Page 51 of Laying Low

Not Home Yet

ABOUT TWOhours in, Eben remembered Dramamine in his first aid kit, which was good, because right before that, Reg had given up the fight and started throwing up everything he’d ever eaten as a child, all to be consigned to the briny deep.

Including his last pair of glasses, which got tossed off his head with the first violent heave.

Anthony had wrapped his arms around Reg’s waist and held on as he’d blown chum over the stern, where he’d run when the seas had gotten rougher so the wind didn’t blow everything back in their faces.

After the (blessed, blessed) medicine had kicked in, Reg had rinsed and spat and fallen almost immediately asleep next to Reynaldo, the two of them huddling against the cold under wool blankets, and Eben Fields had pulled Anthony and Ilia up to the helm for a brief lesson on how to pilot a modest cabin cruiser through open water.

Eben was a good teacher—in fact hadbeena professor of nautical history at the local junior college for most of his life.He showed the boys how to read the gauges, how to steer, what to look for as they neared shore, and then he let them take turns piloting the cruiser, turning away from their point of reference and finding it again, often enough that they both felt confident they could find their way through Puget Sound with the charts Eben showed them how to read.

By the time Eben guided Anthony into docking at Port Angeles Harbor, with solid directions for how to cross the sound to Sooke Harbor in British Columbia, Anthony was getting his legs under him.

“Now you’ll get there at night,” Eben said as they navigated the bay approaching Port Angeles.“So what I’m going to do is go get you some food, some more medicine for both the young one and your boyfriend there, and then leave you.You cross the harbor, turn on the lights like I showed you, and spend the night in the cabin.In the morning—”

“We find the authorities,” Anthony said calmly.“And contact our people.And get the boys safely and legally into Canada, wherenobodycan hurt them.”

Eben nodded.“Yeah.That’s about it.Now I’m going to tell the harbor master that my kids are in this boat.If anyone asks—”

“My name is Anthony Fields,” Anthony said with a smile.“Won’t my father be surprised.”

Eben chuckled.“Well, so will my grown children.It will be a shocker all around.”

Anthony gazed at the older man, and suddenly missed his father.They usually didn’t go more than a day without at least talking, and usually no more than a few days without seeing each other.God, he’d love his dad’s laconic advice right now.“You know, you—you’ve given useverythinghere.I-I don’t know what we would have done if….”He swallowed.“Thank you.”

Eben shrugged.“It’s really a small thing,” he said, looking troubled.

“But you maybe saved our lives,” Anthony told him.“At the very least, you saved Reynaldo’s.Thank you.”

Another shrug, and Eben gazed off to the horizon.Anthony was struck then that it was maybe the same response Reg would have, or his mother or father.Funny, wasn’t it, how the best of people could shrug off their own accomplishments as something that “needed to be done.”

“WHEW,” ILIAsaid, staring apprehensively from the dock, now bumping gently against the boat’s hull.“I bet you’re sweating down your asscrack, Mr.Anthony.”

Anthony grinned at the young man—and consciously unclenched.Eben had insisted he pull the boat out from the fuel pump and park it in the slip himself so he’d be able to do it in Sooke Harbor without attracting too much attention.

“Now remember, keep the radio tuned to this frequency,” Eben said for the umpteenth time.“And be very frank.Say you have a sick passenger and two of your number are missing passports.”He paused, worried.“You’re sure their passports arecoming, along with a family member to care for them?”

“Yes,” Reg said, standing determinedly at Anthony’s side.“I was able to call my father while you all were working on seamanship.”He didn’t mention that the phone had about five minutes left in it, but Anthony knew.“He said that my brother would be crossing the border in Blaine, and that Reynaldo’s aunt had both the boys’ passports and a signed letter making her Ilia’s official guardian.They’re supposed to cross later this evening….”He paused, gnawing on his lip.“Will that be okay?Will they arrest us?I-I can’t take these boys across the border if they’re going to be put in jail.Ican’t.”

Anthony reached over and grabbed his hand.“Reg, it’ll be okay.If Dean said it will be?”

“He gave me the name of his contact,” Reg said, sounding like a child singing to himself in the dark.“Told me to mention Lloyd Hemmer and Dean and Marcus, and that would… expedite, I guess, the process.God….”

Anthony knew Reg and knew how he worried—and knew that he worried most about the people he cared about.

Who wouldn’t care for Ilia and Reynaldo after the last few days?

“Baby,” Anthony said softly, “sometimes we have to have a little faith.”

Reg gnawed on his lower lip and then nodded.“Okay,” he whispered.“Okay.”

Eben gave them both a compassionate look and said, “I’m going to go get you some food, some more ibuprofen, and some cough medicine—” Reynaldo’s fever had developed into a deep bronchial cough during the trip, and God, no wonder Reg was worried.“—and some extra blankets.I’ll be back in half an hour.In the meantime, keep the boys hidden, and you two lay low, understand?”

“Of course,” Anthony murmured, while Ilia gave a heavy sigh.

“I know it’s hard,” Reg told him, obviously pulling out of his own worry spiral to help the boy cope.“It’s a new place—you want to explore.But hopefully the next new place will be safe for you, okay?”

“I’m really going to miss art,” Ilia said glumly.“I mean, I’m glad Ms.Barerra will be there, but….”His lower lip quivered, and Anthony and Reg exchanged looks.Art wasn’t what Ilia would miss, and Anthony, who hadn’t had to choose between his parents, even when they’d split, wondered at the pain and the courage of choosing right over his own family when he was only fifteen.