Bonefish Blues

by Steven Becker

  “Do you even know what’s in those buckets?” Nicole confronted Cody.

  “I’m gonna trust that our friend Joey knows how to get rid of evidence.” He opened a lid. “Smells like fertilizer. I bet he’s got a bomb brewing in here.”

  “Great, Cody. Now that we got away from him, you’re going to blow us all up,” she said. Thunder boomed in the background causing her to look at the darkening sky.

  “Shut up, Nicole. Dad, Matt help me dump these in the hole.” The only way to clear his family was to destroy the tank with Joey Pagliano in it. He went toward the lid. “Used to be a crowbar around here somewhere.” He started searching around the tanks, kicking at fallen brush.

  Joey sat and watched as Cody found the crowbar and, with the help of Braken and Matt, pried the lid off the tank. He almost laughed out loud as Braken and Matt gagged from the smell. Nicole was spared, as she stood off to the side, upwind of the tank. Might as well let them do all my work for me, he thought, as they dumped bucket after bucket into the hole. Cody picked up a tiki torch and dug in his pocket for something to light the fuse with. He came up empty and looked at Braken, who handed him an old zippo. The fuse ignited and Cody tossed the entire lamp in the tank. Nothing happened. Pagliano watched as he picked up a container of acetone and held it up as if to read the label.

  Come on now, you can’t read? Just dump it in and finish the job.

  As if on cue, Cody opened the jug and started pouring the contents into the pit. He jumped back as smoke started to stream from the opening, the wind blowing it towards the group. They covered their heads as another thunderclap let loose, closer this time.

  “What the hell, Cody?” Nicole gagged and went for the other jugs. “You have any idea what you’re doing?” She had to scream over the building wind, “Your son is here. Are you going to blow him up too?” She grabbed for Matt and moved away from the smoke, “Idiot,” she muttered.

  “She’s right,” Braken intervened. “We need to deal with Pagliano before we dump the rest in. Let’s go get him and end this.”

  “Grandpa! Dad! You can’t kill the man. That’s what the police are for.”

  Braken turned to Nicole. “Take him away from here. He doesn’t need to see this.”

  Pagliano ducked low as Braken and Cody went past him following the path to the boat. He only had a few minutes before they would be back and raise the alarm that he had escaped. Once they were out of sight, he started to move through the mangroves. The mosquitos were absent now as the storm closed in on them. It took several minutes to get behind Nicole and Matt. He crouched and waited as they stood there in each other’s arms, Matt trying to comfort her. The boy was the key. He doubted Nicole had much fight left in her after the abuse she’d already taken. She’d fold as soon as the boy was gone.

  He went into a sprinter’s stance and sprung from the bushes. Matt was in his arms, knife at his neck, before either one knew what had happened. He pursed his lips as if to whisper, letting Nicole know not to scream, or the boy would die. The knife was close to drawing blood as he applied more pressure, and he started to move it back and forth when the bushes stirred. Braken and Cody emerged empty handed and out of breath. A quick step back and he had Matt out of sight

  “Paglianos gone! Where’s Matt?” Braken frantically checked the clearing.

  “Pagliano’s got him.” She yelled.

  ***

  “Look, it’s Scarface,” Sheryl yelled.

  Will turned from his focus on the boat ahead and followed her gaze, watching a lone figure enter the mangroves. “You sure? I saw a man, but couldn’t tell who it was.”

  “I’m sure. They’re all gone.”

  Will pushed the idle and quickly came alongside Cody’s boat. It was empty. “Keep an eye on the island, I’m going to hop on and see if I can figure out what they’re up to.” He put the boat in neutral, went forward, and opened a hatch. A coiled dock line in hand, he went to the center of the boat, uncoiled it, and tied the boats together. Thunder boomed again bringing a cool gust with it, indicating the storms were about to hit. He climbed from boat to boat and once aboard the Grady White, he quickly searched the cabin and came back onto the deck. Two metal containers, about a gallon each, caught his attention.

  “Acetone!” she saw the labels first.

  “We’ve got to do something. They’re going to blow the whole the tank. Those buckets they were carrying - it’s starting to make sense.”

  “Where’s the sheriff? I called and told them Braken was headed here,” she checked the horizon.

  “Well we have to at least try and save Matt and stop them from blowing this up.”

  “But it’s just the two of us and we’re unarmed.”

  “We’ll have to use the element of surprise,” he said.

  He sniffed the increasing wind like a dog. “Storms getting close. If we go around to the other side of the island, we can beach the boat and see what they’re up to. From that direction the wind will cover any sound we make. Why don’t you try the sheriff again and see where they are. Tell them we’re just going to take a look.”

  She picked up the phone to call as thunder boomed again. “Storms done something to the signal. It’s dead.”

  He shook his head as he untied the boats and tossed the dock line on the deck, then went to the wheel, pushed forward on the throttle and moved back toward the point. Once around the bend, he turned the wheel toward a clear section of beach. Another loud boom from the thunderhead, now almost directly above them let loose the instant he gunned the motor, disguising its noise. The first raindrops met them as they hopped out of the beached boat and onto the sand.

  “This is only going to help us.” She looked up at the sky, and he followed her eyes, nodding. The sound of the rain and wind would disguise them, as well as making their prey less wary. They crossed the short beach and entered the mangroves, staying just clear of the trail that led toward the tanks.

  He followed reluctantly, unarmed and unsure of what lay ahead. The storm increased in intensity disguising their awkward movements. It was raining so hard he could barely see. Branches slapped their faces and they stumbled over roots as they plowed forward through the brush. A flash of lightning and gust of wind took him by surprise, and he went down. He assumed it was another root but lightning flashed again, and he saw the scarfaced man hovering above him, knife extended overhead ready to strike. The next thing he knew, he was face down in the muddy sand.

  ***

  Will rolled over, his face covered with mud. He wiped his eyes off and looked to his side. Scarface was prone on the ground, Sheryl standing over both of them with a piece of driftwood. The last thing he remembered was falling, thinking he had landed on Sheryl, but he had run into Scarface. She must have hit him in the head. As the pieces came together Matt ran past him into Nicole’s arms. Cody started towards them, anger in his eyes.

  “Will - look out,” Sheryl moved ahead of him brandishing the driftwood.

  Cody ignored them and went for Pagliano.”

  “Freeze!” Braken walked up to them pointing a small gun. “Everybody is going to calm down.” He looked at Cody, “Drag him over there and toss him in,” he motioned the gun at Pagliano, “and finish the tank off. Then we’ll get out of here.”

  Cody didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Pagliano’s feet and started to drag him through the mud toward the tank. Just as he reached the edge of the tank, a knife flashed out and took him behind the heel. The blade sliced through his Achilles tendon, causing him to fall, his momentum taking him toward the open tank lid. He caught himself on the lip, but Pagliano hovered over him, knife in hand, rain water dripping from him. Cody grasped his ankle, trying to stem the pain and blood flow, when the knife came down again, this time taking him deep in the shoulder.

  Will and Sheryl stood side by side knowing as long as Braken had the gun there was nothing they could do. He still had the barrel pointed at them while he watched the action unfold. Seeing Cody go down, Braken swung the g
un and fired a shot that buried itself in the sand by Pagliano’s head. Matt ran towards his grandfather causing another bullet to miss it’s mark and ricochet off the concrete tank.

  “Stop shooting. You’re going to hit dad!”

  Will saw the opportunity as soon as the barrel swung away. He reached down for the piece of wood Sheryl had dropped and went towards Braken striking a hard blow on his head. The older man went down, dropping the gun. Will grabbed the gun and went for the tank but was too late. As he approached, Pagliano kicked Cody in the stomach, causing him to fold over and drop into the tank.

  ***

  Matt screamed when Cody disappeared. Without thinking, he rushed toward Pagliano, taking him by surprise and knocking him off balance. In a rage, he grabbed his head and slammed it into the concrete. The body went limp, but he continued to slam the head until a hand grasped his shoulder.

  He looked up and saw Will standing over him trying to control him, but fueled by adrenaline and anger, he resisted. The rest of the group was closing in on him. Before they could get to him, he let out a primal scream and shoved the body into the tank. He felt hands dragging him away from the opening.

  The next few minutes were a blur, as the clearing filled with people. Flashlight beams were moving everywhere. Finally he felt like he reentered his body, and took in the scene. Police were everywhere, and his grandfather was talking to a woman who appeared to be the sheriff. Will and Sheryl stood off to the side, watching. He panicked, not seeing his mother, but then felt a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder, and turned to find her behind him.

  They stood there holding each other, watching the scene unfold. Braken was off to the side being tended to by a medic while the sheriff talked to Will and Sheryl. He caught a smile from Will and returned it. The rain continued, but with less intensity. Two deputies were working to get Pagliano out of the tank. They had a life ring from their boat lowered and were encouraging the semi-conscious man to help. They finally had him on the ground where a medic went to him while the other deputies started to probe the tank for Cody.

  When she was done interviewing Will and Sheryl the sheriff guided the three Brakens out of the clearing and down the path toward her boat.

  “I’ll take you back in and make sure you get checked out,” she said to Nicole. “Then I’m going to need your statement. The boat you came here on is part of the crime scene.”

  “What about Matt? Is he in trouble? That was an evil man,” Nicole asked.

  “There’s no reason that good people need to get dragged down by this,” she reassured them. She pointed at Will and Sheryl who were climbing onto the flats boat, “They told me what happened.”

  Pagliano was propped between the two deputies as they escorted him to one of the sheriff’s boats. Matt shivered as he glared at them.

  “What about him?” Matt asked.

  “He’s going to be locked away for a long time,” Jules said, “You don’t need to worry about him.”

  But Matt was not reassured.

  Before he could speak Nicole cut him off, “Cody?”

  “They’re pulling his body out now. He’s alive but needs attention. I called in for a helicopter to evacuate him. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

  Matt breathed a long sigh, shivering, and letting the tension go.

  “Thank you,” Nicole said as they reached the edge of the clearing. Two sheriff’s boats bobbed at anchor in the chop, one pulled anchor and headed in as they headed to the inflatable beached in front of them.

  Once on the larger boat, Matt didn’t look back as they shot over the waves toward shore. He focused on the boat in front with Pagliano.

  ***

  The wind had died by half just after the line of storms blew through, scrubbing the air and leaving clear skies. The first cold front of the season was upon them, the stripe of clouds visible in the moonlight,marking its edge to the West. Two-foot seas, driven by the North wind were coming from behind them making the ride more comfortable than the wet bashing they had taken on the way out here.

  They sat next to each other holding hands, lost in their own thoughts until Will rounded the point and entered the canal leading to the marina. The adrenaline was fading and he yawned.

  “Not exciting enough for you?” she broke the silence.

  “Just wondering what to do for a second date,” he said.

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