Page 56 of The Fallen
Between Boot Cove and Campobello Island, straddling the line between the United States and Canada, Gil cut his engines and joined his cat on the deck. The fog completely obscured both coasts, and it was quiet except for the calls of seabirds and the waves slapping against the hull. Gil pretended like they were the only livings things in the world, that no matter how far they sailed, they’d never leave the mist. He pretended no complicated world existed full of people who wanted things from him that he didn’t want to give. It was peaceful for a while, until Gil realized they weren’t alone.
The other boat’s engine seemed loud, almost obscene in the stillness. A moment later, a big commercial fishing vessel emerged from the mist, moving at a good speed. Still, it had seen Gil’s little trawler in plenty of time to steer away.
Except it wasn’t. The bigger boat was coming right for them. Gil grabbed Mr. Brimstone and held him to his chest, waving frantically with his other arm. “Hey! Hey, what the hell?”
The other vessel scraped along theFreya’shull, gouging her fiberglass body. She groaned low, like a living thing, as shepitched hard to the side from the impact. Gil almost lost his balance, and the cat’s claws sunk into his shoulder.
Finally, the other boat’s engine cut off, and the two vessels drifted there, tangled together like seaweed in a net. Gil set Mr. Brimstone down and walked to where the bigger boat’s bow jammed against theFreya. “Hey buddy!” he shouted. “What are you thinking? What the hell?”
A man came out of the enclosed cockpit, and as he emerged from the thick fog, Gil saw that it was Grady. Soon, two other men followed, both of them big blonds holding automatic rifles.
Grady swung his legs over the bigger boat’s railing and dropped the few feet to theFreya’s deck. He stood almost chest to chest with Gil—or he would have, if he hadn’t been over a foot shorter. “You’re a hard man to find, MacNeil. I’ve been trying to call you.”
Gil swallowed hard. He didn’t know what to do. If he backed away, Grady would know he was scared. But he couldn’t tell Grady to fuck off, either, not with those Russians he ran drugs with aiming their guns down at him. He felt every bit as stupid as everyone had always said he was.
“What’s the matter, you big oaf?” Grady grinned and swatted Gil’s shoulder, as if this was all just some good-natured teasing between friends. “Cat got your tongue? Well? How come you’ve been avoiding me? We had an agreement.”
“I… I’m not,” Gil stammered. “I’ve just been busy after being away so long.”
“Huh. I left you about a dozen messages. You didn’t see any of those?”
“Just not used to checking my phone.” Gil looked down at Mr. Brimstone winding figure eights between his boots. He hated his cowardice as he muttered, “Sorry about that.”
“It’s mighty inconvenient,” Grady said. “After all, how are you going to know the details about the run you need to make soon?”
“Look….”
“You look, asshole.” Grady’s fake friendliness evaporated, and he bit his words out through gritted teeth. “You don’t know who you’re fucking with. This operation’s grown while you sat your big ass in jail. My associates aren’t going to put up with your crap. Neither am I. I’m not going to let you make me look bad in front of them. Now, how are we going to make sure this doesn’t happen again?”
As quick as a hawk, Grady dove and grabbed Mr. Brimstone by the scruff of the neck. He held him out at arm’s length while the cat’s long legs worked and his long teeth and pink tongue protruded past his shiny black gums.
“Think he can swim?” Grady crossed to the opposite side of the Freya and held Mr. Brimstone out over the churning water. “Think he can swim with a broken leg?”
Mr. Brimstone hissed, spit, and tried to bite Grady’s hand, but Grady swatted him hard on the nose. “I ought to snap this little fucker’s neck right now. It’d serve you right.”
“Grady, please.” Gil took a step toward him.
A series of pops made Gil flinch. One of the Russians had fired into the air, but the other aimed his rifle directly at Gil’s chest.
Grady held up a finger and shook his head. “You know, you haven’t changed at all. I remember back in high school when the rest of us were out drinking beer and getting pussy on the weekends, you’d sail out here and just stare at the sky. When you didn’t return my calls, I knew where I’d find your big, dumb ass. Hiding from the big, scary world like you always have.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear,” Gil pleaded. “I’m going to do it, Grady. You know I will. Just… please. Please don’t hurt him.”
Grady looked out into the gloom as if considering while Gil’s pulse shook his entire body. Finally he turned and flung Mr. Brimstone toward the stern. Gil winced, but the cat managed to twist his body in the air and land on his feet… somehow. He stood next to a spool of rope, growling low. Gil moved to stand in front of him.
“I’ll come by your uncle’s place the day after tomorrow,” Grady said, turning and heading back to the bigger boat. “It’d be in your best interests to be there.”
One of the Russians moved his rifle to his back and tossed Grady a rope. When Grady reached the deck, he returned to the cockpit without another word to Gil, though the other two men stared down at him until the boat disappeared back into the fog.
Gil stood staring out to sea for a long time after the bigger boat departed. Then he slowly sank down to theFreya’s deck and hugged his knees to his chest. “What the hell is wrong with me? God, why am I such a loser? Why can’t I grow the balls to tell him to fuck off?”
He dropped his head to his knees until a low rattle and a few nips on the tip of his ear made him sit up. He was ashamed to meet his cat’s green eyes, but Mr. Brimstone slithered beneath Gil’s arm, into the small space between his thighs and his belly, and up until his paws rested on Gil’s shoulders and their noses nearly touched. Gil flattened his legs and wrapped his arms around the cat, whose purring grew louder.
“Sorry I didn’t stand up for you, buddy.” Gil let the cat lick his eyebrow. “I guess you should know that I’ve never been any different. I’ve never stood up for myself or anybody else. It’s only right that you should know you got stuck with a coward.” He thought back through his school years, when he’d let everyonethink he barely had the brains to write his own name because it was easier to stay quiet than try to prove them wrong.
“You’d think I could draw the line at running drugs,” he mused. “I know I’m ruining people’s lives. Hell, if it wasn’t for drugs, I might’ve grown up with a mother. I don’t know what I’m going to do. If I try to get out of this now, Grady and those Russians he works with will hurt Uncle Doddie. Sometimes I wish I could just sail away, start over someplace where nobody knows me. I guess that’s a thing people do. It’s hard to imagine leaving this place, though. Buddy… I don’t want to go back to jail.”
Eventually Gil realized there was only one thing he could do. If he couldn’t get out of making this run for Grady, then he had to make absolutely sure he wasn’t caught. After dropping a few kisses on his cat’s soft head, he stood and went to inspect the damage. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix. He wanted to make some other upgrades to theFreyaanyway. He’d make this run and if luck was on his side, he’d get away with it. Then, he’d have to do something about Grady and the rest of them. For good.
