Backwater Flats by Steven Becker

Author:Steven Becker [Becker, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The White Marlin Press
Published: 2019-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

17

I was a step faster getting to Ray than his first punch was getting to Scott. I hoped I'd stopped things in time that Scott wouldn't press charges. Separating the two men, I pulled Ray toward the bow.

“Not the way to get this done,” I said, getting right in his face.

“Shit, Kurt. He’s messing with my family.”

In an indirect way Ray was right, but my friend also was using family to justify doing something illegal, if only slightly so, at least in my opinion.

“Go back up. I’ll get rid of him.” I shot a look in Scott’s direction. “We’ll talk later.”

Ray left with a humph and several not-so-veiled threats. Zero followed. When he reached the steps to his house, I drew a deep breath. Moving to get off the boat, I paused by the console, where several lobster gauges were clipped to the T-top support. It was hard to tell from a quick glance if they were the doctored ones used to confiscate legal lobsters from the boaters who the FWC officers stopped, or if one happened to be the murder weapon, but I was not going to give up the chance to find out.

“Susan!” I called over to my boat. “Take my boat. I’ll take Scott back.” I figured that would separate them, as well as remove any chance of Scott making a run for it. Scott moved back to the leaning post. After his suspension, then his run-in with Ray, and now being relieved of his craft, he wasn’t a happy guy, but at least I wasn’t arresting him. I’d witnessed his temper already, and though I didn’t expect trouble from him now, I left him sitting there with a cross look on his face.

Susan, about to drive off in my boat, had several incidents with firearms on her record. I couldn’t imagine how she could possibly get into trouble by herself, but this craft and any weapons on it were my responsibility.

Moving past her, I pulled my pistol from the glove compartment and buckled the gun belt around my waist. Out of habit I checked to make sure my handcuffs were in the small pouch, just in case I needed to subdue Scott. I took the key to the console from the chain and locked the compartment with the shotgun inside, then pocketed the key. I suspected there were weapons aboard the FWC boat as well. I would keep an eye on Scott. Truthfully, I was worried more about Susan taking my boat than having any problems with Scott.

With the case of the rogue agent and missing boat solved, we set off across the bay. For once I was grateful for the engine noise, which was loud enough to make conversation difficult. Twenty minutes later, with Susan following somewhere behind me, I entered the channel leading to the marina next to headquarters and pulled the boat into its slip. Martinez and Robinson were standing on the dock looking like Laurel and Hardy. I wasn’t sure how, but Susan must have informed Martinez that we were headed this way.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.