by John Molloy
“You know Tukola is dead, so you talk and save yourself from jail. How long have you been working for Tukola?” Henry showed him the cocaine and went over to the basin and pouring out half the power, he turned on the water and washed it away.
Tears began to flow and spittle ran down his chin. “Please give me some.”
“Talk or I’ll dump it all! Including the stash in the safe.”
“I worked driving the launch for ten years, I only drive.”
“Yes, but you saw what he does with the girls?”
“No, I never see that, I only drive boat.”
“How many girls has he killed?”
“I don’t know, I never count the girls. Please give me some, just a small bit.”
“How many girls did he kill since you started?”
Sweat came in beads on his face, his body trembled and his clothes were wet and clung to his light frail body.
“I helped to throw the bodies to the sharks, that he make me do.”
“How many did he kill?”
“Give me a drink.” He put his trembling hand out for the water and spilled most of it down his front as he tried to drink.
“Tell me now before I go.”
“No, don’t go. Please give me some. I’ll tell you now. Every time we go to Maiquetia and Caracas where he pick up the girls, sometimes he would bring a girl to go home and stop on the way.”
“You mean he’d stop to kill her and throw her to the sharks.”
“Yes.”
“How many times has he done that and does he go the place for the snake venom every trip?”
“Yes, he goes for that and that makes him crazy, and he kills the poor young girls. We go many times.”
“How do you drop off the cocaine at Milligan Cay?”
“Give me some stuff.”
“Tell me or I’m going to leave,”
Henry got up to walk to the door. Chen screamed like a trodden on cat. No…no…no, I’ll tell you now! The man on the rock, Johnny Pedros, he will signal with a lamp at night or a mirror at day. We signal back and then we drop the coke. Now you give me some.”
“What does he do then?”
He swim down and ties them to anchor blocks at the sea bottom.”
“Then what happens, who collects them?”
“I don’t know, someone comes in a fast launch like this and gets them. He stays on the rock until they come to get the coke.”
“Right, here’s your stuff.” Henry pulled out a fresh packet and gave it to him. “Eat your sandwiches and I’ll bring you tea later. You’re going to help unload the cocaine to Johnny Pedros. Do you hear?”
“Yes, I’ll unload for you. And you give me my stuff again; don’t let me have to wait and beg.”
Henry went up to Kerstin and reported his progress with Chen. She was keeping a good lookout. Every light she saw she got a little apprehensive thinking it could be a CIA launch. She didn’t want to unduly worry Henry but now she felt she better relay her fears. “I’ll have to leave you here while I go below with Ayola and get her settled down for the night, I’ll keep an eye to the radar while I’m below. Henry, she said, her tone becoming more serious, “I think when the launch that followed us realizes we have taken a different course they’ll contact some of their other boats in the area to look out for us. So I think we will both have to stay on watch all night.
“You know my dear, you’re a wasted talent. If Captain Langsdorff had you on the Graf Spee during the Battle of the River Plate, the ship might have escaped!”
“You really know how to flatter a girl, but we’ll have to be careful.” She looked at her watch it was half past ten. “We’ll be altering onto our new course at one hundred hours and hope to be in sight of the northern tip of St Vincent at ten hundred hours, fingers crossed. She’s still on three three zero.”
He repeated, “three three zero, now go and have something to eat.”
It was a clear night and they sped on over the calm sea checking every echo on the radar. From what Kerstin could tell by the size of the echo and their speed they had passed a few merchant ships and numerous yachts. Then a thought suddenly struck her. She went up on deck. “Henry, if another one of these CIA launches was out there looking for us, do you know what our big give away is?”
He looked at her puzzled. “No, I have no idea.”
“Speed!”
“What!”
“Speed could be our downfall. You see those lights,” she said, pointing to port, “she’s a cruise liner doing about twenty five knots and she stands out against normal craft because of her speed. When we reach our point of alteration at one hundred hours we’ll cut back speed to a normal ten knots. I believe it would be safer.”
Henry was amazed at her tactics and her sound reasoning. “Yes, I believe you’re right. It would make us less conspicuous if we’re picked up on their radar.”
“Now,” she laughed, “I have one more kind of silly request, and tell me if you think so.”
“Come out with it. I’m sure it’s anything but silly.”
“I want you to screw off the name plates. This one here she leaned over the rail and touched it, and the one on the port side. I’d like you to paint a new name on the blank side of the plates. You can then screw them back on with the new name facing out.”
“Great idea! only I’m not great at painting. What will our new name be?”
“The ‘Ayola’, in honor of our little passenger. And don’t worry, I’ll do the painting.”
“Brilliant all round!
Taking down the two plates took little time and Kerstin retired to the main cabin where she used all her artistic skills to make the plates look convincing. When they had them back in place it was time to make the alteration of course. Kerstin was at the controls and she shut down to ten knots and altered course to one zero five, which would take them to the northern tip of the island. She told Henry to take a couple of hours shut eye. “At this speed it’ll take us twenty five hours, but later during daylight, we might if we’re all clear, go up to fifteen or twenty knots.”
Henry turned in and she was left alone with her musings. She thought about little Ayola; was possible she could be an orphan? Not once had she mentioned her family or wanting to return to Venezuela. Maybe it was too soon for her to discuss her future, and the child’s English was limited. This didn’t stop Kerstin feeling a lifting of her spirit as she dared to imagine herself, Henry and Ayola being a family. She realized now that the void in her life was much greater than she had cared to admit – oh but for a child to love and care for, she sighed.
Henry relieved her at four hundred hours and brought her a cup of tea. “I checked the radar before coming up and we are all alone; no echoes for forty miles at least.”
She took a much needed sip of tea. “If you need me just shout.”
“Right, now get a bit of rest; you’ve certainly earned it.”
She went below and Henry encountered nothing of note for the next four hours. The sun was now climbing in a clear blue sky, as little Ayola came to see Henry.
“Kerstin, will I call her, she asleep?”
“No Ayola let her sleep a bit longer. She is very tired and was late going to bed. You understand?”
“Yes, I understand. I speak small English. You like I make something to eat for you?”
“Yes, that would be great. You make whatever you think, there’s plenty of food in the fridge.”
As she skipped away, Henry was delighted to see she was more relaxed and friendly. The resilience of youth, he thought.
It was nine hundred hours when Kerstin made an appearance. She was bright and breezy after a sound sleep.
“There’s nothing to report, so if you take over for a bit, I’ll go below and get some breakfast. Oh, and we have a new cook, you know. It’s Ayola, and judging by the smell she’s doing a fine job,” he exclaimed, before quickly adding, “she wasn’t cajoled, she volunteered.”
“That’s great Hen
ry, she must be feeling brighter.”
Henry sat down and Ayola served up a big plate of fried bacon, sausages, eggs and pancakes. “Ayola, this is the biggest breakfast I’ve ever had, it looks delicious.”
She was so happy, she blushed and turned away. “I hope you like, coffee?”
“Yes please.”
She poured his coffee and excused herself to go to Kerstin. Henry hadn’t enjoyed a breakfast like it for some time.
After he had eaten, he got some food and a packet of cocaine and went to Chen. He had left it a bit late; Chen was trembling and moaning, he was clearly in full scale withdrawal. Henry handed him the packet of powder but Chen was so far gone Henry had to get a book and spread it out in lines for him. He sniffed the lines and after some time he became lucid again. Henry took off the leg ties and led him to the bathroom. He left him there for some time and when he returned he gave him coffee and some food. After Chen had finished eating he put the leg ties back on. “Now Chen, when we get the cocaine to this Pedros character, you can go where you like when we get into Kingstown. I’ll give you all the cocaine in the safe and one thousand dollars that I’m sure you’re probably owed in pay. For me to do this you will have to co-operate with Pedros. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand. I have done nothing; I hurt no one, only work for Mr. Tukola.”
“When you go keep out of the way of the police.”
“Yes, you will do that for me?”
“Only if you tell me all. How does Pedros get onto the rock?”
“His brothers, they are fishermen, they puts him on and takes him off when the drugs are gone.”
“When does the launch come for the drugs?”
“No one knows that. Not Johnny or Mr. Tukola, maybe a week or a day or two weeks.”
“When they come have they a signal for Johnny to show it’s them?”
“Yes, they have a special signal only Johnny know, not even Tukola or anybody else know that signal. They also change it every time they come and he has a new signal for them every time and they have a new one for him. How they work is, they signal with a lamp to him, if it is right he signal back to them. If either signal is wrong they go away and leave the drug.”
“So both signals have to be right before they come in, and who dives down to get the stash?”
“They have divers, and then they speed off. Maybe towards the Atlantic Ocean or south again towards Venezuela - no one knows. They have the fastest launch in the Caribbean, much faster than Windsong so the Americans can’t catch them.”
“How do you know all this when you only drop the cocaine off?”
“You see Tukola, only comes on the launch when we are taking girls back or collecting some. He never comes when we go for the drugs only. Sometimes they might bring the drugs like now and we’d not have been told first. He doesn’t like having them on board when he’s with us like this time now. You see Johnny’s brother, he comes with me to get the drugs and he told me all about the collection of the cocaine.”
“What is our signal to Pedros?”
“We signal with the lamp; dash dot dash dot, and he signals back dash dot dot. Then we drop the drugs in close. I’ll show you.”
“Ok, but everything you told me better be true. If all goes well, I’ll let you go your way.”
“It true.”
The noon sun was hot and relentless. Kerstin pulled her wide brimmed hat up from her face. “I think we could up speed to fifteen knots and Henry, will you do radar watch. If you see an echo tell me immediately so I can shut down before they notice our speed. If we work this successfully it’ll take five or six hours off our time; we still have one hundred and forty miles to go.”
Two uneventful hours passed with only a fleeting echo passing at distance. Henry got a cold drink from the well-stocked fridge and some cookies and continued his watch.
Henry was eating and glancing at the turning screen. Then he saw an echo break the side of the screen and looked like it was crossing over to intercept their course. He put the cursor on it and a range ring. It was thirty eight miles away and almost on their port beam. As it got nearer he called Kerstin who put the Windsong on auto and came down. She checked and it was still on an intercept course. “Henry it’s one of them and at our speed they’ll be with us in a couple of hours. We’ll carry on as we are and if they start to harass us we’ll ignore them. When they’re right alongside us we can open up at any time and try to outrun them.”
“Do you think they might open fire on us?”
“We’ll just have to take it as it unfolds, but I suppose they just might.”
Ayola wasn’t aware of the gravity of the situation and Kerstin didn’t want to alarm her. However, she didn’t want her on deck when the CIA launch came up to them.
Another look into the radar confirmed her fears; they were closing in. “Henry, go up and take her, I’ll stay below and keep watch. We should have them visibly in less than an hour.”
At the controls, Henry picked up the glasses and searched for their pursuer. He saw a ship but she was a big freighter, then he noticed speck of white. He put the glasses down as the glare was hurting his eyes.
The next look the white speck was bigger and quite noticeable. He summoned Kerstin who grabbed the binoculars. “That’s them, Henry, our calculations couldn’t have been better. We must remember that they won’t be looking for a boat of this name, so we might just get away with it.”
Henry looked worried. “I hope you’re right but if it comes to the crunch, we’ll run.”
“Oh yes, we’ll run but we’ll lose the drug drop.”
When the vessel came close they saw she was a big launch more a small ship. There were men all over her deck in combat style clothing - a boarding party. Making sure Ayola was safely in her cabin, Kerstin took over the controls. Henry was below looking at the radar. He saw a small coaster ship three miles on their port bow. He went up to Kerstin. “See that coaster, if we alter course slightly she’ll have to go around our stern and she’ll come very close. Having the coaster as an observer would do no harm. It might even deter the CIA launch from boarding us.”
“How right you are.”
Kerstin eased to starboard and put the coaster in a ‘give way’ position. Shortly after this, she saw coaster alter course to ‘come round’.
The CIA ship hailed them. “Ayola, what port did you sail from?”
“Havana,” Kerstin shouted back through the hailer.
She then hailed the coaster as she passed close astern. “Are you not being harassed by these pirates? We’ll radio report your position and your company name.”
The coaster slowed down and the crew stood watching. The stopping of ships and yachts was becoming more frequent and many mariners were resentful at what they saw as heavy-handed and cavalier behavior by the CIA.
Kerstin slowed and moved closer to the coaster like a cygnet would swim to her mother. It seemed to unnerve the commander of the CIA ship and he pulled away. He moved about mile away as he seemed to be making up his mind what to do. The CIA launch then made one more run at speed around the ‘Ayola’ throwing up a big wash which tossed them around before speeding away to the south. That might have been the end of their interest but Kerstin was still cautious.
“Henry, we’ll keep our course and speed. We’ll have to wait until they’re out of radar range before we decide to open her up to full throttle.”
“Aye-aye skipper. You did a great job. How did you think of Havana – a port in the only country they couldn’t verify our leaving?”
“I just don’t know, it came to me in a flash but it sure worked.”
It was two hours before the CIA launch disappeared off their screen. Kerstin called to Henry, “we’ll hold this course for another hour and then we’ll go for it.”
It was coming up to eighteen hundred hours and they hoped to reach St Vincent before dark. But Kerstin was still apprehensive. It was important that they kept an eye on the radar in case th
ere were other launches tailing them.
Needing to stretch his legs, Henry came on deck and broke the silence. “In the excitement I forgot to mention; I got Chen to talk and I have all the details of the drop.”
Henry described the procedure to Kerstin and though he didn’t trust Chen completely, he was sure most of what he told him was true.
“You take over here; I’ll go and keep radar watch.” She marked in their position on the chart and saw that two hours at thirty knots would get them under the lee of the land before dark. It was very hard for radar to pick out good echoes if they stayed close in under the cliffs. She took another look at the radar screen and saw nothing to be anxious about, so went back up to Henry. “I’m sure we can give her full throttle now. We’ll be under the island in a couple of hours.”
“Aye-aye skipper, full throttle it is.” He pushed her up to full speed and she rose in the water whizzing along at thirty knots.
They sighted land in an hour and a half and were rounding the northern tip in two hours. Kerstin shut her down to half speed and they expected to be off Milligan Cay in a little over an hour. She asked Henry to get Chen up and have him ready to signal Pedros.
Still handcuffed, he was bought back on deck. “You see where we are, we’ll be ready to drop in a little over an hour. Will you take her into the drop position?”
“Yes, I will signal and take her in. I’ll show you where to throw the packages into the water.”
“Good, come with me. Henry gave Chen a line of cocaine and showed him a thousand U.S. dollars which he promised to give him if all went well.
Kerstin shouted down: “ten minutes to go, bring the stuff on deck.”
Henry hauled the cocaine up from the cabin and then took Chen to the controls.
“Ok Chen, you take over now. Where’s the aldis lamp?”
Chen opened a small locker and pulled out the lamp. Chen was a master at the controls. He dropped speed and altered course around the rock. “We must signal from the south side. He can’t see from the other sides.”
Henry handed Kerstin the knife. “If he tries anything funny just use this.”