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

nearer. Fortunately, it was still pointed at the cockpit, so only a little peripheral light hit where she was hidden. As long as she didn’t make any quick moves, they shouldn’t notice her.
    She was right-handed, and if she shot the way she usually did, she would have to go all the way out from her cover or raise her head, shoulders, and part of her upper body over the cabin. Either would be more dangerous than leaning around the corner and shooting left handed.
    Ever so slowly, she brought her rifle around and positioned the butt against her left shoulder. It would be a little awkward shooting that way, but her father was a thorough man and he had them all practice from both sides. Besides, she reasoned, it was the same person aiming.
    She was an excellent shot and one bullet would normally do the trick. However, with the light shining so brightly, she couldn’t be sure of the exact spot it was coming from. What was more, the wind driven waves were rocking the boat enough to make a single shot chancy. She left the weapon on automatic. She knew it tended to kick up and to the right when fired, so she aimed at the lower left of where she thought the light was emanating. She squeezed the trigger gently.
    Her shots couldn’t be heard over the sound of all those coming from the powerboat, but the bullets ripping into the boat all around them told the shooters that someone was firing back. She didn’t hit the powerful flashlight, but her shots caused the holder to shift, giving her a better idea of where the light was coming from. She re-aimed and squeezed the trigger again.
    She shattered the light with her second volley, but that gave the men aboard the boat a fix on where the return fire was coming from. Two of them shifted their target area to the front of the sailboat and blasted it. Bullets flew around her, and she ducked frantically back behind the cabin. In the excitement of the moment, she didn’t feel anything hit her, but noticed blood on her arm. She looked to see a three-inch long slit on her lower arm. It wasn’t deep and only a quarter of an inch wide. She looked at it in wonder. She had never been wounded before but instinctively knew that a bullet nicked her.
    She was a thirteen-year-old girl. Two days before, her most serious considerations were coping with the changes in becoming a teenager and going from elementary to high school. In the last half hour, she provided cover fire against a pack of thieves, killed a man, and was wounded in a battle for their lives. There were bullets hitting all around her, and she could hear a boat full of men bearing down on them, intent on killing her and her family.
    Life had changed.



Chapter 18
    “W HAT’S happening up there?” Zach yelled from the cockpit. “Who knocked out their light?”
    “It was Denise, Dad!” Glen answered from below in the main cabin.
    “Denise?” cried Stacey from the side of the cabin. “Are you all right?”
    “I’m okay, Mom,” Denise called out. “I shot out their light!”
    “Good job! Stay down,” her mother said, not knowing what else to advise a girl who had the courage to shoot a man who was attacking her and then shoot out the light that was making them easy targets.
    Zach crawled over to look down into the cabin. “What are you doing down there, son?” It was unlikely anyone from the other boat could hear them over the noise of the gunfire, but Zach was a careful man and had lowered his voice to an audible whisper.
    “Looking for the dynamite,” Glen responded in the same tone.
    “Great thinking! Wow… keeping a cool head and coming up with this good an idea under stress are a couple of abilities few people have, he thought. “Glen, this idea could give us the edge we need. The dynamite is up here in the cockpit storage bin. Come on up, but keep your head down.”
    He slid back toward the rear of the cockpit so his son could climb up into the space between the cabin doorway and the wheel. While Glen was