Sea Gypsies: The Draga Isles

Chapter 18: Left Behind

Gin burst out of the water, and Ria followed. They both heavily gasped for air as if the return swim was longer in both distance and time than the dive going to the cave. And it was to Gin. He had felt like drowning again, becoming anxious at the thought of how Ria fared in the water for that long.

When they came up to the surface, he had the urge to swim to her--to check if she was alright. But hands had already pulled him out of the pool, dragging him onto the floor of the room in the mansion.

Gin's side ached, and he grunted, pressing a hand to his side where the bullet had hit him.

"Are you alright?" Juli asked, reaching for ribs.

He twisted away. "I'm fine. Just need some air." He coughed.

Juli paused and stared at him, but she nodded after a few heartbeats and helped him up.

Gin glanced at where Ria had been dragged up by Migal. He cupped her face with one hand and whispered to her--head leaning to her ear. "You're alright."

"No time for that," the captain said, snapping Gin's attention back to the room. "Did you get it?" he asked, stepping closer to Ria.

"We got it," Gin answered. "We ran into the Mistress' hydrosi," he added.

"You killed them?" Juli asked beside him, her brown eyes beaming with curiosity.

"No." Gin patted the gun on his hip--heavy in its holster.

"Ha!" Juli exclaimed, grinning. "So you finally used a gun."

Gin was about to shake his head at his cousin's taunt, but the captain spoke between them.

"Let's get out of here," the captain ordered, breaking their conversation. "Your dive took longer than we thought. The guards will be coming back from the northwest by now if they can't find anything or anyone to blame for the explosion."

"Let's hope they won't scout the area where we left the Opal," Migal added, pulling Ria to his chest and rubbing her shoulders to keep her warm.

Gin had to look away to pacify the irritation that started to grow in his mind. He wanted to be the one holding Ria. He focused elsewhere, watching everyone else's movement.

Juli walked up to the door and pressed her palm to the panel.

"No guards so far. Let's go." She pulled the door open, and they all ran through the hallway and up the stairwell they had taken earlier.

They returned to the room where they had entered the building and secured the ropes to rappel down and out the window.

When they reached the grounds, the two guards they left were still sleeping at their posts, which meant that no one had come to find them yet.

"They're going to get fired for sleeping on the job." Juli snickered.

The captain shushed her. He led them back into the grove and ran, passing into the shadowy forest-like farm of mango trees.

Gin noted that they were making great pace and hoped they'd continue to where the Opal waited without problems. But someone shouted when they reached the east side, at the pineapple farm by the cliffs.

"Hey!"

"Run!" Gin didn't have to turn around to know that it was a guard.

"Hey!" the man shouted again. "Stop!"

Gin's pained side slowed him down, and he fell behind the crew. He dared to look back over his shoulder and saw at least three guards with rifles rushing to the edge of the field.