Seeking Safe Harbor: Suddenly Everything Changed (The Seeking Series) (8 page)

“That’s gotta be the woman,” Cody whispered back. “That means all we gotta deal with first is the kid. Let’s move real slow and easy like to the back a’ the boat. I think they got a ladder there that the three guys used. Slick, you and Marty go up first. Grab the girl and keep her quiet. I’ll be right behind. If the woman is at the controls, I should be able to get hold a’ her before she can grab that automatic rifle of hers.”

He smiled crookedly. “Capturing two gals along with a boat is like getting a big bonus. We can make good use of both of ‘em, if you know what I mean.”

“I don’t know, Cody,” Harley said in mild protest” She looked pretty tough. What if she’s got that assault rifle right on her?”

“Then I guess I’ll just have ta kill her and we’ll settle for just the kid.”

* * * * *

Stacey controlled the
La Sirena
, moving the sailboat forward every time the wind and current shoved it toward land. Denise kept watch. She walked slowly along the deck on the sides of the boat, stopping every few feet to scan the area. A full swing around the boat took between three and five minutes. She started her last round aft on the starboard side, and walked forward to the bow.

It was while she was heading in the other direction that the skiff with the six men aboard snuck in toward the boat’s stern. By the time she walked back on the port side, they were hidden by the boat itself and the barrels that now blocked her view of what lay behind the boat.

As she passed the cockpit where Stacey was at the helm, she thought she heard a noise. It sounded like something bumping into the boat’s stern. She brought her AK-47 down to waist level and hurried back.

She was maneuvering around the barrels when an ugly, dirty man jumped up from the boarding ladder and grabbed her shoulders. There was another right behind him.

“Ya might’s well put that gun down little girlie,” the man who held her shoulders smirked, “Cause yer mine now.”

G
EORGE didn’t bother searching for keys. Pulling his AK-47 off his shoulder, he blasted out the glass back door. The three rushed into the building through the shattered opening without stopping. Fire was already spreading to the stairs at the right of the lobby.

“I left Millie up there!” George cried out as he rushed to the stairs, taking them two at a time on his way to the second floor.

“Millie!” he shouted when he reached the second floor hallway.

“Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot,” came a strong female voice from a room two doors down the hallway.

“Millie, it’s George. Thank God you’re safe. Come on… we have to get out of here!”

A slender, white-haired woman of about eighty years appeared in the doorway. She carried a .357 magnum in her hand. “George, some men tried to break in.”

“Where are they?”

“I got two of them. The others got away before I could get a shot at them. Maybe I should have used that repeater you gave me.”

“They must have thrown some powerful Molotov cocktails into the place. It’s an inferno.”

“That’s why I shot them.”

“Unfortunately, the damage has already been done. Now we have to get out of here.” He took her hand and started to lead her to the stairs.

“Wait,” she told him, breaking away from his hold. She ran back into the room and came back carrying the assault rifle in one hand and the .357 magnum in the other. “There are still some very bad people out there. We need all the defense we can muster.”

“I agree. Let’s go.”

When they got to the lobby, they saw that Zach and Glen had found fire extinguishers and were trying to put out the raging fire.

“Aren’t those the people you were saving the herbs for?” Millie asked.

“Yes, it’s the Arthurs.”

Zach turned when he heard them coming. “We tried to control the fire, but it’s no use,” he called to George. “It’s spread too far. We have to get out of here. George, you’d better change your mind and come with us.”

“I can’t leave Millie.”

Zach looked at the old woman. She looked back defiantly. It wasn’t lost on him that she had weapons in both hands. He made a decision. “Bring her.”

“Where are you going?” she wanted to know.

“California,” Zach replied.

“I can’t leave my hotel!”

“Millie, in half an hour there won’t be a hotel,” George told her. “With the island in the hands of the kind of people who did this, it will be years before it can be rebuilt.”

She looked around and sighed. “Okay, but we’re coming back.”

No one doubted her resolve, but it wasn’t the time to discuss the future. “Fine,” Zach said, “but right now we have to go!”

“We have food, water, ammunition, radios, and first aid equipment in that section over there,” George said, pointing to the left side of the building. “The fire hasn’t reached there yet.”

The second Molotov cocktail had been thrown onto the second floor at the front of the left section of the building. The first one had hit the right side and that side was now completely engulfed in flames. Fire was working its way back on the left side. The rear hadn’t been destroyed yet, but it soon would be.

“We can use all we can get,” Zach agreed, “but we’re running out of time. Let’s all get what we can carry on one trip to the dinghy. Then we’re on our way.”

George led the group across the lobby and down a hall to a room with no number on the door. They could feel the fire scorching the floor above. It was threatening to break through to that area and was likely to do so at any moment. “Here’s where we store our survival supplies,” he told the others. He didn’t consider keys; he just shot the lock and kicked the door open. The room was filled with boxes, jugs, and bags.

Millie stepped in first and pointed to one area. “Canned foods are there,” she said. “How are you fixed for water?”

“We were okay,” Zach replied, “but with two more bodies, I think we should take some extra.”

“In the jugs,” she told him. “We’ve got medical supplies over there.” She pointed to some white boxes. “They seem to be getting more important by the minute.”

“I’ll take a jug of water and some canned goods,” Zach said. “Glen, you grab the medical supplies.”

“Millie and I will bring what we need,” George announced.

They all loaded supplies in their arms and started to walk out, but George stopped. “Hey,” he called to Zach, “Those herbs you ordered are right here. Still want them?”

“Yes,” Zach replied without hesitation.

“Okay, I’ve got them.”

They hurried down the hallway and out the door to the pool. The clouds had covered most of the moon, but there was still enough light that they could see that the man Zach had knocked out was still lying by the pool.

As they stepped around him, gunshots erupted ahead of them. Zach dropped what he was carrying and darted for the dinghy. There was no doubt where the shots were coming from. Someone had opened fire on the
La Sirena
.

D
ENISE tried to pull away from the man, but he tightened his grip on her shoulders, his calloused fingers digging into her flesh. He came straight at her from the front, so the automatic weapon she was carrying just above waist level was not only pointed at his stomach, it pushed into a gut that hung over his belt.

“My… my gun is pointed right at you,” she warned him in a tremulous voice

“C’mon, kid,” you ain’t gonna do nothin’ with that thing an’ you know it.”

She’d never been so frightened, but tried to look stern. “If you don’t let go, I… I’ll shoot.”

He tightened the grip on her shoulders even more and leaned an intimidating, unshaven, and grimy face close to hers. His breath caused her to gag. Then she saw a third man climb aboard behind the one that was holding her and another one behind him. As he edged around the first two men, she could see that this one was carrying a rifle. He looked past her toward her mother at the wheel.

Pushing at the man in front of him to clear space, he began to level his rifle at Stacey. The man behind her main antagonist was shoved ahead, moving her foe even closer to her. That made the ugly assailant even bolder. He let go of one shoulder and reached for her weapon. At the same time, the frightened teenager saw a fourth man’s head peek over the deck from the boarding ladder.

It all happened so fast; she didn’t have time to think. The one thing that was evident despite the fear that possessed her was that she was out of time. She closed her eyes and did the only thing that might get her and her mother out of this. She pulled the trigger.

The rat-tat-tat of the bullets firing was deafening to her. The impact of the slugs driving into the man’s stomach knocked him backward with such force he took the man behind him over the aft rail with him. They landed in the skiff, where the last two men were starting to follow Harley up the ladder. Seeing what had happened to their compatriots, they changed their minds and instead jumped into the water and started swimming back the way they’d come.

Cody, who was sliding around the side of the men who’d boarded ahead of him, managed to duck away as they went overboard. He leaned against a barrel, using it for leverage to straighten up. The girl was shooting, so he changed targets, swinging his gun around to shoot her.

Stacey saw Denise start back to investigate the noise. She continued to keep the
La Sirena
steady at first, but when she realized there were men sneaking aboard, she abandoned the controls and un-slung her weapon. She watched in horror as Denise shot a man, but an even greater travesty was in the making. As Cody brought his weapon around to shoot her daughter, she fired.

The weapon was on single shot, but one was enough. The bullet caught the would-be assassin in the chest. He staggered backward, caroming off the barrel he’d used a moment before to straighten himself up. He, too, plunged over the rail into the skiff.

Harley was about to climb aboard, but he saw enough to discard any further dreams of commanding that sailboat. He dove into the water and swam after his two buddies.

* * * * *

Zach didn’t see the first part of the saga, but he got to the water in time to see one man fall over the aft rail and another dive in, swimming in the direction two others were headed.

As he pushed the dinghy into the water, he called out, “Stacey, Denise, are you okay?”

Stacey came to the rail. ¨We’re fine, but hurry. I don’t know if there are any more thugs around here.”

Glen came up next to him, still carrying the supplies he brought from the hotel. He started to say something, but stopped when he heard a motor start off at a distance.

“What’s that?” he wanted to know.

“It sounds like a boat’s motor,” Zach replied worriedly. “And not a small one. It’s out there in the bay somewhere. With all this noise, we’re beginning to draw the kinds of crowds that spell danger. I don’t know who or what that is out there, and don’t want to know… but we may find out soon enough. We need to load the supplies, quick, and get out of here. We’re better off at sea.”

They met George and Millie halfway up the hill. The two hotel people were overloaded with bags, jugs, and boxes. “We got about all you dropped,” George said breathlessly. “We left just a few canned goods back at the pool.”

“We have to forget them,” Zach said, “Let’s load what we have into the dinghy and get it to the boat.”

When it was all loaded, there was only room for two on the dinghy. Zach helped Millie aboard and then turned to George. “Do you swim?”

“Like a fish.”

Zach put his weapon in the dinghy and nodded for George to do the same. “Glen,” he said to his son, “row the supplies and Millie out to the boat. George and I will swim.”

Both men were in the water and swimming before Glen had a chance to get settled at the oars. George was on the side where the skiff bobbed quietly in the water. He grabbed the side and lifted himself up. He saw three bodies at the bottom. He had no way of knowing that one was alive, but the guy was unconscious so he wasn’t aware that there were two bodies on top of him. George gave the skiff a shove toward shore. He heard splashing off to the right, but whoever was out there was moving in the opposite direction, so he discounted it as being an immediate threat.