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

Stacey was at the wheel in three Transpac races. She can put a forty-one foot boat within an inch of any line you draw for her.”
    As they approached the dock, Zach began lowering the sail, and Stacey turned slowly to port so they could let the slight wind push them gently up to the dock. When they were twenty feet away, Zach dropped the sail all the way, and wrapped a single bungee around it. He then went to the stern and grabbed a shoreline. Glen was on another line at the bow. With the sail down, the wind pushed the boat toward the dock slowly. When they were three feet away, and Zach and Glen were ready to jump up to the dock to secure the lines. A powerful gust of wind hit the boat broadside. Stacey reacted quickly, turning the wheel hard to port. She’d done everything possible to save the situation, but it wasn’t enough.
    They slammed into the dock. She kept it from hitting hard enough to damage the boat, but it still caused the one thing they’d been trying to avoid.
    It made a loud banging noise.



Chapter 11
    E VEN before the boat stopped rocking, Zach and Glen had the lines at its bow and its stern wrapped around cleats on the dock. The boat settled against the heavy posts that held the dock up.
    “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop it from hitting,” Stacey apologized.
    “Nobody could have,” Zach reassured her. “Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to have a little fun at our expense, and we’re all at her mercy when she does that. It does limit our time here, though. No telling who heard it.”
    He spotted six barrels. “Are those the ones, George?”
    “Yep.”
    “We need to get them over here, fast. Rolling them will be the quickest way. Stacey and Denise, you’d better keep your weapons off safety and ready. Watch for bad guys. They could come from either side.”
    The three males rushed over to the barrels. Each knocked one over and rolled it toward the boat. Glen lost control of his, and it rolled right onto the aft deck, banging hard on the teak deck and rolling over to the far side, where it came to rest against the railing.
    “Sorry, Dad!”
    “That’s okay, Glen, that’s where we would have…” Zach started to say, but cut off his comment when the sound of gunfire interrupted him. Stacey had stepped up on the dock and opened fire at a spot near the corner of one building over from where the barrels were. He could see a few men ducking for cover, but several others were heading their way, undaunted by the risk.
    Zach rolled his barrel onto the sailboat, making no attempt to avoid chipping the teak deck or the rails. “No time to be neat,” he stated flatly, and George did the same. The barrels came to a stop near the one Glen had rolled onto the boat.
    They ran back for the other three barrels, knocking them over as Denise, still aboard, joined her mother in shooting in the direction of the advancing men.
    Both were intentionally missing, but Stacey yelled, “Stop where you are or I will aim the next rounds directly at you.”
    Most of the men slowed down, then stopped. When two didn’t, Stacey shot them in their legs.
    The other men gathered to confer. Zach, George, and Glen took advantage of the lull to roll the other three barrels onto the boat. The large barrels cluttered the aft deck, leaving little room for the crew to maneuver, but that was of no concern to them at that moment.
    “Untie the aft line,” Zach yelled at Glen as he started the engine. “Quick, Stacey, undo the bow line and get aboard.” He pushed the throttle full ahead as Stacey, her weapon still in hand, jumped up and undid the line, which was already beginning to tighten. Zach was turning the boat away from the dock when she tossed her weapon aboard and jumped, grasping a rail as the boat picked up speed.
    * * * * *
    Six of the men had regrouped. They ran to try to catch the boat, but stopped abruptly at the edge of the dock when George shot at their feet. They jumped back as the wood chips flew. By the