Kathy shook off her mental cobwebs as she stumbled up to the deck and looked around. The sound of waves breaking on a shore caught her attention. With the sun hanging low on the horizon, Kathy squinted as she realized they’d arrived at the island but hadn’t yet entered the lagoon.

Brad was removing his shirt and kicking off his deck shoes. He unclipped the sat phone from his belt and held it out. “Hold on to that.”

She took it. “What are you doing?”

“There’s a line of coral blocking the entrance to the lagoon. It looks like someone dredged a path through it, but then they put a gate in the way. I guess someone owns this place. But considering we’ve got a storm chasing us… it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.” He grinned and jutted his chin toward the captain’s chair. “I’ve furled the sails, so just use the thruster motor to coax the boat into the lagoon as soon as I open the gate.”

Kathy nodded, and Brad blew her a kiss and dove into the water without even the slightest hint of a splash.

She clipped the phone onto her waist and grabbed a pair of binoculars. She could clearly see the gate blocking the entrance to the lagoon; it was about thirty feet wide, with a sign on it that said Private Property. No Trespassing.

Brad swam to the gate and, like a monkey, climbed up the chain-link fencing to the locking mechanism. He seemed to struggle with it, pulling with both hands on the metal bar that kept the gate from swinging open.

Suddenly, the metal bar flew upward and Brad tumbled into the water.

Kathy hopped to her feet and yelled, “Brad!”

Seconds later he surfaced, gave a thumbs-up signal, and motioned for her to approach. Before she even started the motor, he dove below the surface and the gate began to grudgingly swing open.

Sitting back on the captain’s swivel chair, Kathy started the outboard motor and slowly pushed the throttle lever forward. The sailboat inched forward just as sheets of rain began to fall.

###

In the light of morning, Kathy stared across fifty feet of water at the mangled remains of the gate, now hanging precariously from its metal post.

The previous night had been the most frightening night of her life. The winds had howled while the typhoon raged overhead. Their boat was far from tiny, but even with the protection of the lagoon, it had rocked like a child’s toy. And when dawn had finally broken, the skies were clear, but they’d encountered a new problem. The mangled gate was blocking their exit. To make matters worse, it had acted as a net, capturing all manner of seaweed, driftwood, and vegetation.

Brad was now hacking at the vegetation with a small fire axe, but didn’t seem to be making any headway.