Ocean: The Sea Warriors Read Free

behind her, she looked and saw Beavan DeLorean. He moved close and stood with her at the window, towering a full head over her and weighing several times what she did. There were no staff attendants anywhere nearby—only a nurse on the other side of the room talking with an elderly male patient.
    Though Beavan had always seemed non-threatening in the past, he appeared to be agitated now, and she could smell the perspiration on him. Still not knowing what his medical diagnosis was, she felt a sudden wave of fear and wanted to leave—but he placed a large hand on her shoulder, preventing movement. His hand felt oppressively heavy.
    “I’ve always been hyper alert,” he said, in a calm voice. “I’m a great observer, and I’ve noticed you casing the hospital, looking for weaknesses in security, ways that you might escape, if given the opportunity. I have done that myself, preparing to get away if I ever decide I’ve had enough of the foolishness they put us through. Gwyneth, if you study this mental institution carefully, you will see it is a sieve, with so many ways out it would take me half an hour to just summarize them.”
    She took a deep, shuddering breath.
    He removed his hand from her shoulder, said, “You have nothing to fear from me, Gwyneth. I only want to help you.” Something about his voice reassured her. It was filled with warmth and compassion.
    She looked around, hoping no one could overhear them—overhear him , actually, because she didn’t intend to try to speak. It was always difficult for her to organize her many thoughts in that way, and it was even harder if she did not know someone well, and did not feel entirely comfortable with that person.
    The nearest people to them were a pair of scruffy male patients, playing a card game while they drank tea and nibbled on little sandwiches—looking like bums who had been invited to afternoon tea at the Ritz in London, or the Savoy. Both wore baseball caps, and Gwyneth had seen them playing cards on numerous occasions, not only here, but in the cafeteria and in the activities room. Earlier, she had overheard them discussing the strange behavior of sea creatures in the Hawaiian Islands, a situation that had apparently been going on for a couple of weeks, though she had heard nothing of it previously.
    “I’ve made mental notes of what I’ve seen here,” Beavan said, “and clear patterns have emerged. Perhaps you have noticed this yourself, but every weekday for a few minutes around ten-thirty in the morning, the corridor on the west side of the exercise yard is left open to the outside. That’s when the food delivery man comes and goes, and he leaves the door blocked open so he doesn’t have to keep fumbling with keys on both sides, going in and out. Have you ever noticed that?”
    She hadn’t, but did not respond, except to look up into his dark-eyed gaze. Previously she’d thought his eyes were distant, perhaps from electroshock therapy, but now they held a warm illumination, which she found comforting. And standing here with him seemed odd to her, because she’d just been thinking of whales that were waiting for her out in the water, and now here was this massive young man trying to help her escape, but he was a creature of the land. It made her think of how immense the world and everything in it was, and how very tiny she was. But as small as she was, she had a huge task to undertake.
    My mind is not small , Gwyneth thought. It contains many things, many important things.
    She wanted to say something to Beavan, but found herself unable to form the proper words, and not wanting to do so.
    “Just think about what I’ve said, okay?” he said. Both of them noticed the nurse making her way toward them, a stocky woman in a gray uniform.
    “Time to go back to your rooms,” the woman said.
    ***

Chapter 3
    Preston Ellsworth III and his grandson stood on Olamai Beach watching the activity of small motorboats just offshore, as the crews laid