Landfall: Islands in the Aftermath (The Pulse Series Book 4) Read Free Page A

one of the most developed islands in the Middle Keys. They had seen no other boats when they approached it though, the tall mangroves completely obscuring their view of the land to the south and they hoped, hiding their presence from anyone still living there. With Intrepida anchored in waist-deep water just a few feet off the one little pocket beach, Thomas and Mindy had felt as safe there as anywhere else they’d stopped. What they didn’t know though, as they were settling in for the night and he was combing the nearby mangrove roots for pieces of driftwood to start a fire, was that their every move was being watched. Mindy had gone back to the boat to get a skillet out of the cabin when the two men stepped out of the dark mangroves. When she saw that they had guns, her first instinct was to hide, hoping they hadn’t seen her. When they saw that Thomas had nothing of value, maybe they would leave him alone. But they had seen her, and as it turned out, she was the one thing he had that they wanted.
    Thomas did nothing as he watched the other one pull her out of the cabin of their little boat by the hair. He knew that if he moved to help her, the one with the pistol pointed at his face would pull the trigger, so he didn’t. Mindy struggled but the man who had her was much bigger, and he slapped her before pushing her over the side into the water and jumping in after her to grab her again. When she got to her feet in the shallows, he had her by the upper arm and was forcing her with him to the beach. Thomas saw her look his way, the fear in her eyes visible in the firelight. She knew as well as he did that the two of them were as good as dead once these men had their fun. Thomas considered his almost non-existent options. Would it be better to jump up and try and grab the other man’s pistol, even if it resulted in getting shot dead immediately, or wait and be forced to watch what was coming and be shot anyway? The man who had Mindy had a gun too, not a pistol but a long one of some kind slung over his back. Thomas knew that even if he could grab the pistol from the nearer one, the other one would likely shoot him before he could figure out how to use it. He had about made up his mind to try anyway when out of nowhere a thunderous gunshot rang out, and the man standing over him suddenly collapsed into the sand.  
    Thomas stared for a moment in disbelief before turning his attention back to Mindy. Two more shots sounded before either could speak and the man holding her fell too, his hand slipping from Mindy’s arm before he splashed face-first into the water. Mindy ran to the beach screaming, and Thomas jumped to his feet, his eyes straining into the dark for what new threat they now faced from somewhere unknown. He didn’t know who did the shooting, but he was certain that the man sprawled in front of him would never harm anyone again. A quick glance at the corpse was all Thomas could stomach before he had to look away. The bullet that took him out blew the man’s head apart, and something Thomas was sure could only be brain matter oozed from the opening and onto the bloody sand.
    Mindy ran straight into his arms despite the uncertainty of what was going to happen next. But as he embraced her for what he feared might be the last time ever, Thomas heard a voice calling out to him. The two dead attackers where white, but this was the West Indian lilt of an islander, unmistakable from his years in the Keys, where he encountered Jamaicans and Bahamians on a daily basis.
    “IT’S OKAY, MON! NOT GOING TO SHOOT! ONLY KILL DE BAD GUY TO HELP YOU OUT, MON!”

Three

    W HEN L ARRY D RAGER OPENED the companionway hatch and stuck his head out, he was not surprised to see that the sun was already well above the eastern horizon. He had gotten little sleep his second night on Green Cay after discovering the Casey Nicole aground on the surf-bound and reef strewn northern shore. The crews of both boats had worked for hours through