Chapter 9: Rescue
Rich watched tensely as the deckhands hauled Alex over the rail and onto the Maverick deck. The man was hypothermic and desperately needed to get out of his wet clothes as soon as possible.
The deckhands dragged Alex below deck to begin drying and warming him up. Just then, a bleeping noise came from the radio.
"This is Rick on the Maverick," he said into the radio.
"Rick? It's Sarah!" shouted Sarah frantically, "You got him! Is he okay? What's his status?"
"I don't know yet," replied Rick, also sounding worried, "But I'll let you know the second I find out."
"Thanks, Rick," murmured Sarah, genuinely, "We owe you."
"No you don't" he protested, "I'd do anything for you, you know that."
Sarah smiled to herself and turned to deal with her frustrated and worried crew.
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"What's going on?" demanded Andrew, concern for his best friend making him even more edgy than usual.
"Sarah will tell us when she finds out," replied Jake, sensibly as he gazed over at the Maverick.
Andrew sneered and glared daggers at the Maverick.
"You should be appreciative of them you know," murmured Jon.
"And why, pray tell?" snapped Andrew.
"Oh, I don't know," said Jon, growing angry, "Maybe because if it wasn't for them, your little friend would be at the bottom of the Bering Sea!"
"Maybe you should…" Andrew's sharp reply was cut off as Sarah emerged from the wheelhouse.
She stood gazing over the rail with her arms folded and an irritated look on her face.
"So what's going on?" snarled Andrew, "You gonna stand there or are you gonna tell us what happened?"
Jon gave Andrew a quick warning glance. Challenging the captain was never a very good idea. Amy frowned in disapproval but waited patiently for her best friend's reply.
"He's fine," said Sarah, curtly, "Thanks to the Maverick, he'll be fine."
Andrew sneered again, "Whatever."
Jake shook his head in exasperation.
"You know what?" he said, suddenly growing angry, "Ever since you and Alex became such good friends, your attitude's changed completely. Maybe you need to take the time to check your feelings at the door before you come out on deck?"
"Why don't you mind your own freakin' business?" snapped Andrew.
"This is my business you moron!" retorted Jake as he drew closer to Andrew, "In case you've forgotten, Alex isn't the deckboss, I am! And it's my job to keep people like you in line! So when I say something, you listen, got it?"
"Give me one good reason why I should!"
Jake did not hesitate a moment longer. With a growl of anger, he leapt at Andrew, knocking him down. The two writhed together on the ground, punching and kicking and yelling like mad men.
"Hey!" shouted Sarah, "Knock it off!"
Jon tried to jump in to separate the two men, but managed to get punched in the eye by Andrew. Amy cried out in fear and anger and rushed over to Jon.
Sarah leapt over the railing beside the wheelhouse and landed cat-like on her feet. She quickly stepped in-between the two battling men and forced them apart.
"I said stop!" she screamed furiously.
The two deckhands obeyed, but still glared at each other, gasping for breath. Andrew had a bloody nose and Jake's eye looked like it was swelling quickly.
"Are you both insane!?" exclaimed Sarah after a moment, "Fighting on deck is just another way to get yourselves killed! You have a problem, talk it out or take the fight back to the dock with you! Got it?"
Jake nodded, suddenly feeling slightly ashamed that he had let Andrew get to him like that. Andrew nodded curtly, but did not appear to be sorry at all. In fact, he looked like he could have flown at Jake again if he wanted to.
Sarah glanced between the two seething men one last time before she turned to climb back up to the wheelhouse. She slammed the door shut angrily and sat down in the captain's chair.
"This is getting way out of hand…"
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Back on the Maverick…
"Hey, Rick?" called a deckhand, "The Northwestern guy wants to see you for a minute!"
Rick stood up from his captain's chair in the wheelhouse and climbed down the stairs into the galley. He nodded to his deckboss and told him to take the wheel for a moment. Rick walked over to where Alex was sitting behind the galley table wrapped up in warm blankets. He looked like he was still in shock, but he was conscious.
"How you holding up there, tough guy?" asked Rick, in a friendly voice as he slid in beside Alex.
"I'm okay…thanks to you," said Alex quietly, "I appreciate what you and your crew did. You didn't have to do that."
"Of course we did!" exclaimed Rick in surprise, "What else would we have done? Watched you drown?"
Alex smirked slightly and glanced away.
"Well, up until now I didn't care much for you guys," admitted Alex.
Rick smiled slightly and nodded, "Sarah told me."
Alex gave him a quick glance. Rick held up his hand.
"Now, don't get angry. We talk a lot, yes, but we don't share boat secrets. Trust me, we know what we're doing."
Alex grunted and looked down at his cup of coffee.
"Thanks again," he murmured, "I'd be a dead man if it wasn't for you."
Rick smiled again and slapped Alex on the back.
"Anytime, my man, anytime!"
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Back on the Northwestern…
A couple of hours had gone by and Sarah had decided to go drop a string of pots about fifty miles away from their current location.
The Coast Guard was on their way to pick up Alex from the Maverick and bring him back to Dutch Harbor. When the Northwestern went to offload, they could pick him back up at the dock.
The crew was below deck getting some much needed rest and food. Andrew headed straight for his bunk while Jon, Amy, and Jake stayed in the galley.
Jake was standing and leaning over something on the counter near the sink. Jon raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Writing something," mumbled Jake as he stood and held up a piece of cardboard. He walked over to the door that led out to the deck and stuck the sign up above the door.
It said:
CHECK YOUR FEELINGS AT THE DOOR -MANAGT.
PLEASE REVIEW!!
I thought you guys might like that sign at the end…ring any bells?? : )
Sorry for the long wait for an update. I'm finally out of school so I should be back to my usual updating schedule…(about every other day).
Thanks for reading and reviewing!!