Here's the second last chapter of Wreck! Let me know what you think, and keep an eye out for In Pursuit, which will be on a normal schedule next week :)

CHAPTER NINE:

Frank and Joe stood back as Nancy's lifeboat disappeared into the darkness. The brothers surveyed the cluttered deck in silence. Passengers were beginning to get more urgent, moving in packs across the minute space, which had felt so wide and open in daylight. In the dark, it felt cramped and claustrophobic, filled with moving bodies.

"Here," Frank said, cocking his head at a lifeboat nearby.

There was a small, civil line of passengers waiting to board it.

"Sounds good." Joe followed his brother over. As they neared the lifeboat, they could see that the line was growing quickly, as the mood on the deck grew more urgent.

Joe hurried to join the line but he realized his brother wasn't behind him. Frank had become distracted by the two crew members gathered around the crank handle, which was used to manually lower the boat. They were talking quietly, looking concerned.

One of them looked up as the two came over.

"Hey," one said. "You can't get on this boat right now. We're having mechanical trouble."

Ever the fixer, Joe cocked his head and asked, "what's the trouble? Maybe we can help out?"

"We seem to have a jam," the crewman called Holman said, wiping sweat from his brow. "It's great timing. Not."

"I'll help with the passengers," Frank said, hurrying to stop passengers who were trying to board the lifeboat, with no idea of the trouble.

Joe could hear him calling out, "just a moment, everyone. The lifeboat isn't quite ready. Please wait patiently..." Joe stopped listening as he stepped up to the pulley mechanism. He glanced at the mechanism and tested the pulley. It seemed to be stiff.

"Maybe if two of us pull this and the other tries to feed it through?" he suggested.

The two men agreed readily, glad to have help. With help from the other crewman, Joe strained his muscles, as he tried to shift the stiff mechanism. All those days at the gym on the cruise had paid off. Sure, they hadn't landed him a gorgeous vacationer but it was more important that he helped people right now, so he wasn't complaining. As he and the crewman pulled, he said conversationally, trying to lighten the mood, "shouldn't this be new?"

Holman shrugged. "We only had one training session. This cruise is a farce."

"What's been the trouble?"

The crewmen hesitated, exchanging a look. But Holman's face was red as if he could no longer contain his frustration, he burst out, "only everything! Just before the ship was fitted out, Desmarais fired a lot of staff. He said it was personality clashes or whatever but who believes that? There were so many issues he ended up almost going bankrupt. He was trying to save money. That's why so many good people lost their jobs and-"

"We really shouldn't be talking about this," the other crew member cautioned.

Holman spat. "He's already said he'll fire me in so many words. Even if I wanted to stay on, this ship is bloody sinking. I'll not mince words. Not when it's his fault this is happening!" He looked directly at Joe, eyes blazing, "you're working for him, right?"

"Not really. We're just making sure no one is spying on him or something. It's unclear."

"The only spies are the ones in his head. He doesn't have any. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have enemies though. He has every right to be paranoid. While there isn't some huge conspiracy, he cost people their jobs, their lives. And now we're in the shit. He's lucky someone hasn't done worse."

"Are you saying the problems have been sabotage?"

Holman shook his head. "I don't know about that. I'd have no proof. As I said, I don't think there's a conspiracy. But the ship wasn't in the best shape. He didn't care about that. He just cared about deadlines. If it wasn't him being a cheapskate that got us here, it's bad juju-karma-"

Joe wanted to ask more, but the other crewman cried out.

The rope slid free as the two men gave one final, firmer tug. Then, the mechanism began creaking and groaning in protest.

"It's working! Thanks, man!"

"Go on," Holman said. "You two get in."

Joe filled Frank in on the conversation, as the two boarded the lifeboat behind waiting passengers.

Frank listened, shivering and clutching his down vest closer to his chest.

"I can't believe you're thinking about sleuthing when we're in this mess," he muttered.

"Well, it's connected. Surely. The electrical problems… Louise…"

Frank shook his head. "Okay. Say it is connected, are you saying Louise has somehow tampered with the ship's electrical system? Did she know how to damage the power and the navigation systems? I don't buy that."

The two chattered on, trying to distract themselves from the darkness opening up beneath them, as the lifeboat lowered toward the ocean. But, as it made a soft "slosh" sound, impacting against the water, even Joe couldn't distract himself. They were so small against the huge ship. And, in the darkness, it felt like it was just them against the rest of the world.

Joe spoke so quietly that Frank wasn't sure he heard him. But he could have sworn he heard Joe say that he was afraid.

And Joe was never afraid.

Nancy noticed the cliffs at the same time that she became aware of lightness, creeping up the sky. Sunrise, she thought. It signaled hope, beauty, a new day.

Bess was sharing chocolate with the elderly woman beside her. And George was trying to get a signal with her phone. She'd said she knew it was futile, but it was better to stare at her screen, those empty bars, than the emptiness of the sea.

Nancy had been watching the horizon, noting the blinking lights of torches and phones, as other lifeboats bobbed nearby. She could hear the purr of the engine, reminding her that she was in the twenty-first century. She'd almost wished it wasn't so she could row.

"Land," she said softly. "Look."

The rest was a blur. Emergency crews met their little lifeboat and guided it back to shore. Then, she and her friends were encompassed in blankets as EMT's checked them over. She knew she was in shock. But she was glad when she, along with Bess and George were given the all-clear to call their families and make arrangements.

She heard later, as the trio were set up at a small hotel, that the ship was still afloat, but listing badly. A single lifeboat had failed to deploy and there were still a few people on board, who had all been rescued without incident, by chopper.

But two lifeboats still hadn't made it to land.

She knew Frank and Joe must be on one of them, otherwise they would have made contact.

Nancy left Bess and George to rest at the hotel and walked down to the beach. She was wearing borrowed clothes: a sweater and baggy pants that made her feel like she was swimming in their linen folds. Her hair needed a brush and she thought longingly of the hot shower in their room, but she couldn't focus on herself.

As she stood at the lip of the beach, she observed the passengers being interviewed and tended to, against a backdrop of scattered sand and pale sea.

Were Frank and Joe really out there? She stared at the waves, willing a little orange lifeboat to materialize against the frothy, anemic tide. It all seemed surreal, like a washed-out painting. And she struggled to sort out her thoughts. How had it all gone wrong? She'd been with her friends. They'd been together, as they always were. And Frank had been about to kiss her. Or had he? If he was gone, she wished he had.

"Why are you thinking like this?" she asked out loud. "They aren't gone."

Suddenly a cry came up from the beach. Straining her eyes, she peered at the sea. Sure enough, a lifeboat was bobbing languidly toward them. She couldn't make out faces from where she stood. But she felt the confusing collision of emotions: were the boys onboard? Where was the final boat? Then, defying belief, a large coast guard vessel emerged from the horizon, towing the final lifeboat behind it.

She ran faster than she'd ever run before, sprinting down the beach toward the water.

"Frank?! Joe?!" she cried, as the first boat was drawn up to the sand.

She saw them before she registered any of the other passengers. Those tall, handsome guys unfolding themselves from the small boat.

And she realized she was crying, as Frank's eyes found hers.

She saw his mouth framing her name, but she couldn't hear and she couldn't see, because she completely overcome by emotion.

His arms folded around her and he pressed her head to his chest.

He smelt of salt and surf. And fear. She could smell the fear on him. Or was it on her?

"We're safe," he was saying. "We're safe. Thank god we're all safe."

Joe's hand found her shoulder and squeezed firmly. "That's an adventure I'd rather not repeat," he said shakily.

She wriggled out of Frank's arms and she embraced the other Hardy.

"Come on you two. We'd better get you checked over. Then, a hot shower and a big breakfast await. Hell, we've all earned it."