He cast a curious look at the horizon. “We’re completely out of sight of any land at all. That doesn’t happen very often in the Aegean. No other boats around, either. I need to see a map.”
Suddenly from somewhere below decks there was a severe, loud thump followed by a nasty vibration that threw Olivia headlong into his arms. He only had a moment to reflect how natural and how right it felt to hold her. After all this time, yet it seemed like yesterday. The memories came rushing back. How soft she was. How sweet she smelled.
“What was that?” she asked, jerking out of his arms so fast he wondered if she’d really been there at all, or was it a dream? How many times he’d dreamed she’d come back to him only to wake up and find she was still six hundred miles away. It might have been six thousand. Which was why he’d arranged this dig. To give them one more chance before he gave up and gave her what she wanted.
“Feels like something in the engine room just broke,” he said, grasping the railing with one hand and running the other hand through his hair. “I hope they haven’t thrown a connecting rod. That would be…bad.” But even as he spoke, the ungainly boat was quickly losing its headway, and within a minute it was dead in the water. Not good. Not good at all.
The deck was immediately full of passengers who came running out from inside the cabin. The members of their group clustered around him, everyone talking at once.
“Jack, what happened?”
“What should we do?”
“Why have we stopped?”
“Calm down, everyone,” he said. “I’m going in to speak to the captain. In the meantime, just in case, let’s put on our life jackets.” He wasn’t the head of this expedition, the esteemed scholar Dr. Thaddeus Robbins was, but right now Robbins was standing on the deck, scratching his head and looking worried.
When there was a vacuum, Jack wasn’t averse to stepping in. It was always good form to sound calm and unruffled, but truthfully, he knew it was always best to be prepared.
He threw back the cover of the bench they’d been sitting on, exposing a pile of orange life vests.
“Everyone take one,” he ordered, pulling them out and throwing one to each person in the group. Olivia got hers fastened first and was helping the others.
“Oh my God,” one of the younger female grad students said, “we are going down, aren’t we?”
“Not yet,” Jack said calmly. “But whatever’s happening, my guess is we’re going to be here for a while. That jolt didn’t feel like something you could fix with a screwdriver.” Make light of it. Keep everyone from panicking. That was rule number one.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Greek passenger try to make a call on her cell phone and apparently give up. Not a good sign if they needed to call for help.
“Worst-case scenario,” he told the group. “They’ll call for a tug and tow us to the island. We might miss dinner tonight, but Greeks eat late. Chances are we’ll make it in time.”
“Then why the life jackets?” Marilyn asked, fumbling with the straps when Olivia reached out and snapped them in place for her. A few minutes ago Olivia had been pale and shaken, but you’d never know it now. She was a rock in a storm. Always able to rise to any occasion, except when their marriage was at stake. That was another matter. She’d never tried to talk him out of leaving.
“Just better to be prepared,” he said. Though nothing had prepared him for their marriage to fail. He thought love was enough. How wrong he was.
The steady rumble of the ferry’s engine that had lulled Jack into a false sense of well-being and security had now disappeared. It was an eerie and unsettling quiet that he hoped the others hadn’t noticed. Except for Olivia. He’d never been able to put anything over on her. Just a glance told him she understood just how serious the situation was.
He looked around. Where’s the crew? he wondered. Gone below maybe. Soon there’d be an announcement telling them what was going on. It would be in Greek, but someone would translate, maybe Olivia. She was amazing with languages. She was amazing at many things. That was another reason he was glad she was along. Fortunately he had no trouble separating his personal and professional life.
No problem for him to draw a line between his emotions and his intellect. Until his marriage failed. He’d never failed at anything before. Until he failed at the most important thing in his life. This was his last chance to salvage it, to make it right. To heal the rift between them. To put his life back together again. To get her to reconsider.
He looked around. There she was, helping Dr. Robbins and then other passengers with their life jackets. Most were total strangers. She seemed to be completely over her seasickness. Or she was putting up a good front. She was good at that. She could be hurting inside and still function normally. But he knew. He always knew.
Minutes passed. No announcement came and no crewmen appeared. Instead an ugly black cloud of oily smoke erupted from a vent. He herded the group to the other side of the boat.
Olivia appeared at his side. “What does that mean?” she asked with a worried glance at the billowing smoke.
“Nothing good,” he said with a frown. “A blown engine. A fire in the engine room maybe.”
“Fire?” Her eyes widened. “That means lifeboats.”
He nodded. He knew she’d stay calm no matter what. Other women might have fallen apart, but not Olivia. That was one reason why there’d never been any other woman for him. No one compared to Olivia.
“What about those inflatable rafts?” Olivia asked, pointing to some white capsules. “Aren’t they supposed to automatically inflate when they hit the water?”
“Supposed to, yes. But will they? I hope so.” He spoke quietly. He didn’t want anyone else to hear him expressing his doubts. She was the only one he’d trust not to panic.
“I’ve read stories about ferries capsizing,” she said.
He nodded grimly. He’d read the same stories. The crew gets scared and jumps overboard. Passengers are left on their own.
“Don’t worry,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder, “I’ll take care of it.”
She nodded. She’d been steady during the cave-in on Thira. She’d even bailed the group out when the site was flooded on Rhodes. Then there were the wild tigers in Ache Province. Whatever happened, he could count on her. While others worried about carbon dating and finding cracked vases, it was the Oakleys who’d handle any emergencies that came up. And they always came up at least once during a dig.
“You can’t take care of this by yourself,” Olivia said. “Where’s the crew?”
“I don’t know. Maybe overcome by smoke. Stay with me.”
Then he waved to the group. “Everybody give me a hand,” he shouted. “We’re lowering the boats.” He ran to the starboard side of the boat and knocked the blocks loose that held a small lifeboat in place. With the help of the eight other men he loosened the other blocks and pushed the first boat out over the side. The ferry was starting to list.
“Get in,” he yelled at the members of the group. “I’ll lower the boat after it’s loaded.”
He helped Marilyn in first then a small Greek woman, then Robbins, followed by his students and the others. He motioned for Olivia to get in.
“I’m waiting for you.”
“No, you’re