"Was she in the air?"

"I don't know. The captain was relaying my updates to her. Last I heard she was heading out in the launch boat."

Gem focused on the television screen, grasping at the fragments of information. The launch, not the helicopter. Not Austin. A grainy image on the TV came into sharp focus. Two ships, the flaming sea, and a ring of smaller vessels.

"The NBC News helicopter is no longer visible," a male reporter announced, a tremor of excitement in his voice, "but we were able to capture this dramatic footage just before the craft disappeared."

The image cut to another grainy clip of tiny figures, antlike, falling from the dot of the helicopter into the vast sea. At the bottom of the frame, a launch arrowed toward the rapidly disappearing helicopter.

"We don't know the occupants of the launch," the reporter continued, "that arrived on scene just before search and rescue. We believe at least one of the occupants attempted to reach the survivors. We have lost sight of all of them."

The image on the TV screen tilted and jittered.

"Conditions here have deteriorated as Norma bears down on us. GOP has apparently suspended operations to contain the oil spill at this time."

"As if that matters now," Claudia muttered.

"The launch...it's GOP's, isn't it," Gem said, a leaden sense of foreboding gripping her.

"Has to be," Claudia said. "No one else is out there."

"You don't think-"

Claudia cut her a sympathetic look. "There are hundreds of crewmembers out there, a lot of them in launches supervising the burn. There's no way to know."

For the first time, Gem registered the drumming of rain on the roof. "They have to hurry."

"In two hours," Claudia said, "this whole area will be experiencing hundred-plus mile an hour winds and storm-surge surf. Did you pull your people out?"

"Under way," Gem said, eyes riveted to the screen. The news feed switched back to the local station desk, where a cheery young man assured everyone News 6 would stay on the scene for up-to-the-minute updates. "What are you doing here?"

"The Gulls Inn wireless leaves something to be desired. I've been monitoring the storm course from here." Claudia handed her a key. "You ought to take this."

Gem glanced at her. "Sorry?"

Claudia smiled. "Austin's room key. I think she'd much rather bunk with you when she gets in."

"I..." Gem swallowed around the panic. "Yes, thanks. If you hear from her first..."

"I won't, but if anyone else has word, I'll let you know." Claudia reached into the briefcase by her side and handed Gem a sheet of paper. "This is yours too. Sorry, I picked it up by mistake."

Images of her, far more beautiful than in life, drawn in Austin's bold hand. Sketches filled with Austin's passion and desire for her, and so much more she'd been trying to pretend she didn't want, didn't need. Gem's eyes filled, and she carefully folded the paper and tucked it inside her jacket to keep it safe. "I am such a fool."

"Doesn't look that way to me," Claudia murmured.

The on-scene reporter broke in on the studio news anchor, and the camera cut away to a shaky, out-of-focus live view of the ocean. "A Coast Guard search-and-rescue helicopter has just arrived. Still no sight of survivors."

"That's my sister," Gem said, knowing it in her bones. "If there's anyone out there alive, she'll get them."

"I can believe it." Claudia gave Gem's hand a squeeze. "You should too."

Chapter Twenty-seven.

Rain pounded the roof, the clatter on tin the only sound in the room. No one spoke. Even the reporter's tones were eerily hushed. Gaze fixed on the small screen, Gem barely breathed. They were out there, they had to be. If they weren't, she'd have heard from them by now. Besides, neither of them would want to be anywhere else. The big Coast Guard search-and-rescue helicopter hovered, bouncing and buffeted, above the black ocean. Tiny figures dropped on nearly invisible cables toward the roiling water and disappeared in the waves.

One of those fragile figures was her sister, exposed and vulnerable and all too human despite the superhuman actions. She wanted that to be Alex, if it was Austin in the water-no matter who was in the water. But she didn't want it to be Alex, either. She'd rather Alex spend her time onshore behind a desk, but that wasn't her sister. That wasn't Austin, either. She was an artist, but she would never be totally happy tethered to a desk. She was an adventurer at heart, and risk was part of it.

"Where are the ones in the water?" someone asked, nerves making his voice high and thin.

"They'll get them, they'll get them," Gem muttered.

"Look," Claudia said, pointing as everyone leaned forward, closing the circle around the TV, unconsciously bonding. "There's one. They have one!"

The coastguardsman's red jacket and PFD were easy to follow as he emerged from the water towing another person beside him. They rose, swinging in the air toward the belly of the helicopter, to where a long narrow toboggan-like basket hung from one of the skids. The coastguardsman guided the victim into it. The camera panned back down to the water, and another figure emerged with a second survivor in tow.

"How many? How many are there?" Gem said.

"I think there were three in the helicopter," someone said.

Two safe then, and two more. The rescue officers dropped down again.

"They're so small," Gem said. How could they find anyone in all that vast ocean. Helplessly, heart pounding painfully, she waited for word from the two most important people in her life while Norma drove toward land.

"Hold on." A dark form plummeted into the water next to Austin. A man said, "Give him to me."

Her, Austin thought blearily. She held on, afraid if she let go Linda Kane would be washed away. Linda had gone silent again, the only sign of life a weak flicker of a limb when a wave lifted them into the air before dropping them.

"I've got her, trust me," the man beside her shouted.

"Other ones," Austin gasped, her voice so weak she feared he couldn't hear over the screaming wind. "Two more."

"Already aboard." A strap slid around her chest and cinched beneath her arms. Momentarily confused, she struggled, clutching Linda tighter.

"Austin, Austin, it's okay!" Another voice. A woman.

Gem's face appeared, wavering in her unsteady vision. "Gem?"

"It's Alexis Martin. You're okay. We've got you both."

Not Gem. "Where's Gem?" A spurt of panic. "Is she here?" Austin thrashed against the strap on her chest. A hand gripped her shoulder.

"She's ashore," Alexis said. "She's okay. Relax. Let us get you up."

The man pulled Linda away, and Alexis tugged Austin closer, rapidly clipping another strap between her legs.

"You're going to be fine. Hold on to me," Alexis said, attaching a cable to Austin's harness. "We're going up. I'm right here."

Too exhausted to do anything else, Austin closed her eyes. Gem's face appeared, smiling, welcoming, warm. "Gem...call...her."

"Not long now," Alexis shouted, unable to hear Austin's faint mumbling.

Austin's feet broke free of the water and her body swung and spun in midair. The harness dug into her chest, a comforting, securing presence. Beside her, Alexis rose in tandem, one hand gripping Austin's safety harness. With every foot that grew between her and the ocean's surface, her head cleared. Still cold, she could at least feel her fingers and toes again. Her face, frozen in the icy blow, was stiff and wooden, and words came slowly.

"Alive?"

"Got them all," Alexis yelled. "All three. You saved the woman."

"Lucky."

A basket dropped from the belly of the helicopter. The roar of the rotors replaced the wind, just as loud, but providing a barrier against the freezing air currents below. Austin flexed her arms and legs, working to heat up her core. Now that she was clear of the water, her strength started to return. She could think again.

"We're going to get you strapped in here for transport," Alexis said as they pulled even with the sled.

"No. I'm okay, I'm good," Austin said. "Just cold. Let me ride inside."

"You sure?"

"Hell, yeah. Get me in there."

"Okay, hold on," Alexis said, and said something into her headset.

In another minute, they'd been winched aboard, the cabin doors slid closed, and the helicopter angled off away from the smoldering oil. Alexis knelt, opened a med kit, and pulled out a thermal blanket. She wrapped it around Austin's shoulders, and Austin pulled it tight, shivering violently.

"You sure you don't want to lie down?" Alexis asked.

"Just need heat."

Alexis cracked a pack of instant hot against her thigh and held it out. "Drink this."

"Thanks." Austin swallowed the instant brew, the best damn coffee she'd ever tasted. She finished it off while Alexis checked her over, taking her pulse, recording her blood pressure, checking her temperature.

"Your core temp's 95. You ought to feel like crap."

"I do." Austin laughed shakily. "Reminds me a lot of Alaska. Hate the cold. Got any more coffee?"

"You must be cold if you want more of that." Alexis grinned, snapped another pack open, and held it out. "You'll live, looks like."

"Thanks-for down there."

"No problem."

"I need to reach Gem."

"Don't worry. She's great at her job."

"Not about that." She had to text her, let her know she was okay. Gem would have heard, would wonder, would worry. All hell was about to break loose, and she needed to get to Gem before the storm cut her off. She just needed her.

Alexis studied her intently and must have seen it all in her eyes. "That way, is it?"

"Very much that way."

"Stick close to me when we land."

The helicopter began its descent and Austin peered through the sheets of rain streaming across the small window behind her. A Coast Guard vessel pitched on the rough seas just below them. "I need to get to shore before Norma hits."

Alexis's grin was feral. "Norma's here, babe. This show's already started."

Chapter Twenty-eight.

"I'll wait," Alexis said, turning in to the nearly empty parking lot adjacent to the Gulls Inn.

"You don't have to," Austin said. "You've done plenty already. I appreciate you pulling strings to get me here."

Alexis drummed her fingers lightly on the wheel and grinned. "It helps, you being the big-shot oil rep and all that. The brass were happy to accommodate, especially seeing as how you've been all over the TV after that crazy-ass stunt out there when that helicopter nose-dived."

"Yeah," Austin said wearily. "I'm feeling like a pretty big deal right now."

"You're going to be the golden girl as far as network news is concerned after saving their star."

Austin snorted. "For twenty-four hours, maybe."

"Probably." Alexis laughed. "But hey, take what you can get."

"Let me see if Claudia is still here," Austin said. "She'll probably know where Gem is."

"You know they'll have evacuated the sanctuary by now."

"I know, but I'll find her." Wherever she was, she'd find her.

"Don't doubt it," Alexis said. "But I can at least drive you around until you do."