by Dale Mayer
“Of course not. It’s top secret need-to-know information that we obviously don’t need to know,” Lennox said, with a laugh.
“Well, is it a secret because they’re killing people who have washed ashore or—?” Keane shook his head. “That’s pretty far-fetched. It’s not as if either of our two missing women washed ashore around here anyway. Their sailboat was quite a ways away, and they went overboard at least seven nautical miles from here.”
“Way too far to allow for currents or even swimming to bring them here,” Lennox said. “It doesn’t make sense. Yet you and I both know that logic doesn’t always enter these events.”
“Agreed. So, if they were here, why would that be? How did they get here? And, of all places, why would somebody bring them here?”
“Unless someone was trying to help them but didn’t want anybody to know because it would reveal where he is, maybe?”
“In which case we could be dealing not with an installation so much but maybe some loner.”
“A prepper maybe?” Lennox asked, with a laugh.
“Out here?”
“Well, maybe not so much out here, but you never know, right? People choose places for their last stand all over the Earth.”
“You’d think it would be more inland, where you could grow things and have animals for food,” Keane said.
“Still, you have the ocean, which will give you pretty well everything you need anyway,” Lennox replied sarcastically.
“Except for fresh water. The island sounds much dodgier either way,” Keane said.
“True. I would think, if I went the prepper route, I would want to be on land. With fresh water around me, not the ocean. I would prefer lakes and streams, and lots of wilderness for the animals.”
“Exactly. But a lot of crazy people are in the world, and a lot of people just want to be alone. This is a great place for people who want to be undisturbed.”
“We’re still guessing anyway.” Lennox chuckled.
At that, Keane’s phone buzzed. He checked it to see a text message from Nico.
Any news?
Quickly Keane tapped in a response. Stopped for the night due to darkness. On the largest island, the last on our checklist for an immediate search. Nothing so far. Starting at first light.
Good enough, Nico replied.
Any further word on the distress call?
Nothing.
“This whole thing is basically a waste of time,” Lennox said, after Keane read the message out loud.
“It is, but, at the same time, although our mission is for a grim reason, it is nice to be out here again,” he admitted. “After too many missions and too much training, you can kind of forget why you went into the navy in the first place.”
“Because we love water? Because we love to be of service to our country? Because we’re natural-born protectors?”
“Yeah, all that and more,” he said. “Look at us. We’re sitting here. We could easily be more sheltered backed up against the rocks, but we’re down here close to the water, where I can watch the way the moonlight ripples across the waves. It looks like a storm is out there, and, if it crashes in on us, we’ll be damned pissed off about it,” Keane said with a laugh. “But, right now, this is pretty magical.”
“I know,” Lennox said. “I used to go camping with my dad all the time. We’d find a little island like this and just set up for the night. We’d stay, have breakfast and explore a little bit. Then we’d hop back into our boats and head to the next place.”
“Most people, when they say camping, are really thinking road trip,” Keane said with a chuckle.
“In our case it was boat trip,” he said with a smile. “I was nearly born in a kayak for God’s sake. They headed for land, and my mom gave birth to me, six weeks early,” he said with a laugh. “They stayed for a couple days for her to recover and to adapt to having a newborn around. Then back in the kayaks they went and headed for home again.”
“At least they went home,” Keane said, laughing. “But that’s very much the pioneer mind-set.”
“Right. That was about all they had back then,” he said with a smile.
“Well, we need to get some shut-eye so we can get an early start.”
“I’ll take the first watch,” Lennox said.
Keane nodded, got up, taking his sleeping bag with him in case he got cold in the night, and walked farther up the shore to lay down in the warm sand. Using his bedroll for a pillow right now and crossing his arms over his abdomen, he closed his eyes. His last thought was that, if those two women were out here somewhere, he sure as hell hoped they were high and dry and a long way away from the latest storm threatening to break over the top of them.
Otherwise, their night would get much worse.
Chapter 4
The thunder woke her first. Sandrine opened her eyes to a black sky and the crashing of thunder somewhere a long way away. But, as she heard a thunder crash the second time, she confirmed the storm was getting closer. She bolted to her feet, noting the air had chilled. Although she was currently warm, she could see it wouldn’t stay that way. And it wouldn’t stay dry either. She walked to her clothes and found her T-shirt and jeans were dry and quickly got dressed. She pulled on her socks and her shoes, even though they were sandy. Not knowing what the night would bring, she wanted to be ready. She quickly went to Brenda, and, reaching down, she gently woke her friend.
Groggy, Brenda looked up at her. “What happened?” she asked.
“We’re outside. I need you to get dressed and warm again. Our clothes are dry,” Sandrine said with a smile.
Her friend’s words sounded fuzzy and indistinct. Some of Brenda’s words made no sense.
Sandrine gently helped her friend and slowly pulled the T-shirt on over her head and then got her into her jeans. She put on Brenda’s shoes and socks, like for a child. When she finished, Sandrine got Brenda up again and helped her into the little shelter they had. She left the doors open but propped Brenda up against one of the rock walls. “We have a little bit of food,” she said, “but we don’t have any water.”
As soon as she said that, Brenda, her voice dry and hoarse, rasped out, “I need a drink.”
“I haven’t seen our mysterious guy again,” she said. “At the moment we don’t have anything to drink.” And she hadn’t gone looking for any water source either, and she kicked herself for it now. Though she didn’t want to leave Brenda alone either.
Clearly a storm was coming—and fast. She wanted to bury her head and cry but tried to say calm. Opening the bin with the food, she put it all onto the lid, and set it inside the shelter. Just in case there would be rain here, she wanted to put the empty container outside to catch fresh water for them. As she stepped outside, it started to rain. She quickly stepped back inside and watched for a moment to see if any particular area was better where water might pool. The rain hit the rocks and ran off at one particular spot, so she quickly placed the container underneath, hoping to get at least a little bit for drinking water.
When it began raining in earnest, it came down in a heavy deluge. The only good news was the fact that she was gathering some water. She quickly moved the biscuits and fish onto a rock inside their shelter and put the lid outside as well. They would need all the water they could possibly get. She held it up off to the side, using it almost like a slope to run water into the big container. She was just far enough under the shelter that only her arm got wet. She stood here for a long moment, watching Mother Nature completely obscure the world around her. Behind her, she heard Brenda call out.
“It’s so beautiful.”
Sandrine looked over, but her friend was smiling, as if staring at something completely different than what Sandrine saw. “Just lie down, Brenda. You need to sleep.” Sandrine was worried.
Brenda turned her face, still smiling. “I’m so happy to be here,” she said.
Sandrine stared at her friend, overwhelmed with fear. The two of them had been friends for
over a decade now. Whoever would have thought they would end up in this scenario? Sandrine had to hold it together and do anything she could to help her friend. Right now water was their most pressing issue, and Mother Nature was very kindly assisting them with that. If they could eat and drink a little, it would help.
Then Sandrine had to find that guy and see if there was a way off the island. If he had a boat, maybe she could pay him, although she couldn’t give him the money until she made it back home again. But she had money at home, and Brenda’s whole family was wealthy. They would definitely get her home, if they could. Maybe this guy had a cell phone or a radio. There had to be some way to contact people. He had a plastic container for Christ’s sake—that had to come from somewhere. He came from civilization, and, if he came from civilization once, then surely he had a way to get them back again.
Just sitting here and waiting for Brenda to recover or die was killing Sandrine.
She stared out at the rain as it poured and poured, and then, just like that, it slowed to a trickle. She stepped out and picked up the bin. Walking along the edges where the rocks were still dripping, she collected as much of it as she could. The container was half full by the time she was done, and that was huge.
Bending underneath one of the rocks, she took several drinks as it filled her mouth and then took a long drink from the container itself. Walking back inside, she gently held a corner of the container to Brenda’s mouth and helped Brenda get a drink as well. After several long sips, Brenda smiled and said, “That’s great coffee.”
“I wish,” Sandrine said. “But here is a bit of fish and some biscuits, so let’s eat.”
She carefully broke off some of the cooked fish and fed bits and pieces to her friend. Sandrine split the fish as fairly as she could, and, since there were two biscuits, they each had one. And then with the water Sandrine had collected, the women managed to get it all down. Although it wasn’t the best meal in the world, it tasted fantastic because she was desperately in need of nourishment.
With some food in her stomach, Brenda laid back down, mumbling and talking to herself.
Sandrine reached out and, lacing fingers with her friend, just sat at her side. “Rest,” she whispered. “Try to sleep if you can.”
And finally, after a deeply troubling conversation with herself, Brenda curled up in a ball and went to sleep again. Sandrine had napped outside in the sun, and the last thing she felt like right now was sleeping. She wanted to explore but was worried about leaving Brenda behind. But reality won out.
She could sit here and watch her friend die, or she could try to get her some help. The head injury didn’t look that bad on the outside, but she wasn’t so sure about what was happening on the inside. Like swelling on the brain? The worst thing would be for Brenda to die and for Sandrine to find out afterward that some simple medical care could have fixed it. She partially closed the shelter doors so that Brenda couldn’t be seen from the outside. Then Sandrine stepped out. The sand had absorbed all the rain, but only the top was wet, and everything underneath was dry. She headed down to where she could see the beach and stood there, staring out over the vast ocean.
The storm had left behind clouds that blanketed any sign of other landmarks other than just a great big churning ocean. All she could see was a small bay that wasn’t more than fifteen yards across with white sand and the rough ocean crashing up on the beach and pulling back again. No way to know where the man had gone to. Sandrine’s worst thought was that he had taken off in his boat and had left them behind. But she had no reason to think that somebody would be so cruel. Yet, at the same time, they had been locked inside what amounted to a cave. Why were they stuck in a small shelter like that?
Of course she wasn’t still a prisoner, but, with no other way to get off the island, the stranger hadn’t needed to put a two-by-four across the doors. They were stuck here anyway. Hating the sinking feeling that they were completely isolated on this island, she decided that, rather than stand here and worry about it, she would check and make sure she wasn’t missing something else.
With the sky darkening, she headed to the far side of the beach, looking steadily out over the ocean and then back up to the rocky cliffs. She couldn’t see any side valleys or ways to get out other than what appeared to be some stairs cut into the rock.
She walked all the way around this little beach, all forty-five feet of it, past the opening that led to the tiny bay where Brenda still lay, and then came back to the stairs. With the rocks and the waves cutting her off elsewhere, at least without a boat, these stairs were the only way out. And they went up. Taking a deep breath, she moved slowly and carefully as the stairs were wet and had no railings or any handholds. She got halfway up and looked down, then caught her breath and leaned against the rock wall.
“Don’t look down. Don’t look down,” she mumbled to herself. She kept going up because it was really her only option, other than the sea.
She was terrified of going back down again. As soon as she came around a little bit of a corner, it widened and became a much shallower incline. At this point she was quite comfortable climbing, as rock was on both sides. As she came through by the cliff’s edge yet up to the top of the island, she could see more trees and foliage and still more rock, but no houses, no signs of human habitation. She frowned as she walked around the surface.
Where the hell were they? How had they arrived here? And who was the man who had brought them that bit of food?
As far as she could see out over the ocean, absolutely nothing was out there. Nothing was nearby. They were caught on an uninhabited island. Stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere, with water on all sides. For the first time she began to realize just how truly isolated they were. Not only isolated but alone. She walked around on the topmost edge as best she could, but nothing more was to be found, no matter where she stood.
Behind her were more hills, more rocks and more trees. She walked a little bit farther but didn’t want to go too far because of Brenda and the encroaching darkness. Deciding that she’d searched enough for the moment, Sandrine headed back to the stairs. Going down step by step and hanging on to the rock face, she made her way again to the sandy shore and stood, looking at the ocean for another long moment, feeling the vast uncertainty of her future. Something was so incredibly awe-inspiring about nature, but it could also make you feel like a tiny insignificant speck in the whole scope of things. They were stranded here, and nobody seemed to give a damn that they were here. Not quite true, considering that the one man had brought them food and had let them out of their cave prison cell.
He must have wanted them to survive, so surely he’d be back again. She’d been so certain that he had to be somewhere on the island. But what if he had left, and now they were here all alone? Shaking her head, she returned to the shelter as the darkness settled all around her. Hopefully in the morning things would look better. But, for the moment, the situation looked pretty dire.
As she got to where Brenda lay curled in a fetal position, Sandrine propped open one of the double doors with a two-by-four, like they had a floor-to-ceiling window. They needed to stay warm tonight, but she didn’t want to be completely closed inside either. She was grateful that she could dry their clothes and that they had managed to warm up in the sun, but now it would be them against the elements.
Although they were winning at the moment, Sandrine wasn’t too sure she could count on that continuing. It wouldn’t be an easy night. But, if she could get Brenda through it, there was a much better chance of her being better tomorrow. With that thought in mind, Sandrine wrapped her arms around her friend to keep her warm and closed her eyes.
He woke to a storm crashing overhead.
Keane hopped to his feet to see Lennox with the boat flipped over and up higher on the sand. “We need shelter,” he called out.
Lennox called back, “I’ve got a small pod tent here.”
They quickly snapped it out of its casing and inflated it really fast.
With both of them underneath, they were out of the worst of the rain.
“Where did that storm come from?” Keane asked.
“No clue,” Lennox replied, “but it sure came up fast. Hopefully it’ll disappear that way too.”
The rain itself wasn’t a problem, but hypothermia was. They were both seasoned travelers and outdoorsmen, so they would be fine, but Keane couldn’t help but think of the two women and how they were faring. The storm carried on for a good forty-five minutes. Absolutely no way could the women stand up to these conditions with no resources. If they were alive, that is.
Luckily the storm finally moved on, yet it was still dark. “Any idea what time it is?”
“No, but it’s got to be at least four in the morning,” Lennox said.
“Well, I was planning on getting up soon anyway.”
“Right, but we won’t be going anywhere, until this dries up a bit, and we can see.”
“We may as well eat then,” Keane said.
“If you want to get the food out,” Lennox said, “I’ll pack this up, so we’ll be ready to start exploring at first light.”
And that’s what they did. Just a few minutes later they were eating protein bars, an orange, some beef jerky, and they each had a hot cup of coffee, using a small single-burner cooktop. Instant coffee, of course, but it was something. And they would take something in these circumstances any day.
With one last look at the storm moving across the ocean, Keane said, “I sure hope they managed to miss out on that.”
“Let’s hope they’re not even aware that a storm passed through,” Lennox replied. “It could be a shitty deal for them, depending on their circumstances.”
“I think the worst thing would be floating out in the ocean and waiting for somebody to pick you up.”
“Especially without training or supplies or equipment,” Lennox said.
After breakfast, everything was quickly cleaned up and packed away. Next, they took a serious look at where to start.
