The Catalina Cabal

by Bill Thesken

  I recognized the sound.

  It was the Coast Guard fast patrol boat. Silver decks and orange trim. Right at this very moment I despised the color combo as it circled around behind our stern and edged closer, getting right into my comfort zone. Blocking my view of the island. Lieutenant Myles Johnson was standing on the bow and shouted out.

  “Permission to come aboard?”

  This guy’s timing was pathetic. I must have been frowning, but I waved him on anyways. “Sure why not,” I called out.

  His crew put alongside us, two men tender-hooked the Spices’ railing and pulled the two boats together until the sides were tight and secure, then Lt. Johnson hopped aboard with a quick salute to me, and shook Amber’s hand.

  “Ma’am.”

  Then he took a good look at me and grimaced. “You look like hell.”

  “Yeah, well you should see the other guy.”

  “I did see him. He’s dead. I heard the whole story, and that’s one of the reasons I’m here.”

  “Can I get you a drink? She makes a good one. Knock your socks off.”

  “I’ll take a rain check. Mind if I sit down?”

  “Are you guys always so damned polite?”

  “Comes with the territory.”

  I motioned to the bench on the side. He took off his cap and settled in.

  “You need to put a little less starch in your uniform, Lieutenant. Loosen up a little bit.”

  He smiled. “Nice boat you have here.”

  “I’ll trade you. Straight up, your piddly little scow for my big shiny sport cruiser, whatdayasay?”

  “I don’t think the US government would take kindly to that.”

  I wagged my index finger at him. “You didn’t come all the way out here to compliment me on my boat, so why the special visit? C’mon, out with it.”

  “It’s what we call in the military a de-briefing.”

  “I’m not in the military. Anymore, that is.”

  “We’ve got six dead guys spread all over the harbor and half the town. Two assassins from the Chinese mob, and four buddies who were running a little smuggling operation, one of them a deputy police officer who took his own life.”

  “I know, I was there.” I was gloomy with the thought of it.

  “There’s a high probability that if you didn’t show up on Catalina, we’d only have four dead guys and a lingering mystery that we’d probably never be able to solve.”

  “I was in the wrong place at the right time.”

  “I’m going to level with you, Badger. This was going to be the smuggler’s last run, one way or another. We’ve known about their operation for quite some time now, and we’ve been coordinating with the FBI. They were trying to pinpoint the source of the money for the operation, the kingpins, and they finally got the evidence they needed. It was a combination Red Chinese and Triad operation bringing in spies mixed in with regular civilians. So if they got caught if would look like a normal human smuggling ring. I was trying to warn you to stay out of this, when you came to visit me yesterday. I was surprised to see you here on Catalina, and I didn’t want you to get in the way. But you sure as hell found a way to get right smack dab in the middle of it.”

  “I’ve got a knack for that. Unfortunately.”

  And I’ll be damned if a little hiccup didn’t come up and out of my throat from the bubbly.

  Amber giggled, and I nodded at the flower vase in my lap. “Champagne. I’m celebrating still being alive.”

  “More than you realize.”

  His statement sobered me up a bit, and I took a sip of my drink and focused my eyes on him, waiting for him to continue.

  “Those two guys you edged out? Chinese special forces. The FBI, CIA, NSA, you name it. Every government agency on the map has been after them for two years. Couldn’t locate them, or put a glove on ‘em. But they knew they were here in the country, somewhere, and up to no good. Professional, military grade assassins.”

  “I thought they were just wanna-be smugglers.”

  “What I heard is that the Triad’s were having a bit of a turf war among themselves, and these guys were brought in to regulate the situation in Los Angeles. Somehow they got the orders to take out our guys here in Avalon.”

  “Took you by surprise?”

  “Completely. We had no clue this was going to happen.”

  “In the short time I was with him, Don told me a little about their group. They were friends from little kids days. Growing up right here in Avalon Bay.” I shook my head in disgust. “Look at how beautiful this place is, are you kidding me? What else do you need? But they got greedy for money, and it destroyed them. Nearly destroyed me, too.”

  “You did good Badger.”

  “What about Mei Ling, if that’s really her name, did you find out anything about her?” I was still in the middle of it.

  He shook his head. “Not yet. She could have been a spy or just your basic normal run of the mill illegal immigrant sneaking into the country. With no fingerprints we’ll probably never find out who she was.”

  “One thing is for sure,” I said. “She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “Some people are flying in from L.A. right now, they want to see you, and we’re supposed to ferry them out to your boat, or bring you to shore, whichever way you prefer.”

  “I’m not leaving this boat for anybody.”

  “We’ll bring them out here. They should be landing in about twenty minutes.”

  “Tell them I’m busy.”

  “These guys are big shots.”

  “I don’t care if it’s the President of the United States. Or the Pope flying in from Rome for that matter.” I thought twice about that, lifted my cup to the sky and took a sip in honor of the Pope. But I’d even pass on that guy right now.

  “It’s the head of the CIA. He was in Los Angeles on some other business, and decided to make a special trip out here, just to see you. Seems you made quite an impression with the agency.”

  “If you couldn’t tell, I’m not in the best of moods right now. What in the hell does he want to see me for?”

  Lt. Johnson shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just the taxi driver.”

  I waved him off with the back of my hand. “Not a chance. Tell him to take a hike.” I took another sip of my drink.

  Amber cozied up next to me and whispered softly in my ear. “C’mon Badge honey, you know that I really don’t want you to get involved in any more dangerous business, but it’s the head of the CIA. And he’s flying out here just to see you. It wouldn’t be nice to say no. Besides, he’ll probably just come out here anyways, if he wants to.”

  She was right. They had me trapped. They could board any vessel they wanted to, day or night.

  All I wanted to do was sit in my little deck chair, watch the clouds and the color changes on the island, and take an occasional sip as the sun went down. And now I had to consider a Triad bullseye in the middle of my forehead while listening to the head of a spy agency rattle my cage. Guys like that didn’t take day trips just to say hello to a small potato like me. Something bigger was in play. My mood of celebration evaporated.

  “Maybe they want to offer you a job,” said Myles cheerfully.

  “Great, that’s all I need.”

  He was joking in his own way, trying to get me to lighten up, but his statement was more true than he realized. They wanted something from me, and were sending their big dog to get it.

  At that moment in time it seemed that I was standing in the middle of the proverbial cross-road and could travel any number of ways. Or none at all.

  I could sit right down in the middle of the road and refuse to go any further, or I could continue on the straight and narrow path in front of me that I had chosen, with potential disaster on either side, hedging me in. Amber was right, it was a dangerous business to be in. Events out of my control were leading me, prodding me, into action. I was just a basic ordinary bodyguard, protector of the innocent, seeker of the truth,
and it wasn’t just the booze making me think this way. I knew that everyone has a route to travel and were given certain talents and gifts of life to manage the journey in whatever choice they made. That’s what true life was all about, the God given freedom to choose your own way, whether you wanted to or not.

  I wondered about the path that I had chosen. Was it straight and true and right, leading me to redemption? Or straight into a pit of destruction?

  The path I had chosen.

  And then creeping slowly into the back of my mind, I remembered one of my old martial arts teachers. I was young and bullheaded, inflexible and always wanting to do things my way. He could sense that it might be a problem in the future. He was a seventy-year-old Kung Fu master, grizzled and grey with arms and legs like petrified wood, and eyes like cold black steel that never blinked. He sat me down on a split log in our training area, and in a calm, soothing voice, asked me:

  “Was it your idea to create all the stars in the universe and did you create this world that we are standing on? With a wave of your hand did you separate the air and the water and the land? Did you shape a single leaf on a single tree, or create an ounce of the air that you are breathing this very moment? Did you grind the sand on all the beaches and command the waves to break upon them? And did you choose the time of day that the sun will rise, and determine with your unbound wisdom the length of the day and of the night? Have you been here forever, and will you be here forever? With a twinkle in your own eye, did you create yourself? No? Then why do you think that you, and you alone are responsible to choose your path? That is arrogance and vanity and conceit, and for fools. Sometimes the one who created the world and everything in it, also creates the path, and the path chooses you.”

  I looked glumly down at my mug that was now more than half empty, took one last sip, and handed it to Amber with a sigh. I motioned reluctantly towards the bay.

  “Please,” I asked her.

  She was looking at me quizzically, and then nodded her head as she understood what was happening. She reached the mug over the railing and poured the remainder of the drink into the water. I could hear the last of the drops tinkling into the bay.

  “Alright Lieutenant,” I said. “Bring the big shot out here, and let’s hear what he has to say.”

  The time to celebrate was over.