Bonefish Blues by Steven Becker

up?” He didn’t really want an answer after the revelations about the Braken clan in the last day. As much as he liked Matt, he was still a Braken. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
    “That scar-faced dude … he’s got Mom.” Matt was almost in tears.
    “Slow down and tell me what happened.” Will moved toward the boy, hoping to calm him.
    Matt paced back and forth, clearly upset, as he told the story. 
    “You think this is all about a YouTube video? Why didn’t you just take it down?”
    “I thought she was overreacting. You know, like mothers do. I had no idea —”
    “He hasn’t called you?”
    Matt looked at his phone and shook his head. “Nothing.”
    “OK, slow it down. He wants the video down and you want your mom back safe. You’ve watched enough TV to know how this is going to play out. First he’ll get somewhere safe, then he’ll contact you. We just have to make something work so you can take down the video as he releases her.” Matt was still pacing, turning his back so Will couldn’t see his face, “Maybe we ought to stay together. There’s nothing we can do until he calls.” He went back to the boat and pulled the fish box out from underneath the leaning post. With a grunt, he lifted it on the dock. “Let’s clean these real quick and maybe he’ll have called by then. We can figure out an exchange scenario while we do it.”
    Matt went for the cooler and opened the lid. “Damn nice fish, Will. What’s up with you taking so many?”
    “Got some money problems I’ve got to sort out. Come on.” They each grabbed a handle and headed for the cleaning table. Once there, they worked in silence, “Slow down Matt, destroying the meat is not going to get her back.” He was filled with as much anxiety as Matt, but tried to work slowly and methodically as they filleted and bagged the catch. 
    Matt checked his phone again while Will hosed down the table. Just as they were about to walk away, Cody pulled into the lot. “Crap, let me grab something off the boat and let’s get out of here,” Will said. He ran toward the boat, hopped onto the deck, and retrieved Sheryl’s bag from the compartment. He slung it over his shoulder and ran back toward Matt. Too late, Cody was standing there eyeing the catch.
    “What’s this, then? You been on my spot?”
    “Wouldn’t go near that place. I got my own numbers.”
    Cody turned to Matt. “Hear that? Fly fishing dude’s got his own numbers.” He turned to Will, and eyed Sheryl’s bag. “Nice bag. Listen, catch and release boy, we gotta talk about last night. I maybe had a few beers and a rowdy charter. Didn’t mean you no harm.”
    “Sure, Cody,” Will said as he tried to move past him. “No harm, no foul.” He grabbed the fish off the table and went to his truck, relieved that Cody had been so easy. His concern for Matt had his Cody radar offline; he didn’t realize it had been too easy. He started to walk toward the bar, fillets in a bucket at his side, ready to hand them over and collect for the charter.

Chapter 14
     
    Nicole was balled up in the corner of Braken’s office. Her top was off and bra torn. Pagliano leered over her, the look in his eyes clearly threatening more if she did not comply. She knew what he wanted — there was only one thing left. Matt had already responded that he would take the video down and they had both watched as the video disappeared from YouTube. She had turned to leave, her freedom on the other side of the office door, but he stopped her.
    “I got no assurance that he won’t post it again after he knows you’re safe. See, back in the day, there were real pictures with negatives. Once you had those, it was money in the bank. These days, with the Internet this and that, you never know. I think me and you are gonna spend some time together.”
    That’s when the assault started. She searched for safety, finding it temporarily in the corner, crammed in the space with the couch on one side