Chapter 23

When Dr. Baker and Ely came into the upstairs bedroom, they found Linda sitting just outside the bathroom door, crying quietly. The doctor looked at her with surprise in her eyes, then glanced at Ely who had just sighed deeply.

“Keri is certain that she’s dirty in some way and doesn’t want to be too near anyone,” Linda said softly.

“Ah, I see,” Fran nodded. “I’ll go talk to her. I want to examine her more closely anyway, especially now that she’s fully aware.”

She paused outside the bathroom door and coughed, but she mustn’t have caught Keri’s attention. When she stepped inside a moment later, Keri was so startled that she actually jumped to her feet, sloshing water out of the tub and onto the floor.

“Who the hell are you?!” she demanded.

“I’m sorry I startled you, I’m Dr. Frances Baker and I’m here to help you. I happen to be with the Naval contingent that George and Karl called in to assist in your defence, but that happened after your attack took place. I treated you late yesterday and again last night, but you were sleeping, so I don’t imagine you were even aware of me.”

“You’re my doctor? Why are you in a Navy uniform?”

“Well, I happen to be in the Navy as well. Even sailors get sick you know.”

“I bet not many of them are rape victims,” Keri snorted.

“You’d be surprised,” the doctor answered quietly. “We not only have women in the service now in almost all ranks, but we still have the problem of how the military mind treats any expression of sexuality. On top of that, some enlisted men are bullies. Of course if any higher ranking officer was to hear you repeat that, I’d have to deny saying it, especially if I want to remain in the Navy in the future.”

“You mean they turn a blind eye to someone getting raped?”

“Not exactly,” she sighed. “What would probably happen instead is that both of the parties involved would be disciplined and then encouraged to change occupations, encouraged quite strongly in fact.”

She held up a hand to stop Keri’s protest. “When you are in a less volatile state of mind, I’m willing to sit and talk to you on the subject. For now, I need to examine you and see if there is anything I can do to help you to recover.”

“What do you want to know? That my ass-hole itches? That I feel like I’ve been dropped into the stinkiest, dirtiest, fucking slime pit and that I can’t get out? That I don’t really want you or anyone else touching me? That my head is going ninety miles an hour in all directions at once? That I’m terrified that the stinking bastard may have hurt my baby?”

Suddenly Keri was crying. Then, to the doctor’s surprise, she stepped out of the tub and came toward her. In seconds, Dr. Baker was holding a sobbing, soaking wet woman in her arms. For a moment she just held on tight, then seeing a huge bath towel hanging on the door knob, she grabbed it to pull it around the smaller woman’s shoulders.

“Linda, could you help me please,” she called. “I need a hand to dry Keri, then we’ll have to get her back into bed.”

Both Linda and Ely leaped to help, but Ely paused. She held back with a soft look at Linda. Fran saw that and smiled at her briefly, wordlessly thanking Ely for giving Linda a chance to be there for Keri.

When they had Keri dried off and back into the bed, Fran carried on with her examination, as well as talking, listening, and just being there, acting as someone else who cared. She wasn’t really surprised when Keri began to act tired and accepted her suggestion that she might want to sleep a bit more. Warning Keri that when she woke up, she might find herself alone, she convinced the other two women to accompany her downstairs. Once she was alone with them, she asked them to corral both Trudy and Karl, then meet her out on the front porch.

She heaved a deep sigh as she stood there for a moment, then girded herself for the task of warning this family of the problems they could be facing. When they were all assembled and waiting, she paused briefly, drawing just one more deep breath, hating the pain that sometimes went with her job.

“Now that I have you all together, I’d like to explain some of the possible problems Keri may be going through in the next few weeks,” she started speaking in a quiet tone. “Right at the moment, she’s still recovering from shock, but in the next few days she may feel cold, she may feel faint, she may be nauseous. Perhaps she’ll tremble for no obvious reason and she may develop headaches, back aches, stomach aches and so on. Those are just the physical signs of what she’s going through. They aren’t the worst of the problems. Mentally, she’ll probably be much longer recovering. She may cry, lack concentration, pull back from contact with anyone, or she could do the exact opposite and not want to be alone. She may be especially alert to strange sounds. She might get overly upset about tiny details. She may be either withdrawn or overly demonstrative. The one thing I want all of you to try to do is to act normally and to accept her, but don’t coddle her.

“She has to be convinced that she had nothing to do with causing her assault, but at the same time, she has to realize that none of you are to blame for it either. You are all going to have to walk a thin line. I’m relatively certain that one of her worst worries right now is that the attack may have harmed her unborn child. To reassure her, I would like to take her and one of you with me to Esquimalt in the next while. I’d like to have an ultrasound done if I can, both to reassure myself as well as to reassure her. To be honest, the person I’d like to come with me is Trudy.”

“Why Trudy?” Linda asked immediately.

“Because Trudy was attacked as well. After being struck as hard as she was, I’d like an x-ray of her neck and shoulders, as well as her upper back. On top of that, Trudy is more mature and I believe from what little I’ve seen of Keri, she will respect that maturity.”

Karl and Ely glanced at each other, then Ely spoke up.

“Fran, I think your estimate of Keri’s mental health may be comparatively pivotal to her recovery, but I also think your assessment may be more critical than factual.”

“Oh please, don’t get me wrong,” the doctor interrupted, “I was giving a set of pessimistic possibilities, not a list of facts. But I do want you to realize that no matter how strong her personality or how loving her family life, there are bound to be long term effects. However each and every victim of trauma of any sort reacts somewhat differently.”

“We understand that,” Trudy spoke for the first time.

Both Karl and Ely nodded.

“Linda, what we’d like you to do is to try to be optimistic,” Karl smiled. “Keri will be largely influenced by the environment around her as she recuperates. I’d suggest that everyone should try to treat her with care and affection, yet as you said, we can’t coddle her too much.”

“Thank’s Karl, I agree,” Ely spoke again. “We do know that we have to accommodate her problems into our lives, but we can’t let them rule what goes on either. We know this is going to be rough on her. Hell, it’s going to be rough on all of us, but life does go on.”

Linda frowned and Trudy reached out to stroke her arm gently.

“Honey, this next while may be rough on you,” she said quietly. “You and Keri were barely getting to know each other and this attack will have changed her.”

“It couldn’t have happened at a worse time,” Linda sniffed back tears. “I’m going through PMS, so I’m emotional as hell anyway, then this happens.”

“We all know what that’s like,” Trudy smiled.

“I don’t, thank you,” Karl said, straight faced. “Except for being on the receiving end of the comments and reactions brought on by the emotions. Now, is there anything else you wanted to talk to us about Doctor?”

“Not really, I did want you to know that she was in a fragile mental state. She needs a good support network that won’t smother her. I think she’ll get that, particularly from what you’ve said to me just now.”

“Yeah, now I’m going back and check to make sure she’s still okay,” Linda stated, turning on her heel and walking inside.

“There may be an example of our first problem,” Karl groused. “I’m hoping she eases up a bit.”

“Karl, don’t be too critical,” Ely answered. “Linda is simply unsure of where she stands and stuck on an emotional roller coaster right now.”

“All of us are on an emotional roller coaster,” he snapped.

Then to everyone’s surprise, he turned away from them. Going down the steps, he walked off toward the figure of Springfield, who was standing near Karl’s old cabin, talking to a man Karl hadn’t seen around before.

As Karl got nearer, the man moved away toward the trail, obviously on the lookout for problems, but also moving quite rapidly as he went off somewhere.

“New guy?” Karl asked quietly.

“He was guarding your boat with another man,” Springfield answered. “I just sent him off to check out the other house and see that it’s okay.”

He sighed softly. “Winchester just let me know that the search down below didn’t turn up our fourth man, so everyone is on their way back here. I’m not looking forward to the sparks that are going to fly when L-C Greene and Lieutenant Baker meet face to face again.”

Karl simply nodded as he turned to survey the scene around the cabin.

“Actually I think Dr. Baker would just as soon be clear of the command role she’s had to assume, or did you take charge.”

“Unfortunately I can’t do that,” Springfield gave a wry smile. “I am only allowed to advise her and present options for her to consider, at least for now.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s a military thing, huh?”

“I can’t really say,” Springfield winked at him.

Karl just rolled his eyes.

“You’re no damn better than my women folk,” Karl sighed. “I’m all wound up and there’s nothing for me to do to let out the tension.”

“I thought you were plumbing or something?”

“All done,” Karl sighed. “I was just cleaning up my hands when the doc asked us all to step outside to talk to us about Keri.”

“Oh, the rape victim,” Springfield nodded. “How is she?”

“So far, it looks to me like they’ve been keeping her drugged to calm her down. I’ll be honest, I really don’t know how she is, since the women have been protecting her. They’ve surrounded her protectively, and I’m not about to force anyone aside, as if I could.”

“I understand,” Springfield nodded again. “How is everyone else coping with the semi-forced confinement we’ve had to impose?”

“Getting edgy,” Karl answered honestly. “To be strictly honest with you, I’m getting pissed off. I want to do things, and I need the others to help me, but they need to stay in the house so they can be safe.”

“I can understand why you feel the lack of freedom, even if it’s really only been one day.”

“Damn, I suppose it has, but so much has happened, it’s felt like a month,” Karl looked surprised. “Looking at it from the perspective of actual time spent, you’ve done a hell of a job.”

“Just not a complete one,” Springfield sighed heavily. “I’m starting to second guess myself about what I did this morning. I just wish we’d caught that fourth guy.”

“Three out of four ain’t that bad.”

“Actually it is. We seem to have forced him to leave the low swampy ground. Now, he may well be up here on the plateau and around the houses. That’s why I sent a man to check around the other house.”

“So what you’re saying is that there’s more reason than ever to be watchful?”

“Well, yes and no. I think if the guy came up here he’d find himself trapped in your far goat pasture area, he couldn’t get past this yard easily, not without being seen.”

“Why not?” Karl looked at him in surprise. “All he’d have to do is walk along the heights. Since he needs to hide out, he could conceal himself in the rocks and crags until no one was looking his way.”

“There’s a steep slope up to the ridge from the bottom end of the goat pasture. All the guy would have to do is to get up from the bottom, then over or under the goat fence. After that he could travel along the far side of the ridge and we’d never see him,” Karl turned and pointed his finger at the cliff behind the house, moving his hand in a slow arc. “He’d be above us all the way around to the drop off, up near the dam across the stream. That would put him on the upper end of the island fairly easily. Surely the men who checked out the goat pasture saw that possibility and reported it?”

“Maybe they did, but it would have been reported to Greene, not me. I certainly never heard about it, and for some reason I thought the goat pasture was surrounded by steep cliffs,” Springfield said sharply. “Thanks! Now I have another possible problem.”

Karl watched him as he hurried off. Shaking his head, he went back toward the house. Ely and the doctor were still on the front porch.

“Sorry if I sounded off,” he said quietly.

“That’s okay,” Ely smiled at him. “We’re all under stress. We were just discussing it.”

“Yes, and for the next day or two it could get even worse,” Fran sighed.

Karl was just going to tell them about the fact that Greene and company were on their way back to camp when they heard the sound of a helicopter in the distance.

“More changes on the way I guess,” he said as he looked up at the sky.

“I would imagine,” the doctor excused herself then, hurrying across the yard to be with Springfield, who was now obviously moving to meet the chopper.

“What a bloody muddle this has all become,” Karl sighed.

“Pardon?” Ely asked.

“There’s so much going on that I’d need a map to figure it all out.”

“Well for me, all I intend to worry about is my family,” Ely said shortly and with that she got to her feet. “I plan on looking after us and to hell with all the Navy bullshit and rigamarole.”

Karl was surprised to see her stomp to the door, then go inside, closing the door firmly behind her. Once more he was alone on the porch, just Karl and his dog.

The helicopter swung in and landed, then as several people disembarked, the chopper’s engines powered down and quiet quickly descended on the area. Karl watched with interest, recognizing at least two of the passengers, but realizing that at least three of the newcomers were strangers to him. Two of those newcomers were obviously officers and the third figure was obviously a woman. It was no surprise to him that a mass of luggage and equipment was being unloaded, but still Karl found himself frowning. Just how long did these people plan on staying here?

His frown deepened as he began to think about several issues that had been bothering him. Just what in blazes was of so much interest to the military that they would invest this much time and manpower in such a small problem? He decided to ask someone why they were here in force, to his mind one or two men like Springfield would have been enough. And come to think of it, why weren’t the police involved? Where was the RCMP? He’d shot a man for cripes sake. That should have meant that the cops should have come to investigate, but so far, there was no sign of them.

He watched the parade of people moving away from the helicopter. Once more there were two people headed toward him, but to his surprise neither figure was that of the doctor, nor that of Springfield. There was something very familiar about one of the two men approaching though, something Karl couldn’t quite put his finger on. Wait a moment, what was the name the doctor had mentioned? He simply couldn’t recall, but he felt sure he should know one of the men approaching him. In fact, he reminded Karl of someone, someone he had known well.

“Good afternoon, Karl,” the man in question spoke as the duo approached. “I see you’re still doing things your own way, even after all these years.”

Karl stared at him, still unable to place the man.

“You have the advantage. I can’t seem to place you, although your face seems as if it should be familiar,” Karl said almost formally as he rose to his feet and held out his hand.

“Don Davis, well actually ‘Commander Donald Davis’ since I’m in uniform,” the man in uniform grinned, grabbing Karl’s hand in his own. “I imagine I remind you of my father.”

“Oh wow!” Karl laughed aloud, returning the handshake enthusiastically. “Now I know why I thought I should know who you were.”

“Well, I’ll be your guest, but I’ll be staying with the rest of the Navy personnel for a day or so, along with Lieutenant James Colliver, my aide. I need to do field interviews with some of the Navy personnel and we’ve still got one fugitive to apprehend. In fact, if I’m right, the most important fugitive is still somewhere on the island and still unrestrained.”

“You’re welcome to be here, I guess,” Karl said quietly, then he sighed. “I really don’t have a clue what’s behind all of this.”

“Lieutenant - Commander Greene didn’t explain fully?”

“No, he’s somewhat secretive, but then I probably didn’t give him much chance to explain either. Things moved rather rapidly, and unfortunately, I developed a bit of a dislike for the man,” Karl admitted. “I’ve been rather emotional and a bit agitated about all the crap that’s been going on. Of course, I might have an excuse. I’m not used to being under attack by strangers, having women of my family raped and beaten, or having to shoot people. It would help a lot if I had a clue what was really behind all of this crap.”

“Right, well I had best take the time to explain,” Davis said firmly, then turned to his companion. “Lieutenant Colliver, go ahead and get some help to set up our tent. After that, you know the drill. I’ll be here at the cabin for a while, visiting with Karl and his family.”

“Right sir,” the younger man snapped to attention and then wheeled away.

“Wow,” Karl sighed. “That guy is really ... military.”

Commander Davis smiled wryly. “Yes, so am I, in some situations. For instance I’m going to be extremely officious with several members of this group. Especially so since I’m here in an investigatory position, as well as being the highest ranked officer in attendance. I’m going to have to maintain strict military discipline whenever I’m in the presence of any military personnel. However, I’d like to be less formal when I’m alone with you.”

“As an old friend, you’d damn well better be,” Karl grinned. “But since you want to maintain discipline, would you like to go inside. That way you can keep up appearances?”

“That might be an idea which could prove fruitful,” Davis winked.

“I’ll warn you, my family will be extremely interested in everything you say,” Karl chuckled softly as he got slowly to his feet and lead the way to the door. “You may be in for a grilling.”

“That won’t be a problem. I’ve been grilled by experts,” Commander Davis answered. “Besides, I think your family deserves some straight answers.”

When they went inside, Ely was busy in the kitchen and the two kids were doing school work on the coffee table, but the rest of the family was out of the room.

“Ely, this is Commander Don Davis. We went to school together and at one point, I even dated his sister,” Karl grinned at her, then turned to Don. “And Don, this is Ely, the mother of my son and an extremely important part of my life.”

Ely smiled and reached out her hand. “Hello Don, since you’re an old friend of Karl’s, would you like to join us for dinner, I’m just about to prepare it?”

“I’m afraid I can’t,” Don replied. “I am here in an unpleasant official capacity today, so I should eat with the men. Perhaps I could take a rain-check on that meal though, and join you at another time.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Ely smiled.

Then Karl introduced David and Mary-Beth, expecting to have to send them off to get the rest of the family, but Trudy and George came out of the spare bedroom just then. So, Karl included them in the introductions. By the time that was done, Linda appeared on the stairs, only to disappear again after Karl had introduced Commander Davis to her as the new man in charge of the military contingent. To everyone’s surprise, she and Keri reappeared in only a moment or two.

Keri looked haggard, but resolved, and after she had been introduced, she moved to a seat at the counter that divided the kitchen from the living room. Linda sat near her, but first she poured a glass of water for both of them. Ely offered Commander Davis a cup of coffee, pouring one for Karl at the same time. Soon the whole family was gathered in the kitchen. Karl glanced around at everyone, then his gaze rested on the military man.

“Don, this is my family, any explanation you give me will get to them eventually, so you might as well explain what’s going on to all of us in the first place.”

“That suits me,” Davis said quietly as he glanced around and then sighed. “I can’t tell you everything I know, but I can tell you quite a bit. Quite simply, you people happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, even if you are in your own home and isolated on your island. I’ll have to go back a short time for part of this explanation, so please bear with me.”

He paused for a sip of coffee before continuing. “You can blame this situation on the cold war of the sixties, and the way the Russian government treated its people at that time.”

“What?” Karl frowned. “Don, you’re going to be here forever if you start by explaining things that happened before some of these women were born.”

“Well Karl, it does have a bearing, in more ways than one,” Davis smiled. “During the cold war, Russia was ruled by a totalitarian regime who tried to control everything about anyone’s life. Literally from the day a person was born until the day they died they had to live under absolute dictatorial control. As well as that, the government tried to maintain the country as a Spartan society. That can been blamed on an economy which they were forced to endure and that economy was exacerbated by the monetary demands of the cold war. They did their best to actually prevent people from having luxury goods and tried to make everyone spend their money on state-sponsored projects and government-approved goods. However, human nature being what it is, with people wanting their little luxuries, a system of smuggling and bootlegging soon developed.

“Because the government forces were ruthless in trying to stamp out any illicit luxury trade, the smugglers became even more ruthless, and at the same time, even more devious. You could say that the political system bred the ‘Vor V Zakoye’, or in English, the ‘Russian Mafia’, and created one of the most hardened criminal systems in the world. The ‘Russian Mafia’ still exists, but now they are into other areas of interest. For instant they’ve expanded their smuggling network and now move drugs, arms, and contraband almost anywhere in the world with relative impunity. To make a long story short, we believe that we’re dealing with a group of them who have happened to land here, on your island.”

“And what the hell makes you think they’re ‘Russian Mafia’ of all things?” Keri demanded. “Just because the guy who attacked Trudy, and raped me, had a Russian name?”

“Oh a little more than that, I’m afraid,” Davis grunted, lifting one finger. “First; Dimitri Karpichov, the man you’re talking about, was never far from his cousin, who happens to be a hardline member of the ‘Orginizatsiya.’ He’s what they call a ‘frontline salesman, ‘ which means he goes in and opens up new territory for them, and clears the way for more of his henchmen to follow. His name is Vladislav Chenkovich, and we’re certain that he’s the man we’re hunting.”

He paused then raised a second finger. “Second; the ship that ran aground is registered in Cambodia and if you trace its ownership back, you’ll find that it belongs to a company which is basically a front for a man named Mogilevich. From what we can find out, Mogilevich is the head of one of the crime families, in fact perhaps the most influential crime family in Europe.”

He lifted yet another finger. “Third; I had a chance to speak to one of the other prisoners for a moment or two. ‘Doc’ Iverson was one of the men who was captured here and he admitted that he was working for Chenkovich and he was sure Chenkovich was working for Mogilevich. Now, since we found almost a hundred kilos of heroin aboard the ship and that heroin can be traced back to a Russian link in the ‘golden crescent’, we feel relatively sure that the Russian Mafia is involved.”

“You’re throwing names around here like we should know them,” Karl said quietly. “But from what you said, I take it the guy that’s still running around free here on island is this, what was his name, Vladislav Chenkovich?”

“Yes, his father was from the Ukraine, his mother from Moscow. We believe he was initially educated by the KGB, but he fell into a trap set to capture smugglers and actually spent time in the Gulag, that’s the Russian jail. After the fall of the USSR, he emigrated to Israel and we believe that’s where he got involved with Mogilevich. He moved to Hungary within a year of Mogilevich setting up operations there, and he’s been travelling around the world since, always to places where Mogilevich’s empire is expanding.”

“Since you mentioned the KGB, does the mention of that organisation have some bearing on this man?” George stated his question in a short blunt sentence for once.

“Yes, amongst other things that went on while he was with them, he was taught a smattering of several languages, but his instruction in English was extensive. His accent is almost flawlessly American, in fact it could be that of someone from the northern Midwest of the United States.”

“In other words, you’re implying that he could pass himself off as a Canadian very easily?” Karl asked.

“Oh yes. In fact that’s exactly what we think he planned on doing. You see in Eastern Canada, another branch of the Russian Mafia has moved in, they’re the ‘Solsnetskya’. We think Mogilevich wants to do the same sort of thing on the west coast, and Chenkovich was one of his advance representatives.”

“Well, from what I heard, they seem to have sailed in as if they were totally unprepared for problems,” Karl stated. “Why were they as bold as that?”

“Ah, that was a surprise to us too,” Davis smiled. “Actually, they had a legal cargo disguising the contraband and we only found the heroin by accident. The contraband was inside a small separately sealed compartment, which was hidden inside a ballast tank. We’d never have noticed it if we hadn’t gotten a completely extraneous clue. You see after 911, we check every foreign vessel for radioactive materials and this ship had a trace of radioactivity which we traced to this ballast tank. That was the only reason we hunted long enough to find the secret compartment.”

“So they had a nuclear bomb aboard?” Linda asked in amazement.

“Oh no, I’m not saying that,” he shook his head in negation. “However at some time in the recent past, we’re certain that they carried radioactive material in that area. We didn’t actually find any of the radioactive material, we only detected the contamination it had left behind. Whatever it was, it wasn’t well protected, so if possible, we need to find Chenkovich to find out what they had and where it went.”

“Now I see why the Navy is involved,” Karl said quietly. “I was wondering why the RCMP wasn’t here, but the military is here in droves.”

“Well, actually with all the confusion that the earthquakes and tidal waves have caused, the RCMP is extremely busy as well. To be honest, we probably wouldn’t be here either, except for that trace of radioactivity and the fact that your description of the assailant matched the description of one of the men we were looking for.”

“So then this is an official military action?”

“Our present involvement is, yes,” he nodded. “You people are all listed as cooperating civilian personnel. The only real benefit for you from that has been the medical service you are receiving. Oh, and the fact that Karl will not be questioned about the death of Karpichov. Officially, he died while attempting to escape from detention during military transport.”

“Pardon?” Karl frowned at him.

“Since Karpichov was shot and killed while attempting to escape military confinement and deportation proceedings, no civilian participation needs to be listed. That means that the RCMP will not investigate.”

“And how do you explain the .32 special slug in his body?” Karl snapped, unthinkingly.

“The doctor reported that your shot was aimed at his head, correct?”

“That’s where I aimed, yeah.”

“Well, even at a quick glance at his body, I can tell you that a bullet of some undetermined caliber entered his skull via his right eye and exited via the area behind his left ear. Officially, I believe his demise will be linked to the shots of Able Seaman Wilcox who was on duty as an armed guard and carrying a rifle at that time.”

“In other words you’re saying that I’m free and clear, at least in your books?” Karl asked.

“Oh, not just me. Officially, you watched everything happen from a seat on your porch.” Davis said firmly. “Unofficially, both Elgin and Wilcox told me on the trip out here aboard the helicopter that they want to shake your hand. I think my stock with them climbed when I told them that you and I grew up being friends with each other. Then it probably rose even higher when I mentioned that we used to hunt together as teenagers.”