Chapter 58 - COASTIES

The squall had made a mess of the race schedule, and kept the Coast Guard on the hop. There'd been two capsizings among the spectator boats, but, luckily, no drownings. Lifejackets had never been something fishermen had any respect for, the water being too cold to survive in anyhow, and the bulky things just a damned nuisance. The sight of Coast Guard personnel all dressed up in survival gear like prize monkeys had never impressed fishermen. Safety being a matter of intelligent behavior not the fancy gear you wear. But the Coast Guard in Smithport had been harassing boaters in the reach, and on race day pretty much everyone at least had flotation handy, and it paid off. Everyone had gotten home, if not dry.

The preliminary trials had been suspended during the thunder and lightening, but once the worst was past, the race committee had resumed the heats. The course was a lot wilder with the northwesterly blowing. Even in the shelter of the reach the chop was deeper and the spray was flying. And everyone on shore could watch the show.

There'd been some kind of wrangle going on among the shiny shoes and the Coasties at the Station, overheard in part by those Smithporters who were coming and going. Before the oncoming storm, the Guardsmen were determined to keep enough men and boats at the races to cover the contingencies of a squall on race day. The law enforcement types wanted to pursue the least rumor connected with a drug deal or gangsters. The Coasties tended to take smuggling stories in Smithport with a grain of salt. If you chased them all, you'd go nuts. The rumor mill had everyone and his brother doing something illegal. It was the way locals scolded each other.. by casting aspersions. And it was a kind of bragging among the young men.

But Sidearm's CB warning to Slaughter about gunmen on SUZY had been picked up by John Law's techies, and they'd demanded the use of a boat. For some reason the black helicopter tied down on the Station helipad hadn't been cleared for a rapid surveillance, which seemed to puzzle everyone. As the weather was settling down, the Guard released the 41-foot utility boat to go chasing rumors, and it rocketed down the reach headed east, four shiny shoes and the usual Guardsmen aboard.

They encountered HONEYDEW smashing her way into the reach from the open passage, her horn blaring, and the two boats had come together in the turbulent waters.

"Got a wounded man aboard," Slaughter had announced, indicating Jumbo, "But the lady's a nurse."

"He'll be OK," Janet reported, "I just want to get him to the hospital as soon as possible. He's lost some blood."

"Just what happened, sir?" one of the lawmen demanded, irritating the boat skipper, who felt this was his jurisdiction.

"Not real sure. Somethin about a kidnappin, mebbe. They was a young woman being held hostage," Slaughter said.

"What do you know about it," the lawman demanded of Jumbo.

"We just stumbled on these fromaways with a girl an they stahted shootin," Jumbo said.

"There wasn't any drugs involved?" another plainclothesman asked. Jumbo shook his head.

"There wasn't, or you don't know?" the first lawman demanded.

Jumbo shrugged, then winced. Janet put a calming hand on his back. "Can't this wait, officer?" she asked.

The utility boat skipper spoke up. "If you could just tell us which way the gunmen went.."

"They took off into the shoals in the Easter Bay," Slaughter said.

"What kind of boat?" the Guardsman asked.

"Blue an white whalah," Slaughter said.

"And they still had the girl?" the plainsclothesman asked.

"No. She got away.. with the boy," Slaughter said.

"What boy?"

"The other hostage," Slaughter said. "Look mister, we can talk all day, you wanna, but I got a man's been shot, and you gotta whalah to chase. Why doane we do it?"

"Into the Eastern Bay, you said?' the Guardsman asked.

"Yeh, hedded to Moosepeak," Slaughter confirmed, shoving the boats apart, and the Guardsman revved up his motor, over the objections of his passengers, and sped east into the open passage.

Slaughter accelerated the other way, and then winked at Jumbo. "That'll keep 'em busy," he remarked.

Slaughter switched the CB over to channel 11. The race observers were still broadcasting a play-by-play, even though the fog was gone, for the benefit of those homebound.. and just for the fun of it.

"Numbah 15's out front by a boatlength. Twennytwo's next, an the mosquita fleet's way back, at the three-quatah. On ta you, RACE2," came over the radio. An under-20-foot race was just about to finish, so HONEYDEW wasn't going forfeit her slot in the finals. Slaughter grinned.

When HONEYDEW came sweeping up to the Co-op float, she got a lot of questioning glances from the race-watchers, but nobody nosed in to ask what had happened. Janet helped Jumbo onto the float. He was pretty faint, but they made it up into the parkinglot OK, and she helped Jumbo up into Sonny's unlocked truck. She got behind the wheel, and Jumbo told her where Sonny kept the keys behind the visor. A couple of teens hanging in the lot got in the car blocking the truck in, loosed the brake, and rolled it clear so Janet could back out. Just as she was starting down Main Street one of the unmarked vehicles came rushing into the lot, but they were clear, and for sure nobody would tell the interlopers a thing.

The parade decorations were a mess, all shredded or knocked down by the squall, and there were branches and leaves everywhere, but the drying wind had sucked up a lot of the downpour already. The lower places were still steaming, and the north side of the buildings adrip, but everything else looked new-minted.

When they got to Sumner's Janet pulled into the dooryard, and drove behind Sidearm's rig. Sumner and Liz rushed out to hear their news, and Jesse's little face was pressed against a frontroom window.

"My god, what happened?" Liz asked when she saw Jumbo's bandaged arm.

Between them Janet and Jumbo recounted what had gone down. Liz gripped Sumner's arm tighter as the tale unfolded.

"And Sonny still plans to sell the drugs?" Liz asked, angry and astonished. Just then the shiny blue unmarked sedan flashed past the house, headed east, a bar of lights flashing on the dash.

"I guess," Jumbo said, his voice weary with exhaustion. "At least he wants Chinetti and the sailors to think so."

Liz realized how faint Jumbo was getting. "I'm sorry Jumbo. You should get to the hospital. I'm glad you're OK." He nodded.

Sum had a last question. "Mary and Dunk?"

"They went with Sonny.. to bury Buster," Janet said, shifting into first. Sumner and Liz stepped away from the truck.

"Hang in theyah, Jum," Sum said.

Janet drove back onto the road, shifted up, and accelerated away.