Seeking Safe Harbor: Suddenly Everything Changed (The Seeking Series) by Albert Correia Read Free Book Online Page A

walked around him.
    When they got to the water, Zach held the dinghy steady as Denise and George climbed aboard. He gave it a good shove and jumped in himself. He took the oars and rowed them quickly to the sailboat, pulling up to the stern where the boarding ladder hung.
    “I’m going to keep the dinghy in the water,” Zach said. “No telling what we’re going to run into.” He looked around the dark land surrounding the hotel, knowing there could be a dozen people hiding there like the man he’d knocked out. All the lights and fires were farther away, near the center of Hilo, but the people were desperate and were liable to do just about anything.
    Denise grabbed a rung of the ladder and began climbed up, her rifle hanging loosely by the canvas sling over her shoulder. George followed, and Zach was right behind him. Once aboard, Zach explained the situation to Stacey and Glen. “We need to sail her around the bend over there, nodding toward the point that separated Hilo Bay from Reeds Bay, and then back toward the dock. We’ll only use the mainsail.”
    Stacey and Glen sprang into action, knowing what was expected of them. They’d been in emergency situations before, although those were storms and somewhat different from what they faced now. The sailing would be easier in these calm waters, but in those other situations, there wasn’t the possibility that someone might open fire on them at any minute. Glen pulled up the anchor as Stacey started removing the bungee cords that were holding the mainsail to the boom. Zach was already at the mast winch, pulling the sail up. Denise was at the wheel.
    “What can I do?” George asked.
    Stacey didn’t hesitate. “Go aft and watch for bad guys. Stay away from the center of the ship, or the mainsail boom is likely to cold-cock you. Wouldn’t want that to happen!”
    A light wind was blowing toward land, so the bow was pointing away from shore, within thirty degrees of what their initial course would be. As soon as the sail started going up, the boom swung to the starboard side, and the
La Sirena
began moving. Glen hauled the anchor up and left it on the deck in case they needed it later. Denise turned the wheel to starboard. The boat was soon moving at a few knots, the wind coming in over the port side as they headed almost due east. Within ten minutes, they were abreast of the opening between the two bays.
    Stacey nodded at Denise, and the girl again turned the wheel, this time ninety degrees to starboard. Stacey had moved to the pulley that controlled the mainsail boom. She let it out so that the boom swung all the way around until it was almost at a ninety-degree angle to the hull of the ship. The wind, which was now coming directly over the stern, hit the sail full on and they moved at a rapid pace.
    It only took a couple of minutes for them to pass the rocky point that extended out to separate the two bays. Zach went over and grabbed the line that controlled the boom. “I’ll guide it over, Denise. When I say ‘now,’ make the turn… but not too fast.”
    She nodded, and when Zach gave the word, she began making the turn. As Stacey winched in the line, Zach walked the boom across the boat. They were soon sailing west, headed straight for the dock, the wind coming in over the starboard rail.
    George, himself no stranger to boats, had never seen things done more smoothly. He moved to the center cockpit to avoid having to yell. “The barrels are in front of the third building from the right.”
    “Good,” Zach replied. “That means we can make a wide turn, and it’ll give us plenty of room to ease up to the dock.”
    With the moonlight, and the fires blazing in the town behind them, the boaters could see the buildings easily. It also made them more visible than they would like.
    Stacey relieved Denise at the wheel.
    George looked inquisitively at Zach.
    “I know what you’re thinking,” Zach said, “and you’re right, Denise is a great helmsman. But,