Apocalyptic Pirates 5, page 13
“Yeah.” I swallowed hard past the sudden lump in my throat.
Damn, I hadn’t expected to feel this emotional about the subject. But it had been a long day, and if there was one thing I’d learned about grief, it was that it liked to sucker punch you when you least expected it.
“Drew?” Letty was looking at me in concern.
“I just…” I swallowed again. “I, uh, I remember I looked it up afterward when she’d finished her project. It’s a really long poem, so I didn’t read all of it. But I recognized some of the lines because Marie’s family read them out at her funeral.”
“What do they say?” Letty asked in a soft voice.
“Um.” I cleared my throat and recited the words into the still, heavy, tropical night. “Hold it true, whate’er befall; I feel it when I sorrow most; ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
Letty put her arms around me and held me close.
I rested my cheek against her hair and breathed in the sweet scent of her shampoo.
“That’s beautiful, Drew,” Letty whispered.
“God.” I cleared my throat and managed to give a strangled chuckle. “Why am I thinking about that now? We literally just saw a crocodile get eaten by a dragon.”
“It’s like you said, though.” Letty turned her head and gazed up at me. “Nature red in tooth and claw. It takes it out of a person to see it so constantly all the time.”
“Maybe you’re right.” I sighed and kissed the sweet perfume of her hairline. “But don’t tell the others. I need to keep up my manly facade.”
“Too late for that, I’m afraid, Drew.” Letty laughed softly. “We already know you’re a sensitive guy. That’s why we love you.”
“Really? I thought it was because of my gorgeous cock.” I managed a better laugh this time, and it was encouraged by hearing Letty’s quiet chuckle.
We stood together on the deck for a while and watched the light change color. The sun had already set, but there were still streaks of red, peach, and yellow light bleeding up into the sky, and they slowly faded away until everything was a rich, dark navy blue.
We decided not to have the yacht light on tonight as we were closer to the jungle than we had been last night. We were still at enough of a distance that we shouldn’t attract any trouble, but it was better to be safe than sorry, and after the events of the day, I didn’t feel like taking any unnecessary chances.
Letty and I sat on the deck and watched the dark clouds scud across the moody sky. It was a little cooler now, and a faint breeze sprang up and rustled in the leaves. It was a welcome relief from the oppressive heat and humidity, and the feeling of my shirt gently snapping against my chest in the cool wind was pure heaven.
Then I cocked my head as the wind carried a sound across the water. I listened again, and my heart dropped into my stomach as I recognized the noise.
“Letty,” I whispered. “Do you hear that?”
Letty listened intently, and then she turned to me with her eyes so wide that the whites gleamed in the darkness.
“It’s a boat,” she whispered.
“Go and wake the others,” I told her.
She sprang to her feet and hurried below deck.
I had my knife and spear already with me, but my hands itched to hold a gun. I knew it was risky– one shot could bring the whole jungle down on our heads. But I had no idea who these people approaching us were, or what their motives were, or what kinds of weapons they had. It was a risk, but if I totaled up all the factors, I would still rather have a gun with me when facing an unknown number of potentially dangerous humans. I was glad of the spears we had, but I wasn’t going to be that rube who brought a knife to a gunfight.
I hurried down below deck and grabbed my rifle.
Letty had woken the others and explained the situation to them, and we gathered at the bottom of the hatch ladder.
“As soon as we get up there, spread out on deck,” I commanded in a whisper. “Use your spears and knives. We don’t know what kinds of weapons these guys might have, but we have to expect the worst. Ally, you go to the cockpit and be ready to get the engine going if we really need to flee.”
“Should we have guns, too?” Letty asked in an anxious voice.
I hesitated. I wanted to avoid the number of guns on deck, and the number of potential bullets that could awaken the jungle, but at the same time, it wasn’t really fair for just me to have a gun and leave the women with spears and knives.
“Anyone who wants a gun can take one,” I said finally. “But– and I can’t stress this enough– remember that the previous rules still apply. We want to use them for deterrents rather than weapons. If we get into a gunfight out there, we could bring all kinds of shit down on our heads.”
The women nodded.
“I’m going to stick with my spear,” Ally said.
“Same.” Letty nodded.
“I guess I’d better do the same,” Dia sighed.
“Shannon?” I asked.
The Indian woman pulled a face.
“I really want one,” she said. “It’s a very different feeling facing an enemy with a spear in your hand rather than a rifle.”
“Then take one,” I assured her. “You’re the best shot out of all of us. If I can have a gun in this situation, then I think you’re more than qualified to have one, too.”
“Okay.” Shannon went into the closet where we’d stored the weapons, and came back in moments with a rifle in her arms. “You all good for ammo?”
“Yep.” I nodded.
“Oh, my god.” Shannon closed her eyes for a moment and gave me a goofy smile. “It feels so good to have one of these babies back in your arms again, doesn’t it?”
“Tell me about it,” I agreed in heartfelt tones.
“Alright, Bruce Willis and Swarzenegger, calm the fuck down,” Dia grumbled.
“Are we all ready?” I asked.
The women nodded, and we hurried quietly back onto the deck.
The noise of the boat was getting louder, and we quickly fanned out into different defensive positions. Ally took up a position in the cockpit. Letty crouched down by the hatch. Shannon and Dia hid on either side of the sail. And I waited by the rail with the familiar weight of my rifle pressed into my shoulder.
It felt pretty fucking great to have my gun back in my hands, I wasn’t going to lie.
The monkeys had woken up, and I heard the faint sounds of grunting and chattering coming from the top of the mast. I hoped they weren’t going to make things difficult or try and get involved, but it seemed that, at least for now, they were wary enough to just sit and watch what was happening.
From the sound of it, the boat was almost upon us. It wasn’t a particularly loud engine, and some people might not have even noticed the sound of it, but on the silent Canal, it felt as loud as a dirt bike. The boat’s lights stabbed out a white beam into the darkness, and I could make out the shapes of several men in the boat before it drew alongside the yacht, and I ducked back out of sight.
The purr of the boat’s engine cut out.
There was a brief second of silence.
I tightened my grip on the rifle and shifted my weight carefully from foot to foot.
Then a grappling hook shot out of the darkness. It hit the guardrail with a shockingly loud clunk of metal on metal. Then a hand reached up and clung onto the railing, and a soldier in a camouflage uniform pulled himself over the side. His boots hit the deck with a thud.
“Stay where you are.” My voice rang out in the night. “You’re surrounded.”
The soldier gave an almost comical start of surprise, and he looked wildly around the dark yacht.
“Who’s there?” he asked. His voice was deep, and he had a thick Panamanian accent.
“Don’t you know whose boat you’re trespassing on?” I demanded.
“I’m not here for trouble.” The soldier had collected himself by now, and he held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. “I’m looking for the Good Pirates.”
My heart skipped a beat.
How the hell did a soldier know about the Good Pirates?
I desperately wanted to look around and see the women’s reactions, but I had to stay focused.
“Get back in your boat,” I ordered in a steady voice. “We’re armed.”
“Okay, okay.” The soldier kept his hands up and carefully backed away to the railing.
He climbed overboard, and I heard the thud as he landed back in his boat. There was a metallic click, and the grappling hook detached itself from the rail.
“That’s better,” I muttered.
“Are you the Good Pirates?” the soldier called.
I debated what to do. If these guys were looking for the Good Pirates, and they wanted to keep their mission a secret, they might very well try to blast away any witnesses. If I denied being one of the Good Pirates, they might try to take the yacht out so as to leave no trace behind.
But the guy had gotten back into his boat without a murmur. And he’d taken back the grappling hook as well, which I assumed was meant as a sign of good faith. He had a Panamanian accent, and given our location, it could be reasonably assumed that they weren’t US military. I couldn’t think of any reason why the Panamanian army would be out to get us.
All these thoughts flashed through my mind in seconds.
Then I made up my mind.
“Yeah,” I called back. “We’re the Good Pirates.”
I thought I heard a sigh of relief come from the boat below.
“We’ve been looking for you,” the soldier called. “We’d like to discuss your options.”
“What makes you think I need options?” I flung back.
“Well,” he replied. “For one, there’s the fact that there are twenty Coast Guard ships patrolling this end of the Canal. And they’re all looking for you.”
Chapter 9
“What?” The word burst out of me before I could think twice about it.
“The United States Coast Guard,” the soldier repeated. “They have twenty ships all willing to take you into custody at the end of the Canal.”
“Right,” I said.
My mind was whirling with a thousand theories and possibilities, but then the soldier’s voice broke into my thoughts.
“I have my orders to bring you to my superiors,” he said.
“Fuck off,” I snorted. “I’m not going to walk quietly into the Coast Guard’s arms, if that’s what you were expecting.”
The soldier cleared his throat.
“My apologies,” he said. “I see that I have not properly explained myself. I am First Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez of the Panamanian Public Forces. Neither I nor my men are associated in any way with the United States Coast Guard. My orders come from the Commissioner of the Panamanian National Police.”
This was getting more and more surreal.
I took a step closer to the guard rail and squinted through the darkness. From here, I could make out the shape of Sergeant Rodriguez standing like a ramrod in the end of the boat. The light from the boat’s lamp was bright enough that I could make out some of the details of his uniform, and I spied a three-stripe insignia on his sleeve that did lend credibility to his claim of being a sergeant.
“I’m not about to head blindly into the unknown with people I’ve just met,” I said. “I have no idea who you people are or what you want.”
“I have been told that you will be allowed to keep your weapons on you,” Sergeant Rodriguez replied.
“As long as we abandon our boat,” I scoffed. “Not happening.”
“The rest of your crew can stay behind on the boat,” the man assured me. “Neither you nor your crew will be harmed.”
My brow puckered in confusion.
What the hell did all this mean?
“If I went with you, where would I go?” I demanded. “What does your commissioner want with the Good Pirates?”
“I can only tell you what I already have,” the soldier replied. “You will not be harmed. You are welcome to bring your weapons with you. The rest of your crew can remain here on the boat. But I can assure you, it is in your best interest to meet with the commissioner, given the presence of your Coast Guard in these waters.”
I gritted my teeth in thought.
There was no way in hell I was going to go blindly off with a group of armed men into the dark jungle without checking in with the women first, so I drew back from the guard rail, gestured for the women to follow me, and backed into the cockpit.
We all crowded in with each other, and I didn’t even have time to open my mouth before I faced an explosion of frantic whispers.
“Those are military men!” Shannon hissed.
“What do you think they want?” Ally gasped. “Are you going to go with them, Drew? What are you going to do?”
“It doesn’t sound like there’s many of them.” Dia was practically bouncing up and down with energy. “We can totally take them on.”
“Oh, Lord,” Letty wailed quietly. “Can this damn jungle let up for one damn second?”
“Shhh!” I commanded, and they all fell silent. “Okay. So you heard all that– what do you think I should do?”
“If he’s telling the truth about all the Coast Guard boats waiting for us, then you should go with him and see if they have another route we can take,” Shannon said.
“Would the Coast Guard really be out to get us?” Ally worried. “I mean, I know we uploaded the video that tarnished their reputation and showed them up to be crooked and working with the cartel, but… Okay, I suppose I can see why the Coast Guard wouldn’t be our biggest fans.”
“You think?” Dia countered. “I think you should go with them, Drew. If we don’t, we’re going to run right into the Coast Guard. And at least these guys are going to let you take your gun with you.”
“Yeah, that is reassuring,” I said. “I just don’t know why he’s being so cagey about what’s waiting for me at the other end of this trip.”
“Well, he might not know himself,” Shannon pointed out. “This operation could be on a need-to-know basis, and his clearance might not go up that high. And even if it does, he can only reveal as much information as his commanding officer has cleared him for.”
“That’s a good point,” I admitted. “I hadn’t thought about it like that.”
“Insider military knowledge,” Shannon replied with a dry chuckle.
“Okay,” I said. “Show of hands. Who thinks I should go with the soldiers?”
The women all put up their hands.
“Are you sure?” I was more than a little proud of the courage on display here, but I couldn’t help being worried, too. “If you feel worried that you won’t be safe here, then I need you to tell me now.”
“Drew, we’ll be fine,” Shannon assured me.
“Yes, I’ve got my new self-defense moves now,” Ally joked. “I’m unstoppable.”
“Plus, we do have guns,” Dia pointed out. “I know we’re not supposed to use them, but like you said, they’re still a great deterrent for any would-be boarders.”
“And then if they do get on board, Ally can disable them, and we’ll throw them overboard for the crocodiles to eat.” Shannon’s teeth flashed in the darkness as she grinned. “You go on, Drew. We can handle ourselves here.”
“Especially if our safety is at risk with the Coast Guard right up ahead,” Ally added more seriously.
I looked around at the women’s brave, determined faces. A lump rose in my throat as I realized again what treasure I’d found here. My mind flashed back to the conversation I’d just had with Letty, and I had to swallow hard to push down the emotions that were threatening to rise up inside me.
Okay, Drew, focus, you can get sappy later.
“Cool.” I nodded my head briskly. “Everyone, arm yourselves. Shannon, can you make sure that everyone has enough magazines to last the night?”
“Sure.” She nodded, and with the other women, she went down the hatch to get more weapons.
They were back in a moment with their guns slung over their shoulders, and Shannon handed me a spare magazine.
“Good luck,” she said. “You won’t need it, but still.”
“Thanks.” I tightened my grip on the rifle and patted the knife at my belt to reassure myself that it was still there.
I looked around at everybody, and lifted my chin in a proud gesture.
“I’ll see you guys later, then.” My voice sounded cheerful and casual, as though I was just running to the store to fetch some milk.
Ally darted forward and quickly kissed my cheek.
“Come back safe,” she murmured.
“I will,” I promised.
The women waited in the cockpit with their weapons and watched as I stepped to the edge of the guard rail.
Sergeant Rodriguez was a dark silhouette against the boat’s harsh white light. He looked up expectantly.
“Okay,” I said. “I’m coming. But I’m keeping my weapons, and I’m not promising anything. Whatever your commanding officer wants, I’m not guaranteeing that he’s going to get it.”
“Of course.” Sergeant Rodriguez stepped back to give me enough space to climb over the rail and drop down into the boat.
It was a light, shallow speedboat with enough seats for six people. There was no cockpit, just a simple dashboard of controls, and as soon as I sat down, the man at the wheel pushed on the throttle lever, and the boat immediately bounced away down the channel into the Canal.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw the dark bulk of the yacht illuminated by the boat’s lights against the rest of Gatun Lake. The monkeys were a dark mass at the top of the mast, and I thought I could see the figures of the women moving about on the deck, but within minutes the boat was leaving the yacht far behind.
I’d thought that the boat was noisy when I was standing on the deck of the yacht, but sitting inside the boat, the sound of the engine was a full-throated roar. It made me on edge just to hear it, and I glanced around at the soldiers to see if any of them were at all aware of the dangerous situation they were creating.
“You’re using the engine,” I finally commented. “You’re not worried about the noise attracting the dragons? The jungle here is full of them.”
Damn, I hadn’t expected to feel this emotional about the subject. But it had been a long day, and if there was one thing I’d learned about grief, it was that it liked to sucker punch you when you least expected it.
“Drew?” Letty was looking at me in concern.
“I just…” I swallowed again. “I, uh, I remember I looked it up afterward when she’d finished her project. It’s a really long poem, so I didn’t read all of it. But I recognized some of the lines because Marie’s family read them out at her funeral.”
“What do they say?” Letty asked in a soft voice.
“Um.” I cleared my throat and recited the words into the still, heavy, tropical night. “Hold it true, whate’er befall; I feel it when I sorrow most; ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
Letty put her arms around me and held me close.
I rested my cheek against her hair and breathed in the sweet scent of her shampoo.
“That’s beautiful, Drew,” Letty whispered.
“God.” I cleared my throat and managed to give a strangled chuckle. “Why am I thinking about that now? We literally just saw a crocodile get eaten by a dragon.”
“It’s like you said, though.” Letty turned her head and gazed up at me. “Nature red in tooth and claw. It takes it out of a person to see it so constantly all the time.”
“Maybe you’re right.” I sighed and kissed the sweet perfume of her hairline. “But don’t tell the others. I need to keep up my manly facade.”
“Too late for that, I’m afraid, Drew.” Letty laughed softly. “We already know you’re a sensitive guy. That’s why we love you.”
“Really? I thought it was because of my gorgeous cock.” I managed a better laugh this time, and it was encouraged by hearing Letty’s quiet chuckle.
We stood together on the deck for a while and watched the light change color. The sun had already set, but there were still streaks of red, peach, and yellow light bleeding up into the sky, and they slowly faded away until everything was a rich, dark navy blue.
We decided not to have the yacht light on tonight as we were closer to the jungle than we had been last night. We were still at enough of a distance that we shouldn’t attract any trouble, but it was better to be safe than sorry, and after the events of the day, I didn’t feel like taking any unnecessary chances.
Letty and I sat on the deck and watched the dark clouds scud across the moody sky. It was a little cooler now, and a faint breeze sprang up and rustled in the leaves. It was a welcome relief from the oppressive heat and humidity, and the feeling of my shirt gently snapping against my chest in the cool wind was pure heaven.
Then I cocked my head as the wind carried a sound across the water. I listened again, and my heart dropped into my stomach as I recognized the noise.
“Letty,” I whispered. “Do you hear that?”
Letty listened intently, and then she turned to me with her eyes so wide that the whites gleamed in the darkness.
“It’s a boat,” she whispered.
“Go and wake the others,” I told her.
She sprang to her feet and hurried below deck.
I had my knife and spear already with me, but my hands itched to hold a gun. I knew it was risky– one shot could bring the whole jungle down on our heads. But I had no idea who these people approaching us were, or what their motives were, or what kinds of weapons they had. It was a risk, but if I totaled up all the factors, I would still rather have a gun with me when facing an unknown number of potentially dangerous humans. I was glad of the spears we had, but I wasn’t going to be that rube who brought a knife to a gunfight.
I hurried down below deck and grabbed my rifle.
Letty had woken the others and explained the situation to them, and we gathered at the bottom of the hatch ladder.
“As soon as we get up there, spread out on deck,” I commanded in a whisper. “Use your spears and knives. We don’t know what kinds of weapons these guys might have, but we have to expect the worst. Ally, you go to the cockpit and be ready to get the engine going if we really need to flee.”
“Should we have guns, too?” Letty asked in an anxious voice.
I hesitated. I wanted to avoid the number of guns on deck, and the number of potential bullets that could awaken the jungle, but at the same time, it wasn’t really fair for just me to have a gun and leave the women with spears and knives.
“Anyone who wants a gun can take one,” I said finally. “But– and I can’t stress this enough– remember that the previous rules still apply. We want to use them for deterrents rather than weapons. If we get into a gunfight out there, we could bring all kinds of shit down on our heads.”
The women nodded.
“I’m going to stick with my spear,” Ally said.
“Same.” Letty nodded.
“I guess I’d better do the same,” Dia sighed.
“Shannon?” I asked.
The Indian woman pulled a face.
“I really want one,” she said. “It’s a very different feeling facing an enemy with a spear in your hand rather than a rifle.”
“Then take one,” I assured her. “You’re the best shot out of all of us. If I can have a gun in this situation, then I think you’re more than qualified to have one, too.”
“Okay.” Shannon went into the closet where we’d stored the weapons, and came back in moments with a rifle in her arms. “You all good for ammo?”
“Yep.” I nodded.
“Oh, my god.” Shannon closed her eyes for a moment and gave me a goofy smile. “It feels so good to have one of these babies back in your arms again, doesn’t it?”
“Tell me about it,” I agreed in heartfelt tones.
“Alright, Bruce Willis and Swarzenegger, calm the fuck down,” Dia grumbled.
“Are we all ready?” I asked.
The women nodded, and we hurried quietly back onto the deck.
The noise of the boat was getting louder, and we quickly fanned out into different defensive positions. Ally took up a position in the cockpit. Letty crouched down by the hatch. Shannon and Dia hid on either side of the sail. And I waited by the rail with the familiar weight of my rifle pressed into my shoulder.
It felt pretty fucking great to have my gun back in my hands, I wasn’t going to lie.
The monkeys had woken up, and I heard the faint sounds of grunting and chattering coming from the top of the mast. I hoped they weren’t going to make things difficult or try and get involved, but it seemed that, at least for now, they were wary enough to just sit and watch what was happening.
From the sound of it, the boat was almost upon us. It wasn’t a particularly loud engine, and some people might not have even noticed the sound of it, but on the silent Canal, it felt as loud as a dirt bike. The boat’s lights stabbed out a white beam into the darkness, and I could make out the shapes of several men in the boat before it drew alongside the yacht, and I ducked back out of sight.
The purr of the boat’s engine cut out.
There was a brief second of silence.
I tightened my grip on the rifle and shifted my weight carefully from foot to foot.
Then a grappling hook shot out of the darkness. It hit the guardrail with a shockingly loud clunk of metal on metal. Then a hand reached up and clung onto the railing, and a soldier in a camouflage uniform pulled himself over the side. His boots hit the deck with a thud.
“Stay where you are.” My voice rang out in the night. “You’re surrounded.”
The soldier gave an almost comical start of surprise, and he looked wildly around the dark yacht.
“Who’s there?” he asked. His voice was deep, and he had a thick Panamanian accent.
“Don’t you know whose boat you’re trespassing on?” I demanded.
“I’m not here for trouble.” The soldier had collected himself by now, and he held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. “I’m looking for the Good Pirates.”
My heart skipped a beat.
How the hell did a soldier know about the Good Pirates?
I desperately wanted to look around and see the women’s reactions, but I had to stay focused.
“Get back in your boat,” I ordered in a steady voice. “We’re armed.”
“Okay, okay.” The soldier kept his hands up and carefully backed away to the railing.
He climbed overboard, and I heard the thud as he landed back in his boat. There was a metallic click, and the grappling hook detached itself from the rail.
“That’s better,” I muttered.
“Are you the Good Pirates?” the soldier called.
I debated what to do. If these guys were looking for the Good Pirates, and they wanted to keep their mission a secret, they might very well try to blast away any witnesses. If I denied being one of the Good Pirates, they might try to take the yacht out so as to leave no trace behind.
But the guy had gotten back into his boat without a murmur. And he’d taken back the grappling hook as well, which I assumed was meant as a sign of good faith. He had a Panamanian accent, and given our location, it could be reasonably assumed that they weren’t US military. I couldn’t think of any reason why the Panamanian army would be out to get us.
All these thoughts flashed through my mind in seconds.
Then I made up my mind.
“Yeah,” I called back. “We’re the Good Pirates.”
I thought I heard a sigh of relief come from the boat below.
“We’ve been looking for you,” the soldier called. “We’d like to discuss your options.”
“What makes you think I need options?” I flung back.
“Well,” he replied. “For one, there’s the fact that there are twenty Coast Guard ships patrolling this end of the Canal. And they’re all looking for you.”
Chapter 9
“What?” The word burst out of me before I could think twice about it.
“The United States Coast Guard,” the soldier repeated. “They have twenty ships all willing to take you into custody at the end of the Canal.”
“Right,” I said.
My mind was whirling with a thousand theories and possibilities, but then the soldier’s voice broke into my thoughts.
“I have my orders to bring you to my superiors,” he said.
“Fuck off,” I snorted. “I’m not going to walk quietly into the Coast Guard’s arms, if that’s what you were expecting.”
The soldier cleared his throat.
“My apologies,” he said. “I see that I have not properly explained myself. I am First Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez of the Panamanian Public Forces. Neither I nor my men are associated in any way with the United States Coast Guard. My orders come from the Commissioner of the Panamanian National Police.”
This was getting more and more surreal.
I took a step closer to the guard rail and squinted through the darkness. From here, I could make out the shape of Sergeant Rodriguez standing like a ramrod in the end of the boat. The light from the boat’s lamp was bright enough that I could make out some of the details of his uniform, and I spied a three-stripe insignia on his sleeve that did lend credibility to his claim of being a sergeant.
“I’m not about to head blindly into the unknown with people I’ve just met,” I said. “I have no idea who you people are or what you want.”
“I have been told that you will be allowed to keep your weapons on you,” Sergeant Rodriguez replied.
“As long as we abandon our boat,” I scoffed. “Not happening.”
“The rest of your crew can stay behind on the boat,” the man assured me. “Neither you nor your crew will be harmed.”
My brow puckered in confusion.
What the hell did all this mean?
“If I went with you, where would I go?” I demanded. “What does your commissioner want with the Good Pirates?”
“I can only tell you what I already have,” the soldier replied. “You will not be harmed. You are welcome to bring your weapons with you. The rest of your crew can remain here on the boat. But I can assure you, it is in your best interest to meet with the commissioner, given the presence of your Coast Guard in these waters.”
I gritted my teeth in thought.
There was no way in hell I was going to go blindly off with a group of armed men into the dark jungle without checking in with the women first, so I drew back from the guard rail, gestured for the women to follow me, and backed into the cockpit.
We all crowded in with each other, and I didn’t even have time to open my mouth before I faced an explosion of frantic whispers.
“Those are military men!” Shannon hissed.
“What do you think they want?” Ally gasped. “Are you going to go with them, Drew? What are you going to do?”
“It doesn’t sound like there’s many of them.” Dia was practically bouncing up and down with energy. “We can totally take them on.”
“Oh, Lord,” Letty wailed quietly. “Can this damn jungle let up for one damn second?”
“Shhh!” I commanded, and they all fell silent. “Okay. So you heard all that– what do you think I should do?”
“If he’s telling the truth about all the Coast Guard boats waiting for us, then you should go with him and see if they have another route we can take,” Shannon said.
“Would the Coast Guard really be out to get us?” Ally worried. “I mean, I know we uploaded the video that tarnished their reputation and showed them up to be crooked and working with the cartel, but… Okay, I suppose I can see why the Coast Guard wouldn’t be our biggest fans.”
“You think?” Dia countered. “I think you should go with them, Drew. If we don’t, we’re going to run right into the Coast Guard. And at least these guys are going to let you take your gun with you.”
“Yeah, that is reassuring,” I said. “I just don’t know why he’s being so cagey about what’s waiting for me at the other end of this trip.”
“Well, he might not know himself,” Shannon pointed out. “This operation could be on a need-to-know basis, and his clearance might not go up that high. And even if it does, he can only reveal as much information as his commanding officer has cleared him for.”
“That’s a good point,” I admitted. “I hadn’t thought about it like that.”
“Insider military knowledge,” Shannon replied with a dry chuckle.
“Okay,” I said. “Show of hands. Who thinks I should go with the soldiers?”
The women all put up their hands.
“Are you sure?” I was more than a little proud of the courage on display here, but I couldn’t help being worried, too. “If you feel worried that you won’t be safe here, then I need you to tell me now.”
“Drew, we’ll be fine,” Shannon assured me.
“Yes, I’ve got my new self-defense moves now,” Ally joked. “I’m unstoppable.”
“Plus, we do have guns,” Dia pointed out. “I know we’re not supposed to use them, but like you said, they’re still a great deterrent for any would-be boarders.”
“And then if they do get on board, Ally can disable them, and we’ll throw them overboard for the crocodiles to eat.” Shannon’s teeth flashed in the darkness as she grinned. “You go on, Drew. We can handle ourselves here.”
“Especially if our safety is at risk with the Coast Guard right up ahead,” Ally added more seriously.
I looked around at the women’s brave, determined faces. A lump rose in my throat as I realized again what treasure I’d found here. My mind flashed back to the conversation I’d just had with Letty, and I had to swallow hard to push down the emotions that were threatening to rise up inside me.
Okay, Drew, focus, you can get sappy later.
“Cool.” I nodded my head briskly. “Everyone, arm yourselves. Shannon, can you make sure that everyone has enough magazines to last the night?”
“Sure.” She nodded, and with the other women, she went down the hatch to get more weapons.
They were back in a moment with their guns slung over their shoulders, and Shannon handed me a spare magazine.
“Good luck,” she said. “You won’t need it, but still.”
“Thanks.” I tightened my grip on the rifle and patted the knife at my belt to reassure myself that it was still there.
I looked around at everybody, and lifted my chin in a proud gesture.
“I’ll see you guys later, then.” My voice sounded cheerful and casual, as though I was just running to the store to fetch some milk.
Ally darted forward and quickly kissed my cheek.
“Come back safe,” she murmured.
“I will,” I promised.
The women waited in the cockpit with their weapons and watched as I stepped to the edge of the guard rail.
Sergeant Rodriguez was a dark silhouette against the boat’s harsh white light. He looked up expectantly.
“Okay,” I said. “I’m coming. But I’m keeping my weapons, and I’m not promising anything. Whatever your commanding officer wants, I’m not guaranteeing that he’s going to get it.”
“Of course.” Sergeant Rodriguez stepped back to give me enough space to climb over the rail and drop down into the boat.
It was a light, shallow speedboat with enough seats for six people. There was no cockpit, just a simple dashboard of controls, and as soon as I sat down, the man at the wheel pushed on the throttle lever, and the boat immediately bounced away down the channel into the Canal.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw the dark bulk of the yacht illuminated by the boat’s lights against the rest of Gatun Lake. The monkeys were a dark mass at the top of the mast, and I thought I could see the figures of the women moving about on the deck, but within minutes the boat was leaving the yacht far behind.
I’d thought that the boat was noisy when I was standing on the deck of the yacht, but sitting inside the boat, the sound of the engine was a full-throated roar. It made me on edge just to hear it, and I glanced around at the soldiers to see if any of them were at all aware of the dangerous situation they were creating.
“You’re using the engine,” I finally commented. “You’re not worried about the noise attracting the dragons? The jungle here is full of them.”
