Chapter 24

The room was very quiet for a few moments. Then George, who had been extremely quiet during the previous discussion, cleared his throat and directed his gaze at the doctor.

“Dr. Baker, since you have seen a portion of the interview sessions with those culprits, would you happen to have noticed how the four dastards ended up here on the island in the first place? That question is provisional on your willingness to speak on the subject, and provided that you do not have orders not to do so.”

“To be honest, I was much more interested in medical details, so I’m not certain, George.” Fran smiled at him. “I did notice in the report from the initial interview with one of the two prisoners that they were wrecked and that they knew the island was inhabited. However the initial report we received was mostly aimed at information for catching the fourth man and also any medical information I might be able to use. I’m unsure if that subject was even one of the questions which was asked.”

It was George’s turn to sigh. “Well, I was hopeful that you would know. It really is of no major importance, it’s just that after the rock slide into the cut, we are uncertain if we can navigate the channel safely in the ‘Skolka.’ With so much turmoil in the area, it would seem to me that we will have extreme difficulties in obtaining any necessary supplies in the near future, especially if we are not free to travel ourselves.”

“Oh, I see, I hadn’t even thought of that,” she smiled. “I’ll mention your concerns to Commander Davis if you’d like. Or perhaps Karl could, it seems the Commander and he are old school chums.”

“Well, along those lines I was just wondering, do you think they could fly over the cut with the helicopter tonight at low tide and take a few still photos like those I saw this morning?” Karl asked. “They’d certainly be a help in the future, since I think we’ll have to hire someone who does underwater blasting in order to clear the channel.”

“I’m sure Commander Davis would be glad to provide you with photos. I know that Dave Peacock has saved some of the overhead shots to a disk for you; you can simply access them with a computer. I’m not sure how well equipped the chopper is, but if he has the equipment, he might be able to give you stereoscopic shots or perhaps something even better,” the doctor smiled. “By the way Ely, I’ve already had a bite to eat and I should really have my main meal with the others, so I’m going to have to turn down your offer of a meal. In fact, I was thinking that I should return to the command centre. I was wondering if Karl would like to accompany me. I thought he might like to see how the search for the fourth man is progressing and perhaps he could speak to Commander Davis about those photos?”

“I’d probably be in the way this time,” Karl said quietly.

“He’s trying to say that he hasn’t had his after dinner cigarette,” Ely grinned. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to eat with Keri? Karl could go out on the porch and have his smoke, then go along with you to talk to Commander Davis.”

“I think it would do him good to miss his cigarette,” the doctor smiled back. “And I’m certain that none of our people would feel that Karl or any of your family would be in the way. If you were, I’m certain that they’d politely ask you to move.”

So after very little discussion, Karl found himself walking beside the doctor as they moved toward the Navy’s tents.

“Cripes, what have you got now, nine or ten tents?” Karl asked.

“Yes, there are nine of them, but even then most of them serve double duty. For instance, my tent is actually my infirmary as well as sleeping quarters for the female members of our troop. One of the tents is simply a supply tent, used to shelter our food, spare equipment and so on. The only tent that has a specific use is the one used for the showers and the latrines, which is near the kitchen end of the mess tent, since both of them require sanitary drains.”

“Cripes, I never even thought of that,” Karl chuckled.

“Ah, since we’re on private land we have to be careful of that sort of thing,” she laughed softly. “We’re treating this almost the same way we do on a bivouac in the tundra. All human waste and other refuse is contained, then it will be removed when we leave.”

Karl just shook his head in wonderment. “Trying to leave no pollution behind huh? Well, thanks for that.”

“I wouldn’t say no pollution, but we are trying to leave as little behind as possible. We still have the ‘grey water’ problem from washing and such. I’m afraid that’s handled through settlement and filtration, then the partially treated water is allowed to drain into the ground. Because of that, only biodegradable soaps are allowed while on bivouac.”

“That sounds pretty good to me.”

They broke off their discussion as they reached the main tent.

“Permission to bring a civilian aboard, Sir,” the doctor asked as she opened the tent flap.

“Karl? Of course, Doctor. Actually, he’s just the man we want to see,” Commander Davis said briskly. “Leading Seaman Peacock, you had a question for Karl?”

“Yes sir,” he nodded toward Karl. “Could you tell us, Karl, are there any caves that you know of on the island?”

“Well, there are several openings in the sandstone cliffs at the ‘weeping wall, ‘ but they’re not really large enough or deep enough to be called caves. And, before you ask the ‘weeping wall’ is the cliff where the springs are, behind the lake. I’m not saying that there aren’t any caves, in fact there may be some smaller ones, but I don’t really know of any large caves.”

“Okay, then I think we may have a problem. So far we haven’t found the fugitive.”

“Nowhere?” Karl frowned deeply. “No sign at all?”

“Nope, not even a residual heat trace. It’s as if he got swallowed up by the earth. We haven’t seen any sign of him since the other morning on the initial scans.”

“OH SHIT! What time were those taken, are they the photos from yesterday morning?” Karl asked loudly.

“Just after daylight, I’d say about oh-five-hundred or so. I can check if you need to know the exact time.”

“No, that’s all right. I’m just guessing anyway, but what if he saw the copter and surmised that you were using heat sensing gear? First off, he’d hide, then since Commander Davis says he’s damned intelligent, I suspect he’d get as far away as he could, just as quickly as he could.”

“We’d already come to that conclusion,” Davis said firmly. “We guessed that he’d immediately run to the cliffs and climbed them, or rather, we assume he’d have done that as soon as he saw we were done scanning that area.”

“What if he didn’t even go in that direction? What if he was desperate, as well as a gambler?” Karl asked. “The doctor said that his cousin swam across the stream when he was high on PCP. What if this guy took his cousin’s PCP, then found something to use for floatation, and swam out through the cut? It was nearly high tide then. Once high tide passed, the current in the cut would be flowing outward, but at first it’s not exceptionally fast, which would mean he could have swum over or around that rock slide. Hell, if he were a good enough swimmer and he had decent floatation, he could make it without using that drug, the PCP stuff. Now on the steep cliffs, on the outside of the island, there are lots of overhangs and caves where he could hide, at least for a day or two. Most of those caves aren’t easily accessible, but some of them are.”

“But we’ve had a minesweeper standing off the outside entrance to the island since early this morning,” someone said.

“Oh for cripes sake,” Peacock turned to him. “How hard is it to see a man in the water, even if you know where he is? Have you ever taken part in a man overboard drill when you had to rescue a dummy equipped with a locator beacon? I have. One day we crisscrossed an area for nearly an hour, but we were unable to find the dummy, and we had the beacon to follow. A man swimming in the water is a bloody small target for visual ID, especially if the sea is a little rough, like it was this morning.”

“But what advantage would he gain by hiding on the outer cliffs of the island?” Fran asked.

“He could have gambled that we would search the island for a day or two and then perhaps we’d give up, assuming that he’d died or had escaped our net completely,” Davis said thoughtfully. “Once the search became less intense, he could have come back and tried his luck at stealing a small boat. Or perhaps, once we were less attentive, he might have slipped back to the main portion of the island, hidden in the trees for a while, then taken a totally unexpected action.”

“So how do we go about hunting him on those cliffs, particularly if he’s in a cave? Our helicopter cameras work great from above, but they don’t scan sideways, at least not very well.” Peacock frowned.

“We aren’t going to do all of the hunting, that’s why we have support at sea. Put me into radio contact with the Captain of that minesweeper would you? We’ll have his men do some patrols around the island in small boats and they can scan the cliffs for signs of life. We might as well have the chopper make a swing around the outer verges of the island as well.”

For the next few moments, Karl stood and watched as Commander Davis issued orders and changed the direction of the search. Several times he asked Karl questions that related to what they were doing. Most of his questions were about which way the currents would have been moving at the time of the tide change and where Karl would have expected the fugitive might have found shelter. Then there came a break as they waited for any results.

Davis came over to Karl. “You still think ‘around corners’, don’t you? We were up against a mental block when you came along.”

“Hey, who knows if this idea will hold water?” Karl shrugged. “I was grabbing at straws, trying to think of alternate actions I’d have taken if it were me down there.”

“Well, whatever,” Davis smiled, then frowned. “What is this rockslide you mentioned?”

“Ah, I have a favour to ask you about that,” Karl answered. “I was wondering if the helicopter could fly over the cut and take photos at low tide for me? Part of the cliff face in the cut fell into the water during the earthquakes, greatly reducing its depth. We’re relatively sure that it’s going to be a problem for us. It may mean that the only time we can get the boat through the cut is at extreme high tide, if we can get through at all. If we have pictures of what it looks like at low tide, we may be able to use them. I think we’re going to have to hire an underwater blasting crew to help us get the rocks and rubble from the slide down low enough to sail through at lower tides.”

“Oh, we can certainly do that for you. In fact we may have some photos of that area already,” his brow creased into a frown for a moment. “What time is the next high tide?”

“There’s a lower high tonight, around one in the morning, then the real high will come about six hours later, somewhere just before seven in the morning. But, why are you asking about high tides? I’d like photos of it at low tide.”

“I was thinking that you and I could take one of the inflatable boats and run through your cut,” Commander Davis grinned. “I’m still young enough to want a thrill once in a while. I saw it from the air and like most of the guys here, I can’t imagine how you got that steam boat of yours through there”

“Aw, there’s no thrill in using an inflatable at high tide,” Karl grinned back. “One day when I get the ‘Skolka’ running again, and my crew has recovered, I’ll give you a ride back and forth through the cut. That is, if that slide hasn’t made it impossible.”

“What would it take to get her running? I could have a crew ready for you at any time,” Davis laughed. “The big discussion during dinner tonight was how the hell you got her in here in the first place. These guys know what a boat can do and that trip through the cut seems nearly impossible to all of us.”

“Well, it might be impossible now, with those rocks in the channel. But, you can do a lot with a boat, if you know all of it’s little quirks. I just happen to know exactly what I can expect out of the ‘Skolka’ under almost any conditions. I suppose since I was the one who totally rebuilt her and I’ve owned her for years, that’s part of it. However to be honest, the first time I came through that cut, I had a single teenage girl for my crew. I’d only owned the boat about a year then and I’d spent most of that time rebuilding her, so I had really only run her for a few weeks. On that first trip we were just plain lucky. We didn’t realize just how bad the conditions in the cut could be when the tide is at full flood.”

“Why don’t I find that a surprise?” Davis said, shaking his head.

Their discussion was interrupted by Peacock. “Commander, the men from the minesweeper have something for you.”

Davis was instantly attentive. It seemed that one of the small boats from the minesweeper could see a life jacket hung on a bush. It was along one of the undercut sandstone cliffs on the south east end of the island, but they could see no sign of anyone in the area.

“Could you please ask them about the area? Is it full of small caves and indentations in the rock?” Karl asked. “If it is, I know the area fairly well.”

The answer was affirmative and Karl sighed.

“Damn,” he growled.

“What’s wrong?” Davis asked.

“There’s a real fast current that runs past there much of the time and there’s broken rock right at the water’s edge, then the rock drops off steeply underwater. I doubt if they can get ashore easily.”

“That’s just what they were saying,” Davis grinned wryly. “And it seems there’s an overhang to the cliffs above them, so the helicopter isn’t much use either.”

“What’s Springfield doing?”

“He and Winchester have just traversed the whole of the ridge behind your house, from this end. They’ve gone all the way to the cliff wall that seeps water, why?”

“Well, he and his buddy went up and down the damn cliff yesterday like they were mountain goats. Besides, I think he’d be damn good in a hand to hand fight, even if the guy he was fighting was high on PCP. If I went with them in the copter, I could show them where to land on the ridge, then they could drop off to just miss the end of that overhang. They’d have to rappel down from above, then move in on the caves from one side though.”

“I think instead, we’ll get some photos taken of the area, then we’ll get Springfield and Winchester back here to go over the photos with you. I refuse to put a civilian in danger.”

“Don, that bastard trespassed on my property, I have a lease on the area that he and his buddies used as a hide out, not to mention all the other crap his buddy put my family through. I have a stake in this.”

“Karl, I will not voluntarily put you in any place of danger. Face it, you’re not going out there in the helicopter.”

“You always were a stubborn S-O-B,” Karl sighed. “I just hope the damn pictures are decent in this light.”

“Well, come have a look,” Peacock called.

“What, already?” Karl snapped his eyes around to stare at him.

“Well, the chopper was there to try to help the guys in the boat if he was needed. Since he was there I had him snap some pics of the area. They’re only on the screen though, it’ll take a few minutes to give you hard copies.”

“I think you’d better start printing them then. While you’re at it, ask the chopper to pick up Springfield and Winchester to bring them back here,” Davis said firmly. “We’ve still got almost two hours of daylight left today. Let’s use it.”

“After all this, I hope the guy is there,” Karl snorted. “We’re gambling a lot on a hunch and an old life jacket hanging in a bush.”

“It all makes sense though,” Peacock argued. “Your first print of the area should be almost ready.”

Karl spent the next few minutes studying that print, then two more that were taken from different angles. When Springfield came in, he felt he knew just what signs to point out for them to use as guides.

“So, you’re doing it again, huh?” Springfield greeted him.

“Pardon me?” Karl responded.

“You’re showing me where to go so I can do my job, and you’re using photographs again,” Springfield grinned. “Just a second though. Let Winchester and I grab a plate of beans; then while we’re eating, you can point out details on those pretty pictures.”

Karl just nodded, then frowned slightly at Commander Davis’ raised eyebrows.

“I should have known you two would hit it off,” Davis broke into a smile. “You two are like a pair of peas taken from the same pod.”

“Hah,” Karl snorted and spoke quietly in hopes that Springfield wouldn’t hear him. “Personality wise perhaps, he’s an extremely skilled man for this job though.”

“Yeah, and you aren’t skilled? In your case it’s just different skills.”

“Whatever,” Karl smiled and waved a hand in a deprecating manner. “I’m just a jack of all trades. He’s a trained fighter and that’s what we need for this sort of job.”

Twenty minutes later, Springfield and Winchester were climbing into the helicopter with a load of climbing gear. What surprised Karl was that the doctor went with them, along with one of the other men that he’d noticed around the camp. When he asked about it, Davis explained that they didn’t expect Chenkovich to be in very good shape if they did find him.

“Why?” he demanded.

“To start off with, he wouldn’t have been in any better shape than all the others this morning, and they were suffering from exposure when we found them. If he swam out and around the island, he would have spent enough time in the water to get badly chilled. Then too he’d have been soaking wet, which means if he’s been hiding in a cave all day without a source of heat, he’s either hypothermic or perhaps he’s dead,” Davis said bluntly. “What you may have missed in that radio message from the men who saw the life jacket is that they think it may have been a try to get help. It’s fluorescent orange and if the guy was trying to hide, why would he leave it where people could see it?”

“Cripes, I never thought of that,” Karl admitted.

“Now, Springfield and Winchester are going down first, just in case that life jacket is bait for a trap. After they’re sure it’s safe, the doctor may go down, if the area isn’t too dangerous.

“Bait for a trap?”

“Sure, the guy puts out a sign that seems to mean he’s helpless. Someone rushes to his rescue and the guy offs them, then has their clothes and weapons for protection. It was the sort of trick the Afghans used against the Russians.”

“Cripes,” Karl just shook his head.

“They’ve landed already sir,” Peacock advised, tapping his headphones.

“Can you put it on the speaker, Peacock?”

“I could sir, but there’s a lot of noise from the chopper.”

“Peacock, we really don’t care about the noise. We want to hear what’s going on.”

“Yes sir.”

“Tell the old bugger he was right. We can actually see the life jacket from here and it is just under the edge of the overhang,” Springfield’s voice came through on the speaker.

“The old bugger wants to know if you can see the edge of the cave just above and to the left of it,” Karl growled as he grinned.

“Oops, I didn’t realize the old bugger could hear me,” Springfield answered with a chuckle. “The cave isn’t visible from this position, but we’ll let you know in a minute or two when we get down there.”

“Just watch your ass, the sandstone around that area is badly weathered. I’ve seen one of the feral cats leap on a section of that stuff and just his weight snapped off a piece as big as a car that looked like it was solid as granite.”

“Yes Granny. We’re starting over the edge now. If you want a running commentary, it won’t be from us, we’re gonna be busy.”

Karl rolled his eyes, but Commander Davis grinned and reached out to switch off the microphone. “Okay Peacock, use the headphones now. We don’t need a blow by blow account.”

Karl didn’t bother arguing, although he would have liked to. Instead he went outside to have that long overdue after dinner cigarette, assuming that Commander Davis probably didn’t want him near the radio. At the same time he didn’t want to go far away, just in case his knowledge could help the crew on the cliff. To his surprise, he was joined by CPO Elgin as they stood under the tarp that was stretched in front of the tent as a porch.

“I’ve got a spare cup of coffee here if you’d like it, Sir,” Elgin offered him a cup.

“Thanks Elgin,” Karl grinned. “I appreciate that.”

“No problem Sir,” Elgin grinned back.

“How about dropping the ‘sir’ business? I keep looking for someone behind me with a ton of braid on his sleeve. Please, just call me Karl.”

“Okay Karl, and my first name is Lyle. But actually you’ve earned the title, far more than some of the officers I’ve served under.”

“Well, look at it differently, would you call Springfield sir?”

“No, he’d probably dump me on my arse and then lecture me afterward.”

“Well, where do you want to land, Lyle?”

“Pardon me?”

“When I dump you on your arse; since you’ve already had the lecture.”

Elgin chuckled and stepped back. “I’ll do my best to remember that ... Karl.”

“Good,” Karl paused in thought. “Lyle, how much do you know about this crap that’s going on.”

“About what everyone does. We’re trying to catch a bunch of criminals that smuggle dope and weapons. In case you didn’t know it, this was strictly a volunteer mission, sir. We knew we were dealing with the Russian Mafia and they can be rough. But just in case you were wondering, we only knew who and what we were dealing with about eight hours before you radioed us.”

“Oh! That puts a different spin on my thoughts about the situation.”

“Yeah, it put a different spin on ours as well. That’s when Springfield and his three henchmen joined our group and when it became a voluntary assignment. Up until then we were sure that we were after smugglers, but we didn’t have any idea that they were as hard core as this Chenkovich bastard.”

“Chenkovich is hard core?”

“Well, yeah, he is. They figure he and his cousin have killed upward of twenty people, maybe more.”

“Holy cripes.”

“Yeah. We owe you big time on this one, Karl.”

“Actually, I feel that I owe your people a fair bit.”

“Oh for fucks sake, Karl, wake up. This is our job,” Elgin snorted. “Since we got here you and your knowledge of the layout of this island, have done us so many favours that its damn near unbelievable. Even before we got here you were helping us, even if you didn’t know it. First you reported the smugglers to us, then you softened them up, and you even managed to keep them trapped in an untenable area. Now admittedly, part of that was the geography of this place, but still, you kept them hemmed in down there. Then when we were ready to go after them, you’ve showed us how to use the lay of the land to do it. Right now you’re digging us out of the hole we got ourselves into by losing the main guy. Shit man, we really owe you big time, just for making our job easier.”

Karl wasn’t sure what to say, but he was saved from needing to respond, just then Commander Davis called him back inside.

“They’ve got him,” he said shortly.

“Alive?” Karl asked.

“Yeah, but he’s in bad shape. The doctor will have to do a certain amount of treatment here in the field, but as soon as we can safely transport him, we’ll be shipping him off to the hospital.”

Karl heaved a deep sigh of relief. “That’s a relief.”

“Yeah, well it could have been better. Springfield got hurt.”

“Oh hell, what happened?”

“A slab of rock fell on him, and his leg is badly injured, which means he’ll have to go to the hospital as well. Besides that, the doctor got in the way of the falling rock too. Luckily, she only got scrapes and bruises.”

“So they rescued a bloody crook and nearly get killed doing it,” Karl frowned.

“Yes, but if we can keep that crook alive until we can question him, we might be able to find out what terror group or political upstart wanted the radioactive material. Then if we can chase that down, we might be able to prevent a whole lot more death and suffering.”

“Maybe,” Karl sighed. “At least with him captured and shipped off the island, my family will sleep better tonight.”

“Yes, and this one isn’t going to break out of his constraints. Springfield has him in proper handcuffs,” Davis smiled. “Now, can I walk you back to your house. I’d like to be there when you tell everyone, that way I can answer any questions that might be asked.”

“I’m certain they’d like that and I’m definitely not opposed to the idea,” Karl smiled.

As they walked toward the house, they looked at the sky toward the west. There was an arch of clear blue sky showing under the clouds hanging overhead, clouds that were reddened by the setting sun.

“Jeez, think maybe the weather is going to break?” Karl asked. “By the way, what’s that old verse? ‘Red sky at night, sailor’s delight’ or something like that?”

“Well, I’m not delighted, but I’m a sight happier than I was this afternoon,” Don answered. “How about you?”

“Happy that the bastard has been caught and pissed off that my friends got hurt,” Karl answered honestly.

“I have to agree, but it’s a lot better than an operation where both friend and foe come back in body bags, and I’ve had those too,” Don frowned sadly as they climbed the stairs of the porch.

Ely and her father were sitting at the kitchen table having a discussion when Karl opened the door and walked in with Commander Davis. For once the father and daughter were arguing quietly, but that was so they didn’t disturb David or Mary-Beth who had already gone to bed. Trudy was just watching the discussion, but she looked up and smiled as Karl and Don walked over.

“Coffee?” Trudy asked, as Karl took a seat, waving his friend to another.

“Yes, please Trudy,” Karl smiled. “How about it Don, cuppa java suit you?”

“Yes, I think I will have one, if Trudy has enough for both of us,” Don smiled back.

“You two seem relatively happy,” Ely looked from one to the other. “But you don’t look like you want to celebrate or anything. What’s up?”

Don waited for Karl to speak, but Karl simply gestured to him.

“We have some good news and some not so good news,” Don started. “First of all, we caught Chenkovich, actually we rescued him from a cave on the outside edge of the island.”

“On the outside, by that I am supposing that you must mean somewhere on the outer cliffs?” George said almost in disbelief.

“Yes, on the outer cliffs, actually almost on the exact opposite side of the island from here. He was hiding in a cave in the sandstone cliffs. Karl was the one who second guessed how he had managed to disappear. We’d practically scoured the island from the air and couldn’t find a clue of where he could be.”

George just shook his head and frowned at Karl. “How in the world did you think of that?”

“Well, I just decided that he had to be pretty smart, maybe too smart to realize he was actually being dumb,” Karl sighed.

“What do you mean being dumb, he damn near got away with it?” Don asked.

“Don, you’re in the Navy so you know the dangers of the sea. How long does it take for a person to get hypothermia in the waters of the strait? Maybe twenty minutes or half an hour, right?” Karl said shortly. “So this guy gambles that he can swim somewhere before getting too cold and simply drowning? I don’t care what you say, that is not brilliant. He was gambling with his life. I’ll bet he was in bloody poor shape by the time the rescue crew got to him.”

“I suppose you’re right, after all he was in very rough shape. Still, I think it was an act of desperation.”

“Why would he be desperate? If he was smart enough, all he’d get was deportation to Russia.”

“Karl, the man was a smuggler and if he was smuggling radioactive material, he would have been classed as a terrorist.”

“Don, just what the hell would Canada do with a smuggler and a terrorist? We don’t have the death penalty anymore. At the worst he’d be put in jail for a few years and then deported, but more than likely he’d just have been deported to Russia.”

“Well, it would depend on where the radioactive materials were slated to end up. The US will naturally be interested and if they were meant to be sent anywhere that Al Qaeda could get their hands on them...”

“Oh sure, but proving any of that might take years. No, he had another reason for running off the way he did,” Karl frowned deeply. “Hell, if he was from Russia, he must surely have understood what happens to people who have hypothermia. If he was as smart as you’ve painted him, then he was acting out of panic at being caught, but at the present time, I can’t see a reason for that sort of panic.”

“Perhaps he felt that he would automatically be turned over to US authorities,” George interjected. “I do know that they are very interested in any case of this sort.”