Free Surrounded by Sharks by Michael Northrop Page A

tough-looking. He had a head that was either shaved or bald, maybe some of each, and a gut just shy of sumo-level.
    Good , thought Brando. If he wants to use the computer, too, maybe he’ll body-slam lover boy here .
    “Pardon,” he said.
    Tam and Pamela turned around. Brando gave him a closer look. The man raised a big meaty hand and gave them a surprisingly dainty wave.
    “Yeah, sorry to bother you,” said Big Tony. His accent was so thick that all of the vowels seemed to be off by one. “My family and I …” He motioned over to two people standing by the elevator. Brando looked and saw a lady about his mom’s age and a girl who looked like she might be in high school. He thought he could just see her bathing suit top through her shirt. He missed the next several sentences.
    “… so when we heard that, we thought we should let you know,” Big Tony was saying when Brando tuned back in.
    “Let us know what?” said Pamela.
    “We saw the boy. Well, we saw a boy, anyway.”
    “When? Where?” said Tam.
    “He was by himself,” said Big Tony. Brando was paying close attention now. They all were. “He was down by the dock. Where the boat comes in, know what I mean? Just waiting there.”
    “Waiting for the boat?” Pamela said, a hint of panic rising in her voice.
    Big Tony looked at her. “Couldn’t say. Could be. He was just sitting there. We didn’t think much of it, know what I mean? Called him a little pirate.”
    He had no idea why he’d added that part, but he couldn’t unsay it now. Tam and Pamela looked at each other.
    “Well, anyhow, thought you should know,” he said, wrapping up.
    “Yes, thank you!” said Tam. “Thank you so much.”
    Big Tony gave another little wave and started to retreat. At the last second, he changed his mind. He took a few quick steps forward. He reached down toward the man sitting at the computer and pulled the headphone away from the man’s right ear.
    “Hey! Chatty!” said Big Tony, louder now. “Time’s up.”
    He let the headphone snap back. The man looked up, his expression shifting quickly from surprise to fear.
    “Cool,” said Brando, as Big Tony walked back toward the elevator.
    *  *  *
    “Did you tell ’em where he was?” asked Drew when her dad returned. In her mind, that was sitting under a tree by the bar stand, reading.
    “Course,” said Big Tony. In his mind, that was by the dock.
    “Well done,” said Kate. She meant ousting the man from the computer.
    They were all on their own page, really. They didn’t stick around as the missing boy’s family printed out pictures from the newly available computer. They’d done their part. When the next elevator came, they took it.
    On the short trip up to the fourth floor — the top floor of the hotel — Drew saw her opening. “We should take that boat into Key West today.” She said it casually, as if the thought had just popped into her mind. “You know, just for a few hours. Then we’ll know if we like it or not.”
    She thought they’d shoot her down immediately, but they didn’t say anything at first. She held her breath as her parents looked at each other. As the elevator door dinged open, her dad shrugged. “Guess we might,” he said. “Kind of depressing around here, kids disappearing and all that.”
    “I don’t know,” said her mom. “I was hoping for some quiet today.”
    Drew had an answer for that. “Good way to get rid of that David, isn’t it?”
    Check and mate. Kate conceded with a nod.
    “Just don’t you go vanishing on us!” said Big Tony, and then they all disappeared into their suite.

Now that he’d had some time to watch the little fish, Davey decided that they were more silver than gray. Every now and then, one of them would turn and catch the sunlight streaming down through the water just right. It would flash a brilliant silver, then turn and flash again. Sometimes he didn’t even see the fish, just the flash. As clear as the water was, the surface