Acts of Nature by Jonathon King

Max Freeman's been a busy boy with his developing PI business down there in S. Florida. So has his Ft. Lauderdale police detective girlfriend, Sherry. So busy they decide to take a week and go native at Max's shack/home in the eastern edge of the Everglades. No cell phones, no radios. Just some books, a little fishing, plenty of wine, campfires, some canoeing. Sounds pretty good to me (except the fishing part). One a whim, they pack up for an overnight or two at a vacant fishing camp a couple hours away.

Not the best of plans or timing with a Caribbean hurricane set to make an unusual turn NE and back up into Florida.

Buck, Marcus, and Wayne are B/E guys, fencing what electronics and jewelry they lift from Dade county homes. Buck has the bright idea that after the storm passes, all those rich folks who have weekend shacks in the Glades will be more concerned with cleaning up their homes than they will be about a shack so the picking should be pretty easy. 

Then there is Harmon and his buddy Squires, both former Army SpecOps and now security for an oil company, now safe at home after convincing some backwoodsmen in some banana republic that drilling is good, protesting is bad . . . make that fatal.

Some sun, sex, wine, more sex, naps, a little fishing, pan-fried dinner, dessert (wink, wink) under a blanket of stars. Life is good for Max and Sherry, only to be yanked to reality by the now Cat 4 storm blowing the shack they've clandestinely invaded back into the swamp. In their struggle to find what little shelter is available, Sherry falls through a floorboard and the torque fractures her femur. Open wound in the Glades is not good. Infection is now as big an issue as the storm.

After the storm, Max manages to splint and bandage her leg, gently get her in the canoe, and start the slow paddle back to his shack where he can call for help. They pass another fish camp and they pull in to see if there might be some bandages or medicine. Success. There is, but there is also a door with an electronic lock and no other way in. Odd for a fish camp.

Buck and the boys are working their way through their route of fish camps, taking all manner of fence-able items. They come up on Max and Sherry in their air-boat. Max's ex-cop radar goes nuclear, for good reason. Buck tries the nice-guy approach, but ends up ordering the bind-gag of Max and Sherry while one of his boys stands guard.

The oil company calls Harmon. Wants he and Squires to go check on a 'research station' (an illegal attempt to root around for oil in the Glades). Now that the storm is history, Harmon hires a helicopter and off they go. The noise alerts Buck and distracts Marcus, so Max, having managed to get loose of his duct tape bonds, jumps Marcus and removes Marcus' lower leg with a blast from a shotgun.

Got one of those Mexican standoffs with guns pointed at all directions, no one knowing who's who and who can be trusted.

I've missed you, Max and it's glad to have you back. The perfect remedy for this summer’s heat wave.

East Coast Don