Adrift: The Complete Novel (20 page)
Read Adrift: The Complete Novel Online
Authors: C. G. Cooper
But I couldn’t. There was something I had to take care of. “Okay, Max. If you want to keep your money, all you need to do is sign this one piece of paper.” I held up a sheet encased in a waterproof bag. “What do you say?”
He scrunched his tanned face, trying to figure out if I was bluffing, not that he had a choice. “Can I see what I’m signing?”
“Sure.” I stepped closer, coming within feet of the coward.
“Can I hold it?”
“Nope. You can read it from there.”
He looked like he was going to protest, but decided against it, instead reading the document in my outstretched hand. A minute later, his eyes met mine. “This is a power of attorney.”
“You’re a smart man, Max. Now let’s get to signing.”
“How do I know you won’t go back on your word?”
I smiled. “You don’t. You’ll just have to trust me.”
It took him a moment. “Okay. Let me just go an grab a pen.” He started to turn.
“That’s okay. I’ve got one right here.” I pulled another waterproof bag out of my waistband, seawater dripping onto the carpet.
Throwing me a hateful look, Laney grabbed the pen. “Can I at least sit down?” I could see he was trying not to show weakness. I’ll bet that fishing spear hurt.
“Sure.” I waved him into a white lounge chair and extracted the power of attorney. Standing almost on top of him, I watched as he scrawled his signature on the document. Lifting the paper from the table, I inspected his work. Henry Ellison had shown me a sample of Laney’s official signature, just in case he tried to pull a fast one. He hadn’t. It matched the one I had seen. I placed the sheet back in its waterproof container.
“Now what? Are you going to let me go?” asked Laney, spitting out every word.
“Tell you what. Why don’t you grab each of us a drink,” I pointed to the well-stocked bar, “and then we’ll cruise back in a few minutes.”
Laney nodded, wincing as he got up to prepare the drinks. I turned as well, stowing the pen and paper, re-zipping my wetsuit. “I’ll be right back. Gonna take a leak. Don’t go below. I’ll still be able to see you.”
He didn’t even turn, knowing he couldn’t move fast enough with the spear stuck in his leg.
I walked to the back landing and took my time. My piss splashed into the salt water. Finished, I walked back slowly. Laney had turned his back to me. He’d already downed half of his drink.
I didn’t hesitate. In one swift move, I looped the line around his neck two times before he could get his hands up. Yanking Laney to his feet, I turned him around to face me. His eyes wide with fear, blood rushing, he tried to gasp. I was done playing.
“This is for Kelly Waters.”
My soul slipped away, replaced in an instant by the creature inside. I watched it like a movie, an innocent bystander, the moves of a monster no more than a tale of horror on my mind’s television screen.
Up and over the beast’s shoulder went Laney, mouth trying to scream as he flew past the railing, hitting the side of the hull with a loud thud. Wordlessly, mindlessly, the beast tied off the line and walked aft, the sounds of Laney’s struggling still thumping against the boat. A moment later the beast was back, a mask of fury as it tied the other end of the line to the fifty pound drifting anchor he’d pulled from the shallow bottom.
I watched silently as my other self untied the line and threw the anchor into the water, taking the still flailing Laney with it to the ocean floor.
The splash quickened my body and I felt my body once again move to my command. I waited. I counted. Three minutes and twenty two second later, the line and Laney’s body bobbed to the surface, facedown. I waited another five minutes, watching the body float around the small point of Cat Island.
Chapter 45
We sat in a small coffee shop watching the steady stream of tourists heading in and out on Highway 90.
“You sure you can’t stay?” asked Hollie, for the third time.
“I need to keep moving.”
“I sure could use your help on the farm. Me and some of Eli’s friends would be happy to pay you.”
I smiled. “That’s a really nice offer, and please tell the others I’m grateful, but my heart tells me there’s somewhere else I need to be.”
Hollie nodded, looking down at his coffee. “Daniel, I…I know men like you and me, soldiers and Marines who have seen and done things…I know it’s hard, son. I sure wish you would let me, or let someone else help you. Lord knows I needed it.”
He was right, but I wasn’t ready. My demons wouldn’t allow it. “I promise I’ll try, but I can’t do that here.”
Hollie reached over and put his hand on mine. “Now listen, if you need anything, anything at all, you make sure you call me. I’ll hop on a plane, ride on a train, whatever. You’re family now, Marine. I hope you know that.”
I patted his hand, genuinely grateful for the old man’s words. In another life I might have stopped. I could have stayed. But my mind was set. Something called. I wasn’t sure what it was. It didn’t matter. I had to go.
“I better get going. My bus will be boarding soon.”
We both stood, Hollie looking at me like he wanted to say something else, somehow make me stay. He stuck out his hand.
“It’s been an honor meeting you, Marine.”
I clasped his hand tight. “The honor was all mine. Semper Fi.”
Releasing his grip, I grabbed my pack and headed for the door, resisting the urge to look back as I stepped out into the blazing sun.
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I got a seat at the back of the bus, next to the window. There weren’t many people onboard and I’d figured out how to keep others from sitting next to me.
With a sigh, I opened up my rucksack and pulled out the bottle of Jack Daniels. Twisting the top and breaking the seal, I put the bottle to my lips, once again headed to nowhere.
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