The Gambit (22 page)

The man scrambled over to her for a moment and I heard him slapping her back, hard. It was just the amount of time I needed to remove my backpack and take the pistol out from it. I slid it behind the breast pocket of my jacket and put my backpack back on.

“Come on, son. Tide’s goin’ out fast!”

I made it to the ladder and up the steps. He pulled me up by my arms until I was standing on the deck along with him. My eyes met Rachel’s. She gave me a quick nod.
She knew what to do
.

“Ow!” she yelped. “I hit my nose when I slipped on the steps. I think it’s bleeding. Can you take a look at it?” her voice was muffled as she cupped her nose.

The man returned to her side. I pulled out the gun and held it behind his head. When she revealed her undamaged nose, he turned to me.

“Whoa, partner!” he cowered back. “I don’t want no trouble with ya’ll.”

“We don’t either,” I responded calmly.

“Well is this how you treat someone who just pulled you out of the cold water? What kinda shit is that?”

Anger riddled his words. His southern accent was thick.

“We are thankful. We just need your help.”

“No shit ya’ll need help! If you two were the ones who wrecked on the bridge you both need to be in a hospital!”

His body-language was becoming more volatile. I was worried he might try to attack us.

“I promise we are both fine. We don’t have time for this shit! I need you to get the hell out of this bay and go south, now!”

He seemed hesitant. “Ya’ll know the Coast Guard is just over yonder. They’ll get ya before long anyhow.”

“I don’t think you
understand
me!” I shouted through gritted teeth and pressed the gun against his chest. “I’m going to need you to take us south,
now
.”

He turned around and grabbed the wheel, and pushed the throttle up. The double motors roared to life and expelled a massive stream of water. I held onto a rail, and the bow of the boat rose up with the sudden propulsion. Rachel crawled on her knees and wedged herself in the narrow walkway that connected the deck to the bow. She grasped the railing along the edge and shuddered from the cold air that rushed around our wet bodies.

With every rise and fall of the hull, I received a splash of saltwater-mist. I struggled to keep my footing while also pointing the gun at the man’s head. He continued to speed up, and once we were out of the cut, the rolling waves of the ocean were even more jarring. He turned the boat to the right, and we began heading south.

To my right was an island. Judging by the signs I saw on the interstate, it was Jekyll Island. It moved slowly. We were but a tiny blip in the vast Atlantic Ocean. Rachel was silent. She just wrapped her arms around herself and looked out at the water. I had so many thoughts running through my head…all of which were jumbled and uncertain. The man had mentioned the Coast Guard. If they
were
close by, they wouldn’t take long to get to us.

I saw another opening, to an inlet, and then another island. This island appeared lusher and overrun with dense forest. The farther we made it alongside its coast, the longer it appeared to be.

“What is that island?” I asked over the groan of the engines and pointed with my gun.

“Cumberland Island National Seashore.”

“Is it deserted?”

“Pretty much,” he said. “More animals than people.”

“How long is it?”

“Fifteen miles I reckon.”

“Hurry,” I demanded, pointing the gun closer to him.

“Look, I’m getting low on gas. I can take you to the St. Mary’s cut and I have to turn back around.”

“Fine.”

Close to half an hour passed. I glanced up at the sky often, paranoid of a helicopter spotting us. I knew we were running against the clock. It was only a matter of time before the Coast Guard received the orders to come searching for us. Suddenly, the island began to end and another inlet appeared. Before I could say anything, the man whipped the boat in that direction. The sky was a dreary gray, and I couldn’t tell whether it was beginning to rain or if it was just ocean spray.

In the inlet, the man positioned the boat halfway between Cumberland Island and the mainland. Both directions looked swampy. The engine slowed, and the boat rocked back and forth as it came to a stop. He turned around and stared straight at me—his face was inches away from the barrel.

“Well, here’s where the road ends,” he announced.

Rachel stood up and she glanced between me and him nervously.

“Thank you,” I said. I slid the backpack off and slung it toward Rachel. “Rachel, if you could take out a bundle and give it to this man, please.”

She quickly unzipped it and pulled out a bundle of ten-thousand dollars.

“That is for you,” I pointed at it with my gun.

He just stared at me and didn’t respond.

“You go first, Rachel.”

There was no contest from her, just the metallic cling of the ladder against the hull, followed by a splash.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” I said, and slowly lowered my gun into my backpack.

“I don’t have to,” he laughed. “I’m already watching ya’ll do that.”

I didn’t respond. I just zipped my backpack closed.

“Thank you,” I called back to him and jumped into the icy water. The shock took my breath away. Rachel was treading water a few feet ahead of me.

“Thanks for the cash. Watch out for them gators!”

We were splashed by the wake from the boat as he pulled away.

“Alligators!?” Rachel shouted.

The fear of encountering one of those massive creatures was nothing short of terrifying. I could see the shore. It was maybe a half to a quarter mile away. We had to get to land—fast.

“Just swim. Let’s get out of here.”

I put my face just below the water and swam as if I were a swimmer doing laps. I would take a breath every few seconds and see how far away the shore was, and how far Rachel was from me. My backpack dragged me down significantly. Every time I took a breath and looked around, it felt like I hadn’t even moved a foot or two.

The tide was
still
coming out.

I tapped Rachel’s arm as we were swimming and she picked her head up.

“What?”

“The tide is still going out. We need to swim as fast as we can to get to shore. Give it all you got.”

She nodded, panting heavily. I put my head down and swam so fast my arms and legs began to burn. Every breath I took, I made sure Rachel was still beside me. Minutes went by. With every glance, we grew closer to the swampy shoreline.

Suddenly, my feet scraped against something sandy as I swam. Then my arms. I pushed upwards with my hands to see we had reached it. I tried to stand on the gunky, swampy ground. It was difficult, but not impossible. I pulled Rachel onto the porous ground and she just lay there, completely out of breath. I sat down with her until she regained herself.

“That…that…was the most cardio I’ve done in a year,” she gasped.

I laughed, and she began to laugh with me.

“I feel your pain,” I said. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

She pushed herself up onto the ground and looked at me with a smile that began to fade. She was looking over my shoulder. I turned around in curiosity.

Endless swamps. That’s all that laid ahead.

“Let’s go,” I said.

She didn’t respond, she just followed me. If we took a wrong step our feet would sink into the sludge-like ground beneath. It felt so slimy, and it made the most grotesque squishing noises when we tried to pull our feet out. I had no idea where we were going. The sun was somewhere above the gray blanket of clouds. The rain wasn’t helping any. It caused us to slip around on the sections of mud we
didn’t
sink into.

I heard a raspy growl and the snapping of teeth.

“Ahh! Run! Shit!” Rachel shrieked. She was in front of me in an instant.

I looked behind me and saw an alligator ten feet away, just sitting there with its scissor-like jaws open. My heart jumped in my chest. It wasn’t chasing us, but seeing it a few feet away was
too
close for comfort. I struggled to keep my footing on the muddy terrain. Rachel was now twenty or more feet away.

“It’s not chasing us! Slow down!” I yelled.

“I don’t care! If there’s one, there’s more. We need to get out of—”

She lost her balance and yelped. Her face smacked against the mud. For a moment, she didn’t even move. She positioned herself into a pushup, and I could actually hear a suction noise when her face peeled away from the mud. When I reached her side I couldn’t help but laugh. Her face was covered with a layer of mud so thick her features were indiscernible.

She used her hand to wipe off the big slab that covered her eyes and nose, then she did the same with her forehead and mouth. I knelt down and gently used my thumb to brush off the remainder, and then she looked into my eyes. I felt something, something I hadn’t felt in years looking into the eyes of a woman. It wasn’t just lust, or chemistry. It was something
more
.

“Excuse me while I blow the mud out of my nose,” she said with her voice stuffy.

“Be my guest,” I laughed.

She turned her face away and rid her nose of the dirt. When she turned back around I was standing, and I offered her my hand.

“Thanks,”

I nodded.

My body felt fatigued. Although, the constant adrenaline was keeping me going, numbing me enough to survive. Once we were safe…
if
we were ever safe…I would crash. I knew to my right was the north, and to my left was the south. We had to keep our original destination in mind. Orlando—but how would we get there? Willpower was one thing, but having all the odds stacked against us made it nearly impossible to do anything.

We crossed rivers. We waded through swampy fields of cutgrass so tall it sliced our hands and arms. The light behind the clouds was beginning to fade. Dusk was approaching. In the distance, I saw acres of trees. As we approached, I could tell they were oaks. Spanish moss draped the thick branches. It was the same type of flora you might find at an abandoned plantation in the South. The ground beneath my feet was becoming firmer. We had slowly retreated from the coastline.

“There,” I said, pointing ahead. “We will rest there.”

Rachel nodded. “About time.”

We reached the edge of the woods and cautiously entered them. I hadn’t seen any houses. The last thing we needed was for someone to blow us to smithereens for trespassing.

“Here,” Rachel announced and changed direction. She led me to a massive tree. The trunk had a natural curve at its base. We plopped down and scooted backward to where our backs leaned against the trunk.

It was so relieving. I exhaled, and tried to expel some of my stress along with it. There were times since we had left the boat that I thought I had heard a helicopter. It could have been my imagination, but regardless,
they
were out there, somewhere…trying to find
me
. Despite that fact, I felt safe. I was still free.

“I could not move an inch for the next week and be completely fine,” Rachel said with a sigh.

I turned to her. She looked exhausted. Dried mud caked her hair and the edges of her face.

“Same. Unfortunately, we can’t stay.”

“Why not? This spot is perfect.”

“No, it’s not. We are too close to our wreck.”

“I feel like we’ve done a triathlon.”

“I do too. I’m impressed, actually.”

She cocked her head and gave me a smirk.

“Why, because I kept up with you?”

“Well, not only that, but just your willingness to do it in the first place.”

“This story is important to me,” she answered matter-of-factly.

“It seems so. Most women I know wouldn’t crash their fancy foreign cars into a bridge.”

“I’m not most women.”

Her brown eyes oozed affection. Physically, it was subtle. She kept it hidden, but I could still feel it. I knew it was there.

“I can tell.”

“So, if we can’t stay here, can we at least take a nap? I can barely move my arms and legs. That swim was unreal.”

“Mine are dead too,” I agreed. “Yes, let’s rest until nightfall. Then we can keep moving.”

“All right.”

A few seconds of silence passed. Then, her head leaned up against my shoulder, and she snuggled against my body. Just feeling her hair tickle the skin on my arm gave me chills. Who was this girl? Rachel Flores jumped into my life less than ten hours ago, yet it felt like I had known her for longer. By whatever slim chance I had of meeting her, I was glad she was here, by my side. I wasn’t
alone
.