only items found were fuel barrels, long ladders and grappling hooks. The PC unit then commenced to confiscate the property to ensure the suspects had no means to conduct any attacks. We then transferred them all into the one skiff, destroying and sinking the other one, prior to escorting the suspects back to the Somali shoreline. On our way back to assist the divers, we were informed by the appropriate authorities they were changing the MO from search and rescue to search and recover… I’m really sorry, Lieutenant Cooper.’
Captain Neill, visibly tormented by the pain hitting the top of his legs with unyielding brutality, and opposed to any sort of sentiment in the line of duty, snarled at Daniels.
‘Now get the hell out of here.’
‘Wait…! I said wait.’
Cooper strode up to Daniels. He was finding it hard to focus. Thoughts chaotically crossing from Ellie to Jackson, who’d earlier been flown on to Nairobi.
‘Yes, sir?’
‘You said two.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘You said there were two skiffs.’
‘Yes sir.’
‘There were three… Three skiffs.’
Daniels shook his head. ‘With respect, sir, there were just the two.’
Cooper pressed his palm into his eye, feeling the pulsating throb. ‘Are you trying to tell me I don’t know the difference between two and goddamn three?’
‘No sir, of course not. But in this case there were only two skiffs.’
The bellow from Cooper made the crew on the far side of the landing pad turn round curiously. ‘Three! One, two, three. Which means, she’s on the third.’
A puzzled crease formed on Daniels’s forehead. ‘Who… who sir?’
‘Ellie. Who the hell do you think I mean? I…’ Cooper stopped to ride on a wave of nausea as sweet saliva rushed into his mouth like a fountain. He swallowed hard. ‘She can’t have drowned, so there’s no point in search and recover. There isn’t a body to find.’
Turing to Captain Neill. The strain. The urgency in Cooper’s voice was palpable.
‘We have to deploy two, perhaps three units to the shore and contact the naval land base in Lamu, then…’
Neill cut through Cooper’s animation with tangible disdain. ‘Get yourself under control, Lieutenant, you’ve got a position to keep. Your subordinates are watching.’
‘My only concern here is with Ellie and sending an operations team to get her.’
‘Maybe you should’ve thought about that before.’
Captain Beau Neill pivoted on his heel and walked away. He nodded to Daniels to do the same which he gratefully did.
‘Don’t walk away from me, Beau. You hear me? Don’t you walk away.’
The captain jerked to a standstill. The words acting like the slamming of brakes. He spoke to Cooper with his back turned. His tenor a quiet menace. ‘Who the hell do you think you’re speaking to, Lieutenant?’
‘I don’t know, Captain, I’ve often wondered that myself.’
‘Be very careful, Cooper.’
‘Careful, careful of what? How the hell do you expect me to behave, when every minute we stand here Ellie gets further away from my reach? From our help. They’ll take her God knows where and do God knows what. And maybe they’ll ask for a ransom or maybe like others before her she’ll just disappear without a trace.’
Neill swiveled round. Flexing and relaxing his mouth. ‘Now you’ve finished lecturing me, I’ll tell you what I expect. I expect you to conduct yourself with the appropriate decorum, Lieutenant, as is your duty.’
Cooper tasted the bitterness coating his reply. ‘Decorum. Conduct. Goddamn duty. Those words read like a handbook from my childhood, Captain.’
Neill stepped in closer. Inches away. ‘I also expect you to see the truth when it’s in front of you… There was no third skiff. Ellie’s dead. Drowned, Lieutenant.’
‘No… no, you’ve all got it wrong. She was there. Moments before, she was there.’
‘You’re embarrassing yourself, Lieutenant… Answer me this. Was Ellie wearing a harness? A lifejacket?’
Blinking, Cooper stared for a minute. Introvertedly he said, ‘No,’
‘And so correct me if I’m wrong, Cooper; you knew Ellie had no idea how to swim, yet you didn’t insist on her wearing a jacket on the yacht? Do the math.’
Cooper grabbed him. And grabbed him hard. ‘You son of a bitch, you’re enjoying this aren’t you, Beau?’
Neill stared coldly. ‘Get your hands off me, Lieutenant.’
There was silence between the two men before Cooper, awash with a sense of defeat, dropped his hold. His hope.
‘I’m asking for your help, Captain. I’ve never asked you for anything. Not when I was a kid. Not as an adult. But I’m asking you now. Please. Please, Beau, I beg you. Send a unit to look for Ellie. Help me bring her back.’
For a moment Captain Neill held Cooper’s gaze. His mouth moved as if about to say something but instead, he turned and walked away without saying another word.
*
‘Lieutenant. Governor Woods has arrived en route from Lamu, he’s asking to speak to you, sir, before we fly him on to see his son in Nairobi.’
Cooper stood in a catatonic state by the ship’s railings as the slightly overweight 3rd petty officer informed him of the arrival. He nodded, too consumed with grief to speak.
‘Thomas, it’s good to see you.’ Woods stopped, realizing his voice seemed too loud. His composure too contrived. Then quietly he tried again. ‘Your Uncle Beau’s just filled me in on everything. I’m sorry about Ellie. It’s devastating. I liked her a lot.’
Continuing to stare out to sea as the night’s sky merged with the darkness of the ocean, Cooper answered. Barely. ‘And if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be sorry?’
John Woods, the newly elected Governor of Illinois, pulled gently on his arm. Turning Cooper round to face him. ‘Hey, you know I didn’t mean that. Come on, Coop, don’t make me your enemy. I’m on your side.’
Cooper’s tone was flat. He sighed. Noticed the painful sunburn on Woods’s nose. Then a memory came to mind of how proud Jackson had been of him when he was elected Governor. ‘She’s alive. I know it. I can feel it… What? You’re going to tell me I didn’t see three skiffs as well?’
‘No… No. I just…’ The Governor trailed off before continuing a moment later. ‘What the hell happened
