Knowing that meant Prey had arrived, that they were on the boat with her, had almost had her bursting into tears.
But she’d held them back.
Prey might have arrived, but it hadn't guaranteed her or William’s survival. She had no idea how many guards were on the boat, or how many medical personnel. She’d asked the young nurse, and he’d told her there were only half a dozen guards, and a dozen and a half doctors and nurses. According to William,about a dozen of those were here by choice, and the other half dozen were like him.
Add in another two dozen or so patients like herself, and she knew there was no way she could protect them all. While she hadn't had a firm plan in mind, she’d kind of been thinking they would go room to room and amass whatever army they could. Some of the victims would be in no shape to get out of their beds and arm themselves, but surely some of them would be.
Scalpels might be no real match for guns, but at least they were something, and she had felt better clutching hers in her hand. Without their own little army, there was no point in doing anything to try to help the Prey people who had boarded the boat.
When she’d asked William if he knew a place they could hide until it was safe, he’d suggested taking the back stairs up to the top deck. Apparently, there was a little building up there that had at one time been a bar and kitchen back when the boat had been used for its intended purpose.
That idea had seemed as good as any, so they’d crept up those stairs, both holding onto their scalpels like they were the only thing keeping them alive, and hidden.
Eventually, the shooting had stopped, but since they had no way of knowing which side had come out on top, they’d stayed right where they were. Teresa would bet everything she owned, gamble her entire future on the fact that Prey would win, but there was always the slimmest of slim chances that something could have gone wrong. If that was the case, she would have thought their best bet would be to jump overboard. The helo that had brought Prey would have still been out there and might have spotted them.
Even if it hadn't, she’d rather die at sea than on this boat.
Now dying at sea seemed like it might actually be a possibility.
Right as she’d been about to run into Micah’s arms, relieved beyond words to see his face, and those of the SEAL team who had helped rescue Ava, and then Isabella. They might not be Prey, but they were on the same side, and they were every bit as skilled and experienced as any of her Prey family.
There was no one she would rather have heard calling her name than Micah.
If he was there, then she was going to be okay.
At least she thought she was.
Since Micah and a couple of the other guys were up there, she had assumed that meant everyone on board who was a threat had been taken care of. The guards were likely all dead, and the doctors and nurses were restrained.
But one of them wasn't.
The snarky doctor from earlier must have hidden up there as well, like the coward she was.
For whatever reason, the woman must have realized it was over, that she was about to be caught and would have to face the consequences of her actions, and decided that it was a better idea to throw herself at Teresa and take them both overboard than to just turn herself in.
Maybe she thought that if Teresa was with her, the others couldn’t shoot at her. Which was likely true, Micah and the others wouldn't risk hitting her so they would need a clean shot, which would be difficult to get with them both tangled together.
It wasn't just that the cold was a shock to her system that had her momentarily freezing, or the fact that she’d never been out in the ocean like this before, so far away from shore. Not only was that terrifying in and of itself, but so was the fact that the woman who had taken her over the edge didn't seem to be content to let it stop with that.
She was trying to drag her further down.
Trying to drown her.
How the doctor thought that would help anything, Teresa had no idea. Maybe the woman wasn't thinking clearly at all. Whatever the reason, if she didn't snap out of her stupor soon she was really going to die.
Die with Micah and a team of SEALs literally right above her.
No.
You are not going to die.
Not here and now.
Not like this.
Not when you can get back the future you once thought was a sure thing.
The little pep talk helped a bit, and she finally managed to claw her way through the shock causing her system to freeze and get her body and brain back in sync. Micah and the others might not be able to safely shoot at the doctor, but it wasn't like they were going to just stand up there and watch her try to break away from the woman’s hold.
