Page 118 of Hot for the Jerk

“Get on,” Gus said, going to help Caleb untie the ropes.

“Hang on, hang on,” came a deep, rumbly voice from down the dock.“Take my Zodiac.It’s faster.”

“He’s right,” Gus said.“I’ll get you to the ferry, but Dutton will get you there faster.”

Jagger and I climbed back out of Gus’s boat and chased after Dutton, who had already jumped into his boat—which looked more like a kid’s large inflatable toy, than a boat—and started the engine.

“Put this on,” Jagger said, handing me a bright-orange life vest that matched the color of the Zodiac.Dutton Styles was one of the local whale watching guides.But during the winter months, he didn’t do too much tourism.It was a blessing he was even down on the docks today.

Normally, we should have almost crawled out of the marina, to not rattle the other boats, or shake the dock with our wake, but this was an emergency, and Dutton knew it.He peeled away from the dock with the right kind of speed, and navigated around the breakwater with finesse.

My gut was in my throat as the water and frigid wind smacked me in the face, but I didn’t care.I could catch hypothermia right now and not give a shit.I didn’t matter.What mattered was my son.What mattered was getting my little boy back and away from his uncles.

Even though it was just past three o’clock, the thick, low-hanging charcoal clouds and dreariness of winter made it seem like we were just minutes away from nighttime.It felt like twilight, when the shift between day and night made it more challenging to see as your eyes struggled to adjust.

The ferry was a decent distance from us now, but Dutton changed course slightly, so we weren’t going directly into the wind and on-coming swells.I probably would have been nauseous with seasickness if I wasn’t so full of fear.My body didn’t have time to be sick.

“What are you going to do when we reach the ferry?”Dutton hollered at Jagger.

“You’re going to get me as close to the ladder as you can,” Jagger yelled back.

“Are you crazy?That’s suicide!”

Jagger didn’t answer, he just stared Dutton down.

“The ferry stopped,” I cried, pointing ahead at the noticeable lack of a continued wake and bubble trail behind it.

Jagger nodded, and hope made hesitant footsteps through me.

We reached the ferry, but with the massive swells beating the Zodiac with relentless force, Jagger nearly fell into the water several times before finally managing to grab the first rung of the ladder.He did an impressive pull-up, bending at the hips into an almost complete forward fold, in order to get his feet onto the rung, then he propelled himself upward.I’d never seen anything like it.He climbed the ladder until he disappeared over the side.Faces appeared up top, staring down at us in confusion.

Dutton grabbed his radio.“San Juan Princess, this is Orca Bound 1.I have the mother of the abducted child here in my Zodiac.Are you able to lower down a life ring for her, please?”

“Orca Bound 1, who just climbed onto our vessel?”

“A friendly.Jagger McEvoy.He’s there to grab the child.He’s friends with the child’s mother.”

“Sending down life ring now, Orca Bound 1.”

“Roger that.”

A red-and-white-striped life ring was lowered down over the side and Dutton helped me into it, all while the boat kept getting bashed against the ferry, or pitched nearly onto its side from the waves.“You might just need to get to the first rung,” he said.“Then you can climb.”

Nodding, I held onto the rope.

“San Juan Princess, this is Orca Bound 1.We’re ready for you to pull up the child’s mother.”

“Roger that, Orca Bound 1.”

A jolt of the rope had me holding on tighter with both hands as they slowly started to pull me up.

I reached the first rung and put my foot on it.

“Can you climb?”Dutton asked.

I gave him a thumbs up, then he spoke into the radio again, and the rope stopped moving.

Barnacles cut into my palms, and my fingers throbbed from the cold as I struggled to wrap them around the metal rungs.But I kept going.Marco was at the top.Jagger was at the top.

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