Jack Beale 00 - Dangerous Shoals

placed her on the towel and wrapped it around her.
    “What the hell happened? Is she okay?” asked Tom as Jack stood up.
    “Tom. I don’t really know. Listen, I have to get Cat to the vet’s.”
    “Sure.”
    “Max, you drive. The keys are in my pocket.”
    “Jack, before you go, what happened here?”
    “I don’t really know. We went out to get stuff for a cookout. When we got back we heard a scream upstairs. I rushed up. No one was here. That window screen was cut open,” he nodded toward the open window. “Then Max saw blood on the floor, we followed it, and I found Cat.”
    While he gave Tom this quick synopsis, Max fished the keys out of his pocket and headed downstairs. Now the horn honked outside. “I really have to go.”
    “You go. I’ll stay and see what else I can find.”
    Jack never heard him say, “Good luck.”

CHAPTER 71
    “YOU FOOL!” KURT SILENTLYJ berated himself as he quickly paddled away from Jack’s place. Tonight he had been lucky, and while luck was a good thing to have, it had nothing to do with his well-deserved reputation. Careful planning and mistake-free invisibility were the hallmarks of his success. Tonight, he had done neither. The break-in was one thing that could maybe be overlooked, but allowing his own personal demons to take over had nearly proved disastrous. In the end he accomplished nothing.
    As the distance increased and Kurt’s escape more certain, he began to rationalize his mistakes. No one had actually seen him. Other than his hand, he was uninjured. The ground under the window from which he jumped had sloped toward the marsh, which lessened the shock, and kept him from being injured. That allowed him to make a clean escape. Because of the still-falling tide, he was nearly invisible behind the steep banks of the salt marsh canals, and the speed of the out-flowing current helped propel him swiftly toward freedom.
    When he reached the point where the channel turned toward the bridge, where it emptied into the harbor, he saw the blue lights of a cruiser pass over the bridge and his confidence grew as he paddled on. As he neared the bridge, he became aware of the throbbing in his hand and recalled how that cat had attacked him. He looked down at his gloved hand. It was too dark to see it clearly, but when he touched it, he could feel where Cat’s claws had sliced the leather and could even feel blood still oozing inside the glove. From the amount of blood he had seen, he knew he had seriously wounded the cat, and he smiled at the thought of its certain demise.
    Kurt watched as the blue lights disappeared up the road toward Jack’s. He knew they were for him. Ignoring the pain in his hand, he paddled for the bridge and the harbor beyond for the safety that he imagined it would provide. As he neared the bridge a thought came to him that he hadn’t considered. The tide. The tide was nearly all the way out and the safety that this had provided when he was in the marsh could soon become a trap. He would need enough water to make it under the bridge and reach the harbor in his canoe.
    The water became shallower the closer he came to the bridge and he felt the canoe begin to scrape on the rocks and sand. As he nosed his canoe under the bridge and disappeared into the shadows, his fears were confirmed. The stream had turned to a trickle, and except for dragging or carrying his canoe across the gravel, mud, and cobblestones to deeper water, he was trapped. He took deep breath. As he looked out at the harbor from the shadows under the bridge he could hear the sounds of vacationers enjoying themselves at Ben’s. Ahead he could see a fishing boat tied to the commercial pier, and he could hear the soft thrum thrum of its diesel engine idling. He listened as a car passed slowly over the bridge, moving toward the restaurant. The sound of a blaring horn and tires kicking gravel from the road’s shoulder announced another vehicle going in the opposite direction, very fast. As it crossed the bridge he could hear the sounds of shouted expletives from the driver of the first car.
    The night had been a series of blunders as his emotions had controlled his actions. Now, without emotion, he assessed his situation. First, he needed to get away from his present location. The evening was still fairly young, and there were still too many people around. It was only a matter of time before someone would notice him.
    He had already taken a huge risk in paddling as far as he had.