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Back Loitering With Intent Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. Stuart Woods
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  64. AUTHOR’ S NOTE

“I don’t have a thing about boats. I like riding in them; I enjoyed the trip to Key Largo from Key West. I just don’t have any experience operating them. I don’t like the wind and tide doing things to them, either. I feel like I’m not in control.”

“Oh.”

“We’ve got a buoy dead ahead,” Larry said, switching on a small but very powerful fl ashlight.

“I see it,” Gigi said. “It just marks the creek.”

“Seems like there ought to be a light on it,” Larry said.

“There is,” Gigi said. As they passed the buoy it came on, fl ashing green.

“Let’s get out into the middle of the waterway until we see the dock,” Larry said. “And keep a lookout for other boats.”

“Okay.” Gigi steered for the center, keeping the motor at idle. The boat steered sluggishly going so slowly, but it was manageable. Larry turned his flashlight to his duffel. He held the light in his teeth as he quickly assembled his rifle and screwed on the silencer and telescopic sight.

“Will the guy be able to see any muzzle flash?” Gigi asked.

“No, the silencer is also a suppressor. You’ll hear a ffft noise, and he won’t even hear that. He’ll never know what hit him.”

“I see a light up ahead,” she said. “It seems to be on shore, not on a dock.”

They were both whispering now, aware of how voices carried over water. “I can see a porch,” Larry said. “Go past the house and upstream a hundred yards or so, then make a U-turn and go south, close to the dock.”

Larry took a small pair of binoculars from his pocket. “I have the porch,” he said. “The porch light isn’t on; the light is coming from inside.”

“Can you see anybody?”

“I see something, but . . .” They were fifty yards from the dock now. “I have a man in a rocking chair.”

“That’s gotta be our guy,” she said.

Larry pressed a magazine into the rifle and worked the bolt action slowly to make as little noise as possible. “Is this as slow as you can go?” he asked.

“Yes,” she whispered, “but we’ve got a little tide against us. When you’re ready, I can take it out of gear and we’ll slow nearly to a stop.”

Larry sat cross-legged in the bottom of the boat, looking through the telescopic sight. “He’s got a drink in his hand,” he said. “Get ready to stop.”

Gigi steered the boat to a point three feet from the dock. As they came abreast of the pontoon, Larry said, “Stop.”

Gigi pulled the gear lever to neutral, and the boat slowed imme-diately. “I won’t be able to steer,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” Larry said, squeezing off a round.

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