Seeking Safe Harbor: Suddenly Everything Changed (The Seeking Series)

by Albert Correia

  When it was answered, he said, “Captain, this is Dick. We have a situation here.”

  He listened for a moment. “Yes, it’s something I would normally handle on my own,” he said in response to what his captain said. “But I think you’ll want to get personally involved in this one.”

  After he clicked off, he turned to Zach. “We’ll carry on with this when the captain arrives.”

  Chapter 37

  THE Coast Guard Commander sent the skiff back to the cutter, and a few minutes later, it returned with the captain, a trim man of about forty. He requested permission to come aboard. Moments later, he was on the deck, standing next to the commander. Even though the Arthurs had not seen him before, he looked familiar.

  “Captain Arthur,” Commander Beam said, “I’d like you to meet my commanding officer, Captain James Kotchel.”

  The Coast Guard captain extended a hand.

  Taken aback by the name, Zach stared at the captain and was slow in extending his hand. “Did he say Kotchel?”

  “Yes,” confirmed the captain. “What is so strange about Kotchel?”

  “It’s not strange; it’s just that I met Commander Joseph Kotchel a month ago south of Hawaii. That’s how we got…”

  “Joe?” exclaimed the captain, his face transforming from that of a stern captain to one of a man feeling sheer joy. “You talked to Joe? He’s alive?”

  “That’s why I thought you needed to come over, Jim,” the commander said, all formality at bay for the moment. “From what I’ve heard so far, they have quite a story, and your brother is part of it.”

  “He was very much alive, when we saw him. He and his carrier were doing somewhat the same thing you’re doing here.”

  “And, Joe? How did he look?”

  “In good health. I can’t say happy, but he seemed in good enough spirits considering the situation.”

  “It’s hard for anyone to be happy at the moment,” judged the captain. “But, I’m thrilled to hear he’s alive and well.”

  “I take it you’re not in communication with ships in that area.”

  “There’s very little in the way of communications anywhere right now. We have people trying to get things back in working order, but we haven’t heard much of anything from anyone in over a month. The last word we got was that almost all our ships were lost in Asia. I feared the worst.”

  “Well, I’m glad I was able to bring you a bit of good news. I imagine there isn’t much of that these days.”

  “Virtually none, but what you’ve told me today helps fill a big void. My younger brother and I are very close. If it’s all right with you, I’d like to talk to you more about Joe later. Right now, we had better get back to business. I’m sorry, in my excitement, I forgot your name.”

  “Zach Arthur.” He again introduced the others. He told the captain the story, beginning with the carrier almost running over them.

  When he got to the part about the submarine officer asking to go along, the Coast Guard captain stopped him. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Are you telling me there’s a Chinese submarine with you?”

  “Yes, at least it was until this morning when we got close to land. It disappeared, and we haven’t seen it since. Now I don’t know if they really want to talk or not.”

  “Talk?”

  “Yes, that’s what I was about to tell you. Captain Wang…”

  “Captain Wang? You know him?”

  “Yes. He speaks excellent English and spent quite a bit of time aboard with us. He says that, as far as he is concerned, the war is over. Instead of fighting, he wants to talk. Now that the sub has disappeared, though…” His voice trailed off.

  “They must have submerged when their sonar picked up our ship”

  “Probably, but things have been so discombobulated, I quit trying to make judgments.”

  “I can understand that,” said Captain Kotchel. He turned to Commander Beam. “That must explain that odd sonar reading.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.” said the commander.

  Zach and the others looked questioningly at the two U.S. Coast Guard officers.

  “This morning,” Captain Kotchel said in response to their unasked question, “one of our sonar techs detected a moving object on the sonar. It stopped, and he hasn’t seen any movement since.”

  “The timing sounds right,” Zach said. “What he picked up must be the sub. Did he track it?”

  “Yes, as best he could before it stopped moving. Now, it is part of the ocean floor, although he does have a stationary object pinpointed that he’s sure is it.”

  “Where is it?” Denise couldn’t contain her curiosity.

  “Not too far from here, as I recall.” said the captain. He turned to the commander. “Dick, call the lion…” He stopped to explain the unusual name to the La Sirena crew. “He’s a big Detroit Lions football fan.” Returning his attention to Commander Beam, he said, “See if he has a more precise location.”

  The commander punched in a number on his phone and asked “the lion” for coordinates. “What?” he said excitedly after listening for a few seconds. “When? Where?”

  While still trying to listen to “the lion” on the phone, the commander told the captain, “He was about to call us. The object was only a mile from us, and it started moving less than a minute ago. It’s headed right at us.”

  “Call an alert,” Captain Kotchel ordered. “Everyone to battle stations.”

  “Do you have depth charges?” Ron asked.

  “We’re not equipped for combat with a big sub, but I’ve armed our boat to deal with the small boats being used by the criminals who are out there these days, so we’re not helpless. If it’s a fight they want, they’ve come to the right place.”

  Before the cutter’s crew was able to get to battle stations, the bow of a submarine shot into the air.

  The Chinese warship was directly between the cutter and the sailboat.

  Chapter 38

  As Coast Guard crew scrambled to get into position, the warship rose to the surface, its props screaming in full reverse to stop its forward progress.

  It came to a stop, almost swamping the skiff that brought the Coast Guard crewmembers over to the sailboat.

  Captain Wang was the first to open the conning tower hatch and step out into fresh air. He looked around. He saw that the men on the cutter were in position and had every weapon at their disposal trained on him and the other submariners who were climbing out onto the conning tower. He ignored the threat. Seeing the officers on the sailboat, he turned to them and came to attention.

  He saluted.

  The Coast Guard officers saw that the Chinese sailors were unarmed. Being as they were standing, anyway, they returned the salute.

  Captain Wang called over. “Sorry for the dramatic entrance, but I was worried that you might attack. Can we talk?”

  On the sailboat, Captain Kotchel looked at Commander Beam, who shrugged. He turned to Zach. “Was this how he approached you?”

  “Pretty much, except the sub wasn’t this close, so it wasn’t quite as dramatic. And, he showed us a white flag.”

  “I suppose he considers you his white flag,” Kotchel surmised. “He’s not armed, and they can’t shoot a torpedo at us pointed the way they are, so talking might be a good thing.” He called back to the sub. “I’ll send our skiff over to pick you up.”

  He told the man in the skiff, which by then had settled down, to fetch the Chinese captain from the sub. It was less than twenty feet away. There was a ladder leading from the sub’s deck to the water, so Captain Wang climbed down from the conning tower, and then went over to climb down. The skiff wobbled when he stepped aboard, but the Coastguardsman steadied it. Wang remained standing for the short distance back to the sailboat. They reached the La Sirena a minute later, and Wang climbed aboard.

  The officers once again saluted when facing each other directly on the sailboat’s deck.

  Wang turned to address Zach and Stacey. “C
aptain Arthur, Mrs. Arthur, it is good to see you again.” He then faced Captain Kotchel. “I am Chou Wang of the People’s Liberation Navy. I am captain of the submarine that just surfaced between this boat and your ship.”

  “I see that, Captain,” said Kotchel in acknowledgement. “I am Captain James Kotchel, United States Coast Guard. This is Commander Richard Beam.”

  The officers shook hands.

  “Now, Captain Wang, what is it you want to talk about?”

  The Chinese officer retold the story he had told the La Sirena’s crew almost a month earlier.

  Kotchel and Beam listened carefully to what the man had to say. The sailboat’s crew watched their faces, but couldn’t read anything into their expressions as they listened.

  After Wang had his say, Kotchel asked the very question Zach had asked several weeks before… “Are you saying you want to become our prisoners?”

  “No, captain. I am not. I do not believe we are still at war.”

  “I have received no such information from any authority,” said Kotchel.

  “That is only because there is no authority available to deliver such information,” said Wang.

  The Coast Guard officer considered that for a moment, then said, “That is not quite accurate. We have virtually no communications at this time, but our Congress will be put back together in time, and what military we still have is functional.”

  “As I suspected,” said Wang, “the damage to the United States was less than what happened to China.”

  “My God,” said Kotchel, “can that be? Less than twenty percent of our people are still alive, and more are dying every day. Our infrastructure is virtually gone.”

  “Even before we left,” said Wang, “The only people left in China were in the western hinterlands. I cannot guess what sicknesses have spread to them by now.”

  Pain etched Kotchel’s face. “I am sorry,” he said, allowing himself a moment of reflection. “How could this have happened?”

  “I cannot answer that,” said the Chinese officer. “I can only hope that it is over and does not ever happen again.”

  “It isn’t over by a long shot,” Kotchel moaned. “Gangs and terrorists are killing innocent people everywhere we go. There is still radioactivity in major areas, and a plague is sweeping across the continent.”

  “That is also so in Asia, and I am sure on all continents,” Wang agreed. “However, the wars between countries must be over. Perhaps those of us who still have weapons capable of killing large numbers of people can refrain from using them against one another. It would be better that we cooperate with each other. My men and I will work in any way to help, even if it is in the fields, picking crops.”

  Kotchel studied the Chinese captain’s face and didn’t answer right away. After several seconds, he said, “I agree that we have enough on our hands without continuing to fight one another. However, as long as there is no truce, joining forces might be going too far. If you believe in peaceful coexistence, though, I can agree to that. Stay in these waters as long as you like, and we won’t interfere with you.”

  “Our provisions will run out soon,” said Captain Wang. “We must go ashore for more, and we have no local currency to use.”

  “You can’t go ashore,” the Coast Guard officer told him.

  “Because we are red Chinese?”

  “More because it is too dangerous. You don’t know anything about this country, and there are thousands of people who will kill anyone they see if they think it will gain them even a morsel of food.”

  “Captain, I lived in Santa Barbara for five years, so I know this part of the country.”

  “You lived in Santa Barbara?”

  “Graduated cum laude from the university there.”

  “Well, I’ll be. Still, it’s much too dangerous. In fact, even at sea it would be best if you weren’t seen, so you should stay under water most of the time.” Captain Kotchel thought for a moment. “We have access to food, and can meet you from time to time and supply you.”

  “You’d do that?” Wang appeared genuinely grateful.

  “Putting a world that is in total disarray back together is going to take a lot of cooperation. It might as well start here.”

  “Thank you.” Wang started to say something more, but hesitated.

  “Yes?” asked Kotchel.

  “I don’t want to, how do you say, push it?” the Chinese captain said, “but we will be running out of fuel soon, too.”

  Kotchel looked over and studied the submarine for a minute. “Diesel?”

  “Yes.”

  “We can supply some of that, too, but don’t think about taking any long trips.”

  “Just to the supermarket and back,” said Wang, smiling.

  Kotchel laughed. “I’ve never heard a cutter referred to as a store before, but I guess it fits.”

  “Not much in this world is as it was,” said Wang, with tinge of sadness in his voice.

  Chapter 39

  THE Coast Guard skiff took Captain Wang back to his submarine, and the Chinese warship submerged as soon as he was aboard.

  Kotchel asked the crew of the La Sirena to gather around the cockpit. “We haven’t had a chance to discuss your plans, but you need to know that what I told Captain Wang was all true. The destruction caused by this war has resulted in the worst possible situation imaginable. People are dying everywhere, some from sicknesses, and some from starvation. Others are being killed by people that a little over a month ago, they considered friends. Some of the killers were bad to start with, of course. Most, though, have only recently turned that way. They seem to think that the only, or at least the fastest, way of getting sustenance is to take it from others.”

  “More immediately, gangs of looters are running rampant throughout Santa Barbara. There is hardly an area that hasn’t been overrun by what has become the worst criminal element ever seen in this country. It is much too dangerous for you to go ashore there. Fortunately, you don’t have to. The reason we have access to food is because there is a settlement on Catalina Island. We helped them set up, and stop there regularly. We’ve taken some people there because it is still peaceful.”

  “At Avalon?” Stacey asked. “That’s a nice little town.”

  “No, I’m afraid Avalon has been taken over by the same kinds of hooligans that are terrorizing Santa Barbara. The settlement is at the other end of the island, the area called Two Harbors, or The Isthmus.”

  “The Isthmus is a great spot to spend a few peaceful days,” Zach allowed, “but there’s not much there.”

  “Before now, just a store, a restaurant, and a small hotel. There’s also a little schoolhouse, which will be getting plenty of use. The people have been able to live there without interference because there isn’t much there for people to steal. The thugs haven’t bothered to invade them like they did Avalon. Not yet, anyway. There were about a hundred and fifty people there to start with, and they accepted the newcomers without qualms when they learned a little about them.

  “You see, the people we took there are survivalists. They had to leave their homes because they lived in areas that either were destroyed by bombs or were overrun by terrorists. They are tough, but the numbers were stacked too heavily against them and they had to get away. We came across them on the docks of Port Hueneme after they fought their way there. They'd come in vans and pickups, so they managed to bring most of the supplies they had stored with them. The people that were already at The Isthmus are not survivalists in the strict definition of the term, but people living in an isolated area like that are natural survivors.

  “We figured The Isthmus was a logical match for those people. Fortunately, the people already there saw it the same way. What the newcomers brought with them, plus what the locals had on hand, has allowed them to live rather comfortably so far, and those supplies should carry them for another few months. There’s no sign of any radioactivity getting out that far, so the fishing is good, and they have buffalo.”

/>   “Buffalo?” commented Ron. “On an island?”

  “Yes,” said Kotchel. “Most people don’t know it, but a herd was started there many years ago. So, they have fish and meat, and the newcomers immediately planted crops. They’re in pretty good shape.”

  “As I remember, it’s too hilly and dry there for crops,” said Zach.

  “We took them tractors, so they’re cultivating the hills. As far as water goes, there are a couple of wells, and we gave them a water supply by towing a badly damaged guided missile cruiser out there. It is no longer useful militarily, but the desalinization plant is working just fine. We have an almost unlimited supply of diesel, so we can keep things going indefinitely.”

  “You said the new people were at the docks of Port Hueneme,” Zach recalled. “That’s a navy base. Wasn’t it hit hard?”

  “Yes, by missiles, but they were conventional. The base was wiped out, several docks were totaled, and all the gasoline tanks blew. However, there is enough dock space left for our use, and four diesel tanks are intact and full. One small naval craft and we are the only ships using the docks and the fuel, so what is there is more than sufficient. We collected all the surviving naval personnel we could find and set them up there. They’re guarding the facility.”

  Kotchel ended his summary by saying, “That’s pretty much the situation as it stands. I’m telling you all this because we have an agreement with them. When we find compatible people, we take them there. That's where you need to go.”

  “Eventually, we will,” Zach told him. “But, first I need to get to Santa Maria.”

  “I told you,” Captain Kotchel said emphatically, “it’s too dangerous.”

  “I heard you, but that’s where I’m going,” Zach stated flatly.

  Chapter 40

  “WHAT’S so all fired important in Santa Maria that you’d risk your life for it?” Kotchel wanted to know.

  “My parents,” said Zach, not backing down in the slightest.