Jack Beale 00 - Dangerous Shoals

going to do?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Nothing? What do you mean nothing? He’s probably a mass murderer―or worse―and you’re just going to do nothing.”
    “Court, listen to yourself. You’re being silly. Here’s all that has happened: we each saw a really creepy looking guy. That’s it. But to be safe, let’s not tell Max, at least not yet. After the last year, she’s just becoming her old self again. I don’t want to spoil that. You know how she is.” His voice tailed off.
    Courtney looked at him while she thought about what he had just said. “Deal.” She gathered up an armful of picnic remains, turned toward her house, and walked away.
    Jack grabbed the rest of the picnic stuff and was pushing the trunk shut when Max came out of his place and walked toward him. He couldn’t help himself. He just stood there with a stupid grin on his face. Freshly showered, her hair was still damp and her skin had a healthy glow. The washed-out pallor of winter skin had been replaced by the pinkness of a newborn, and she looked great.
    “Jack, today was great. Thanks.” She came up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
    “No. Thank you. That was fun and I never would have done it without your prodding.”
    “I’ve got to get to work. What are you doing with the rest of your day?”
    “After I put all this stuff away, I think I’ll go for a short run. Maybe work on the boat a little. Then I’ll be over for a beer and some food.”
    “Great. I’ll see you then.” She walked off toward Ben’s.
    Jack watched her go and then, still grinning, he turned and went in the other direction toward his place.

CHAPTER 6
    JACK RAN SLOWLY and easily north along the boulevard, keeping a close eye on the continuous line of traffic. The sun was not yet low enough to be in drivers’ eyes, which would render him invisible, but after a day of picnics, coolers of beer, sunburns, and general foolishness, he knew that he had to be vigilant. The day-trippers were beginning their evacuation back to reality and they didn’t always pay attention.
    After a mile or so he was in the groove. Sweat glistened on his skin, his breathing was regular, and his legs had found their memory. His body was in another time and place, where survival was based on the ability to either run down prey or run to avoid becoming prey. As he turned off the boulevard and its endless stream of cars, his mind became free to join his body in that more elemental world without day-to-day distractions, where his subconscious would take over and he could see life from a different perspective.
    He turned again onto a road with even less traffic, a road that was lined with more trees and wild spaces than houses. Max lived on this road and as he neared her place, memories surfaced of that frigid winter night when he saw her running down the street. He remembered the anger and fear he felt when he saw that she was being chased. Then he smiled. He had no conscious memory of getting out of his car or running after her pursuer, but he could still feel the moment when he caught the guy and dragged him down.
    A passing car with music blaring out the windows snapped him out of the place he was in. That’s when he realized how hard he was breathing. He was reliving that run. Jack slowed slightly with an embarrassed grin on his face. Max didn’t even know that she had been saved until it was all over and she had run to near exhaustion, resigned to the fact that she would be caught.
    When her house was in sight his thoughts began to wander again. After that incident, their connection had deepened. But he had taken things for granted, and while everything had seemed good, they drifted apart and Daniel stole her heart. He remembered the helplessness he felt, the panic when he realized she was gone, and how he knew then that he had to get her back. He would never let that happen again.
    As he ran past her house, warmth filled his heart. Then, just as quickly as those good feelings came, they vaporized, replaced in his mind by a pair of eyes staring at him, all else hidden by darkness. They were the eyes from his dream, the eyes he had seen earlier in the day in the park, eyes that he knew but couldn’t place. When he tried to consciously bring them into focus they faded, but he knew they were still there, one layer down waiting to surface when least expected. “Whose were they?” He shook his head, forcing them further back. The spell was finally broken when a large