The Runaway Girl by Jina Bacarr

Author:Jina Bacarr [Bacarr, Jina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books

25

Buck scurried back down to steerage along the maze of empty corridors and passages, a heated urgency surging through him in spite of the bitter chill.

A frantic race against time.

He held onto that truth when he saw several men on bent knee praying. A fervent aura held them in its grasp, holy and impenetrable, until each man secured his place in the hereafter.

Buck murmured his own prayer for salvation as he passed by them, then went about the business at hand.

Saving the two Irish girls from a cruel fate.

Slinging his heavy overcoat over his shoulder, he headed quickly to the aft women’s quarters. The vision of Ava looking at him with such sadness branded her in his mind with amazing clarity. Her eyes aching for him to hold her, her face pale behind the black net veil, pink lips parted.

He’d never forget it.

Buck snapped back to his duty. Devotion to the task at hand took hold of him. With water sloshing around his ankles, he started banging on doors and calling out the girl’s name.

‘Peggy, Peggy!’

Damnation, why didn’t she answer him?

Or was she already up on deck? Safe in a lifeboat?

He grimaced. He doubted that. Stark scenes of steerage passengers roaming around the third-class section of the Boat Deck, looking for boats that didn’t exist, played over and over again in his mind.

At the same time, his ears buzzed nonstop, as if he could hear the girls’ voices calling out for help. They were still down here. He’d bet on it. It was a losing hand, but he’d made a promise to play it.

‘Peggy, where are you?’ he called out. He was soaked up to his knees, his trousers wet and heavy. ‘It’s Captain Lord Blackthorn.’

‘In here, sir!’ a girl’s frightened voice cried out to him. ‘Help us, please!’

He swung his head around, his eyes searching the narrow corridor. Where did the voice come from?

Rushing seawater slowed his progress, each stride slow going, but he plunged ahead, desperation to find them pounding in his ears. Pushing his shoulder into the wood, he shoved open the first cabin door.

Empty. Then the next and the next. All empty.

He came to the last one.

He grabbed the door handle. It wouldn’t turn. What the devil. He’d break it down.

He pounded on the door hard with his fists. ‘Peggy, are you in there?’

‘Yes, your lordship,’ he heard a girl call out, her voice hopeful. ‘Hurry, please, the water’s rising!’

Buck ripped off his cuff links and rolled up his shirt sleeves. Using his heavy coat as a buffer and all his strength, he leaned into the door and, with a loud grunt, banged against the panels until he felt it give. One more shove and he pushed the door open, the handle falling off and floating away on the fast-moving seawater.

Standing in the doorway, Buck took a deep breath and blew it out. He couldn’t hide the alarm on his face. He was nearly too late. The seawater was filling their cabin fast, its sickly green color turning his stomach.

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