Chapter 31

Chapter

Thirty-One

The fog was clearing, but not by much. Reid clung to the orange life ring that had been onboard Dr. Branson's research vessel, bobbing among its wreckage, conserving his energy, and waiting.

Those mermaid-murdering bastards had his sister and the marine biologist at the forefront of advocating for merfolk rights and protections.

Now the love of his life was hunting them down, and Godspeed to her. Nautic had fucked with the wrong siren, and he didn't care what she had to do to set things right. If at the end of the day only his Starfish, sister, and Dr. Branson made it off that ship alive, so be it. See if he cared.

One way or another, it would be Nautic's final mistake. He was sure of that.

The Seriphus crew kidnapped two civilians. No doubt they thought they'd get away with it. That the Coast Guard would arrive to find wreckage, but no bodies, and leave none the wiser, chalking it up to yet another tragedy at sea. Way out here, they didn't think there'd be witnesses.

But Reid had seen and soon he'd have access to a radio.

There'd be a manhunt for The Seriphus . It wasn't just the Coast Guard they had to contend with now. The consequence of kidnapping people in federal waters meant the FBI would get involved too.

Beating propellers overhead alerted Reid to an approaching Jayhawk. He activated the strobe light attached to his wetsuit, blinking on and off, and glanced down at his watch. Thirty minutes on the dot, just as he'd predicted.

There was no point in waving down the helicopter. Not in this fog and not when his black scuba gear wasn't visible on a good day against the ocean's backdrop. The silver reflective strips he'd tacked on had been for Nireed's benefit; they wouldn't be seen from the sky.

The helicopter passed him over but circled back around.

They'd seen the strobe light.

As the Jayhawk hovered overhead, a fellow AST dropped into the water. He began freestyling toward Reid the moment he surfaced.

"Coast Guard rescue swimmer…" his crewmate began to shout, but Reid waved him off.

"It's Petty Officer Reid Kruetz," he shouted back, whisking off his goggles. Even though they didn't stand duty together, they'd seen each other plenty on the mornings they swapped out.

The other AST—Petty Officer Jensen—slowed. "What are you doing out here?"

"Clip me in. I'll tell you about it on the way up."

Inside the helicopter, Jensen announced to the rest of the crew, "It's Petty Officer Kruetz."

"Reid?" Perez yelled back from the cockpit. "What are you doing out here?"

"What am I doing out here?" He began divesting his scuba gear, the crew onboard wordlessly jumping in to help. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm covering a shift. What's your excuse?"

"I was getting diving hours in."

"Way out here? On whose boat?"

"One of the Marine Research Center's."

"Why were you diving in mermaid territory?" They'd covered some of the "what" on the ascent, but not this. Jensen looked at him like he was both the ballsiest motherfucker he ever laid eyes on and someone who might sniff markers for fun.

"Not mission critical." Snapping into work-mode, Reid braced his hands against the cockpit threshold. "Perez, The Seraphis crew kidnapped two civilians—Dr. Lila Branson, a marine biologist, and her colleague Lorelei Roth. I need you to call it in. Last I saw it, the ship was heading north."

"Sector, 60207, Fishing Vessel Seraphis has taken 02 civilians captive. Vessel's last known course bearing 015° from my last position, over." She paused, listening to orders. "Roger that."

"We're to begin the search," Perez reported back to aircrew. "Standing by for information on other assets in the area. If we find The Seriphus , we're not to engage, just tail."

To hell with that. If they found The Seriphus , he was going down, even if he had to jump out and swim. And yeah, it'd be reckless, and no, he didn't have a plan for getting his ass onboard. Yet .

Reid drummed his fingers, mind whirring.

The Jayhawk wasn't equipped to take on a potentially armed crew, and he wouldn't endanger Perez or others. They needed a white hull—one of the Coast Guard's cutter class boats—and a boarding team.

Or the Navy.

But those assets might be too far away, and limited fuel reserves might force this Jayhawk back to shore before anyone else arrived on scene.

What to do, what to do…

And then it dawned on him.

There was someone in the area with a vested interest in his sister's safety. Someone who didn't have to answer to the Coast Guard's chain of command.

"Perez, can you swap to channel 16? I know a fisherman who's out here today who can help us look."

The Coast Guard called on local fishermen to help with search and rescues all the time. Something like this wouldn't be outside normal operating procedure. And their sector command hadn't told them not to do it.

"Wanna come up here and do the honors?"

Ducking in, Reid took the radio headset from the junior pilot sitting next to Perez, pausing a moment to gather his thoughts. And then he spoke, "This is the Coast Guard calling on all offshore fishermen in the Haven Cove AOR to be on the lookout for The Seriphus . Two civilians have been kidnapped and are believed onboard. Last known location was in merfolk territory, heading north." He rattled off his best estimate of the coordinates. "We'll take all the help we can get tracking it down."

Several long seconds ticked by. The channel quiet.

And then a voice he recognized crackled on the other end. "This is The Lovely Lorelei . We're in the area and on the lookout. Will report back on this channel if we see The Seriphus ."

It was like a dam release. Other voices began chiming in.

"This is the Wind Catcher. We're heading in that direction now."

" Reel ‘Em In , coming to join the party."

" Never Better. We're with you."

And so many others.

These fishermen knew the gulf better than anyone. If anybody was going to find the elusive factory ship, it was them.