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

sailboat could see nothing on the other boat except the light that was shining in their faces. They couldn’t tell what the man looked like or what he was wearing. “We need to board your boat to check for contraband,” the voice went on.
    In a whisper loud enough to be heard by those aboard, but not thirty yards away, Zach asked, “George, is there such a thing as the Hilo Coast Guard?”
    “Never heard of it,” George answered.
    “Me neither,” Millie said. “And I’ve been here for eighty years.”
    The point of origin of the light moved.
    “Zach,” Stacey observed, “that’s not a mounted light. It’s only a powerful flashlight, and whoever is holding it just changed hands.”
    “Good observation,” he said. “They’re bad guys, so we’re going to have to fight. I’m going to put it on autopilot, gun it, and then I’m ducking down in the cockpit. Be ready.”
    It took only a few seconds for whoever was at the controls of the powerboat to react when Zach increased speed. The sailboat had opened up more distance between the boats in that short time, but the powerful engine roared, and the powerboat was closing in on the
La Sirena
quickly.
    When it was again thirty yards away, the light was still shining on the sailboat, and those aboard the supposed Coast Guard boat opened fire.
    A hail of bullets tore into the sailboat.



Chapter 17
    “E VERYONE stay down!” Zach yelled the second the bullets started flying.
    “We’re sitting ducks with that light on us,” George said over the noise of the fusillade.
    Zach was well aware that the real problems were that they couldn’t outrun the powerboat and that the light made them too visible, but he hadn’t worked out a solution yet.
    As if reading his mind, Denise called out, “I could knock it out, Dad.”
    “I know you could, Sweetie, but it’s too dangerous for you to get up to do it right now. Stay down while I try to come up with something.”
    From his location at the bottom of the cockpit, Zach couldn’t see what was happening on the narrow deck between the cabin and the rail. All the other members of the crew and their two guests were lying low there. Bullets were either flying over their heads or hitting the hull or the masts and sails. Several bullets punctured holes in two of the barrels of diesel. He knew that… unlike gasoline… diesel wasn’t highly flammable, so there was no explosion or fire, but he also knew that they were losing valuable fuel.
    Glen and Denise were lying near the front of the cabin. He put a finger to his lips, then crooked a finger and urged her to follow him as he crawled forward. She crawled after him, and when he was in front of the cabin, she crawled up next to him.
    Having seen that everyone was in the center or toward the back of the powerboat where they were still standing and visible, the people were concentrating their fire. So far, nothing was hitting where the two youngsters were now. Glen whispered in his sister's ear, “As long as we’re careful, they won’t know we’re up here, so we can do things.”
    “If I slide around to the other side of the cabin, I can get a shot at that light from the corner,” she whispered back.
    “That’s what I was thinking. Be careful, though. Move real slow. And wait until I’m below.”
    He pointed to the hatch that was in the center of the boat, a few feet forward of the cabin. The cabin top was two feet higher than the deck at that point, so their actions were hidden from the others on the boat and, more importantly, from the people who were shooting at them.
    “What are you going to do below?”
    “I have an idea,” was all he said before he lifted the hatch, slid through the opening, and lowered himself onto the large V-berth bunk bed in the cabin at the front of the boat.
    Denise didn’t waste time asking any more questions. She edged over to the starboard front corner of the cabin and peeked around. All she could see was the light, and it was getting