76 Rescued

Rickie floated on his back, directionless light everywhere. The warm weight at his side told him his Meggie was there. He curled around his beloved, and felt a measure of peace and contentment he had never experienced before. He wanted to slip deeper in this wonderful dream.

"Do you have a lot of time to be slouching about?"

An amused voice broke into his dreams, and he frowned, his eyes still closed. Raine? What was she doing in his dreams? He cracked an eye open and nearly yelped when a shadow leaned over him.

Beside him, Meaghan stirred and slowly sat up. She looked around fuzzily for a moment, and then brightened up with a squeal.

"Raine!"

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The reunion was swift and satisfying. The pair was transported by junket back to the main ship, and Rickie was seen by the unit's corpsmen. After a shower and clean, though utilitarian, clothes, they were now digging into breakfast with gusto while Raine explained what had transpired last night.

Much to the chagrin of the APMM forces, the gray cigarette boat managed to avoid their dragnet and escape.Given that it had been damaged in the collision with the Bayliner, the search grid focused on the area between the Kuching waterfront and where Rickie sent his message. They were now widening the search to including the Bayliner wreck.

And how were they found?

The Bayliner had a built-in emergency beacon that activated when it sank. The APMM found the signal, but had to wait until sunrise to launch the rescue forces. The helicopter had canvassed the island, but there was no place for it to land, so a Nusa-class ship was launched and was currently offshore. Divers were also combing the wreck for clues; the body of the extremist had been recovered. Raine and a small group of APMM forces were dispatched to the island to look for survivors.

"And that," Raine stated with satisfaction, "is that!" Meaghan looked amused for a moment before again applying her concentration to the full breakfast in front of her. Rickie, equally ravenous, nevertheless made sure that the basket of bread and jar of Nutella was conveniently near his woman's elbow, before grabbing a knife to smear a healthy dose of the hazelnut-and- chocolate spread on his own puri bread.

"So what did the two of you do last night while waiting for rescue?" The bright spark in her eye showed the Raine was enjoying their discomfiture as they looked at each other and blushed.

"We just managed to reach the island, and all we did was sleep." Rickie firmly stated, well aware of the sidelong grins from the crew members.

A noncommittal grunt was all that was heard from Raine, and they reapplied themselves to the food.

After satisfying their hunger, the two of them, along with Raine, met with the command staff to debrief about their adventures.

The APMM forces managed to prevent escape and capture a smaller boat from the terrorist organization; they never made it out of the harbor, and were currently undergoing interrogation regarding their activities.

The gray boat that they chased ultimately escaped; the commander believed that was the same boat that rammed the Bayliner.Neither the boat nor its murderous crew members had been seen since.