Liberation Day - A Thorn Byrd Novel

by Dustin Stevens

“I think we’ve gone far enough to sell it,” Nio said, drawing his lure up out of the ocean. Saltwater dripped from the hooks as he swung it near and fastened it down. “Pull your lines and let’s head for home.”

  “Thank God,” Iggy grumbled, reeling in the last few feet of line. “I think I’m starting to get seasick out here.”

  “Yeah, it’s definitely starting to get rougher,” Nio agreed, folding his fishing seat down and pulling the outboard motor from the water. He laid his pole down and waited as Iggy did the same before putting them and the bait casters back in the holding bin.

  “How in the hell do people get any enjoyment out of this sport?” Iggy asked, extending her hands out in front of her and rotating at the waist.

  “Could be worse,” Nio said, slamming the bin shut. “We’re out in a boat on the ocean. Imagine doing this on a pond in Middle America somewhere.”

  A low chortle rolled out of Iggy as she finished her stretch, stopping halfway through her rotation. Raising a hand to her brow, she peered at the horizon, her body going rigid.

  “Nio.”

  “Yeah?” he asked, pocketing his phone and heading for the steering column.

  “Somebody’s coming up behind us fast.”

  Without looking up Nio twisted the key in the ignition, the V-6 rumbling to life. “So? There are a ton of ports up the coast. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more people out here.”

  Lowering the throttle, the boat pushed forward, twin streaks of white foam extending out in diagonal lines in their wake. Behind him Iggy braced herself for the movement, keeping a hand raised to her brow.

  “They’re still coming.”

  Pushing an exasperated sigh out through his nose, Nio turned over his shoulder to see a low-slung speedboat approaching. The nose of it was aimed directly for their tail, cutting right through the twin tracks of sea foam behind them.

  Feeling his pulse rise, Nio lowered the throttle, turning the wheel a quarter turn to the right. “Hold on. I’m going to change our course, see what they do.”

  The change of direction tossed Iggy down against the seats, her body slapping the vinyl. Beside her Nio braced himself against the steering column, the front end of the boat bouncing over the incoming swells.

  “Still back there!” Iggy said, raising herself up onto her knees, her torso pressed tight to the seatbacks.

  Pushing the throttle as far as it would go, Nio waited until the boat reached full speed before banking and making a hard right out into the ocean. Foam and water spewed into the air behind them as they made a large fish hook away from shore, turning back in the opposite direction.

  The move caught the approaching boat by surprise, the vessel roaring at full speed and unable to correct itself on the fly. For a few brief seconds the two ran parallel to each other in opposite directions, both sides openly staring at the other as they passed by.

  In unison Nio and Iggy’s jaws both fell open, realization setting in. Their heads rotated at the necks as they passed by, following their sudden intruder.

  “Isn’t that...?” Iggy said, her voice ripped away by the rushing wind.

  “That son of a bitch from the security camera,” Nio finished, leaning forward over the wheel, willing the boat to go faster.

  There was no way they could make it all the way back to the marina they had rented from. The boat behind them was too fast, the path right past their headquarters too perilous. Even if they could somehow get there, no help would be waiting nearby. The old man behind the counter would be of no service, the police miles away at best.

  “Where they at?” Nio asked over his shoulder, keeping his entire attention focused forward.

  “Just made the turn and starting to pick up speed,” Iggy said, alternating glances between the approaching boat and her brother. “Why they hell are we slowing down?”

  “I’m drawing them closer.”

  “What? Why?”

  “We’ll never make it going south,” Nio said. “I need them to overshoot us again so we can get up the coast.”

  Ripping her sunglasses off and tossing them aside, Iggy continued alternating glances. ”Two hundred yards and closing.”

  Staring straight ahead, Nio willed himself to count a full ten seconds before dropping the throttle and banking hard toward the coastline. The boat bucked beneath them, tossing them both to the side, before catching an incoming wave and surging forward.

  For a second time the move caught their pursuers unawares, the black boat forced to swing a wide loop around them in an effort to turn. Nio glanced over his shoulder as they shot by, watching as the Asian man yelled and waved his arms overhead.

  “Where the hell are we going now?” Iggy yelled, repositioning herself on the seat.

  “I don’t know,” Nio muttered, his voice just barely audible. “First port we see. Hopefully it’s a big one.”

  “Great,” Iggy whispered, watching as their pursuer finished the turn, having looped wide into oncoming waves.

  The incoming wind matted Nio’s hair to his head, funneling back off of his sunglasses as he peered out over the steering wheel. With each passing second they picked up a bit more speed, the front end starting to bounce from the crest of one wave to the next.

  “Faster, dammit. Faster!” Iggy yelled. “They’re catching up!”

  “I am!” Nio roared back. “This thing isn’t made for high-speed chases.”

  Ahead on the horizon the first hint of sails crested above the water, a line of uneven spikes like trees on a ridge line. The sight of them only served to raise the adrenaline within Nio, his hand again finding the throttle, pushing it downward in vain.

  “Fifty yards and closing!” Iggy reported. “If you’ve got any more evasive maneuvers, this would be the time!”

  Watching the white caps racing by on either side, there was no way Nio could try another about face. Even if the move were to catch their pursuers by surprise a third time, the sudden change of direction and the momentum of the incoming waves would flip them over, tossing them against the shore and battering them to bits.

  “Twenty yards...fifteen.”

  Nio could feel the same strain present in Iggy’s voice pulsing through him. Ahead the line of sails grew taller, now almost three inches in height, lined in perfect order.

  “Five yards!” Iggy yelled.

  Nio turned to see the boat bearing down on them, so close he could almost reach out and touch it. A young guy sat wide-eyed behind the wheel as the Asian man from the docks braced himself in the well and stared at them. The boat drew to within a few feet of their rear before nudging itself to the right, inching forward alongside them.

  As it did, the Asian man rose to full height in the well and perched himself along the side of the boat.

  “Get down, now!” Nio yelled, waiting just a split second before jerking up on the throttle. There was an ugly grinding of gears as the boat jerked to a crawl, their pursuers hurtling past.

  Once they were gone by, Nio once more dropped the throttle, taking off at an angle in their wake.

  Ahead, the row of docked sailboats and the hope it represented lay just over a mile away.

  “Here they come again!” Iggy yelled.

  “I know,” Nio muttered, trying to transfer every bit of energy he had into the rig beneath him. Despite his every effort, the nose of the other boat began again to creep into his periphery.

  The object flew in before either Nio or Iggy had a chance to register what it was, a simple round orb tossed by the Asian man. It made a single hollow sound as it landed along the bow of the boat, bouncing just once before exploding, a shower of wood chunks and fiberglass erupting around them.

  The front end of the boat jerked down hard into the ocean, saltwater pouring up over it. Acrid smoke billowed up around them, burning their eyes and throats, blocking most of their view.

  Behind the wheel Nio tried in vain to push the engine, to jerk the wheel away from their attackers, but it was to no avail. Every form of navigatio
n the boat employed was gone, an expensive piece of flotsam bobbing on the whim of the waves.

  Nio never saw the Asian man hop from the side of his boat onto the Tracker. He had no idea he was nearby until hearing a scream erupt from Iggy, a blur of black clothing and brown skin passing before him in the smoky haze.

  Their bodies landing in a twisted heap on the bow of the black boat was the last thing he saw before the oncoming waves overcame his own vessel, a deluge of water sending him under.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine