The Rogue Alpha

Chapter Eight

The work was gruelling, but Archer and Kurt bore through it without complaint. Some of the men had grumbled about Kurt’s wife and children being on board, muttering that it was no place for a woman. It had only taken her placing a large pot of homemade stew onto the dining table for the crew to warm to her.

The children had spent the first week in their cabin or in the kitchen, but soon the men were finding reasons to spend time with them, bringing them out onto the deck when there was no work to be done. The Captain had also ushered them up on the bridge on more than one occasion as he steered through the Atlantic ocean toward their destination.

‘I’m going to be a Captain of my own ship when I’m a grown up’ Levi boasted as he sat in the Captain’s chair, his hands on the wheel as Connor chuckled, glancing over at his first mate, Sonny, who was grinning widely. Reaching out the old sailor ruffled the boy’s hair, ‘you’ll make a fine skipper lad, that you will’ he rumbled in amusement. You just keep your men in line and your days at sea will be amazing.’

The radio crackled, ‘Riptide, come in, this is Amastra are you receiving?’ a voice called out.

Sonny picked up the CB microphone and held it close to his lips, ‘hello Amastra, this is Riptide, over.’

Static crackled before the voice spoke again, ‘Don’t know if you’ve seen Riptide, but we have some bad weather ahead. Just giving you a heads up so you can check your load before it hits.’

Connor groaned, glancing over at the instruments worriedly as Sonny pressed down on the speaker button to reply. ‘Thanks for the heads up Amastra, we just saw it on the console, but we appreciate the forewarning, stay safe out there.’

‘Will do Riptide, you too’ came the reply before the radio fell silent.

Levi looked over at the Captain excitedly, ‘there’s a storm ahead? Will we sail through it Cap?’

Connor nodded, hitching a smile onto his face, ‘we will indeed, little man, but when we do, you and Alyona will need to stay in your cabin with the door shut, OK? It’s going to get a bit rocky out here, so you need to make sure that all of your belongings are put away.’

Levi nodded, ‘yes sir, I’ll help Aly put her things away as soon as we need to.’

Connor nodded before calling over the tannoy for the lead deckhand, waiting impatiently for a large ash haired man to jog up the steps to the bridge.

‘We got a nasty storm ahead, make sure the lads have everything tidied away and doublecheck the load, we don’t want her shifting in the swells’ Connor barked.

‘Yes Cap’ the man replied before giving Levi a playful wink and hurrying back to the deck to yell orders to everyone, the deck soon becoming a flurry of activity.

Connor glared through the windshield, squinting at the horizon where a very faint grey haze could be made out. ‘OK boy, you need to go and tell your ma to secure everything she can in the galley, then she needs to go with you and Aly to your cabin’ he ordered.

‘Yes Cap’ the boy replied, hopping down from his seat and heading down the stairs to the kitchen to relay the message.

Soon the first spots of rain hit the windscreen. The deckhands had pulled on their waterproofs as the wind picked up and the waves began to grow, causing the boat to pitch forward and back.

Archer was laughing with Derek as the pair hauled on some of the ropes, fastening them carefully so that they wouldn’t be able to move.

‘Inside men’ Connor shouted over the tannoy, his voice echoing over the ship as the men hurried to finish their jobs and headed inside, congregating around the large table that they ate at.

Kurt staggered through the corridors toward his quarters, slamming into the walls as the ship rolled with the growing bad weather, trying to reach his family.

Archer sat with the men, the group laughing and joking as they rocked with the waves, ‘gonna be a bad one boys’ said a red headed man who was sporting a scraggly beard, named Isaac.

‘Think your right’ one of the others replied with a solemn nod, ‘it’s picking up out there.’

After a while, Archer nodded to the group as he stood up, heading back to his own room, deciding he might as well try and rest if they were going to be stuck inside the ship for a while.

Reaching his cabin, he threw open the door, cursing under his breath as he was thrown backwards against the wall behind him as the ship pitched to port alarmingly, waiting for the ship to rock back again before throwing himself into the room and onto his bed.

Letting out a sigh, he draped his arm across his eyes, closing them tightly as he willed sleep to take him.

Upstairs, the captain was battling with the weather, muttering obscenities as he steered the large cargo ship into the swells, ploughing through them as water washed over the deck before rolling through the small gaps in the barriers, leaving the deck damp and slippery.

Gale force winds were whipping around the ship as rain hammered the vessel unrelentingly, the sky, black making visibility almost zero.

Hitting a swell, the ship crested the wave only to dive down impossibly low, the next wave rearing up in front, as if trying to digest the vessel before it began its assent up the side, vying for the top, refusing to submit to the punishing pressure of the water in front of it.

Sonny stood beside Connor, studying the instruments in concern, ‘it’s getting worse out there Cap’ he muttered anxiously.

Connor nodded, ‘there’s nowt we can do about it though. If we try to turn her in these swells, she’ll roll’ he gritted out.

Outside, over the winds, a groaning could be heard. The two sailors peered out of the window just as a selection of large barrels that had been housed in a padlocked cage on the deck burst free. The door of the cage flew free of its hinges, slamming against the side of the ship, only holding on to the cage through the small lock still attached to the side.

‘Cargo loose! Cargo Loose, all hands on deck’ Connor yelled through the speaker, the men down below jumping to their feet and pulling on their wet gear before pushing open the door and heading out into the brutal storm.

Hanging on to anything that was anchored to the ship, the men staggered toward the barrels that were washing over the deck from the waves that crashed over the bow, racing toward the group before halting and rolling back again as the ship pitched into the next wave.

Archer pushed his way onto the deck, wiping his hair out of his eyes as he surveyed the scene. Gripping tightly, he made his way toward the others, grabbing one of the barrels as it rolled toward him and securing it under his arm as he crept toward the cage and stood it inside.

Roaring at Derek over the storm, Archer beckoned him over, grabbing his collar as he stumbled and dragging him to the cage where he wove his fingers through the mesh.

‘Stay here, hold the door shut while we collect the barrels’ Archer shouted. Derek nodded, forcing the door back into the gap and using his hands to hold it in place, bracing against the water as it washed over him over and over again.

Grabbing a thin rope, Archer tethered the young boy to the cage, wrapping it around his waist and tying a knot through the bars so he wouldn’t lose his footing before heading back to help the others.

Staggering around the deck, the team gathered up the loose barrels, throwing them into the cage as Derek battled to open and shut the door for them.

The men yelled orders to each other, fighting the ice rink that had been the deck, their feet having little purchase as they struggled to stop any of the precious tubs getting washed overboard.

After an eternity, cold, wet and with little feeling still left in their hands, the last barrel was forced into the cage and Isaac worked quickly to secure the door so that it would not burst open again.

‘OK lads, get back inside!’ the lead deckhand barked, waving his arm toward the door as the workers started to pull themselves back toward the safety of the interior.

Sliding his way over to Derek, Archer grabbed hold of the cage and began to work on untying the knots that had secured the teenager in place.

As the ropes fell from around his waist, Derek patted the Alpha on the back with a grin, ‘thanks Archer, a few of those waves were a bit dicey, I think I’d have gone over the side without your help’ he called out with a grin.

Archer nodded as he wound up the rope in his hands, ‘get inside kid, jobs done’ he shouted loudly, jerking his head toward the door.

Giving a thumbs up, Derek started to make his way back toward the door, holding tightly to the ship, his feet slipping in the puddles as he laughed.

Looking over his shoulder, Derek called, ‘it’s like I’m skating’ releasing one of his hands to gesture to his feet. Suddenly the ship lurched, the teenager, with little anchorage, had his grip ripped from its hold as he toppled to the side, riding with the wave that had crashed over the bow toward the side.

‘Derek!’ Archer yelled in horror, abandoning the rope, sprinting across the deck and throwing himself after the boy, grabbing the teenager’s hand in one of his own just as the young boy was swept over the side.

Grappling around with his free hand as he slid toward the edge, Archer’s body tipped over the side, his gaze staring down at the angry sea below just as his questing fingers found the railings, halting his movement.

Below him, dangling from his left hand, Derek was trying to bring his other hand up to grip Archer’s, terror written on his face as he tried to find purchase with his feet.

‘Hold on Derek, I’ve got you’ Archer yelled desperately, trying to lift the boy up, but each time he moved, he could feel Derek’s grip slipping. ‘Don’t you let go of me kid, don’t you dare!’ Archer roared, glancing behind him for anything he could use to anchor his feet so he could free his other hand and grab the teenager’s other hand.

‘Don’t let me go Archer, please don’t drop me’ Derek called out in panic.

‘I won’t drop you kid!’ Archer shouted back, turning his head away to scream for help, his voice disappearing in the winds.

Tightening his fingers around the young boy’s palm, Archer grunted as he strained to lift him, his body rebelling as it tried to hold both Derek’s weight and half of it’s own with just his one hand.

Behind him, Archer heard the sound of the door opening, yells as some of the men spilled back out onto the deck, seeing Archer bent over the side as they rushed toward him.

Reaching him first, Isaac grabbed onto Archer’s jacket, gripping it tightly as he used his other hand to fasten himself to the ship.

One of the other men stumbled over to the abandoned rope, clambering his way back, hand over fist with it until he was beside Archer, another crew member copying Isaac and anchoring himself to the first, holding him safe as he lowered the rope to the terrified boy.

‘Grab the rope kid!’ Archer yelled as Derek nodded, using his free hand to try and grip the rope that swung around him, unable to keep still from the battering storm.

‘Grab it Derek, come on!’ Archer pleaded, staring down into the young lad’s eyes as he tried to get his fingers around the thin strand.

Finally, his fist closed around it, a look of relief lighting up his face as he grinned up at Archer, letting go of his hand.

It happened in a split second, one moment the boy was hanging one handed from the rope, then a look of pure terror flickered across his features as a wave crashing over the boat hit him, causing his hand to slip and he fell backwards into the foamy water, disappearing below the surface.

‘Nooooooo!’ Archer screamed, making to leap over the side after him as the three men around him grabbed him tightly.

‘It’s no good mate, he’s gone’ Isaac yelled, gripping him tightly.

‘No! We have to turn around’ Archer howled, ‘we can still save him.'

Isaac shook his head, ‘we’ll never find him lad, the kid is gone, I’m sorry.’

Slumping down against the side, Archer stared unseeingly as the waves continued to wash over the ship, not even aware, as the men used the rope to tie him to them so that they could drag him back inside.

The only image that the Alpha could see was Derek’s face when his firm belief that he was saved flicked to one of realisation that he was falling and no one could stop him, a sharp sob broke out of the Alpha as he buried his head in his hands.