Free Seeking Safe Harbor: Suddenly Everything Changed (The Seeking Series) by Albert Correia

trailing behind.
    The normally clear deck now had six heavy barrels of fuel lashed to the rails on the aft deck. Boxes, bags, and tubs were strewn around the salon they now used for eating and conversing. Before, a relaxed crew had viewed the local scenery in awe of its beauty as they passed. This night, they were tense and armed, all eyes on the lookout for gangs and terrorists – or whatever the people who turned to killing and looting for survival could now be called.
    As they passed through the bay’s entrance, George said, “I think I saw movement on the mainland.”
    “Everyone keep down,” Zach ordered as he turned the boat, which had been headed due north, to a northeast heading. It didn’t put them directly on their course to California, but it did take them away from a mainland where danger now lurked around every corner.
    Nothing happened, except that the boat began to rise and fall more noticeably when the
La Sirena
left the calmer bay waters and entered the more active ocean currents. The swells weren’t large, but the wind was picking up and they could see an occasional whitecap in places where the moon shone upon the water.
    When there was no move against them from the mainland, Stacey reasoned, “Either those over there aren’t armed, or they have no boat and saw no point in shooting at something they couldn‘t catch.” She moved over to the port side. “I think we’d all better come over here,” she told everyone. “If we’re going to be attacked, it will be by that boat we saw slip in behind the breakwater. If they do come after us, it will be from the starboard side, so we can keep under cover here behind the upper hull of the cabins and the cockpit.”
    “Do you think they’re still there?” Denise wanted to know. There was still a tremor in her voice. “I don’t see anything.”
    “Their lights are off, and in the dark, anything around the breakwater rocks would be almost impossible to see,” her mother said. “They must still be there, though. They haven’t had time to go anywhere, and we haven’t heard their engine for some time now. That means they’re just sitting there.”
    “What do you think they’re doing?” Glen asked.
    “Waiting,” said Millie. It was the first time she spoke since being introduced.
    “Waiting for what?” Denise asked.
    Millie shook her head. “I don’t know for sure but I don’t like what I’m thinking.” She checked to make sure there was a round in the chamber of her automatic weapon.
    They heard a motor start.
    “Where is that coming from?” cried Denise.
    “It sounds like it’s coming from over there by the breakwater,” George answered.
    “Everyone… do as Stacey suggested,” Zach said. “Get over on the port side and stay under cover until we find out what’s happening.”
    The sound of the motor was getting louder. There could be no question about its destination. It was headed right at the
La Sirena
. Zach began to slow the sailboat down.
    “Shouldn’t we try to get away?” Millie asked.
    “This is a sailboat,” Stacey told her. “It’s built to be propelled by sails. Our engine is only big enough to get us in and out of small places and move us a little in dead calms. Any powerboat in the world is at least four times faster. Trying to outrun whoever is back there is fruitless.”
    Zach didn’t add that he decided that if there was going to be a confrontation, there was no point in getting farther out to sea. If they were somehow forced to swim, it might as well be from a point closer to the breakwater. “Let’s wait to see what their intention is,” he said. “Everyone stay down, and make sure your weapons are off safety.”
    When the powerboat was thirty yards away, it slowed and a light came on, shining on the
La Sirena
.
    “Ahoy, there, sailboat
La Sirena
, this is the Hilo Coast Guard.” The voice came from the powerboat. Even though the moon wasn’t covered by clouds at that moment, the people on the