Wreck of the Raptor

by Nicholas Harvey

  Ainsley put the car in gear, still stunned. “Okay man, sounds like you’ve figured it all out.”

  Whitey grinned reassuringly at his friend. “Course I have mate, don’t you worry, ole Whitey’s got you taken care of.”

  Chapter 22

  November 2019

  “North tomorrow everyone,” AJ announced as Thomas piloted the Newton away from Reg’s dock in West Bay. “We’ll move the boat this afternoon, so we’ll still be on the big boat – just meet us at the yacht club.”

  She looked over at Hazel, who was setting up her gear while she listened. “I’ll pick you up fifteen minutes earlier from your hotel, okay?”

  Hazel smiled and nodded. “Oui.”

  “How about we head towards north-west point this morning?” AJ asked the group. “Maybe see if we can get on Orange Canyon?”

  The idea was met with enthusiasm from the Davises and the Freemans so Thomas, who’d been listening from the fly bridge, cut the wheel to starboard, and gently eased the throttles forward.

  “AJ,” Bill Davis asked, “we were wondering if you’d do a navigation class with the girls? Maybe on the second dive?”

  The girls looked over at AJ hopefully and she thought for a moment. “Well, the course is three dives and some class. We can do most of the class on the boat, the only problem is starting today. If I’d known, I would have brought an extra person along. We’re required to leave a person on the boat while the other leads the dive, but I can get Carlos to come with us tomorrow. He knows the north side really well,” she added, chuckling to herself.

  “I can take the group if everyone is okay with that,” Hazel said from behind where AJ was standing.

  Everyone turned to look at her and she smiled back. “I’m a divemaster; I used to work on the dive boats on my days off in the summer in France.”

  “That’s right, of course,” AJ replied. “But you’re on holiday, I can’t ask you to work. You’re here to relax and have fun.”

  “We’d be fine with it,” Beth Freeman added. “She’s amazing in the water and we know our way around anyway.”

  “It would be fun for me,” Hazel said happily. “Everyone here is a good diver – I’d just be choosing the directions we’d go, right?”

  AJ shrugged her shoulders. “Sounds good then, Thomas will take first dive then we’ll see if we can get on Bonnie’s Arch for the second. Hazel will guide.” She turned to the two girls. “And we’ll see if you two can find your way back to the boat. Better get your compasses and we’ll make a start.”

  The girls, Scarlett and Kelsi, cheered and bustled about retrieving their compasses from their BCDs.

  “Really appreciate it,” Bill directed at both Hazel and AJ. “Next trip we need to put the girls through the advanced course, but this will be a good start. Thank you.”

  They both smiled and after Bill stepped away Hazel whispered to AJ, “You okay with this? I didn’t mean to tread on your toes, but it seemed like an easy solution.”

  AJ put her hand on the French woman’s shoulder. “I’m great with it, I just feel bad you’re working on your holiday. I’ll ask Carlos if he can come tomorrow so we’ll be covered.”

  “Or not,” Hazel replied. “If you’re okay with how today goes I’m happy to do it as much as needed. It’s interesting for me and I get to really learn the dive sites having to pay more attention.” She laughed.

  AJ whispered back, “I zone out sometimes, especially on sites we dive a lot and I know really well. Then I freak out when I realise we’re half a mile from the boat.” The two laughed again but the idea of Hazel helping as a divemaster sowed seeds in AJ’s mind. She thought about saying something more, but decided she should indeed see how the day went.

  The mooring pin was open on Orange Canyon. Thomas led the group on the deep dive amongst giant orange elephant ear sponges and a myriad of life, including a large loggerhead turtle they followed while it feasted on sponges. They moved over to Bonnie’s Arch mooring pin and AJ spent the surface interval working with the girls in preparation for their navigation dive, where they would do a series of exercises using their compasses and identifying natural landmarks. Thomas and Hazel sat up on the fly bridge, away from the group, so he could give her a rundown on the dive site.

  Once in the water it felt a little strange to AJ watching someone she didn’t know that well take her clients away on their dive. She soon thought no more about it as she led the girls through the magnificent coral arch that prominently dominated an open area of crushed coral and sand. Using the arch as their base point, AJ had Scarlett find and follow a south-east compass heading to keep them in the shallower waters before making three ninety degree turns to return to the arch. So Kelsi couldn’t copy the route, AJ had her take a reverse course of her sister’s. Both girls did a great job and AJ marvelled at their comfort in the water, and calm, gentle movements. They were both so excitable out of the water, always doing something and chattering, but were placid and serene as soon as they submerged. AJ took a little pride in knowing, as their teacher, she may have had a positive influence on their dive style.

  The group reappeared as AJ and the girls were just starting their three-minute safety stop at fifteen feet, so they were all finished and climbing back on the boat around the same time. Thomas helped everyone back aboard, and by the enthusiastic chatter amongst the divers, it appeared Hazel’s dive was quite a success.

  “Two eagle rays,” Beth Freeman enthused. “Came right by us!”

  “And the biggest nurse shark I think I’ve ever seen,” her husband added.

  AJ loved hearing two forty-year veterans still get so excited over a dive they’d made hundreds of times. She looked over at Hazel. “Sounds like a fantastic dive.”

  Hazel smiled back and gave her a wink. “We didn’t lose anyone at least.”

  AJ laughed. “Well Scarlett and Kelsi can lead us all tomorrow, they’re great navigators, they both did really well.” She eased over next to her new friend and asked quietly, “Want to take a ride around to the north after lunch? I have to move the boat and wouldn’t mind the company.”

  “Love to,” Hazel quickly replied.

  Chapter 23

  May 1974

  The heat and humidity was no less stifling in Miami than it had been on the island, despite being farther north. The lack of a constant, cooling breeze amongst the buildings of the city, and the heat generated by cars, air conditioners, and countless other machinery fed the muggy air. Whitey was relieved to be dropped off by the taxi in Coconut Grove on the south side of Miami, right on the water. His brown flared corduroys and matching jacket over a brightly striped polyester shirt wasn’t the best choice for late-afternoon Florida, but he’d wanted to look hip for his dinner. He paid the driver and turned to look at the lavish hotel. A red Ferrari Dino spider, a yellow Lamborghini Countach and a silver-grey Bentley Corniche adorned the valet parking area.

  “Welcome to the Mutiny Hotel and Nightclub – checking in, sir?” came a voice from the entryway and Whitey looked over to see the doorman, dressed in a nice suit, smiling politely at him.

  “Visiting a friend actually. Mr Cavero,” Whitey replied as he made his way up the steps to the front door.

  The man opened the door for him. “Ah yes, we’ve been expecting you, sir. Mr Cavero has made arrangements for you to have a room for the weekend.”

  Whitey paused and looked at the doorman thinking they must have him confused with someone else.

  “Mr Snow, correct?” the doorman asked, seeing Whitey’s expression.

  Whitey shrugged his shoulders. He never knew what Gabriel would spring on him next, so getting him a room less than two miles from where Whitey had his own apartment was par for the course.

  “That’s me, Whitey Snow.”

  The man smiled and ushered Whitey inside. “No luggage, sir?”

  Whitey chuckled. “No, no luggage. Wasn’t expecting an overnight.”

  The doorman didn’t miss a beat. “No problem sir
, happens a lot here; we have a gift shop to accommodate all your needs.”

  Whitey looked out of the window of his seventh-floor room across the bay towards Key Biscayne, between him and the open Atlantic Ocean. His room was a splurge of excess with a king-sized bed with purple sheets, a large oval tub in the corner with gold taps, various nautical themed accessories and decorations, and gold patterned wallpaper that bathed the room in a warm yellow hue. Whitey was just wondering what he was supposed to do next, when a hammering knock came from his door.

  Gabriel almost bowled him over as he barged into the room when Whitey opened the door. The man was almost a foot shorter than Whitey with a slight, wiry build, yet his hug made Whitey take a step or two backwards.

  “Mi hermano!” Gabriel enthused loudly, slapping Whitey on the back before releasing him and striding into the room, spinning around with his arms in the air, his shoulder length black hair swishing. “Isn’t this place incredible!”

  Whitey closed the door and laughed, “Yeah Gabby, it’s bloody amazing, but why did you get me a room? I only live just up the road.”

  Gabriel banged on the window. “Your place have a view like this, mi hermano?”

  Whitey joined him and put his arm around his shoulders, “No, my friend, it does not.” Whitey looked down at the numerous boats moored in the expensive nearby marina, and sailing across the water. “There’s some beautiful boats around here.”

  Gabriel waved a hand at him. “Damn boats, hate the things, man lives on land, Whitey. If we were supposed to be in the water, God would have given us the things fish breath through.”

  “Gills,” Whitey helped him with the English word.

  “Si, gills.” Gabriel looked up at Whitey with a mischievous grin and switched to Spanish. “Besides, we are celebrating this weekend.”

  “Oh yeah, what are we celebrating?” Whitey replied, also switching to his boss’s language.

  Gabriel slapped his back, his whole body shaking with excitement. “Maria is pregnant my friend, we’re going to have a baby boy!”

  “That’s fantastic news mate, congratulations!” Whitey hugged his friend. “You know it’s a boy already?” he asked as he released him.

  “Of course it’s a boy! We don’t know for sure, but Caveros always have boys first, and besides,” Gabriel turned serious, “an old lady in Huánuco who reads palms and other bullshit told me if you do it from behind you get boys. Maria says her knees are worn raw but for sure it has to be a boy!” Gabriel burst out laughing. “Tonight my brother, we are going to celebrate! My beautiful wife is giving me a son! The club here at the hotel is the best in the world! You have to be a member, rock stars, movie stars, everyone comes here, man. Champagne will flow, and the girls here, holy mother the girls here, my brother.” He crossed his chest and looked to the ceiling towards God. “We’re going to have more beautiful women than you can imagine.”

  Whitey sat down on a wooden chair by the small desk in the room and Gabriel sat on the end of the bed. “So, a little business before we have dinner. How was your trip?”

  Whitey nodded. “Good, it all went smooth, no problems. My contact had everything lined up, police escort, the works. I set up a safety deposit box as you asked.” Whitey reached into his back pocket and retrieved a key wrapped in a piece of paper. “Here’s the key, you and I have one each, box is in both our names, either can access it.” He handed Gabriel the key and the paper. “Bank and box number are on there. Whenever you feel happy with the bank there, I’ll move the money to an account.”

  Gabriel nodded slowly. “Good, good, I’m sure the bank is secure, but let’s give it a few more trips. My father doesn’t trust banks too much. The ones in Peru are a joke; every once in a while some government official decides he’s going to be a hero and shuts down the accounts of business men like us. Causes a lot of problems until we can remove the fool.”

  Whitey shuddered at the thought of what fate befell such a brave soul.

  Gabriel continued, “Tonight you’ll meet the main Columbian we do business with, he’s a quiet one, all business. The crazy bastards are the Cubans, they throw money around like water. Stay away from them.”

  Whitey wondered how ruthless you had to be to make ruthless people call you crazy.

  Gabriel kept going. “Our arrangement with the Columbians is perfect, all we do is move product across one border. As I’ve told you, we own every official at the border, so for us it’s easy. No bullshit shipping product here like they do. The US customs are much harder to buy out, and impossible to get them all on the payroll. Only takes one hardnose cop and you’ve lost an entire shipment.”

  Gabriel flippantly waved his hand in the air, accentuating his point.

  “Anyway, when I can’t be here in Miami, I want you to deal with this guy, so it’s important you meet him.”

  Whitey nodded. “Okay, no problem.” He didn’t know what else to say. Since he’d met Gabriel two years before, here in Miami, he’d liked the guy and they’d become good friends. The deeper he became involved, the more concerned he’d become that these men operated at a level he wasn’t comfortable with. Buying and selling some weed, and occasionally some blow, to small time operators was one thing, but wholesale manufacturing top-grade cocaine for mass export was a whole different world. One Whitey felt ill equipped to navigate in. These men bought and sold lives like bottles of milk. But here he was, up to his eyeballs with the biggest drug dealer in Peru. Men who didn’t understand the word no. The only way out was a bullet. When you got involved this deep, you knew too much to be wandering around outside their organisation. He couldn’t tell Gabriel no.

  “In two weeks come back to Huánuco for the next shipment, okay?” Gabriel asked, but Whitey didn’t take it as a request. “Our shipments keep increasing so we may need to export more than once a month.” Gabriel smiled. “And my father has bags of money hidden all over the damn ranch. I want him to move it somewhere safer; maybe your island is the place.”

  “Okay,” was all Whitey could say.

  Chapter 24

  November 2019

  AJ drove the van along the tiny Mary Mollie Hydes Road with the beach and ocean on their right and parked at the end of the street. Hazel followed her as they both stepped out and walked up to a brightly coloured shack with ‘Heritage Kitchen’ written over the open serving window.

  “Hey there AJ, got some lionfish for me?” Josephine Ebanks, a friendly Caymanian woman with a big smile and booming voice, asked.

  “Not today I’m afraid,” she replied, lifting her sunglasses to her forehead, “I was teaching and couldn’t hunt this morning.”

  “Ooh, I meant to tell you we saw three or four all on the same coral head,” Hazel recalled. “I wish I’d had your spear.”

  “We’ll have to put you through the class the DOE requires to hunt here,” AJ told her. “It’s quick and easy but you have to have a licence and use the registered DOE spears.”

  Hazel smiled and put her hands together. “Cool, I have projects to keep you busy for weeks.”

  AJ turned back to Josephine. “Could we have three fish sandwiches, whatever you have in this morning, and a couple of your lovely fruit juices please?” AJ and Hazel both handed the lady stainless steel drinks bottles.

  Josephine nodded cheerily. “No problem.” She took the bottles. “I have some grouper, maybe pan sear so it stays hot? I assume you’re getting to go?”

  “Yes please,” AJ answered.

  “No problem, my dear, I’ll give it a little Cayman kick, make your afternoon more spicy huh?” She laughed and her whole face beamed.

  AJ and Hazel laughed and let the chef go to work.

  With hot sandwiches wrapped in foil and drinks in hand, they stepped back on the boat tied to Reg’s dock. AJ handed Thomas the sandwich she’d got for him, which he set down while he cast the lines from the dock cleats as she scampered up the ladder and started the engine.

  She called back down, “Thanks Thomas, keys are in the
van.”

  Thomas pushed the bow away from the dock with his foot. “Thanks for lunch! Have fun. See you on the water.”

  AJ idled the big Newton away from the dock and unwrapped her sandwich as Hazel leaned against the rail next to her and did the same. They savoured the fresh fish with frequent swigs of the juice to calm the spices Josephine had not held back on. Turning to the north-west, it wasn’t long before they were close to where they’d dived that morning. AJ took a long drink of juice as she studied the coastline.

  “The Raptor is out here somewhere,” she pointed to deeper water off the port bow. “The wall is farther from shore around the point here and the wreck isn’t marked by a mooring because they don’t want anyone diving it.” She glanced at Hazel, who was intently studying the water as though she’d be able to see the wreck somehow.

  “Tomorrow afternoon,” AJ said quietly. “We’ll use my other boat, the one Thomas is bringing around.”

  Hazel turned with a surprised and hopeful expression. “Seriously? We can dive the wreck tomorrow?”

  AJ nodded. “Yeah. Reg and Thomas are coming with us too.”

  “They’re diving too?” Hazel asked cautiously.

  “Yup. Thomas really wants to see it and Reg is like my second dad, so he’s coming so he doesn’t sit at the dock and worry. That okay?” she asked, noting hesitation in Hazel’s question.

  Hazel’s face lit up. “Of course! That’s great they want to come. Thank you so much for doing this.” She clapped her hands enthusiastically. “It’ll be so much fun.”

  AJ began turning the corner around north-west point. “Feel the current here?” she said as the motor strained a touch more and she pushed the throttle forward a little to compensate. “It’s actually pretty mild right now, that’ll be good if it stays that way for tomorrow.”

  Hazel glanced back over at the open water beyond the point. She was wearing a loose tank top over her bathing suit and AJ noticed her skin was tanning quickly since she’d arrived only a few days ago. The woman had a perfect figure, toned and firm but still with feminine curves. The kind of body that appeared natural and eye catching, while hiding the fact it took a lot of work to keep it that way. AJ wondered what she did to stay in such good shape, she couldn’t imagine working in art galleries was much of a workout. Hazel turned around and AJ realised she was caught staring.