Uncle Plats

by Aqua Allsopp

  “You’re right Lindsey. Hey, you sound like the perfect woman. What do you say we get married? I’m a Captain, I can marry us as long as we’re on a boat. What do you say?”

  “Let’s do it!” Lindsey and Randy shared a laugh then decided to sail a little further before going back to port.

  “Great job sailing today, You’re really learning how to control the boat and keep it out of the no-go-zone. By the time that you leave here you will definitely be able to sail on your own Lindsey.”

  Lindsey offered up a confident grin and a modest, “thank you,” in response.

  Then she continued to tug on the halyard to douse the jib for overnight storage, as she listened to Randy talk. His words felt genuine and reassuring. She made note that she liked the sound of his voice and his low-key manner.

  Finishing up with the jib, Lindsey moved to the mainsail and lowered it for storage too, while Randy secured the boat to the dock and the tiller to the stern. Neither wanted the day to end.

  *****

  The pair continued to make small talk until they reached the hotel door. “Hey, do you want to grab something to eat?” Randy asked.

  Lindsey looked down at her soiled, sweaty clothes, then back up at Randy, with a look of disgust on her face.

  “Oh, no one cares how you look. Trust me, in the cafeteria here, they’re used to sailors coming in dirty and smelly from a day on the water.”

  “Okay, I’m game. Just give me a minute to wash my face and hands.”

  A few minutes later when Randy and Lindsey met back up, in front of the hotel cafeteria, she could see that Randy freshened up too. His curly hair was freshly wet and messy in a beach-boy way, and the sweat shine was washed off his face. She also noticed that he had the same scent that she was wearing, the fragrance of the hotel’s liquid soap.

  “You smell nice,” Randy said.

  “So do you,” said Lindsey, with an elbow to Randy’s ribs for his sarcasm.

  The pair ate dinner in the way that two work colleagues might do while traveling on business. No long and admiring looks, no attempts at making a good impression. Just honest conversation for the sake of talking.

  After dinner, they parted ways in the hotel lobby with a business-like handshake. On the way home, Randy returned his best friend’s call. The sound of the ringing phone was broken by, “Dude, how was your day with the new student?”

  “Hey Jake,” Randy smiled into the phone the way a schoolboy might when talking about a girl, “it was good, it was real good!”

  “What? No way man.”

  “Yeah, my student turned out to be a very interesting, intelligent, and beautiful woman from San Antonio.”

  “Dude that’s only forty-five minutes away. Are you goin’ for it or what?”

  “No, Jake, she’s my student. Besides, I don’t want to ruin it. We have this connection. I mean she’s really opening up to me and I’m telling her stuff that I can’t believe I’m saying. But it feels good, you know what I mean?”

  “Oh my God Dude, she Katrina’d you. You’ve been Katrina’d. That’s how Katrina got me! Being with her was so easy, then the next thing I knew we were a couple.” Jake said in an excited, animated, high-pitch voice.

  Randy laughed hysterically then said, “Jake I haven’t been Katrina’d, that’s not even a thing.”

  “Okay, whatever you say, Dude. Listen, Katrina’s going to a girl’s night out thing tonight. You want to hang out or something?”

  “I’m sorry Jake, I’m exhausted and I have an early day tomorrow. But I do have time to meet you online for some Call of Duty, though. But for only an hour man, don’t be begging me to stay on after an hour.”

  Jake laughed a giddy, little boy’s laugh then said, “Okay, okay, send me an invite when you’re online Dude—later.”

  “Later Jake,” Randy said before hanging up.

  ****

  Lindsey Skyped with her nephew Robbie to tell him all about her sailing adventure, she also filled her sister in on how cute her instructor is.

  She had a brief call with Jessie, but hardly heard a word that he said because she was too preoccupied with comparing Jessie to her instructor Randy.

  Lindsey spent the rest of her evening in her room—enjoying her own company, before falling asleep.

  The next morning, Lindsey popped down to the lobby at 6:45 am again. By seven, she and Randy were walking out to boat number 11, ready to start their day.

  Having docked the boat on her own the previous day, Randy allowed Lindsey to get them underway.

  Lindsey hoisted the mainsail as Randy untied the boat from the dock. Then she gently steered the tiller, taking number 11 around the other boats and onto the open lake.

  “Hoist the jib,” Lindsey called out to Randy, knowing this would help them to gain more speed. Lindsey enjoyed being at the helm and in charge of the boat. She felt thrilled to be sailing a boat using her newly acquired skills.

  “Hey Randy, I’m sailing, I’m really freakin’ sailing!” Lindsey yelled into the wind.

  “Yes, you are Darlin’, yes you are.” The little J/22 was heeling on its port side, so Lindsey and Randy shifted their weight to the high side of the boat to feel the full power and speed of the wind.

  Lindsey felt a little pang of nervousness, having the port side of the boat in the water to the point where water was splashing into the cockpit, but she was enjoying the speed and the rush of adrenaline so she called out no adjustments. They rode the wind all morning.

  “Captain, you getting hungry? What do you say we trim the sails and break for lunch?” Randy asked.

  “Hey Randy, trim the sails, we’re going to break for lunch,” Lindsey called out, with a grin, feeling a little power drunk from being at the helm.

  “Aye-aye Captain.”

  Lindsey and Randy munched on tuna fish wraps with cranberry and a romaine salad with cranberry vinaigrette.

  They laughed and talked through lunch and a dessert of fresh fruit; it was any easy conversation. Lindsey was amused by funny stories of Randy’s open water travels and racing in international Regattas. He was amazed by how her trends analysis influenced business clients and even government decisions.

  After lunch, the two got underway again. “The wind has died down Randy, lets’ go wing-on-wing to take advantage of what little wind we have.”

  “Smart move Captain, I like how you’re beginning to think like a sailor.”

  “Thank you Sensei,” Lindsey replied to her teacher.

  At the slow pace at which they were traveling Lindsey and Randy had a better view of the beautiful shoreline.

  “Hey, what’s that?” Lindsey asked.

  Randy looked where she was pointing and saw someone with two burning pieces of cloth on sticks, waving them like flags, in a crisscross fashion in an attempt to get their attention.

  *****

  “I think someone’s in trouble,” Randy said. “Let me call it in. Base this is Randy on boat 11, come in please.” There was a short pause then the radio came to life with chatter.

  “Randy this is Carl, go ahead.”

  “Hey Carl, I have a student with me. We’re in boat eleven. We are down here near Oberlin pass, and there seems to be someone waving a couple of burning distress flags at us. Can you alert the authorities? We’ll move in a little closer, letting them know help is on the way, but I won’t be putting them on the boat until I confirm it with you—over.”

  “Roger that Randy, be advised, do not make contact, a closer assessment is okay, but nothing more, you copy?”

  “Copy that Carl, Randy out.”

  Off the radio, Carl said, “That doesn’t sound good, especially after those other drug busts in the mountains above the lake. I hope it’s not another case of hikers running into drug mules. Those damn meth heads are messing up the lake and the mountains for everyone. Now they’ve got the Mexican Cartel moving meth through the tourist spots.”

  “Man I watched this documentary about how the Mexican Carte
l moves drugs from Mexico through the U.S., as far as 1,800 miles away from the border in Chicago. But I am surprised that they came back so close to a tourist area. My gut says our people are in trouble, but I hope I’m wrong,” said Carl’s boss, after overhearing the radio transmission from boat eleven.

  *****

  Randy took the helm and instructed Lindsey to get in the cabin and stay there until he told her to come out. The frightened Lindsey jumped through the companionway and into the cabin in a single motion.

  “Randy I’m scared, what’s going on?” Lindsey whispered from the cabin as if the person on shore could hear her.

  “We’re okay Lindsey, I’m just being extra careful. I need to check out this situation but I also want to keep you safe. There’s an extra radio rolled in that aluminum warming blanket do you see it?”

  “Yes, I’ve got it.”

  “Good, turn it on to channel seventy. When you want to talk push that button on the side, release it to listen, okay?”

  “Okay,” Lindsey said holding back tears of fear.

  “You only need to use it if something happens to me and I can’t use my radio okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Are you scared, Lindsey?” Randy asked calmly.

  “Yes,” Lindsey replied.

  “Good, because the fear will help you if you use it and don’t let it control you. You’re a smart woman. If, and that’s a big if, but if, we’re in danger you’ll feel it in your gut, use your head and think your way out of the situation. Don’t let the fear control you, okay?”

  “Okay!” Lindsey said, she regained her composure and calmed her nerves.

  “That’s my girl.” Randy moved the tiller away from his body and tacked the boat into the wind and toward the shoreline. Lindsey sat below, having found a hunting knife, which she hid in the key pocket of her skort.

  “Randy, your knife is in the back waistband of my shorts; having decided that he wouldn’t know what a skort is, for safe keeping. There’s a mini-flashlight in the front of my bra, and all of your protein bars are in my jacket pockets—just in case.”

  The closer they got to the shoreline the more Randy’s senses told him they were in trouble. He decided to prepare for the worst.

  “I copy Lindsey. Listen, if we get into a situation I want you to use my cell phone,” which Randy tossed into the cabin. The passcode is 8732, call my buddy Jake, he’s my best friend in the world and he’ll help us.”

  “I copy Captain.”

  The wind slowly carried the little J/22 toward the shoreline. Then suddenly Randy saw something that made his heart skip a beat. “Lindsey we’re in trouble now! Call Jake then radio Carl.” Randy said without adjusting the boat’s course, but he gently trimmed the sails in a bit in order to slow the boat down and buy them more time.

  “Jake, my name is Lindsey. I’m Randy’s student. He said we’re in trouble and for you to get eyes in the sky over Oberlin pass.”

  Jake jumped up, grabbed his camera-equipped drone, and headed out the door before Lindsey was even finished with her brief message. “I copy, Jake replied.”

  “Good, hang on and listen,” Lindsey said.

  “Base this is Lindsey on boat eleven do you copy?”

  When the scared female voice of a student came over the radio the Texas Sailing, base communications office fell silent and thick with a collective rush of adrenaline. They all knew there was only one reason for this scenario—and it wasn’t good.

  Carl’s tranquil voice on the radio was a comforting sound to Lindsey. Randy had already silenced his radio so he softly relayed a message to Carl, through Lindsey.

  “Randy says he saw the scope of a high-powered weapon trained on us. There are two men, one has an olive complexion, he’s wearing black pants and a black tee-shirt, street-wear, not like a hiker. No other boat in sight. There’s someone concealed but he can clearly see the rifle scope reflecting the sun.”

  “I copy that. You’re doing great Lindsey. The Sherriff is already on the way to Oberlin pass, we’ll update them with the new information, over.”

  Lindsey went on to say, “Randy said if these guys are who he thinks they are they’re probably using an AR-15. If that’s the case, we were already within their range even before we decided to head towards shore to give them help.” Lindsey’s trembling voice repeated.

  The AR-15 can hit a target at nine hundred yards, a half mile away, under the right conditions, and in the hands of a good shooter

  “Copy that Lindsey. You guys keep your heads and we’ll update law enforcement. Be safe Randy and Lindsey. Base out.” Carl said as he ended the transmission.

  “Jake, did you hear all of that?” Lindsey said into the cell phone.

  “I copy Lindsey, I have a drone in the air and should be over the pass in a minute or less. Hang on.”

  “Roger, Jake.”

  Lindsey repeated what Jake said and she saw Randy let out a sigh of relief.

  A few seconds later Jake said; “Lindsey, I see two Tangos. One’s waving two burning flags, the other one is partially concealed but he’s dressed just like the flag waver and he’s definitely lying in a prone position and has an AR-15 trained on your location, over.”

  Lindsey felt a lump catch in her throat, and her bowels turn to water in her gut, because of the fear.

  She felt a sudden need to use the bathroom when the fight or flight adrenaline hit her system. She thought back to seeing animals in the wild and how they evacuate their bowels to gain speed by reducing their body weight. In that moment she understood how they felt.

  Jake began to speak again and she relayed the message to Randy. “Jake said he’s concealed with Betty on the high ground and he’s got eyes in the sky on us and the Tangos.”

  “Thank you, Jake! And thank God for friends with fire-power—Betty’s his AR-15,” Randy said with a smile. “He’s probably got enough ammo with him to rain fire on those guys for thirty minutes or more.”

  “That’s comforting.”

  “Tell him to hold fast and engage only if we’re in imminent danger. Tell him don’t give his position away unless he absolutely has to.”

  Lindsey repeated Randy’s message to Jake. “Copy that Dude, I got you. I’ll keep eyes on you. I got your base on speed dial and can give them a sitrep (situation report) when you go radio silent. Be careful Dude, I only have one best friend. Jake out.”

  Hearing Jake’s final words to them made tears stream down Lindsey’s face to hear the love Jake had for Randy. She knew instinctively, that Jake and Randy had served in the Special Forces together, and she felt amazingly tranquil in that moment, knowing that Jake would fight to keep his friend, and her by default, alive.

  *****

  Lindsey informed Carl, back at the base, about Jake’s presence on the scene and the information he relayed to Randy.

  A wave of fear for Randy and his student rushed through the communications base again.

  “I copy. Hey, you’re doing an amazing job Lindsey and we’re all working with law enforcement here. They should be arriving soon okay?” Carl tried to reassure Lindsey as best as he could.

  “Okay.”

  “God is with you Lindsey, and Randy too, Carl out.”

  With the cell phone, back inside its waterproof bag, and the radio on silent, Lindsey hid the phone in the back of her skort and the radio in her inside jacket pocket.

  The boat reached the shoreline and the flag waving stopped. “Here we go Lindsey, you keep quiet, we’re about to meet our new best friend.”

  “You mean our frenemy,” Lindsey whispered.

  The flag bearer began to speak, slightly accented English, with a bright smile on his face.

  “Thank you for stopping. I was on a hike and I got separated from my friends and now I’m lost. Can you take me to where I can get to a phone to call somebody for a ride please?”

  “Ahh Dude, that sucks,” Randy said, “if you want I could radio for help and get somebody to bring a truck and take yo
u where you need to go.”

  “Nah man, that’ll take too long and I got bit by a spider and I don’t feel too good. Can’t you take me to a doctor or something? I could pay you for your gas and time.”

  Randy laughed loudly, holding his belly, then said, “No Dude, see I’m all earth friendly, I don’t have an engine, I’m wind-powered, and right now there’s not much wind. But thank you for the gas money offer. That’s real nice of you.”

  The man laughed a little and said, “My bad, I didn’t know you don’t have an engine, but can you take me to safety.?

  “I’m really sorry Dude, but this is a training boat and I have a student on board and I’m not supposed to let anybody else come on board, you know for safety and insurance and stuff. I’m really sorry man—for real.”

  Suddenly the flag waver’s voice changed from pleading to demanding, and his friend popped up with an AR-15 pointed at Randy.

  The flag waver said, “No I’m sorry Dude, but you are going to take me and my friend up the lake. Then we’re going to let you go on back to your school. Tell your student to show herself.”

  Randy knew the man had seen Lindsey long before they noticed the burning flags waving.

  Knowing that he stalled as long as he could, Randy couldn’t pretend that Lindsey wasn’t there and run the risk of pissing off those two guys.

  “Lindsey, come on up, slowly and with your hands in view. It’s okay.”

  Lindsey slowly climbed out of the cabin and into the cockpit. With every step, she felt more like she was climbing out of the proverbial frying pan and into the fire.

  Randy and Lindsey didn’t know that Jake was giving Texas Sailing’s, communications base a play by play of what he could see from the camera on his personal drone.

  Everyone, even Lindsey, outwardly seemed relatively calm at this point. They all knew that for now Randy and Lindsey were safe because the bad guys needed them to sail the boat.

  *****

  By now, Randy was fairly certain the two guys were either with the Mexican drug cartel or Americans working for them. Either way, he and Lindsey were in bad company. Randy was pissed with himself that he allowed danger to get that close to Lindsey, but he didn’t have any options at the moment.