Rescue

a day as we used to have back then,“ and from the way her shoulder hunched, he must have given her a squeeze on it.

    In the low command voice, Howard said, “Coming up to port.“
    He didn’t have to tell me. You could see the high walls of the Compound on the higher ground of Little Mercy from a mile away. The walls around the courtyard of the Center for the Study of Sin were behind the infirmary as we approached, our boat staying well off. We were no longer the only one navigating through the bay, and I could see what Howard had meant by our not standing out.
    “I don’t see the boat that I was on last night.“
    “ Neither do I.“
    Some people were staked out, a few drifted, a few others must have been anchored because they didn’t seem to drift but weren’t staked out, either. Everybody was fishing, nobody catching fish.
    I looked past the boats, the bay flat and mirrorlike, the sky the same color as the water. The horizon disappeared, the more southerly Keys seeming to float in the air.
    “That’s one hell of an optical illusion,“ I said.
    Doris smiled. “When it’s smooth like this, it’s as if the Keys were the clouds.“
    “And hard to see the horizon.“
    From the helm, Howard said, “Kind of optimistic, isn’t it?“
    I turned to him. “How do you mean?“
    “Well, maybe not being able to see the horizon means you’re not limited by reaching it.“
    Doris stopped smiling.
    As we got closer to Little Mercy, the shoreline became dearer. Fairly bare, only a few stands of trees here and there near the water’s edge. No real beach, just some parts that were a more gradual slope to the water and some driftwood piled up at its edge.
    I said, “Not much cover.“
    Howard shook his head. “There used to be. Bastards cut down a lot of the natural hammock. Not supposed to, of course, but by the time the Marine Patrol noticed what was going on, most of the trees were gone.“
    “What does that driftwood say about the current here?“
    “About what you’d think. Things tend to wash up on Little Mercy.“
    I looked away from the Key to the north and west. An industrious clatch of mangroves had formed a small island maybe a hundred feet long across a half mile of open water from Little Mercy itself.
    Without my saying anything, Howard turned the helm toward the small island. “Sweetheart, remember when we used to be able to catch snook down here?“
    “Long time ago, Howard.“
    I recalled the name from the taxidermy wall at Pinkys “Snook?“
    He said, “Great game fish. And the best eating. Near fished out now, though the tourist brochures would have you believe otherwise.“
    I watched the small island, more specifically the water around it. Green to almost blue.
    I said, “What was that poem again?“
    Howard smiled. “Don’t worry. My memory was deep channels around here, and it’s proving correct.“
    Fifty yards off the island, Howard turned, beginning to circle it On the far side, the mangroves got thickest in the middle, so dense we couldn’t see Little Mercy at all through them. I looked over at Howard.
    He grinned at me. “I think so.“
    Doris looked from one of us to the other. “You mind telling me what you two are thinking?“
    I said, “You and Howard can hide with the boat here, after you drop me off near Little Mercy. Then you’ll pick us up out in the channel afterward.“
    Doris said, “Us?“
    Howard shook his head again. “You can’t go in alone and hope to get out with four boys.“
    “I’m not going to bring all of them out.“
    Doris said, “You can’t leave the others to... them.“
    “I’m not going to. But Eddie’s the only one I’m taking out“
    Howard shook his head some more. “I don’t get it.“
    “Me neither,“ said Doris.
    I explained it to them.
    Howard turned toward Doris, who said, “I can handle the boat by myself.“
    I looked at both of them. “This is my fight. You’re already risking a lot as it is, your boat gets spotted.“
    Doris said, “It got ‘spotted,’ if it did, last night already-Besides, Howard’s still right. You need somebody else to manage the diversion, and probably to help out with the people you’re dealing with.“
    “Helping out may mean killing somebody.“
    Doris and Howard exchanged glances, then just looked back at me evenly. I was thinking, no wonder we won your war.
    Howard said, “We’d have to make a long swim. A commando dinghy would be better for coming back with the boy, but too