Flotilla (37 page)

I looked at the mess of torn green velvet and splintered wood, smelling gun oil and wondering what I was supposed to do now. Dad had left us the shotgun. What good was that when I might be dealing with 50 bad guys from Mexico looking for money or drugs that I didn't have? Maybe I could use it to shoot myself.

I stole around the Colony a few more times, looking around for anything else that might be useful on our trip. A few boats were still inhabited and the ones that weren't were looted and wrecked. In fact, one of the shake-down shacks was swamped and starting to sink. These boats were the homes of our friends and family ... what was I doing? I stopped looking for things to take and started making my way back to the
Horner
.

On the way, I kept looking at things, looking again and then looking a third time. I wanted to remember everything. If I had the camera, I might have taken some pictures but even then, the flash might have attracted unwanted attention.

As I turned back down the ramp to the E-Ring, I saw one of the 'Monopoly' street signs that I'd admired last year when someone hung them up for the first time. It was hanging lopsided, by a single wood screw, and just looking at it made me sad. I used the crowbar to pull the screw out. I really should have used a screwdriver but something male inside me said "Hey, I'm a guy..." and got to it.

I enjoyed rolling the phrase around my mouth a few times between grunts of effort. Yes ... I'm a guy. I am a man. It was a thought that I would use to comfort myself in the nightmare that would follow.

With the 'Monopoly' sign in my back pocket and the crowbar in my hand, I returned to the
Horner
. On the horizon I could see a dark smudge and the wind was blowing it toward us. A storm was coming ...
that might be our way out
. Just need to hold it together for a few more hours. The sun painted the Colony with shades of pink and purple and it reminded me of happier days. I sat on the floor of the salon with Dad's shotgun across my lap and ate a dinner of canned beef stew that Madison warmed up on the hot plate. After she cooked dinner, Madison sat in the pilot's chair bundled up in a fleece comforter with a death grip on George, her stuffed rabbit.

"I can't believe you brought that thing here," I commented. George had been through a lot with Madison. From age three onward, she faced all her doctor visits, scary dreams and other childhood trauma with George under her arm. I thought she'd keep him in a safe place back on shore rather than risk losing him to the ocean but here he was again with Madison, staring out of his one shiny button eye. George was a survivor. I just hoped we were, too.

"George will bring Mom back," Madison said simply.

"Really? How's he gonna do that?"

I shouldn't have said it but I guess I was feeling a little snotty, being in charge and all. She gave me an annoyed look and resumed her gaze at the horizon while listening to the TV for news. I finished eating and kept an eye on the deck outside, the TV and whatever part of the sky I could see outside our windows. The Colony was still rotating, just like it always did. Someone on the
Phoenix
was still making that happen. I hadn't seen anyone walk past our door on the deck outside in hours ... it felt like we were last persons here.

Night fell very quickly. The sun disappeared behind some approaching clouds and slipped us into a dirty, smudgy twilight. Outside, on the docks, the automatic outdoor lights snapped to life. Everything looked pretty normal, if you didn't know what was happening. The wind picked up and the Colony started to roll and pitch. Madison was starting to get scared and I spent a lot of time reassuring her that the storms were normal and that the
Horner
could ride it out just fine. I wasn't so confident myself but I didn't want to tell her that.

I took a quick look around on deck just before the rain started. The docks were all shipped and everything looked like it was in order. Just a few more minutes and I'd try the engines again. I've only started the engines ... I've never piloted this thing. I tested them again today but I would have liked to take the
Horner
just to get used to it. That wasn't going to happen. I was starting to get freaked out by all of this. I was taking charge of the boat - Dad's boat! I had no sailing experience and I have to sail through a storm on my first try.

Hopefully this helps you understand how desperate the situation was for us. I was pretty sure that I would get us killed, taking off like this. We just didn't have a choice.

I guess it made me mad to contemplate just how difficult the task was but being angry was better than being scared.
I'll do it
, I told myself. I'll bring this tubby old scow up to Washington, park her on a sandbar where Dad'll be standing there. His arms will be crossed and he'll have a proud grin. I'll grin back and then put the nylon stock of this shotgun across his eyebrows.
Half for putting me through the wall and half for putting me through this, Dad, I'll say. He'll take it because he knows he did me wrong.
I spent quite a bit of time mentally rehearsing a cool monologue that I'll deliver when we're on dry ground and out of the danger zone. That's right ... Dad and I will finally have that man-to-man talk.

I felt the drops of rain and heard them begin to patter against the windows of the ship and decks outside. The rain hit fast and in seconds I was soaked. I held onto the lifeline and started back for the bridge. Time to go. On my way back, the siren on the
Phoenix
started again. I groaned. "Not now!"

"
Pirates! Pirates closing fast!
" I could hear the panic in their voice through the scratchy sound of the speakers. "
E and D-rings are within the fire zone. Repeat: E-Ring and D-Ring are in the fire zone! Anyone out there needs to get onto the Phoenix now! This is the last warning - we are expecting hostile pirates in ten minutes.
"

I was stunned ... E and D-ring was in the fire zone. The
Phoenix
could use those CIWS guns to take any bad guy apart that didn't wasn't packing anti-ship missiles. We had heard them firing during the last visit from the pirates a few days ago. The guns were huge, barrel shaped things roped off on the
Phoenix
. We were never allowed anywhere near them. They were only useful to a point, Dad had told me. He went into this whole explanation and used phrases like 'defilate' and 'dead space'. He explained it three times but I'm still not entirely clear on all of it.

The CIWS guns could draw a continuous line of fire in a complete circle around the
Phoenix
, but that circle was 200 yards wide. I knew that they would cheerfully sink every boat in that circle than let the pirates get close and that they didn't know we were here. The bullets would turn any boat, dock or person into shredded rags and we were right in its path.

It just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?

"What am I supposed to do?" I suddenly screamed. Standing outside in the rain, I was looking toward the lights of the
Phoenix
and imagining the guns tearing us to pieces. I guess it was building inside, the frustration and fear. The question had been hiding at the back of my teeth ever since Dad left and now I picked a perfect time to vent, screaming into the storm.

I started screaming "What am I supposed to do?" I was losing it more and more each time. I started screaming and cussing and swearing, just like I did on that cold day at Mugu Rock. I started wailing and crying like the lost kid I was.

One time when I was 4, I got lost in the sporting goods section at the Wal-Mart in Torrence. They almost called a "Code Adam" over it but Mom showed up as soon as they paged her. I can still remember it - Lost boy wearing brown shorts and white t-shirt. I was crying that day because I lost my Mom and she wasn't where I thought she was and I was out of ideas on how to find her. I cried in the rain while standing on the deck on the
Horner
because I was lost again and I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do.

Over the sound of my voice and the storm, I could hear engines.
Time to get out of here, buddy.

I stormed through the cabin quickly, soaking wet and crying. Madison must have thought I looked like a crazy person but I didn't bother explaining. I tore out the back door to grab Dad's 'Emergency Axe' and cut us loose from the ropes that still held us to the dock. At the center of the Colony, the
Phoenix
kept its engines running to maintain a slow, clockwise motion and keep our fish moving through fresh water. It moved the docks and all of the ships along with it. If the
Phoenix
sank, it could take the docks and every boat attached to them, down with her. If you needed to cut your boat loose in a hurry, the theory was, you had an axe to do it. Every boat was supposed to keep an 'Emergency Axe' on hand. Nobody had stolen ours, thankfully, and I yanked it loose to start cutting.

Have you ever tried to cut a taut rope? It isn't easy ... much less one that was moving and wet and holding a large boat in place. I took a big swing, missed the rope entirely and fell to the deck in a large puddle. I got up and tried it again, slower this time, but the rope simply bounced the axe head back the way that it had come.

We're getting nowhere fast
, I thought to myself. I tried it again, this time aiming for the rope near the cleat on the dock. My first swing cut the rope, shredding half of it and my second swing cut it entirely. Whooping like an Indian on a war party, I made for the other three lines. As I cut the second, the normally stable ship, cozy inside her taut lines, started to bounce and drag against the dock. I couldn't hit the ropes any more, they were moving too much. I settled for chopping the cleat out of the dock on the last two lines and then we were ready to go.

The
Horner
was loose of the Colony. She groaned and slammed against the docks. There were never any fenders out ... Dad didn't see the point with the lines in place. She scraped and thumped, taking all kinds of paint off of the hull in the process. I could hear Madison screaming inside and I realized that she thought I might have been hurt or killed. With a flash of shame, I realized I should have been working to keep her calm instead of going to pieces.

"
Stop it you big baby!"
I yelled at myself. "
You have a sister to take care of ... nut up and get to it!"

The
Horner
was careening in the storm, first slamming into the docks and then away from them. I realized in horror that she was loose and I was still on the dock. The gap of water between us was getting bigger. I threw the axe aside and leaped for the after deck ... not quite making it. I caught the metal rails in my hands but my sneakers slipped right off the decking. My feet dropped into the water and my face slammed into the metal. The pain was so bad I actually saw stars, but by some miracle my hands stayed locked to the handrails. I was groaning and trying to pull myself up out of the water when the
Horner
lunged for the dock again.

I still don't know how I managed it, I could barely see. The pain, the fear and the cold ... all of that stuff suddenly disappeared. I yanked myself out of the water like a gymnast and away from the deck as the boat impacted. Man, that was close! That would have cut me right in half. The dock was splintering under the repeated crunches. No telling what this was doing to the
Horner
but I didn't want to hang around to check.

I got up from the deck and slammed through the back door into the salon. Madison screamed "Jim" as I entered the salon and then screamed again. I looked down at my t-shirt and saw the reason why: I was covered with blood. That little face plant popped my nose loose and now it was bleeding like a waterfall. That's the first time in my life it's taken so long to realize I had been hurt. My front teeth felt a little loose too, but there wasn't anything that I could do about it.

I got into the Captain's chair and prayed that the engines would fire when I started them. I turned the key and pressed the starter. We could hear the engine cranking over the storm, the sound of boat engines and the alarm. Would they start? A few agonizing seconds went by.

"Why aren't they starting?" Madison asked, beginning to panic.

"I don't know ... they're gonna start, though. Just a few more seconds," I replied. Normally, I would tell her to just shut up or something. I realized with a sudden wave of sadness that if things didn't start going our way this might actually be the last time we would see each other. I wanted Madison to know that I loved her. Even if all we had left were a few minutes.