Alpha Heat Read Free Page B

heard something ripping and opened one eye to see that he had cut the rope holding the cage shut. The door banged open and he motioned for me to come toward him.
    Pin pricks shot through my legs as I lurched forward.
    He grabbed my arm, and held the steel to my throat. “Silencio!” He whispered as he covered my mouth with his left hand.
    I nodded my head.
    The light came closer. “Should we call you a tow?”
    “We got a girl here. She’s sick, she needs help.” Huber pushed me forward into the dim light from the deckhouse.
    “Stay away…they are —”
    I managed to get those words out before Ramon punched my gut. The other boat’s spotlight shone on me as I doubled over. Huber pulled a pistol out of his shorts and aimed it at my head.
    “Come here nice and slow or we cap her,” he yelled.
    “I think we’ll just call the police.”
    “Alfredo,” Ramon yelled.
    Another bright light came on, this time from Ramon’s boat. A man who I assumed was Alfredo stepped from behind the deckhouse with a wicked looking rifle in his hands, like the ones you see terrorists waving on T.V.
    “I will shoot you and take your boat,” Alfredo yelled.
    “Hang on,” the voice from the boat said. “Let’s talk about this like civilized men.”
    Glaring at him from my knees, I saw Ramon nod. “Yes, come here and we’ll talk,” he said, speaking through his teeth.
    “Like civilized men.”
    My stomach hurt, my insides were solid knots. I gasped and I shivered. Fear warred with anger inside me. I looked at Ramon, his face lit by the other boat’s lights.
    I tried to yell another warning, but all I could make was a dry, hacking sound.
    Ramon looked at me with narrowed eyes and shook his head back and forth. His cheeks had pock marks. He showed me the gun’s barrel and pointed it at my head.
    I couldn’t catch enough breath to scream.
    The boat coming toward us was bright blue on the bottom with a white top. Wind Walker was printed in hand-tall letters on the front.
    Ramon whistled like a construction worker at an attractive woman.
    He said something to Huber.
    I only understood one word, “restate.” Ransom.
     

eight
     
    If the Norse god Thor had a living equal, the man who stepped into view next would be him. Blonde hair, bold cheekbones and sculpted arms. Facing three guns held by characters clearly intent on no good, he smiled.
    Bright white teeth shone with iridescent highlights.
    Behind him, the spotlight on the Wind Walker snapped off, leaving him lit by Alfredo’s light, like an actor on stage all alone.
    He held his hands up. “Guys, I’m Karl Norman.”
    Defying possibility, he smiled even wider. Even brighter.
    “Just give us the girl and we’ll call you a tow. No hard feelings.” He waved his hands at the guns as if waving off a fly. “I won’t say anything about those.”
    Most of the time, late afternoon Gulf Coast storms don’t last long. The wind that had been strong as soup was already weakening and the moon shone through the clouds. As the air calmed, I smelled dead fish and the sweat from the men around me.
    I peeked back at Alfredo and saw him wave his rifle. “You mean this little thing?” He pointed the gun at Karl. “You won’t say anything, pollo, because you’re scared by my friend here.”
    There was a thud, and as if by magic, a black square appeared between the shadows where Alfredo’s eyes were. I recognized the handle of a dive knife, like the ones Pablo sold in his store.
    After selling board, he loved to tell the customer that there were sharks off the beach and he wouldn’t go on the Gulf without a good knife strapped to his calf.
    Now, a good knife to have, like the type Pablo sold, jutted from Alfredo’s head. His gun went off with a boom-boom-boom and holes appeared on the Wind Walker’s sky blue side. I flattened myself against the deck, remembering a war movie I saw with a pock-faced teenager once. The film was set in some obscure African city, and there were shots