Bad Break by CJ Lyons

pastor’s boat.” She pointed to the boat that was gaining speed. Lucy was standing on her wave runner, leaning forward as if trying to get the most speed possible from it.
    Mr. Romero shielded his eyes from the sun. “I can’t see him.”
    “You with that crazy lady, Jorge?” the dock attendant asked. “What’s going on?”
    Megan tried her best to make out the figure driving the boat, but it was too far away and shielded by the tinted glass of the cabin. Then she saw a pair of binoculars hanging from a peg inside the attendant’s shack. She grabbed them. “Okay if I borrow these?”
    She didn’t wait for his answer, figured Mr. Romero would do the explaining, and ran to the end of the dock. The boat operator had spotted Lucy and sped up, defying the no wake signs. Lucy was struggling with the wave runner as she drew closer to the boat’s wake. Megan focused on the boat, trying to see the man at the wheel but the sun was starting to set, which meant she was looking directly into it.
    Tall, lean, maybe dark-haired. That was about all she could tell for certain.
    The two men joined her. “Y’all know she’s not going to get very far,” the attendant said. “That runner was just returned and I didn’t have a chance to gas her up yet.”
    Megan shifted her focus back to Lucy who was bent over the controls of the runner but it was slowing, losing momentum as the boat wake tossed it. Then she looked back at the boat. The driver was making a sharp turn, aiming right for Lucy.
    “He’s going to run her down. Mom!” she shouted. Not as if Lucy could hear her.
    “Oh damn. I’m not responsible for this,” the attendant said as the boat headed at Lucy.
    The all leaned forward, straining to see everything. The boat sped up, its bow rising in the water as it charged over its own wake. Lucy’s wave runner slowed, floundering in the choppy water. She kept working the controls, trying to maneuver out of the way.
    Megan held her breath as the boat got closer and closer. “Mom!” This time it wasn’t a shout but more of a gasp. The boat looked so much larger compared to Lucy on the small wave runner.
    Finally, at the last moment, Lucy dove off the wave runner just as the boat sped over it, raising enough white water that Megan lost sight of both the runner and Lucy. She gripped the binoculars tight, straining to see Lucy come up out of the water.
    The boat sped away but still no Lucy. Megan stifled a sob but it caught in her throat, making it hard to breathe. C’mon, Mom, she urged the empty water.
    Behind Megan, Mr. Romero and the attendant got a flat-bottomed boat ready to take out. “She has a vest, I made sure of that,” the attendant was saying. “I’m not liable for any of this.”
    “Shut up, Freddy,” Mr. Romero said. The sound of an engine roared to life just as Megan saw what she’d been praying for. A spark of orange. Lucy bobbed up out of the water, coughing, waving a hand.
    “She’s okay!” Relief broke through her dam of fear. Megan dropped the binoculars to wave with both hands. The wave runner floated on its side in the choppy wake. The boat was in the distance, skimming over the water, almost out of sight.
    Sirens sounded behind them in the parking area, but Megan ignored them as she watched Mr. Romero skillfully maneuver the flat-bottomed boat out to where Lucy was treading water. He helped her in and began heading back to shore.
    “Could’ve at least towed my runner for me. Now I’m gonna have to go after it myself.”
    Megan handed the binoculars back to the attendant with a glower. “That’s my mom who almost got herself killed trying to save two men. I think your wave runner can wait a few minutes.”
    “She’s really FBI?”
    “She really is.”
    He hooked his thumbs in his waistband. “Well, okay, then. Guess the FBI can pay for this mess.”
    Megan restrained herself from slapping him. As the adrenaline fled her system, anxiety took its place. Lucy hadn’t saved