The Bay Bulls Standoff

by Chris Ryan

“You serious?”

  “Yes. Two or three bangs and off the hinges it fell. And they couldn’t advance beyond the downed door.”

  “Ann Marie, who was watching it with you?”

  “Dutch, the deck was full. Sharon, Brenda, Sheryl, Fox, and Charlie O’Dea. I’m sure there was more people there. I know Kevin O’Brien showed up after it was over. Like I said, the deck was full. It was like the Molson’s booth at an IceCaps game at Mile One. Sharon collapsed on the deck when the first noisemaker went off.”

  “You serious?”

  “Yes! I can’t wait to chat with her in the pit in the morning. I know she won’t be good.”

  “Dutch, what’s Ann Marie saying?”

  “Hang on, Joe. I’ll fill you in when I get off the phone. Ann Marie, keep an eye on the backdoor area. See how long it takes Leo to put it back up. I’d say it will be back in place in very short order.”

  “Will do, Dutch. I’ll call you the second I see him at it.”

  “Later.”

  “Later, Dutch.”

  “Joe, the cops beat down the back door. The inside door.”

  “Holy Jesus. I know Leo is not in a state now. They may have gotten it off the hinges but could not get beyond it. I figured he had it more secure than that.”

  “I figured the same thing.”

  “Dutch, they won’t get it down the next time they advance.”

  “Ann Marie is going to call the second she sees Leo putting it back up.”

  “Dutch, he’ll have that back in place in no time.”

  “Joe, if I had to bet, I’m pretty sure Leo fired twice. Guns flash when they fire. That’s what we saw. Definitely.”

  “That’s all it can be.”

  “Flash bombs and smoke bombs don’t light up, as far as I know. The cops fired in four flash bombs. That’s how many I heard. And God knows how many smoke canisters went in. I’d say at least six. Would not be shocked if they put in ten or twelve. The complete right side of the house was engulfed in smoke.”

  “Dutch, for all we know there could have been twenty.”

  “According to how much smoke came out of the house, for a brief time I actually thought the house was on fire. The whole side of the house was engulfed in smoke.”

  “Who fired the flash bombs and smoke bombs?”

  “The two cops that stayed by the side of the garage, they both looked like they were holding weapons. I don’t know if they were weapons. I guess some type of apparatus to fire the two different types of bombs, one being the flash bombs and the other being the smoke bombs. Maybe one fired the flash bombs and the other fired the smoke bombs.”

  “You’re probably right, as you would need a different type of weapon to fire each.”

  “So that makes sense, why two stayed by the garage.”

  “Man, that was out of this world.”

  “Joe, Leo will be deaf after this. Definitely. My ears actually rang when the four flash bombs went off. Can you imagine being in the vicinity of them? Like ten or fifteen feet from them. Sure, they would deafen you. They would blow the fucking head off you. You wait and see, I’ll bet money on it he’s deaf. I don’t know about deaf, but he won’t have the same hearing before this started as he has now.”

  “And they still didn’t get him. The first four bangs were the loudest thing I have ever heard in my life. I have been close to dynamite blasts in on the Witless Bay Line back in the early 1980s, when they were widening the road for pavement, but it wasn’t near as loud as those two bangs. I’m serious when I say those bangs would blow the fucking head off you.”

  “Joe, Leo will not come out of this a sane man. I’m betting there is a very high probability that he will end up with PTSD—post-traumatic stress disorder. Why doesn’t he just say fuck it and walk out and get this over with? And face the consequences.”

  “No, not Leo, he’s way too determined. This is a big old game for him. I’ve said it a number of times and I’ll say it again. A game. And a game in which he is holding the ace.”

  “Yes, and all the other cards as well. Joe, you think the smoke bombs hurt him?”

  “I bet he has a face mask on so the smoke from the smoke bombs won’t bother his eyes. One that covers not only your mouth but your eyes as well.”

  “Obviously he was alert. He never allowed them to advance. You think he didn’t expect something like this attack to happen? I’m surprised they never tried this stunt before.”

  “Dutch, I hope that he didn’t fire at the door. If he did he’s in trouble. They’ll lock him up forever. If not forever, for a long time. I hope he fired into the ceiling or the floor.”

  “Joe, I’m thinking the same thing. Well, last night he must have fired that single shot into the ceiling or floor. If he fired at the robot we’d know about it now. It would be all over the media. And we never heard anything to that effect today. I know I never, did you?”

  “I never heard anything to that effect. I listen to CBC constantly. Every time I get in the car, it’s on. And it wasn’t on CBC. You listen to VOCM, and you never heard it. So there is a very good chance we’re right.”

  “No, but wherever he fired, the cops might say he fired on them. They always put their spin on it to make themselves look good. And the person they’re dealing with, they try to make them appear much worse than they actually are.”

  “Dutch, Leo is smarter than that. He’s not going to give them anything that they can pin on him. You mark it down. He fired into the ceiling or the floor, last night and tonight.”

  “I hope for his sake that’s what he did.”

  “I know that’s what he did. I’ll bet money on it.”

  “He’ll come out of this smelling like a rose.”

  “And his determination is his best weapon.”

  “They think he is destroying himself now, but he will come out of this stronger than before it all began.”

  “Dutch, I’m shaking.”

  “Joe, that makes two of us.”

  “I thought for sure when I heard those first two bangs they were getting in. I figured they were in. Or at least close to it.”

  “We might have thought that. But Leo had other plans for them.”

  “Looks fucking good on them.”

  “Think they’ll try this again tomorrow night?”

  “I doubt it. They thought for sure that they were getting their man tonight. I’d say they were days planning this. They’ll have to go back to the drawing table and come up with another plan.”

  “Hope it’s better than this. This was only entertainment for us. This didn’t bother Leo. He’s relaxing now with a coffee and a smoke. Saying to himself, ‘Boys, you better have bigger weapons than what you had tonight next time you show up.’”

  “This is only strengthening his resolve to keep them out. And out they’ll stay. I said earlier in the week that Leo is the person who will end this when he wants to end it.”

  “Like the great baseball player Yogi Berra said, it ain’t over till it’s over. And this will be over when Leo decides it is over. No one else.”

  “Dutch, my heart is breaking for Leo. No human being should have to go through something like this. There definitely has to be some way of getting that man out of that house without destroying it. And destroying the man in it.”

  “You would think, Joe.”

  “At the rate they’re going, by the time this is over Mrs. Crockwell will be looking for somewhere to live.”

  “What we just witnessed, Joe, was the first organized attack in Bay Bulls in over 300 years. The last organized attack in Bay Bulls was in the late 1600s—1696, actually. The French cornered the HMS Sapphire on the north side of the harbour and her captain set her ablaze so the French couldn’t capture and use her. When the French boarded her, they were
blown up when the fire reached the powder room. The scuttling was a smart move by the English skipper.”

  “Skipper Crockwell made a few smart moves as well, tonight. Can’t wait to hear in detail what they were.”

  “Joe, why don’t you go on home and have a good night’s rest? You need it. All this is starting to show on you. Joe, all we can do is pray that he comes out unhurt. And please God that Leo can get some rest tonight, also. I can imagine how he’s feeling right now after what he just went through. Or for the whole week, for that matter.”

  “Dutch, he may come out of this physically unhurt, but what kind of shape will he be in psychologically?”

  “I guess time will tell. I consider myself a pretty common person in society. But I tell you this, Joe, I’m losing more and more respect for the RCMP every day this goes on.”

  “Dutch, you and most of the harbour.”

  “It’s very quiet around the harbour, Joe. And it’s 2:50 a.m. They won’t try anything else tonight. They’ll be days trying to figure out why they couldn’t advance beyond that doorway. I’m going to pack it in for the night. You staying?”

  “No, I’m going, too.”

  “Leo will be fine. He has many keepers tonight.”

  “What do you mean, keepers?”

  “The cops. They’re his keepers. Keeping an eye on him. Have you ever heard the saying, ‘The lowest form of life is the keeper of man’?”

  “Never heard it. But it makes sense.”

  “I said that to a warden one time. You think it never upset him? I guess the truth hurt him.

  “I’ll see you in the morning. I’m leaving my binoculars and scope here on the back seat. I may as well. I’ll be in the back again tomorrow morning. Make sure you lock her, okay?

  “Joe, when you get a chance, have a look at one of the national news broadcasts. They run every hour, on cable or on the dish. They may have added something more interesting than what they’ve been reporting about Leo.”

  “I will. And I have to agree with you, what they have been reporting so far is garbage.”

  “See ya.”

  “Later, bro.”

  Chapter 6

  _____________________________________

  Thursday, December 9

  I got to the pit around 8:00 a.m. on Thursday. The weather was warmer that morning, around seven or eight degrees. Joe was there. As usual, we were the first ones on site.

  “Day six. I wonder, will Leo end this today? How long can he sustain all this? Lesser men would have walked out days ago. I’m thinking of their attack last night. Only made him more determined. I wonder what he’s drawing on to continue? I guess we’ll never know. With every window that can be reached by the robot beat out, and the temperature hovering around zero degrees Celsius nearly every night since this started, and with a northerly gale blowing four of the last six nights, bringing the temperature to a couple of degrees below freezing . . . I’d say it is close to hell, if ever there is such a place.”

  “Dutch, that kind of sums up the situation Leo is in.”

  “Joe, how did you sleep?”

  “Not good. Every time I closed my eyes, all I kept seeing was smoke rising. And bangs going off in my head. I must’ve woken up eight or ten times. I saw that green house in my head a hundred times last night. And every time I saw it, it was on fire. I hope they don’t try that again. They couldn’t get in the first time. Their chances of getting in after their first try most likely will be futile. What about you? You sleep well?”

  “Joe, I sleep well every night. I get eight to nine hours of sleep. I need that much sleep. If not, I start to go downhill. But this standoff is starting to cut into it. I’m not used to these early mornings. Last time I was getting up this early I was still working on the Terra Nova FPSO. The good old days.”

  “Dutch, it was only five years ago that you worked offshore. The way you talk, it’s like it was forty years ago.”

  “Well, Joe, it bloody well feels like it. Since I got this damn back injury, time is flying. Five years seems like twenty-five.”

  “Dutch, what does FPSO stand for? I’ve always wondered.”

  “It means floating production, storage and off-loading vessel.”

  “Okay. I may have heard it before, but forgot.”

  “We had another name for it. Floating piece of shit offshore. We weren’t allowed to say it when we were aboard the boat. The higher-ups on board used to get mad at us for saying it. And the crowd in the Scotiabank building downtown. We said it anyway. We didn’t give a fuck.

  “Joe, turn on the radio, put it on VOCM. Guaranteed they’ll have something on about the failed assault on the house last night.”

  “Why? You think there was a reporter around that late?”

  “Guaranteed that fellow from the Telegram was down by Uncle Tom’s. Joe, as I lay in bed last night after I went home, I started thinking that I couldn’t believe what we saw. Man, that was like war. It had all the makings of a military action. The flash bombs, the smoke bombs. The blue flame flashing from the fired gun.”

  “Yes, Dutch, it was wild.”

  “We only saw it. I wonder what it was like for Leo to live through it?”

  “I know his nerves are not shaky this morning. But I pray he is okay. I can’t wait to talk to him. I know he won’t have some story to tell.”

  “Joe, as I’ve said many times since this started, he’ll write a book about all this. It will most likely be a bestseller in Newfoundland and Labrador. And he’s the fellow to write it. He has the smarts to do it.”

  “Dutch, when we went to school he was a brain. Always in the top three for marks in the whole class, in every subject. It was common to see him get the highest mark in two or three tests in a row. He’ll have no trouble writing his story about all this.”

  “Be all right for him to make a few dollars on this. At least that will be the only good thing to come out of all this. I’ve seen nothing any good so far, other than what I would call training for the SWAT team members. Sure, Joe, if you tried to write a screwed-up story concerning police, wouldn’t this be that story? You couldn’t have written anything better. Police arrive to arrest a man on a domestic dispute charge, and here we are six days later with the man in question still not arrested. Sounds like a Newfie joke.”

  “You never know. That’s probably why they brought in cops from the other provinces. To let the rookies experience what it is like to be involved in the real thing.”

  “This standoff could be the basis for a manual on how not to detain a person. Or extricate them from a house. Should be mandatory reading for all new recruits, and also for the most senior leaders of all police forces in Newfoundland. And Canada, for that matter.

  “Here we are, day six. Tomorrow will make it a full week. Seven days. I say it almost every day: who ever thought that we would be here two days, three days, four days, five days—and now the sixth day of this standoff? And with their major takedown that didn’t go as they had planned.

  “Let’s dart into Vincie Crane’s and grab a coffee and the newspaper.”

  “Dutch, the paper is probably not delivered on the Shore yet.”

  “Okay. Keep an eye on the van that delivers it. It will pass here in the next hour or so. It’s white, a Chevy, I believe.”

  “I wonder how many people actually witnessed what we saw last night? Be interesting to talk to a few around the harbour today to get a feel for how many actually saw it.”

  “Well, there was no one here with us last night. And this is one of, if not the best, spots in the harbour to view Leo’s house. So, I’m betting very few saw it.”

  “Well, Dutch, it wasn’t really late.”

  “No, but you look at how many people have to get up and go to work in the morning. Most of the harbour works in St. John’s
. So most people were in the sack early. We seem to be the only two who are on the go late every night. So you would be surprised how many people missed that last night.”

  “Too bad, as we’ll never get to see anything like that again in our lifetime. That is, unless they try the same thing again tonight.”

  “Joe, I hope for Leo’s sake that they don’t try something like that again. I don’t ever want to see what I saw last night. I had a knot in my stomach when that was going on, a knot that would kill a moose. I can only imagine what you were feeling, you being closer to Leo’s age, and someone who beat around with him.

  “They tried it and it didn’t work. So why would it work the second time?”

  “Good point.”

  “They have to come up with something better than that. They’re racking their brains as to why this great master plan failed. I guess one of the generals that they brought in from the Maritimes came up with that idea. I’d love to be down to the town hall this morning to hear them discuss what went wrong last night. And to hear what they’re planning for next. I’d say they huddled around the table like General Schwarzkopf—‘Stormin’ Norman’—and Colin Powell and their team when they were devising a plan to defeat the Iraqis. To drive them out of Kuwait. A plan that was flawless.”

  “Well, the plan last night wasn’t flawless. It had many flaws in it. And we’re not privy to what exactly went wrong. We’re only looking at this from afar.”

  “I guess they’ll have to bring someone else in from Nova Scotia or New Brunswick to come up with another plan. Plan number two. Hope it’s better than the one last night. Why couldn’t they leave this to the RCMP members here in the province? Even to the cowboys in Ferryland. The rest of Canada always thinks us Newfoundlanders can’t do anything on our own. ‘Quick, send help down to Newfoundland and Labrador, they need it.’ I say fuck off, Canada, and leave us the fuck alone, we can fix our own goddamn problems. They ruined our cod fishery.”

  “Yes.”

  “Ottawa deserves all the credit for that. Actually, Mulroney, to be exact.”

  “Dutch, I’m a big Tory. Have been all my life, and will die a Tory. But I have to agree with what you just said.