“Okay, Ray, where did you hide my birthday present?” Jean and her husband, Ray, were boating on their thirty-two foot cabin cruiser, Bay Explorer, in the waters off Everglade City in southern Florida.
“Remember? You said you had a special present for me.”
“I do, but you have to find it, beautiful. Here’s a hint…one day it may find you!”
Ray pointed over Jean’s shoulder.
“Hey, looks like that boat is in trouble!”
The boat in question was a small gulf shrimper. Black smoke billowed from its stern, while two tanned, shirtless men waved frantically from the bridge. As they approached the shrimper, they could hear the men shouting.
“Help! Help! Give us a hand!”
Not eager to approach a smoking boat, Ray called across the distance.
“What the problem?”
“Had an oil fire in the bilge, electrics gone. Fire’s out, but the engine’s dead. Radio’s gone too. Can you take us to Everglade City? We’ll pay you for your trouble.”
“What do you think, Capt’n Jean?”
She cast a glance at the shirtless crew.
“We can’t just leave them there, and I don’t think we should try to tow a boat that size. We’re heading in, anyway.”
“Grab a line,” Ray yelled when the boats were side by side. The two men jumped aboard the Bay Explorer. Once aboard, they pulled knives from the sheaths that were belted around their waists. To Jean and Ray’s horror, the two men who seemed harmless from a distance, were now menacing thugs.
“Sorry for the inconvenience, but we gotta borrow your boat for a while.”
Ray pulled Jean behind him as one of the men waved his knife in the air.
"Don’t give us any trouble and you won’t get hurt. How much fuel you got on board, buddy? Got water?”
“About 150 gallons of fuel, and we have water.”
“Go get the stash, Sammy.” He said to his partner, while pointing the knife threateningly at the kidnaped pair.
“You, pretty boy,” he jabbed the knife towards Ray. “We’re gonna get rid of you and keep the pretty lady for security.”
Jean’s grip tightened on Ray’s forearm.
Sammy threw two large, overstuffed duffle bags onto the deck of the Bay Explorer and jumped aboard.
“Start her up, Sammy boy, and head her southeast. Let’s dump this guy off on Panther Key.” He pointed the knife toward the stern. “You two sit in back. Shut up and don’t move a muscle.”
The Bay Explorer was guided through an everglade sluice, thick with mangrove on either side. They entered a small lagoon, turned, and stopped by an indistinguishable mangrove island.
“Ok buddy, this is your stop. I don’t mind running drugs, but I don’t like killing. Get off!”
In desperation, Ray lunged at Sammy, but Lou interceded quickly, shoving him overboard. He came up thrashing and choking.
“Watch out for the gators, pretty boy!” Lou yelled, leaning over the transom.
Ray quickly swam to shore, and watched helplessly as the Bay Explorer maneuvered its way down the sluice and out of sight.
“Head her southwest.” Lou ordered. “Let’s get around Key West before dark.”
As the sun sank in a dramatic array of orange and pinks, Sammy made a thorough search of the cabin below. Convinced there were no weapons, and that Jean would have no way of calling for help, he locked her in.
“Stay put, pretty lady. Don’t pull anything stupid. We got a meeting off Alligator Reef at 1:00 a.m., and don’t want complications.”
Jean sat on the bed she shared with Ray and cupped her head in her hands, resisting the urge to cry.
“Come on!” She said aloud. “Pull yourself together or you’ll never get out of this alive. Think!”
Propelled by thoughts of Ray stranded in the dark on Panther Key, she searched every nook and cranny of the cabin for a weapon. Exasperated, she sat down on the bed again, and her eyes rested on Ray's overnight bag tucked away in a corner. Groping her hand through it, she pulled out an oblong gift wrapped package.
"My birthday present!"
Lou paced the deck impatiently overhead, looking out into the black night as the boat bobbed on the water.
“Where are they, Sammy?” It was 1:15 a.m., and they were drifting off Alligator Key.
“Don’t sweat it. Marty said to wait until 1:30. They’ll be here.”
Ten minutes later, the silent, dark night exploded into activity. Boats raced out of the black nowhere, and searchlights overhead blinded them.
“Stay where you are! Don’t Move! United States Coast Guard approaching to board.” The voice boomed from a helicopter hovering above.
“Whaaa?” Sammy and Lou looked at each other in confusion. There was nowhere to run. Within minutes the Coast Guard was on board searching the cruiser. When an officer came up from below, Jean followed behind.
“Cuff ‘em.” He barked to the others. “Look in the duffle bags. I think we got a bust here, on top of a kidnapping…and send a rescue boat to Panther Key, on the double!”
Aboard the Coast Guard vessel, Jean waved a black hand-held object in front of the cuffed pair as she passed.
“Thought I was just another pretty face, huh, fellows?”
Ray was more than relieved to be rescued from Panther Key, and to see Jean safe and sound.
“How did you get away?” He asked, as he and Jean clung together in embrace at their reunion.
“When those thugs locked me in the cabin, I searched high and low for a weapon. Oh Ray, I thought I’d never see you again! When I came across my birthday gift, I just had to open it.”
“Good thinking, Capt’n Jean.”
“And smart thinking on your part, Capt’n Ray, to activate my new satellite phone before gift-wrapping.”
