Read Jack Beale 00 - Killer Run for Free Online Page A

fragrance of the frangipani filling the air after an afternoon shower and the fresh smell of the sea transported by the soft tropical breezes while coffee brewed in the early morning. There would be no needlework on a night such as this, but just holding it still gave her comfort. For a moment she wished that she were still there, safe in the bosom of her family. Christine wedged herself into her berth and pulled the quilt tight around her.
The boat shuddered as a wall of water slammed against its side, and her dreams of home were gone in that instant, replaced by fear. A drop of water anointed her head. The shock of that small, cold drop ignited her imagination and she looked up, expecting to see a torrent of water about to flood her cabin. Instead of the expected torrent, another small drop landed on her face.
As the ship rose, fell, and twisted, each moment brought its own terror, but as those moments became minutes, and those minutes became hours, she began to notice subtle differences in how the ship reacted to Neptune’s onslaught. At times the ship would attack. She would throw her bow and all her weight and strength into the oncoming waves as a woodcutter would drive his ax deep into a tree, the shock of the blow cleaving the wood and water. Other times, she was defensive as a wave hit from an unseen direction, and she would take the blow as would a fighter, outmatched by a superior foe, ducking and cowering, but still rising to continue the fight.
The small lantern in Christine’s cabin swung violently back and forth. The shadows that it made danced on the walls like phantasms of another world, adding to her dread. But, as anxious and uncomfortable as the ever-increasing drips of water made her, as terrifying the motion as the ship slammed into the sea, and as disorienting the battle for light over darkness that was being waged by the swinging lantern, what scared her the most was the sound, or more precisely those random moments of silence that gave hope to a desperate situation.
The high-pitched whine of the wind in the rigging, the moans and groans of the ship as it reeled from each blow that the sea hurled against it, and even the occasional faint and the desperate cries of men were nothing compared to the silence. Silence in the middle of the maelstrom. She didn’t think it possible, but every now and then, she swore it was so. Sometimes it was only a pause and other times it lasted a moment, but it was enough to give her heart hope that the ordeal would end. Then, just as she would feel the light, darkness would return as the storm seemed to redouble its efforts to destroy the tiny ship, and her fears would return.
She prayed, she begged, she pleaded for the storm to end. Sleep was impossible. No sooner than she would close her eyes, the ship would lurch violently and her eyes would open wide. Demons, given shape and form by the flickering light of the swinging lantern, danced about her cabin, adding to her fear. And so it went through the night, with each hour feeling like a day.

CHAPTER 14
    THE PHONE WOULD NOT stop ringing. Despite the storm, Max picked up the phone. Before she could even say “hello,” Patti’s voice grabbed her.
    “I am so excited. Can you believe that Dave said yes to going up North with you and Jack?”
    “Hey, Patti. Yes, I heard.”
    “We are going shopping.” The excitement in Patti’s voice was contagious. Next to photography, shopping was Patti’s favorite pursuit.
    “What about the guys?”
    “They won’t care. Dave told me that this place has miles and miles of running trails and since they are getting ready for that race, they’ll want to go run in the woods. That means we’ll be free to shop till we drop.”
    Patti had it all figured out. “And, as long as …”
    Max cut her off. “Patti. Stop. There are running trails?”
    “Yeah. Yeah. Didn’t Jack tell you?”
    “No. He seemed to have forgotten that part.”
    “Yeah. They can go run while we go