Knights in White Satin

I rush into the salon to find Jerry standing over Abigail... her eyes open but not seeing. It doesn't hit me that I am the one that killed her. I am too concerned with the fact that we will are living a bad remake of Titanic right here, right now.
"Jerry, we gotta get out of here."
I rush through the salon and down the stairwell to the crew's quarters. There is a good two feet of water in here now rushing in through the engine room. The port engine is still running strong, but has seawater lapping at its mounts. I try to close the door but the water pouring through... it fights me. I push with all my might and manage to squeeze it closed and throw the handle to latch it. The water has stopped rushing in, but there is no comfort in this. I know there are probably four more holes just like this one in her side that are uncontained.
I turn to face the emergency cabinet I remembered. I yank it open and pull three life vests and a locator beacon. There is also a canister with a flare gun, a waterproof flashlight, and some liquid shark repellant. I snag it and run back up the steps to the salon.

Jerry is still standing over her body... staring.
"JERRY. We have to get off this boat, man. She's going to the bottom."
He looks at me, vacant and far away.
"Snap out of it, Jerry."
A blink or two and now he is with me. "My arm."
I look at the blood as if for the first time. We aren't going into the water with that, not anywhere near me anyway.
"You and Lou need to dress those wounds."

I drag Jerry behind me with one arm, the other looped through three life vests, the kind you would use on a jet ski. In my hand I hold the container with the flare gun and associated items.
Lou is still at the wheel, backing us toward land, which is now visible on the horizon... maybe ten or fifteen miles away. It doesn't look good.
"Engine room is flooding."
"Yeah, we'll run her until she quits."
I look down at the radio. It looks like there was a small fire.
"What happened to the radio?"
"Caught on fire... what does it look like?" Lou gives it a swift kick and the microphone goes flying. "Piece of shit worked for maybe a minute and then started smoking. I think it caught some shrapnel from the deck gun."
"Do you think anyone heard you?"
He looks at me. The absence of an answer is my answer.
"Let me take the wheel. You and Jerry need to treat those wounds. At least clean up the blood. If we have to go into the water, I don't think you'll want to be ringing any dinner bells."

I am on the bridge alone. We are low in the water. I have to back off on the throttles at one point because now the water we are pushing with the stern is starting to come over the transom. I look at the horizon. Land is growing in the seam between sea and air. It is is still too far way. For the first time I let the fear grow inside me. It starts to turn in my gut like the flu.
I just keep my eye on that land and try to will the boat to take us there.

The boys return. They have plastic rap and duct tape around their respective wounds. Lou has picked up a life ring from somewhere.
"The Galley is gone. A huge hole... HUGE fucking hole. But there were still a couple of drawers with shit in them." He holds his plastic wrapped upper arm up for inspection. Blood is still trying to flow under the tightly wrapped plastic. He holds up a small Band-Aid like a sardine between his thumb and forefinger, then hands it to me.
Jerry looks down a what was his good arm. Not broken bones... he thinks. But this may sideline him for a while if we get back to land. Both of their bandages display some gruesome wounds. I feel rather petty as I pull the protective paper off of the back of my Band-Aid and put it on my split ear. They both watch me as if they are observing a field amputation or something.
"Wow... you okay?" Jerry puts a hand on my shoulder.
"Fuck you Jerry, I was just lucky."
"Hey Jerry?" Lou turns him, "Make sure you don't lose this." He pulls the speargun from over his shoulder and checks the weapon. Safety is on. He gives it back to him.
I hand them each a life jacket.
"You better put these on."

Just as it seems we might make it close enough to land that we may be able to swim for it, the engine finally succombs to the flooding in the compartment. As soon as we lose our momentum, the KOZANOSTRA starts going down fast.
We stand on the flybridge, all buckled into our vests. Lou takes my canister and opens it.
"Hold this." He hands me the opened container and pulls the flaregun.
"No time like the present."
While he loads it we watch the water cover the main deck and up the side windows of what was the salon. He puts one of six flares in the kit into the gun and straightens his arm over head. Once the flare is launched, he opens the gun and discards the spent shell and loads another. He hands the gun to me.
"We should launch another when that one lands. It'll fly a little higher while we are up here." He takes the container from my other hand.
"What else is in here?"

A couple of minutes pass and the water has engulfed the bow of the boat and has momentarily slowed. Must have some large air pockets that are slowing our descent.
I launch the next flare.
Lou picks up the emergency beacon.
"That is activated by sea water."
"No shit." He heaves it over the side of the boat.
"Why did you do that?"
"To have it activated by seawater. Why wait."
"Makes sense. I am not thinking as clearly as I would like, you know... the sinking and possible death by shark on my mind and everything."
Lou slaps me on the back like we are sitting at the bar drinking a few beers.
"Don't worry so much. We have this."
He holds up a couple of pouches of shark repellant.
"What the fuck is that going to do? Make our blood turn pretty colors?"
Jerry turns away. "Can we stop talking about the fucking SHARKS please."

Another flare later and the water is now lapping at the flybridge, moving up slowly. Lou points to the flashing light on the beacon.
"Well, at least that is working."
Up to our calfs now.
I try to read the small print on the shark repellant pouch. "Why would they have the instructions so small. It's the last thing you want to do when you are facing sharks... read small print before you can protect yourself."
Lou closes my hand around the pouch.
"Don't open that until the boat is out from under us. That shit is like a dye plume that is supposed to surround us. If you let it go too soon then the suction of the boat going down will disperse it."
He stops as he looks in the container some more.
"Hey look, gum. " Lou pulls the pack of gum out and holds it up to each of us in turn. We refuse.
"There isn't a blow up raft in there, huh?" Jerry tries a little levity.
"No, but here are some waterproof matches."
Up to our thighs now, and going fast.
Lou puts the stick of gum in his mouth and then hands me another flare to load into the pistol.
"Are you going to be able to handle that speargun, Jerry? Is your arm up to the task?"
He unshoulders it and hands it to Lou, who puts the strap over his shoulder.
Up to our chest now. I fire the flare gun and now I can't drop my hand because the water is up to my chest.

The three of us feel the boat go out from beneath our feet and we watch the Loran antenna disappear beneath the water. There is a bit of a commotion as trapped air from the ship bubbles the water around us. After a long sixty seconds or so, the water calms and it is the three of us bobbing around in a fairly calm ocean.
I launch another flare. Jerry jumps at the shot.
"Jesus... you scared the shit out of me."
"Hey, I'm just doing my job."
Lou hands him a dye pack. "Open it and swoosh it around in the water."

Jerry opens the dye pack and before you know it we are in a large plume of flourescant green dye. "Try not to kick your feet too much. We want to keep everything inside the plume, and the plume as concentrated around us as possible."
Me and Lou look at him.
"What? I saw it on Discovery Channel once. This shit will work... for a while anyway."

We float. Everyonce in awhile some debris pops to the surface and startles us. This whole thing reminds me of the final scene in Jaws where they are waiting for that big ass shark to appear and end it all. I have to get my mind off of this.
"So, Jerry, what happened with Abigail?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why did she do all this, man?"
"Money. She had gotten into a big deal with the Dominican Brothers for a lot of money. Not that she owed them... not like that. She arranged a few huge deals with factions overseas that wanted something other than heroin to push on the streets of their perspective countries. The deal was struck and arrangements made. Some courier named Montoya was supposed close the deal. So this whole thing was over payment from those factions to the Dominican Brothers."

"Oh for Christ Sake. So now the Dominican Brothers are going to be after our asses. We JUST got done convincing them that we weren't the enemy." I take the last of the flares from the container and launch it, then toss the flare gun back into the waterproof container and close it.
"They're dead."
"Who?"
"The Dominican Brothers."
We watch the flare as the little shoot blooms and slowly descends on the breeze.
"How do you know that?"
"She fire bombed them with what sounds like the same shit they had you use on that canyon."
Lou looks at me, "When she showed up is when the bombs showed up. She had the skills."
"I'll be damned. She killed them?"
"Yep. I guess early retirement's beckon call had her looking for one big score."
"And she told you all of this?"
"Yeah, on the boat before you guys came along."
"Why?"
"Dunno, funny how much someone will tell you when they are going to kill you."

After a long silence Jerry looks past me and then his eyes get real big.
"Oh crap."
Fins break the surface of the water, three of them. They look huge from our vantage point. But we feel so safe with this cloud of green dye to protect us.
"What do we do?" Jerry looks at the both of us.
Lou pulls the speargun off of his shoulder and takes the safety off. Now, for the first time, I see the two extra spears that are being held against the grip and the body of the gun.
"Hey... extras." I tell him, pointing.
Lou turns his back. "We all keep our backs to each other and watch for any of them to make a move."
"And?"
"What do you want me to do, spell it out for you. One thing I know is that these things don't like to be hit on the nose or eye gouged. Try that if they come at you."
"That's easy for you to say. You have the speargun."
Jerry holds up a hand... "Quiet."

The three of us stop talking and we listen.
"Hear that?"
Silence
"What?" I whisper.
"Music... Moody Blues, I think."
We listen again.
"You're losing it, man."
"Sssshhhh." Lou has his hand up now.

Sure enough, on the breeze you can hear it, fading in and out... music.
I nod, "I can hear it. Knights in White Satin?"
Jerry's eyes get huge. "A BOAT."

Lou smiles, "Hell, that isn't just a boat, thats the fucking Morgan."
"HEY WHITEY." Lou calls out, waving the speargun overhead.
I whistle as loud as I can. We all make as much noise as possible and then see the Morgan change course and head straight for us. There is a blast of gun fire, then another.
"Hey, its Loco. HEY LOCO."
"TIBURONES." He calls to us. I think it is a new nickname or something until Lou translates.
"Sharks."

As the boat approaches Loco picks his targets and fires. Between the boat and our position are dozens of sharks. Now in a feeding frenzy over the dead and dying tigers at Loco's hand.
"Loco, stop shooting." Lou calls to him as the boat closes the distance from a hundred feet.

Blanco turns the boat as he comes up on us and puts what he hopes is most of the hunting pack off his port beam and us on his starboard. He drops a rope ladder over the side and we swim for it.
"Lou, you and Jerry go first, you're bleeding." I hold the ladder steady.
Jerry gets on board and then Lou starts up the ladder.
Loco points, "Tiburone... he is coming fast."
He goes to jack a shell into the chamber but realizes he is out. His hand goes to his pants pocket and comes up empty. "Oh shit, senior Jake."
"Oh SHIT?"
I scramble for the ladder.
"HERE IT COMES." I hear Jerry's voice and the panic has me launching myself out of the water without getting a foot on the rope ladder.
Lou lets the spear fly and I swear it parts my hair it is so close. I can't tell because I am busy hauling my ass off of the buffet table, but Lou's shot finds its mark.

We are safe. Safe like nobody's business. On rare occasions such as this, avoiding certain death and being found in the middle of the sea by friends, I thank God and anyone else looking out for us up there.
Blanco takes a few bear hugs from his admirers. He looks at us and smiles. I don't think old Blanco has a whole lot of friends, but he has made three for life with us. We give Loco the same treatment, to his embarassment. These two saved our lives and we will be forever grateful.

"Louis... " Blanco starts, "Big boat... is gone?"
"Yeah, Whitey, they sunk that motherfucker right out from under our feet."
"I see big grey boat head to shore, tipped in this water." He holds his hand to show the angle.
Lou looks at us, and then at Whitey.
"Show me."