The First Step, page 22
Reed glanced at him, clearly looking for reassurance that they’d all make it back safe and sound. Justin smiled and hoped his own fear for their safety and their passengers’ wasn’t obvious. This wasn’t going to be easy. The boat wasn’t built to hold so many people, and fully loaded, it wouldn’t handle as well. If the dinghy hit something….
Justin drew a long breath and steeled himself. “We’ll be okay.” He said it for their sake as well as his own. He’d keep them all safe. That was his job, right?
Chapter Forty
“EVERYONE READY?” Justin checked that their passengers’ lifejackets were properly secured. “So here’s how we’re going to do this. Reed’s going to get into the boat, and we’ll get you all settled in. Then I’ll push us to where we landed before. It’s not real convenient, but we’re going to have to get out of the boat and pull it down to the river. Sound okay?”
They all nodded. He was just about to tell them that they’d do the same thing when they got back into the boat when Reed pulled him aside. “This isn’t going to work. The old man isn’t going to be able to make it out of the boat and back in again.”
“What do you suggest?” Justin met Reed’s gaze and held it.
“You gun the engine and I’ll push it over the grasses and into the river.”
“That’s not—”
“I can’t drive that thing. You can.” Reed smiled and put a dirty hand on Justin’s shoulder. “I’ll be fine. I’m more graceful than I look. And if I fall in….” He tugged at his life vest. Reed ending up in the river with the strong current was one thing Justin didn’t want to see happen ever again.
“You won’t fall in this time.” Justin said it with more force than he’d intended, his emotions getting the better of him. He considered tying the rope to Reed but just as quickly dismissed the idea. With the rocks and the current, Reed was more likely to be injured if he was tethered to the boat. Letting him float free wasn’t a great option either, but at least he’d be able to control his progress. Either way, this was crazy dangerous, but Reed was right—Justin was the right person to captain the boat. They were out of options.
“You’re right. I won’t.”
“Okay.” Thoughts of the engine hitting Reed or the boat running him over flashed through Justin’s mind. Get it together! He needed to focus on the task. That was the only way to make sure Reed and everyone else made it out of this in one piece. “We’re gonna help you all into the boat, then Reed’s going to push us into the river. Have you ever been in a boat before?”
“Daddy has a boat,” Melissa said.
“Great. So what do you always need to do on a boat?” Justin asked her.
“Keep your jacket on.”
“Right. What else?”
“Um… um….” She frowned and seemed to think really hard about it, then sighed and said, “I dunno.”
“You want to stay low. Do we ever stand up in a boat?”
“No. We. Don’t.” She stood taller and looked to her mom, who beamed at her.
“That’s right.” Justin turned to Reed. “I’ll need to hand Mr. Calhoun down to you. We’ll keep it tied off until everyone’s aboard. Then I’ll make it a running line and shove us off.”
“Got it.” Reed carefully stepped onto the boat, exaggerating keeping his profile low for Melissa to see.
She giggled. “He’s silly.”
“Yep,” Justin agreed. “He sure can be.” And kind. And generous. And a pain in the ass he wanted to keep for himself.
Justin walked over to the old man. “Ready to go?”
“Yes.” He looked more at ease than before, managing a weak smile in response.
Justin scooped him up into his arms. He weighed ninety pounds, if that. Justin carried him over to the boat and lowered him gently down as Reed caught him under his arms. “Doin’ okay?” One of the sides of the deck was now submerged. They needed to get off it now before it collapsed.
“Doin’ fine,” John said.
“Good.” Light rain began to fall as Justin offered Tammy his hand, then helped her into the boat. He handed Melissa down to her mother, then tossed Reed the rope holding a very excited Charley back. The dog jumped into the boat, then shook the water off of him, splashing them all. Melissa’s laughter took a bit of the edge off Justin’s anxiety.
Reed kept a careful eye on the boat’s occupants as Justin made the rope holding them to the deck a running line to make it possible to release it from the boat. He carefully climbed aboard, mindful not to cause it to rock too much, then released the running line and pulled it aboard.
The plastic chair John had been sitting on floated away on the rising waters. Several of the wooden boards that made up the deck’s surface followed, and one of the corners collapsed with a splash.
Justin met Reed’s worried gaze as he tried several times to start the motor. Some water must have snuck into the line when they’d pulled the boat over the grass, but when it finally did start, it purred. Lord knew he’d spent enough time fighting with the damn thing over the past year!
The rain now fell in earnest, creating dimples on the river. “Ready?” Reed took his place on the port side of the engine. It began to pour.
“Ready.” Please let him be okay. Justin brushed the water from his face, then released the lever and held the engine out of the shallow water so it wouldn’t tangle in the weeds. At the same time, Reed lowered himself into the water and shoved the dinghy toward the river.
This is a really bad idea.
Reed pushed the boat across the shallows, over the grasses, and into the river, but his hand slipped as he tried to grab the handle closest to the back. The boat quickly drifted downriver, out of his reach.
Shit. “Reed! Reed! You need to get back here now!” Justin shouted.
“Getting there.” Reed moved closer, the water now up near his shoulders.
“Reed….” Justin put the engine in the water and clicked it into Reverse. The engine wasn’t powerful enough in Reverse, and the boat continued to move farther away. He could barely see Reed through the bucketing rain.
“Reed! Reed!” Justin yelled. Fear gripped his belly and the back of his throat burned. Stay calm. Nothing good comes from losing your shit!
Melissa squealed and pressed her face into her mother’s chest.
“I know, I know.” Reed pushed off the bottom and launched himself toward the boat. He was swimming now as the boat moved away, carried by the strong current.
Justin held his breath and Melissa clutched her mother tighter. They both looked as terrified as he felt. “Come on, come on!” he shouted over the din of the falling rain.
Reed reached for the side of the boat and, this time, managed to grab one of the rubber handles. “Getting there,” he said.
The Cape Fear loomed dead ahead, and with it, all the debris they’d barely managed to dodge before. If Reed ended up in the river and one of those logs hit him, he could die.
Justin put the motor into Neutral and reached out with his other hand. He’d have less control, but he could better focus on Reed if he wasn’t trying to steer. “Grab my hand. I’ll pull you in.”
Reed struggled to pull himself up. His hand touched Justin’s, then slid free. “Damn.”
“One more time,” Justin said. “You can do it.” The image of Scott tumbling into the water flashed through his mind. He wouldn’t let Reed get hurt. The thought that he might lose Reed—really lose him for good—was more than he could process.
This time Reed managed to hold on to Justin’s wrist, allowing Justin to close his fingers around Reed’s. Without the motor to assist, Justin took the brunt of Reed’s weight. Something in Justin’s shoulder popped as he pulled Reed into the boat.
“Are you okay?” Melissa looked terrified.
“I wish I could shake myself off like Charley.” Reed mopped his face with his arm and shook his head like a dog. Melissa giggled.
Justin let out a long sigh, then gritted his teeth against the sharp pain that shot through his shoulder. Dislocated. There was no time to do anything about it now, not with the Cape Fear River dead ahead.
Reed was entirely covered in mud and bits of leaves, but he met Justin’s gaze and mouthed, Thank you. Justin couldn’t remember ever having been so terrified and so relieved—even the experience with Scott wasn’t as frightening.
“You’re wet.” Melissa laughed. “Also muddy.”
“I am.” Reed grinned and wiped his face on his sleeve.
Justin took a few deep gulps of air to calm his nerves and focused once again on the river. They were only a few hundred feet away from where the Brunswick emptied into the Cape Fear now.
“We’re going to be turning in a minute,” Justin told them. “I need you to hold tight to the handles on the top of the boat.”
Reed pointed to the handles. “Melissa, you too. I’ll hold on to Charley for you, okay?” Melissa nodded, and Reed fastened Charley’s rope around his waist.
“Here we go.” Justin gunned the motor and turned the boat upriver, toward Wilmington. Through the rain, he couldn’t see the entrance to the marina, but he had a good idea of where it was—he knew every inch of the shoreline, and he could almost make out the line of one of the pipes that jutted outward for loading. The marina’s entrance was just below.
Justin struggled to keep the boat pointed against the current. “Reed, I need you to grab the air horn and sound it every two minutes. It’s in the dry bag.”
Reed nodded and rummaged around in the bag until he found the air canister horn. “Two minutes?”
“Right. One long prolonged blast every two minutes.” Justin doubted there was anyone else on the river, but with the heavy rain, there was no way another boat would spot the dinghy until it was almost on top of them.
“Got it.” Reed sounded the air horn. Melissa cowered and covered her ears.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Tammy said. “They’re just letting any other boats know we’re here. That’s why it’s so loud.”
In spite of Justin’s efforts, the boat had already begun to drift downriver. He’d expected that, but he didn’t want to cede too much ground or he’d miss the marina entrance. Thank goodness the marina wasn’t directly across, or this would be impossible.
“Crab pot on your port side!” Reed shouted.
The way the boat was drifting to the right, Justin didn’t need to adjust their course. Only on the starboard would it be—
“Log or something on your starboard!”
Shit. Justin saw something large and black sticking directly out of the water. There was no way he was going to avoid it. “Reed, grab the paddle and push!”
Reed did exactly as Justin instructed. The boat bumped the log. Justin held his breath as they passed by it, waiting for the propeller to hit something beneath the water. Nothing happened, although he felt an object scrape against the starboard inflatable tube.
Thank God. “Do me a favor and keep an eye on the starboard tube,” he told Reed. “Let me know if we’re losing any air.”
“Got it.” Reed put his hand on the tube and smiled reassuringly at Justin.
The rain slowed a bit, revealing the first channel marker for the marina entrance a hundred yards away. With a boat like this, meant for very shallow water, they didn’t need to worry too much about staying inside the channel, but Justin didn’t want to miss the entrance to the marina, which was a relatively narrow channel cut into the land.
“Not far now.” Justin eyed the channel marker and adjusted his course.
“Justin?” Reed tapped the starboard tube and shook his head. He pressed down and Justin saw they were rapidly losing air. At least they weren’t too far from their destination. Now it would be a race against time.
“Hang on,” Justin warned everyone. “We’re going to be making some fast turns here.” With that, he turned sharply to starboard to follow the channel, gunned the motor again, then back to port. The entrance to the marina was now only about a hundred feet away.
The boat responded more slowly than Justin expected. A quick glanced down told him why—the boat was taking on water at an alarming rate. The branches they’d brushed against had clearly ripped a hole in the rubber side. They had minutes, maybe less, before the dinghy would sink. And if that happened here, on the river, the current would carry them all away.
Chapter Forty-One
JUSTIN CAUGHT Reed’s eye as he struggled to control the boat. At least three inches had now pooled in the bottom of the dingy.
“What can I do?” Reed asked.
“There’s a plastic jug up front. I need you to bail as much as you can. We need to keep her floating long enough to make it to the docks.” They might not make it that far, but at least inside the protected marina, no one would be swept away by the current and their lifejackets would keep them from drowning.
Reed nodded and began to empty the water in the boat. He wouldn’t be able to keep up, as low as the right tube was now, but he’d keep the boat from completely swamping.
“As soon as we get to the docks,” Reed told Tammy and her family, “Reed’s going to tie off the boat and you need to be ready to jump onto the docks.” He smiled at Melissa and said, “Reed’s going to lift you out as soon as he can, so be ready, okay?”
Melissa nodded.
“You can toss the anchor onto the dock when we get close,” Justin told Reed. “As soon as you can, I’ll need you to jump off. Use your judgment. Cleat her off if you can, but get them off first. I’ll keep her as close as I can with the motor.” He didn’t add that they’d probably be pulling the boat off the bottom, as badly damaged as she was. It didn’t matter. The boat could be replaced; its passengers couldn’t.
“Ready?” he asked Reed.
“Yep.” Reed released Charley’s rope from around his waist and handed it to Tammy, then retrieved the anchor from the bow.
Justin zoomed into the marina and turned sharply to avoid a half-sunken sailboat a dozen feet from the entrance. The way to one of the closer docks looked clear, however, and he headed toward it without slowing.
“Hang on again. We may hit the docks. Any time now, Reed.”
Reed threw the anchor—a perfect shot that landed it in the water on the other side of the dock—then jumped off as the bow bumped the floating dock. He quickly tied off the slack in the anchor line and grabbed Melissa from her mother. “Stay right there, okay? I’m going to help your mom and grandpa off.”
Melissa nodded. Charley jumped off as Justin and Reed helped John and Tammy off the boat. By now the entire boat was filled with water and the stern, where the heavy motor was attached, was below the water.
“Your turn.” A worried-looking Reed offered his hand. Justin took it and, after a momentary struggle, managed to get both his elbows on the deck.
In the chaos, Justin nearly forgot his dislocated shoulder. He yelped but forced himself to think through the haze of pain as Reed helped him onto the wooden planking. The dinghy sank below the water.
Flashing lights appeared in the marina parking lot as if on cue—a couple of police cruisers.
By that point Justin was seeing specks of silver in his vision and the pain was white-hot, like someone was repeatedly shoving a knife into his shoulder. He fell to his knees on the dock, clutching his left arm.
“You okay?” Reed put a hand on Justin’s shoulder and Justin gasped. “You are not okay, are you?”
Justin gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. He couldn’t focus on anything but the pain.
Reed took Justin’s face between his hands. “How long has your shoulder been out of the socket?”
Justin groaned, unable to speak. Adrenaline, apparently, only got you so far.
“Since you pulled me onto the boat, wasn’t it?” Reed shook his head. “Why the hell didn’t you say something before? I could have gotten them off the boat myself.”
“Dunno.” Justin panted in an effort not to pass out. He was so dizzy from the pain, his entire body locked up.
“Stubborn,” Reed growled, but his expression was kind. Worried, even.
Justin didn’t have the energy to disagree. Shit. It felt like his shoulder would erupt into flames at any time now.
“Need a little help?” Jesse Freeman appeared behind Reed. Splashes of mud coated his usually pristine uniform, and he looked tired.
“I can wait,” Justin said between clenched teeth. “Take care of the others first.”
“Carl and the EMS crew are taking care of them,” Jesse replied.
“His shoulder’s dislocated,” Reed told Jesse.
“No worries.” Jesse waved over one of the EMS techs. “Carol can take care of that shoulder in no time.”
Carol kneeled beside Justin. “Good to see you, Justin.”
Justin forced a smile. She was one of the techs who’d taken Scott to the hospital when he’d been injured, and he’d run into her a few times when he had visited. “Hey.”
“You’re not looking so great. How about you let me take care of that shoulder for you?” she asked.
“I’m fine. You should be taking care of—”
“Joey’s helping them.” She pointed to the dock. “I need you to lie on your back.”
Justin nodded. He could do this. He could—“Shit, shit, shit!” Damn, that hurt!
“Let me help you.” Carol smiled reassuringly.
“Yep.” Justin tried not to flinch as she reached out to help.
Carol gently but firmly supported Justin’s back as he lay down on the dock. “Good. Now breathe. How are you doing?”
“Perfect.” His shoulder hurt like a fucking beast.
Reed kneeled near Justin’s head. “It’s going to be fine.”
“Easy for you to say.” Justin glared at him.
“Bless your heart,” Reed said with a sly grin. “You’re an ornery cuss, aren’t you?”
