Author's note: Well, this story is way bigger than I thought it would be lol. Oh well. I've always been told I can't write anything small, and it seems to be true lol. Anyway, I hope you all are still enjoying the ride and have also checked out Tom's point of view. Now that story is huge…I never expected it too be so big lol. But you get a lot more of the story from that one too. Anyway, here's another chapter (as well as a chapter for Tom's point of view), so happy reading. Dark rolling sea.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The ship was coming into the city of St. Louis. Tom had given the order for general quarters, manned battle stations so she was staying in the stateroom for the time being. She knew that Tom was worried as they had not heard from St. Louis for a long time and had no idea what they were sailing into. Unfortunately, the delays may have been very costly. She had tried to comfort him, but she could tell he was stressing about today, last night. She also had a feeling he was blaming himself for the later than ideal arrival of the Nathan James.
So now she had to wait, out of the way, while they approached. She was hoping it was all a misunderstanding but there was a bad feeling nibbling at the pit of her stomach. Nerves were racking her body as she couldn't seem to sit still. She found herself pacing. She hated waiting for things to happen, she hated being in the dark. She wished this was all over.
She wished they could live in a world that was stable, and forget about the virus and the cure, and saving everyone. She felt the sway as the ship made an abrupt direction change. There was a commotion of noise as she heard what she thought was a large machine gun going out then lots of loud bangs.
A few minutes later the ship seemed to shutter as she heard the boom of the five-inch gun fire, and her heart skipped a beat. There were several more booms and Rachel felt the fear run through her. There was nothing she could do but wait, and hope.
She sat on the couch, waiting, for what, she didn't know. It had seemed like forever, but there had been no alarms, and the ship had not shuddered like it had been hit. She was twice tempted to leave the room but knew she was better off just waiting it out here. After what seemed like an eternity the door to the stateroom opened. Tom walked in and Rachel sprang to her feet, the tears she had been holding at bay slipped and ran down her cheeks. She felt a rush of relief wash over her at just the sight of him.
Rachel rushed across the room and wrapped her arms around his torso, and she laid her head against his chest. She clung to his tightly trying to alleviate the fear inside her.
"Hey, hey," he said softly, he wrapped his own arms around her and held her to him. "It's okay," he whispered, then he kissed her temple. When she felt she could trust her voice she finally spoke.
"It's bad?"
"We don't know the situation yet," Tom replied as he pulled back and walked them to the couch. Rachel let him lead her. They sat down next to each other, and Rachel tried to ease the tension in her body. She was still consumed with fear and wondering why Tom had come to the stateroom if whatever was happening wasn't resolved yet. "We're sending two teams onshore to better assess the situation. We neutralized a threat on the river."
There it was. Two teams going ashore. She already knew the answer, but she had to ask if. Fear gripped her again.
"Who's leading the teams?" she asked, and she frowned as she heard the fear she was feeling etched in her voice. She did not like the idea that he was going to go ashore with no intel on what was going on. It seemed too dangerous. Tom paused and she could tell he knew what she was thinking.
"Lt. Green is leading Vulture team, and I'll be leading Cobra team."
"Why?" she asked quickly without thinking. The fear was growing, and she just wanted him to stay on the ship and be safe. Mike could easily lead the other team.
"Because it's my job," Tom replied softly. She noticed there was no anger, or bite to his words, just the facts. He wasn't mad at her for questioning him, he understood her fear.
"Your job is captain," Rachel started to say, hoping to convince him that the captain was too high risk to send ashore.
"Rachel," Tom said softly, cutting her off. "I'll be okay."
"You can't promise that," she whispered as more tears slipped. She didn't want him to go as she had a bad feeling. She felt him wrap his arms around her and pulled her in tightly to his chest. She let him and took in his warmth and drew some strength from him.
"No, I guess I can't. But it is my job and I have to get going."
She pulled away from his chest and leaned up, kissing him on the mouth, letting him know how she felt. When they broke away and stood Rachel locked eyes with him letting her guard down completely. He nodded slowly and then turned and walked to the door. She felt her heart skip and twist. She said a little prayer he would be okay.
When he reached the door, his hand on the knob, he looked back at her and smiled. She saw the promise of his love in his face, and she felt her stomach flip a little. He then opened the door and left. She stood staring at the closed door for quite some time, trying to squash the uneasy feelings inside her.
After a while Rachel left the stateroom and headed to the wardroom. It had been quiet on the ship, and she felt it was safe to venture out for some food at least. She grabbed a quick meal and ate alone, as no one else was there. The ship was still under general quarters, so she figured the rest of the crew were at their stations. She decided to take a risk and made her way up to see if she could get an update from Mike. When she got there Mike glanced at her and gave her a smile and motioned she could join him as he sat in his chair. She walked up next to him and sighed.
"Any news?" she asked quietly. Mike pursed his lips and shook his head.
"Not yet," he said. They stood in silence for a moment. The radio crackled to life and Tom's voice came over the speaker. Mike reached out and grabbed the mic.
"Nathan James, this is Cobra One, do you copy?"
"Copy Cobra one, this is the Nathan James," Mike answered.
"Update on attempting to contact the president?" Tom's voice crackled back.
"Negative, Cobra One, no word from the president." There was a long pause before Tom came back again.
"Nathan James, Cobra one, moving forward into town and proceeding to hotel as originally planned.
"Copy, Cobra one." The radio went slack. Rachel took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. She didn't have time to really react as all the sudden things were being shouted out on the bridge.
"Contact! Contact! Contact! Sonar contact commercial grade shipper coming at us at fifteen knots."
"Weapons hot on the shipper!"
Mike sprang to his feet and gently pushed Rachel back as he grabbed his binoculars and searched the river for the new contact.
"Contact on radar! One, now two, make three harpoon class missiles launched from commercial shipper!"
"Evasive maneuvers and deploy countermeasures!" Mike yelled.
Rachel gripped the back of Mike's chair as the Nathan James surged forward and started to maneuver. She heard the guns on deck purr to life as they locked onto the missiles coming at them.
"Where the hell did they get so armed?" Mike muttered.
"CIWS locked and firing!"
"Five inch locked and firing!"
Both guns came to life on the deck and Rachel watched in shock as two missiles were blown out of the sky. The CIWS machine moved again and fired another volley of shots into the air. A third missile exploded near the ship and everyone on the bridge covered their eyes at the brightness of the explosion. She felt the blast roll through the bridge and stumbled slightly.
"Lock onto their weapons and disable that shipper!" Mike yelled.
"Harpoon missile ready to fire, locked on target. Firing!"
Rachel watched as a harpoon missile was launched from the ships deck and flew upward into the air. Fear and adrenaline roared through her veins as her heart thudded tremendously in her chest. The harpoon missile flew the short distance to the commercial shipper and then there was a large explosion and a cloud of dark black smoke.
"Direct hit, weapons disabled."
"Good work. Stay frosty," Mike barked. He settled into his seat. Rachel felt his hand on her arm, and she looked at him with wild eyes. "A little excitement," he said with a smile.
"Too much for me," Rachel replied as her heart started to come down a little.
"Nathan James, this is Vulture one, do you copy?" Lt. Green's voice crackled over the speakers. Rachel stood where she was not wanting to get in the way.
"Copy vulture one, this is Nathan James."
"We have reached the objective," Green continued. "No resistance to this point. Most people are holed up in their homes."
"Copy that, vulture one." There was the sound of gunfire erupting over the com channel and the tension in the room grew. Rachel felt the fear race through her again.
"We are taking fire! Engaging the enemy!" Green yelled and then the com line went dead.
"Shit," Mike mumbled as he brought the binoculars up. Rachel didn't think he could actually see what was happening and she kept her mouth shut. Mike gave her a look and she knew she should get out of the way.
"I'll get out the way," she said softly then made a quick exit off the bridge. She went down to the infirmary to see Rios. She got there and found the man readying his supplies.
"Dr. Scott," he greeted her with a smile.
"Corpsman Rios," she replied.
"Rocky day," he said. Rachel wondered if he could read the fear and tension in her.
"Yes, very," she breathed out. "The teams have just reached the hotel and last we heard before I left the bridge was a fire fight and they had engaged the enemy."
"I'll expect casualties then," Rios sighed and started to move stuff around.
"Maybe we should set up something in the helo bay on deck so to access injuries as they come back."
"Makes sense."
"I'll help," Rachel replied as she needed something to do to distract her from the fact that Tom was most likely locked in a gun battle right now.
They had managed to get the supplies they would need, and a number of stretchers set up in the helo bay. Word had filtered down that the teams had retaken the hotel and rescued the president, but there were injuries. Rios asked the extent and was simply told non-life threatening. Rachel breathed a small sigh of relief as no one was critically injured. It was a while longer before the RHIB returned.
She felt half relief and half concern as Tom was one of the people on the RHIB, which meant he was definitely injured. As the men disembarked from the RHIB they were assessed and directed to the waiting stretchers. Rachel met up with Taylor and helped him get on the stretcher. Once he was laid down she started to assess him.
"Where were you injured?" Rachel asked him gently. He winced as he shifted his weight to get more comfortable.
"I took two shots. One hit he vest, but the other went just below it around my left hip," Wolf Taylor replied. Rachel nodded and started to assess Taylor's body.
"Where in the vest did it hit you. Lower left quadrant. Right above the one that missed the vest."
Taylor had already stripped his vest and top shirt off. Rachel grabbed a pair of scissors and cut his t-shirt off. His lower belly and ribs were already starting to show the bruising from where the vest stopped the first bullet. She could also see the battle dressing and blood collection form the other wound. She had him lift his hips and slid his pants down his hips so she could see the bullet wound.
She pushed on the bruising and manipulated his belly area to make sure there wasn't any internal damage. She didn't think there was from the way he reacted. But they would need to keep an eye on it. She then removed the battle dressing on his other wound. She had him roll onto his side. There was no exit would.
"Unfortunately, I think you still have the bullet in your hip, Senior Chief," Rachel said softly. "I'll give you some local anesthesia and once it takes effect, I'll have to remove that bullet."
"Great," Wolf mumbled as he settled back down on his back. Rachel gave him a reassuring smile before she glanced over at Rios who was taking care of Tom. She walked to the supply cart and find some local anesthesia then walked back to Taylor. She gave him three injections around the area. "Ouch, Doc," Taylor said with a grimace. She smiled at him.
"Sorry, Wolf. I'll be back in a bit to get that bullet out."
She walked away before he could answer as she noticed Rios was done assessing Tom, and Foster was giving him lidocaine. She assumed they were going to stitch him up again. She walked up to him finding him lying there with his eyes closed. She reached out and gently laid her hand on his uninjured shoulder and felt his startle. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at her. She was looking at his bruised torso.
She felt his hand cup the side of her face and she slowly tore her eyes away from his lower body injuries.
"I'm okay," he whispered to her. She nodded slowly as the fear of the thought she almost lost him today ripped through her. Tears formed in her eyes.
"What happened?" she asked, still looking over his injuries. His leg injury had come close to hitting an artery. If that had happened in the field, he would most likely had bleed to death. His shoulder injury could have been over two inches and severed his subclavian artery, again causing him to bleed out in the field.
"The president was being held hostage. I was talking to the guards stationed out front, trying to resolve the issue. Vulture team was engaged on the other side of the hotel and the gunfire erupting spooked the men on our side of the hotel. I didn't have time to take cover before I was hit."
"You could have been killed," she whispered as the fear and pain started to overwhelm her. She reached her hand out and cupped his jaw, her tears finally spilling down her face. Tom reached up and wiped at her cheeks.
"But I wasn't," he replied softly. Rachel looked away from him then. She couldn't deal with the fear and pain. She wanted it to all go away, for all this nonsense to be done. She longed for a house in the country, just her and Tom and his family. She regained control, looked at him, and nodded.
"I'm tired of stitching you up," she said softly. She watched as Tom chuckled then winced. His hand absently brushed over the scar above his head.
"I promise to try to not make this a habit," he said softly. Rachel saw Rios pause a moment then step up beside her, a suture kit in his hands. She looked back at Tom and reached down, touching the skin around his shoulder injury. He didn't react so she touched his leg injury as well. No reaction. She knew he was ready for stitches.
"Want to do the honors again?" Rios asked Rachel. She hesitated a moment, thinking about it. Then she nodded and took the suture kit from him. Rios walked away and Rachel prepared the needle. She watched Tom settle back into the stretcher. She could see the exhaustion in him. His eyes closed and she noticed his breathing even out as he fell asleep.
She worked quickly to stitch his wounds closed and then had Lt. Foster bandage them. She was impressed that he had sleep through all of it. She walked away once Foster was taking care of things and went back to Taylor.
"Ready for this?" She asked, probing with her fingers around the wound. He didn't react so she figured he was numb.
"As ever. I'm just glad you numbed that son of a bitch."
"Okay, I'm going to remove the bullet now. I'm going to need you to remain as still as possible. I won't guarantee you won't feel something."
"Great," Wolf sighed. Rios stepped up and stood next to Rachel. She glanced at the man and nodded.
"Here we go," Rachel said absently as she made an incision on his hip. She then stuck a gloved finger into the hole and looked around for the bullet. She felt Taylor wincing and watching as Rios leaned down on the mans' torso holding him in place. "Almost there," she mumbled as she felt the bullet with the tips of her fingers. She managed to grip it and pull it out the hole. "There we go."
She turned to Rios and nodded. He smiled while turning to get the suture kit he had set aside.
"I'll work on closing him up. The others are all taken care of."
"Thanks, Rios," Rachel replied and walked back over to Tom stripping the bloody gloves off as she went. When she got to his stretcher, he was still asleep, so she pulled a stool up and sat down next to him, waiting for him to wake up.
To Be Continued…
