Covert Crossings

by Frank Lazorishak

  “What’s your cruising speed?”

  “A little over thirty knots.”

  “Not bad. You have Volvo Pentas, right?”

  “No. Two five hundred fifty horsepower Cummins diesels coupled to pod drives. It’s a great power train.”

  Midway through the conversation, I’ve moved to the port tank. I hear the telltale gurgle of an almost full tank and stop. I hand Norman the fuel hose. “Hang on; let me dig out my AMEX.”

  “Sure. You stopped at just over a hundred fifty gallons total.”

  “Oh well. It is what it is. We’ll move the boat back to our slip, and I’ll walk up to the office to get my card and receipt.”

  “Good enough. You ready to throw off the lines, Kate?”

  Kate has been forward leaning against the cabin. “I am. I’m just sitting here enjoying the evening.”

  She throws Norman the bow line, moves to the stern, and does that one, too. I nudge the boat away from the dock and take us back to our slip. Katya is waiting for us with our bow line. “Yes! Marino’s sounds good. I can never decide between perch and walleye, though.”

  Kate and Katya tie us up, and I shut down the engines. “About six?”

  “Yup. We’ll drive.”

  * * *

  At six-fifteen, we’re all in Katya’s Escalade for the short trip to Marino’s International Café. Katya is driving, the girls are up front, and Barron and I are in back. “You never did tell me where you’re off to this weekend. We miss cruising with you guys.”

  “We miss it, too. But things just keep coming up that get in the way. Example: tomorrow we have to go to Rattlesnake Island for some meetings.”

  “Rattlesnake Island?”

  “Yeah. We’re meeting about some investments.”

  “You’re not thinking of buying there?”

  “Heavens, no. Rattlesnake Island is way out of our league. But one of the guys we’re meeting has a place there. I think he just wants to show it off.”

  “Wow. And who might that be?”

  “I really can’t say. But you’d know the name…”

  “Must be nice.”

  “Not really. I think it all could have been done by phone. We would rather hang out with you guys.”

  The silence gets a little strained. I’m glad when Katya pulls into Marino’s parking lot.

  * * *

  Dinner is nice. Barron and I have perch sandwiches, Kate has a salad with perch on it, and Katya goes for the walleye.

  But Barron is a little quiet. It’s bothering him that I wouldn’t share the name of our Rattlesnake Island host. If he only knew.

  CHAPTER 40

  Rattlesnake Island is a little over an hour from VYC. The lake is flat, the traffic is light. The trip uneventful.

  After we pass the Put-In-Bay Light on the south end of South Bass Island, I call the Rattlesnake Island Club on channel 16. They answer immediately. “Morning Star, please switch and answer on channel 71.”

  I switch and answer. They respond. “Welcome. I am Anatoly, the Rattlesnake Island Club Marina Manager. We are expecting you. Fedor is waiting at your dock. You will see him when you enter the harbor.”

  Anatoly? Fedor? Curious. We come down off plane and idle into the harbor. A young man is waiting on one of the finger docks. He waves. I wave back. He points to the water on his right. I head for the dock. Kate goes forward. We are secure in just a few minutes. Kate hops out onto the dock. I hand her Daisy. Daisy looks at Fedor. He gets one woof. Daisy has pronounced him okay. How does she know?

  Fedor smiles broadly. He has a heavy eastern European accent. “Welcome. Your son is waiting for you.”

  He points to the wharf. Mike is sitting there in a golf cart. We go up to the wharf. Daisy leads the way. Mike gets two woofs. She remembers him. Another good guy. There are hugs all around. “I’m glad you made it okay. Let’s go up to the clubhouse and get you checked in.”

  “Checked in? I assumed that we’d be staying on the boat.”

  “You certainly can, but the club has some pretty posh accommodations. I highly recommend them.”

  Kate looks interested. “I think we’ll defer to your recommendation. But I have a question: Anatoly? Fedor? We are still in U.S. waters?”

  “And the girls in the club all have names like Liviana and Liuba. It seems that the club manager, Natalia is Moldovan. She brings workers over from Moldova every summer.”

  “Seems odd. Odd place for a meeting like this.”

  “It’s private. Very private. That’s what we need.”

  * * *

  Mike was right. This place is posh. We get installed in the Tower Suite. It’s a one-bedroom suite with a 270-degree view of Lake Erie. It’ll do. It’ll do just fine.

  We meet for lunch in Rattlesnake Island’s pride and joy, The Golden Pheasant Inn. It’s the best restaurant on Rattlesnake Island. It’s the only restaurant on Rattlesnake Island. We’ll be back for dinner.

  During lunch, Mike announces our schedule. Introductory meeting after lunch, down time, dinner, short meeting after dinner. Tomorrow, breakfast at eight, and then we’ll go over the plans they have for us. And we’re out of here.

  I ask Mike who we will be meeting with. “It’ll be easier to do introductions in person. After lunch. There are high rollers from both the American and the Canadian governments here.”

  I guess, I’m waiting.

  CHAPTER 41

  After lunch, we walk up to the North Lodge. It’s a 1929 vintage log cabin. Not your average log cabin, though. I’d guess over 6000 square feet. It seems that the American contingent is staying here while the Canadian contingent is staying in the only slightly smaller South Lodge.

  Mike escorts us into the huge family room. There are about six men and women sitting around chatting. They all get up in when we walk in. Mike introduces us. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce my mother and father, Kate and Peter. I’ll let each of you introduce yourselves.”

  A fifty-something, but very fit looking gentleman sitting by a fireplace so big I could lay down in it stands up. “I’ll start. I’m Frank Simmons, the FBI Senior Agent in Charge. I’m glad to meet you, but I’m sorry that it couldn’t be under different circumstances. We don’t expect you to memorize a whole bunch of names. I’ll see to it that you get a pile of our business cards.”

  Both Kate and I shake hands.

  Another ex-football player stands up. “I’m Jose Flores, also with the FBI. I know that you are a U. S. Merchant Marine Officer. Do you prefer ‘Captain.’?”

  “Peter will do just fine.”

  From the other side of the room. “David Jenkins, Senior ICE Agent.”

  And next to him. “Emma Schmidt. ICE Agent.”

  There is a pause. Then a very dignified gentlemen stands. “Nathan Tremblay, Senior CBSA Agent.”

  He is obviously Canadian. I jump in. “I’m sorry sir, but I’m not familiar with CBSA.”

  “Canadian Border Services Agency, Captain. Similar to your Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement combined.”

  “Thank you. That helps.”

  A very attractive, but very military looking female next to him stands. “I’m Abigail Watson, also with the CBSA. I go by Abby.”

  “I guess we’ve saved the best for last. Liam Anderson. CSIS. Canadian Security and Intelligence Service. I know from your dossier that you were a contractor to DIA. We’re kind of like your DIA and CIA combined.”

  Kate and I have been walking around shaking hands. They all sit back down. Mike and I, and Kate, remain standing. I look at Mike and Kate. “You guys can sit, too.”

  They do. Everyone is looking at me expectantly. “Thank you for introducing yourselves. I am notoriously terrible at names, so I apologize in advance. I know I speak for Kate when I say what I’m about to say.”

  I pause. “We don’t want to be here. I spent some time in the service of my country, and I’m proud of that time. But that’s in the past. Kate and I just want
to end this and get on with our lives. We think that the best way to do that is to work with you. But make no mistake; we don’t want to be heroes or spies or counter terrorists. We’ll help, but our goal is to be out of this. To be out without harm to our families or ourselves. Help us get out. Please.”

  Frank stands back up. He walks over to me. He shakes my hand again. “That’s our goal as well. To keep you and yours safe. And to convince these people to leave you in peace. We think that we can best do that by destroying their organization. If we can apprehend their leaders in both countries, we can put an end to this. At least for now.”

  There are murmurs of assent. I sit down on a loveseat next to Kate. She grabs my hand.

  Mike gets up. “That’s our goal, too, Dad. And we will accomplish it.”

  Nathan Tremblay gets up. “And we’ve accomplished our goal for right now. Let’s all enjoy the amenities of the Rattlesnake Island Club this afternoon. After dinner, we’ll have a short informal get-together. Tomorrow morning, after breakfast, we’ll go over our plan moving forward. Everything is in place to deal with this. When the terrorists make their move, we shall be ready. Thank you, all.”

  * * *

  We borrow Mike’s golf cart to explore the island. Of course, Daisy joins us. She likes golf carts.

  We run out of island long before we run out of time. Rattlesnake Island is roughly a quarter of a mile by three quarters of a mile. It has one road – Rattlesnake Island Drive. It has a small airstrip, and roughly a dozen houses. It’s a very private hiding place for the very wealthy. It is not a tourist destination.

  We head back to the boat to put together some clothes and toiletries to take to the Tower Suite.

  CHAPTER 42

  This is the meeting we’ve been waiting for. Last night’s meeting after dinner meeting was social. We sat around and talked. They knew more about me than I expected. They knew about my time in the Air Force. They knew about my time working for Raytheon as a “defense contractor.”

  Kate’s background is not as -- interesting – as mine, but they had a substantial dossier on her as well. Her high-level business experience indicated that she was a force to be reckoned with, not just a passenger on this journey. By the end of the evening, we were all more comfortable with each other. Not friends. Coworkers, maybe.

  * * *

  Breakfast this morning was memorable. I’m not normally a quiche fan, but theirs was great. Now we are all comfortable in the home theater of the South Lodge. Another log cabin. Not quite as big as the North Lodge, but impressive just the same.

  Frank Simmons is standing in front of the biggest flat screen TV I’ve ever seen. It’s got to be something like ninety inches. There was a time not too long ago when home theaters used projection TVs. But no more – not with flat screens like this.

  The TV is not on, but I hope Frank uses it; I’d love to see the picture. “I’ve decided that since I’m going to do most of the talking, you might as well be comfortable. Those seats look awfully comfortable though. Please snore quietly.”

  This elicits a few chuckles. Abby raises a hand. “Is the concession stand open? It’s too early for popcorn, but I could use some coffee.”

  “I’ll see what I can do, Abby.”

  He pulls out his phone, speed dials a number, and says a few words into the phone. I’ve noticed before that he has an odd way of holding his phone – in his left hand, almost vertical in front of his face, covering his right eye. Odd. “Coffee’s on its way, Abby. Let’s move on.

  “The plan is really quite simple. Simplicity is important. Fewer details, fewer mistakes. Since this starts on the Canadian side, I’ll ask Nathan to cover that, but I have a little bit of general stuff first.

  “We will be monitoring all of Peter’s and Kate’s communications. Phones, email accounts, etc. They have been provided with phones to use when they need to talk to us, but they will use their regular stuff as much as possible. We will surveil their boat, their homes, and their movements twenty-four seven. We will also surveil the homes and movements of all of their children. The bad guys have shown Peter and Kate pictures of their kids, so we know that they know. I should mention that they did not show pictures of Mike or his family. We don’t know if that’s an oversight or if they were afraid to get too close to him. We suspect that they now know about him, and know who he is.

  “Actually, most of this is already in operation. The missing parts are mainly around the kids. It will all be in operation by Monday.

  “Mike is going to warn the Dockmaster at Vermilion Yacht Club that the Sabre electronics guys will be there sometime early next week to do some work. It seems that he still has a couple of unresolved warranty issues... The electronics guys will be ours. They will place several listening devices, and maybe some video devices, aboard Morning Star. Your organizations will be provided access.”

  There is a discreet knock on the French Doors to the home theater. “Come.”

  Liviana and Liuba wheel in a cart with carafes of coffee and all the fixings. There are even some pastries. They stop at the back of the room. “Thank you, ladies. We can manage from there.” They smile, and turn and leave, closing the door quietly. I swear that Liuba did a small curtsy.

  Frank smiles. “Just for you, Abby. Can we share?”

  She smiles back. “I get first choice on the pastries.”

  “Everyone, help yourselves. Nathan, will you please fill us in one what’s happening on your side of the lake?”

  “Coffee first.” He gets up and heads for the cart. Several others do the same.

  * * *

  Nathan picks up the remote and turns on the TV. The Samsung logo appears, then the seal of the CBSA. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I hope that you’ve enjoyed your stay here as much as I have. This is a great venue.

  “On to business. Before we go any further, I’m going to ask Kate and the Captain to look at a couple of pictures. And Captain, I know that you’ve asked to be called Peter. But somehow, early on, I began to think of you as Captain, and it stuck. I apologize, but you are always going to be “Captain” to me.”

  “No problem, sir.”

  “The pictures: please tell me if you recognize anyone.”

  The first picture is of a rather mean looking older middle eastern man in an unidentifiable uniform. He is a stranger. The second picture is a young Anglo male in a tee shirt. Another stranger. The third picture…

  Kate jumps up “Qasim!”

  “Yes, it is. You’re looking at Qasim al Hamdan. He is a Resident Alien in Canada on a Student Visa. We have been watching him for some time. He lives in Toronto, but spends a lot of time with “friends” in Leamington. He spends more time traveling than he does attending classes. Now we know why.”

  “But we took him to Vermilion.”

  “And now he’s back in Canada. We’re watching him even more closely now.”

  Frank stands up. “I assume that you will provide us with a dossier.”

  “Of course. As a point of interest, Qasim re-entered Canada via the Peace Bridge in Niagara Falls the week after you ferried him to Vermilion. The fact that he re-entered with no record of having left raised all kinds of flags.

  “I have several other photos I want Kate and the Captain to look at, but we’ll do it after this meeting. I’ll provide dossiers to you on anybody else they identify.

  “Let’s move on. Our plan is pretty simple. We’ll step up surveillance on Qasim, on his associates in Toronto, and on his associates in Leamington. We’ll wait for them to make contact again. And they will.

  “When they make their move, we’ll go on high alert in Leamington. The Marina will be watched very carefully. But we will not move until after the next group arrives in the U.S. We don’t want to spook them.

  “Then we will arrest the whole lot that remains in Canada. Anyone who we can’t charge criminally will have their Visas cancelled and will be deported immediately. We will not be a staging area for terrorists.”

&nb
sp; He sits down. Frank gets up. “Let’s take a short break.”

  CHAPTER 43

  Potty break. More coffee. Another pastry. We reconvene.

  Frank powers down the giant TV. “I don’t have any pictures. Yet.”

  Emma raises her hand. “You mentioned video surveillance in their boat. What do you have in mind?”

  “We don’t know yet. We’ll leave it up to our techs. The problem is that even today’s very small cameras are very difficult to hide. And we don’t want them found. It’s absolutely vital that the terrorists not know that the Bradovichs are involved with us.”

  I stand. Frank looks a little surprised. “Explain, please.”

  Mike stands next to me. “You can’t do anything that might lead the bad guys to figure out that Kate and my dad are involved with you guys. Their safety depends on their being viewed as innocent victims in this whole thing.”

  “I agree, Mike. We have a plan that will preserve their apparent innocence. Hear me out.”

  Mike remains standing. “I’m listening.”

  “Okay. When we know when and where the next trip will happen, we’ll be ready to hit them when they get to their destinations ashore. We’ll wait until they’re ashore so that there will be no danger to Kate and your father.”

  I’m up again. “But if you capture them when they get to the U.S., the bad guys will know that we tipped you off. They will know that we were working with you.”

  “Not so. You will be arrested, too.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding!”

  “No, I’m not. We will leak the story that your very frequent trips to Canada made us suspect that you might be involved in a smuggling operation. We were watching your boat both here and in Canada. When we saw all the people boarding Morning Star in Canada, we thought that you were smuggling illegals into the U.S. But -- it will come out that you were innocent victims. That the terrorists were threatening your family to get you to cooperate. You’ll be heroes. Sort of.”

  “I don’t know…”