Fallen Hunter (Jesse McDermitt Series) (19 page)

I showered quickly in my shorts, dried off and went inside to change. Tina was still in the head, so I quickly changed in the bedroom, then went down to the
Revenge
and started bringing up the supplies I’d bought before leaving Key West. It took three trips, with a box under each arm, but it was more than enough to last for a couple of weeks.

Tina was just coming out of the head when I brought in the last of the groceries and helped me put them away. She was wearing a lime green tank top and khaki cargo shorts. “This is the last of my clean clothes,” she said. “What do you do when you need to do laundry? I didn’t see a machine anywhere.”

“There’s a small washer and dryer on the boat,” I said. “But living alone on an island, I really don’t have a lot of laundry.”

We put together a large salad and wrapped a dozen ears of corn and a dozen small potatoes in foil. I loaded an empty box with them, adding several snapper fillets, lobster tails, and a big bowl full of stone crab claws from the fridge. We carried everything down to the table in the clearing. I noticed that Trent, probably with Pescador’s help, had a large pile of driftwood behind the eastern bunkhouse. I gathered an armload and with some dried palm fronds soon had a good fire going in the large grill.

Tina was looking into the fire and said, “I’ve never seen such colorful flames. What causes it?”

“It’s the driftwood,” I said. “Salt and minerals from the water soak into the wood and remain after the wood dries. You should see a bonfire.”

The Trent’s came through the trees, all of them carrying buckets. “We got some clams,” Trent said. “We’ll go up and get cleaned up. Be back in a few minutes.”

Tina and I started preparing the lobster tails for the grill by splitting them with my heavy dive knife. The kids squealing caught my attention and when I glanced up to the house, I realized why there was still so much water left. Trent, Charlie and both kids were showering together under the cistern, washing their clothes at the same time. They soon returned and went into the western bunkhouse to change. When they came out, they were wearing dry clothes and Charlie had their wet things in a plastic tub. She carried them over to a line I hadn’t noticed and hung them to dry.

“You guys don’t have to use the cold shower,” I said. “The propane tank is full and will last for months.”

Trent grinned and said, “The kids love it and to tell the truth, it’s a lot of fun. Especially after the kids go to bed.”

That evening, we had a great seafood feast. I kept thinking about Tina’s idea of growing vegetables using aquaculture and my mind was already devising how big the tanks would have to be. Fresh water from the
Revenge
wouldn’t be a problem. It can produce 200 gallons a day. The fresh water fish would be the hard part. I’d have to buy them. There’s a tilapia and catfish farm up in Homestead I could probably get them from.

“This is delicious,” Chyrel said. “I’ve never eaten stone crab or clams and the only lobster I’ve ever had were Maine lobster.”

“You don’t live in south Florida?” Charlie asked.

“No,” she replied. “I live in Georgetown, just outside of DC.”

“Tina,” I said. “I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier. How much do you know about that aquaculture you mentioned?”

“Not a lot, just something I read,” she replied.

“I know a guy in Central America doing it,” Trent said. “Raises fresh water shrimp in one tank and grows pineapple in another. You thinking of doing something like that here?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I cleared this area to try to grow food, but the soil’s all wrong and the groundwater is salty. Tina mentioned aquaculture.”

“I saw his operation,” Trent said. “Seems simple enough. Kinda like cleaner shrimp and big groupers. They help one another. What ya call a symbiotic relationship. Your biggest problem here would be electricity to run the pumps. You can only go so far with the setup you have. You could do a stand-alone battery powered system, with a voltage regulated generator. Kicks on automatically when the voltage in the batteries gets too low and shuts off when they’re fully charged.”

“I’ll have to look into that more,” I said. “It’d be great to be more self-sufficient out here.”

When we were finished eating, Trent and Charlie took the kids into the bunkhouse to get ready for bed. Our plates were banana leaves from one of the dozens of trees on the island and everything was finger food. Since there were no dishes to clean up, we just tossed the leaves in the fire and the lobster and clam shells in the water.

“If you like, Jesse,” Chyrel said, “I can go over the electronics with you. I had a late night and would like to go to sleep soon, myself.”

“Then let’s do it in the morning,” I said, “while we’re heading down to Marathon.”

“You’re a multi-tasker, huh?” she said. “Drive a boat and learn sophisticated electronic devices at the same time?”

“Pilot a boat,” Tina said. “You can go over it while I pilot, right.”

“It’s like you were reading my mind,” I said.

“Okay,” said Chyrel as she stood up. “I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

She headed across the clearing, leaving Tina and me alone, as the sun dipped below the trees. “Come on,” I said. “I want to show you something.”

“I’ve been hoping you’d say that all day,” she said getting to her feet.

“Later,” I said. “What I want you to see is out on the pier.”

We started between the bunkhouses and Pescador ran ahead. He and I sat on the pier at sunset every day so he knew where we were going. We reached the end of the pier and he was already lying in his favorite spot looking at the sun falling toward the horizon. We sat down on the pier next to him, with our feet dangling just above the gin clear water.

As the lower part of the sun reached the horizon, the water seemed to reach up and grab it. Tina saw it and let out a little gasp, while holding my hand. “Watch for a green flash, just as the last of the sun disappears,” I said.

Slowly, the sun sank into the ocean, flattening out as it got lower. High clouds above the horizon darkened from pink, to red, to purple. As the last part of the sun, big and red now, got close to the horizon, a small section seemed to separate itself from it. Then the orb of the sun disappeared and the small separated part flashed to green for an instant and disappeared.

Tina’s eyes were wide with wonder. “I’ve lived here for two years,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever completely watched this. Does it always do that? The green flash? What causes it?”

“You can’t see it every time,” I said. “Over the years, I’ve learned when it’s more likely to happen. I have no idea what causes it, I just like that it does.”

“It was absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing it with me.” She leaned her head on my shoulder and we watched as the last light bled itself from the sky. Through the gray light, I could see Trent and Charlie sitting on a little sandbar, on the northwest corner of the island. I envied him.

Tina shivered a little and I said, “Are you cold? Want to go inside?”

She looked up into my eyes and sighed, “Yes.”

We passed Trent and Charlie as we walked back to the house. She was holding his arm and leaning on his shoulder, much the same as Tina was doing. We only nodded to one another as we passed. Halfway across the clearing Tina said, “They seem to be very much in love.”

“I think you’re right,” I said as we reached the bottom of the steps.

She stopped there and took both my hands in hers, turning toward me. “Are you completely sure, Jesse?”

“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life,” I said. We walked up the steps with Pescador ahead of us. I opened the door and he trotted straight over to his old poncho liner and after a couple of turns laid down on it.

I closed and locked the door as Tina said, “I’ll be just a minute,” and disappeared into the head. I went into the bedroom, which had an adjoining door to the head, and turned down the bed. A cold front was starting to push down and it was cooler inside, so I lit two hurricane lamps and turned them down low. I pulled off my shirt and shorts and had just gotten under the covers, when the door to the head opened and the light inside turned off. Tina came over to the bed wearing nothing by a long white tee-shirt, her voluptuous body outlined under it by the lamp on the dresser. She lifted the covers and climbed in beside me. She smelled of jasmine and coconut, a very intoxicating scent. She moved up beside me and I wrapped my arms around her and drew her in.

I woke to the smell of coffee. At first, I thought I was on the boat. I don’t have an automatic coffee maker in the house. Just a copper bottomed percolator. Then I realized Tina wasn’t in the bed and I smiled. I got up and pulled on my skivvies and walked into the main room, quietly. She was at the counter pouring coffee into two mugs. As I started to walk toward her she said, “About time you got up.”

I stopped, looked over at Pescador and he just lifted his head with a puzzled look, like he couldn’t explain it either.

“I was a Recon Marine,” I said. “There’s no way you heard me.”

“You must have lost your touch,” she said.

I looked at Pescador and he just laid his head back down on the poncho liner, like he’d already discussed it with her. Then she turned around and handed me a cup of coffee and laughed. “Actually, I said the same thing every thirty seconds since I got up.”

“Good to know I hadn’t lost my touch,” I said.

“Oh you haven’t lost your touch,” she said. “That was you last night, wasn’t it? All three times?”

I walked over to the door, opened it and looked back at Pescador as I sipped my coffee.

“I don’t think he wants to go out,” she said. “I already tried.”

I nodded my head at him and he bolted out the door. I turned to Tina and said, “We have a morning ritual. Be right back.”

Pescador ran down the steps and hiked his leg on the banyan tree by the bottom and I pissed over the back rail. Then I went back inside, while he went exploring for ghost crabs on the small beach.

I took Tina in my arms and held her tightly to my chest, stroking her long, dark hair. “Let’s get dressed,” I said. “The sunrise is nearly as spectacular as sunset.”

“I don’t know how that could ever be topped,” she said and went into the bedroom. I followed her, set my coffee on the dresser, then grabbed her and fell into bed. We made love again, slow and easy.

Afterwards, we dressed, then I filled a thermos with coffee and went out to the pier. Pescador was lying in his usual spot. Trent, Charlie, and the kids were sitting next to him, all facing east, as if waiting for the curtain to rise. We sat down next to them, without saying a word. I saw that their coffee mugs were empty, so I took the lid off the thermos and held it out to Trent. He took it and poured for him and his wife and handed it back.

The seven of us looked toward the east and the sky slowly began to turn purple. Within minutes the top portion of the sun peeked up over the horizon and turned the high wispy clouds pink. Suddenly, we heard a voice calling from the middle of the clearing, “Hello! Where is everyone?”

I laughed and called out, “On the pier, Chyrel.”

She came out from between the bunkhouses, dressed pretty much the same as yesterday, like she was going into a business office. She walked out onto the pier and I noticed she was barefoot. She saw me looking at her feet and said, “This is as island as I can get. My go bag is packed with business clothes.”

We all laughed as she sat down in her business slacks on the pier and watched the sun come up with us. When it was fully risen, Charlie turned to Chyrel and said, “We’re about the same size. Would you like to borrow some shorts and a tank top? It’s supposed to be near eighty today.”

“Oh, could I?” she said. “I feel like such an outcast here.”

The two of them disappeared down the dock and into the bunkhouse. Little Patty looked up at Trent and said, “That was pretty daddy. Can you do it again?”

We laughed and Trent said, “Tomorrow, sweetie. We don’t want to burn it out.” Then he turned to me and said, “What time are y’all heading down to Marathon?”

“In a couple of hours,” I said. “Anyone not like pancakes?”

The kids both clapped and I said, “Y’all come on up to the deck in twenty minutes.”

Tina and I got up and walked, hand in hand, back to the house. “You’re really going to make breakfast for everyone?”

“No,” I said. “We are.”

An hour later, we were all full of blueberry pancakes and the dishes were all cleaned up and put away. I told Trent they didn’t need to stay in the bunkhouse, they were welcome to stay in the main house. He said that they did the first night, but the creaking of the boats tied to the docks below kept the kids awake and after the first night in the bunkhouse, they actually preferred it. Cooking on an open fire was a great treat for the kids and it reminded him of when he was young.

“In the seventies,” he said, “we had a little conch house on Cudjoe Key, sitting on about five acres. No neighbors, mosquitoes as big as crows in the summer time, no electricity and a big cistern like you got. Momma cooked over an open fire and we showered together under the cistern before bed.” He looked out over the clearing and added, “These past few days have brought us closer together than we’ve ever been before. Papa sold the land to the government in ’78. Fat Albert lives there now.”

I nodded, knowing the exact spot he was talking about on northern Cudjoe Key. “Fat Albert?” Tina asked. “Who’s that?”

“Not a who,” Trent said. “A what. There’s two big blimps that are tethered there. They’re radar blimps, used to track drug planes and boats. Don’t work too good, though.”

“This should all be over in a few days,” I said. “A week at the most.”

“To tell you the truth,” he said. “I ain’t in no hurry. Been thinking about selling the boat, buying a little piece of land and go back to fishing. Shrimping ain’t as good as it was a few years ago.”

“Nothing ever is,” I said as I got up. “Come on Tina, let’s get ready to shove off.”

We didn’t have much to pack, her less than me. We took everything down to the
Revenge
and stowed it away. I told Tina to take Chyrel up to the bridge and start the engines, while I cast off the lines. Trent and Charlie came down to see us off, along with Pescador. I could tell he wanted to go and said, “Not this time, buddy. You stay here and watch after those kids.” He barked once and ran up the steps and down the rear steps, looking for them. The girls said goodbye to the Trent’s as I climbed up to join them on the bridge.

We idled out the channel, into Harbor Channel and turned northeast. I continued past the narrow channel we came in through, crossed between Turtlecrawl Bank and Spanish Banks, and then pushed the throttles up to 1600 rpm. The bow rose up, then settled back down as we came up on plane. I turned due east toward the light on Bullfrog Banks, then south into Rocky Channel. I told Chyrel and Tina the names of the islands we passed, as we headed south toward the Seven Mile Bridge.

“Did you grow up here?” Chyrel asked.

“No,” I said. “I’ve only lived here about seven years. But, I’ve been coming down here since I was little. My dad and his dad were both fishermen.”

“So,” Tina said, “What exactly are we going to Marathon for?”

“A party,” I said with a grin. “Irish style. Why don’t you take the helm and I’ll go below and bring up our tech guru’s gizmos.”

“You sure?” Tina asked. “The open ocean is one thing, but we’re in a channel.”

“Look way out ahead. You’ll see a green light flash every five seconds. Just head straight for it. I’ll just be a minute. Or, I can set the auto pilot, if you want.”

“Get up,” she said.

I went down to the salon to get the boxes and overheard Chyrel say, “Have you two been together a long time?”

“No,” Tina replied. “We only met a little over a week ago.”

“Really,” Chyrel said. “You seem perfect for each other. I thought you were married.”

“The ring?” Tina said. “He lost his wife not very long ago. I don’t know how to approach him about that.”

I looked down at the ring still on my finger. It had only been a little less than five months ago, but suddenly it felt like another lifetime. I knew if the situation were reversed, I’d want Alex to get on with her life and honestly felt she would want the same for me. I took the ring off my finger and looked at it. My friend Rusty had given us his and his late wife’s wedding rings the day we got married. He’d hung on to them for twenty-three years. He should have them back. I went into the forward stateroom, opened the bottom drawer of the dresser and took out a small box. Opening it, I put the ring inside with the one that Alex had worn. I put the box away, picked up the two boxes in the salon and as an afterthought, I grabbed a cooler, put a few beers in it and some bottled water and headed back up to the bridge.

“Did ya miss me?” I said as I sat down next to Chyrel. I set the boxes on the deck at my feet, opened the cooler and took out a cold Red Stripe. “Either of you two ladies want a beer?”

“Jesse,” Tina said, “It’s only eleven, I mean, 1100.”

“Hey,” I said. “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

“Water for me, thanks,” said Chyrel.

“Same for me,” Tina said then changed her mind and said, “Oh hell, why not?”

I handed her a beer and Chyrel a bottle of water. Tina’s eyes lingered on my left hand as I handed her the bottle.

“Okay Chyrel,” I said. “Tell me about these gadgets you had smuggled aboard my vessel.”

She put her water in a drink holder and opened the smaller of the two boxes and showed me the pen smoke bombs again, pointing out the way to arm them. Then she showed me the bugs and how easy the backing was to peel off with one finger, while they were in my pocket. She put those away and opened the larger black box. “This is a parabolic microphone,” she said holding it up. She pointed out the release catch on the side and it opened up into a little radar looking device, with three small legs. “You just set the microphone on a stable platform, point in the direction you want to listen, then control the fine adjustments with these two knobs. A full turn of either knob will move the dish up, down, left, or right only one degree.” She showed me how to power up the amplifier and where to plug in the microphone and headphones. “To close it up, you just push the release button on the bottom and fold one of the legs up, the other two will move with it and the dish will fold itself in and down. Your new laptop is exactly like your old one. I took the liberty of downloading all your software off the old one onto it. It has two icons on the desktop that your old one didn’t have. One says ‘Soft Jazz’. That’s the encrypted video phone. The other says, ‘Tide Charts’. That’s the satellite imaging. Other than that, it’s 100% identical to your old one, only a whole lot faster.”

“You really did your homework,” I said.

“Thanks,” she said.

I looked out ahead of us and saw that we were nearing first light for Money Key Channel. Tina said, “I think you better take the helm.”

“You’re fine,” I said. “See the red marker ahead and on the left? There’s a green one just a little to the right of it and a little further away. Go between those two markers and turn left. Then you’ll see two more green lights and another red marker. Keep the green on the right and the red on the left. Aim for a spot about a quarter mile out from the high span of the bridge. That’s Moser Channel. We’ll go under the bridge there, follow the markers out about a mile before turning east again and heading to the channel into the
Rusty Anchor
.”

“Geez,” she said laughing. “You want me to remember all that?”

“It takes a little getting used to,” I said. “You didn’t jump on the freeway your first time driving a car did you.” I took the two boxes back down to the salon and stowed them in a cabinet under the TV.

When I got back up to the bridge, Tina was passing between the two markers and slowly swinging eastward. “See there,” I said. “Just like falling off a bike. Keep that green light up ahead on the right and you’ll see a red marker, keep that on your left. I’ll take the helm before we go under the bridge.”

Five minutes later, she slid over and I took the helm. I pushed the throttles on up to 2400 rpm and the big boat surged forward.

“Holy crap,” Chyrel said. “I thought we were going full speed this whole time.”

Tina smiled and said, “We’re still not.” Then I watched as she looked at the knot meter, doing the math in her head and said, “We’re only going about thirty-five miles per hour. She’s got another ten to go.” I put my arm around her and pulled her close, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

“See, you’re learning,” I said.

Twenty minutes later, just before noon, I pulled back the throttles and brought the
Revenge
down off of plane as we neared the mouth of the canal. It seemed like it had been a long time ago, since I was last here. I idled up the canal and noticed quite a few differences. There were a number of boats docked along the left side of the canal. I recognized Dan’s sloop among them. The others weren’t familiar. Some had home ports from way up the coast, Boston, Chesapeake Bay and Kennebunkport. I eased into the turning basin and used the engines to spin the
Revenge
around. Rusty and Deuce were standing on Rusty’s old barge, ready to tie us off.

Rusty had a big grin on his face as he said, “Welcome home, brother.” I hadn’t seen him since he came out to have a drink with me on the Marine Corps birthday. Rusty and I served together for four years, before his wife died giving birth to his only child, Julie.

I climbed down from the bridge ahead of the girls and stepped onto the barge, as he and Deuce finished tying us off. I embraced the big man and said, “It looks like you’ve lost some weight there, Jarhead. What are you down to, 350 pounds?”