Colt Crawford - Chapter 15 (Thursday)

The Coast Guard boat pulled up alongside the now disabled yacht. The captain’s voice bellowed across the water through the ship’s P.A. system. “Put the gun down and your hands in the air.” Still contemplating testing fate, Destiny froze, obviously considering her options. The Coast Guard boat had the captain, three crew members, and Colt and Krissy. Destiny realized that the odds were not in her favor, but she did have a secret weapon that was unknown to her pursuers.

Destiny’s mind swirled with thoughts faster than she could sort them all out. To surrender now would mean jail, a place she had no intention of going. To try to escape, however, could result in death, another unwelcome option. What she needed to do was stall until her secret plan could be put into place. She glanced around. The two boats were about a mile off shore, so swimming was out of the question. The Coast Guard boat was about ten yards from Destiny’s yacht.

After several minutes of a tense standoff, Destiny finally laid down her gun. Since she was now unarmed, the shot caught everyone by surprise. The bullet whizzed past Colt’s ear and landed in the ocean behind him. The mood aboard the Coast Guard boat immediately changed, although no one fired back because it was unclear where the shooter was hiding. The second shot missed everything. Given the ocean swells, the odds of anyone finding a target were small, but no one aboard the boat wanted to test the guy’s aim.

Assuming defensive positions, the crew trained their guns on My Destiny. “It’s coming from the port hole on the bow,” one of the crewmen said.

The Captain began barking out orders. “Crowley and Donovan, you two cover the girl. Myers, you and Detective Malone prepare to board the boat,” he said as he gestured toward Krissy. Colt realized that his training was not in this field and he readily agreed to stay on board the Coast Guard boat. Unsure whether the captain was in on the escape or not, Myers and Krissy planed to bring everyone off the boat in cuffs and sort that out later.

The captain carefully maneuvered the utility boat up to the stern of the yacht in an effort to avoid the shooter’s line of fire. With guns carefully aimed at a now unarmed Destiny, Myers and Krissy leapt from their boat to the deck of Destiny’s. They quickly made their way up to the bridge and secured the captain and Destiny without incident. “Who is below deck?” Krissy demanded once the cuffs were in place. Realizing that it was over, Destiny lowered her head. She thought through the situation carefully, but wisely accepted the reality that someone may end up dead, but no one was going to avoid jail.

“His name is Anthony. I let him stay on the boat when I’m not using it.”

“Is he alone?”

“Usually, but I never even told him we were here. He probably just woke up.”

Myers and Krissy escorted the suspects back to the Coast Guard vessel and then were joined by Crowley and Donovan as they began a sweep of the yacht. With guns drawn they methodically worked their way from stern to bow. The stateroom provided plenty of evidence to corroborate Destiny’s story about a bachelor living on the boat. The bed was unmade, trash littered the floor, clothes were strewn about, and empty beer cans had been haphazardly tossed around the room. Carefully dodging the maze, the officers made their way through the room and to a small door the led to a utility closet on the bow. Krissy gestured toward the door with her gun and Myers reached out to pull it open. With a sudden jerk, the door flung open to reveal a very scared young man hiding in the anchor chains, no gun in sight.

“Hello, Anthony,” Krissy said. “Come on out.”