“They’re alive!” Lachlan counted heads as they sped closer—five he could see. “Thank God. Thank God, you saw them, Cilla. No one else—no one else did.”
“It’s my fault.” She hugged the blanket hard. “I know it.”
“No, lass.” He didn’t have time to comfort her. He cupped his hands around his mouth to call to the men in the water. “How many are you?”
“Six aboard,” a man called back. “But one didnae make it.”
The motorboat slowed, pulled within thirty feet of the wreck, and cut the engines so the propellers wouldn’t harm the men in the water.
A crewman unlashed the life ring.
“Are you strong enough to swim to us?” Lachlan said.
“I am. I dinnae know about the others.”
“Billy’s hurt,” a young man called in a cracking voice. “And I—I cannae swim that far.”
The sailor flung the life ring, but it slapped into the water ten feet short.
Cilla tugged Lachlan’s sleeve. “I can swim the life ring out. I’m a strong swimmer.”
“You cannae, lass.” He turned to the coxswain. “Start the motor. Pull a wee bit closer.”
A splash.
“Cilla!”
Only her shoes remained on deck. She was swimming to the life ring.
“Cilla! That was foolish, lass. Foolish.”
“I don’t care.” She gathered the life ring. “Which one of you is Billy?”
“Over here. He’s hurt badly.”
An injured or drowning man could panic and pull Cilla down with him. Lachlan groaned and stripped off his jacket, holster, and shoes.
He leaped into the water and suppressed a cry. Bitter cold. Keeping his head above the surface, he swam toward Billy. Two of the men swam toward the motorboat. “Cilla, I’ll fetch Billy. Men—who else needs help?”
“I cannae make it.” A man clung to a piece of wreckage. “I’m bleeding. The cold ...”
“Bain?” Lachlan found his friend’s face. “Jock Bain? Is that you, man?”
“Aye. Praise the Lord, you came, Mackenzie.”
Praise the Lord indeed. “Cilla, take the life ring to Jock.”
“I will.” She swam toward him.
Ahead of Lachlan, two lads gripped hands across a curved section of their boat’s hull. “I—I cannae hold him much longer. He’s unconscious.”
It was young Jamie Gunn and his brother Billy, neither lad old enough for the Forces, and Lachlan swam harder. “Hold on, Jamie. Hold on. I’ll take care of Billy, come back for you.”
Lachlan grabbed Billy under the chin, nudged him onto hisback, and swam toward the boat, Billy’s weight drifting down onto Lachlan’s legs.
He kicked hard, struggled to keep his head above water, fought the numbness stiffening his hands and feet.
To his side, Bain clung to the life ring. The crewmen hauled the line, then grabbed Bain’s arms to lift him on board. Cilla tread water nearby.
