23
With Chad’s help, Melissa dragged a dazed Richie into the raft. The Gulfstream had two rafts and the team had managed to deploy both. There were plenty of bangs and bruises, but they had all made it.
Richie was the most battered and dazed of them all.
Chad laid him along the bottom of the raft with his head in Melissa’s lap. Then he gave her a nod that she gathered was his final acceptance of her role on the team. She returned the silent acknowledgment.
She held Richie close against her; Carla and Duane were also in this raft. Chad clambered across to join Kyle, who had Dayana and Pederson in the other one. The Gulfstream G250 was slipping beneath the waves and shattered pieces of the bigger BAe 146 were scattered everywhere, sinking a piece at a time.
She could hear Kyle and Dayan
