Operation Javelin by Jennifer Haynie

Author:Jennifer Haynie [Haynie, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: On-the-Edge Publications LLC
Published: 2024-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

21

Saturday, January 6, 2018, 2355 hours HST, Offshore of the Big Island

Henry slowed the Zodiac to a stop in the gentle swells. Butch, who’d held Shelly’s inert form close as they sped over the ocean’s waves, checked her arm. The bleeding had finally slowed. After digging his medic’s kit from his backpack, he cut away her sleeve and examined the wound. A graze, praise the Lord. She’d have a good scar on her arm when it healed—if an infection didn’t take hold. He’d have to stitch it closed when they reached safety. Right now, gauze would keep it from bleeding further.

Shelly shook her head from side to side. “Butch?”

“We’re safe.” He cringed at his lie. Hah. Hardly. In over their heads was more like it. He peered around them. Kailua-Kona’s lights glowed off to his left.

“N-Nathaniel. Is… is he okay?”

His heart ached at the reed-thin sound of her voice.

“Rest, Shel. I’m going to give you some morphine.” He dipped into the medical kit again. Steadying himself, he measured a small amount and injected it into her arm. Once her head sagged to the hard rubber, he straightened and eased onto the port-side gunwale.

The light on his headlamp glowing red, Henry knelt beside Nathaniel. When he met Butch’s gaze, he shook his head.

Butch lifted his face to the heavens. The words he delivered to the stars summed up his thoughts. He pulled his shemagh from his head and with shaking hands wiped his face to clear it of sweat and sea spray. Stickiness remained. “That so did not go to plan.”

“Shelly okay?” Henry’s voice was low, hoarse.

“A graze. She’ll have a divot in her arm, but if we can get her stitched up, she’ll be fine. I take it Nathaniel’s gone.”

“He bled out. One of the bullets probably got him in the heart or a major vessel.” He added more words, this time in Hawaiian. Butch knew the emotion even if he didn’t understand the language. Agony at losing someone on a mission.

He wanted to punch the gunwale, but that wasn’t a good idea when they were in the middle of the ocean. “I’m sorry, Henry. We shouldn’t have let him come. He wasn’t trained, and—”

“He would have insisted, Cajun Man.” Henry sat on the starboard gunwale and stared at the nearby town. He flicked off his headlamp and for a moment remained still in the tropical night.

Butch inhaled and willed his pulse toward normal. He released his breath like he was exhaling smoke. Man, what he wouldn’t do for a cigarette right now. And for his mind not to race in all directions like a scared rabbit. More deep breaths. His thoughts settled. Yeah, so no one pursued them right now. That didn’t mean they were out of danger. They had lost a comrade and had a woman who needed medical attention. They had to regroup. “What now?”

No answer from his friend. In the gloom, Henry continued staring at Kailua-Kona. “You got me.” He sighed as he gazed at the young man’s body.

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