A Promised Land (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) by Jools Louise

Author:Jools Louise
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Siren-BookStrand, Inc.
Published: 2015-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

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It set the tone for the journey through the Mediterranean. The crew were friendly and happy to teach the kids all about being on a Navy ship, teaching them terminology and pointing out the different ports they sailed past. Dolphins, flying fish and the occasional shark sighting had the children jumping about excitedly, loving the warm sun and the cooling breeze as they sailed on toward Naples.

“We will be heading past Sicily in a day or so,” Tonio said one morning, two days after leaving the coast of Cyprus. “I have radioed ahead, and your mother will be waiting for you when we arrive in Naples the day after that.”

“So soon?” Aaron asked in surprise. “I thought it would take longer.”

“No, my friend, this ship is fast. We had refueled just before we found you, so we haven’t needed to stop. We will need to refuel possibly when we get to Catania tomorrow, before we head home.”

Just then an alarm sounded, loud and strident and Tonio leapt to the side, looking out to sea. A voice rang out in Italian, then in English, a warning to a small vessel overloaded with people just ahead. The island of Crete lay to the north and Libya to the south. They were miles from either shore. Desperate migrants from war-torn Libya were piled into inadequate boats by opportunistic traders, and then left to drift across the Mediterranean in search of better lives. Right now, up ahead, were what looked like two hundred of these despairing people.

The cutter drifted closer, cutting her engines to a dead slow speed as she approached the overloaded trawler. As the Italian ship neared, panic seemed to break out on the other vessel, people shouting and then moving about suddenly.

Aaron watched in horror as the whole thing suddenly tipped, not built for so many people moving to one side, and several people fell into the sea. More shouts, with it obvious that there were non-swimmers there.

Without thinking twice, Aaron dove in. He wore a life vest, mandatory aboard the ship and shouted for a life raft to be thrown over as well as whatever other buoyancy aides Tonio could find.

The water was cool, despite the warmth of the day, but Aaron thought of nothing but the people struggling to stay afloat, swimming hard.

He heard a splash from behind, turning his head to see Kadil also in the water, powering along in a strong crawl.

“You’ll have to translate, I only speak French and English. I don’t speak much Arabic,” Aaron shouted behind. “These people could be from anywhere.”

They were soon embroiled in a struggle to hold onto panicked migrants who were too terrified to know they were being helped. Presumably the sight of a warship had started a panic, and like herds everywhere, the initial alarm had set off a stampede…with nowhere to go.

The cutter moved closer, flotation rings thrown into the water to help the frightened people struggling to stay afloat. Aaron and Kadil managed to

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