Page 90 of The Admiral's Daughter

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Cleo

“Alright everyone, fun’s over,”Captain Morley calls across the bridge. “Goodman, I’m handing over control to you for an hour. I think it’s time for a tea break, don’t you, Ms Carter?”

“Absolutely,” I reply, because I’m more than happy to leave the insanity that has been the past hour.

“Shall we take it in my office? It’s quieter,” she offers, and I’m grateful.

I’ve been in plenty of scrapes over the years. It comes with the territory of being an investigative journalist. The state of emergency today wasn’t even that severe, yet the knowledge I’m in a floating metal tub, with the only escape being the ocean, adds a level of fear I wasn’t expecting. Also, I was wholly unprepared for the worry I felt for River. I know it’s her job, and she’s clearly more than qualified todeal with the dangers of living aboard a ship, but Jesus, my heart fell to my stomach when she dropped me off at the bridge and headed towards the fire.

The captain’s office is small but perfectly organised to maximise the limited space. The constant hum would irritate me within seconds if I had to work in here.

“Take a seat,” she says, gesturing to an empty chair. “Tea or coffee? I’ve got the good stuff.”

“Do you have any green tea?” Caffeine isn’t a good idea when I can still feel adrenaline in my system.

“I do. It’s my nightly drink when I’m working late.”

“Paperwork?”

“You know it.” She laughs.

I inhale the tea as soon as Captain Morley hands me the cup. “Thank you.”

She smiles and sits behind her desk. I’m hit once again with how lovely looking she is. Not as lovely as River, below me, blushing…mmm lovely.

“Are you okay, Ms Carter?”

“Cleo, please.”

“Then call me Katie.”

We fall silent again as we take small sips of our drinks.

“Are you okay after the incident?” she finally asks.

Placing my cup on her desk, I sigh. “I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting to be rushed through a ship because it was on fire.”

“Only a small fire, and it was dealt with quickly.”

“Oh, I have no doubt. I was just taken aback. Although it was impressive to watch the crew deal with the emergency. It will be a great addition to the article.”

“Ideally, I’d prefer you leave out any issues we suffer, but I suppose the article needs to reflect the truth. And that is, from time to time we have issues and small emergencies. All part and parcel of being in the Navy.”

“I take it this isn’t the first time something like this has happened?”

She smiles at me. “Actually, it is. We’ve had a clean slate until today.”

“Wow, that’s impressive. How will the fire affect the deployment?”

It’s her turn to sigh. “That’s a little more complicated. First, we need to get to the bottom of the fire’s origin and determine the full scale of the damage. Unfortunately, my gut feeling is we will be returning to port earlier than expected.”

“Really? You can’t fix it out at sea?”

“Weabsolutely can. However, I’d prefer to have the ship inspected fully before we deploy on the next leg, which will be for seven months. Cutting a training run short is preferable to finding we have bigger problems when on active duty.”

I hadn’t thought past the next few weeks. Of course the ship will be off on another tour, with River on it…for seven months.