“Did you hit us with your boat? Is that what happened?”

If I could have reached him, I would have smacked him right in the face. “You hit some old bridge pilings. Now shut up and get in the other boat.”

But when I looked out, I saw Tyler’s boat drifting away from us. It had to be fifty feet away by now.

“I got it,” he said. In one smooth motion he was back over the side of the boat, swimming with his head out of the freezing water. Hippie, musician, whatever he was-he was handling everything like a pro. If I had any doubts about him being in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, they were long gone.

“You guys hit us,” the man said again. In the dim light I could see he was in his midthirties, maybe. He was wearing a leather bomber jacket. His hair was slicked back on his head, making him look like a drowned rat. The water was up to his waist now, the whole boat going under an inch at a time. “Goddamn, that’s cold.”

“Cap, what are we going to do?” It was the big man. He was apparently done puking.

“They ruined the boat, man. Look at this thing.”

“ We ruined the boat,” the big man said. “Didn’t you see those things in the water? We ran right into them.”

The man named Cap kept holding onto his head like he had the world’s worst hangover. “I can’t even see straight. God, that hurts.”

“What about Harry?”

“What about him?”

“Oh my God, look at him.”

“Holy shit,” Cap said. “Harry!”

“Is he dead?”

“Harry!”

Both men tried to climb over to the unconscious man. Leon was holding his head up out of the water.

“Be careful!” he said. “I’m trying to keep him still.”

“Harry! God damn it! Are you alive?”

“He’s alive,” Leon said. “Stop moving the boat until we can get him off.”

“We are so fucked,” the big man said. “Our lives are over. Do you realize that?”

“Just shut up,” Cap said. “Okay, Brucie? Will you just shut up?”