Dead in the Water Read Online Free Page B

present.
    â€œSorry,” I muttered. “What?”
    â€œWe’re gonna have another game of poker. You want to play?”
    I shook my head. “Think I’ll read a bit,” I told him.
    â€œCome on,” Patrick kidded me. “Team player, remember?”
    I glanced up at them all. Joey and Blair had changed into expensive-looking fleece jackets and were lounging in the cockpit as if they were posing for an ad in a glossy cruising magazine. “Not tonight, thanks. I’m beat,” I said. Then I grabbed the cruising guide andheaded for my berth to read about where we were going.
    The wind picked up overnight, howling through the rigging loudly enough to wake me. The boat bounced gently up and down. I looked at my watch: 4:00 AM. Ugh. I closed my eyes but couldn’t get back to sleep. The motion started to make me a little queasy—not really sick, just sort of drooly and drugged. I wanted to get up and move around, but there was nowhere to go. I wanted off the boat or out of my body, and neither seemed very likely. I wondered if anyone else was awake.
    What I’d read last night about the Nawetti Bar and Cape Scott pretty much confirmed what Patrick had said. Unless the wind suddenly dropped, I didn’t think we’d be going anywhere in the morning. Stuck here with this group...what a freaking nightmare. Single-handed sailing was sounding better all the time. I imagined myself setting sail across the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, alone on a luxury boat. A sixty-foot Swan, say...with roller-furling sails and self-tailingwinches and a huge cockpit with a large stainless steel wheel and...
    I guess I must have drifted off to sleep, because next thing I knew Patrick was yelling at us all to rise and shine. As soon as I opened my eyes, the nausea returned. And it was barely even light out. Ugh.
    â€œBlair and Joey are making pancakes,” Patrick said. “Mmmm...”
    Olivia stumbled out to the table in blue flannel pajamas. She tugged a black sweatshirt over her head. “I’m flipping starving,” she announced. “Bring ‘em on.”
    I guessed no one else was feeling seasick. I dragged myself out to the table. “Morning.”
    â€œYou’re looking a little rough there, Simon,” Patrick said. “You sleep okay?”
    â€œFine.” I sat there in grumpy silence for a few minutes. I’d read that seasickness was usually worst for the first few days. I sure hoped that was true, because if it didn’t get better, my plan to be a delivery skipper was looking a little shaky. Anyway, being upright seemed to help, and by the time Joey was flipping steaming pancakesout of the frying pan, I was actually feeling almost hungry.
    â€œHere you go, Mollusc girl.” Joey flipped a few pancakes onto Olivia’s plate. “Eat up. It might be the only vegetarian meal of the day.”
    Olivia ignored him and began eating. After putting away three enormous pancakes, she put her fork down and looked at Patrick. “You know, I’ve been thinking about last night...”
    â€œUh-huh?” Patrick took a swig of his coffee and winced. “Man, that was hot.”
    â€œI think those men were lying to you.”
    He groaned. “Here we go again.”
    â€œI’m serious. If they were just diving on wrecks, why were they so unfriendly? Besides, what about the shells I saw on their boat? I’m almost certain they were abalone.”
    â€œWell, what do you want me to do, Olivia? Send off some flares?”
    She hesitated. “Can’t you call someone on the radio?”
    He laughed. “Sure. The range is maybe twenty miles at best. Odds are the onlypeople that will hear us are the two guys on that boat.”
    â€œWell, there must be something we can do.” Olivia scowled. “We can’t go today anyway, right? So I’m going to row over there again and get another look at those