WEBVTT

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This is an encounter that I cannot
explain. In fact, you could say

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that I have covered my tracks because
there are those out there that live in

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fear of me revealing what I saw. My family has lived in Florida since

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late nineteen forties, when my grandfather
retired from the Army Air Corps and built

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a great life for himself. He
thrived in this particular area of the state

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with plenty of fishing and hunting.
Now years later, I'm fifty one years

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old and I'm a married father to
three boys. Like my grandfather, we

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too enjoy hunting and fishing. I'm
a communications worker and I finally got a

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weekend off to enjoy some rest and
relaxation at the family lakehouse. I was

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traveling east from Tampa Bay in my
pickup truck pulling my airboat. I decided

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to get fuel in Lithia, Lithi
Lithia, I was fifty miles away from

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my destination. It was a cloud
eat during the summertime storm and I took

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the back roads, which meant I
lost only thirty minutes, making it a

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scenic drive. I felt the right
rear tire on my boat trailer go off

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the shoulder and I soon realized that
I had had a blowout. I pulled

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over near the gate to a state
park. Luckily, the lake house was

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only a few miles away. There
was a large black suv with tinted windows

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parked nearby, and I couldn't tell
if it was occupied or not. As

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I changed my tire, a large
man sporting a pony tail appeared behind my

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trailer. A second man about my
size, a little stocky but with a

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slight beer belly, emerged from the
suv and approached me. With my eye

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on the man still lurking behind my
trailer, I asked if they needed some

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help. He told me that they
had an air boat broken down on the

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lake's edge and had the parts to
repair it, but they could use the

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lift. The man offered to pay
me, but being a good guid and

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fellow boater, I refused his money. We were joined by a third man

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who was carrying twin duffel bags in
a plastic toat. He threw everything into

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my truck and I drove all of
us to the nearest boat launch. Once

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we were in the water, I
asked for a GPS location. The man

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with the beer belly said that he
would direct me, adding that he knew

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the area, but there was a
lot of swamp in the way, and

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that we'd have to run the slews
near private property. We came upon a

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fence line where the man asked me
to idle the boat. Then he asked

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the location of the pump house.
LA pointed behind the tree line. Although

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it occurred to me if he really
knew the area, wouldn't he know where

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the pump house was, one of
the others silently directed me to kill the

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engine. I began to think my
good deed had put me in danger.

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There was no broke down boat in
sight. I was with three men whose

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manner suggested drug smuggling. I began
to wonder if the Duffel bags and the

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toat they'd brought aboard held some kind
of illegal substance. One of the men

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pulled what looked like a drone from
inside a plastic tote. There was a

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camera attached, and the man took
a minute to adjust the monitor on his

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iPhone. The others unzipped the Duffel
bags and began putting together assault rifles.

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After the drone went airborne, they
dinned night vision goggles and slid into the

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shallow water, one at a time, their weapons above their heads as they

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slushed toward the shore. What the
hell's going on, I hissed, trying

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to keep my voice slow. Is
this legal? It's all good, he

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promised. As soon as you hear
me signal, crank up the engine and

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be ready to gun it out of
here. Well, I was starting to

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panic. A few hours ago.
I was just another week end slacker with

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nothing but beer and fishing in my
plans. Now I was to get away

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driver for a bunch of wannabe hit
man that, for all I knew,

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were committing murders somewhere out there in
the dark near my lake house. Suddenly

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I heard something, and I looked
up into the night sky and saw a

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fireball ark gracefully over my head and
hit the water a few feet from the

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boat. I flashed my light toward
the surface and saw what was left of

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a drone before its mangled propellers sank
under water. Then there were a series

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of automatic rifle burst and men yelling, and I heard tall grass rustling and

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tree branches breaking. Hit the engine, I heard the voice. Two of

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the men came into view and dove
into the water as I cranked the engine.

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They scrambled onto the boat, but
before I could ask about the third

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I heard his screams coming from mid
air as he went flying twenty feet beyond

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us and hit the water with a
mighty splash. Leave him, said one

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of the men. Get us out
of here now. I pivoted the boat

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toward the man, who was flailing
in the water as if he couldn't swim,

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and I gripped his right arm to
pull him aboard. As he howled

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in pain, I realized his arm
was broken. The others did help me

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get him into the boat. Something
whizzed by my head and landed on the

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deck. It was an assault rifle. The muzzle bent like a pretzel.

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I piloted that boat like a madman
until we reached the launch. The others

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climbed from the boat and they stumbled
into the truck while I reloaded my boat

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onto my trailer. They didn't say
a word as I drove them back to

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their suv. Let me help you
wrap your buddy's arm, I offered,

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We'll take care of him, snapped
one of the men from the back seat

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as he helped his injured companion out
of my truck. Into their vehicle.

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The last to exit opened the passenger
door. What I mentioned earlier, we

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need to settle up, he said, Look, I don't need anything from

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you. Bonded, thinking that this
guy getting the hell out of my life

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would be payment enough. And suddenly
his hand went from my throat. Not

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a word of this to anyone,
he said. Why. Stared long and

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heart at his face until he let
me go, And he kept his eyes

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locked with mine as he climbed out
of the truck, slamming the door with

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enough force to underscore his threat.
From my rear view mirror, I watched

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him collect what was left of their
supplies from the boat. He walked up

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to my back bumper and he looked
down and he reeled off a series of

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numbers. It was my license plate. He winked at me and walked back

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to the suv, and I watched
their tail lights fade into the night.

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It was unsettling. Instead of the
lake house, I drove the ninety five

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miles back home. I did what
I was told, and I didn't tell

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a soul about that night. In
general, I behaved as if in witness

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protection. It didn't stop me from
thinking about what happened, though, with

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their beer bellies and ponytails, I
suspected the three men were not part of

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any professional militia. At any rate, a good soldier would not leave a

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battle buddy to drown with a broken
arm. Whatever they tussled with out there

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in the wilderness, it was savage
enough to give them the beating of their

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lives, but human enough not to
kill them,