Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road

by Christine Conaway

  “Okay. I’ll agree with you on this. However, I think we should set up some precautionary measures just in case.”

  Frank looked at her, a puzzled look on his face. “Precautionary measures? For what?”

  “For our safety. We should set the big gun up on the deck like I had it before. What if we find the people here aren’t as friendly as they should be? I keep thinking about those soldiers back in Panama. Even you didn’t recognize the uniforms they were wearing and neither did Chuck.”

  Ellen saw when Frank realized she could be right when his shoulders fell and he wrinkled his forehead at her. “Is this another one of your conspiracy theories…that another government caused all this and they’re moving on the U.S.?”

  “Well until someone proves it differently, why not? You didn’t talk to that Major on Garden Key. He was pretty absolute about this New World Coalition crap. He did say that there were three different factions coming together to begin again. Anyway, isn’t it better to be prepared than go in without putting our safety first?”

  He chuckled but this time it held no mirth, “Okay you win. Until someone disproves it we’ll go in with that in mind. This time, Alan and I will go for the fuel and you can guard the boat.”

  He saw she was about to make a fuss and continued, “He and I can each carry two jugs filled with fuel and I know we can do it faster than you and I could.”

  “But if we tied up and there’s no one around what about all of us going? Or at least us three? One of us can syphon and the other two can shuffle the jugs back here.”

  “We’ll have to see. That’s one of the reason’s I picked the marina on base with the idea that there won’t be people there. At least not civilian’s.”

  “Is that where Chucks and his boys were going to?”

  “He didn’t say. We don’t even know if they made it this far. They could still be down in Nicaragua, or Mexico.”

  They sailed on past Point Loma watching and listening for anything that would indicate anyone was around. They heard the distant sound of rapid gunfire but saw no one.

  It was another two hours to the Del Mar boat basin. Frank was behind the wheel as they approached the west arm of the jetty. “Alan, go ahead and drop the sails. Don’t bag them or tie them, just drop them. If you have to, have one of the girls sit on them to hold them down.”

  Hannah, still pale faced and shaky wanted to be on deck in case she was needed to help. She also thought the fresh air would go a long way to making her feel better.

  Their rifles were again lined up on top of the companionway roof held in place by a bungee. The fifty caliber was tied on the chain locker, ready in case they needed it.

  While Alan was working on getting the sails down, Frank started the motor. Ellen stood on the port gunnel watching everything.

  Once inside the jetties, Frank took the north arm up into the Del Mar boat basin. This was the home of the Camp Pendleton Marina. This was where the marines stationed at Pendleton could take sailing classes, rent boats or tie up their own. This was where Frank hoped to find their diesel.

  For some reason the slips on the south side were full of boats, sail and power.

  Frank pulled up to an end tie and Ellen slipped a mooring line around the cleat.

  “Don’t do more than a turn around it. There’s no current so you should be okay. Alan, grab two of those jugs and let’s go.” A jug in each hand, he told Ellen, “If we come running or... Never mind we’ll be fine. Just be ready to hightail it out of here.”

  Without saying anything else Frank and Alan left. Alan with a length of their hose around his neck and a fuel jug in each hand.

  Chapter Ten - Survivors

  Ellen was able to see up the dock and the entry gate was closed. If it was like any other marina you either had to have a key, the combination or enter the boats from the water side. She wondered why none of the boats looked as if anyone had bothered them at all. They had been tied up and apparently forgotten.

  “Ellen?” Hannah whispered. “Look at that boat on the other side of the dock.” She pointed, “See it moving? None of the others are, so why is it?”

  Ellen watched the boat and saw that it was moving, rocking side to side as if someone had shifted their weight inside of it.

  “Hannah, do you feel good enough to sit by this line?”

  “I actually feel pretty good considering yesterday I wanted nothing more than to die.”

  “Okay then come here for just a minute.” She smiled at Hannah when Hannah sat beside her and took the bitter end of the dock line. “Oh don’t look at me like that. I’m just going to have a quick look.”

  “I’m not saying anything, but you know what Frank will say when he finds out.”

  “Oh darn…I guess I’m old enough to figure this out on my own. If there’s nothing there he’ll never be the wiser now will he?”

  Hannah shook her head at Ellen. “I’m not going to stop you, but please take your gun and be careful.”

  “Well I figure they would have already attacked us if they were going to and it looks to me like they’re hiding. Probably hoping we won’t hurt them.”

  Ellen walked quietly down the dock. The other sailboat was a thirty foot Newport in need of some cleaning. That explained to Ellen why the boat was moving. They were notoriously tender and didn’t take much movement inside to rock it. When she heard something bump inside she knew there was someone there. She leaned over and knocked lightly on the deck. “Hello? Can you talk to me please?”

  It reminded her when she’d found Frank holed up in his sunken boat at Garden Key. It also reminded her that she’d taken a bullet in her head. “We’re not here to harm you we only want some answers.”

  The boat rocked and the hatch slowly opened. “My friend has a gun pointed right at you so don’t move or do anything to make him pull the trigger.” A head poked out covered by a baseball cap. The person was hiding behind the cloudy glass of the dodger. All Ellen could see was the shape of the hat and a wavy face. It was the voice that caught her attention.

  Ellen slowly put her hands out arms bent at the elbow, showing the person her empty hands. “I’m sorry, we only wanted to ask some questions. We don’t mean you any harm.”

  In her head she was trying to think how she could get her gun out of her waistband without getting herself killed in the process. “We’re just trying to find some fuel and get out of here.”

  “Fuel for what? You have a motor that runs?” The voice rose in surprise giving herself away.

  “We do and so should you.” Ellen told the woman.

  She laughed, “Maybe if we knew how to start it,” she confessed. “We didn’t fool you at all did we?”

  “Now much once you spoke.” Ellen sank to the dock on bent knees. “Can I put my arms down yet?”

  The person stepped out from behind the dirty canvas and Ellen was surprised to see an older woman. Dirty gray curls clung to her cheeks and out from under the brim of the hat. “I guess you may as well come aboard.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. When the guys get back they’ll have a fit. I’ve already broken our protocol for staying safe. You can bring your friend out though, if you want to that is. I promise I won’t do anything as long as he doesn’t shoot me.”

  “Dana you can come out here. I’m sorry I lied to you. We’ve been hiding here for almost two months. My son left to find us more food. He’s at the marina on the other side. I just hope he doesn’t come back while your men are out there.”

  Ellen silently agreed that having her son arrive back at the marina and surprise Frank and Alan would not be a good thing. She could only hope their meeting would go as well as hers and the mother’s had.

  “This is my Granddaughter Dana. She lives with me up in Cullen. We came down for a week while her father was on leave. We were down in San Diego when people started getting sick. I was a nurse for thirty years and I never saw anything like that in my life. I tried to help but with Dana to think about it
was hard. When Scripps Hospital was overrun with patients they began turning them away. People went crazy. Then the doctors and nurses began dropping like flies…I had to leave for Dana’s sake.”

  The woman wagged her fingers at someone standing just out of Ellen’s sight. “Come out Dana it’s okay. These people won’t hurt us.”

  Dana turned out to be a young girl of nine or ten years. Her hair was neatly braided and pulled back. Someone obviously cared for her and Ellen felt better by the minute for approaching them. Frank was still going to throw a fit, but she would deal with that when the time came.

  The girls dark coloring and obvious heritage made Ellen wonder if she was blood related to the woman or maybe the girl was adopted. Either way, she didn’t think it would matter.

  “We have a little girl with us also. We rescued her of off the coast of Cuba.” At the huge smile that Dana gave her, Ellen had to tell her, “Olivia has been sick so we don’t want to expose you to whatever it is. We think it’s only seasickness but we can’t be sure.”

  The woman put her arm around Dana and pulled her close as if the act could or would offer added protection. “We’ve had about all of the flu we can take. How long has your girl been sick?”

  “Actually we have had two people sick. Olivia, she’s seven and Hannah who is an adult…a pregnant adult. This is the fourth day, but both seem to be on the mend. They’ve had soup today and Hannah is on deck now keeping her eye on me.”

  The woman, at hearing Ellen’s words visibly relaxed. “My name is Margret. You don’t have to worry about them having the flu unless it has mutated and I don’t think it’s had enough time to do that.”

  “How can you be sure? We haven’t really had any information about the flu or whatever it was that killed so many people. It seems like everywhere we go it’s something a little different. But regardless of what it is people still die.”

  “I’m not sure they ever put a name on this but the first day, most people ran a high fever; one hundred plus. Before the second day is done, they’re gone. So you can relax on your two girls. Do you want me to have a look at them?”

  Ellen laughed, “Actually we have more medically qualified people on board than one boat should have. We just hadn’t any information about the flu or it’s symptoms. But you’re right, I do feel better knowing. Now, tell me about your motor.”

  They heard a couple of shots and both women ducked down. Margret pushed her granddaughter toward the cabin. “Go down!” she commanded.

  “Crap, I hope that’s not our men and yours. I’m going up there. Maybe you should stay below until I get back.” She started to leave then remembered, “What’s your son’s name?”

  “Robert, Robert Nelson. If you see him, you will know it’s him, he’s almost seven feet tall and dark skinned.”

  Well that explains Dana’s dark coloring, she thought. “Okay. Hopefully I’ll be right back.”

  Chapter Eleven - Jeopardy again!

  Frank, set the syphon hose aside. The jug was full of diesel and the tank on the trawler seemed to be empty. He’d hoped to be able to get all their fuel from one place to save them time. Unfortunately for them, they’d had to go to the marina on the other side to find a trawler. The boats on the Pendleton side were all small, mostly used for rentals or for day sails. There were none with big enough fuel tanks to make it worth their while.

  They had put a small rock between the gate and the frame hoping it would still be there when they returned. The gate was open from the land side by a combination and they didn’t have it. The rock placement would be their way back to the boat.

  To get in the marina on the south side, Alan had to get in the water and swim around to the docks. He made use of an emergency ladder on the end dock. Dripping water, he had opened the gate.

  “The next ones on you.” He followed Frank down the dock and squeezed as much water out of his shirt and shorts as he could while still wearing them. “Dang, when I offered to swim I didn’t think the water would be that cold. I about froze my ass off before I could climb out.”

  Frank chuckled, “That’s why I let you do it. I’ve been in these waters before and it never gets warm. At least not like in Florida.”

  “Is this kind of spooky? We haven’t seen anyone at all.”

  “That’s why I picked this marina over the ones south of here. Less chance of running in to anyone. All around us is Camp Pendleton. I don’t think many would want to tangle with the marines.” He hadn’t given any thought as to why they hadn’t seen anyone. He would rather have had to explain why they were there in the first place than to see no uniforms at all. “If there are any left.”

  “Yeah, good thinking, but this is almost like being in a ghost town. Shouldn’t we have seen someone by now?”

  Frank heard it go by his ear, and dropped as the sound of a gunshot rang out. He reached up and pulled Alan down beside him. “You had to ask didn’t you?”

  “Did you see where it came from?’

  “Nope but I felt it when it went by. Just so you know, we are so stupid…we’ve been walking around as if we were on a shopping trip. If someone didn’t see us you can bet your ass they heard us. Time to let them know we have the equipment to fight back.” He fired his 45 one time into the air.

  Finally, after several minutes they heard a voice. “What are you doing here? Can’t you boys read? This is Military Property.”

  “Well damn…and I thought it was Wal-Mart. We just need some fuel then we’re out of here.” Frank said and scanned the dock ahead of them in an effort to see where the guy was.

  “What do you need fuel for? Don’t you know nothing works anymore?”

  “Some things do. You just need the right kind of things. We need it for our boat.”

  “Why are you telling him that?” Alan asked his voice low. “What if he wants the boat?”

  “If he wanted the boat, he would have killed us when he had the chance.”

  “We want to talk to you so I’m going to stand back up.”

  “Are you crazy! What if he shoots you?” Alan grabbed a hold of Frank’s shirt thinking to hold him down.

  “Well let’s hope he doesn’t. You stay down until we find out.” He laid his Glock on the dock and slowly stood up.

  “Ok, I’m unarmed.” With his hands out away from his sides Frank turned completely around to show he wasn’t hiding anything. He stood for several minutes and finally he saw a young man standing on the deck of an older power boat. He was dark skinned, very tall and thin. His clothing looked like he’d been wearing it for a long while. Frank wasn’t sure what he had in his hand for a gun, but there was one and it was reason enough for him to stay still and not make any sudden moves.

  The guy jumped down to the dock and walked to them. While he was no longer pointing his gun at them, he carried it as if he was used to handling one.

  “Tell me about your boat. How did you make it run?”

  “I didn’t, but it’s diesel and Ellen the lady who owns it had spare parts. She had already changed them out when I met them.”

  “A woman? Really? Wow, my Mom is capable but she could never do that.”

  For a moment, to an observer they would look like three guys visiting on the dock.

  Frank held his hand out, “Frank and this is Alan.” He waited and finally the guy changed hands with his gun and shook Frank’s hand. “Robert. Sorry about the shot. It wasn’t supposed to go in your direction, but I tripped.”

  “I felt it before I heard it but when you’ve been to Iraq, the sound is imprinted on your brain. It’s not a sound you forget.”

  Robert perked up, “You’re military?”

  “Retired, you?”

  “Navy. Active, or at least I was until I came back from leave. My Mom and daughter brought me back and the shit hit the fan…literally. Man, you don’t know what happened here. Now we’re stuck with no way to get home. I was thinking about walking, but there are gangs of soldiers out there shooting anything that moves. I c
an’t expose my daughter to that.”

  “As soon as we get enough diesel we’re planning on making tracks out of here. Where’s home?”

  “Eureka, and I bet my Mom is having a conniption fit right now. She had to have heard the shots.”

  “Our girls too. Where are yours?” Alan asked, pointing with his chin at the boat the guy had jumped off of.

  “Nope, they’re on the other side. We found an older boat that I thought would run but it won’t start or at least I can’t figure it out. We were up at the motel until a week ago when I moved us down here.

  There’s a gang going through all the buildings killing everyone and everything. Except the women. I hate to think what happens to them. Right now what we need the most is food. I’ve been going through these boats and have gathered quite a bit. When you guys showed up I thought you were part of the gang.”

  “I wonder if they heard the shots too.” Alan was surprised they were still standing on the dock like it was a Sunday afternoon. “Shouldn’t we be getting back to the other side?”

  “I can’t get used to this hiding mentality. If anyone else heard them, it’s probably too late now. But you’re right. It’s time to practice what I preach. Robert, we may not be friends, but I suggest we become allies just for the day. We need to get our fuel back to the other side and you need to move some food. I say we load up a couple of those dock carts and get the hell out of here.”

  Robert nodded and went to get a cart. “I have it all bagged up I just have to load it.”

  “We have one more jug to fill and we’re ready to go.” Frank picked out another trawler and climbed aboard with the syphon hose and empty jug in hand.