“Zhat better not be it,” the lead pirate growled. “No games.”
“No,” Dimitri answered sullenly. “The door is behind there,” he said as he pointed beyond the boxes.
The guards began to pull the boxes out, and behind the first stack was a metal wall and another door. The pirates looked at each other before the lead pirate grabbed his gun and raised it up.
The leader pushed the door open slowly with his foot and felt a rush of cool air blow past him as a faint glow of light illuminated from inside the container.
Dimitri lowered his head and knew he had saved his crew for the interim, but had failed in his mission. The pirates pulled Dimitri in front of them and pushed him toward the door.
The leader keyed a radio. “Ve have zhe package,” he announced. “Make zhe call.”
The pirate looked at Dimitri. “Jue have saved jour crew, now get us vhat we vant.”
Dimitri moved farther beyond the door and disappeared from their view.
-Chapter 33-
The hours passed by as we brainstormed ideas on how to find the Trusian and where it may be planning to offload cargo.
Alex had heard of a company that was in the business of looking for lost cargo, usually barges that broke free from their moorings, containers that fell off ships, or vessels that were adrift at sea. The problem was the vessels they located were usually not moving.
This company used the latest satellite pictures, wind, weather, and currents to locate the vessels. We figured we could do the same. Alex began searching for the latest satellite pictures over the areas where we suspected the Trusian was located. By estimating the time it took for the ships on the satellite images to move from one location to another, we could deduce which ships should be in the pictures and which should not. That was what we hoped, at least.
The whole process proved to be tedious at best and mind-numbingly boring at worst. There was just too much ocean to cover. My eyes were beginning to see nothing but blue ocean. We searched through day old satellite images, and the pictures were not military grade so the resolution was poor. When we would find a ship, Jane would cross reference it with the latest information on any ships travelling through the area.
We were getting nowhere fast. It was just too much for five people to touch when they didn‘t have any experience in looking for such things. We had to think of a better way.
Maddie decided to give a small company called Oceanic Surveyor a shot at locating the vessel, since they were familiar with such things. It was an excellent decision, and Maddie was authorized to offer them a sizable sum of money. We were able to instruct them to look at a larger area, without them knowing that they were looking for the Trusian. This allowed us to have a number of leads from Oceanic by the next morning,
The night‘s sleep had proved useful and gave us a renewed sense of invigoration in our search. We all met at a local coffee shop to look over the images Oceanic had produced. Oceanic believed they had found the vessel we were looking for. It was just beginning to round the Cape of Good Hope at the southernmost area of South America. It wasn’t a hundred percent, but it was a container ship, and no one was scheduled to be in the area. The problem was the data was over a day old, because the satellites only went over that particular expanse of ocean once a day.
When we got to the next set of pictures, it became clear that this had to be our boat. It was a container ship of the proper dimensions and going in the general direction we had expected. It was running in a northeast direction now, and not on a course for Cape Town, South Africa.
Galveston and I were giddy with excitement. Had we found the needle in a haystack? Could this really be the ship we had been looking for? But its ultimate destination was completely unknown, and that’s what we had to figure out.
-Chapter 34-
Time was beginning to weigh on our shoulders. Our business would take a financial hit if we couldn’t find this ship with its cargo intact. That was the deal in our contract, and it was now the portion I flinched at. We had to find the ship ourselves before any other government or private organization, but I was sure the U.S. government had the same information we did and was acting upon it.
Galveston stared at the large map of the world laid out in front of him. “We’ve got to get out of here,” he said flatly.
“What? You want to go home?”
“No dummy, out of San Diego, and to where that ship is going.”
“That hurts when you talk to me that way. I thought our relationship meant more than that.”
“I’m sorry. No, mentally challenged individual, we need to get where that ship is going. Is that better?” Galveston said sarcastically.
“Much,” I conceded. “Well, quit looking at that map and think. Where could they be going? What makes sense?”
“That’s the problem, nothing makes sense. What is so all-fired important about this damn cargo?”
“It must be some pretty good stuff, maybe gold and crap. What would we do if we wanted to get away scot-free with a huge ship and out of the prying eyes of any government?”
Galveston thought for a minute before answering. “I think I would find the most remote place I could and anchor there, offload what I wanted to another boat, and then leave.”
“Sounds realistic to me. I would do the same thing; just anchor off the coast of an island, have another ship waiting, and take what I needed.”
“Is there a place on the map like that in this particular part of the ocean?” Galveston asked as looked closely at a map image on his laptop computer. He moved his cursor to the only pieces of land in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. “Look at this.” Galveston pointed to a group of islands smack dab in the middle of the ocean between South America and Africa. “This is where I would go.”
I read the names on the map; Tristan de Cunha, Gough Island, Nightingale Island, and an appropriately named piece of land called Inaccessible Island. I looked them up on the internet and found they were indeed remote. Tristan de Cunha was one of the most remote places in the world. It was thousands of miles away from South America and Africa. Inaccessible Island sat slightly to the west of Tristan de Cunha and had no inhabitants, hence its name, I guessed. Nightingale Island laid to the south. Gough Island sat alone, farther to the south.
“What do you think?” Galveston asked and pulled up information on his computer about the remote islands. “They’re all good candidates, but Tristan de Cunha has people on it and a port. It would be easy to offload. But they don’t have an airstrip so it wouldn’t do the pirates much good. Inaccessible Island and Nightingale Island don’t have any people, but they’re close to Tristan de Cunha and very rocky. It seems like it would be hard to safely offload cargo there.”
That left us with Gough Island, a rocky, volcanic island hundreds of miles south of Tristan de Cunha. It had people, but usually only about six. They were workers on a weather station operated by the South African National Antarctic Program. It had an anchorage point in a place called Quest Bay. It seemed like the best choice, but these pirates were crafty, and they could have anything up their sleeve.
The pirates needed relatively calm water to get the cargo off the ship, and we knew from Oceanic there were no other ships close to the Trusian to offload onto. These mercenaries could anchor off any one of these islands. Gough Island seemed the logical choice, but when were we dealing with logic?
“What do you propose?” I asked Galveston, fearful of his response.
“I think we need to get close to those islands. We’re not doing any good here.”
“What does that mean, ‘close to those islands’? What do you propose?”
“Fly to South America and figure out a way to get to those islands, that’s what.”
“I knew it. Another damn plane ride to some far flung place. I’m tired of airplanes,” I said with exasperation.
“You don’t like our airplane rides? Come on, what’s not to like? I enjoy the hard seats, dry air, and the occasional fat
guy snoring, shoving me into my seat. I love it,” Galveston responded.
“Where in South America,” I said disgustedly.
“Probably Argentina; Buenos Aires most likely.”
“And how do we get to those islands? It says there’s no airstrip and a boat ride is at least five days. The pirates would be long gone by then.”
“I saw that too. We may need to make a little call for some help—maybe take payment on a past favor.”
“David May?”
“Yep,” Galveston answered nodding his head. “He may have to make a few calls for us, but I bet he can get us there. David’s had a few promotions, so I bet his pull can get us somewhere close. I’ll give him a call.”
David May was our old contact in the FBI. We had worked on cases with him before, and he owed us. I just hoped this wasn’t asking too much.
Galveston left to call David, and I sat alone in the coffee shop. Maddie, Alex, and Jane were off getting a bite to eat, and I looked at the map on the laptop with a sullen gaze of disapproval. I didn’t want to go to South America. I wanted to be done with this case, but the nagging sense of excitement and intrigue was too much. I tried to quell my excitement. This was something big, and the mystery was great. What the heck would we find on that ship? I had to see for myself.
-Chapter 35-
Galveston made his call to David May, and from the wild flailing of Galveston’s arms, I could tell it was not going well. May was a “by the books” guy and this was a request that would put him out of his comfort zone.
“What’d he say?” I asked anxiously.
“None too pleased, I’d say, but he’s going to try and pull some strings. I had to make a deal though. We have two days before he sends in the cavalry. That was the deal, and I agreed. David said he’ll get back to me within the hour. I think we better pack, just in case.”
“You want to go right now?”
“We can’t go next week. It’s a long flight, and I’m sure there’s a fat guy missing my company next to him in one of those airplane seats. We better tell Maddie, Jane, and Alex.”
“I think that would be a good idea. Jane wouldn’t be too happy with a note saying I went to South America and then God knows where.”
“They should be back soon. We’ll need Alex to give us update reports on the Trusian’s location.”
Galveston and I checked on the latest flights out of the country while we waited for them to return from lunch. The earliest flights out were later that night from LAX. It would allow us to arrive in Buenos Aires during the early morning. I hoped we would know from there how we could get to Gough Island.
Alex, Maddie, and Jane returned from lunch, and Galveston put me in charge of reviewing our plan with them. Jane was less than enthusiastic about our departure and let me know it, but I came to realize it was more about her having been left out of the planning then of me leaving.
Maddie and Jane made an impromptu huddle, while Alex stood off to the side with a wide smile, pumping his fists since he knew he didn‘t have to go.
Jane approached me quickly after the huddle time and announced what the new plan would be.
“Maddie and I are going with you. You two need all the support you can get. I speak Portuguese, the language in Argentina, and Maddie is technically your boss.”
I stared at her in amazement. Jane didn‘t know Portuguese, and it was a terrible idea. “I don’t think so,” I responded tartly. It was obviously the wrong answer, because Jane gave me a piercing look.
“Where is that partner of yours?” Jane said angrily. “Hey, goofball,” she yelled.
Galveston peered from the coffee house counter as he ordered another cup. “That would be me,” he replied.
“Get over here!” Jane yelled again, quietly cursing under her breath.
I wasn‘t sure why she was so upset, but I knew not to get in her way.
“Coming mother,” Galveston replied bitingly, as he ambled toward our table with a steaming cup of coffee.
As Galveston came into view, Jane let him have it. “Why are you guys making decisions without us? Maddie is your client, and she’ll have the say so on what goes on.”
“Don’t remind me,” Galveston said, which caused Maddie to flinch from the strange remark.
“We’re going with you two,” Jane announced with confidence.
“I don’t think so,” Galveston replied. “Whatever for? Other than to slow us down.”
I shook my head with wide eyes as Galveston stepped into even deeper waters with the statement.
“We’re going because this is too dangerous for you two, and you don’t really know what you’re doing when it comes to this ship. Maddie knows this ship inside and out, and I’ve done more research on this case than the two of you combined.”
I was beginning to see her point. We hadn‘t given the two of them credit for anything. Jane wasn’t just sitting at her desk looking pretty, she was actively involved in obtaining the answers we needed. I hadn’t realized how much she had been doing this whole time. Jane had done the leg work on almost all of the information about the hijacking of the ship. I had callously chalked up the work to Alex or Galveston. Maddie also had been working non-stop and knew these container ships like the back of her hand.
“No way,” Galveston answered quickly, before I could respond.
Jane‘s blood vessels on her neck began to bulge. I needed to come up with a solution, and fast.
“Okay, stop for a second,” I said, trying to quell the situation and buy myself some time for an answer.
It was true that the fewer people we had going, the easier the operation would be, whatever the operation consisted of. It then struck me; we didn’t have a contingency plan if the pirates kept going to Cape Town. All our eggs were being put in one basket, which was a basic rule we weren’t supposed to break. Jane and Maddie were needed, and I quickly laid out my plan before Jane and Galveston started to throw punches.
“I think you’re right, Jane. You and Maddie need to go, but not with us.”
Jane shot me a confused look.
“We need someone in Cape Town, for a couple of reasons. One, we don’t know if the pirates are going to these islands. The next logical place is South Africa. If that’s the case, we need to be ready for them. Two, Galveston and I will have no way off that island, if we can ever even get there. That is why we need you two to figure out how to get us off that island in an expedited manner. I think it’s a long shot the ship is stopping in these islands, but if they go to Cape Town or anywhere near there, we need feet on the ground.”
Jane‘s anger subsided quickly, and even Galveston saw my point and nodded his head in agreement.
“We need to get two satellite phones so we can communicate while we’re there, and we’re going to need a way out quickly, if that’s what it comes down to.”
Galveston agreed again, and I could tell he knew I was right. We had been going like hellfire, and we were beginning to lose sight of a plan and all its contingencies. Jane and Maddie would ensure we had a safety valve in place for finding this ship and its crew.
“I have a contact in Cape Town. I’m sure he can arrange some suitable transportation,” Maddie assured us.
“Sounds good to me,” Galveston announced.
“Me too,” Jane responded. “Good job, Mr. Persuasion,” she praised.
I smiled at my small triumph, like I had helped write a peace accord. But with the pleasantries over, we needed to get to work. There was a lot to be done by our flights tonight, and we had no time to spare.
Unfortunately my justification for their involvement in the plan would prove to have unforeseen consequences.
-Chapter 36-
Our upcoming flights were mere hours away, and everyone dispersed to get their personal affects ready for the trip. It was going to be a brutal journey for all of us. Galveston and I had managed to acquire a flight into Panama City with a connection to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Jane and Maddie would have to
fly to New York, then London, before they could catch a flight to Cape Town, South Africa.
I stopped by an electronics store and bought two pricey satellite phones. One would go with Jane and Maddie, the other with Galveston and me. We all put together backpacks with the fewest amount of clothes, a pair of good shoes on our feet, and a warm jacket on our backs. I felt bad for the poor sap that would have to sit next to us on the later flights. We would not be in our best odor.
The four of us, with backpacks in hand, raced by car from San Diego to Los Angeles International Airport, eagerly talking up our plan and itinerary.
Maddie and Jane would leave first on their red-eye to New York, while Galveston and I would leave a few hours later. The plan was set and any problems would have to be dealt with as they occurred.
We watched as Jane and Maddie began to board their plane. Jane gave me a long kiss and hug and told me to be careful. She didn‘t have to worry about me not doing that.
Galveston and Maddie on the other hand had a rather bizarre exchange. I had noticed she had been much warmer towards Galveston during the car trip to the airport as she had to sit in the front with him. They had exchanged pleasantries, and Galveston even made her laugh a few times. I think she had forgotten how crazy she thought he was.
“I’m glad you’re going, Maddie,” Galveston told her thoughtfully. “We really need someone who knows that ship.”
“Thanks,” she replied with a bit of a flushed face. “Be careful.”
“Of course. I don’t want to tangle with these guys.”
“Yeah, but I bet you can take care of yourself.”
“Hope so. Thanks,” he replied looking at the floor. It was like watching two teenagers.
“I think you do good work, and I’m glad my company got you on the case.”
Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 02 - Peeking Duck Page 15