Page 86 of Under Pressure

Sean ignored him, listening closely to the quiet voice of the man on the line.

“I’m bringing back up, and getting you out of there,” the man said.

“What? No!” Blue glanced up at Sean, her eyes filling with agony. “We . . . we just moved here. I don’t want to leave.”

“Your cover’s blown, Bluebell,” the man said. “You know the drill. New home. New names. New jobs. New everything.”

With the rain falling, Sean couldn’t be sure, but he thought Blue might be crying. Knox pulled into the dock, and he and Gray hopped off the boat to tie her off. Blue and the agent on the line wrapped up the details, and then Blue hung up. She tried another number. “Pick up, Dad!” He didn’t and she hung up and looked at Sean. “Sean,” her voice dripped with sorrow.

“You’re in witness protection?” Everything fell into place.

“Yes,” she said.

He wiped the rainwater from his eyes and looked at her, really looked at her for the first time since she’d jumped off that cliff. She was in her wedding dress, drenched, shivering, and afraid. Suddenly everything in their relationship made sense. Making herself small. The fear of her shadow. The running . . .

“Let’s get you inside,” he said, offering her his hand. “We can deal with the rest later.”

She gave him a little smile and slipped her tiny hand into his.

They met the guys on the dock and hurried up to Bob’s Underwater Salvage.

“What’s the plan?” Knox asked. “We’ve got to warn the guys.”

Sean gripped Blue’s hand.

“We have company,” Gray said as they approached the front door.

Standing in the rain in brightly-colored slickers were Winnie, Polly, Nancy, Rosa, and Virginia. They were shivering.

“Ladies, what are you doing here?” Sean said, speeding up his steps and dragging Blue along with him.

“We came to find you.” Nancy stepped forward, her normally perfectly coiffed blond bob was wet and disheveled under the hood of her slicker. “Don’s in jail.”

Sean closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. Of course he was because Sean needed one more thing to worry about. He turned to the guys. “You’ll have to figure out how to warn the guys without me. I’ve got my own problems to deal with.”

“Don’t worry, man,” Knox said. “We got you.”

Gray nodded in agreement. “Do what you got to do.”

He looked at his friends and felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. “I know you do.” They always had.

20

Chapter 20

Don

“We’ve tried coloring, breathing techniques, meditation, and Metaphors,” Harry said, affecting his best therapist voice as he went through the list of suggestions Wayne had given Don the other day on how to deal with his grief.

Don paced the length of the cell, which wasn’t that big, hands folded behind his back as Walt and Harry stared at him from the metal bench.

Harry pushed his glasses up his nose with his middle fingers, then twirled the end of his mustache on the way back down. “Tell us how you feel?”

Don let out a long breath. “Annoyed.” He’d been annoyed since last night. Working through feelings wasn’t all it wascracked up to be—it was work, darn it. Work that exhausted him and didn’t seem to get him any closer to feeling.

“Do you wanna try breathing exercises again?” Walt asked, lifting his NASA cap to run a hand through his hair. Looked like Don wasn’t the only one at the end of this tether.

“No,” Don said. “I breathe all the time, it doesn’t help.”

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