68 Knots Read Online Free

watch, defiantly tightened her grip on the bowsprit. Every few minutes, a gush of salty water would crash against the bow and send torrents of foam slashing through the rigging and slamming against Crystal’s rigid body. “Bring it on!” she shouted to the sea. “Hit me with your best damned shot. You’re not knocking me off of here.” She squeezed the bowsprit between her knees and clenched the rigging in her hands. A wave rose and dropped on her like a wrecking ball. Her tight T-shirt was soaked, and saltwaterstreamed off her short blond hair and down her neck. “Is that the best you can do?” she shouted, shaking her head like a dog to clear the sting from her eyes. “Bring it on!”
    The wind had whipped into a gale by the time McKinley staggered on deck.
    â€œWhat the hell’s going on here?” McKinley shouted over the wind.
    â€œStorm, sir,” Anderson reported.
    â€œI can see that!” McKinley snapped. “Why the hell didn’t you steer us to a safe port? Now we’re stuck out here in the middle of the ocean with—”
    â€œWith all due respect, Commodore,” Anderson said sarcastically, “I had no way of knowing the storm was coming. The weather radio is locked in your quarters, and I tried several times to get you—”
    â€œDon’t give me your excuses, Mister Anderson,” McKinley shouted. “You were at the helm. You were responsible. You should have—”
    At that moment, a huge breaker crashed over the rails and onto the deck, unleashing a torment of foam. McKinley and Anderson clung to the wheel as the water pounded against their bodies. When the wave passed, Anderson turned the wheel and pointed the ship toward the harbor.
    â€œYou damn well better take us in!” McKinley shouted. “I’ll be below, writing up my report and documenting your incompetence!”
    McKinley dove down the gangway and disappeared, followed a moment later by the familiar
yump-yump-yump
of the toilet.
    That night, Arthur lay on his back, his damp sleeping bag pulled tightly up to his shoulders. The
Dreadnought
had beenat sea for almost a week, and everyone was exhausted. If something didn’t change soon—if McKinley didn’t back off and start treating people better—Arthur wasn’t sure what would happen. But something had to change.
    Arthur stared up at the dark sky, brilliant with stars. This trip is sure weird, he thought. When his father had brought home the brochure for “Commodore McKinley’s Leadership Cruise,” Arthur had been thrilled. He knew he had no choice in the matter—whenever his father handed information over like that, it was always an order and never a question—but Arthur was delighted at the chance to learn some new skills and imagined the mental and physical toughness he would gain, improving his chances of getting ahead in the world. His father had pushed him to be the very best from the start, and Arthur was grateful that the future looked so very promising. “I have the greatest father in the world,” he remembered thinking when his dad gave him the check to mail off to McKinley. “With his help, I’ve got it made.”
    But this cruise didn’t seem like the right sort of thing after all. Arthur was puzzled. His father was rarely wrong. He would have made phone calls, checked references, verified that this cruise was the very best place for his son to learn how to function in a tough and heartless adult world. He was a successful attorney and businessman—one of the best in Albany—and he was not in the habit of making bad investments. He would have researched this cruise thoroughly. Unless he was in one of his busy times. When Mr. Robinson got busy, Arthur knew, family life sometimes took a back seat.
    But still, something was wrong here. Arthur felt like he was learning how to follow, not how to lead. And he wanted more than