Chapter 46

I felt the urgency to get moving when I woke up. I went to the bathroom after untangling from arms and legs of some of my loves, showered, dressed in sailing clothes, and went through the quiet galley. Steve and Dewey were both up watching the satellite marine weather channel. Dewey said, "It looks like it will be decent sailing all the way home. There are some reports of a heavy squall that has nearly capsized a couple of freighters, but it isn't showing on the satellite. The one marine forecaster said it could be an isolated low-pressure cell causing some kind of microburst. Half a dozen ships have reported the disturbance. Maybe it will dissipate before we get in that area."

Steve commented, "They're talking fifty foot plus swells and almost a hundred knot winds. We might not be able to handle that."

Dewey confidently said, "No sweat. This baby is built for the sea and can handle just about anything. Like I said though, the cell will probably dissipate before we get in that area."

I suggested, "Maybe we should stay here a few more days to be sure that disturbance is gone. A couple or three more days won't make a difference."

"I really want to get back because there are several meetings I should be at in a couple of weeks," Dewey insisted. "Let's move over to the big marina, fill up with fuel and propane, and get underway."

I went out and uncovered the instruments, thinking that it would be better to use the outdoor cockpit. I started both engines and let them idle a few minutes. Steve jumped on the dock, released the spring lines, then went forward and released that one. He then went to the stern and released the last line before he jumped onto the boat.

I engaged the propellers and backed away from the dock, then moved toward the marina. Women began coming up to the saloon, then to the cockpit while we were in motion, complaining that we were up too early. Lisa pointed at the sun just peeking over the horizon and asked what the hurry was.

"The guys want to get back, so we're in process. We need fuel, so we'll get that and be on our way."

Lisa brought me a mug of coffee a few minutes later, and asked, "Did you guys check the weather?"

"Yes, Ma'am, we did. There is a squall line out there somewhere, but Dewey thinks it will be dissipated by the time we get to that area."

Lisa hugged me and said, "I hope so. That one little squall we were in before made me a believer that I didn't want to be in too many like that."

All the women soon came out to say good morning and give me a hug and kiss. The moms brought little ones to be hugged and kissed as well.

It took only a half-hour to purge our waste tanks and fill our diesel and propane. The women were fixing breakfast and feeding kids while this was going on. I had heard a strange whistle earlier, and Lizzy was now standing out on deck, blowing the boatswain's whistle as we released the lines at the marina. She said, "There really isn't a call for leaving, but there is an 'away' call that was used to separate from the barges. The other call I made was the supper or food call. This is really neat. I've been practicing and learning the different calls."

I hugged the little girl who was already blooming, and was going to rival her mother and grandmother one day.

We motored out about a half mile and began unfurling sail. We put out every piece of sail we could to use the available wind to get moving easterly. Dewey and Steve began inspecting lines and sails all over the boat when all the sail was up. They came back to me and reported that the boat was in good shape with no frayed lines and all sail in good shape. Steve said, "The Lucky Lady is going home."

We settled into our shifts and routines, and sailed through the first two nights without a problem. Dewey was constantly listening to the radio for weather reports and watching the satellite marine weather channel. He told Steve and me the third morning that there were still reports of a freak system that we could encounter any time.

We had the radar set to its limits so we could see any unusual seas that we might meet. We constantly watched the skies for any unusual clouds or clear air lightning. Dewey even became concerned enough that he made sure all our life preservers were arranged in the saloon for us to use. Steve, Dewey, and I went through exactly what we should and would do if there was a sudden storm. The first thing was to do an emergency sail drop. This would be messy because the sail wouldn't be rolled up, but just collapsed on the deck. It would take some time to thread each of the lines to hoist the sails again, but getting them down quickly was more important so we didn't break a mast or capsize the boat.

We reviewed all the procedures with everyone who could be on watch and where the emergency alert button was. One push of that button sent alarms all through the boat for everyone to move to the saloon. I felt we were prepared, but we kept hearing of ships getting into trouble. One report said that the sky was clear, but the wind suddenly picked up to almost sixty knots, and a wave nearly fifty feet hit them. The ship heeled over more than twenty degrees, but it recovered and no deck cargo was lost. The report said the storm was gone almost as soon as it appeared.

Nearly everyone was in the saloon after supper That evening,. The bigger kids were fooling with their instruments, the toddlers were playing on the floor, and adults were standing around the bar. Because the weather was so mild, Mercy and Tiani were at the outdoor helm, since they wanted to remain outside until later.

The alarm went off and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I ran for the saloon door, grabbing my life vest and two more as I went by. Mercy hollered that the radar showed something huge off our port side heading our way. She was turning the boat while starting the engines. She had already hit the emergency sail release and they had all dropped to the deck. I made the two girls put the life vests on, while I continued to turn the boat into whatever was coming. The close in radar was showing something huge. I was trying to tell the girls to get into the saloon, but a gust of wind hit us at that moment.

Thank God the sails were down or we would have lost one or both masts. As it was, I saw sail that had dropped, blown off the side of boat, and ripped from the lines. We had managed to turn the boat into this microburst that was threatening to capsize us. We were rolling more than fifteen degrees from side to side. Tiani was squatting down, holding onto my good leg as we were being buffeted by winds. The gauge was now showing gusts of nearly a hundred knots.

I looked around and I couldn't see Mercy. I hollered at Tiani, "Where's Mercy?"

Tiani screamed back that she didn't know, but that last wind gust just about pulled her away from me.

I had the motors running at seventy percent, attempting to head into the huge swells, but the swells seemed to be coming from all directions at once.

Then there was perfect calm. I idled the engines down and kept the bow in the direction where the squall had come from. The radar showed the mass rapidly moving away from us.

"Go into the saloon and see if Mercy is in there, Tiani; hurry."

I let the boat come to a complete stop and checked the radar one more time, then lashed the wheel. I began yelling for Mercy. I heard her plea in my head almost as soon as I was thinking of her, "I'm about two hundred yards off your starboard from you. I'm okay with my vest on, but I might have a broken wrist."

My mind was reeling as I was nearing panic. This was worse than a confrontation with criminals. Steve and Dewey came out wearing their vests, and I told them that Mercy was swept off the boat, and was two hundred yards off starboard. Steve went to unlash the dinghy but it was gone. He couldn't get at the locker where the Zodiac was because a lot of heavy sail and line was covering the opening.

I advanced the engines and hollered for Dewey to guide me. I slowly moved in the direction Mercy said she was at, with one eye on the radar to be sure nothing more came our way. It took us almost thirty minutes to maneuver close enough to Mercy so that Steve could toss a ring to her and pull her to the boarding platform. Mercy was too weak to pull herself up the boarding ladder with one hand, so Steve put her over his shoulder, climbed up on deck, and took her straight into the saloon.

Dewey pulled the boarding platform up and came to me. "Leave the engines on idle and let's see how much sail and line we lost. Let's make sure we don't try to put up sail that is torn or ripped." We began separating the sail to put it back up one sail at a time.

I suggested, "We have spare sail for everything on board. Let's use the new sail and line and inspect the old sail before stowing it."

Dewey nodded in agreement, and began pulling the dropped sail still on board to the side in order to access the lockers with the new sail.

Steve came back out and told me, "Go inside to show everyone that you're still in one piece. There might be a couple of broken bones, but I think the little ones made it through okay. They're being settled down right now. Tina is being Doctor Tina and making sure there are no broken noses or bones. She says that she thinks Mercy just has a bad sprain."

Inside the saloon was a shock. The big kids were trying to straighten out the chairs, music stands, and their instruments. Bonita, Elmer, and Lisa were inspecting each of the guitars to make sure the necks weren't cracked or broken.

The mothers of the little guys had all their kids in life vests, holding them and making sure they didn't have any places that hurt.

The other women were cleaning the bar area of broken glass and spills. Brandy asked, "Do you think it's okay to take the kids to the lounge below? We need to make sure all the broken glass is picked up before they can play up here."

I gave all the women and kids a hug and a kiss. Merlin was sitting on one of the big side cushioned seats, still dazed from the excitement. Beth and Ben had stayed in Hawaii and were going to fly back, but Merlin wanted to sail with us. He now probably wished he had flown back.

Outside, Dewey told me, "Go ahead and begin motoring toward home. Get one of the girls to come out and man the helm, or better yet, open up the inside cockpit and have them operate from in there. Tell them we're going to be threading sail and getting it up. We'll probably roll each sail up at least once to make sure the lines are right.

The one main sail that flew off is laying in the water right here. Let's see if we're strong enough to pull it aboard so we can salvage it.

We talked about how lucky we were to be able to survive something like that as we worked to hoist each of the sails. I told both men that I panicked when I realized that Mercy had been blown overboard. I should have tied both girls to the seats and me. "You know what would be a good idea is to have some inertial reels like car seatbelts have that retract, but can be pulled out and hooked onto our life vests. That would keep the smaller people from being blown off the boat."

We were beginning to move forward when Dewey hollered, "There's our dinghy. Run in and tell Sue to slow down and let us use the outside helm to move to the boat."

Steve was able to gently move the boat close enough to the dinghy, and Dewey threw a ring into the small boat and pulled it around to the boarding platform. We tied new fittings to hold the dinghy onto the davits and hoisted it up to its normal position. I tied it securely to the boat, wondering how high the gust had been that took the little boat from the davits. Luckily no damage had been done to the davits or the railing.

It was nearly one in the morning before we had all the sail up and the engines shut down. We folded up all the dropped sail and stored it in the side lockers to be inspected at a later time. I closed the outdoor cockpit and went into the saloon. Etta and Julie were still using vacuums while going over the carpet in the saloon one more time.

Etta told me, "Your women have all gone to bed. The little ones are no worse for wear, and it looks like the only casualties are Dewey's Bill with a broken arm, Mercy's Michael with a broken nose, and Trixie who has a sprained ankle. The girls put the kids on the floor and lay with them while the boat was doing its contortions. I could feel that you were in control until you realized Mercy was missing. You did the right thing to reach out to her mentally."

We three men decided to have something to relax with after Dewey used the radio to report the microburst we had experienced. As we sipped our Beefeaters, Dewey said, "You know that thing we experienced is called is a White Squall. They are more common in tropical climates, but they have accounted for several boats sinking up on the Great Lakes. There was even a movie made up about it and I think it was called 'The White Squall'. The reason they call it that is because of the huge white caps that rapidly come up without any cloud cover or warning. We were lucky to have been prepared to act."

Mercy said, "I was constantly watching the radar, and the short range radar all a sudden showed a huge wave, but it looked more like some kind of massive clutter. I didn't take a chance and hit the alarm and emergency sail release. The wave was almost on us by the time you came out with the life vests. That we were able to turn into the sea was amazingly lucky. I think we should keep vests in one of the little storage lockers at the outdoor cockpit."

Tina came up from below and came to me for a hug. She said, "I'm sure glad I was here to set a break and do some analysis on Merlin. The man needs a thorough checkup when he gets home. We might even want to put him through some tests as soon as we reach the mainland. He might have some heart issues we can take care of now instead of later."

Etta came over and gave Tina a very un-sisterly kiss before hugging and kissing me. She said, "I think Tina and I have had enough excitement. Why don't you take Julie, Tina, and me to bed, and show us how proud you are of your women."

I did check with Kathy and Nancy at the indoor cockpit to make sure they were okay. Kathy told me, "Trust me, I have one eye on the radar to make sure we don't see that devil again."

The three ladies and I went into the bed next to the critters, and made love for over an hour. Our relief was pulsed through each other as we loved and played. We moved to our big bed when we were thoroughly sated.

Oh my, I was being treated to some real morning pleasure. A mouth was massaging my male part until I was on the edge. A light-brown face appeared above me and with a kiss, said, "You missed last night. Fill me up with high test, Chuck. You need to make sure my son has all the pieces and parts to be Chuck junior."

Maria was grinning and sliding up and down, trying to extract what she felt she had missed. As expected, my body responded and gave her what she wanted. While we were lying there recovering from our bliss, she said, "I'm so happy to be a part of the family again, Chuck. You're making sure I'm full of you and helping me create our son. Juanita is going to be so happy to have a brother. I love you, Chuck."

"I love you, Maria. I'm glad you're home with me and with us. I'm glad Juanita is with us too. Just relax and enjoy our love, Maria. We'll be settled down soon."

Maria asked, "Can I go with you and the family when you travel like this time? I stayed home sometimes because I felt like I should stay to take care of Tina, big Tina, and Lena. I want to stay with the family and have Juanita be with her bothers and sisters all the time. Is that all right?"

"It's perfectly all right, Maria, I need my women and babies around me. I need to know where you guys are all the time. I may have to work sometimes, but I want you all together. The other women want you with them too, so you and Juanita are now where you should be, officially a part of us forever, or for as long as you want."

Maria softly said, "Forever."

The rest of the voyage was uneventful. The kids, Lisa, and I created some more music, but nothing extraordinary. Bonita still didn't want me to help her with her newest creation. She kept working and reworking it. I knew what she was going through as I had done that so many times during my early composing days.

I called John, the boat guy, two days out of Friday Harbor and told him to gather a boat crew to take the boat back to Florida. I told him of our encounter with some strange weather and he immediately said we had experienced a 'White Squall'. He said they weren't common, but they often sunk large boats such as ours when they hit. I told him how we had fared, and he told me, "You would be in Davie Jones' locker if you hadn't been prepared and had practiced or discussed exactly how to handle the burst."

My next call was to CS&S Air Charter to get an airplane out to Victoria to deliver a boat crew and to take us home. It was Star this time who told me, "We were all wondering when you guys were coming back. You know you're missed. I can't wait to see how much your kids have grown."

That choked me up, because I hadn't realized how much the people there enjoyed my kids. "We'll be there within a week, Star. Tell everyone to get ready because we want to have a party."

Star said, "You can bet Steve and Tiny will have a party, and you know Phil will be bragging all over the place. Hurry home, Chuck; we're a little short of instructors and charter pilots."

I had to laugh that we were missed, because Lisa and I, and now Brandy usually took up some slack when they needed instructors. I knew that'd make Brandy smile.

I called our handler the day before we were going to land in Friday Harbor, and was told that he was out on a mission. Now that was unusual. The on-duty handler told me to call back in a few hours for possible instructions when I advised him I would be in Friday Harbor, Washington, in less than two days.

That was a surprise, but not totally unexpected. That service hadn't used me for a while, and they might have casualties or people recovering they couldn't easily replace. I told Lisa that I might be deployed for a bit and what I wanted to know about the new island and house. Lisa knew what I wanted and promised to get that information. She told me, "It's too bad you can't be with us. I thought it would be neat to spend the night out there. It will be our own little hideaway up here. Dewey and family will be close, and we can all enjoy Friday Harbor as a family."

I called the handler as we were motoring toward the Friday Harbor docks. After giving the password within the phrase, I was told, "Your primary handler is onsite with other Agents. You can help if you can get there. This is a serious one. What can you do?"

"Okay, where is he, and what do you need?"

The girl said, "The group is in a bad position and said they had almost immediately been pinned down. I don't understand exactly what's happening, and this one is classified so I don't know who they're after. They can complete the mission with your help if you can get there and provide a counterattack." That's the primary thought. We disconnected as I thought about what I should do. Oh well, I should be there if they need me. I called back.

She gave me the coordinates and as many details as she could. I called back again and asked for a small jet to pick me up at Friday Harbor so I could get to the location in Idaho as fast as possible. I told her to advise whoever was coming that the airstrip was only three thousand feet long. She told me she was activating the Seattle unit to get me to the Idaho location ASAP.

Lisa and Jane were insisting on going with me the entire time I was prepping to go. I finally almost yelled, "No, you two must stay here and carry my kids. Let me do what I know how to do, and you two make babies." I was smothered with kisses before I could enter the King Air that was taking me to Idaho.

As we flew to the nearest airport to where the problem was, I wondered at my insistence on continuing to do what so many have run away from. A Humvee picked me up upon landing at a small cinder airstrip, and quickly drove toward wherever this site was. I had my equipment case and was wearing summer mountain BDUs.

When we approached the outpost, there were some serious guards who wanted to shake me down to my skivvies. I asked them to call my handler without being obnoxious, and I was treated nicely after the call. My handler told me to have one of the men bring me to his advanced position.

My handler turned and smiled at me when I walked up on him, as if to say, "It's all yours."

I looked through their scope, and then walked the perimeter to see if I could detect something they had missed. The common factor here was there weren't as many men as needed, and there wasn't as much explosives or heavy armament as I would have liked to have there.

The people we were supposed to capture were in a log frame cabin with a heavy roof. Agents had been fired upon from inside and told to go away when they approached the cabin. The Agents had identified themselves and advised those inside the cabin they would all be held for obstructing justice if they didn't send out the person they were after. That had brought fire from all four sides of the cabin, and that's where the Agents were when I arrived.

After walking the perimeter, I advised the team leader on site, "Whoever is in the cabin has combat experience because he's cleared his field of fire three hundred and sixty degrees around the cabin. You're not going to walk up on him, but you can drive up on him. I see you have some of the new S&S Humvees. Drive up to the door and even push it in. The rounds they have can't penetrate the vehicle or the windscreens. Use a .50 caliber explosive round to blow the door if you have to. That'll let them know you're serious."

The leader told me, "I don't know if I should use such lethal force on the man. He's wanted for threatening the president and for setting off pipe bombs on school grounds."

"Do your kids go to that school?"

The man shook his head 'no'.

"How would you feel if he was to set some pipe bombs off at the school your kids went to?"

"I'd kill the mother."

I smiled at the man, "There ya go. Consider that this man tried to kill your kids. Let's get him in jail and not have to worry about whose kids he's going to bomb."

The leader nodded and radioed the men driving the Humvee. We watched as the vehicle went toward the cabin receiving intense gunfire. The door flew open as the Humvee approached, and a man aimed a shoulder-fired rocket at the vehicle.

The gunner at the roof-mounted .50 caliber opened up, and the man disintegrated. The explosive rounds destroyed everything inside the cabin until the gunner stopped firing. Someone started hollering from inside that they gave up, and asked us to please stop firing.

The Humvee backed off, but the gunner kept the big fifty caliber pointed at the doorway. One man, helping a second one, started exiting the door. Both had been hit by shrapnel and were bleeding. The nearby Agents ran to them and searched them before allowing paramedics to begin evaluating their wounds.

Several other Agents rushed the building to make sure there no longer was a threat from inside. They came out shaking their heads, and said there were three dead men inside.

I took the photo of the man we were after and compared it to the two wounded men who had come out to find that it wasn't one of them. I went inside the cabin and turned the men so I could compare the photo to them and it was obvious we still didn't have our man.

Back outside, I told the team leader and my contact, "We still don't have the man you're looking for. We need to take that cabin apart to make sure he isn't hiding beneath the floor or went out an escape tunnel."

"No way; we have the place surrounded. He couldn't have gotten past us."

"Let's check anyway. None of the people we have in custody or dead is the man you want."

I had the men searching the cabin take all the crude furniture outside. I couldn't detect any loose boards that might be hiding our man after closely looking at the flooring. One of the men was looking at the rear wall at the doorway to the only other room. He said, "There is a large space between the door and the closet inside the room. This might hide something."

Four men were looking at the area and prying on wood that framed that area. I went into the bedroom and looked in the closet. There was a door visible behind some clothes. I hollered, "There's a door here."

The four men instantly were in the closet, opening the doorway without taking the precautions they should have when searching for an armed man. Thank goodness they weren't fired upon, but were surprised to find a stairway that led below the cabin.

I immediately went outside to direct the men there to go out at least a hundred yards to watch for anyone coming from the ground or moving within our area.

Back inside two men were going down the stairway and I hollered, "Stop! You need to check every step for trip wires or other booby traps that your objective could have set. If you haven't had the training, let one of the men who have been trained go down first. There's no need for us to carry you out in a body bag."

That got their attention and the team leader came in with one of his men who advised me that he had served two tours in Iraq and was familiar with most booby traps. He also said he knew to go slow and be safe.

I breathed easier as he went down the stairs one step at a time. He stopped near the bottom and squatted down to cut a thin wire across the step. He moved down the step and cut another wire a foot beyond the last step. The man knew what he was doing, as he looked at the tunnel's walls and overhead, as well as the floors. He cautiously moved along the tunnel with two men following while aiming their rifles ahead.

I went back outside and walked in the direction the tunnel had been going and continued until I came to a pile of rock that couldn't have been there naturally. The man assigned to watch and protect me became alarmed as I walked around the pile of rock. I motioned him down and moved off to the side so we covered both sides.

The backside of the pile of rocks began moving outward a little. I could see a face and eyes as the person opening the pile of rock was checking to see if anyone was around. My guy who was watching was hidden by brush, and I was on the side the away from the door opening.

The rock door swung open and the man who came from inside startled me with his size. He had to be at least six foot six or eight, and probably close to four hundred pounds of what looked like pure muscle. I thought I should just shoot him and forget about trying to take him in.

My fellow Deputy hollered for our fugitive to give up as he was covered and could be shot when he was fully out of the doorway.

That didn't seem to make the man afraid, and he wheeled around to fire his fully automatic AK47 at where the command had come from. I didn't hesitate and put three rounds into the man's head. He staggered around, emptying his magazine before falling. The problem was that one of the rounds had hit the back of my good leg's thigh. Son-of-a-bitch that hurt. The round felt like someone was sticking a hot poker into my leg.

My man came running when he realized I had been hit. I looked at him and saw his BDU blouse was torn at the arm and he was also hit. I made him stay still while I ripped his T-shirt from his body and wrapped it around his wound. I pulled my own T-shirt from my body and tied it around my leg. Thank goodness it only hit the fleshy part of the leg and not an artery.

The other men from the group came to us in seconds, and one ran for their paramedic. Both the man protecting me and I were patched up in minutes, and in a Humvee on the way to the nearest medical facility. The two men injured at the cabin had to wait for another vehicle to transport them.

My phone was dancing on vibrate in my pocket on the way to the hospital. "I didn't even look to see who it was from, and answered, "I'm fine, it's only a scratch."

Mercy said, "Lisa and I knew you were hurt at the same time, and she almost fainted. Marion and Virginia came running to me and wanted to know if I was in your head. You know you need to keep us in there all the time so we don't have to worry. You close us out and we have to call you to find out what's happening. You have to be more open, Chuck. We all worry about you, including my kids."

"No sweat, Mercy. Just tell everyone that it's only a scratch and I should be back later this evening."

Mercy said, "We might go on home if you're alright, and you can catch another flight or go commercial. Steve says he has some stuff that he needs to do."

"That'll be fine, Mercy. Have someone call to tell me what's going on."

The man who had been hit with me asked, "Are you a Deputy Marshal like me, or are you some other form of Agent like those Secret Service Agents?"