Red Paint

by Valerie Van Clieaf

  “I’m sorry, Robbie. I didn’t see the sign.”

  “That’s alright, bro. Check behind us. I’m afraid to take my eyes off the road!”

  “I check every thirty seconds. No headlights behind us for over a minute.”

  “You think they gave up?”

  “No, Robbie. Keep driving really fast.”

  “Any word back yet from Bill or the others?”

  “No.”

  “They might be at that cabin where the women are being held hostage.”

  “I hope no one gets hurt.”

  “We’ve got our hands full alright. Check to see if we still have SAT imagining. Pull up a map of the area, okay bro?

  It wasn’t long before Levon had it on screen. “Be careful. There’s a sharp curve to the left right after you come off the bridge. You’ll have to slow down there. Then the road heads left for a bit, then curves right, up the coast to Prince Rupert.”

  They careened off the bridge. Robbie tried to slow the car before the curve, but it was on them moments after the car flew off the bridge. He had no choice but to take it at breakneck speed.

  “Hang on, brother. I’m driving blind!” Levon took him at his word. One hand pressed again the roof above his head and the other gripped the side of his seat for dear life. Robbie took his foot off the gas, trying in vain to slow the car down. He quickly put it back when the car started to wobble. Fortunately, there were hazardous neon warning markers all along the curve which, as the headlights picked up one after the other, was all he had to go on. When the markers disappeared, Robbie reasoned the road continued straight ahead. He took a chance and braked to slow the car, nearly losing it again as they skidded sideways in the rain. He stole a glance at his brother.

  “Good driving, Robbie.”

  That made Robbie grin. “Thanks. Is there anywhere along here we can pull off and hide?”

  “There’s a side road coming up, but no name is given.”

  “Probably a logging road.”

  “It’s coming up fast Robbie. On our right.” They both looked in the rear view. No lights behind them.

  “Take a chance, Robbie. Slow down now!”

  He did. Levon watched the rear-view, Robbie watched for the road. Drove right past it.

  “There it is!” they yelled together. Robbie slowed to a crawl, did a U-turn, drove back to the side road, and turned onto it. He drove in until he found a place where he could do a U-turn. They sat, lights off, well back from the turn off and waited.

  Levon opened his laptop and checked the AERIE feed. There were three posts. He read them to Robbie.

  Dash: We found those motherfuckerz!! Golden Harvest spotted not far from De Horsey Island heading south. 54°05′11″N 130°23′23″W approx

  Ship is sailing too close to shore. Heading right for the shoal across from De Horsey. Can’t figure out where they’re headed. May turn up the Skeena River. Storm is bad now. We’ll have to dock soon.

  “Yes!” yelled Robbie, pumping an arm.

  “I’ll let Alex know. Levon pulled up protonmail and added the ship spotting to Alex’s message and the coordinates. He returned to the AERIE screen. There were a few more postings. He continued reading.

  Sáhkku: u found the ship! Everyone here is very excited!

  rezrozy: One girl has been rescued! We went to the cabin where two others were held captive, but we were too late. Smythe was there, but he took the others to the Skeena plant and they are on the trucks. We duct taped Smythe good and tight and took his phone and the keys to his car. We’re on the way to Skeena plant now.

  hatzoff: You guys fucking crazy??#*?

  rezrozy: We’re taking two cars. We’ll be careful.

  Sáhkku: Everyone please be careful. Perhaps it’s too dangerous. What if you are taken prisoner? Or killed?

  “Shit, Levon! Rosie and Dave and their crews are all going to Skeena!”

  “I’ll warn them!” Levon pulled out his burner and tried to call Dave. “No service!” He started a new posting.

  wikem: DON’T GO TO SKEENA PLANT. Scum from there are chasing us and we’re hiding from them on a side road

  “We’ll have to go back, bro. We’ll have to take a chance. We can’t let them go there.” He started up the car. “Shit! Here comes trouble!”

  The headlights of a slow-moving car turned onto their road and came toward them. Levon’s fingers flew across his keyboard:

  wikem: help we’re in trouble … men after us … found us … we’re somewhere bet. Watson Is. and Rupert near logging road first exit after bridge. Leaving car

  He stuffed the tablet into an inside pocket of his jacket and zipped it tight.

  “Now!” yelled Robbie. They exited the car and ran into the forest on the driver’s side. They hadn’t gone thirty metres when they emerged from the trees into a clear-cut. No cover for them there. They quickly ducked back into the trees and headed for the main road.

  Cartwright’s men reached Robbie’s car and found it empty. There was a quick call to the boss who ordered them to keep looking. Although it would have been helpful to have them on hand when they moved the women to the trucks, Cartwright knew that if they came back empty handed, Kirigin would go ballistic.

  One of them made himself comfortable in the back seat of Robbie’s car. The other one turned their car around and headed back to the main road. In this weather, the punks would either try to return to their car when they thought the coast was clear, or they’d called for someone to pick them up on the main road. They had them. Either way.

  Chapter 19

  Alex’ copter was out in the middle of the inland channel, surrounded by relentless, gun-metal gray rain that pounded into the sea below them. Jim was flying a monotonous, zigzag pattern, heading south east. Alex watched their radar readout closely. Every ship they were picking up was close to shore, probably moored. They hadn’t been at it long when Alex felt the burner vibrate. He pulled it out: 10:45 am. Another message from wikem.

  Harvest was recently spotted heading south near De Horsey Island hugging coastline. Way too close. Dangerous.

  54°05′11″N 130°23′23″W

  Concern for safety of women if still on board. Not sure where ship is headed but it’s close to where the Skeena River empties.

  Who exactly spotted the ship heading south? Not wikem. Not by satellite. Who was out on the water with the storm raging?

  “Okay Jim. New plan. Ship has been spotted south and east of us, near De Horsey Island.” Alex gave Jim the coordinates to head for.

  Jim took off diagonally south and east, full throttle.

  “De Horsey,” said McGee. That’s way below Port Edward.” Alex turned to him.

  “It looks like the captain isn’t putting it just yet. I wonder why?”

  The cabin was silent for a few minutes as the copter rode the storm south. Jim broke the silence.

  “Okay, we’re near De Horsey now. Harvest is close.”

  “Hey! Look over there,” McGee yelled. “I saw the front of a ship.”

  “Where? I don’t see it,” said Alex, craning his neck.

  “I’m pretty sure I saw something.”

  “That’s our ship, and she’s real close,” said Jim, pointing to the radar screen. “It looks like the captain’s hugging the shoreline. I’ll circle inland and try to come around behind them.” He banked left and cut inland then circled back to shore and headed south, doing his best to keep the shoreline visible on his left.

  The copter’s cabin fell silent as the three men searched for the ship.

  “That’s the ship,” said Jim. “That blip in the upper left quadrant.”

  They were rewarded when a tall, red mast appeared ahead and a little to the right, out Alex’s window. Just as suddenly it was gone.

  “There,” said Alex. “Did you see the mast?”

  “I did,” said Jim. “I’ll try to come up alongside it so you can ID.”

  “There it is agai
n. It’s close.”

  “Real close,” said Jim. “We’re right on top of it. There’s the aft deck.” The copter rose, then banked left. “I’ll bring you as close as I can to the side of the ship.”

  Alex clutched his binoculars and watched as first the end of the ship, then the aft deck, then rows of stacked containers appeared below them.

  “Could you circle out, Jim, and come in lower. I can’t see the ship’s name.”

  Jim swung around. The words GOLDEN HARVEST appeared and disappeared in the pelting rain out the copter’s side window.

  Alex pulled out his SAT phone, but service was down. “Radio the other copter.”

  Jim put the call through.

  “Inspector?”

  “Here.”

  “We found the ship,” said Alex. He read the coordinates to him from the copter’s dashboard.

  “Yes!” yelled Brandeis.

  “SAT service is down.”

  “Has been for a few minutes. I tried to reach Stuart and couldn’t.”

  “We figured the captain would berth in Port Edward. Why would he be taking a chance like this.”

  “Judging from his position, he seems to be sailing blind,” added Jim. “No GPS.”

  “Which means Kirigin still has control,” said Brandeis. “If the ship hasn’t berthed yet, she has unfinished business. We have no eyes on those trucks. Nothing on the highway. We followed it to Terrace. I think they’re holed up somewhere.”

  “The women hostages must still be on the ship,” said Alex.

  “They must be,” said Brandeis. “I’ll pull all of the ERT to this area. It’s our best bet.”

  “Circle back Jim,” said Alex, “and bring us in behind Harvest.”

  They rose into the air and headed out over the water. As soon as the ship was out of sight, Jim did a slow turn and came back, hanging back just out of sight behind it. He kept one eye on his radar screen.

  “I’ll radio the Tanu now,” said Jim.

  Half a minute later: “Martin Kwan.”

  “Kwan, it’s Desocarras.”

  “Sergeant.”

  “We have eyes on Golden Harvest.” Alex gave Kwan the coordinates. “How far are you from our position?”

  Kwan conferred with Meighan. “We’re close; about ten minutes from you. Any sign that the women are still on board?”

  “We have nothing yet, but we think that might be the case.”

  “Copy that,” said Kwan.

  Captain Meighan spoke next. He and Jim had a brief conversation.

  “Harvest is following the shoreline down,” said Jim. “No point in the Tanu coming any closer.”

  “Taking away the captain’s GPS is not a smart move,” said Meighan. “Not in these waters. Gonna be hard for him if he’s relying on radar alone for what’s coming up.”

  “That’s for sure,” McGee piped up. “There’s a lot of submerged rocks and shoals! The ship would be much safer out on the waterway.”

  “True that,” said Jim. “But the captain still has radar and use of the on-board navigation system. His navigator won’t know what’s coming, but he’ll know what’s right under him, if that’s enough of a warning. And that’s provided the information the navigation system has for these waters is up to date. It isn’t always.”

  “I find that hard to believe,” said McGee dismissively.

  “Some of the charts that a ship’s GPS is based on are thirty to forty years old,” said Jim patiently. “Not always accurate and not always up-to-date. Some of the rescues we do are precisely because of that.”

  No reply from McGee.

  Alex was thinking about the Skeena plant dockside pictures. What if his friendly hactivist hadn’t taken them from the comfort of his own home. What if he was up here somewhere? Prince George wasn’t that far away. Someone could have tipped wikem off about the Skeena plant. He wouldn’t put it past Kirigin to have SAT coverage of the plant, the dock area, the entrance. What if Kirigin had spotted him somewhere in the vicinity. Maybe the drop-off at the plant had been aborted because wikem had been spotted. It made sense. If the women had been dropped at the plant, that ship would be heading for a berth now, safely out on the open water, cloaked or not. There was a reason the ship was taking unnecessary chances sailing this close to the coastline. Something was up.

  “Kwan, we’re going to do a pass over the ship. I’ll get back to you if I have anything.”

  “Copy that. We’ll move into the middle of the Skeena River channel and radio when we are in position. We’ll stay within a mile.”

  “Jim, do a slow pass over the ship. Get as close as you can to the containers. We’ll look for activity at or near them.”

  “Roger that.” It was coming up to noon. The sky was so dark with the storm that Jim had switched on the night vision lamps. He increased the throttle and pulled forward. The eerie red-orange light bounced off the angry deluge that pounded down around them.

  “Do you think the lights are necessary?” McGee asked.

  “Makes it look like we mean business,” said Jim.

  “Agreed,” said Alex. It was several minutes before the ship was dead ahead. The stern of the boat hove into view, garish in the rain-soaked red-orange light. Jim brought the copter up just behind the ship and hovered there.

  Alex had an idea that would give them the cover they needed. “Contact Harvest on the marine distress band and tell them we got a call from the mainland. A small boat was due into port two hours ago and the family are worried. We understood the boat was fishing in this general area. Have they seen anything? And let them know we’ll be searching the area.” Jim made the call.

  “Did it go through?”

  “They received it.” A light continued to blink on the console. It was almost a minute before someone on the ship picked up.

  “Golden Harvest; Captain Donaldson.”

  Alex noted his tone: harried and upset. Jim relayed Alex’s message.

  “Can’t help you. We’ve had no sign of any boat.”

  “You didn’t get a distress call?” said Jim.

  “No. We did not. We would have responded if we had.”

  “Of course. Okay. Thanks for your help. Just to let you know, we’ll be searching the water in this area. Assume you’ll be weighing anchor soon,” Jim added, winging it.

  “Not just yet. We’re going to move into the Skeena River and wait the storm out there.”

  “That’s a good idea. More shelter from the wind,” said Jim.

  “Good luck,” said the captain. “Terrible weather this.”

  “Over and out,” said Jim, disconnecting. “I think he bought it.”

  “Sounded like it,” said Alex. “Nice fishing by the way.”

  Jim grinned.

  “Our captain is about to turn up the Skeena River. Let’s get a closer look.”

  “Roger that.” The copter rose.

  “That’s a good height,” said Alex. “Lights are on in the covered deck aft. I spot two guys. I can’t see what they’re doing.” Rows of containers stacked six deep loomed ahead. I don’t see anyone in the aisle behind the back section of containers.”

  “There’s a guy,” said McGee, “aft deck; perimeter port side, heading toward the bow of the ship. Can’t see him now. Containers are in the way.”

  “Concentrate on the containers and the aisles between them,” said Alex. “Look for any kind of action at or near them. Row after row of containers passed slowly under them.

  “I’m thinking that the containers where the women are housed have to be accessible,” said Alex.

  “They might not be,” said McGee. “Skeena was a deep-sea port. They would have had use of the container winches. They could have loaded the containers right onto the back of the trucks. Same goes if they’d unloaded at the Rupert dock as planned.”

  “True. But I’m thinking about the long haul,” said Alex. “They’d want those containers accessible. And if
they didn’t unload at Skeena, they’ll have to get the women out of the containers and into boats to get them to shore.”

  “What you’re looking for are Davit Launch lifeboats,” said Jim. “They’ll be bright orange or iridescent, so not difficult to spot.”

  “So we’re looking for activity near the lifeboats. As soon as we clear the front of the ship, circle out and back as though you were starting a search of the water in the ship’s vicinity. With every sweep, try to get us close enough to check what’s happening around the lifeboats and the ship’s perimeter.”

  “Roger that,” said Jim as the helicopter rose and headed out to the sea beside the ship. “By the way, those lifeboats will be completely enclosed.”

  “Good to hear,” said Alex. “A better degree of safety for the women.”

  “They’ll be at various locations around the perimeter of the ship: aft, stern, amidships.”

  “What has to happen to the boats before they’re launched?”

  “Each boat sits in a cradle that’s attached to two closed arms. When the arms are activated, they open out and extend the boat beyond the deck. For that to happen, there are a couple of pins holding the boat in place in the cradle that must be released first. Once the boat is free of the ship, pulleys attached to the cradle arms lower the boat to the water.”

  “You think the captain knows what we’re up too.” said McGee.

  “We have a cover story now,” said Alex. “And if the women are still on that boat, we’re the only thing standing between them and slavery.”

  “They’re the ones who put themselves in harm’s way.” McGee didn’t bother to keep the disgust out of his voice. His remark—which showed a serious lack of understanding of the insidious way human trafficking works—was met with heavy silence. He tried another approach.