fingers locked and he managed to hang on.

Dragging her into the boat, a faint, desperate smile crept across his face and he saw her face light up with relief that, suddenly, turned to fear. She was looking behind him. He spun around, just in time to see a large chunk of debris from the Savarona being hurled by a breaking wave and heading straight for him.

And then his world went black.

Disoriented and utterly bewildered, Tess was certain that she was going to die and could hardly believe her eyes when she saw Reilly coming toward her in the inflatable lifeboat.

Using every ounce of strength she had left, she managed to grab his outstretched hand and lift herself half into the tiny craft when she saw the piece of wooden planking spinning over a wave and smashing into him. It struck him squarely on the head and sent him flying off the edge of the lifeboat.

She slid back into the water and reached out and grabbed him, hanging onto him while struggling to keep her other hand gripped on one of the inflatable's handles. Through the thrashing water, she saw that his eyelids were shut, his head bouncing listlessly against the neck support of the life jacket.

Blood streaked from a big gash across his forehead, disappearing and reappearing as each surge of water washed over the wound.

She tried to push him into the lifeboat but quickly realized that it was an impossible task. Worse, it was sapping the little energy she had left. The lifeboat was becoming more of a liability than a lifesaver, filling with water and threatening to ram into them with every resurgence of the swell.

With a heavy heart, she let go of the handle to which she was clinging and seized hold of Reilly instead.

Watching as the inflatable was swept away, she struggled to keep Reilly's head above the surface.

For what felt like forever, it took all of her determination just to stay conscious. The storm showed no signs of abating, and Tess knew that she had to stay alert, but it was a losing battle. Her strength was quickly fading.

That was when she saw a large piece of timber, a hatch cover of some sort, she guessed.

Desperately, she struck out toward it, one arm clasping Reilly to her until, at last, she managed to reach out with her other arm and grasp a rope trailing from it. Laboriously, painfully, she dragged herself and Reilly onto the flat platform, then used the rope to tie them both to it as best she could.

She also hooked the belts of her life jacket into his. Whatever else happened, they wouldn't be separated. In some strange way, that thought triggered a small stirring of hope inside her.

As the storm continued to explode its might around her, Tess closed her eyes and sucked long draws of air into her lungs, trying to calm her fears. Whatever else, she could not afford to panic. She had to find the strength she would need to keep herself and Reilly from losing their tenuous grip on this frail scrap of timber. Other than that, she was helpless. All she could do was lie back and let the elements take them wherever they wanted them to go.

The makeshift raft seemed to settle for a moment, and Tess opened her eyes, wondering if the respite was a sign of better things to come. She couldn't have been further from the truth. Towering over them was a gargantuan wave, one that completely dwarfed the one that had capsized the Savarona. It appeared to hang there, motionless, almost taunting her.

Holding desperately onto Reilly, Tess shut her eyes and awaited the onslaught, and then it came, smashing down on them like a falling cliff and swallowing them up as effortlessly as if they were dead leaves.