"So? Are you having a good time?" Kristin asked as she squinted against the bright noontime sun.

Lucas looked over at her with one hand on the wheel as he let the sailboat run with the wind. "This is great," he said with a big grin on his face.  Kristin looked aloft at the taut sail and smiled as she saw Lucas' excitement. Nathan had been right  to let him take the helm. "Here, put more zinc oxide on your nose or you're going to get burnt," she said handing him a tube.

"Okay, Doc," Lucas said taking the tube and putting some more of the purple cream on his nose. At least the Doc had gotten the tinted stuff and not that geeky white stuff. He looked out over the water around him with a satisfied smile. He still didn't quite believe it. It had taken more than a little coaxing for the Captain to convince him to come sailing today but he had never expected that this would happen.

He had finally agreed to come out sailing with the Captain and Doctor Westphalen just to get Bridger off his back. He'd gone sailing with the Captain before, heck he'd sailed with him a lot. The Captain had been teaching him what he needed to know to be able to sail the boat himself but he'd avoided sailing with the two of them. Lucas had figured that sailing was a good time for them to have to themselves and he didn't want to intrude on that... besides it worked both ways... when he sailed with the Captain that was their time alone and he liked that too. Just the two of them out on the water, doing whatever they felt like doing. He wondered what the Doc would think if she knew that when they got out of sight of the shore that they  had a tendency to go skinny-dipping off the boat.

Lucas shook his head a little... not something he could ever imagine doing with his own father. Lucas knew that he was catching on to the intricacies of sailing the boat pretty well. He was getting pretty good at gracefully tacking the boat and getting the sails up and down. Heck, Bridger had even let him bring the boat into the dock once but he hadn't expected today... nope, not at all.

That morning he had gotten all his stuff stowed down below deck on the boat before Bridger had sent him back up to get the cooler full of food and drinks for the day. He'd brought the cooler down to the dock and handed it over to Bridger and then had gotten on the boat himself. Bridger had stowed the cooler away and then come back up on deck. The Doc had already been there ready to go and even Lucas had to admit that she had looked pretty good in the one piece swimsuit that she wore. She'd played it smart though and had put one of Bridger's shirts on over the swimsuit... otherwise her shoulders were going to look like his nose.

So Bridger had come back up on deck. He'd leaned against the coping around ship's wheel and grinned at him. Eventually Lucas hadn't been able to take it any more.

Wondering what he'd done this time he had finally spoken up. "What?" he asked in an offended voice.

Bridger had just shrugged his shoulders. "You want to take her out?" he had finally asked.

"Take what out?" Lucas had asked curiously.

"The Sandcastle." That was the name of the boat.

"What do you mean take her out?"

"I mean that Kristin and I are your crew today. The boat's yours."

Lucas hadn't been sure he should believe his ears. "You mean I'm the captain today?" he had said with a big grin.

"Yup," Bridger had grinned.

"Right from the start?" Lucas had asked a little suspiciously.

"Right from the start," Bridger had affirmed.

"Okay," Lucas had said after taking a big breath. Then he had Nathan and Kristin assist him in a check of the boat and it's equipment, ensuring that he had all the items they'd need to sail safely. When he had been pretty sure that he'd covered everything he had looked over at Bridger. "Did I miss anything?"

"Actually, I think you hit a few things that I might not have. Very good safety check," he had grinned at Lucas' enthusiasm. "What's next?"

Lucas had taken a deep breath and gotten a serious look on his face. "Well, if you and the Doc would man the lines we can probably set off."

They had smoothly pulled the boat away from the dock and then took off for their Saturday sail. The last two hours had been spent sailing fast with the wind and then tacking back around to their original location only to do it again. A brisk wind coming from the southeast ensured that their fast runs were times to really enjoy themselves. While Lucas had taken it easy on the Captain and the Doc during their fast runs, he'd really kept them busy during the longer times when they were tacking back and forth to head south again. Right now they had just turned back to head north again and the Doc and the Captain had gone below to get lunch ready

Bridger came up out of the cabin with two cold cokes in his hands and passed one over to Lucas. "So," he said smiling and leaning back against the instruments so that Lucas couldn't see the global positioner. "Where are we?"
                         .
Lucas looked off to the starboard side. "We're about 2 ½ miles out and just south of Sandal Point," he grinned.

"Yup," the Captain grinned back. "Pretty good. Remember though that it's a little harder to keep track of where you are when you loose sight of land."

"I'll remember, sir."

Kristin came up with a large plate of sandwiches and chips. "Did you want to come about and anchor or did you just want to eat on the fly here."

Lucas' grin was still on his face. "Do you mind if we just keep running and I eat at the wheel?"

"Not at all, Lucas," Nathan said patting the boy on the shoulder. "Tell you what, you go right ahead and eat here and Kristin and I will go eat on the bow and watch the water flow by."

Lucas' grin turned into a smirk. "Is that anything like watching the grass grow?"

Bridger leaned in closer to him while he watched Kristin move forward. "It's exactly like watching the grass grow," he said confidingly. He winked at Lucas and  headed for the bow.

"I kinda thought so," Lucas said to himself. Loosely translated that meant that they would be necking on the bow for a while... fortunately the cabin blocked his view.

For another ten minutes Lucas sat on the captain's chair at the wheel and just reveled in the feeling of the wind rushing through his hair and the sun beating off his skin. He was still keeping a pretty good eye out for any other boats and also to see if Darwin might happen to join them. His attention was caught by two boats a bit further out and about a mile away from them. He brought the Sandcastle around just a little to slow her speed while he tried to figure out what the boats were doing.

Finally he thought he knew and called out to Bridger.    "Um, hey, Cap?" he called loudly

Bridger stood up at the bow and leaned against the cabin. Lucas noticed that he was no longer wearing his shirt. "Yeah?"

Lucas pointed at the two boats. "Have a look over there and tell me if those guys are doing what I think they're doing."

Bridger looked towards the boats for just a little while and then moved up the cabin until he could reach the binoculars stowed under the coping. He spread his legs, bracing his body against the movement of the Sandcastle, while he watched the boats with the binoculars. After a few moments he brought the binoculars down and moved back towards Lucas. "They're doing exactly what you think they're doing," he said reaching for the microphone of his ship-to-shore communicator. "Cape Quest Coast Guard this is Sandcastle." He looked over at Kristin who had come back from the bow and brought the remnants of their lunches and his shirt with her.

A familiar voice came back from the communicator. "Sandcastle this is Cape Quest Coast Guard. Is that you, Captain?"

Bridger smiled. "It certainly is Petty Officer Brownlee. Hey, I've got a little situation for you."

"Go ahead, sir," the radio responded.

"Coast Guard, we're two miles straight off of Sandal Point and we've got two boats, a go-fast and a cabin cruiser named the Nancy Jo, exchanging bales between the boats."

"How close are they to you, Sandcastle?"

"They're out about another mile and a little north of us right now."

"Can you give me a description?"

"Coast Guard, the cabin cruiser is a Chris Craft, a big one, probably about a 32 footer, white with a gold stripe down the side and the go-fast is black with no name or identification visible to me. It's mostly hidden from my view by the cruiser but it looks to be about a 24 footer."

"Sandcastle, can you keep them in sight?"

"That's affirmative, Coast Guard, but we're going to keep our distance."

"Good move, Sandcastle. We've got a couple of boats in the area and they're heading your way. Let us know if anything changes."

"Roger that, Coast Guard. Sandcastle out." Bridger hung up the microphone and looked over at the two boats.

"Drug exchange?" Kristin asked.

Nathan nodded. "Probably." He picked up the binoculars again and took another look at the two boats but brought the binoculars down almost immediately. "They're watching us." He glanced over at Kristin and indicated the dirty dishes in her hands

"Why don't you take those below?" Then he looked over at Lucas. "Act nonchalant," he grinned. "How do you act nonchalant on a sailboat?"

Nathan moved so that his back was to the two boats. "Talk to me... and while you're talking to me keep an eye on our two friends out there."

"Okay." He looked over Bridger's shoulder to watch the boats and noticed that they were tossing lines between them. "I think they're either done or we've scared them away. They're separating."

Nathan turned and looked at the boats again. He noticed that the back of the go-fast still had bales piled in the stern. "The latter, I think." He reached for the microphone again. "Cape Quest Coast Guard from Sandcastle ."

"Sandcastle this is Cape Quest Coast Guard, go ahead, Captain."

"Coast Guard, the two boats are separating now. There are still bales on the stern of the go-fast." He frowned as he watched the boats and brought the binoculars up again. "Um, I think they've got us figured out. The go-fast is heading out to sea but it appears that the cruiser is heading for us." He could see the wake kick up behind the big cabin cruiser as it started heading their way.

For a moment Bridger hoped that they'd continue their turn but it soon became evident that the boat was heading straight for them. He moved over to the helm. "Let me take over," he told Lucas. "You go give that mainsail a couple of turns to tighten it up and then get back here. We're going to try some radical moves." Lucas nodded and headed up to the mast to tighten the sail. Kristin started coming up out of the cabin before being stopped by Nathan.   "And you stay below."

"Nathan," Kristin started to protest

"Just stay below, Kristin," he ordered. "And if I tell you to get down, do it."

"Alright," she said retreating into the cabin.

Nathan had brought the sailboat back around to run with the wind. He knew he couldn't outrun the cruiser but he was hoping to buy some time for the Coast Guard to show up. Absently he noted that the go-fast had headed back out to sea at a high rate of speed. He heard a ‘thunk' come from somewhere forward.
 
"Captain, they're shooting at us," Lucas yelled.

"Then get down, God damn it," Nathan yelled back. He saw the boy dive to the deck on the side of the cabin away from the cruiser. "Kris, get on the deck," he yelled down into the cabin.

Nathan was pumping every knot he could out of the 30 foot sailboat but the cruise was easily catching up on them. He was keeping low in the chair and zig-zagging as well as he could to make them a bad target. Despite his efforts he heard several other bullets hit the boat. He'd managed to fake out the cruiser into thinking he was going one direction and then spun over to the other tack so that the cruiser ended up passing them about 250 meters off their starboard side. Nathan heard another ‘thwack' as a bullet hit the deck and then felt himself being thrown into the coping.

He winced at the sudden flash of pain and spun the boat the other way to mess up their aim. Over the rush of the wind, the flapping of sails and the sound of the cruiser's engines Bridger heard a welcome sound. The siren of an approaching Coast Guard boat.

The cruiser had heard the siren too and spun off to make a run for it with the Coast Guard boat in pursuit. Nathan grabbed one of the towels that were stored under the coping and winced again as he applied it to where his wound was bleeding. The sound of another engine came to him, a loud, guttural sound, and he looked over to where the Coast Guard's fast pursuit cigarette boat was chasing the fleeing go-fast.

He glanced back at the Coast Guard boat chasing the cruiser and saw the crew of the cruiser frantically throwing bales from the stern and then he smiled as the Cape Quest Police boat approached them from the front and cut them off allowing the Coast Guard boat to pull up on them and take them in custody.

Nathan brought the sailboat around until it was heading straight into the wind. Sails just flapping and the boat barely moving. "Lucas, are you alright?" he yelled forward.

He saw the boy sit up, holding tight to the railing that went down the side of the boat. "I'm alright, sir," he yelled back.

"Kris?" Nathan yelled down into the cabin. He released a breath when he saw her appear at the bottom of the ladder.

"I'm alright, Nathan," she said calmly. "How about you?"

Bridger sighed and shook his head. "Most of me is just fine," he said in an irritated voice.

A look of concern crossed Kristin's face as she came up the ladder. "Where are you hurt?"

He shook his head again and frowned. "You're not gonna like it."

"Nathan," Kristin exclaimed in a frustrated voice.

"Your favorite part of my anatomy," he said with a humorless smile.

"Oh no," Kristin said with just the smallest of smiles as she came up next to him and noticed the blood on the towel.

Nathan crooked his thumb over his shoulder. "It hit the deck over there and then ricocheted up through the chair." He closed his eyes and shook his head again.

"Does it hurt?" Kristin noted the ‘no-duh' look that Nathan flashed her and then moved to stand next to him. Perhaps if she didn't look at his face it would be easier to keep from laughing.

"Cap, they must have hit the boat at least six times with those bullets," Lucas said coming aft after a quick check of the sailboat.

"Seven," Bridger said without humor and then winced as Kristin touched his hip.

"Did you get hurt?" Lucas asked concerned.

"Something like that," Bridger responded shaking his head in frustration

"You know, I can't look at the bullet wound unless you get up," Kristin said patiently.

"You got shot?" Lucas asked even more concerned. He didn't understand the impatient look that Bridger flashed his way until the Captain stood to let the Doc check his wound. Then he grinned. "You got shot in the butt?" he asked incredulously.

"Ah, Christ," Nathan said in a frustrated tone as he leaned against the coping.

"Can you make it down the ladder? I need you to lie down so I can get a good look at this." Kristin paused and the imp in her took over. "Unless you'd like to lie on the deck."

Nathan glared back at her. "I'm not lying on the deck while you probe my back end,"  he said firmly. "You've got the helm," he said to a grinning Lucas and gingerly limped down the ladder into the cabin.

Kristin helped him lie face down on one of the benches in the kitchen area and went back to grab the first aid kit. Nathan was lying with his arms crossed and his head leaning on his arms. He glared at Kristin as she came back next to him.

"I'm glad that you think this is funny."

"Let me have a look here," she said in a placating voice. Kristin used her scissors to cut up the leg of his shorts and briefs so that she could pull them back to get a better look at the wound. Nathan flinched as she carefully probed the small hole almost directly in the center of his right butt cheek.

"Ow!"

"Well the good news is that the bouncing off the deck and going through the chair first must have decreased the velocity considerably. It penetrated the skin but it stopped not too far below the surface."

"Is there bad news?" Nathan groused

"Well, yes, a couple of things."

"What?" he said in a barely patient voice.

"The first is that it looks like it carried some debris along with it. Parts of the chair cushion and such so I'm afraid there's no choice, you're going to have to go to the hospital for it to be properly treated."

Nathan sighed. "The Coast Guard probably will require it anyway since it's a bullet wound and to document it for their arrests." He paused and looked back at her. "What's the second thing?"

"You're going to have to sleep on your stomach for a while," Kristin giggled unable to hold her laughter in any longer.