Coral Sea Affair

by Drew Lindsay

The Coral Sea glistened as the 40 foot cruiser cut through the glass like surface. Ben stood with Elizabeth on the upper deck next to the captain. Derek and the rest of the movie crew sat below enjoying coffee. The two uniformed security guards sat on chairs at the rear of the open lower deck, hats off, enjoying the radical change from static bank work. The guards each carried Glock pistols, prominently displayed in thick black leather holsters. Large batons hung from their belts.

  Elizabeth wore a stunning black bikini. Once again, Ben had to exercise extreme control as to where his eyes focused. Elizabeth knew this and enjoyed his discomfort immensely. She had a bright red sarong wrapped around her hips. Her long black hair streamed behind her with the rush of the wind.

  They passed close to Woody Island. The Captain pointed it out as he had been requested to do. Ben noted the coral reef surrounding it entirely. Other islands appeared in the vicinity. The Captain called them ‘low islands’ for obvious reasons. They were just coral mounds once, now covered with sand, dirt, bird droppings and tree seeds which eventually grew into fairly uninteresting scrub. The mangrove trees were the most impressive. One of the more established low islands was covered with coconut trees and low jungle. A white, red topped lighthouse stood in the centre of the island.

  The Captain explained that the low isles were close to the main shipping channel in that area, hence the lighthouse, originally constructed in 1878.

  Their trip to the outer edge of Batt Reef had been extended in a northerly arc in order for Ben to see the low isles. Otherwise from Port Douglas, these islands would have passed unnoticed on a direct course to Batt Reef. Once past the low isles, the Captain turned the cruiser south east and applied full power. 30 minutes later he manoeuvred his vessel around the southern tip of Batt Reef and cut the motors to a crawl.

  Derek and Sandra had exited the cabin and were standing at the railing. Stan Café, chief movie technician stood behind them.

  ‘Where’s the pontoon?’ asked Ben.

  The Captain didn’t answer. He moved the cruiser forward at increased speed. A few moments later he pulled back on the throttle and scanned 360 degrees with his binoculars. ‘Gone, I’m afraid.’

  Derek looked up at the Captain and shouted,’ Where is it?’

  ‘I was just telling your friend here. It’s gone.’

  Derek threw his hands in the air. ‘We spent over twenty grand getting that thing out here and chained to the ocean bed. How could it be gone?’

  ‘What was on it?’ asked Ben.

  ‘Thankfully, not too much. Dressing rooms, kitchen, a few tables, and showers.’ Derek looked over at Sandra Quinn.

  The Japanese Director shrugged. ‘So they will have to rough it a bit on this luxury cruiser.’

  Derek looked defeated.

  ‘It will be fine,’ said Sandra, encouragingly. Cramped, but fine.’

  Ben pointed to an island barely kilometres away. White sand glistened on coconut fringed shores. Soft waves frothed over the outer coral reef. ‘Skull?’

  ‘Yep,’ said the Captain. ‘The locals call it the island of death.’

  Ben looked at Elizabeth. She placed her hand gently on his arm. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this,’ she said.

  ‘Can we find the dive site?’ asked Ben.

  ‘I’m almost over it,’ said the Captain.

  ‘God knows what they’ve done to the underwater movie set,’ moaned Derek. ‘How could this have happened? ‘We have all the necessary approval to work here.’

  The Captain manoeuvred the cruiser a short distance away from the coral reef into a sandy channel. Locals never put anchors down into the coral. Visitors often did, causing dreadful damage to the reef. The Captain nodded to his first mate and an anchor went over the bow. He killed the motors. A second anchor went over at the stern. The cruiser pulled up tight, strained against the heavy anchor ropes, then settled back reluctantly and swung to face the soft sea current.

  Ben went backwards down the steel steps to the main deck and approached the security guards. ‘Can you guys go up there while we’re here? Hats on if that’s OK?’

  ‘Sure,’ replied the taller of the two.

  ‘You’ve been briefed about this trip?

  ‘Yes sir,’

  ‘If anything including driftwood gets within 50 metres of this vessel, you shoot at it. Got that?’

  ‘Um, that wasn’t quite in the briefing we got from Ms. Beck.’

  ‘I don’t care what Susan Beck told you. Nothing gets even close to this boat. Do you understand me?’

  ‘Yes sir.’

  ‘If people approach, you warn them off. If they won’t go, you shoot them.’

  ‘Good Lord Mr. Hood. We can’t do that.’ The two security guards looked astonished.

  Ben moved closer to the uniformed men. ‘If you don’t shoot anyone approaching who has been warned to keep away, they may cut your throats before you get a chance to un-holster your guns. Do you understand what I am saying?’

  The two security guards looked at each other. The taller one spoke. ‘We were told that there was little likelihood of an attack on your movie crew like the one a few days ago.’

  ‘You both ex cops?’ asked Ben.

  ‘Yes,’ they both said together.

  ‘Then I should have briefed you. You need to expect the worst and hope for the best.’ Ben looked across to Skull Island. ‘Anything serious will come from the direction of that island. You both obviously know that a cameraman got shot with a spear gun during the last attack?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Don’t think your uniforms will scare them off a second time. These people are well trained and quite ruthless.’

  ‘But what’s the point?’ The question from the taller security guard was simple and logical. ‘These people are just making a movie here. What’s the problem?’

  Ben looked across at Skull Island. ‘Just unclip those Glocks.’

  The security guards unclipped the straps on their Glock holsters and climbed up the ladder to the control bridge. Their faces were grim.

  ‘Boat approaching,’ called Elizabeth. Ben raced up the steps and stood beside her on the bridge. The two guards put their hands on their guns. A small rubber zodiac containing 4 persons, rode the gentle swell about 200 metres from the cruiser. Skull Island was in the background.

  ‘It’s stopped,’ said Ben. ‘Just out for a look I suppose. Mr. Café, can you break out the diving equipment please?’

  ‘Right away.’

  ‘You ready for this Liz?’ said Ben.

  ‘Yep.’ She moved down the ladder to the open main deck and slipped into a short sleeved, tight fitting wet suit. Ben kept his eye on the men in the zodiac. It didn’t move. ‘Where are your binoculars Captain?’

  ‘In the compartment to your left.’

  Ben took out the large set of binoculars and focused on the Zodiac. 4 men sat motionless. All Chinese in appearance. All dressed in casual clothing, not black. They had adapted. One was looking back at him with an equally large set of binoculars.

  ‘They are going to watch us for a while,’ Ben said to the security guards. ‘I doubt they will risk another attack with you guys present, but like I said, if they try to come in close and ignore warnings to move away, start shooting or they will be over this boat like rats.’

  The Captain looked nervous. The security guards looked nervous. Ben moved to the lower deck and slipped on a short sleeved wet suit. Derek paced anxiously. Stan Café was assisting another diver with his rig. Ben approached. ‘You’re the replacement underwater camera man for this movie?’ asked Ben. The tall, slim man looked up and smiled. ‘I’m not a replacement. I’m camera 2. With Andy in hospital I’m now camera 1. I’m Lloyd. I’ll show you through the set, if there is anything left of it.’

  ‘What depth?’

  ’30 feet. Even that was a bit deep for me. The colour tends to wash out a bit at t
hat depth but the reef there is magnificent. You’ll see. We’ll be using underwater lights for the actual shooting, especially in the cave area, although I need it to look like an underwater cave, not the foyer of the Hilton. Tricky lighting.’

  ‘So we don’t need to decompress,’ said Ben. The camera man shook his head. Ben walked across to where Liz was sitting, adjusting her aqualung tank straps and clipping the octopus rig to one of the straps. Her long black hair cascaded over her shoulders. Ben helped her with a weight belt and quickly slipped into his own rig. The aqualung tank sat comfortingly against his back. Ben had done this many times before. He often told people that he was more at home under the water than above, but that was a long time ago when he and Fay went on diving holidays. Now he only occasionally ventured underwater.

  ‘Let’s do 30 minutes only,’ said Ben.

  Liz nodded. Lloyd waved a hand as he stepped down onto the diving platform.

  ‘Do you have a warning device?’ Ben shouted to the Captain.

  ‘First mate has a bell rigged under the diving platform. Hear that and you better get up ASAP.’

  ‘Got it. Stay sharp with those guys,’ said Ben pointing to the zodiac bobbing in the distance. Lloyd stepped off the platform into the sea. Liz followed him, a stream of bubbles rising through her hair. Ben joined them. Air hissed through each regulator as they slowly descended along the rear anchor rope to the coral reef below.

  Brightly coloured tropical fish darted through the magnificent, untouched coral growth. Some ventured up towards the divers, completely unafraid. A huge groper lurked in the distant background, trying to disguise himself against a wall of rock. The trio settled onto a patch of white sand. Lloyd then led the way towards the edge of the reef. Ben was expecting to see damage everywhere, but that wasn’t the case. He noted two large concrete blocks with heavy chain coiled in the sand beside them. Someone had obviously cut the chain from the diving pontoon at the surface level. He wondered where the diving set construction was. All he could see was coral reef, until Lloyd swam under a ledge in the coral and disappeared. Liz and Ben followed. Inside was a huge man made cavern with underwater lights mounted on brackets in the ceiling and at various places in the walls. This cavern adjoined the real coral reef at a point where a black hole opened up under a cluster of bright blue stag horn coral, each stem tipped with brilliant white.

  Lloyd approached the darkness of the cave underneath the reef. He turned on a small, pressurised LED torch which was strapped to his forehead and the darkness fled in the path of brilliant white light. The three entered the cave. Fish lurked in dark corners. Some swam out to investigate the light then scuttled back to the protection of coral ledges. Long shadows flickered across the sandy bottom. An octopus advanced towards them and briefly stood its ground. Then it suddenly turned white to blend with the sand, and slunk away.

  Lloyd stopped about 12 feet into the cavern and settled on the bottom. He shone his light around at the walls. The sight was breath taking. The water was cooler than outside, but crystal clear. He pointed to a ledge of black lace coral and Ben could see underwater lights rigged behind them. He could only imagine what this cave would look like when all the movie lights were on.

  Lloyd swam further in and turned a slight bend in the cave. At this point the roof rose at least 20 feet from the floor and Ben could see lights twinkling above. The coral reef had fractured at one point centuries ago and a fissure remained, allowing tiny chinks of light from above to penetrate the darkness beneath. Their air bubbles cascaded upward through jagged ledges as they raced towards the surface through the labyrinth of cracks in the reef. Lloyd pointed to an area on their left and Ben froze as he saw a human skeleton chained against the wall. Liz gripped his arm. Lloyd’s laughter rang in their ears, even through the water. He swam down to the skeleton and shook its hand. Ben and Liz looked at each other. Ben felt like an idiot. Of course. They were in a movie set.

  Lloyd pointed further into the cave where boxes were stacked on top of each other and chained to the bottom. He then began to swim slowly back to the cave entrance. From inside it looked as if they were swimming out the mouth of a giant sea creature. Ben checked his watch.

  They moved outside the movie set area and began to explore the reef. Ben could see the hull of the cruiser directly overhead. There was no other hull in sight. He relaxed. Giant clams with brilliant purple lips, snapped shut as they approached. A dazzling rainbow of colour stretched out before them in myriad coral shapes, complimented by thousands of fish, each displaying vibrant hues and colours, some swimming alone, others packed in tight formation with thousands of their own kind. Red and white clown fish darted at them aggressively from beds of swaying anemone. They turned abruptly within a few feet of the divers and swam away. It was just warning behaviour. Other beds of tall flowering anemone vanished with lightening speed into holes in the reef as they were approached.

  Ben caught Lloyd’s eye and tapped his watch. Lloyd nodded. Elizabeth had stayed close to Ben the entire time and signalled back an ‘OK’ to him with the thumb and forefinger of her right hand. Ben held both thumbs up and swam back to the rear anchor. They rose slowly, following the rope upwards, allowing their bubbles to race ahead of them to the surface.

  Back on deck they shed their diving gear and were handed towels by the first mate. The zodiac was gone. The Captain explained that the zodiac had moved back in the direction of Skull Island within 15 minutes of them going underwater.

  ‘Nothing touched down there,’ said Lloyd. ‘They obviously cut the chains on the pontoon topside and figured we’d not be back.’

  ‘No damage to the set?’ asked Derek in obvious astonishment.

  ‘Nothing,’ said Lloyd.

  ‘We begin shooting tomorrow,’ said Derek excitedly. ‘I can hardly believe our luck. I don’t think they are going to bother us again, do you Ben?’

  ‘I hope not,’ said Ben.

  Elizabeth towelled her long black hair and flicked it back from her face. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen such amazing underwater scenery…and the fish! There were millions of them and the colours!’

  ‘It’s a beautiful spot Derek,’ said Ben. ‘Well chosen.’

  ‘Sandra chose it actually,’ said Derek, looking across at his Director. ‘She has an eye for location. Poor thing spent hours underwater off Batt Reef looking for just the right place. She was ever so keen to have that island in the background for the surface shots.’

  ‘Stuffed that one up didn’t I,’ said Sandra, pulling a bright green cap down further over her sunglasses.

  ‘You weren’t to know darling,’ said Derek. ‘It looks deserted from this far away.’

  ‘I should have checked more thoroughly. I didn’t realise how upset they would be to have us here.’

  Ben put his T shirt on and slapped a battered baseball cap over his head. The words embroidered on the front of the cap were “Bad Boy” Fay had given it to him years ago. He thought that the words referred to him. He had no idea that it was a brand name. ‘There is a bit more going on over there than meets the eye Sandra,’ said Ben. ‘We’ll just have to be a tad more careful from now on.’

  ‘What do you think is going on?’ asked Derek.

  ‘Not sure. You just get your picture made. I’ll keep a close eye on them.’

  Derek looked somewhat uncomfortable but he didn’t say anything further.

  Ben climbed up to the bridge, picked up the binoculars and studied Skull Island for a long time. He swept the powerful device slowly up and down the length of the island and out across the coral reef. Elizabeth watched him closely, a knot of fear twisting in her stomach. Ben put the field glasses back in the compartment and nodded to the Captain. The Captain gave a sharp whistle and the first mate began to pull up the stern anchor. The engines burbled into life. The first mate gave a wave from the prow and the Captain engaged the twin propellers. The
y headed back to Port Douglas.

  Elizabeth climbed onto the bridge and allowed the wind to dry her hair. She stood close to Ben. The two security guards had retreated to the cabin for refreshments.

  ‘It’s too dangerous,’ she said, her mouth close to his ear. ‘It’s too damn far out to sea. You’ll never get across that reef at night and they will catch you and kill you.’

  ‘OK that’s the negatives. Now give me some positives.’

  She stared at him. ‘There are no positives you idiot.’

  Ben looked ahead at the approaching mainland. ‘You just never know.

  “****”

  Chapter Thirty One