Furious Jeffrey Higgins (english love story books TXT) 📖

but our plan is to sail directly to the Maldives.”

“What’s after Kuala Lumpur?”

“We enter the Andaman Sea and turn hard to port at the end of Sumatra. From there it’s a straight shot west to the Maldives.”

“That’s the real open ocean, right?”

“It will all feel like open ocean, but yes, the last leg is blue-water sailing. We will have the Bay of Bengal to starboard and the Indian Ocean to port.”

“How far is it to the Maldives?”

“It’s seventeen hundred miles from Bali to Banda Aceh, on the tip of Sumatra, and another thirteen hundred nautical miles to the Maldives.”

“That part of the trip intimidates me the most.”

“It’s the longest long leg of our journey and the most dangerous.”

“Dangerous?”

“The most remote. We’ll travel the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean, on our own. Our course will take us south of India, about five degrees north of the equator. The next land we see after Sumatra will be the Maldives.”

I studied the map. The Indian Ocean was massive. The oceans had been a mystery to man for millennia, and now I understood why. Uninhabited blue space painted the chart.

“How long for the entire trip?” I asked.

“It depends on the wind speed, current strength, wave size, and our sailing ability. If we average five to seven knots, we should be there in about nineteen days—assuming everything goes smoothly.”

“Less than three weeks for the entire trip?”

“Best case.”

“What’s the worst case?”

“We sink and sharks eat us,” Brad said.

“Not funny.”

“I’m kidding, but things happen.”

This trip entailed risk, and I needed Brad. He was better at this, and I had to put my faith in him, but I had doubts, difficulty trusting him.

“Can I ask you something?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“Will you tell me the truth?”

Brad narrowed his eyes. “Okay.”

“Who were you emailing last night?”

“When?”

“When we were in bed. When I asked what you were doing.”

“I told you I was checking the weather forecast.”

“You slammed your laptop shut so fast.”

“What do you think I was doing?”

I wet my lips. “Did you date a lot before we met?”

“I told you I did.”

“Did you date any of the nurses at General Hospital?”

Brad’s eyes darted to the companionway. “A few.”

“When you were married before, did you cheat on your ex-wife?”

He folded his arms across his chest. “Where’s this coming from?”

“Lately, you seem secretive.”

“No, I didn’t cheat on my ex-wife, and I’m not cheating now, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

“I just want us to be open with each other,” I said, searching his eyes for the truth.

He turned away. “Over the chart table you have a radar screen, which gives us our exact position on a map.”

I saw no point in pushing it. I inhaled and let it out then walked to the instrument panel. The screen looked like Google Maps on steroids.

“And this is a satellite phone?” I asked, pointing at the wall unit.

“Yep, and you have access to most of our data here on these instrument panels.”

“We can control the boat from here?”

“We can monitor it, but we need to steer and control the sails from the helm. Here’s something you’ll love. We have a TracPhone V7-HTS satellite system.”

“Just what I’ve always wanted. What the hell is that?”

“The entire yacht is a Wi-Fi hotspot. You can access the internet from your Mac and email, surf the net, even make Skype calls. It’s a crazy expensive system, but it’s better than relying on a satellite phone. This yacht has all the creature comforts.”

That excited me. We were not as disconnected as I had thought. “We can call for help if we need it?”

“If we’re sinking, sure. The question is, would anyone come?”

My stomach rolled, and I turned away from him.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Let’s not talk about sinking.”

“We’re almost unsinkable.”

“Don’t jinx us.”

Brad walked around the chart table and touched my shoulder. “I shouldn’t have said that. It will be fine.”

I turned to him and smiled, thankful for the human touch. “I’m glad you’re comfortable on a boat. You know I wouldn’t have come without you.”

“I’m doing this for you.”

“This trip must have caused you problems at work. How did you wrangle a month off?”

Brad lowered his brow and pulled his hand away. “It wasn’t hard, and we needed to do this.”

“Who’s taking care of your patients while we’re gone?”

“The surgical team split them up.”

“Were they okay covering your shifts for this long?

He rubbed his neck. “It’s a hospital. They can handle any emergencies.”

“I didn’t mean to stress you out,” I said. “Speaking of emergencies, do we have a medical kit? I brought Dramamine and aspirin, but nothing more serious. I guess I didn’t think about how isolated we would be, and I didn’t have time to plan.”

I immediately regretted the barb which sounded passive aggressive. If Brad had noticed, he did not mention it. He walked into the port berth, opened a cabinet, and dragged out a large medical bag.

“This is a maritime medicine bag. It contains a standard first aid kit, larger dressings for deep wounds, and a module with airways, neck collars, splints, needles, homeostatic clamps . . . all the gear we need for serious trauma.”

“No prescription meds?”

“I couldn’t get them without jumping through a lot of hoops. Indonesia has strict narcotics laws.”

“I’ll try not to get injured,” I said.

“If either of us has a serious problem, we can contact local authorities, wherever we are, and head to port.”

“Contact them how?”

“Use the sat phone or the radio. The directions are next to them. In a catastrophic event, like a life-threatening accident, we can request an evacuation. The yacht’s owner has a contract with Medevac Worldwide Rescue. Their numbers are in the manual.”

“If two surgeons can’t handle it, we’re in trouble,” I said. “Anything else?”

“There’s a fire extinguisher under the sink in the galley. Fire on a boat is bad.”

“Got it. No arson.”

“If I fall overboard, I’ll be out of sight in thirty seconds, so throw over as many inflatables, cushions, whatever you can find. Make two ninety-degree turns and motor back to the debris field. It’s hard to find someone