Goireas Fìor Ghaisgeach


Middle of the Caspian Sea – Yacht Deck

Anastasia held onto Patch who was sitting on a crate on the deck of the yacht. He was still so seasick that Blaze had helped her get Patch up here. She rechecked his life jacket and made sure it was securely fastened. Anastasia was worried for him, getting Patch from the boat to the seaplane was going to be very risky in his condition. He was too weak to help himself and if he ended up in the water ….

Brushing away that thought, because there was no way the guys were going to let that happen to Patch, she leaned down to Patch and said, "Not long now. I see Mike approaching."

Patch grabbed his stomach as it threatened to heave again. He now had a new appreciation for the pain that Blondie had been in. His abs ached with every movement from all the hurling he'd done. He was gonna to be damned glad to get off this yacht and he'd be damned if he ever stepped foot on a boat again in this lifetime.

He looked up at Anastasia and asked, "How's Blondie?"

"Matt said he was doing okay. No seasickness, but he's still pretty shaky and weak from the effects of the poison. He kept down his broth though." Anastasia increased her grip on Patch as he bent over and succumbed to another round of dry heaves. She loved the open sea, but she couldn't wait to get the guys off this boat and get Blondie and Patch to a hospital.

Blaze strode up to Anastasia, barely able to keep his footing on the slick wet deck as the waves heaved them up, down, and sideward. The weatherman had been wrong, the storm had not blown out and calmed as much as predicted. However, Mike said the weather had settled enough that he'd risk the flight. Blaze agreed because he needed to get Patch and Blondie to the hospital. They couldn't wait out the storm any longer.

He wiped the rain from his eyes as he called out to Anastasia, "When Mike lands, I'm gonna swim over and rig a line between the yacht and the plane. Mike can't get too close and risk damaging the plane by it hitting the boat. Then we will use a safety line to bring Patch and Blondie across."

Anastasia nodded. "Got it. Mason is working on sabotaging the boat. I told him that he didn't need to blow a hole in it. I worked a piracy op where one of the primary targets targeted rich couples. He robbed them, locked them below deck and then sunk the yacht making it look like an accident after making a mayday call. I learned some simple things Mason could do so it looks like an accident."

Patch looked up at Anastasia. "Remind me not to go on a boat with you if you're mad at me. Wait, I won't need that reminder—never stepping foot on a boat again."

She laughed, but put a gentle hand on the back of his neck and lightly massaged, trying to give him some comfort.

"What's Mason doing and how much time do we have?" Blaze asked as he started rigging the line to the boat.

"Told him to remove the hose clamps on the seacocks so the hoses below the waterline will come off. We should be off before there's a problem," Anastasia stated.

"Should be? You need to be more specific. How long do we have?" Blaze asked firmly not liking the vague answer.

Anastasia said, "Given the rough sea, we have about thirty to forty-five minutes."

Blaze grimaced as he gripped the railing when another huge swell sent them up and down and listed the boat crazily to one side. He hoped they could get Blondie and Patch across in that time. Neither were in any shape to go for a swim. "Okay, after I tie this off, I'll go help Matt bring Blondie up." He patted Patch on the shoulder. "Not much longer, buddy."

Patch's response was to bend over and heave again.


Seaplane

Mike made his approach. The plane was buffeted about roughly as he tried to land on the water. The weather was rougher than he expected, but he wouldn't call it off and head back. The guys were out of food and by the sounds of it, Sam and Patch were in bad shape.

He managed to get the plane down, but he was a good distance from the yacht. He was further than he wanted to be, yet he didn't dare get closer. If the plane hit the yacht and was damaged, then they'd all be up a creek without a paddle.

Mike crawled to the back and opened the sliding door then signaled the boat that he was ready. He saw Anastasia signal him back. Now he just had to wait for Blaze to make the swim. He hoped that Blaze was a strong swimmer, the rough waters would make the swim between the boat and the plane very difficult.

As he waited, Mike thought about his call with Dom early this morning. He'd taken care of the Harriet issue, so once Mike was done getting the unit back to Kandahar, he would meet up with Dom to take care of the Panin issue. His mind conjured up several scenarios of things he would like to do to Panin once he got a hold of him. Top on his list would be to subject Panin to the same degrading, dehumanizing things that Panin had subjected so many people to—he especially wanted vengeance for all the children that Panin had hurt.

Mike became alert when he saw Blaze prepare to jump into the water. He knew he couldn't dive after Blaze if he got into trouble—he needed to stay with the plane. Mike was glad to see Matt on deck too. If Blaze got into trouble, Matt would get him.


Yacht Deck

Matt held tightly to Sam and leaned close. "You got this. Just think of it as rappelling across a gorge. Remember? Like we did in training. It's just the river running at the bottom of the gorge."

Sam was pale and his grip on Matt never lessened. He tried valiantly to focus on the fact he would be off the boat and away from open water very soon. He shook like a leaf, but luckily everyone assumed it was his weakened state from the poison rather than fear. Matt had done a good job seeding that story.

Matt checked Sam's lifejacket for the tenth time. To be honest, he was scared to death of sending Sam across the line in his current state. He was so frightened for Sam that he forgot his own fear of flying. Well not actually forgot, but there would be time for that once they were in the air. Until then he'd focus on Sam's needs.

Blaze turned to the four on deck. He wanted to reduce Matt's fear for Blondie, show him the rigging was stable before Blondie was sent across, so he stated, "First across will be Patch. Then Blondie. Anastasia, you'll be after them, then Matt and Mason bringing up the rear."

Matt quickly offered, "I'll be last." He couldn't completely hide his fear of getting on the plane—but perhaps he could delay getting on it as long as possible.

Blaze patted Matt's back understanding that Matt's fear drove his comment. Blondie would normally be the one to distract Matt, but he could see Blondie was in no condition to do that at the moment. So he grinned and said, "Nope, Mason's last. If Mason gets into trouble going across, I'll need your strength to help pull Mason to the plane, buddy. It'll be like catching a killer whale."

Matt chuckled at Blaze's comment and nodded.

Anastasia smiled at the jest but kept her attention on checking that both lines were secure on Blaze as she stated, "You get in trouble out there, we'll haul you back, but I think you're more like a barracuda—fearsome in appearance and ferocious behavior." When she was satisfied the lines were secure, she added. "I wish you would let me swim over. I'm an excellent swimmer."

"As I said earlier, Anastasia, it's too risky. It'll require someone with more upper body strengthen than you have to haul Patch and Blondie into the plane," Blaze stated truthfully as he rechecked his lines.

Anastasia joked, "What a sexist comment."

Blaze grinned. They'd gone round and round on this point early this morning when he, Mason, and Anastasia discussed a plan. Anastasia might be the best swimmer, but she just didn't possess the strength needed if things went wrong and the line snapped. He wasn't about to risk anyone's life—they were too close to making it safely back. "Truth though, little guppy. You just make sure our guys are rigged in nice and tight—I'm counting on you to do that for me."

She nodded. Blaze was right and had made the right choices for the entire unit's safety. As an honorary member of Blaze's unit now, Anastasia would do her part and make sure Patch and Sam were secure and leave the brute strength to the guys.

Matt re-positioned Sam's hand to the railing and gave him reassuring look as he said, "Hold on here so you stay safe, I gotta grab Blaze's line."

Sam nodded and his death grip on the railing didn't go unnoticed by Blaze.

Blaze simply patted Blondie's back and said, "Hang tight kid. We'll have you off this boat and onto terra firma soon. Then we can all get the rest we need." He turned and nodded to Matt who had a firm grip on his safety line then he smoothly dove into the sea.

The four on the deck of the boat and Mike in the plane kept vigilant eyes on Blaze as he sliced through the water. Matt played out the line as Blaze made his way through the churning swells.


Seaplane

Blaze was a strong swimmer, but by the time he made it to the plane he was digging deep for strength. He grabbed the line that Mike threw to him and wrapped it securely around his wrist several times. Blaze was loathed to admit that Mike more or less pulled him up into the plane, his energy waning. Blaze chalked it up to several days with little to eat. He shuddered to think how Blondie or Patch would fare if they had to swim. It was a good thing they had the rappelling gear that Matt had used the night he took out Panin's guards from the roof.

Mike untied the line from Blaze as he said, "Rest, let me rig the line."

Blaze nodded. "Patch is first. We have about thirty minutes to get them all on board before the boat sinks."

"Doable," Mike stated. "Winds sent you all a care package. Said Jarmal packed it special. It's in the back." Mike finished attaching the line and signaled Matt that he was ready for them to send over Patch."

"Good, we certainly could use something more substantial to eat." Blaze gripped the secondary line they would use to haul Patch over. Patch would be attached to two lines also so Matt could pull the pulley line back to the boat and attach it to Blondie next. They would repeat that process with each one of them.


Yacht Deck

Anastasia and Matt hooked Patch's carabiner to the main line and securely attached the pulley lines to him. Matt glanced at Sam to make sure that Sam's grip on the railing with both hands was still secure. He didn't want Sam slipping while he helped Patch over side of the boat. Seeing that Sam was secure, Matt turned his attention back to Patch. "Ready?"

Patch nodded. "Been ready for …" He started heaving again.

Matt waited until Patch was done and squeezed his shoulder as Patch gave him a thumbs up and weak smile. Matt assisted Patch over the railing. Anastasia signaled Blaze and Mike and they began to pull Patch across. The wild up and down motion of the two crafts made for a wild ride for Patch. They all heard him retching—poor guy was so seasick.

Sam had his eyes shut tight trying not to look at the sea. He was sweating, shaking, and his knuckles were ghostly white as he held onto the rail. In his head, he was trying to picture the gorge they'd crossed in training. That had been fun. But the wild pitching of the boat kept knocking that picture out and replacing it with one that was nothing but pitch black. His breathing became ragged.

"Mind over matter," Sam whispered to himself. "I can do this. It's just rappelling." Sam realized he was speaking out loud and clamped his mouth shut.

Sam's eyes shot wide open when Mason's voice called out, "Matt, I need your help to sink the boat. I can't get into the crawl space to remove the last two clamps. Thought about just punching a hole in the hull, but can't do that, would look suspicious if they find the wreck."

Matt cringed. He'd have to leave Sam to help Mason. He couldn't ask Mason to stay because he didn't know where the clamps were that he needed to undo.

Anastasia said. "Help me get Sam latched in and then when he is on his way, you two can finish up sinking her." Then she began pulling the lines back to them.

Matt whispered in Sam's ear just before he and Mason lifted Sam over the rail. "You got this."

Sam couldn't breathe. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest it hurt. His grip on Matt's lifevest was rock solid and he didn't want to let go.

Mason recognized the terrified look in Blondie's eyes and was perplexed by it. He chalked it up to all the kid had been through. Blondie was so weak from being so sick and having inadequate food it was probably scaring the shit out of Blondie that he wasn't strong enough to swim for long if the rope failed. Quite frankly, it scared the crap out of him too.

Holding Blondie securely, Mason said reassuringly, "We got ya, Sunshine. You done good. Let us do all the work to get you across. All you have to do is enjoy the ride."

Matt nodded and forcefully pried Sam's hands from his lifevest and placed them so Sam could transfer his death grip to the line that would pull Sam to the plane. "Just hold on, don't let go I need ya in the plane, brother."

Sam managed a slight nod.


Over Caspian Sea

As Mason's and Matt's hands left him and Sam hung over the water attached to the line, his eyes locked onto Matt's. He wished Matt could stay on deck and keep eye contact with him, but he knew Matt needed to go help Mason. When Matt reluctantly turned, Sam locked his eyes on Anastasia. Her soft smile was what he tried to focus on as his rigid body started its trip across the expanse.

He was only a few feet away from the boat when a huge swell caused the boat to lurch madly. Sam's eye went wide with terror as he saw Anastasia lose her footing and fall forward. His mind tried to push away the image of her falling overboard and the boat striking her on the back as it came down off the swell. Anastasia bobbed just below him, face down in the water.

Sam didn't think—he reacted. He unlatched the carabiner from the primary line and his body dropped into the sea. The rush of cold water as it swallowed him up sent him into a panic as he scissor-kicked. His head broke the surface of the water and he was within arm's length of Anastasia. Sam blindly reached out, grabbed Anastasia, and flipped her on her back.

As he pulled her to him, Sam held onto her with a death grip as his panic overtook him. He was going to drown. The waves crashed over his head again and again. Sam wasn't aware of the shouts from both the plane and the boat. He wasn't aware that he and Anastasia were being dragged through the water towards the plane. All he was aware of was that he couldn't let go of Anastasia or else he'd drown. His primal self-preservation mode overrode his need to protect and he desperately clung to Anastasia—not to save her but to save himself.


Seaplane

Blaze was bellowing at the top of his lungs for Mason and Matt when he and Mike watched in horror as Anastasia went overboard. Their horror increased when Blondie released the carabiner and plunged into the water. They went into action and frantically pulled the line when they saw Blondie grab onto Anastasia.


Yacht Deck

Mason grabbed Matt to prevent him from jumping into the water when they reached the deck after hearing Blaze's shouts that Anastasia when overboard. He was almost too late to stop Matt, but his yell paused Matt long enough for him to physically restrain him.

"Hold, Matt. Look, Blondie's got her. You're not tied into anything. It's suicide to jump. Blondie's got her and Blaze and Mike got both of them," Mason stated. He felt the tension in Matt, it didn't decrease, so he held tight afraid Matt would still jump.

Matt watched. Old images of a Sam's cold blue dead face flashed in his mind. He leaned over the railing and retched at the thought of Sam drowning again. Mason's strong arms held him so he didn't fall overboard as he lost the contents of his stomach—only bile and water came up. He came too close to losing Sam again. His heart pounded against his ribs, each beat surging the blood through his ears so that he couldn't hear anything else.

His eyes remained riveted on Sam as he was rapidly pulled through the water to the plane. He saw the stark terror in Sam's eyes and was amazed that he was cognizant enough to maintain his grip on Anastasia. But then he realized that Sam wasn't aware, it was blind panic. Sam was holding onto her like he'd held onto him in the cabin for the past three days. Anastasia was Sam's lifeline, but Sam was also Anastasia's. She would've drowned if Sam hadn't dropped down and grabbed her.

The tension started to ebb from his body as Blaze and Mike hauled Sam and Anastasia into the seaplane and they saw Anastasia start to come around as she was moved into a seat in the plane.

Mason felt the relaxing muscles and grinned as he released his hold on Matt. "Well don't that beat all. Weak as a newborn kitten and Blondie saves the day again."

Matt's hands shook as he pulled the secondary line back to the boat. "Yeah, Sam's good at that—it's in his blood."

Mason nodded. "He's got the courage of a Goireas fìor ghaisgeach."

"What's that?"

Grinning, Mason answered, "A true highland warrior."

.


AN: BELONGING: Hope, Truth, and Malice, the third book in my Beauty of Life series is now available on Amazon.

The Beauty of Life series takes my original fanfiction stories and revamps them—with tons of new content and new and expanded story lines while still keeping the same heart and familiar feel of my fanfiction stories.

If you like all the details, twists, turns, and connections of my fanfiction–then you'll love the books—they're filled with them.

If you're a JAM fan become a LAN fan – come fall in love with Dan and Lexa. Their relationship has all the passion of JAM with a new exciting and hot way they first meet. Their relationship is a slow burning build of their soulmate connection that is getting off the ground in the third book—it's quite a ride.

If you love the Team, the General, the Broderick family, Blaze, Patch, Winds, Mason, and the rest of the cast of characters, you should enjoy the new Beauty of Life series—they get more time than before. In fact, I've added so much new content that I had to break Belonging into two books since half way through it was as long as the original story. The second half will be titled OUTLIER: Blood, Brotherhood, and Beauty and will pick up where BELONGING ends.

To get your copy go to Amazon and search for Laura Acton.

If you don't have a Kindleno problem—just download Amazon's free reader app—it works on phones, tablets and computers.

FORSAKEN Summary
Dan Broderick is on the edge of oblivion. After a friendly fire incident, his heart and soul were ripped to shreds. He chose to leave Special Forces when his unit, men he considered brothers, turned their backs on him. Dan returned to Toronto where he hoped to find the beauty of life and make a difference as a sniper for the Tactical Response Force. Will his new team pull him back from the edge or be the reason he slips into oblivion?

Alpha Team is the elite team of Toronto's Tactical Response Force. Five men and one woman with a rare familial bond, help each other cope with the dark side of humanity as they keep the citizens of Toronto and each other safe. Their team balance is knocked off kilter when an unwanted, new teammate is forced on them. Will Alpha Team's resentment of the new member prevent them from recognizing the wounded soul in their midst before it's too late to save him?

SOLACE Summary
After six years in the Army Special Forces, former Master Corporal Dan Broderick is seeking to rebuild his professional and personal lives following several tragic losses. Making the transition from Special Forces Soldier to Urban Police Officer and learning to trust again are difficult for Dan because experience has shown him that everyone he cares about is ultimately taken from him. His teammates, each in their own way, are reaching out to Dan. Will he accept their overtures or continue hiding his battered heart and wounded soul behind his shields?

Three members of Alpha Team—Bram, Lexa, and Jon—are making progress with the puzzle that is Dan Broderick. Can they forge a path behind Dan's shield for the rest of the team to follow?

Bram De Haven, a devoted husband and father of four girls, sees something within their rookie that the others on the team have missed. Can his gentle fatherly ways offer Dan a safe harbor in the storm?

Lexa McKenna is a strong self-determined woman with a tender heart that she protects behind a carefully constructed shield to avoid being hurt by love. Romance between teammates is forbidden, but something about Dan Broderick intrigues her. Will the attraction between Dan and Lexa heal their wounded hearts or destroy them both?

Jon Hardy, Tactical Lead of Alpha Team, takes his responsibility to maintain the safety of the team seriously. He is a hard, demanding, stubborn man who hides his softer emotions behind an exterior gruffness. Can he recognize and begin to change his ways before he alienates the most important people in his life?

Will Alpha Team recognize that they all hide behind shields and succeed as they try to earn Dan's trust and help him see that he belongs? Will events in the rough and tumble world of the Police Tactical Response Force assist or prevent them from making a connection with the rookie?

BELONGING Summary
Dan Broderick has been slowly putting the pieces of his life together again. It was a rough year as he struggled to find acceptance with Alpha Team. On the day when the last piece fits into place and he feels he belongs, events explode around him and threaten his newfound security, his memories, and maybe even his life.

Lexa McKenna has fought against her attraction to Dan Broderick, scared to risk everything, insisting to herself that they're just friends. A series of cascading events may decide the future of her relationship with Dan before she has a chance to accept the truth of her feelings.

General William Broderick has tried for years to decipher the root cause of his painful estrangement from his son, Daniel. His wife, Yvonne, maintains hope that he will eventually solve the puzzle. The truth is almost within his reach, but betrayal and hidden enemies with old grudges may tear father and son apart forever.

Blaze, Winds, and Patch have battled their grief and guilt after they lost two important pieces of their lives. After Brody's death, they failed Blondie when he needed them most. For the past year they have searched for him, but something or someone prevented them from finding him. One fateful day, a chance encounter brings Blondie back to them, but it may be too late to save him.