Read Online A Pagan's Nightmare by Ray Blackston - Free Book Online Page A

child,” Lanny said, on his toes and peering out to sea. “The boat is called
The Miranda.”
    Ned looked behind him at the boats they’d just passed. He glanced ahead at the sixth slip and noted its name. “Ya think the
     boat you’re looking for in slip five was renamed the
Sanitized?”
    Lanny shrugged. He had no clue about this lingo. “How did you come up with that?”
    Ned lacked confidence in his suggestion, but it was all he had. “I was just thinking, given that there’s a boat called
Sanitized 2
in slip number six, and considering the pattern for slips one through four, then slip number five must be—”
    “Hush, Ned.”
    DJ Ned was an optimist at heart. He’d been flirting with denialand was just now realizing the magnitude of the situation. His world suddenly felt smaller, pea-sized. Now, as he scanned
     the boats again, he even began to shake a bit.
    A seagull swooped past, and Ned wondered if the bird might be only seconds away from turning into a dove. He watched it soar
     out over the ocean, and he was relieved, ecstatic even, to see that it remained a gull.
    Lanny left Ned to birdwatch on the dock and jogged toward the marina office. “Be right back,” he called over his shoulder.
    Murals of palm trees and ocean adorned the outer walls of the building, but Lanny ran past them without a glance. He opened
     the front door and went inside.
    Two minutes later he came running back down the dock, only to find Ned leaned over the stern of the
I’m So Worthy 2,
touching its name.
    “Paint’s still tacky on this one,” Ned proclaimed, rubbing his fingers together like a detective checking blood.
    Lanny stood panting from his run, hands on hips. “I got scared, didn’t even talk to the manager. But a register listed the
     boat in slip number five as having left this morning. It wasn’t in Miranda’s handwriting.”
    Ned wiped his fingers on his shorts, glanced at the office. “You think she’s on board?”
    Lanny could not take his eyes off the empty fifth slip. “I think the manager could be a zealot. So Miranda and her parents
     probably fled when they found out what was happening. Mr. and Mrs. Timms own a time-share in Abaco. Plus, the hurricane is
     coming from the Gulf of Mexico, so Mr. Timms would have known the Atlantic was safe to navigate.” Lanny stood on his toes
     and peered out to sea. “I have to get to Abaco. But get this, Ned—a sign on the counter said no one can charter a boat unless
     management checks your ‘cleanliness status’ on some Web site.”
    Ned glanced at the pocket of his shorts, where he’d just wiped the paint off his fingers, and realized that he wasn’t very
     clean either. Then he peered past Lanny and saw the marina manager at thefar end, holding a
USA Today,
talking excitedly into a cell phone, and pointing at Lanny and himself. In the distance a siren wailed.
    “We gotta leave the mainland,” Ned whispered to his new friend. “They’re on to us.”
    Lanny turned and saw the manager staring at them and talking into his cell. When the manager ducked inside his office, Lanny
     and DJ Ned walked briskly off the dock and sprinted for the parking lot.
    Ned again struggled to keep up with his leaner friend.
    “Lanny, I wasn’t gonna tell you this, but I have—” Ned was hesitant to finish his thought, caught as he was between fear,
     generosity, and gasps for breath.
    “Have
what?”
Lanny demanded. “Spit it out, man.”
    “I have my pilot’s license.”
    Lanny slowed to allow Ned to catch up. “No kiddin’?”
    “No kiddin’… and a small plane, too.”
    Lanny’s shock was exceeded only by his pleading. He stopped and grabbed DJ Ned by the shoulders. “I’ll pay you, Ned. Anything
     you ask. Just name it.”
    Ned paused on the oyster shells, uncomfortable yet very aware of what was transpiring. Winded, he spoke between breaths. “You
     don’t have to pay me, man…. I wanna get outta here, too…. Maybe the lunacy is limited to the