Arrow's Rest by Joel Scott (best books to read all time .TXT) 📗

and bollard rating might not have been quite up to some of the offshore tows she’d undertaken in the past, she was perfectly suited as an offshore cruiser. He had no qualms about taking her on the long run south. With five thousand gallons of fuel in her tanks and a twenty gph water maker plus a thousand gallons in tankage, she could easily make it all the way down to southern Mexico without having to call in anywhere along the way. He’d wait it out there for a while and see how things progressed back home. If there was a scandal and his name came up, he’d head down to one of the countries in South America with no extradition treaty with Canada. He reminded himself to do some research and find out which were the most suitable for immigrants with questionable pasts.

The previous owners had spent most of their initial budget for the tug on setting up luxurious accommodations, and Rainbow was equipped with six big cabins with double beds and separate bathrooms plus a large common room with a commercial espresso machine and a double fridge installed for cold drinks. Hell, he could even run charters down south if he needed. But he didn’t think he’d have to. Lacey had been burying money offshore for years, and had more than enough to live in high comfort, if not quite obscene luxury, for the remainder of his life. He was leaving the possibility of luxury behind in the abandoned subdivision deal. On board Rainbow he had two passports, one in his own name and the other an excellent forgery in a different name that had cost him fifteen hundred bucks. Behind the false panel in the wheelhouse were ten K in American dollars and five K in Krugerrand.

The more he considered not returning to Vancouver, the more convinced Queer Bill became that it was the smart thing to do, and the more excited he became. Everything of value that he owned was on board Rainbow, with the exception of a beater Nissan truck sitting in the Queens Own parking lot. They were more than welcome to that rusty, salt-eroded piece of shit.

He’d foreseen the possibility of a forced departure and taken an eager and ethically challenged junior partner into the firm three years earlier. He had encouraged his associate to assume greater responsibilities and gradually reduced his own role in the business. He wasn’t able to completely remove himself from all of the dubious deals he’d been involved in over the years, but he was confident he’d muddied the waters sufficiently to require a committed forensic audit to flush him out. He went back into the galley and poured himself another cup of coffee, added a shot of brandy to it, and took a bracing swig.

He returned to the wheelhouse and sat back in the big leather swivel chair listening to the soft intermittent beep of the autopilot as it made its course corrections, and tried to think of a compelling reason to go back to his berth at the yacht club. He couldn’t come up with a single one. He didn’t really trust anyone he was involved with at the present time, with the possible exception of his junior partner whom he considered too stupid to be duplicitous. The last time he’d interacted with the brothers — a euphemism, his asshole was still raw — there had been a whole new level of disdain in their attitude and aspect, a smirking secret knowledge that disturbed him. He finished his laced coffee and made his decision. Fuck it. He would head down to Juan de Fuca Strait and go in to Sooke and fuel up. The port tank was over halfway down, and he detected the beginning of a slight list. From there it was just a short run to Cape Flattery and the open Pacific and then, weather permitting, a long gradual turn to port and he’d be off on his long trip south.

He punched in the course change and Rainbow swung around and settled onto her new track. Now that he’d made the decision, Lacey was excited about the future and a sense of relief swept over him. He realized he’d been under a heavy strain with the whole business and it was high time for a new life, new scenery, and new young men. He’d heard that in South America they were cheap and plentiful. Maybe he wouldn’t even stay in Mexico, just make a brief landfall and then harbour hop down to South America. Better safe than sorry.

He sat there dreaming about young men and boys and sleepy brown eyes. A broadside swell from a distant tug curled under Rainbow, and she rolled sluggishly and came back slow and Lacey registered the starboard list again and reached down to the instrument panel and flicked the switch that changed the fuel tanks over.

The explosion was seen twenty miles distant.

Chapter 41

“I heard it this morning on the fishing net. Happened late last night around midnight. The tug that called it in reported passing Rainbow in the general area of the explosion a few minutes earlier.” Jaimie shrugged. “Coast Guard has been calling her all morning, and she’s not answering. They have a boat on the scene but unofficial word is there’s not much left. No positive identification as yet, but it doesn’t look good for her.”

The three brothers were sitting bedside in Annie’s hospital room talking in hushed voices. Jaimie and Erin had flown in from the West Coast fishing grounds to join Danny in his vigil at the hospital as soon as they heard the news about their mother and grandfather. Annie lay silent in her bed, connected to a hospital monitor and showing little sign of life apart from the slow rising and falling of her chest. Bandages wrapped her head where she had been struck by flying debris, and disfiguring burns on her neck and face were covered with unguent. Other