Operation Dolphin Spirit

by Kimberli A. Bindschatel

  I found the Benadryl in the bottom of my bag, took three, shut the lights out, and stared at the water-stained ceiling tile, lit by the faint orange glow of the streetlight, for the next six hours.

  At dawn, Chris, Natalie, and I set out again in the Zodiac. The waves were less than three feet and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. As the sun rose, it seemed to warm everything.

  Rounding the island, I caught site of Gaspar’s Revenge on the horizon, heading our way.

  The closer we got to him, the more we slowed, concerned the dolphins might be nearby.

  Jesse waved from the flying bridge and gave me a thumbs up. I could see astern, five dorsal fins breaking the surface. He had them! And number five was with them!

  I let out a gleeful woop.

  “Let’s get the dart gun ready,” I said to Natalie.

  “Tell him to slow down. They’re moving too fast to dart.”

  I raised my hand and gave Jesse a thumbs down, the universal sign to reduce his speed.

  He got the message and throttled back.

  Chris drove the Zodiac in a big circle, giving the dolphins lots of space, and fell in behind Gaspar’s Revenge.

  Natalie handed me the gun, already cocked and loaded. “Don’t miss,” she said. “We only have one.”

  “Okay, no pressure,” I said with a nervous grin.

  Chris followed Jesse, matching his speed. I got the tagged dolphin in my sights.

  “Hold her steady,” I said to Chris.

  “Roger that. Holdin’ her steady.”

  The five dolphins swam in a synchronized motion. Three fins appeared, then the other two. Then they were under for four seconds. Then three fins appeared, then the other two. My target swam on the right flank in the first three.

  I watched, counted. One-two-three-four. Three fins, then two. One-two-three-four. Three fins, then two. I held the weapon steady against my shoulder, using my knees as shock absorbers to compensate for the boat’s movement, and aimed where the dolphins should appear next. One-two-three-four. Three fins. On an exhale, I squeezed the trigger. The dart flew. I looked up. The dolphin was gone.

  “Did I hit her?”

  Natalie shook her head. “I don’t know. I think you missed.”

  Dammit!

  “We only had one dart.”

  The three fins broke the surface. One dolphin had a red dart stuck right below the dorsal fin. Right where I’d aimed.

  “Yes!”

  Natalie cheered.

  “Great shot, Poppy!” Chris said.

  Jesse pumped his fist in the air, cheering me on.

  Chris kept pace with the dolphin, staying alongside her as she slowed.

  “She’s getting sleepy,” Natalie warned. “Stay close. We can’t let her sink.”

  The other dolphins slowed as she slowed, staying with her.

  “How do we get close enough to get the sling under her?” I asked.

  Natalie watched the dolphin with intense concern.

  “What are you thinking?” I pressed.

  “We’ve got to time this perfectly.”

  “Okay, talk to me,” I said. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, we need to get right in there the moment she’s so sleepy she’s starting to sink, but not too early, because she might dive, or struggle against us. She probably weighs over six hundred pounds, so…”

  “Okay,” I said. “How will we know?”

  She shook her head, concern in her eyes. “I don’t know. I didn’t…I mean, I’ve never done this.”

  Oh crap. “Well, all right. Are you saying that—what are you saying?”

  She shook her head some more and started wringing her hands.

  “If we could get the sling under her…?”

  The sling was a basic canvas stretcher, customized for a dolphin.

  “But to lift it…” She stared, not finishing her sentence.

  The dolphin slowed. Made a lazy exhalation.

  I grabbed fins, a mask and snorkel. “I’ll get in the water,” I said.

  Natalie shook her head. “If she bucks, and throws her peduncle, she could kill you.”

  “Tie a line to this side of the sling,” I told her.

  She did as I asked.

  I signaled to Jesse to put his boat in neutral.

  “Chris, use the Zodiac to keep her corralled against the other boat. All right?”

  “Roger that,” he said as I jumped into the water.

  When I popped back up to the surface, I hollered to Natalie, “Lower the sling.”

  I took hold of one end and dove with it, pulling it downward, under the dolphin.

  The other dolphins zipped back and forth in a frenzy.

  I needed to get the sling under one dolphin. I could do that. Maybe. If she’d stop moving. And the others would get out of the way.

  Then beside me, a figure appeared. It was Jesse. He gave me a thumbs up and took hold of the other side of the sling.

  The dolphin was above us, slowly pushing through the water like she’d had too much tequila.

  Jesse gestured to me, miming how we’d come up, simultaneously, on either side of the dolphin. I nodded that I understood.

  He gave the sling a tug, and up we went. As I emerged next to the dolphin, the canvas snug beneath her belly. Jesse was on her other side. She wiggled side to side, but it was a lazy effort. We quickly tied the straps atop her back that held the sling in place.

  Chris was right there with the Zodiac. I tossed the dangling line to Natalie and moved out of the way as Jesse helped push the dolphin alongside the boat. Natalie secured both ends of the sling to the plastic cleats on the Zodiac.

  “That will keep her snug while the sedative wears off,” she said, relief in her voice. “Good job guys!”

  Gaspar’s Revenge was much easier to climb aboard from the water, so I followed Jesse that way.

  Finn met me with a wagging tail and wet kisses. I gave him a quick scratch behind his ears.

  “Thanks for all your help,” I said to Jesse, dripping on the transom.

  He shrugged it off. “It was either that or watch you drown.”

  “What? I could’ve—”

  “I’m kidding.” He gave me a grin and I was reminded how handsome he was. “You’re obviously a more-than-capable young lady.”

  “I don’t know how you’d know that. I swear, I’ve been benched this whole operation. Not to mention my head has been—” He was looking at me with a grin. “Forget it.”

  “I don’t know anything about that,” he said. “But I do know, a good agent knows how to best use the tools at her disposal. In this case, well, it’s been me.” He paused. “Did I just call myself a tool?”

  I nodded. “Thanks. I figured you’d say something wise like, know thyself,” I said with a wink.

  That made him laugh. “Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

  We stared at each other for an uncomfortable moment. I knew he was attracted to me. And I was to him. But…

  “Hey, about Africa. I was wondering if you knew anything about what was going on in the South Sudan round about the time—”

  “What’s all this about Africa? Why do you and Dalton have so much interest?”

  “What do you mean? Dalton asked about it?”

  His expression changed. No doubt, he regretting letting that slip. He knew I wasn’t going to let it pass. “Dalton asked me about it is all. My time there.”

  “Africa?”

  “Just general stuff.” He tried to blow it off.

  “I got it!” Natalie hollered, getting our attention. She held the satellite transmitter up to show she’d removed it from the dolphin’s fin.

  I gave her a thumbs up.

  To Jesse, I said, “As soon as that dolphin is swimming on her own again, I’ve got to go.”

  “I had a feeling there might be a few more steps in your plan.”

  “You’ll keep them away from the Russian boat for the rest of the day?”

  “An easy promis
e,” he said. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”

  I gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I knew you weren’t an evil drug runner.”

  He grinned. “And I knew you weren’t an ornithology intern.”

  “What?” I grinned. “I know a lot about birds. I could pull that off.”

  “No doubt in my mind,” he said.

  Africa… “So when Dalton was asking—”

  “She’s already waking up,” Natalie shouted.

  I glanced at her. Damn. “I gotta go,” I told Jesse.

  He nodded.

  I threw my arms around him. “Thanks. I mean it.”

  “You take care of yourself,” he whispered in my ear. “And take it from me: true love doesn’t come along very often. So, don’t blow it.”

  I pulled away, looked into his eyes, and saw the genuine concern he felt for me.

  “Right,” I said, my cheeks blushing pink.

  “I mean it.” He held my gaze. “When you get to be my age, you know these things. Right now, you think your career is everything. You gotta make something of yourself, got something to prove. But in the end, it’s the people we love, our relationships that matter.” He stared at me as though, if he could make me see his point of view by sheer will, he would.

  I nodded. If I admitted it to myself, I could easily see my life without being an agent. But I couldn’t envision a world without Dalton.

  “We need your help,” Chris shouted from the other boat.

  I swung around. They were trying to get the sling untied as the dolphin pushed from side to side, slamming against the boat, trying to escape. I turned back to Jesse. “Are you some kind of guardian angel? I ask, because, last night, I was sure I’d lost my marbles.”

  He laughed, a low hearty chuckle. “Actually, I’ve been called that before.” He headed for the helm. “Let’s get you back on that Zodiac.”

  The engines on Gaspar’s Revenge rumbled to life and Jesse brought the stern around so I could step off onto the Zodiac.

  In a few moments, we had the dolphin’s sling untied and she dove deep, then sprang from the depths into the air, only to fall back with a splash. The other four dolphins frolicked about her, chattering away.

  “They’re free,” Natalie said. “They know it. I know they know it.” She blushed when she turned to me, worry in her eyes. “Don’t tell anyone I said that. I’ll lose my cred as a scientist.”

  “Mum’s the word,” I told her, grinning.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  I asked Chris to head around the north side of the island, keeping our speed below ten miles per hour, while Natalie got Kerrie on the phone. She passed it to me and I told her where to meet us and the details of my plan.

  An hour and twenty minutes later, Chris landed the Zodiac on shore, right where the dolphin had been stranded a few days ago.

  Kerrie was already there. “You’re sure this will work?”

  “It’s our best shot. I destroyed the other four transmitters after I got them,” I told her. “Had I known… But this should work. Like you said, this one was the leader. The others would follow. They’d know that.”

  She nodded.

  “And you trust your team? They’ll keep a good patrol. No one will see inside?”

  “It’ll work,” she said, her face tight with worry. “It’s gonna work.”

  Three golf carts pulled up with a crew of local men. Within minutes they had several tents set up.

  “Make sure the side walls are attached so no one can see inside,” I said, handing her the transmitter.

  Kerrie entered the tent with it, shouting orders to get the side walls hung.

  “What can we do?” Natalie asked.

  “Keep your fingers crossed that this works.”

  I got on the marine radio and hailed Gaspar’s Revenge.

  Jesse answered and had me switch from the universal emergency and hailing channel to channel seventeen.

  I repeated the channel, “One seven, switching to channel one seven,” enunciating clearly for anyone else who might be listening on the airwaves.

  On seventeen, I called for him again.

  “Gaspar’s Revenge here,” he came back.

  “Jesse. Can you come help? Some dolphins have beached themselves.”

  “What? That’s terrible. What can we do?”

  “We need men to help carry buckets, to keep them cool. I don’t know though, they’re in bad shape, really distressed.”

  “Tell me where.”

  “The beach on the north side of the island. Inside the bay.”

  “Okay. Keep your chin up. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  I pictured Jesse, idling along through the waves, grinning while five dolphins followed his boat.

  I gave Kerrie a thumbs up. “That ought to get those Russians running over here for confirmation.”

  Assuming they got their prop untangled by now. I grinned, satisfied with myself.

  I fired up the hotspot on my phone. “Okay, part two.”

  She flipped open her laptop. “I’ll post on the forum first.”

  With a few clicks, she posted an announcement on the Marine Biology Network forum:

  Five Bottlenose Dolphins Stranded in Bimini.

  Five Tursiops have stranded and perished. Cause unknown.

  Initial hypothesis: stress-related.

  Autopsies ordered. Results will be posted.

  Next, we drafted a press release. Simple and to the point. No need to add any details. News of five dead dolphins would hit the AP and be picked up all over the U.S. and beyond.

  “I hate to lie. I mean, I’m a scientist,” Kerrie said, her face drawn.

  “I know. Me too. But it’s for all the right reasons.”

  “I know,” she said and hit the send button. As she looked up, her eyes narrowed. “Oh no,” she whispered.

  The Russian vessel had rounded the buoy and was heading into the bay. I guess they got the prop unbound and working again.

  “It’s all right. This is part of the plan,” I assured her. “I’ll take care of it. Make sure the patrol volunteers are in place, then stay in the tent.”

  With a nod, she picked up her laptop and ducked inside.

  “You too,” I said to Chris and Natalie.

  I sat in a lawn chair, my legs crossed, sipping from my water bottle as I watched them set anchor. Then one got into their dinghy and headed my way. My old friend, the stalker.

  I got up from the chair and timed my arrival at the water’s edge to match his.

  “This is your fault!” I shouted, jabbing my finger at him. “You harassed these dolphins. I saw you. They’re dead and it’s all your fault. I know what you were doing.”

  The man scowled as he quickly scanned for anyone who might have noticed my outburst.

  “I’m going to tell everyone, if it’s the last thing I do.”

  His neck turned red, giving him away.

  I crossed my arms in front of my chest and stared, daring him to speak.

  Looking past me, trying to get a glimpse of the dead dolphins, he said in a calm, restrained tone, “You are wrong. We did nothing.”

  “Well, I don’t believe you,” I said, making my voice shake. “And they’re dead now.”

  “I want to see,” he said, moving toward the tents.

  “I already tried,” I said to his backside, restraining myself from tackling him. “No one’s allowed in.”

  He waved a hand, blowing me off. “I am scientist.”

  “Yeah, well, me too. And they said absolutely not. It’s like a hazardous zone or something.”

  As he approached the tent, a man blocked his way—a six foot two, three hundred pound tower of pure muscle—his arms crossed in front of his chest. After I’d told Kerrie what to expect might happen, she’d called him. Davy was his name. He loaded the ferry during the day and bounced unruly tourists from one of the local bars at night.

  The Russian slowed.

  Davy shook his head
.

  With a huff, he spun on me.

  “Told you,” I said, all snotty.

  “Let me in. I demand it.” He couldn’t contain his fury. His lips were pursed tight, his ears turning red.

  “Enough. Now you calm down,” I said, my voice dripping with sweet sarcasm while I threw his words back in his face.

  That really set him off. He turned back toward Davy, as if to charge, but then backed off when Davy gave him the slightest shake of his head.

  The man spun back around to me. As his mouth opened to speak, I grinned and said, “Go ahead, call me a stupid girl one more time.”

  He looked like he was brewing enough steam that his head might launch from his neck.

  I grinned and his eyes flashed with frustration. He knew I had him.

  The flap on the tent opened and Kerrie stepped out. What was she doing? She tugged rubber gloves from her hands before she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. As if she’d just noticed him, she made eye contact with the Russian, then shook her head.

  Good thinking, Kerrie!

  His eyes darted from her to me and back before he turned and stomped back to his dingy. One shove, and he had it afloat and spun around facing out. He crawled aboard, pulled the starter on the little outboard engine, and headed back to his boat.

  Davy gave me a nod. Kerrie looked like she might melt into a puddle right there on the sand.

  I let out my breath.

  Chris poked his head out from inside the tent. “Is he gone?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Let’s talk on the backside of the tent.”

  Kerrie and I left Davy on the lookout and moved out of sight to talk to Natalie and Chris.

  “That was amazing,” Natalie said. “You were amazing.”

  “I wanted to bash his skull in,” I said, adrenaline still coursing through my veins.

  “Well, I’m proud of you,” Chris said.

  “For what?”

  “For not bashing his skull in.”