Crocs, page 10
“Scare two grown men?” Luke said. He might have laughed if he didn’t believe the girl had some sort of weird, witchy powers. “I don’t know … Let’s try Maribel’s plan first. Wait here and I’ll try to find the bilge. Or the electrical switches.”
“Sabina can stay,” Maribel said. She braced herself when the boat slammed through another wave. “Someone has to look after Carlos. But I’m coming with you.”
Luke slid under the curtain, saying, “Just give me one minute out there alone. Okay?”
* * *
“Who’s he whispering to?” Sabina wondered. “Those boxes full of turtles? If the turtles are smart, they’ll ignore him.”
The girls could hear bits and pieces of Luke saying in a soothing tone, “I’m not going to hurt you. Hey … remember me? Why not come out and let me see where you are?”
It was the voice he used when calming an aggressive dog.
The engines were loud. There was wind noise, too. The boat had to be going forty miles per hour.
“This is insane,” Maribel said to her sister. “We’ve got to get out of here before we crash. Stay here with the goose unless I call you.”
Maribel slipped through the curtain.
Sabina waited until the curtain was closed to say, “I still like my idea better.”
The girl touched her beaded necklace and closed her eyes. She resumed chanting words she had learned in Cuba from the magic women.
Luke didn’t hear Maribel tiptoe up behind him. He jumped when he felt her hand touch his arm, then took a long, deep breath to calm himself.
“Holy moly, you scared the fire out of me.”
“Find it yet?” Maribel whispered. It was hard to keep her balance because the cruiser was slamming waves at high speed.
For a dopey moment, the boy thought she was asking about the snake. “No, but it has to be around here somewhere. Hiding in some dark place, probably, all curled up to stay warm. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
In the dim light, Maribel squinted at him. “I meant the hatch to the bilge area. Hatches can’t hide. And they don’t curl up to stay warm. Who were you talking to just now?”
“Myself,” the boy said. “People do it all the time.” It was a rare lie, but the situation was bad enough without involving a rattlesnake.
Maribel glanced at the steps to the upper deck. Light filtered down. Loud music had been added to the noise of the huge outboard motors. Leon and Donny were up there. One was at the steering wheel. The other was probably outside on the front of the cruiser keeping watch. No telling if the men had switched places.
“I brought my flashlight,” Maribel said, “and I’m going to use it. Not all of us can see in the dark like an owl. Come on.”
She moved past the boy to the back of the boat. She knelt, felt around with her hands, and switched on the light. It revealed a hatch built into the floor.
“This could be it,” she said. “Help me get it open. We might need this.” Maribel unfolded the multi-tool holstered on her belt. She used the pliers for leverage on a steel latch. The fiberglass door tilted open.
“Yes!” Luke exclaimed. “Shine the light.”
The bilge area was doormat-sized, sunk into the hull. Dirty water covered the drainage scuppers. Bolted to the transom were bilge pumps, hoses, wires, and four metal cans that were fuel filters. Attached to each filter was a hose and a brass valve.
“This boat has four motors,” Luke reasoned. “A fuel filter for each. I’m not sure, but those valves might control the fuel.”
“Cut the hoses, you think?” Maribel had already opened the knife blade.
Luke stared at the colorful electrical wires—red, yellow, green, blue. He was familiar with red and green wires. Same as on the farm tractor he’d fixed many times. The wires could produce sparks. Cut a gas hose, the boat might explode.
“Try closing those brass valves first,” he suggested. “You’ll need the pliers again. If they’re part of the fuel line, it might take a few minutes, but those big outboards will go dry fast. When the boat stops, we can grab the baby crocs and jump.”
Maribel didn’t like the idea of jumping overboard. They had practiced a similar emergency with Hannah a few days ago. Even though they all wore inflatable vests, it was risky. “We have to take Carlos, too,” she reminded the boy. “Then call the police when we get ashore.”
The kids went to work. Maribel twisted two of the valves closed. Luke helped wrestle the third valve, which was stuck. They were so busy, they didn’t notice Sabina peeking through the curtains. She had freed the goose’s legs but left its beak taped as a precaution.
It didn’t matter. Maribel had the pliers on the fourth valve when several bad things happened at once. The fiberglass hull jolted—a terrible grinding sound. The cruiser tilted as if about to flip over. Powerful engines shrieked during a turn that hurled the kids across the deck on their bellies. Luke collided with the stack of plastic boxes. The boxes went flying.
From above came a man’s wild scream. The man’s scream faded like the whistle of a passing train.
The boat picked up speed, then crashed hard into something with a jarring explosion. There was a sound of fiberglass colliding with solid wood.
Once again, the kids went skittering across the deck. For a moment they lay on their bellies in dazed silence. Maribel couldn’t figure out what had happened—until she saw water flooding in through the side of the boat. The fiberglass hull had been ripped open by something.
From above, Donny’s voice shouted, “Leon! Where are you? Answer me, Leon. Hang on, I’ll throw you a life jacket—if I can find one.”
The skinny man came clumping down the stairs. He was in such a panic he didn’t notice Maribel and Luke crouching in darkness, up to their knees in water. He switched on a flashlight and threw open the curtains—then stumbled back in terror at what he saw.
Sabina had put on her horrid green witch’s mask. And Carlos was free. The goose pecked the man hard on the forehead. At the same instant, the girl raised her hands as if they were claws and shrieked, “BOO! BOO! BOO! I put a hex on you!”
Donny made a yipping sound. He turned and sprinted up the stairs, crying, “Stay away … stay away … leave me alone.”
Carlos went after the man in a rage. Sabina followed, cackling like a witch in the movies. A moment later, they heard a heavy splash. Donny had jumped overboard. A softer splash meant the goose was in the water, too.
Maribel got to her feet. “Luke, grab the box with the baby crocodiles. I’ve got to find Sabina, then radio the Coast Guard for help. We can save the turtles later.”
The girl hurried topside while Luke struggled with the box. It was too large to carry under one arm. So he dumped the baby crocs into the garbage bag. When he did, he heard the familiar sound of sizzling grease.
This time, he did need a flashlight. Yes … the snake had already crawled into the garbage bag. With no time to worry, he knotted the bag and held it away from his legs. As he carried it up the steps, the baby crocodiles resumed their frantic chirping, and the snake’s sizzling calmed.
“The radio doesn’t work,” Maribel shouted. She and Sabina were standing at the steering wheel. “Nothing works. Not even the lights. We’ve got to help save those men, then figure a way to get ashore. Grab your backpacks and inflate your life vests. This boat is sinking!”
One by one, the kids pulled the emergency tabs on their vests, which ballooned around their necks like thick rubber suspenders.
The cabin windows showed a misty slash of silver to the east. Protruding from the fog were seven dark pilings that had crushed the boat’s hull.
It was sunrise at Bones Gate on Halloween morning.
EIGHTEEN
NO HONOR AMONG THIEVES
Donny was somewhere out there in the fog, begging the goose, “Stop it, you freakin’ duck! Stay away!” and then calling Leon’s name. Over and over, he hollered, “Boss, where are you? You okay, Leon?”
The man was terrified.
Finally, Leon answered, “I’m hanging on to one of the posts you hit, you drunken nitwit. I was a fool to let you drive.” He cursed and said something about being thrown out of the boat. “Hurt my freakin’ shoulder,” he groaned. “I’m gonna need help getting back on the boat.”
A misty gray ball ballooned above dark trees. It was the sun. Yet the fog was too thick to see more than a few yards in any direction.
Maribel ducked out the cabin door. The sound of men arguing drew her toward the front of the boat. One of the pilings had pierced the hull like a sword. Below, in the water, clinging to the pilings, were Leon and his partner.
She gave Sabina a push toward the stairs. “Go below and grab all the life jackets you can carry. I’ll find some rope. We need to rig the jackets like throwing buoys. That’ll save them until help arrives.”
Luke, still carrying the garbage bag, had followed them outside. Maribel turned to the boy. “That little rubber boat hanging over the motors? Cut it free. Or there should be a crank of some type. Either way, get it into the water—and don’t make any sound.”
“The dinghy?” he asked to confirm the order. Sabina was already rushing down the stairs. “We can’t let those crocks-of-horse-manure take it. We need a boat to get back to Captain Pony’s house and call for help.”
“I know,” Maribel snapped. “Hurry up. Tie the dinghy so it doesn’t drift away. Once Sabina and I throw those men life jackets, we’re out of here!”
She started to wave the boy away, then paused, her eyes on the garbage bag. The piercing chirps of the baby crocodiles vibrated through the silence of the fog.
“Put the bag in the dinghy, too. We’ll release them later.”
Luke wasn’t crazy about rowing ashore with a bag of baby crocs and a rattlesnake, but now was not the time to argue.
The cabin cruiser was wedged against the pilings as if it had plowed up a ski ramp. He grabbed a handrail and started downhill to the back of the boat and nearly collided with Sabina. Her arms were loaded with bulky orange life jackets, several still wrapped in plastic.
“We can’t leave without Carlos,” she hollered, as if the bird were Luke’s responsibility. “That stupid goose bit me again. You find her, farm boy!”
Luke hurried away without comment. The rubber dinghy hung on poles called a davit. A metal lever allowed the dinghy to swing over the water. The baby crocodiles were chirping loudly and trying to claw their way through the plastic. The snake was slithering around, trying to escape, too.
The temptation was to empty the bag overboard. Instead Luke tossed it into the rubber boat as ordered, and placed his backpack on the deck. This allowed him to concentrate on the davit. There was a crank locked into a series of gears. The gears controlled ropes that could raise or lower the little boat.
But the locking lever was stuck. The boy used both thumbs to try to force the lever open. It wouldn’t budge. His pocketknife was too small, so he opened his backpack and found a sheath knife he’d bought for 4-H camping trips. The handle was solid steel.
The boy was hammering away at the lever when Maribel screamed from the front of the boat, “Stop! Stop!”
Immediately, Luke did—until he realized she was yelling to Leon and his partner.
“Let go of that rope,” Maribel demanded, grunting as if struggling with something heavy. “I mean it—stop! You’re going to pull my sister into the water. We’re trying to help you!”
The boy froze, his radar ears alert. He heard Sabina scream a familiar curse word in Spanish. Next there was a sickening thud, followed by a splash.
The blue lightning eye within Luke’s head saw what had happened. The girls had tied life jackets to ropes and tossed them to the men. Somehow Sabina had gotten tangled—or was too stubborn to let go—and she had been yanked overboard. Her body had hit the side of the boat before landing in the water.
The boy got a sick feeling in his stomach. He was done trying to lower the dinghy quietly. With the sheath knife, he slashed the rope cables. The dinghy plummeted down through the fog with a splash that might have been a falling refrigerator.
An instant later, he sprinted forward to find Maribel. She was screaming Sabina’s name as the men yelled back and forth from the darkness below.
Leon had heard the dinghy hit the water. “What was that noise? Look, look—over there. There’s something drifting toward us.”
Donny was still scared stiff. “See what? Where’d that little witch go? Boss, she just flew off the boat. You see her? Flew off like she had a broom and disappeared.”
“Who cares. That’s our rubber raft, you ninny! Swim out there and get it. We’ve got to dump those turtles and crocs before the cops show, and get out of here.”
“Dude, she put a hex on me, man! Boss … what is a hex?”
“Witches don’t wear inflatable vests, you boob. It was a little kid in a Halloween mask. Hold on … the raft’s drifting closer. I’ll get it myself.”
Luke realized he’d forgotten to tie the dinghy. Now the tide was carrying it to the men.
He heard loud splashing, and the big man’s feet kicking water.
“Got it,” Leon yelled. “This freakin’ current is strong. I’m not waiting, Menendez. Hump your butt over the side, or I’ll leave you here.”
Menendez—Donny’s last name.
Water thrashed. There were grunts and groans. Through a glowing mist, Luke saw that both men were in the dinghy. Leon was already using one of the plastic oars.
Maribel saw them, too. “Where’d my sister go? You’ve got to help her!” The girl’s voice broke, she was so scared. She had knotted her backpack to one of the big puffy life jackets and was ready to jump over the side.
Leon shot back, “You brats got no business sneaking aboard my boat. That’s what the little witch gets for trying to play tug-of-war with an adult.”
Was he laughing?
Maribel looked over the railing and saw Luke. “Sabina’s not answering!” she cried. “We’ve got to find her. Grab a couple of those orange life jackets and follow me. We’ll tie our packs to them so they’ll float. Sort of like rafts.”
She dropped through the fog into the water.
The last thing the boy heard before he plunged over the side was Donny saying to Leon, “Hey, what’s this garbage bag doing in our dinghy? And why is it making weird chirping noises?”
Leon growled, “If you don’t recognize the sound, you’re an idiot. That’s why we have to catch those kids before they talk to the cops.”
NINETEEN
SWIMMING IN A NIGHTMARE
Sabina wondered if she was dreaming. She remembered throwing a puffy orange life jacket to Leon, that skunk-in-the-weeds. She remembered getting tangled in a rope, and the nasty words the man had used before yanking her over the railing.
The sensation of flying—she remembered this, too. That was all. Now the girl was drifting through a soft silver cloud, which was also a little like flying.
It was a delicious feeling. Eyes closed, she lounged back on a pillow that fit her neck and shoulders perfectly. Her bed was warm, salty to the lips. It floated her along beside a low orange moon that might have been the sun. The sky was brightening.
“Sabina, where are you?” It was her sister’s voice.
The girl waved the voice away. “Leave me alone,” she answered, yawning. “I’m sleeping.”
She heard a splash. Then a heavier splash.
Luke tried to intrude. “Stay away from those guys in the dinghy,” he hollered. “I heard them. They plan to kill us!”
This got Sabina’s attention. The farm boy wasn’t good at inventing stories. The simplest joke had to be explained before he could even fake a smile. So what he’d just said had to be true.
She cracked her eyes into slits. Her head hurt for some reason. When she reached to adjust the pillow, she discovered it wasn’t a pillow. It was her inflatable life vest. And her bed wasn’t a bed. It was warm flowing water.
The girl opened her eyes wide and tried to blink herself awake. Floating beside her was Carlos the goose. The bird flapped her wings as if she needed help. From the foggy distance came the rumble of men’s voices. The wild chirping of what might have been baby birds was louder. The chirping was high-pitched, like tiny sirens.
I’ve walked in my sleep before, Sabina thought. But this is the first time I ever swam in my sleep.
It had to be a dream. The girl was convinced when she righted herself and saw a giant log cruising toward her. The log was as long as a boat. It had knobby eyes and a sharply pointed snout.
The girl smiled fondly. A dragon!
Sabina loved dragons. They had visited her many times in her sleep. Dragons were magical creatures—protective of kids. They could breathe fire and fly. They lived in secret caves.
There was no need to use words when speaking to a ghost. The girl knew this from experience. Maybe the same was true of dragons.
Using her hands, she began to paddle toward the dragon, which still looked like a log. But it couldn’t be a log. The thing was only a few yards away, close enough to see details. Logs didn’t have white spikes for teeth. Their heads were not jagged with scales.
“Let me crawl on your back,” she murmured to the dragon. Her lips moved only slightly. “My head hurts. I want you to fly me home.” She beckoned the creature with a welcoming wave.
The creature heard the splash of her hand. It swam faster toward the girl’s legs.
The wind stirred. A smoky gray mist swirled down from the sky and blanketed the water. The dragon vanished.
Where had it gone?
The girl squinted. Through the mist, a dark object pierced the cloud. It was tall, curved like the neck of a dinosaur.
The object was familiar. Very familiar. Sabina tried to think back. A pounding headache made it difficult to search her memory. The goose wasn’t any help. Carlos hammered the water with her wings like some kind of warning.
The girl’s attention shifted. The bird’s beak was still taped, she realized.
