by Ann Heathman
Dead in the water. For nearly a day, the fishing trawler sat immobilized, drifting with the current, while Tony labored in the engine room trying to find a way to restart the ship’s engine. Zach stayed on the bridge near the wheelhouse, keeping a watchful eye on the passengers below. Who knew what might happen next. Another dust-up between Christians and Muslims? Some other catastrophe? Desperation blanketed the passengers, and Zach knew desperate people do desperate things.
“Nothing,” Tony said, when he joined Zach topside. “I’ve tried everything I can think of but can’t get the engine to fire. I don’t have the right tools, and even if I did, I’m not sure that ancient engine would start.”
Noreen broke the last heel of bread into three pieces and handed one to Zach and one to Tony. “Dinner’s served, boys. That’s it. The last of the food I brought.”
His face sunburned, lips parched, and his mouth dry, Zach waved off the offer of bread. They’d been riding out in the elements for three days now, sharing small sips of water between them. Dying of thirst or starving to death were now more a threat than drowning for everyone on board… the lack of water being the most serious problem. Their situation was quickly turning desperate.
“You know,” Zach said, “pretty soon those people down there are going to figure out there’s some food and water in the galley. Not enough for more than about four people, but there will be a riot trying to get what little there is. Maybe we’ll be the ones to commandeer the food. I have no desire to die, but killing for food doesn’t seem humane either.”
“I see ‘em down there throwing out a fishing net, hoping to catch some fish,” Tony said. “Too bad it’s falling apart just like the engine. So full of holes, a whale could swim through it. Besides, it was designed to drag behind the boat and pull in fish. No dragging happening with this old tug.”
Noreen sighed and tossed her knapsack down on the deck. “I have a ten year old daughter at home—Emily.” She paused, staring off into space, lost in thought. “I’m a single parent, and she’s my whole world.” There was a catch in her voice. “You know, she begged me not to leave on this assignment, but I thought I was being a good role model for my daughter, this work I do, I ….” Her voice trailed off, and she choked back tears.
Zach started rubbing her shoulders. “You are a good role model, Noreen. Stay positive. You’ll be seeing her soon enough.” He sounded more positive than he felt. With the boat disabled, no food or water, and no way to call for help, the chance of them surviving if not found soon, was looking bleaker by the minute.
Night had fallen, and the trio sat listlessly on the bridge, out of answers. Below, they heard the sound of women crying and a restlessness settled over the passengers as they prepared to spend another hopeless night under the stars. The wind had picked up, and all the signs of bad weather moving in were present.
Tony leaned back against the rail next to Zach and sighed heavily. “I’m in love with Lisa. If I get out of this, I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
Zach gave Tony a knowing look of understanding. A look which needed no words when passed between such closely bonded friends. His throat felt constricted. “Copy that,” he whispered. His thoughts for the last few hours had been about his own true love, Arianna. It was painful how much he ached to be with her again, and it crushed him to think that might never happen again.
Suddenly, Noreen stood and walked slowly over to the side of the boat. “Did you see that?” she asked, looking out across the water.
Zach’s head snapped up. “What? You see something?” He moved over beside her.
“Look! I see a blip of light over there. Right over there,” she said, pointing out to sea.
Tony joined them, and they peered off in the distance at a tiny speck of light.
“Quick!” Zach yelled. “Get the flare gun.”
Tony ran into the wheelhouse, grabbed the gun, and raced back onto the bridge. He pointed it straight up in the air and pulled the trigger, launching a bright red flare. The red flame lit the sky and burned brightly for over a minute. Then, it was gone.
The passengers below began to stir, and the captain came out onto the bridge. He handed Zach a pair of binoculars. Peering through the lens, he could see the speck of light grow larger. “Yesss!” he hissed under his breath. “They see us!” He handed the binoculars to Tony and slapped him on the back. “Take a look. Holy shit! I think lady luck just smiled on us.”
Zach fired off another flare just to be sure the approaching boat saw their distress signal. Slowly the speck of light grew brighter and the outline of a boat along the size of a coast guard cutter or a naval ship could be seen.
Zach’s jubilant mood suddenly turned solemn. “Keep your fingers crossed, guys,” he whispered to Tony and Noreen. “If this is the Libyan coast guard, this could still turn out badly for us.”
Anxiety built and when the boat finally came alongside, Zach was relieved to see the insignia of the Italian Navy on its bow. A cheer went up from the passengers. Noreen turned and hugged Zach and Tony, and kept repeating, “Oh, my God! Thank you, Jesus. I’m actually going to see my daughter again.”
“This is Captain Bruno Catanneo of the Italian Navy,” the voice on the bullhorn said. “We are taking possession of your boat and will be towing it to a port in Malta. Please be seated and do not attempt to swim to our boat. I repeat. Please be seated, and do not attempt to swim to our boat.”
A skiff came along side, and Zach lowered a ladder to meet it. Several Navy seamen came aboard, and one group secured a towline between the trawler and the cruiser while another group moved to the lower deck, delivering water and MREs. Even though they were getting a tow, it would still be close to twelve hours until they reached port. The last task was making an assessment of the passengers. A team of medics moved through the group to see if anyone was in need of immediate medical attention.
Once under tow, for the first time since the voyage began, Zach relaxed enough to actually fall asleep. Tony woke him as the sun was rising and the boat was slowly making its way into the harbor at Malta.
As they stood at the rail and watched the boat tie up, Tony asked, “Now what? How do we get out of this without divulging who we are and having to explain how we happened to be on this boat?”
“Yeah, the mission is screwed if our identities are discovered,” Zach replied. “We need to play it just as we have been. We’re simply refugees from Libya, seeking asylum like everyone else on this ship. In the meantime, keep an eye out for a way to skip out of here.”
Tony checked out the multitude of people assembled on the dock who were preparing to greet them. “Security looks rather spotty. I only see a few guards. We just might get lucky and be able to slip past them without any trouble.”
“We act as a family. Noreen is my wife,” Zach said, “and Tony, you’re my brother. Don’t let anyone separate us. We have no papers. All were lost at sea. Use the Libyan names we chose when we departed. Everyone got that?”
“Check,” Tony and Noreen said in unison.
They filed off the boat with the rest of the passengers. When they got to the bottom of the gangplank, a security guard, brandishing an AK 47, motioned for them to step out of line. They did as they were told, and another guard nudged Zach in the back, indicating the group should follow the man in the lead.
Tony shot Zach a quick look of alarm but made no move to react.
What was this all about, Zach wondered. Had their cover been blown? Why were they being pulled out of the line? Zach followed the guard who led them into a large, metal building. He hesitated a moment, but the guard nudged him again and said, “Vai Avanti.” Italian for ‘move on’.
Though there was an armed guard in front and one in back, Zach knew they had the skill to overtake them, despite the fact these men had weapons. The group continued on down a dark hall until they came to an open doorway. They had arrived at a pinch point, the juncture between a chance to escape versus being locked away in a room. No way co
uld they allow themselves to be put in that room. Zach started to signal Tony to make a move when he heard a familiar voice say, “It’s about time you guys showed up.”
Glancing in the room, Zach saw Eric, CIA chief of station, from Sigonella Naval Base standing at a table.
“Son of a bitch,” Zach said, heaving a huge sigh of relief. “Man, am I happy to see you.” He walked forward, high-fived Eric, and gave him an enthusiastic hug.
“Glad to see you guys,” Eric said, greeting everyone. “We’ve been looking all over for you. We thought maybe you were fish bait.”
Tony collapsed in a chair. “Ah, shit. You have no idea the hell we went through.”
“Here, sit down, everyone.” Eric popped open a cooler. “Have some wine or a beer. I’ve ordered some hot food which should be here any minute. Relax. You’re safe now.”
Zach popped a beer and looked around the room. He pulled out his totally dead Blackphone and started looking for an electrical outlet. “Excuse me a minute,” he said and moved over to a corner of the room. He plugged the phone in and pressed Arianna’s number on speed dial. The hell with his self-imposed rule against calling home while deployed. He swore if he got out of this alive, the first call he would make would be to Arianna.
To his dismay, the phone rang and rang, but no one picked up. He finished his beer and retrieved another. Tried calling again. Still no answer.
When he returned to the table, Tony gave him a quizzical look. “Everything all right?” he asked.
Zach ignored the question. He sat down and filled his plate with pasta and shoveled it into his mouth. He ate like he hadn’t eaten in days because he hadn’t.
“When you guys missed your ride out of Libya, alarms went off,” Eric explained while they ate. “No one knew for sure what had happened. Communication in Libya goes from bad to nearly non-existent. Juan made several calls to some key people and finally got a bit of information. He was able to make contact with Ahmed who told us you were coming out by boat, but when you weren’t on any of the vessels that arrived here or anywhere else in the region, we knew there was a problem. That’s when the Italian navy got involved. I must say. You have friends in high places. An all-out effort was mounted to find you guys.”
“Thank God,” Tony said. “We were dead in the water on that shit boat. Don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t found us.”
Zach nodded his agreement. He pushed his plate away, grabbed another beer, and went back to his phone. He tried calling Arianna again, but still no answer. Where the hell is she?
Tony joined him in the corner. “No answer still? Who you calling that’s not answering… Juan?”
Zach shook his head. “Arianna.”
“Whoa!” Tony whispered under his breath and reared back in surprise. “There’s no answer? That’s unusual. Maybe she’s swimming or something.”
Zach punched in Juan’s number. “Hey, it’s Zach,” he said when Juan answered. “Where the hell is Arianna?”
“Nice to hear from you, too,” Juan responded. “You’re welcome. I know you appreciate me moving heaven and earth to save your ass. No thanks needed. I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”
“Hey, sorry, man.” Zach took a step back and softened his tone. “I heard you pulled out all the stops to get us home. I’m in your debt, my brother. I owe you big time. Thank you.”
“Roger that,” Juan said, suppressing a quiver in his voice. “I have your six. Glad you’re safe, buddy.”
An emotional moment passed between them. Finally, Zach cleared his throat and said, “Arianna? I’ve been calling her for the last half hour, and she’s not answering her phone. Is she all right?”
This time Juan cleared his throat and paused. “Yeah, I hate to ruin your happy homecoming, but uh, yeah, man, shit’s hit the fan.” He ran his hand through his hair and started to pace.
“What do you mean? Come on, damn it! Don’t beat around the bush. What’s going on?”
“Well, it seems Arianna got some emails from that nut case, Clare, taunting her. Claiming the two of you were having an affair. She even sent pictures.”
“What! Clare, that fucking, bitch!” Zach hissed. “I’m going to kill her the next time I see her.”
“What pictures I don’t know,” Juan continued. “I’ve been so busy working the phone, getting you guys home, I haven’t had time to get to the bottom of that deal. Long story short, Arianna got pissed and took off. Probably went to her mom’s, but they’ve disappeared somewhere. Don’t know where she is exactly right now. Not sure why Arianna isn’t answering her phone, but I’m guessing it’s because she’s still pissed at you.”
“What the fuck. Look, we’re here with the COS from Sigonella… Eric. He’s going to arrange for us to return to the States, I hope, within the next few hours. Get in touch with Veritas and have his tech people hack into Arianna’s email. I can’t read her emails from my phone, so send me copies of the conversation between her and Clare. I want to know exactly what was said and to see the pictures which were sent.”
“According to Lisa, she saw you carrying Clare around that night in only her underwear. It didn’t go over well. Lisa’s even miffed at Tony, wondering if he’s screwing around on her too.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake!” Zach was doing a slow burn. “While Veritas is digging up the emails, see if you can find where Arianna is. I’ll call you when I land in New York.”
“I’m on it,” Juan said and hung up.
During those long, desperate nights at sea, he tried to stay positive by envisioning the happy homecoming that awaited him upon his return. He could forget that now.
Holy shit!” Tony said when Zach showed him the pictures attached to Arianna’s email. “I don’t remember this, but Clare had her hands all over you during that poker game, and she captured every single time on film.”
They were sitting back, sipping some whisky while winging their way across the Atlantic. Emails and attachments from Arianna’s computer had been patched through to Zach.
“Oww!” they both said in unison when the picture of Zach carrying Clare with nothing on but her bra and panties, came into view.
“You look guilty as hell.” Tony sat back in his seat. “I hate to say this, but if I saw these pictures and didn’t know any better, I’d suspect you were fooling around, too. You’re going to have to do some fast talking to explain this away.”
“Don’t I know it?” Zach continued to stare at his screen. “But it’s not going to be easy. Think about it. What am I going to say… no, she’s not my girlfriend. She’s actually a fellow CIA agent who’s pissed at me for rejecting her and ruining her career when we were on this secret mission in Libya.”
Tony laughed out loud. “And don’t forget the part about how you’re working really hard while you’re away. It’s intense work, honey. Forget the poker game. I’m just busy, busy, busy all the time. So busy I don’t even have time to call you.”
“Ouch!” Zach whispered under his breath. He hoped she didn’t try to throw that argument at him. He’d have a hard time rebutting that charge. Rebutting all the charges would take some finesse on his part. “The tough part is, it doesn’t matter what the truth is because there’s no way I can tell her what really happened. I’m going to have to be inventive.”
“I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes, but what gets me is, evidently Lisa thinks I was fooling around, too. Why, I’m not sure. Don’t think I’ll have too much explaining to do, but Clare has really created a mess.”
Zach started reading the copies of the emails Clare sent. “Frickin’ unbelievable! That bitch is telling one lie after the other.”
“It sounds like she’s taunting Arianna.”
Zach frowned. “I don’t like the tone of these emails at all. This move by Clare is more than an attempt to irritate me. She’s out for revenge. I’m worried about Arianna’s safety.” He downed the last drop of whiskey in his glass and logged off the computer. “Let’s hope Juan finds Arianna
before Clare does.”
IT WAS the middle of the night when Zach touched down in New York. His phone buzzed, and he could see it was Juan calling.
“Well, I know why Arianna isn’t answering her phone. I found it laying in the trash in her mom’s garage, but she’s nowhere around.”
Zach took a deep breath and told himself to stay cool. Once we get past this faux affair thing, she and I are going to have a heart to heart talk about her ditching that phone.
“I think I know where she might be,” Juan continued. “I also found a scrap of paper with an address on it. I googled it. It’s a summer house on a Lake Pewaukee, just outside of Milwaukee. I talked to a contact over there, and he said two women are staying at this address. Looks like it’s Arianna and her mother.”
“Copy that. I can be in Milwaukee in less than two hours. Pick me up at the airport, and we’ll head over to the lake.”
“Call me when you land,” Juan said and hung up.
Zach patted Tony on the shoulder. “No need for you to go with me. I know you’re anxious to see Lisa. Go on home.”
“God, I sure hate to miss the fun of seeing you squirm out of the jam you’re in,” he said with a cheeky grin on his face.
“Fuck you,” Zach shot back and gave him a shove. “Go catch your plane.”
KATHRYN JOINED Arianna on the deck with her morning coffee. “We need to clean the fridge out today and pack up to go home tomorrow.”
“Mmm hmm,” Arianna mumbled, as she sat staring out across the lake.
“When we get home, we should go shopping. You need something nice for your interview on Friday.”
Arianna continued staring out across the lake, not answering.
“Are you all right?” Kathryn asked. “Your mind seems to be elsewhere.”
Was she all right? Not really. It was Tuesday morning, and a dead calm blanketed the lake. People had returned to work after celebrating the Memorial Day weekend and a harsh reality had set in. No barbeques. No more water skiing, fireworks, laughter, or over-imbibing to divert her attention from the fact she was alone. Alone and steeped in the heartache and pain of betrayal and love lost. Inertia enveloped her. She struggled to put one foot in front of the other and get moving. All she really wanted to do was hibernate for a good long time.