After the Sunset

by Mark Stone

  Joel struggled against my body, reaching for the surface, and pulling himself hard.

  I was bigger than him though, and I used every bit of strength I had to hold him steady. I couldn’t think of anything more dangerous than dark water. You move too quickly, you lose sight of where you are, and you never find the surface. There was no light to guide us. If we weren’t careful, then we would drown here, striving to reach the Gulf floor and thinking it was the surface.

  Then there was the matter of the boat. We didn’t get off as quickly as we needed to. While I thought we were back far enough to miss the brunt of the blast that would happen when the ship crashed, I couldn’t be sure about the debris. We could get impaled by any number of flying boat pieces. The chances of that happening were less with us underwater though, and given the fact that the crash would happen in mere seconds, I took it upon myself to keep Joel exactly where he was until I saw the flash of light that would indicate everything had gone down.

  Joel either didn’t seem to understand this or didn’t agree, because he continued to thrash against me, going so far as to rear back and head butt me. The force of it wasn’t as hard as it likely would have been up on the surface, without the water to contend with, but it was enough to send me reeling backward.

  While I didn’t let go, the attack was enough to get me to loosen my grip. Joel pulled away from me, slipping from my grasp with ease. I reached for him, grappling with the water until I finally wrapped my hand around what felt like a foot.

  I could only imagine what the man was thinking of me. Certainly he imagined I wanted to kill him, make him suffocate here all alone in the Gulf. Then I saw the flash of light though, brighter than I had ever imagined it would be. Flames licked the surface of the water, visible from where we floated. We hadn’t been far enough away to have missed the brunt of the blast after all. If we’d have been up on the surface, we’d have been fried to a crisp. Judging by the way Joel threw his body backwards, I knew he finally understood what I was trying to do.

  Once again, I grabbed ahold of him. Waiting a few beats for the flames to dissipate, I took him and swam up to the surface, pulling further away from the wreckage.

  I blinked as I reached the top of the water, gasping and taking in a chestful of the sweetest oxygen any man had ever breathed. It was strange, hearing myself gasp this hard. It was almost like the sound was coming from another person.

  Looking at the pier, I saw the fire and turmoil of what used to be the boat we’d just jumped from. It was a horrible thing and something that would definitely make news. Thankfully, the dock it had crashed into on Marco Island hadn’t been in use for years now. So, barring some unforeseen thing like tourists strolling along the dead parts of the island, there should be no casualties; save, of course, my own fake death.

  “I’m hurt,” Joel said, his voice low and frantic in my ear. “I think I’m hurt bad.”

  I took one more deep and steadying breath. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, or was it into the fryer? Whatever the saying, it was true for us right now.

  “Just hold steady,” I said, wrapping the man’s arms around my neck and heading toward the island in the distance. “I’ve got you. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

  Though if I was being honest with myself, there was no way I could have known whether that would be true or not.

  Chapter 30

  “Stay still,” I said, huffing loudly as I stood up and wiped water from my face and hair. Pulling Joel to shore was a hell of a job, hard enough that it gave me a newfound respect for lifeguards and the Coast Guard. I hadn’t done that so he could kill himself the minute I got him to dry land though, and it looked like that was what was going to happen if the man didn’t stop moving around.

  Looking at him, now that I didn’t have the water to contend with, I could clearly see what was wrong with him, and it wasn’t something I was going to be able to fix.

  “Your leg is broken, Joel,” I said, spying at the way his appendage bent unnaturally. “You need to calm down and let me figure this out.”

  “I know my damn leg is broken, you idiot,” Joel spit back at me, a scowl wrapped around his tired, wet face. “I felt it snap like a twig when you threw me into the ocean.”

  “It’s not the ocean. It’s the Gulf,” I said, correcting a common mistake but something he should have already known, given that he had grown up here. “And I threw you off because, if I didn’t, you would be dead right now. Didn’t you see the way the ship exploded, how close the blowback was? If we hadn’t been underwater at the time, we’d both be littering the Gulf right now.”

  “You don’t know that,” Joel said, shaking his head.

  “The hell I don’t,” I shot back. “This isn’t my first trip around the sun, Joel. I know what cheating death looks like. Trust me, a broken leg is light compared to what could have happened out there.”

  “Says the man standing on two feet,” he answered. “I can’t help but notice that the angle you threw us in didn’t do you much harm.”

  “You’re being ridiculous,” I answered, shivering a little from the cold. “I saved your life.”

  “What you did was sign my death warrant,” he answered. His voice was considerably lower, considerably more morose.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, looking him up and down. “You’re fine. You won’t be able to walk for a while, but your injuries aren’t life threatening.”

  “Everything is life threatening when you’re in the position I am, Dillon,” he said, sighing loudly. “Do you know how I made it this far?”

  “I’m guessing the answer isn’t your sparkling personality,” I said, glaring at him.

  “I stayed away from everything,” he answered, ignoring my quip. “I kept a firm distance between my old life, and my new one. I kept to myself, never spoke to anyone I cared about. I was completely self-reliant, and I would have stayed that way if I hadn’t had to save my mother’s life. I broke my own rules and, in doing that, I put myself in danger.”

  “No offense, Joel, but your new life doesn’t sound like it was much of one at all,” I said, deciding I wasn’t going to give him any slack, even if he did have a broken leg.

  “I did what I had to do,” he said. “It wasn’t ideal, but it kept me alive.”

  “It also kept the people responsible for all of this free and on the streets,” I reminded him. “It allowed them to embark on a path that got your best friend killed.”

  “Don’t give me that holier than thou, pious crap,” he growled at me. “I know what my mother said to you. I know she warned you about things, and you did nothing. The difference between me and you is that none of this was ever my job.”

  A stab of guilt hit me right in the chest, but I pushed it down. I wasn’t going to let this kid lay all of the blame on me. I had done enough of that myself this past year, and it hadn’t gotten me anywhere. It was time to try something new.

  “That’s not the only difference, Joel,” I said, kneeling down to meet him where he lay. “I also had no idea any of this was going on last year. Neither did your mother. Face it. I’m not the one who could have saved her a year of hell. I’m not the one who could have stopped her from becoming the sort of person who wanted to kill herself in her own living room. You faked your death, Joel. You might have had good reason to. I’m not saying you didn’t. I’m just saying that everything that happened as a direct result of that decision is on you. We all chose our own paths, even if all of our options look crappy.”

  “And your saying my path led me to this; being a cripple on an island?” he asked me.

  “I’m going to get you some help,” I said. “I’m sure there’s an emergency area on the island somewhere.”

  “Don’t you think they’d check that?” Joel asked me with narrowed eyes. “There was a huge boat accident and they’re not going to find any bodies. The people behind this will go straight for some sort of emergency care. They’ll look for us there, and w
e need them to think we’re dead. No emergency room. No hospitals.”

  “Fine,” I said, conceding his point. “My soon-to-be wife is a doctor. I can get her out here.”

  “You do that, and your soon-to-be wife will be a soon to widow,” he answered. “What the hell kind of explanation could she have for running out to Marco Island in the dead of night? She has to remain in the dark. We can’t let anybody know anything about this. That’s why my broken leg is such a big deal. I can’t get it fixed. I have to stay off the grid.”

  I looked at him for a long moment before an idea broke in my mind like the tide. “And what if I knew someone who was off the grid?”

  “What?” Joel asked me.

  “You want to stay in the shadows, that’s fine. I can understand that. Hell, it’s probably the only leg up we have at the moment, no pun intended,” I said. “But there are more people living on the outskirts of society than just the two of us, and I happen to know one, one who I’d bet silver to seashells knows a thing or two about self-care. I just need to get ahold of him. Then he can help you out, all while keeping it under his hat.”

  “Under his hat?” Joel asked.

  “I think you guys call it ‘on the downlow’,” I said. “Either way, he can help us, and he’s not too bad at finding out information either.” I folded my arms and stared Joel down. “Have you ever heard of a man named Jack Lacey?”

  Chapter 31

  “This is ridiculous,” Joel said, scoffing at me as I finished tying the stick to his leg. I didn’t know much about healthcare. Hell, I didn’t take care of myself properly half the time, but I knew enough to know Joel’s leg needed to be set at least somewhat. I was going to have to leave him here and if I left his leg in the exact condition it was in, then he would be as good as dead.

  We were in Florida, after all, and most of this island was a swamp. He needed to be able to get away if something came for him, even if it was just to hobble while keeping his weight on his good leg and the thick piece of wood I’d brought him to act as a makeshift cane.

  Still, looking at him, we both knew the truth. The greatest danger Joel would face tonight wouldn’t come from animals. The people behind this damn game would want to make sure we were dead. They would want to make sure the mayor fulfilled his quest before letting him off the hook. Joel was right to think they would scour the water for signs of us. They’d likely scour the island too. If they found Joel, he wouldn’t be able to get away. I wasn’t sure if the rules of the game said anything about the game makers themselves killing the participants but, if they did, Joel wouldn’t be in a good place to defend himself.

  He was going to have to hide if he wanted to survive, at least until I could get him some help.

  Not that he seemed keen on taking it.

  “What makes you think we can trust your friend?” he asked, looking up at me.

  “I think I can trust him because I do trust him,” I said, huffing at the man. “Jack Lacey is a good man who’s been through a lot. He used to be in Coast Guard and-”

  “When his son died, he lost his mind,” Joel finished, shaking his head. “Yeah, I know. You told me. He doesn’t seem like the most stable man to hang our hopes on, Dillon.”

  I felt something in my hand. Looking down, I saw I was holding a bracelet with Joel’s name and medical information on it. I must have pulled it off of him when I grabbed him to toss him into the water and held onto it this entire time without really realizing.

  I thought about handing it back to him, but Joel barked at me and pulled me out of the thought.

  “Are you even listening to me?” he asked loudly.

  “Of course, I am. Stable doesn’t always mean sturdy,” I said, stuffing the bracelet into my pocket and thinking of Jack. While it was true he wasn’t the most predictable of people and his methods sometimes flew directly in the face of my own, I had learned it was silly to underestimate the man. I had also learned that, when the cards were down, I would be able to trust him. “He’s helped me with things like this before.”

  “Things like this?” Joel asked, his eyebrows arching upward.

  “Well, I mean, not exactly like this,” I amended. “In truth, I can’t imagine there are too many people in the world who can claim to have experience with this kind of stuff.”

  “Not who can live to tell about it,” Joel added. “I just want this over with. I feel like I’ve been trapped in hell for a year. No, it’s been longer than that. I feel like I’ve been lost since the night my brother died.”

  “I understand,” I answered.

  “I don’t think you do,” Joel said. “I don’t see how you possibly could. My brother was my best friend. He always had been. We used to run around in these tunnels under my grandfather’s place, pretending we were Spanish explorers. I thought we’d be together forever back then. I didn’t think anything could ever tear us apart, least of all some damn fire.”

  “I get that,” I said, nodding. “But it doesn’t excuse what you did.”

  “Right,” Joel said, looking to the ground. “Faking my death was a selfish way to solve the problem, but I didn’t see where I had another choice.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about,” I said, taking a deep breath and glaring at him. “Someone died that night, Joel. An EMT who was just trying to do his job was shot and killed in order to make your grand escape. That’s a crime I can’t forget about. I hope you understand that.”

  “Are you saying you’re going to arrest me?” Joel asked, almost daring me with the look in his eyes.

  “I’m saying that it’s my job to deliver justice to all the people of Naples. That EMT was a person in Naples. Take from that what you will,” I answered strongly.

  “I don’t know what happened there,” Joel admitted, blinking hard. “It wasn’t supposed to go down like that. All of the EMTs were either personal friends of mine or paid off for their services. I was already unconscious when all of that went down. They were replacing my pacemaker.” He ran a hand through his hair. “His name was Wes, I think, one of the paid ones. I was told he got a phone call and freaked out. He pulled a gun and threatened to kill everyone on the ambulance if we didn’t stop right then.” Joel looked up at me. “I had come too far to stop though, and everyone on that rig knew it. I guess they decided to take him out before he had the chance to do so himself.”

  “That’s- that’s still illegal,” I answered. ‘All of it. Every piece and I’m not sure what’ll become of any of you for it.”

  “Like it matters,” he scoffed in response. “Do you have any idea what the likelihood we survive this even is?”

  “We’re not going to die tonight, Joel,” I said, folding my arms over my chest. “I’m going to go into town. I’m going to find a phone, and I’m going to tell my friend where you are and what’s going on.”

  “You also going to make a call to the wifey while you’re at it?” Joel asked. His words were a snarl. “You know how dangerous that would be for everybody.”

  “I get it. You think they’d have Rebecca bugged,” I growled.

  “I think they’ll be watching her. Your wedding is tomorrow. They’ll assume that, if you’re alive, you’ll want to get in touch with her,” Joel said.

  They would be right, of course. I couldn’t imagine the hell Rebecca must have been going through right now. Here she was, on the eve of what was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives, and she had to live thinking that I was very likely dead. I wanted nothing more than to free her of that notion. I wanted to call her and tell her that, not only was I alive, but that she would be getting married tomorrow. If it was the last thing I ever did, I would see her at the end of that long, sacred aisle.

  I couldn’t though. Joel was right again. As much as I hated it, I couldn’t tip my hand right now. My perceived death was the only card I had to play right now.

  “They didn’t pick you for nothing, you know,” Joel said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “
Do you really think it’s just coincidence that the mayor got you as his mark?” Joel asked, shaking his head. “Come on dude. You just started an investigation into things.”

  “I thought the marks were random,” I said, narrowing my eyes.

  “The hell they are,” Joel shot back. “You’re smarter than that. Me, Dennis, Emma, now you? Surely there’s a connection there.”

  “Emma?” I asked. “You’re talking about the nurse who tried to save the EMT who was murdered the night you were taken? The one who was almost killed herself outside of Rocco’s? She’s the one who brought the game to our attention in the first place.”

  “Yeah. She also happened to be the love of my brother’s life,” Joel said. “Though, I’d bet she doesn’t really like to talk about that, seeing as how the relationship was pretty one sided.” His face hardened. “Bitch screwed around on him every chance she got.” He scoffed. “You know, I’m pretty sure she’s the reason he died.”

  “What do you mean by that?” I asked, glaring at him. “Your brother died in a house fire.”

  “A fire he had gotten out of and would have stayed out of if not for that bitch,” he said. “I talked to him. He called me on the phone while it was going on. He was outside. He was okay, but then he found out she was there. He ran back into that building to try and get her out.” He blinked hard. “He’s the one who never came out, and for what? For a woman who never deserved him.”

  “That’s not my business,” I answered. “Regardless of what Emma’s relationship with your brother was, I doubt she’d have wanted him to die.”

  “Whatever you say,” he muttered.

  I pursed my lips. Something he’d said struck me as odd, but I couldn’t afford to confront him about it, not right now.

  “But you might be right. The marks seem to be plucked from a rather small social circle. That’s a clue we can’t afford not to explore.”