by Jack Ford
‘No! ...’
Cooper’s cry stretched further than his reach. His fingertips only managing to brush Ellie’s hands. Too far to catch her but not too far to miss the terror, the panic, frozen in her eyes as she mouthed his name. Screaming out for him to help as she buckled under Jackson’s weight. Losing balance as both she and Jackson plunged overboard.
Racing over the chain rigging, steadying himself as the yacht bobbed fiercely up and down, Cooper grabbed the lifebuoy. Stole a quick glimpse round.
The wind had begun to blow the sails straight on. Denying them any lift. Leaving them to flutter passively like flags at half-mast. And he knew the combination of the dying sails and the boom crashing freely from side to side would stall the vessel to an eventual stop, allowing him to attempt to rescue Jackson and Ellie without fear of the yacht drifting away.
Dashing over to the rails, Cooper leant over.
Ellie had always teased him about the concern he’d shown over her not being able to swim, but she was now floundering and struggling and battling and terrified as the force of the ocean pounded her into the side of the yacht, her hands sliding down the fiberglass side as she desperately scrabbled for some kind of hold.
With water rushing over her face and into her mouth, Ellie’s words were punctuated with the sounds of wild gasping.
‘Help… me… Tom…! Tom…! Help… me… please…’
Throwing the buoy to her, Cooper’s eyes once again darted along the surface of the ocean. But this time he was looking for Jackson. ‘Ellie, hang on to that…Whatever you do, keep hold of it.’
‘Pull me up!’
‘I have to get Jackson… just hold on.’
‘Tom…! No, wait! ...’
He turned away and Ellie continued to scream his name. The draw for him to look back was hypnotic. But he couldn’t. Shouldn’t. Wouldn’t. In truth, he didn’t dare. His composure was already beginning to crack. Peeling away. Exposing his vulnerability which he knew would serve only to distract. Costing time. Costing lives.
There… He could see Jackson to the left of the boat. Unconscious. Floating face down.
And without a breath of hesitation, Thomas J. Cooper dived in.
‘I’m here… It’s okay, I’m here… Stay with me Jackson, stay with me!’
Treading water, Cooper turned Jackson over carefully. Real slowly. And the sea turned red with blood.
‘Jackson…! Jackson!’
There was no response, but that didn’t surprise Cooper. He could see the injuries to Jackson’s head were worse than he’d initially thought. The gash so deep he could see skull. His eyes so swollen, if he’d been conscious, Cooper doubted Jackson would’ve been able to open them anyway. But at least he was alive. Barely. But alive all the same, and whatever happened, he was determined to keep it that way.
Using an extended arm tow with his hand under Jackson’s chin, Cooper swam, heading for the yacht’s ladder. He could hear Ellie still screaming. Screaming strong. But that was good. Real good. It told him what he wanted to know… She was still there.
Unexpected swells of rolling waves suddenly carried Cooper and Jackson sideward. And the sound of roaring and chugging and racing engines and a glance to his left confirmed his fears. Old battered white skiffs. And in them, Somalian pirates. Heavily armed and sporting t-shirts bearing American logos and wearing Bedouin scarfs showing only their eyes.
They hadn’t seen him. Though he knew it was only a matter of time. His only chance, however slim, was to get to the stern box on the other side of the yacht which held his gun. In desperation, Cooper dived under the water, dragging an unconscious Jackson with him.
Under the surface the sounds were distorted. The vision blurred, made harder from the dark billowing clouds of Jackson’s blood. And Cooper counted down, calculating how long it’d be safe to keep an unconscious Jackson under water.
Four seconds.
Three.
Two.
Re-surfacing, and hoping he was near enough to the yacht, Cooper was met by an onslaught of bullets and a firing of guns and a fusion of sounds and a discord of chaos and Cooper’s breathing was hard and his chest was tight and his energy was slowly draining away.
Chopping waves and whirling blades hovering above sent a downdraft of stinging ocean spray. And to the soundtrack of machine guns and through a gusting wind, Cooper squinted up.
And there in the sun drenched sky, reflecting light like armored angels waging war with dragons, were two US Navy helicopters.
As the skiffs turned and retreated the aerial rescue basket was lowered into the water and Cooper kissed Jackson on the side of his head. He whispered, ‘It’s goin’ to be alright. You hear me, Jackson? It’s going to be alright.’
*
‘Lieutenant, we’re going to take you both back to the ship,’ the US navy officer shouted above the blare of the rotating blades as the air crewmen hoisted Jackson and Cooper into the Seahawk helicopter.
And with the helicopter beginning to rise and veer away from the yacht, Cooper shook his head. Gesturing desperately to the crewmen as he watched them tend to an unconscious Jackson.
‘Lower me back down… Now!’
‘Sorry sir, we have orders to get you straight back to the ship.’
Cooper’s voice was barely heard but he had no doubt his face conveyed the lost sound of anger. ‘I don’t give a damn about orders, Officer. Just lower me the hell down. There’s one other civilian still in the water.’
‘Sir, the other helicopter will have it covered. I’m sorry sir, there’s nothing I can do.’
*
‘Where’s Ellie? Answer me, Officer, when I’m talking to you.’
Struggling to hold down his sense of panic, Cooper stood on the landing pad of the USS Abraham Lincoln, as the air crewmen from the second Seahawk helicopter made their way from the chopper.
His panic. His fear. Emotions which held familiar echoes of his childhood. Feelings he’d refused to allow to penetrate as an adult began to engulf him. Overwhelm him.
‘You heard me, Daniels, where’s Ellie?’
The tall. Sinewy. Bald-headed seaman who Cooper could see was now regretting being first out of the helicopter, paled. Muttering the fewest of words.
‘I’m… I’m sorry, Lieutenant.’
The mix of bewilderment and shock and disbelief and confusion acted as a catalyst for Cooper’s anger. He lunged at the new recruit. Grabbed him by his oversized flight suit and shook the hell out of him.
‘What are you talking about? Answer the goddamn question!’
Daniels looked behind him, hoping his colleagues would come to help – not to his physical rescue, but to his verbal one. ‘I… I am, sir… I did.’
The pain of the migraine behind Cooper’s eyes began to blur his vision. The pain of it shooting down his nose. But he didn’t care. He didn’t give a damn. All he wanted was answers. ‘Then tell it to me again, Daniels. Tell me again… Where is Ellie?’
‘She’s gone. I’m sorry.’
Hysteria channelled Cooper’s words. He shook his head in disbelief. His voice a cocktail of laughter and pain and dread rose louder and louder. ‘Gone? Gone where, Officer? Where is it you think she’s gone? To the mall? To a baby shower? To a goddamn Yankees game?’
‘Sir, no sir. When I say gone, I mean missing, lost at sea… presumed… presumed dead… sir.’
Letting go, he pushed Daniels hard away. Knocked him to the floor. But Cooper’s rage engulfed him. Driving him on to crouch down to where the officer had fallen. Leaning over him and squeezing and pressing the officer’s throat. Feeling the man’s trachea moving about on his palm.
Daniels rasped.
‘I know what you mean officer, but you see, that’s not possible. Shall I tell you why it isn’t? Because she was there, you son of a bitch. I heard her… Do you understand what I’m saying? She was still there!’
‘That’s enough, Cooper.’
Captain Beau Neill stood slightly to
the side of Cooper, kneading the base of his back with his knuckles as shock-waves of pain darted through his body. Sciatica. It was the damnedest of things. He’d experienced the battle of Huê, Vietnam, in the late February of ’68. Been on more tours of duty than he could easily recall without referring to naval records. Yet it was the sciatica which was beating him. Slowly. Painfully. Relentlessly. Forcing him to give up his career, which was tantamount to giving up life.
Through gritted teeth, Neill directed his conversation to Officer Daniels. ‘Go ahead, explain to Lieutenant Cooper what happened, he needs to hear it.’
Daniels stood up. Held his throat. Looked hesitant. Wasn’t able to hold eye contact, though he articulated the course of events confidently. ‘I was in the second helicopter sir, and once the lieutenant and the male civilian had been rescued safely, and due to civilian one being…’
Cooper snapped. ‘His name’s Jackson. Jackson Woods.’
‘Sir. Due to… due to Mr. Woods’s severe injury, Seahawk one headed back to the ship. Seahawk two’s main objective was then to pick up the second civilian… I’m sorry, Lieutenant, I don’t know her name.’
Staring at Daniels, Cooper’s eyes were void of emotion. Listlessly he uttered,
‘Just carry on.’
‘From the air we couldn’t see the second civilian, and as we were able to establish the present threat had left the area, as well as alerting the Kenyan coast guards, two divers began a search and rescue.’
Knowing the answer already but for due diligence, Captain Neill probed. ‘Were you one of the divers, Officer?’
‘No sir, I continued in the helicopter which located the skiffs, eight miles north. By then we also had assistance from the counter piracy control unit. After warning shots, the two skiffs conceded and the PC unit searched the vessels. It was clear, sir, they’d discarded their weapons overboard because the only items found were fuel barrels, long ladders and grappling hooks. The PC unit then commenced to confiscate the property to ensure the suspects had no means to conduct any attacks. We then transferred them all into the one skiff, destroying and sinking the other one, prior to escorting the suspects back to the Somali shoreline. On our way back to assist the divers, we were informed by the appropriate authorities they were changing the MO from search and rescue to search and recover… I’m really sorry, Lieutenant Cooper.’
Captain Neill, visibly tormented by the pain hitting the top of his legs with unyielding brutality, and opposed to any sort of sentiment in the line of duty, snarled at Daniels.
‘Now get the hell out of here.’
‘Wait…! I said wait.’
Cooper strode up to Daniels. He was finding it hard to focus. Thoughts chaotically crossing from Ellie to Jackson, who’d earlier been flown on to Nairobi.
‘Yes, sir?’
‘You said two.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘You said there were two skiffs.’
‘Yes sir.’
‘There were three… Three skiffs.’
Daniels shook his head. ‘With respect, sir, there were just the two.’
Cooper pressed his palm into his eye, feeling the pulsating throb. ‘Are you trying to tell me I don’t know the difference between two and goddamn three?’
‘No sir, of course not. But in this case there were only two skiffs.’
The bellow from Cooper made the crew on the far side of the landing pad turn round curiously. ‘Three! One, two, three. Which means, she’s on the third.’
A puzzled crease formed on Daniels’s forehead. ‘Who… who sir?’
‘Ellie. Who the hell do you think I mean? I…’ Cooper stopped to ride on a wave of nausea as sweet saliva rushed into his mouth like a fountain. He swallowed hard. ‘She can’t have drowned, so there’s no point in search and recover. There isn’t a body to find.’
Turing to Captain Neill. The strain. The urgency in Cooper’s voice was palpable.
‘We have to deploy two, perhaps three units to the shore and contact the naval land base in Lamu, then…’
Neill cut through Cooper’s animation with tangible disdain. ‘Get yourself under control, Lieutenant, you’ve got a position to keep. Your subordinates are watching.’
‘My only concern here is with Ellie and sending an operations team to get her.’
‘Maybe you should’ve thought about that before.’
Captain Beau Neill pivoted on his heel and walked away. He nodded to Daniels to do the same which he gratefully did.
‘Don’t walk away from me, Beau. You hear me? Don’t you walk away.’
The captain jerked to a standstill. The words acting like the slamming of brakes. He spoke to Cooper with his back turned. His tenor a quiet menace. ‘Who the hell do you think you’re speaking to, Lieutenant?’
‘I don’t know, Captain, I’ve often wondered that myself.’
‘Be very careful, Cooper.’
‘Careful, careful of what? How the hell do you expect me to behave, when every minute we stand here Ellie gets further away from my reach? From our help. They’ll take her God knows where and do God knows what. And maybe they’ll ask for a ransom or maybe like others before her she’ll just disappear without a trace.’
Neill swiveled round. Flexing and relaxing his mouth. ‘Now you’ve finished lecturing me, I’ll tell you what I expect. I expect you to conduct yourself with the appropriate decorum, Lieutenant, as is your duty.’
Cooper tasted the bitterness coating his reply. ‘Decorum. Conduct. Goddamn duty. Those words read like a handbook from my childhood, Captain.’
Neill stepped in closer. Inches away. ‘I also expect you to see the truth when it’s in front of you… There was no third skiff. Ellie’s dead. Drowned, Lieutenant.’
‘No… no, you’ve all got it wrong. She was there. Moments before, she was there.’
‘You’re embarrassing yourself, Lieutenant… Answer me this. Was Ellie wearing a harness? A lifejacket?’
Blinking, Cooper stared for a minute. Introvertedly he said, ‘No,’
‘And so correct me if I’m wrong, Cooper; you knew Ellie had no idea how to swim, yet you didn’t insist on her wearing a jacket on the yacht? Do the math.’
Cooper grabbed him. And grabbed him hard. ‘You son of a bitch, you’re enjoying this aren’t you, Beau?’
Neill stared coldly. ‘Get your hands off me, Lieutenant.’
There was silence between the two men before Cooper, awash with a sense of defeat, dropped his hold. His hope.
‘I’m asking for your help, Captain. I’ve never asked you for anything. Not when I was a kid. Not as an adult. But I’m asking you now. Please. Please, Beau, I beg you. Send a unit to look for Ellie. Help me bring her back.’
For a moment Captain Neill held Cooper’s gaze. His mouth moved as if about to say something but instead, he turned and walked away without saying another word.
*
‘Lieutenant. Governor Woods has arrived en route from Lamu, he’s asking to speak to you, sir, before we fly him on to see his son in Nairobi.’
Cooper stood in a catatonic state by the ship’s railings as the slightly overweight 3rd petty officer informed him of the arrival. He nodded, too consumed with grief to speak.
‘Thomas, it’s good to see you.’ Woods stopped, realizing his voice seemed too loud. His composure too contrived. Then quietly he tried again. ‘Your Uncle Beau’s just filled me in on everything. I’m sorry about Ellie. It’s devastating. I liked her a lot.’
Continuing to stare out to sea as the night’s sky merged with the darkness of the ocean, Cooper answered. Barely. ‘And if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be sorry?’
John Woods, the newly elected Governor of Illinois, pulled gently on his arm. Turning Cooper round to face him. ‘Hey, you know I didn’t mean that. Come on, Coop, don’t make me your enemy. I’m on your side.’
Cooper’s tone was flat. He sighed. Noticed the painful sunburn on Woods’s nose. Then a memory came to mind of how proud Jackson had been
of him when he was elected Governor. ‘She’s alive. I know it. I can feel it… What? You’re going to tell me I didn’t see three skiffs as well?’
‘No… No. I just…’ The Governor trailed off before continuing a moment later. ‘What the hell happened out there anyway?’
Cooper said nothing. His thoughts trailed away. It’d only been this morning that he’d been laughing with Ellie. So pleased. So delighted. So happy she’d decided to come and see him.
The trip to Kenya had been a last minute, spur of the moment kind of holiday for Ellie, Jackson and John. The one time everyone’s diaries had coincided, but the driving force had definitely been Ellie.
Having been deployed to the naval base in Lamu – setting up and heading a new counter piracy taskforce in the area – Ellie had missed Cooper, and although his military training and experience had taught him to dissociate, damn, he’d missed her too.
Finding out he’d had a week off, Ellie had decided to fly out and visit, and when she’d mentioned it to Jackson – who she’d known almost fifteen years – he’d decided to come too. And then there was John, who, having always wanted to go on safari, and having a rare few days off, had taken the opportunity to join them as well. It’d been perfect. But like the petals of a rose, perfect never lasted.
Woods interrupted Cooper’s thoughts. Gently encouraging him, pushing him to talk.
‘Coop…? Tell me what happened.’
‘Okay. Alright… So you’d already left to go on safari. Ellie thought it’d be cool for us to all sail up the coast on the yacht we hired and have a picnic. I didn’t see a problem and Jackson was up for it. When we got there I anchored up. Had something to eat. And that was it really.’
‘Coop, come on, you guys were found just a few miles off the coast of Somalia. There’s no way you of all people would’ve sailed into danger and put anyone, especially Ellie or Jackson, at risk.’
‘Look, I was in charge of the yacht, so there’s no-one else to blame…’
‘Just tell me what happened. I want to hear it.’
‘It was hot. She was tired. So Ellie and I went downstairs for a sleep. I dunno, maybe I shouldn’t have done… Anyway, when I woke up… I knew we were in trouble.’