When Tomorrow Ends (3 page)

Ben leaned in to her on purpose, raised his hand and Jake watched as he took advantage of Maggie’s excitement as Ben ran a finger down her arm. He could see Maggie caught up in the moment. All Ben saw was another notch in his belt. Jake gritted his jaw and clenched his fists.

These guys were notorious bad boys who didn’t care who knew. Jake understood they were an elite team of demolition experts who came home from Afghanistan and started their charter business. He used them several times when he needed an old hotel or building to come down.

But no one, not even Ben Trooper, would hit on his woman and get away with it. Not as long as Jake had a heartbeat in his body. He stormed out of the jewelry shop and in to his work truck, banging gears as he headed for Key West.

Chapter 3

Maggie drew in a deep breath. The sky above began to cloud over, then get dark all of a sudden. “Are we okay out here?” she asked. The reporter and her crew were gone and most of the other boats that dotted the water drifted away.

Ben and his men were working on some of the details, along with a bit of celebration. A cooler stocked with cans of beer sat on the deck. She reached in and grabbed one before she closed the lid and sat down on top of the cooler. “This is scary yet breathtaking,” she told Ben.

Ben nodded. “The skies are not looking good. We’ll head back to shore in about ten minutes,” he told her, all business. Maggie sat down on the cooler with a beer in her hand and watched the men flex their muscles as they worked. Five hot alpha males in tight wet suits.

She wondered if Jake liked to scuba dive because she’d like to see him in a wet suit. Perhaps their next road trip would be somewhere they could do a bit of diving. Even though she could snorkel, it would be fun to learn to dive with Jake. A blast of rain hit her like someone punched her in the face. The skies opened up so quick and before she could say a word, her clothes were drenched.

“Maggie, I suggest you get inside!” Ben shouted. “Bad storm ahead. Put on a vest.”

She jumped off the cooler and ran. The boat began to rock and the men scattered to get control of the ship. The helmsman opened the door and she fell in to the bridge, grateful to get out of the pelting rain. As each man finished their job at hand, they followed her out of the bad weather.

The boat rocked back and forth in unsteady movements. Maggie felt giddy at first. She didn’t realize she could become sea sick. She slid down on a seat and used the seat belt, then put her head down on her knees.

One of the men told her to breath deep and steady and focus on something besides the fear of the storm. “I’m not sure I can,” Maggie whispered. The storm was terrifying, she wasn’t sure she could stay calm. Breathe in, she told herself and inhaled. Maggie didn’t realize she forgot to let the air out when Ben opened the door and a burst of air and wind startled her. She let out her breath in one big whoosh.

“Let’s ride this out men,” he ordered. “There’s trouble ahead.”

Maggie lifted her head. “What do you mean trouble?”

“Some engine problems. No worries,” he told her and smiled. When she looked in to his eyes she saw his concern. This was not good.

“I never rode out a storm before. I wish Jake were here.” Maggie put her head down again and squeezed her eyes closed. If she were to think of something else, it would be of him. She imagined his arms as they held her while the boat rocked and creaked and bounced in the water. She forced her stomach to settle because she didn’t want to get sick now. The thought of Jake did settle some of these fears.

“We’re close to Dry Tortuga. Let’s see if we can get there, away from the storm,” Ben told the others. The hustle of the men as they wrestled the boat in the storm was lost to Maggie, who stuffed her face in her lap. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, oh crap,what was that! A loud noise reverberated through the air. It sounded like some one shot off a round of bullets. Then a clang and she could smell smoke.

“Is the boat falling apart? What’s happening?” she asked, her voice muffled because she was afraid to lift her head.

A soft, gentle hand touched her shoulder. “No worries Mag, we got this.”

Mag? The man gave her a pet name? She wanted to pass out. This guy hit on her in the midst of a storm that could end their lives. He was either reckless or had no fear. She wouldn’t be the one to find out because in this moment all she could think about was the dinner date she had with the man of her dreams.

She didn’t think she’d make it home for dinner.

<><>

Jake paced back and forth on the docks, the rain crashed down like pellets against his skin. He didn’t care, he wanted answers. Where was the diving boat and why weren’t they back on shore? All the other boats were docked and most people dashed for a dry spot. Not Jake. He stood at the edge of the docks because he didn’t know where Maggie was or if she ever came back from the charter boat.

One of the captains of another charter boat ran down the dock towards him in a rain jacket. The hood covered his head as the rain belted him. High winds were pushing him around on the dock. “Best to get out of the storm,” the man shouted. “Come on, we have shelter. Follow me.”

Jake looked out at the horizon, then turned and followed the captain. They entered the back door of one of the shops along the dock. He stomped his feet and shook himself. This was someone’s home behind the shop. A small apartment.

“Here, use this,” a woman’s voice said. He felt someone thrust a warm, dry towel in his hands. Jake nodded to the older woman as he dried the droplets of rain. His skin was clammy and wet from the rain. Thunder boomed outside and a fear clutched and squeezed at his chest.

He searched for the charter boat Maggie was in for hours and no one could remember it coming back since the sinking of the Navy vessel. Her car was still in the parking lot. “I’m waiting on the BKH Diving Charter boat. My fiancé is out with the boat,” he told the older couple.

The captain began to play with some buttons on what looked like an old Marine radio. “Give me a second son, I’ll see if anyone else heard anything.” He began to contact others to put the word out. A response came back with in a few minutes.

Jake heard the crackle of the radio and the distinct words came through loud and clear. “BKH Charter is lost at sea, sir. No word from them yet.”

“Maggie,” he groaned. Jake raked his hand through his hair. He couldn’t sit here and wait.

The older woman must have seen the stricken look on his face. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry yet, son. Most times these charters will find a place to hunker down until the storm is over or ride it out. There’s islands all over the keys they can get to. You have to give the storm a chance to pass before you panic. It happens all the time.”

“My Maggie is out there. I’d say nows as good of a time as any to worry.” He dug his phone out of his pocket. There had to be a plane or chopper available to help him find the boat.

Jake almost slammed his fist in to the wall. After calling everyone and anyone he could think of, no one was willing to go out in the storm. It was too dangerous, they told him. He knew they were right, but every nerve ending in his body cried out. He needed to find her, his love, before -’ The woman shoved a cup of coffee in his hand.

He took it and thanked her. “I’m sorry. I’m helpless. I’ve never felt like this before except the day my-” He stopped. Jake didn’t want to remember the day his Mother fell over and they found her on the floor, an aneurysm causing her slow death. She lingered in a hospital for a few weeks, never to respond to their touch again. It devastated Jake because he carried the weight of her death for many years. Before she was found on the floor, she told him to go get their Dad, but instead he ran to the docks to meet his brother, not realizing she was feeling ill. She never said she was sick and by the time Jake told his Dad, it was too late.

When Maggie came along, he realized with her help he didn’t need to carry the burden any longer. It was something his brother Jon tried to tell him for many years. But Maggie’s love gave him the strength to forgive himself and move on. Yet he always had that fear in the back of his head and it was the reason he had a hard time with marriage. He was afraid to ask her, scared he would destroy her like he thought he destroyed his Mother’s life. A bad omen.

Until their road trip, the best time of his life, ever. He stood at the window as the rain pelted against the glass. The ocean looked angry as the waves swirled and hurled toward the shore. Jake looked up to the heavens and sent out a sincere prayer. If Maggie were to live through this and come back to him, he’d whisk her away and make their relationship legal. He knew he always put things off, but never again.

He leaned his head against the glass of the window. First she was kidnapped by a drug dealer and secret agent on their road trip. He wound up in the hospital and couldn’t get to her. Jake thought his nerves were tested then, but now, with Mother Nature at the helm, his deepest fears once again rose to the surface. Would he ever be free from the doom he felt when Maggie was out of his arms?

The elder man’s hand rested on his shoulder. “The BKH is holed up at Dry Tortega. I heard it on the radio a second ago. They have a bad connection, but we were able to hear most of the message. Engine trouble, it sounds like. They’re hunkering down there for the night and will return at first light when the boat is fixed. Those boys know what they’re doing, she’s in good hands.”

Jake let out a deep sigh. He called the pilot he used when he needed a chopper at a moment’s notice and made arrangements to meet him at the break of dawn. He would go to Dry Tortegas himself in the morning and pick up his love. “Where do you want to meet?” he asked the pilot. Jake got the directions where the chopper would land and thanked the couple.

“Son, you can’t go out in this. At least have some dinner and wait until the storm dies down. We’d love to have some company.”

Jake nodded. “I’m sorry, yes. I’ll stay.” He didn’t know if he could eat anything but since this couple did give him shelter from the storm, he would try. He answered the kind couples questions, but his heart wasn’t in it. He pushed the food around on his plate and then after much effort, he excused himself. “I apologize. I’m not good company tonight. Thank you for your hospitality.”

The older woman got up. “Nonsense. You go sit right in there on that chair and get some rest. You look exhausted. Jake didn’t have the energy to argue. These people were like grandparents. The older captain grinned at his wife’s attempts to mother Jake. He shook his head.

“You’ll have to let her, son. She’s missing her boys. We have three grown sons who moved away from the area. When they do come home, which is only a few times a year, she dotes on them. Always has. Best thing is to let her ‘til the storm passes, then you can be on your way.”

Jake agreed. The two talked for some time about the captain’s own charter business. He had been in the Keys for thirty years. He started when he was in his twenties, fishing back then and selling the fish to wholesalers. “It was a good living son. I’m semi-retired now so I take fishermen out a few times a week. It’s all I need any more to get by. Great life here in the Keys, right baby?”

His wife sat in a recliner by the window reading. She looked up. “Oh yes, love, it’s a great life.” He listened to them as they talked about their dreams and how they made most of them come true, no matter what the circumstances.

Jake wondered how Maggie and him would be years from now? His heart ached for her. He needed to see her, feel her and know she was safe but he couldn’t let the fear rise up again. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“We still have some romance left in us, don’t we love?”

The captain nodded. “You bet baby. One of these days I’m going to take you on one of those cruises you’ve been asking for. You wait and see.” He winked at his woman and she blushed. He looked at Jake. “She wants to take a Mediterranean cruise. See Paris and all those European countries.”

Jake looked at the captain. He was good at reading people and knew the man didn’t have the money to make his love’s dreams come true, even though he promised he would do it someday. Would they ever get to go? By the time the older man saved enough money for a cruise that expensive, their health could take a toll. Jake knew life was too short.

They were a kind couple who took him in out of a bad storm. He could afford to give them a trip of a lifetime. Jake could tell the captain was a proud man so he wouldn’t offer him the means to pay for the trip in front of his wife. He’d surprise them later. He listened to the lull of the couple’s voices as they spoke to each other and his eyes began to droop.

<><>

The charter boat rocked and bobbed in the water as Maggie held her head between her knees. She didn’t realize how sea sick she could be until this happened. At least she could breathe easier now. The men had the ship under control and began to steer it towards the Dry Tortegas. She wanted to visit the old fort but not like this.

The charter boat began to settle a bit as the storm became weaker. Maggie got up and looked out the window as a steady rain fell. The deck was dark since the lights didn’t work. Back-up batteries kept the marine radio on and she was glad to hear Ben tell someone on land they made it through the storm. Two oil lanterns were lit now that the rocky waters settled down. One of the guys hung a lamp on each side of the bridge. Maggie could see much better. She felt a bit safer.