Jack Beale 00 - Dangerous Shoals

mirror and he caught a glimpse of the driver yelling and gesturing. A sudden urge to stop and pull that driver out of his truck and teach him a lesson washed over him.
    That urge lasted only a moment. He was already at the entrance to Rye Harbor and without thinking he hit the brakes and yanked the wheel to the left. His car shot across the other lane, narrowly missing an oncoming car. When the tires hit a patch of loose gravel on the edge of the road, it went into a slight skid. He regained control just as the truck roared past with one more blast of its horn.
    “You stupid ass,” he chided himself, “That is not how you stay invisible.” He slowed his car and drove past the ticket shacks toward the harbor. At the end of the drive he looked to the left and saw the park attendant in his ticket booth, reading a newspaper, ever ready to collect parking fees while guarding the launching ramp. The attendant didn’t even look up as he stopped and scanned the area.
    His heart rate was almost back to normal. All was quiet so he turned right, toward the commercial fish pier. He stopped his car just past the pier and looked across at the empty floats where Irrepressible should have been tied up. “Where did you go?” he asked himself as he considered the many possibilities. He swore silently as he berated himself for the hours of potential listening he had missed during the night. Then, there was that damned cat. But even as he blamed her he recognized the truth: he was bored and that boredom was causing him to make mistakes.
    A knock on his window broke his concentration. He turned and saw that the park attendant was standing next to his car. His uniform was neatly pressed and properly adorned with name tag and badge. An older man, he looked like a retiree posing as a rent-a-cop. Rolling down his window, he forced a smile and looked up at the officer, but remained silent.
    “Mornin’. Sorry to bother you, but this area needs to be kept clear for the local fishermen. If you want to hang out and look at the harbor you’ll have to pay to park over in the big lot back there.” He turned and pointed back in the direction that both of them had just come from.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that this was verboten.” He didn’t try to mask the sarcasm in his voice; rather he just turned away from the officer, rolled up his window, and slowly began to pull away. As he did, he took one more glance over to where the boat had been tied up, still wondering where it was and who was on it.

CHAPTER 30
    THE SKY REMAINED cloudless and the sea nearly flat, its surface still shimmering as they motored past the Isles of Shoals. The soft rumble of the diesel was almost hypnotic in its monotony. Max had long gone up on the foredeck and Jack could tell by her position that she was sound asleep. As he drove the boat on, and the Isles began to fade into the distance, he scanned the water for any sign of a breeze. There was none. He kept telling himself that a bad day on the water was still better than a good day anywhere else. But he was beginning to have some doubts.
    Irrepressible had no autopilot, but Jack knew her well and with the dead calm conditions he locked the wheel knowing that she would track a steady course, at least for a short while. Satisfied that all was well he left the cockpit and went forward to check on Max. As he reached the foredeck, she looked up at him and smiled.
    “I thought you were asleep.”
    “I was, but I’ve been awake for a while. I was remembering back to being on d’Riddem in Belize.”
    Jack had no response. Silently he sat down next to her and gazed out over the flat, empty sea.
    “Penny for your thoughts,” said Max.
    He didn’t answer immediately, but continued to stare ahead at the horizon. Then, he turned toward her and said, “I was just wondering what will happen if Daniel does show up. How it will affect us.”
    “You don’t have anything to worry about. That part of my life is over.” She paused, looked deeply into Jack’s eyes, and then continued, “Yes, I admit that I would like to know why he used me like he did, but it’s over. I’m where I belong.”
    At that moment, Jack sat up sharply and turned, looking back.
    “What?” said Max, a little anxiety creeping into her voice.
    He stood, scanning the empty sea behind them. “I thought I heard something.”
    “I don’t hear anything.” Now Max was also looking back, although she remained sitting.
    Jack could see by