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“What’s the plan?” asked Jo.

Nick wished he knew.  “Well, one plan would be to go and talk to Pete, get this all out on the table.”

Nick could tell by Jo’s reaction that she didn’t want that.  She shrank back against the bench, and her eyes widened.

“Okay, on to Plan B,” said Nick.  “Plan B is to…um…okay, I’m guessing you don’t want Pete to know you’re on the boat, so I guess Plan B is to keep you down here until we are away from here. Then we'll go down the waterway a bit and anchor, and then we will talk this out.  Then we will decide where to go from there.  Okay?”

Jo nodded.  “Yes, that sounds like a plan.  And I have no problem staying down here.  I sure don’t want to be where he can see me.”

“Well, I’ve closed the curtains in my room, so you’ll be safe in there.  I’m going to take my charts and book up to the bridge and look around again.  The sun’s up.  Maybe we can get away before Pete gets up.”

Nick meant ‘get away’ as in ‘leave’.  He could see that Jo thought he meant ‘escape’, and she seemed relieved.

Nick went topside as casually and nonchalantly as he could.  I’m cool, he hummed under his breath, I’m doing what I always do, I’m cool, setting up my charts, breathing in the morning air.  I’m cool.

He set the charts down on the bridge and looked around the marina.  The Sunset Voyager was gone from its berth.  Nick opened his mouth to call down to Jo, but he closed it again.  He could see that someone was leaning against a post by the arcade.  The person seemed to be watching the Lenore.  Nick didn’t know if he was just being paranoid…it could just be the arcade guy reporting for work…or maybe the fried onions guy.

Nope, thought Nick, let’s stick to the plan.  He fiddled with the charts and got everything set.  Then he went below again.

“Okay,” he said to Jo, “I’m almost ready to go.  Pete’s already gone, but there’s a guy on the dock, so I think you’d better stay here until we’re sure we’re alone.”

While he talked, Nick filled a small cooler with four bottles of water.

“Okay,” said Jo, meekly, “I’ll stay out of sight.”

Nick went topside again. He placed the water in its spot on the bridge, and he fiddled with a couple of switches, all unnecessary activity designed to cover the fact that he was looking around the marina for the stranger.

He found him.  The man was no longer by the arcade.  He was now on the dock, approaching the Lenore.  Nick dropped down the ladder to the back deck. 

“Mornin’,” Nick called out.  Below, he could feel Jo race up to the bedroom.

“Mornin’,” answered the stranger.  “You getting ready to head out?”

“Yeah,” said Nick.  “I want to get going before it gets crowded out there.”

“Where you headed?” asked the stranger.

“Florida,” replied Nick, succinctly.

“You want me to push you off?”

“That’d be great, Man.  Thanks.”

Nick went up to the bridge and started the engines.  The stranger untied the rope from the stanchion at the back and tossed it onto the deck.  Then he moved to the front and did the same.  He pushed on the boat and then stepped back to the middle of the dock.

“Thanks,” called out Nick, waving to the man.

“Smooth sailing,” answered the stranger, waving back.

Nick maneuvered the Lenore out into the channel.  As he got to the end, he turned back.  The stranger still stood on the dock.  He had a cell phone in his hand, and he was speaking into it.

Nick looked down at his charts.  He wanted to find a river to anchor in, some place out of the way so that he and Jo could have their talk.  He realized too late that he had effectively cut off communication with her by telling her to stay below.  There was no way to talk to her without anchoring the boat.  There was an intercom system between the cabin and the bridge, but Nick hadn’t learned how to use it. He was also sure that it would scare the hell out of Jo if his voice suddenly came out of the wall.

Nick concentrated on driving the boat.  He steered it up the channel away from the marina.  He thought about heading north instead of south once he was away from the prying eyes of the stranger on the dock.  Pete had to get his boat to Florida.  There was no way he would be heading north.

Nick’s psyche wanted to head south.  South was Florida.  South was home.  Home was safe.  Going north would be backtracking and getting them further away from where they wanted to be instead of closer.  As far as distance went, Jacksonville was closer than Savannah.  If they needed a big city police force or whatever, that would be the place to get it.  So that was another vote for south.

Between St. Simon’s Island and the Florida border is a section called the Dead Zone.  There are few towns and marinas.  The coastline is fairly wild, kept that way on purpose by the State of Georgia who did not want the shoulder-to-shoulder condominium sprawl that was the feature of the entire Florida coastline.  It’s beautiful country, but it’s also pretty isolated.

So was that a vote for north?

Nick didn’t know.  But what he did know was that when he came to the end of the channel twenty minutes later and had to make up his mind, he had it made up for him.  The Sunset Voyager was moored at the edge of the channel.  There was no sign of Pete on the back deck.

Nick moved the Lenore slowly past the other boat and turned it south.  He did not look back.  When he reached a bend in the river, he looked around. He could see Pete standing on the front deck of his boat.  He had binoculars up to his face.  And they were looking straight at Nick.

Pete waved.

Nick waved back.  He didn’t know what else to do.

Nick rounded the bend in the river and disappeared from Pete’s view.  Nick figured he didn’t have a lot of time before Pete came after them.  He grabbed his charts and studied them carefully.  He wanted to find a place to hide, so that Pete would go right past them.  Nick didn’t want Pete behind them.  He wanted him in front of them.

Nick’s eyes raced down the columns in the guidebook.  No anchorage at Brunswick.  There was a marina, but it was tiny.  There was no way to hide there.  The Frederica River…no…Jekyll Island…

Nick’s hand hovered over the write-up.  It said that there was no anchorage nearby, but Nick wasn’t intending on staying overnight anyway.  There was a marina with a restaurant, pool and bike rentals for exploring the island.  Nick didn’t give a rat’s ass about exploring the island, but he thought it might be a good place to hide.

Nick checked the charts.  It was seven miles away.  The waterway curved and twisted a lot.  If he could keep far enough ahead of Pete, he could swing the boat into the channel for the island without being seen.  Then they could hide behind the island until Pete passed.

It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all Nick had for now.  He pushed the boat as hard as he could.  He was in shallow water with a lot of shoals, so he had to be careful.  Whenever he came to a straightaway, he chanced a glance over his shoulder.  Every time, he saw the Sunset Voyager.  Every time, it was a little closer.

Finally, as he was approaching the island, Nick veered off to the left away from the island.  He pushed the throttle forward and moved the boat quickly through the water.  He went around the bend and pulled the boat hard to the right, swinging it into an inlet that, according to the chart, circled around and came out behind the island.  As soon as Nick was out of sight of the waterway, he cut the engines and lay dead in the water.

Then he waited.

Down below, Jo felt the engines stop.  She crept into the living room and tried to peer out the window without being seen.  She could see nothing but water and coastline.  She moved to the other side.  Same thing.

They had stopped for some reason.  Jo wondered what it was.  She wondered if she should go up and ask.  She knew that Nick wanted to find a place to anchor and talk, but this didn’t seem like the place.  And he hadn’t dropped the anchor.  He had just stopped the boat and turned it off.

Jo tiptoed to the doorway leading to the back deck.  “Nick,” she called out softly.

“Stay there,” came the reply. “Be quiet.”

Nick stood on the bridge and strained his ears.  For awhile, he heard nothing.  Then faintly, the sound of a boat engine.  It came closer and closer.  Nick crossed his fingers.  Go past, he prayed.  Go past.

The engine sound began to grow faint again.  Then it disappeared.

It had worked.  Pete had gone past them.  Now, Nick was going to backtrack and hide behind Jekyll Island.  It was time to get the story from Jo.