Jack and the Boat Trip

Phone disposed of and luggage searched, I eyed her.

"Okay, we just need to check one more thing. Strip!"

She gawped at me, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

"Gotcha," I cheesed.

"Jerk!" she punched me in the shoulder. Hard. Julie was beet-red, but she was laughing.

I smirked at Amy and dialed her mom's number.

"Hi Linda, it's Jack Walker. I've got you on speaker with Amy and Julie."

"Hi Jack, it's good to hear from you. Hello girls!"

"So Linda, I'll just dive right in. Amy said she's told you about this guy that has been bothering her?"

"Yes, she did, is everything okay?"

"Yeah fine, but it looks like he had some sort of tracking device in Amy's purse. He followed her here."

"Oh my God! Did you call the police?"

"No, there's no way to prove that he planted it on her. But maybe you can get Preston to talk to your lawyer about a restraining order against this guy? I promise, the girls are safe. If you didn't know already, my Uncle Robbie left me his boat, and we're on it now, in the middle of the Potomac. He can't get to us."

"Oh, thank you, Jack! Please keep my baby safe! I'll call Preston as soon as I hang up."

"Thanks, Linda. I'm going to text you a picture. You should call the police if you see him, and include your property, workplaces, and all that in the restraining order. Oh, by the way, call me or Jules if you need to talk. I got rid of Amy's phone just in case."

"Ok Jack, and thank you." A little louder, she said, "Listen to Jack girls! I love you and be safe!"

"You heard your mom. You have to do what I say!" They both stuck their tongues out at me, and I laughed.

I thought some more. We couldn't afford to overlook anything.

"Jules, you've never met him but he may know you're Amy's roommate. He might have been able to figure that out from her text history, if he had access to her phone." Then another thought occurred to me. "Oh shit, Georgia!"

Amy spoke up. "She's at a seminar for her job, in Seattle. She'll be there for two weeks."

I relaxed. "Whew, good. Yeah, she should be okay. We should call her tonight anyway, though. Matter of fact, I'll text her to please call as soon as she can."

> Pls call ASAP. All good, just need to talk. Luv ya!

A few moments later, I received,

> Ok, got a break in about 30. Will call then. <worried face emoji>

When she called, we told her everything, and sent her the same photo we'd sent to Linda.

"Keep an eye out for this guy, okay sweetie? I doubt you'll need to worry while you're in Seattle, but if he got into Amy's phone, he probably knows about you. Stay in touch, and we'll need to figure out what to do before you come home. Oh, and definitely screen your calls. Love you!" We hung up.

"What else? Oh, Julie, call your folks. Same drill. Photo, warnings, and all that. Just in case. Let 'em know we'll keep in touch.

"I'll take the wheel back for now... you guys go through everything else in your bags, just in case, and take care of your calls, okay?"

She gave me a thumbs up and went below to phone her folks, Amy right behind her.

><><><><><

We'd gotten a little bit of a late start, so it was almost dark when we dropped the hook in Smith Creek, just short of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.

During the trip down the river, Amy told us her story. She had met the guy, whose name was Marco Ramirez, at the mall. She had literally bumped into him as she was coming out of Starbucks and spilled her coffee. She had allowed him to buy her a new one, and they sat down to chat for a while. But when he suggested continuing their conversation over dinner, she declined. She said she thought he was nice-looking, but a little intense.

"Then," she continued, "I saw him in the parking lot." Her voice was flat. "He tried to act like it was a coincidence, but... I dunno, I wasn't buying it."

"Oh my God, Amy!" Jules chimed in. "That had to have been terrifying!"

It had taken me a long time to understand, it's very scary for a girl, alone, to be approached by a stranger. Guys don't realize. To them, it's all, he's just being friendly. To the girl it's, what's my escape plan? I reached out and rubbed Amy's arm.

"Go on, sweetie," I encouraged.

She took a sip of her beer. "He gave me some bullshit line about it being fate, and we really should have that dinner. I said I couldn't, that my parents were expecting me. Would you believe he said, 'That sounds nice, I haven't had a home-cooked meal in a while.' I mean, what the actual fuck?

"I was shocked! I told him maybe another time. Then he said, 'Maybe you should give me your number.' So I said, 'How about you give me yours, and I'll give you a call.'

"I could tell he didn't like that, but at this point, what was he going to do, short of something illegal? I was so scared! I think he could tell, because he kind of smirked, and gave me his card. An actual business card. I tried to thank him as politely as I could, and I jumped in my car and got the hell out of there."

I said, "So he knows what you drive, and probably got your tag number. But I'm impressed at how you managed him, Amy. It couldn't have been easy. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"That's not the worst of it, Jack." She took another pull on her beer, realized it was empty, and pouted at the bottle.

I laughed. "I have more, Ames. Go grab yourself one. Jules?" She shook her head. "Would you bring me a water please?"

"Nothing stronger?"

"Not while I'm driving," I smiled at her.

She was back in a moment, the fresh bottle already covered in condensation.

"Okay, where was I?"

The worser bit," I said, helpfully.

"Oh, yeah. Well about a week after the mall incident, my phone rang, and it was a blocked number. I shouldn't have, I KNOW that but... ugh. I answered it."

"The creep?" I asked., already certain.

"No!" exclaimed Julie.

"Yep. He goes, 'Hey baby, I thought you were going to call me?'"

"Of course, I asked him how he got my number. He didn't answer, just asked when we could have that dinner. I was really freaked now, and I just said, 'Never, you fucking stalker. Lose my number!' Then I hung up, and turned off my phone."

"Wow, I'm so sorry honey." I hugged Amy, and she held on tight, tucking her head under my chin. Jules looked a little left out, so I held out my other arm, and we had ourselves a little group hug there on the flybridge.

After a moment, we broke apart, and Amy said, "Last night I came home from work and I swear, I felt like someone was watching me. So I locked up tight, turned on the alarm, put a chair under my bedroom door, and tried to sleep. Then I called you this morning."

"Wow. Wow, wow, wow." I breathed. "Okay, I can only assume he somehow got your info from your license plate. I mean, what other info did he have? And sorry I have to ask again; you said you took your wallet into the bathroom are you sure?"

"Yeah, coz I dropped it and remember think 'Ew, now I might have pee on it.'"

In perfect harmony, Julie and I both said, "Eww!" then laughed.

"Jinx!" she shouted, and punched me.

"Ow, damn it! Are you twelve?"

She stuck her boobs out at me and smirked, "Umm... no?"

Fuck me, I looked. And she smirked again.

Mock-scowling at her and ruefully rubbing my shoulder, I said, "So... he either works at the DMV, knows someone who does, or... he has access to the DMV database as part of his job."

"Well, THAT narrows it down," Amy snarked. She'd had a couple of beers by now, and getting a little emotional. Who could blame her? Julie hugged her again.

Fortunately, we were getting close to where I planned to anchor for the evening, so I was able to distract them with that. Once again, I had Julie take the helm. She was quite a bit more apprehensive in these tighter quarters, but I reassured her. "It's easy, honey, see those three markers with the red lights? And the one green light? The closest was the Smith Creek approach light, and as we neared it, I stood behind her and said, "Okay, now, turn to port - that's left - until we're pointed at the green light. She overshot just a little, and I gently helped her make the correction, my hand over hers on the wheel. She glanced up at me.

"Sorry!"

I squeezed her hand.

"No, you're doing great! It's a little different than your Mercedes, huh?"

She stuck out her tongue, and I laughed.

"Now, there's a simple rule for how to handle these markers. Red, Right, Returning. It means if you're heading into harbor, the red markers stay on your right. And by process of elimination," I winked at her, "green lights stay on your left. They mark the edges of the channel where the deeper water is. It's kind of tricky going into Smith Creek, so I'll help you with this next turn too.

As we approached, I continued to coach her. "Okay, keep the green marker to our left... good... okay, quick, turn left again so that this next red light is on our right. Perfect! And... ok, now we turn toward the next red light. It's about a half-mile away, so I'm gonna run forward real quick and show Amy how the anchor works.

I slowed us down a bit more, and whispered, "You're a natural at this!" and gave her a peck on the cheek. She blushed and smiled at me.

"Be right back."

After I showed Amy what to do - it was pretty straightforward - her only question was about the twin anchors.

"It's supposed to be calm, so we'll just use the one tonight. You got this?"

She gave me a thumbs up.

"Okay, I'm gonna go back and help Jules. I want to teach you guys as much as I can about handling the boat, just in case."

She nodded.

I hustled back up to the flybridge, as we were nearing our next turn, and it was getting a bit tricky.

Julie was getting a little wide-eyed and sighed in relief when I got back.

"Jack, I don't see any more red lights!"

"You're right; that was the last one. From here, we have to rely on the chart and the depth finder." I slowed down even more.

"We still need to get... here." I pointed to a spot on the electronic chart plotter. "Just keep us in the deep water, sweetie."

She stared at me, open-mouthed, and I chuckled. "I'll help, I promise."

When we got close, I hollered, "Stand by, Ames!" and she waved.

I explained to Julie how to use the throttles to slow down, then gently reverse to bring the boat to a stop. "We don't want any headway on when we drop, because we don't want to overrun the anchor chain. Ideally, we should be backing down just slightly. You can take a peek over the side to tell."

She did. "Looks good?"

I confirmed. "Yep, good eye." Louder, "Okay, Amy, readyyyy... Drop!"

Once I was sure the anchor was holding, I shut down the engines, set the anchor alarm, and we all gathered in the saloon.

"Whew! Great job, both of you!"

Julie had a big grin on her face. "That was awesome! I love driving this boat!"

Amy mock-pouted, folding her arms across her chest and sinking down on the sofa. Julie laughed and slid over to hug her. Amy couldn't help grinning. Jules was irresistible sometimes. Most of the time. Okay, all of the time.

"You'll get your turn, Amy," I promised. I'm gonna let Jules take her out again in the morning, so she can see the reverse of what we did coming in. Then tomorrow night it's your turn."

"Okay, cool!"

We had an easy meal of sandwiches, and I asked Amy what she wanted to do.

"What do you mean?"

"We're about an hour, maybe a little less, from the Bay. Before we get there, we need to decide if we're going north or south. Do you think he knows your grandparents are in Florida, and maybe he'll assume we'll head that way? Maybe just to be safe, we throw him for a loop by heading north?"

She pouted a little. I'm sure she was hoping to see them. But it made sense. Just in case, anyway.

So that's what we did. We got a decent start, and after rounding the light at Point Lookout, we headed north. Doing a steady eight knots, I figured we could make anchorage at Selby Bay, in the South River, in about eight hours.

We just had one minor incident as we were approaching the South River. Well, more of an encounter, of sorts. I always try to give sailboats plenty of room, but I guess this one wasn't too concerned, and made a fairly close approach. It looked to be an older sloop, about 35 feet, if I had to guess. It was very clean, and there was a tall man at the helm. He was admiring Rocín, and when he saw me looking back, he sketched a salute that had a hint of military background to it. As I returned it, he turned and must have said something, because shortly, a tiny blonde pixie in an even tinier bikini popped up from below, to stand beside the man. She looked up at him and said something, and he nodded. She waved too, and then we were past them.

"Wow, what a great-looking couple," Julie said.

"What's a Sylph?" Amy asked, reading the sailboat's name on the transom.

"That blonde, that's what," I said, admiringly.

The girls both looked at me, hands on hips.

"What?" I looked from one to the other and back.

"Men!" they shouted in unison, and marched below.

><><><><><

As we neared our anchorage that evening, I cast a weather eye toward the line of clouds in the distance. Hope those sailors stay safe, I thought.

I coached Amy at the helm, as I had with Jules the previous evening, and then I called down to Julie who was forward, ready with the anchor controls. "Okay, Jules... readyyyy... Drop!"

Again, once I was satisfied that the anchor was holding, we went to fix dinner. I threw some steaks on the grill and the girls whipped up a salad, and we took it out onto the aft deck, along with a bottle of wine to enjoy. I watched the sky carefully. Definite clouds on the horizon, but according to the weather report, it was slow-moving, and we were in a safe anchorage. Should be fine.

"So, Jack, tell us about how you got this boat again?" asked Julie.

"Oh, well." I sat back and rubbed my stomach. That steak hit the spot. "I think I told you I inherited it, right?"

They both nodded.

"I got it from Dad's brother Robbie. He was something. About as different from my Dad as a person could be. I think Robbie confused Dad. He was super smart, kinda geeky, and he developed software applications for a living. A couple of them really took off. He wound up pretty rich - not eff you money, but almost.

"It didn't change him too much though. He still visited, and when I was a kid, I thought he was pretty cool and looked forward to his visits. Then he got this boat, and he used to take me sailing. You might not know it, but this tub is ocean-capable, and there were a few times that he'd fly me somewhere and we'd spend a week exploring. Róisín would come sometimes, and oh my god, I had such a crush on her... she knew it too, and while she was sweet about it, she could be a bit of a tease, too. She would wear these tiny bikinis, and... did I say she was Irish? She had the palest skin. So she was constantly putting on lotion... and she'd catch me staring, and she'd just wink at me. Never got mad." I shook my head, remembering.

"Let's just say she had a starring role in my fantasies for a long time," I said, smiling.

Amy turned to Julie, making her hand into a circle and moving it back and forth. Julie shrieked with laughter.

I just grinned at them. "After I joined the Marines, I didn't see him that much. Heck, you guys remember, I didn't get to see anyone all that much." I reached out and gently grasped each of them by the hand. "I missed you guys a lot, just want you to know that."

"Aww... we missed you too, Uncle Jack," Julie said, and Amy nodded.

"So... I guess you all were still in college, and Dad got a call. Uncle Robbie was in the hospital; he had a brain tumor. I guess he'd been having headaches, and Róisín finally convinced him to see his doctor, and by then... well, it was just too far gone. He only lasted another month.

"Poor Róisín. She was devastated. Of course, Robbie made sure she'll never have to worry about money for the rest of her life, but she told me she'd give it all away just to have him back. When I asked her what she was going to do, she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and said she was going back to Ireland."

Then, she smiled, and said, 'I'll never be able to go to the beach without thinking of you, Jacko.' And then she winked at me, got in her car, and that's the last time I saw her."

I smiled at the girls, and I guess my eyes looked a little bright because they both came over and slid their arms around me.

After a moment, I continued. "You could have knocked me over with a feather when Robbie's lawyer called me and told me about the boat. He said Róisín knew how much I loved it, and she had told Robbie that she wanted me to have it. She was right. And Robbie left me some money too. Enough to take care of this old nag. So... if I live aboard, watch my pennies, and do the odd job from time to time, I'm okay.

I was downplaying it for the girls. I was pretty much more than okay. Robbie had left the lion's share to Róisín of course, but he had also left me quite a nest egg. I would never be hurting.

><><><><><

I checked the weather again, then suggested that the girls check in with their folks. While they chatted - Amy was using my phone - I looked at the chart for a bit, estimating how far we could get and where we should anchor tomorrow night.

The girls finished their calls and came to look over my shoulder. They seemed to be standing awfully close, but I put it off to the story I had just told them.

I pointed at the chart. "We can make it to the C&D Canal by tomorrow afternoon, but... I think I'd rather do the transit in daylight. We can anchor in the Bohemia River, here..." I pointed again, "Then run through the canal, down Delaware Bay, and find a mooring in Cape May that night.

The girls leaned in as I showed them, and I swear, I felt Julie's breast against my arm. She moved away quickly though, so it was probably just an accident.

"We'll refuel, get some fresh groceries, and find you a new phone, Ames. I know you've been going through withdrawal," I teased.

"Jerk," she grumped, but then she smirked.

"Oh, I should call Georgia too. Did your folks say anything?"

No one had noticed anything unusual. With that, we cleaned up the supper dishes, I put some Anita Baker on the stereo, very softly, and we went back out to the aft deck for another glass of wine.

It didn't take long for all of us to start getting sleepy, and we soon headed off to bed.

><><><><><

I was hiding behind the Humvee again. Keith was bleeding, and people were running, and from far away, I heard someone calling me. "Jack! Jack!" The voice got closer and closer, and then I felt someone shaking me. "Jack, wake up!"

I sat up, gasping for breath, looking around. My eyes finally focused on Amy, sitting on the bed beside me, looking worried.

"I think you were having a nightmare," she said, reaching out to touch my shoulder tentatively. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," I said, rubbing my face. Then I realized I was lying in bed, Amy sitting beside me, and all I had on were a pair of boxers.

"Uhh, thanks Ames," I smiled weakly at her. "Can you... help me find my shirt?" I slid out of bed and started searching the floor when she flipped the light on. I heard a gasp.

I turned to look, and she was staring at me wide-eyed, her hands over her mouth. No, not staring at me. Staring at my back. Shit. I walked to her and put my arms around her. She still had her hand over her mouth, as she looked up at me.

"What happened?" she asked, and I could hear the horror in her voice. Not at the scars, but that I had suffered. I just reached one hand to the back of her head and gently pulled her to my chest. She lay her cheek there, and gradually her arms slipped round my waist.