Free Firestorm by Ronnie Dauber Page A

again.
    “Where’s the
boat?”
    I knew that
this was going to be a difficult task because now we had to
convince Don that there even was a boat. And then we had to get him
to swim to the shore where we’d have to make him believe that the
boat was hiding behind some bushes or rocks.
    Brad was always
one step ahead of my imagination, though.
    “Don, it’s over
there. See it? Big white ship with dark blue………”
    “Where’s it? I
don’t see it. Where’s the boat, Pete?”
    Pete?
    “Don, listen to
me. It’s over there. You have to see it. It’s there.”
    Don stretched
his head to look behind him and then he looked back and stared me
in the eyes. It was a strange sensation, almost as if he was
searching my soul for something.
    “Pete. I always
said you could swim if you tried. We’re gonna make it to the boat
together this time. Hang on.”
    I saw the hope
in Don’s eyes and I just wanted to burst out crying. He thought
that I was his brother and that he was still alive. I watched him
squirm around on the rock and my whole body was flushed with agony
as tears began welling up in my eyes. Meagan was as close to me as
any sister can get and my heart ached just thinking that anything
bad could happen to her. How horrifying this must have been for him
to watch his brother drown like that.
    “Pete, come on.
This guy’s gonna take us to Luke.”
    While we were
talking, Brad had unwound the rope and was wrapping it around Don’s
chest and under his arms. He handed me the other end and began
pulled Don towards him.
    “Okay, Pete.
You take this end and swim to the…to the boat over there, and when
you get on it just keep pulling us in.”
    The air was
warm, the emotions were wild and the task was challenging, yet I
could see in Brad’s eyes that he was actually enjoying this little
pretence.
    “The rope is
only fifty feet long and it’s about three hundred feet to that
boat, so how am I going to get to shore … or uh, to the deck and
pull you on?”
    He shook his
head and smirked as he secured the knot in the rope around Don’s
chest.
    “Well, just
hold onto the end and keep pulling. You’ll feel the tension of us
behind you but I need you to keep pulling us. He’s almost a dead
weight and it’s going to be hard enough for me to keep us both
afloat, so if you can help by pulling us and then reeling us in
that last fifty feet, that would be great, Pete.”
    As I tied the
end into a small loop so that I could slip my wrist through it, I
noticed the amusing grin on Brad’s face.
    “So, if I’m
Pete, who are you?”
    But to my
surprise Don jerked forward and pointed to Brad.
    “Ah Pete, I’m
sorry. This is Luke’s young helper. Forget your name, though.”
    This caught me
right off guard and as tense as this rescue was, Brad didn’t miss a
cue.
    “Me? I’m Bond.
James Bond.”
    Brad kept a
straight face while Don’s was overwhelmed with excitement.
    “Hey, I’ve
heard of you. You’re a popular fella. Hey Pete, this guy’s a hero
already and he’s gonna save us. This is our lucky day.”
    I wasn’t sure
if I should laugh or cry.
    “Bond? You’re
James Bond?”
    “That’s right,
Pete, I’m James Bond. Surprised you didn’t figure that out already.
So, anything else you want to know or can we get going?”
    “Well, with
your credentials I would have thought that you could do this whole
rescue all by yourself.”
    Brad’s face was
expressionless.
    “Well then,
that would mean that you came out here for nothing, wouldn’t it,
Pete? I don’t want to take all the credit here, so how about you
helping this guy into the water?”
    I could see the
smirk growing on his face and as tense as the moment was, his sense
of humor actually relieved me of some of my shivers. I moved in
closer and helped him lift Don’s limp body off of the rock and into
the water. Brad held him close and kept him afloat.
    “Don, you hang
onto me, okay? I’m going to help you swim to the boat