by Jeff Ross
We watched Jose tow Kevin into the wave. Kevin released the rope, dropped down the face of the wave and cut toward the rocks. There was only one way to catch up to him.
I had to surf.
chapter thirteen
“You have to tow me in, Delgado,” I said.
He shook his head. “No, man, these are too big. I don’t want to be the one who drags you to your death.”
“I can surf these,” I yelled.
“Remember, I was the one who patched you up yesterday? And those were tiny waves.”
I glanced over at where I had last seen Kevin. He must have missed the wave, because he was still waiting his turn. “It had nothing to do with the waves,” I said, “and everything to do with someone cutting me off.”
“Luca, Esme.” I looked up to find Alana riding up on a Jet Ski.
“Alana,” I said, turning away from Delgado. “Do you have a tow rope?”
She pulled a length of rope out of the seat compartment. “Sure do. I came out to see these waves. They’re huge.”
I paddled over. “Have you ever towed anyone into a wave?”
“A couple of times. I’ve towed a lot of wakeboards though.”
“Perfect,” I said. “Tow me into that, please.”
“Really?” she said.
“They are too big, man!” Delgado said.
I was worried he was going to suddenly move his Jet Ski in front of us.
“Our friend is out there. He’s about to take a wave. I have to talk to him,” I said.
“And what if he catches the wave first?” Delgado asked.
I looked up to see Kevin barreling toward the top of the wave. “Then I will too,” I said, grabbing the rope. “Go!”
We shot past three other Jet Skis. I wanted to grab the same wave as Kevin, but we got there too late. He was already shooting across the top, waiting to let go of the rope and drop in. Alana looked back at me.
“The next one,” I yelled. “Take the next one.”
The waves were fairly close together. They were also relentless. The sets kept coming with only the briefest of breaks between them. Alana shouted at other surfers, apologizing for cutting in line. And suddenly I was cruising across the top of a fifty-foot rolling, heaving mass of water that seemed to suck up everything in front of it. Alana looked over her shoulder. I gave her a thumbs-up, and when she cut to the back of the wave, I let go.
It was like falling off the side of a building. The board skipped beneath me. I flew off bumps in the wave, taking air and landing. I was glad I had a board with footholds. My instinct was to cut to the right. But I knew Kevin had gone the other way. There was no telling how close I was to the rocks or the reef surrounding them.
The wave was collapsing on itself as I shot forward. I carved to the left, and looked for a spot to cut out of the wake.
I pushed farther along the face and ducked as the wave collapsed and shot me out the end of the barrel across the shallow reef. The big black rocks were only fifteen or twenty feet away. I cut as hard as I could and weaved over the reef into deeper water.
I couldn’t see Kevin anywhere. Behind me, surfers bobbed on the waves and watched the monsters rolling in. It was definitely calmer on this side of the reef. I scanned the beach, straining to see if Kevin was there or the Jet Ski Jose had been driving. But both Kevin and Jose had disappeared.
I heard the whine of Jet Skis coming to life, and watched as, in the distance, another giant wave rolled in. The surfers on this side of the reef paddled over to their Jet Skis. Moments later they were being towed out toward the break.
I tried to find Kevin in the crowd, but the next big wave was coming. I had to get off the reef quickly.
I paddled into the oncoming wave. I knew I would be knocked back when it came in, but I needed to put some distance between myself and the rocks, or I’d be crushed against them.
The first wave came in, and I caught only the foamy remains of it. But the next one was pushing in closer to shore, breaking later. These waves weren’t breaking in the same spot. They collapsed eventually, but I couldn’t tell where it would be. The second wave was strong and would break well past where the first one had. I was going to be right in the middle of the break.
I paddled hard. There was no way I would make it up the wall of water, but what choice did I have? I couldn’t get to shore. And I couldn’t hop on the wave and ride it either. I was going to be smashed into the rocks.
I spotted a couple of surfers catching the wave, cutting long lines down its face. I paddled harder, pulling myself through the water.
“Luca!” I looked up to find Alana on her Jet Ski. She threw a rope at me. “Hurry, before we get destroyed out here.”
I grabbed the rope, jumped up and jammed my feet into the straps on my surfboard. “Go!” I yelled.
Alana gunned the engine and shot off.
Right into the approaching wave.
chapter fourteen
Alana leaned as far forward as she could and steered the Jet Ski up the front of the wave. I held on tight as the water foamed and curled beneath me. When Alana disappeared over the lip of the wave, I crouched but was slung into the air. I landed on the back side of the wave, wobbling side to side.
Alana slowed down and looked over her shoulder at me. “We have to cut across the wave,” she yelled, pointing to the far side, where the other Jet Skis and surfers were bobbing about. I spun in a slow circle, trying to keep some momentum so I wouldn’t sink. “Hold on,” she said and turned the Jet Ski around.
Suddenly we were flying through the valley between waves, the next giant wall of water already bearing down on us. The water was choppy. I struggled to hold on. If I bailed, I was done for. The coming wave would suck me in and spit me out the back after it had raked me across the reef. No one would be pulling me out of the waves here. There might not be a lot of me left to even pull out.
A forty-foot wave closed in on us. Alana veered away from it. I scanned the top of the wave, where some surfers were launching from. I was certain I spotted Kevin.
“Alana!” I yelled.
She glanced back. I pointed at the top of the wave.
“The next one, you adrenaline junkie!” she screamed.
The wave was breaking right to left, and luckily we were on the outside when it collapsed. Alana slowed down again.
I let go of the rope and drifted up beside her. “I think Kevin got on that wave.”
We watched surfers forced toward the reef by the collapsing wave. “That one broke the wrong way,” Alana said. “They’ll be driven into the reef and those rocks.”
“Not if they cut soon enough. Then they’ll end up on the other side.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I need to take the next wave.” I grabbed the rope. “Can you tow me in?”
“You’re crazy, Luca. I can’t tow you in there. Those waves are pushing sixty feet.”
I was filled with adrenaline. I had never surfed waves this big before. There was no way to work up to these giants. You just had to do it.
“He’ll disappear again,” I said. I shook the rope. “Please.” She looked at me, then back at the wave. “Come on, Alana.” I clung to the side of the Jet Ski, my face turned toward her.
She leaned over and kissed me on the mouth.
“That’s just in case I never get another chance,” she said. “Hold on.” She gunned the Jet Ski, and we shot toward the next wave.
To get on a big wave you have to cut along the side of the break and steer into it at just the right spot. If we went in too late, the wave would break and both of us would drop sixty feet onto the exposed reef. Big waves pull everything into them, including fish, sharks, logs, bottles and cans. Once I even saw a mannequin rolling in the face of a wave.
Alana approached the wave slowly. She gunned forward and then let off a bit as we drew toward it. “Here we go,” she yelled.
The mass of water rolled up beside us. As we approached the lip, an
other Jet Ski flew past. I was turning into the wave, preparing for the dizzying drop, when I looked over and saw Kevin smiling.
“Kevin,” I yelled.
His smile faded. “Luca, what are you doing here?” he yelled.
“Let go!” Alana yelled. The wave was cresting. She needed to take off before she went over with it. I let go after Kevin did, and the two of us dropped.
The wave was messier than the first one I had taken. Kevin immediately cut to the right. I was more interested in outrunning it. The wave was breaking from right to left again, so I followed Kevin toward the rocks. Kevin had cut back up the front of the wave. He was carving back and forth as though he was on a six- or seven-foot wave. I kept going straight down, thinking only of getting to shore as quickly as possible. Kevin would have to come in. He had seen me, and he knew I’d seen him. If he didn’t come in, then I had no idea who he was anymore.
I glanced over my shoulder at Kevin. He was carving, rushing ahead of the barrel. I focused on the shore, feeling the press of the massive wave behind me. The wave slowed, and I glanced back.
Kevin was gone.
chapter fifteen
I carved out of the wave and lay down on my board. My heart was thumping. But I didn’t have long to rest. The next wave was coming in, and it looked angry.
I couldn’t see Kevin anywhere, just white foaming water where the wave had crashed. I looked toward the shallow reef and spotted a surfboard, just the tip, bobbing in the foam. But I didn’t see Kevin. I started to swim back out. Where was Jose on his Jet Ski? He was supposed to make sure Kevin came up on the other side.
I heard the whine of an engine, and Alana was beside me, standing tall on her Jet Ski. “Where’s your friend?” she yelled.
“I don’t know. He didn’t come out. There’s a bit of his board over there.” The next wave crashed down. I clung to the side of the Jet Ski until the surge passed. I looked at the rocks once the water had receded. Something moved. I paddled out to get a better look. It was Kevin, clinging to the side of a rock.
“He’s over there!” I yelled.
“There’s another wave coming in. He’s going to get battered,” said Alana.
“We have to go get him,” I said, releasing my board and pulling myself up on the Jet Ski.
“There’ll be no room for him if we both go,” Alana said. She rolled off the Jet Ski into the water. “You go get him.” She grabbed hold of my board, pulled herself onto it and started paddling to shore.
I slid forward, clamped the gas and shot off. The reef was almost entirely exposed. The bottom of the Jet Ski hit the coral briefly and whined as the jets sucked air. The next wave was pulling hard. I could feel the force of it under the Jet Ski as I drew closer to the rocks. Kevin tried to climb on top of the rock to avoid being crashed by the incoming wave. I turned sharply and cut toward the rocks.
“Kevin!” I yelled. I was twenty feet from the rock. The wave was beginning to break. “Get ready to jump!”
The Jet Ski smashed into the reef again, bounced into the air and landed in deeper water. It struck another bit of the reef and screamed to a halt.
Kevin looked at the wave. “Get out of here, Luca! You’re not going to make it.”
I rocked back and forth, fighting with the Jet Ski. It was stuck on a cleft in the reef. I needed to tilt it off. I didn’t look at the incoming wave. There was nothing I could do but get the Jet Ski off the reef and move out of the way.
“Get ready to jump!” I yelled again.
I stepped on the reef and felt the slice of a sharp edge on my ankle. Water trickled under the ski. Soon the wave would smash on top of us, plowing Kevin and me into the rocks. There was no way we would survive. I had to get the Jet Ski off the reef.
I jammed my foot painfully onto the coral. The Jet Ski didn’t move. I got off, gunned the gas and pushed as hard as I could. Somehow the ski shifted off the reef into deeper water. I flung myself back on and leaned forward. I was five feet away from the rock. “Jump, Kevin. Jump!”
Kevin dropped down and landed on the back of the Jet Ski. The impact of his weight on the rear of the Jet Ski thrust us forward. We cleared the rocks just as the wave swept in. I turned toward shore, and we cruised in on the wave’s power.
I let the Jet Ski glide in to shore. When we reached shallow water, Kevin jumped off and sprinted up the shoreline. I pulled the key from the ignition and took off after him. Kevin and I had played this game before. Tag, touch football, soccer, it didn’t matter—I was faster than him. Even with torn-up feet, I caught up with him and knocked him to the sand. He rolled over and pushed me off.
I pinned his arms down with my knees and leaned back on his stomach. “What the hell are you doing?” I yelled at him.
“Get off. He can’t see you with me.”
“Who? What are you talking about?”
Kevin struggled to get free. “Man, I never should have ridden that wave. I knew you’d be out there.”
“Kevin, what are you talking about? What’s wrong with you?”
He was looking out to where the other Jet Skis bobbed in the water. “Follow me into the jungle,” he said, trying to shift me off him again.
“What? No way.”
“Please, Luca, you don’t understand. It’s…My parents are alive. I am so close to…”
“What?” I shifted off him slightly.
Blood dribbled down his forehead. He was breathing in quick gulps. His arms were all marked up from where he had smashed against the rock.
“He has my parents, Luca. They’re alive.”
chapter sixteen
I rolled off him into the sand as Alana walked up with my board under her arm.
“You survived?” she said.
“Just,” I said.
“And this must be the mythical Kevin.”
Kevin looked at his arms and legs. Blood mixed with the salt water on his skin.
“What are you talking about, Kevin? Your parents are alive?” I said.
He looked out at the surfers and Jet Skis again. “Just come into the jungle, Luca. We’ll go behind those palms so he can’t see me.”
“Who, Kevin? Who can’t see you?” I asked.
“Delgado.”
I followed Kevin into the jungle and sat on a log. Alana stayed on the beach with the Jet Ski and my board.
“What is this all about?” I asked.
Kevin peered around a palm. The beach was still empty. A few surfers were being pulled in, either beaten and worn from riding the waves or having decided they weren’t good enough to be out there in the first place.
“Where is he?” Kevin asked.
“Who?”
“Delgado. You were with him, right?”
“He’s still out there, as far as I know. He wouldn’t tow me into the wave.”
“And where’s Esme?”
“With him, I guess. Why?” I asked.
Kevin stared at me. “He…he has my parents. They came down here to get away from that stupid investigation. They didn’t die in the plane crash. Are you sure Esme didn’t come in?”
“Who told you they’re still alive?” I asked.
“Delgado. But it makes sense. My dad is a good pilot. He would have known how to crash land a plane in bad weather.”
“Wait,” I said. “Back up. Delgado contacted you? When?”
“About six months ago. He called and told me my parents had survived and were in hiding. He was protecting them. He said they couldn’t contact me because they thought I was being watched and my phone and email monitored.”
“But no one noticed he called you?”
“I don’t know, Luca. Delgado was very cryptic. I came down here so I could talk to him.”
“Why didn’t you contact the police?”
“If I had talked to anyone in the US and they found out my parents were alive, they would have arrested them.”
It all seemed so crazy. “So, Delgado contacted you and…what? What does he want from you?”
“He wants to finish my parents’ hotel on the other side of the island.”
“We saw it,” I said. “I didn’t know your dad had invested in a place here.”
“The plan is for Delgado to run it. This area is becoming a destination spot. And with the waves here, the hotel will be filled with surfers year-round. The hotel wasn’t part of my dad’s business. It was something he was doing on the side. My parents wanted to retire down here. But Delgado said they had to get away from the investigation, so they staged the plane crash. But after the crash, construction had to stop.”
“What exactly was the investigation about?”
“My dad was being investigated for some kind of fraud. I guess he figured eventually someone would find out about the hotel and it would be taken away from him, like everything else was. So he put it in Delgado’s name. Not that my dad is guilty. The whole investigation is bogus anyway.”
“I figured it was. Your dad is a good person.”
“Exactly. The government thinks my dad has been defrauding a group of investors. But he didn’t know anything about it. Before they came down to Panama, he caught one of his managers doing something illegal. But it was going to be impossible to prove my dad didn’t know what had been happening. So he and my mom came down here for a while. Until things calmed down.”
I didn’t understand the business world Mr. Taylor moved in. He was a great surfer and a good guy. He wouldn’t have been involved in something underhanded. “Why didn’t you come here with them?” I asked.
“I was supposed to meet up with them later, after graduation.”
“I don’t get it. If your parents are here, what does Delgado need you for?”
“Because of my parents’ life insurance.” Kevin looked away. The waves were coming in heavy, heaving swells. I watched as a surfer was tossed off his board and disappeared into the angry, frothing mess of a wave.
“What about the life insurance?” I asked.
“Who’s the blond you’re with?” Kevin asked.
“Alana. We just met the other day.”