I adjusted the focus and concentrated on a soldier coming out of the tent. He rubbed his arm gingerly through his combat jacket.
“They’re being inoculated,” I said. “They must have a vaccine or something.” Was it possible they had a vaccine against the virus?
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Tanya said. “They’re all over there on the beach. I count four soldiers on the jetties, two on each. This is our chance.” She went over to the sales counter and rummaged around until she found a bunch of keys. She brought them over and spread them on the floor.
Five silver-coloured keys, each on a ring that also held a round neon yellow plastic float, so the keys wouldn’t sink if dropped overboard, and a white plastic tag stamped with a number. On the reverse of the number tag was the slogan, “Sail To Your Destiny” written in dark green script.
I arranged the tags so they were all number-side up.
42.
45.
59.
63.
71.
“Can we see any of these boats out there?” I asked, pointing my binoculars towards the moored boats.
Tanya did the same. “I see 71,” she said. “It’s tied to the jetty on the right, closest boat to the shore.”
“That means we’d have to sail it out past all the other boats before we got out to sea,” I replied. “Keep looking.”
“We need to hurry,” Jax said, “Some of the soldiers are coming back.”
At the moment, there were only two soldiers on each jetty. They stood in the rain with their weapons slung over their shoulders. They looked bored. I didn’t intend to provide them with action to relieve that boredom. If possible, I wanted to sneak past them unnoticed.
I hurriedly scanned the names and numbers on the boats. “I see 42. She’s all the way out at the end of the jetty. Near the fuel pump.”
Tanya adjusted her binoculars and searched for the boat.
Jax sounded panicked. “We need to move.”
“There’re four soldiers coming this way, man,” Sam said.
“Let’s go,” Tanya said, opening the door. “We’ll go for 42 but bring all the keys just in case.” She scooped them up and went out into the rain.
I followed her out. As soon as I got onto the pebbled beach, I was soaked. The cold rain hissed down onto the beach and the sea. Tanya was headed for the jetty but I caught her arm and pointed to the yellow rowboat lying on the pebbles.
It was the boat I had tried to take out once before. The tide had brought it back in and beached it. We went over to it and glided it into the water before climbing aboard.
Sam took the oars and began to row us out, keeping to the sterns of the moored boats to provide us with more cover.
I hoped the rain and boredom had dulled the senses of the soldiers on the jetties.
We were silent as we slid through the waves. The water slapped against the hull of the rowboat and the oars made splashing sounds as Sam raised them dripping from the sea but none of us spoke or even dared whisper.
I focused on the stern of boat number 42. Beneath the number, the boat’s name was painted in blue. Lucky Escape. I gripped the wet wooden edges of the rowboat tighter and willed it to go faster. We were exposed out here. What had made me think trying to sneak a bright yellow boat past soldiers was a good idea? My poor judgement could kill us all.
A moment later, as I was still gripping the edges of the rowboat and trying to concentrate only on the Lucky Escape, a shout went up from the jetty.
The soldiers on the jetty nearest us were hidden by the boats tied in their slips but the soldiers on the opposite side of the marina had seen us and were shouting and pointing.
“Fuck!” Tanya said, hitting the side of the rowboat in frustration.
The soldiers across the marina unslung their weapons. I could hear the soldiers closest to us running along the jetty, their boots pounding the wooden slats as they tried to get into a position where they could see us.
“We’re going to have to swim for it,” Tanya shouted. “If we stay in this boat, we’re dead.”
As if to confirm what she was saying, a bullet smacked into the hull of the rowboat.
We all jumped.
seventeen
The freezing water shocked my body as I went under. I surfaced, gasping for breath.
More shouting erupted from somewhere close.
I swam for boat number 42 along with Tanya, Jax and Sam.
There was so much splashing, I wasn’t sure if we were still being fired at.
Tanya got to the Lucky Escape first. She lifted herself out of the water and climbed the stern ladder with ease. As she vaulted onto the aft deck, she leaned over and shouted at me. “Come on, Alex!” She began fumbling with the keys, searching for the ones labelled 42.
I couldn’t swim any faster. The weight of my clothes dragged me down and swimming while holding a baseball bat was difficult.
“Untie the boat!” I shouted. A mouthful of salty water rushed into my mouth, making me gag. I spat it out and continued swimming.
Tanya darted to the front of the Lucky Escape and untied the ropes.
I looked toward the jetty. The two soldiers had almost reached the boat. They would be on the Lucky Escape in seconds.
Tanya climbed up the ladder to the bridge as Sam reached the stern. He pulled himself up onto the aft deck and untied the tire iron from his backpack.
The Lucky Escape’s engine coughed then died.
I heard Tanya curse from the bridge.
The engine spluttered again.
This time it started.
The water behind the boat churned up as Jax reached the ladder and got on board. I was almost there.
The two soldiers reached the bow and stepped onto the boat, their rifles waving at Sam and Jax. The two military men were young, probably in their early twenties. One had dark close-shaven hair, the other brown. Both looked nervous.
“Hey!” the dark-haired soldier shouted. “Stop!”
They moved forward.
Sam and Jax raised their hands. Sam still held his tire iron in his right hand.
While the dark-haired young man trained his weapon on Sam and Jax, the fair-haired soldier took a radio from his jacket and held it to his mouth. “This is Williams. We’ve got two people on a boat here. On the South jetty. Over.”
The reply came immediately. “Detain them. Do not let them get away. We’ll be there in a minute. Over.”
“Copy that,” Williams said. “Over and out.”
I reached the lowermost rung of the metal ladder that led up to the aft deck. Williams had said two people. The soldiers across the marina knew there were four of us but Williams and his companion hadn’t seen us. They didn’t know about me or Tanya.
I gripped my bat in one hand and curled my fingers around the metal ladder. Tanya, Sam and Jax had made it look easy to get on board the Lucky Escape in a matter of seconds but I knew it would take me a lot longer to pull myself out of the water and climb those few rungs then get over the chrome safety rail at the top. By the time I got up, I’d be shot easily.
Tanya dropped down out of the bridge and I heard scuffling. One of the soldiers shouted then dropped over the side into the water. His rifle, still clutched in his hands, fired a burst of three rounds. I reflexively flattened myself against the boat but the bullets hit the jetty, slamming into the wood with a trio of rapid thunks. The soldier splashed into the sea.