Chapter 18
Chapter 18 — Safe Harbor
Michael, Rita, and Ron escape via boat to Da Nang harbor and board the cruise ship. Loc is captured by provincial police. After dinner, they discuss wedding plans, Ron volunteers as best man, and they celebrate with whiskey. Michael and Rita fall asleep in each other's arms as the ship sails away.
The engine coughed, then settled into a low, steady thrum as Ron cut it back to idle. The hull kissed the weathered pilings of Da Nang harbor with a soft thump, and the world went quiet except for the lap of water and the distant cry of gulls. Michael was on his feet before the boat finished rocking, boots finding the planks, hand reaching back for Rita. She took it, her grip firm and sure, and came up beside him. Ron looped a line around a cleat and climbed out after them, the ledger page folded tight inside his shirt.
Da Nang harbor sprawled before them, a tangle of masts and rigging against the amber sky. Fishing boats bobbed in the shallows, nets drying in the last of the sun. Cargo cranes stood silent against the warehouses. And at the far end of the main dock, a white cruise ship rose above everything, its hull gleaming, its decks strung with lights that were just beginning to glow against the dusk.
"There she is," Rita said, and something in her voice loosened, a knot that had been pulled tight for days. "Same ship. Same deck I stood on the first night."
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