Page 89 of Guarding Bristol

She barely resisted the urge to launch herself at him, stayed where she was as he came to her and crouched down.He pushed up the visor on his helmet.

A pair of familiar hazel eyes stared at her.“Hey, Bristol.You okay?”

“Travis,” she cried, flinging her arms around him.“Oh, my God.”The tears she’d been fighting broke free.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”he asked, easing her away from him to check her over.

“N-no.But TJ and the guy w-who took me...They w-went overb-board.One was shot.”

“The other helo’s looking for them right now.”He shifted his grip on her.“Can you stand up?”

“Y-yeah.”She wasn’t sure if she was crying or if it was just the salt water all over her face.

Travis helped her stand, signaled for the cable.“I’m going to put this safety harness on you,” he told her as the crew lowered it.He held her steady around the waist with one arm as he caught the end of the cable with his free hand, his feet braced wide apart on the rolling deck.“I’m going to hook us together, and then Whit’ll winch us up.”

She looked up, clinging to his shoulders.She wanted TJ.Her heart was cracking into pieces that he might be dead.“Brandon’s there?”

“Yeah.And Groz and Grady are on the other bird.”He quickly helped her into the harness, got them clipped together on the line and signaled Brandon.

Bristol clung to him as the cable pulled them off the deck.The pulse of the rotors was almost deafening.When she looked up, she saw Brandon leaning partway out of the open door, feeding the cable through his gloved fists.

The instant she neared the doorway, he reached out to grab her.Within seconds, he and Travis had her aboard with the door shut.Travis unhooked them, started relaying information to Brandon.“She’s alert and responsive.No obvious injuries, other than shock and cold.”

“Hi, Bristol,” Brandon said, giving her a smile as he took her life vest off.“How you feeling?”

“C-cold,” she answered.Scared.Grieving the probable loss of the man she’d fallen for.“W-worried about T-TJ.”

“If he’s still in the water, Groz and Grady will get him out,” Travis said with absolute confidence that she desperately wanted to believe.She couldn’t accept the alternative.“Now let’s get you out of those wet clothes so we can make sure you’re okay and get you warmed up.”

She swallowed and didn’t answer because she was afraid she would break down completely and embarrass herself in front of these brave men.Her limbs and hands were too cold and numb to help much as Travis quickly helped get her top and soaked jeans off.She squelched the wave of shyness.They were her friends, professionals, and she wasn’t even naked.

Brandon wrapped a mylar blanket around her before laying her out on a stretcher on the floor.“Just gonna check your vitals to make sure you’re okay,” he said, sticking a temperature probe in her ear while his fingers found her radial pulse.After thirty seconds he stopped.“Your pulse is high, and your core temp’s a bit low.”

“Let’s sit you up,” Travis said, reaching beneath her with one arm and pulling her upright.He handed her a thermos top of something with steam coming from it.“Hot, sweet tea.It’ll help until we can get you aboard the ship.”

“Sh-ship?”she said, wrapping her hands around his to bring the cup to her lips.It was hot and sweet just like he’d said, but without him steadying it she would have sloshed it all over her.

“Coast Guard cutter about nine miles out.What happened?”

She swallowed her mouthful of tea.Felt the blessed warmth as it spread down into her stomach.“He t-took me as bait to get T-TJ.”

“Who’s TJ?”Brandon asked, tucking the blanket around her more securely.

“He’s...”Tears rushed to her eyes.“A DEA agent,” she managed to get out.“It’s...it’s c-complicated.”

“Yeah, sounds like it.”Brandon was rubbing her back and arms to get the circulation going.She almost started crying again.Couldn’t believe that both of them had been the ones to rescue her.Without them, she’d probably be fighting for her life in the water right now.

Just like TJ was.

Hehadto still be fighting.

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