Thomas slowly regained consciousness, but as he did, he regretted his body's decision to wake him up. There was a blinding light in his eyes, his head throbbed, and he felt like he was moving even though he was laying on the floor.
After a few minutes, he dared to open his eyes, and he found himself staring direction into the sun. He turned his head away quickly, but that made his vision swirl and he fought the urge to vomit. Giving himself a few minutes to regain his composure, he tried to glean as much information about his surroundings as possible within moving any other muscles.
The pain in his left leg indicated he did indeed have a gunshot wound in his thigh. He suspected that some of his lightheadedness was from blood loss in addition to the hit to his head that he had sustained. The white, slip-resistant floor he was on gave him the impression that he was on the deck of a boat, which meant the sense of motion wasn't all in his head. Glancing to the side showed Magnum that some of the storage crates were also on the deck of the boat.
Slowly, Thomas regained his composure and started attempting to get to his feet. After what felt like hours, Magnum struggled to get to his feet, leaning heavily on the railing to his left. He looked down and noticed the large amount of blood that trickled down his leg and led to a small pool on the boat deck.
Knowing his time was limited due to his own blood supply, he looked around, trying to find the person or people that were responsible for him being on the boat. He located one man at the helm of the boat, inside the cabin, with his back facing Magnum. Thomas recognized him as one of the men that prevented him from leaving the warehouse at the marina. The other two men were several feet away, outside the cabin and on the port side of the boat. They were casually conversing, looking ahead towards the bow.
None of his captors knew he was awake, let alone somewhat standing, and Thomas used that to his advantage. He was always quiet and stealthy when he was a SEAL, and even with a bullet in his leg, he managed to get close behind the two men on the port side. He managed to shove the first man overboard without him ever seeing Magnum. The second man struggled, but his surprise and obvious lack of coordination while on a moving boat proved to be his downfall because he quickly joined his partner in the water.
Thomas then made his way to the cabin to take care of his last captor. Magnum's legs were starting to give way underneath him and he knew time was running out. He had no idea where his captors were headed with him on board, but he knew if he couldn't take care of this last man, he wasn't going to last long once they reached their destination.
As Thomas reached the cabin, the other man was swerving the boat to the left and right, trying to get Magnum to stumble. Eventually, Magnum approached the man, who had abandoned the wheel and was facing Magnum with a knife in hand.
"You're being a huge pain in the ass, you know that?" The man said.
"If you would've let me go then I wouldn't have to do this," Magnum huffed. "This doesn't happen to be the boat I was hired to find, is it?"
"You were hired to find a boat?" The man asked. "Who are you?"
"I'm a private investigator," Magnum said, trying to sound strong and confident. "I was hired to find stolen property, and in this case it's a large fishing boat called the 'Fourth Wave.' I'm guessing this is it."
The other man looked shocked. "You're a P.I.? Why did you go into the warehouse if you were just looking for the boat?"
Magnum sighed. "I prefer 'private investigator' and I originally was just looking for the boat, but one thing led to another and I discovered a drug smuggling ring based in that marina. I couldn't just let that slide." He took a breath, trying to keep all the strength he could. "I have to say, it's pretty smart of you to use someone else's boat to move drugs around, and even smarter to change the boat you use every time." Then Thomas looked around casually. "I'm guessing the drugs are hidden in plain sight somewhere, like mislabeled storage crates."
"You should have just left us alone. It was a mistake to look into it more," the man said. "Now you're a dead man."
Anticipating the man was about to make a move, Thomas raised his right leg, putting his weight entirely on his left leg, in order to kick his opponent. The strength of the kick surprised both men, and Magnum managed to kick the knife out of the other man's man before they started brawling.
A punch to the jaw here, a kick to the shin there… Magnum was losing track of what was happening as everything started blurring together. It wasn't until he felt something hit him near his gunshot wound that he remembered he was on borrowed time that was quickly running out. After feeling a few sharp pains, Magnum and the other man fought over the knife that had magically reappeared at some point during the fight.
After a struggle, Magnum used the last wave of adrenaline in order to flip the knife and push it through the skin of his attacker. The cry of pain and decrease of resistance told Magnum that he had won the fight and he would no longer have to struggle with the man. Leaving the man on the floor, Magnum went to the helm of the boat.
Once the adrenaline wore off, Magnum knew he wasn't fit to drive the boat, so he simply turned the engine off. Once the boat stopped moving, Magnum grabbed the radio and sent out a quick Mayday before he felt the threat of unconsciousness creep up. Not hearing an immediate reply, he turned, passed the man with a knife sticking out of his abdomen, and then he stumbled his way onto the deck; this way he could hear or see anyone that may stumble upon them or at least come close enough to signal.
"But nobody responded to the Mayday," Magnum said to himself. "Nobody is around."
He was suddenly too drained of energy to remain standing. Thomas crumpled to the deck of the boat, not able to catch himself at all. So he laid there, feeling the energy drain out of him as blood flowed onto the white deck of the boat.
"Nobody is around, but my friends must be looking for me by now. How long have I been gone?" Magnum talked to himself, trying to stay awake.
You constantly put your friend's lives on the line. Have you ever considered that maybe your friends do you favors because they feel like they owe you something?
It was this thought that caused Magnum to be in his current and unfortunate predicament. He was laying on his back, eyes closed, and bleeding out. All he could do was hope that he was found by the people he was trying to protect.
"At least my friends are all okay," Magnum thought to himself before his world went black.