Island Inferno

by Chuck Holton

  The Oasis. 0915 hours

  THE SAND WAS COOL on their feet as Fernanda and Hedi stepped off of the cabana’s porch and headed for the water with their backpacks. Rays of morning sunlight were filtering through the palms, and hermit crabs scuttled from their path as they walked.

  Fernanda looked at her friend. “So you’re feeling better?”

  Hedi was back to her perky self. “I feel better. Perhaps it was that chicken soup I had for lunch yesterday that made me sick.”

  Fernanda feigned offense. “How can you say that about sancocho, Panama’s national dish?”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  Fernanda laughed. “Don’t be. You didn’t see me eating it. Besides, I thought that roadside restaurant was a little questionable. I’m glad you’re better, though.”

  The guys were waiting for them at the water’s edge, standing next to a pile of gear.

  “There they are.” Alex beamed as the girls approached. “The boat will be here any minute. I’ve got our food and other common gear divided up into individual stuff sacks. One for each of us.” He gestured to the stack.

  “Great,” Hedi muttered. “Just what I need—more weight.”

  Fernanda shrugged. “It’ll be a good incentive to eat.”

  “I don’t think we need to worry about that on this trip. We might get shorter carrying these things around, though.” Hedi sighed.

  They dropped their packs on the sand. Alex picked up two stuff sacks and handed one to each of the girls. As he did, he leaned close to Fernanda and said quietly, “I’m very sorry about last night. Please forgive me.”

  She felt herself flush. “Um … thanks. Me too. I guess I just—”

  “Here comes the boat!” Carlos shouted.

  They all turned and shielded their eyes against the sun. Just beyond the surf break, a small fishing boat with a single outboard motor made its way toward them through the waves.

  Hedi’s mouth dropped open. “This is it?”

  Alex laughed. “What were you expecting, a cruise ship?”

  The closer the boat came, the more Fernanda had to agree with Hedi. The tiny lancha wasn’t much bigger than a rowboat, with a blue tarp strung on poles to provide some shade. Even with the subdued waves this early in the morning, the little boat looked like it would surely be swamped before it reached the shore. But the pilot was skillful, and a few moments later it came within ten yards of the sandy beach.

  There, he and a younger boy, who looked to be the fisherman’s son, jumped out and waded the rest of the way in, pulling the boat between them as the swells rolled beneath it.

  “Okay, let’s do it.” Alex scooped up his pack and headed off toward the water. Carlos followed close behind.

  “Here, let me help you with that,” Zack said, picking up Hedi’s pack as well as his own. “If you want, Fernanda, leave yours there and get in the boat. I’ll come back for it.”

  “You’re sweet, Zack, but I can manage.”

  The fisherman and his son held the boat as steady as possible in about a foot of water while everyone passed their packs to Alex, who stacked them in the front of the boat. Then they all scrambled in and found seats amid the gear and extra fuel cans.

  The fisherman and his son pushed the boat into waist-deep water and clambered aboard. Fernanda braced herself as the next wave approached. The fisherman struggled to start his outboard engine as the front of the boat rode up the surface of the wave, then crashed down the other side.

  Hedi looked as if her eyeballs had doubled in size, and she clung to the side of the tiny boat with a death grip. Despite the fisherman’s frenzied efforts, the motor still refused to start.

  The lancha was slipping sideways in the surf. If the next wave hit them as they were, they would certainly capsize. Finally the small outboard sputtered to life, and the boat captain gave it full throttle, swinging the nose back just in time. The wave crested as it passed beneath them, dousing the group and their gear with spray.

  The guys seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves, but Hedi was frozen in terror. Fernanda wiped the sea spray from her eyes. I was crazy to get up early to fix my hair.

  A few harrowing moments later, once they made it past the surf break and into calmer water, Alex stood and gestured to the fisherman at the rear of the boat. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce Vincente, owner of the good ship Pescador and the second best boat captain in Santa Catalina. Please give him a round of applause.”

  Fernanda was all too happy to oblige.

  The white-haired fisherman’s smile revealed a few missing teeth and the fact that he spoke no English. With a slight bow, he opened the throttle and the little boat sped off toward the low, dark landmass barely visible on the horizon.

  “There she is,” Alex said. “That’s our island.”

  A shiver went through her. She didn’t know if it was from the cool morning air, from the thought of what lay ahead, or both. “It looks so far away.”

  Alex nodded. “About twenty miles from here. Actually, the word Coiba means ‘far away’ in the language of the Cacique Indians who inhabited Panama until the late sixteenth century.”

  Fernanda nodded, impressed as usual with Alex’s knowledge. She enjoyed the view for about twenty minutes as the boat sped along. Then she saw a splash about thirty meters ahead of the boat. And another. “Hedi! Dolphins!”

  Hedi jumped up from where she had been sitting under the tarp at the rear of the craft. “Where? Ach!” She fell back into her seat.

  Fernanda pointed at the twin dorsal fins that broke the water in unison and then disappeared again. “There. Look!”

  “Sweet!” Zack shaded his eyes in the direction she was pointing.

  “¡Da palmas!!” Vincente shouted over the roar of the outboard.

  “Is that the word for ‘dolphin’ in Spanish?” Hedi asked, pulling herself hand over hand as she crawled to the front of the boat.

  Fernanda laughed. “No, he says to clap. It must call the dolphins.” They all cheered and clapped as two more of the sleek black animals came completely out of the water.

  “Ooh, they’re so fast!” Hedi clapped. Zack was fumbling with his digital camera, trying to get a shot.

  Carlos sat up, removing his earbuds and looking around. “What’s going on?”

  They all enjoyed the show for another minute or so, and then the pod seemed to tire and fall back. A few more jumps behind the boat, and they were gone.

  “That … was … awesome,” Zack panted.

  Fernanda had to agree with him. This is definitely going in my journal!

  The sun’s rays warmed her back. She suddenly felt tired and checked her watch. They still had an hour and a half to go, so she turned around, put her back against the pile of gear, slid her hat over her eyes, and rested.

  She thought about Alex and about what happened last night. She found him attractive, smart, and interesting. Her mother had always warned her about getting involved with a non-Christian, but really, was it all that bad if you were just dating for fun? Last night he certainly wanted more than she was willing to give, but she was an adult and could take care of herself.

  Fernanda gazed through the weave of her hat and saw him staring at her. A thin smile formed on her lips.

  Mother would have a fit.

  She sat up with a start when the boat’s small outboard motor suddenly changed pitch, screaming at twice the rpms it had been running. But rather than a corresponding increase in speed, the boat slowed like a water skier who lost his rope, settling into the vast expanse of blue. She pulled the hat from her eyes in time to see Vincente hit the kill switch on the motor.

  “What happened?” Hedi’s wide eyes were back.

  Fernanda made an “I don’t know” face, wondering if she’d been asleep. Alex stood at the back of the boat, looking down at the motor. He and Vincente were having an animated conversation, and she could hear enough of it to know that whatever had happened wasn’t good.

  Alex turned back towa
rd the group, his face grim. “We’ve got a problem—our propeller just fell off.”

  Dread constricted Fernanda’s throat as expressions of disbelief and frustration exploded from the rest of her team.

  Alex held out a hand to quell the chaos. “It’ll be okay. The captain has an extra prop. It’ll just take him a little while to put it on.” He shaded his eyes and scanned the rugged coastline, still at least six miles distant. Fernanda followed his gaze. No other boats were visible in any direction.

  “How long is a little while?” Carlos took off his hat and gauged the rising sun with one hand. “We’re going to get cooked if we stay out here too long, brah.”

  But Fernanda had a more pressing problem.

  She’d forgotten to use the restroom before they left.

  She leaned over the side and peered into the dark water. A school of large red fish passed directly beneath their boat, either ignorant or apathetic to their presence.

  This could get ugly.

  The Pacific Ocean. 0945 hours

  FANNING HERSELF WITH her hat wasn’t really helping.

  Fernanda’s watch, as well as the steadily increasing heat, told her they’d been adrift for just over thirty minutes. But her full bladder made every minute like an hour. If something didn’t happen soon, something would be happening soon.

  Carlos and Zack were still napping across from her, and Hedi had pulled out a book and was reading under the shade of the blue tarp. Alex was leaning over the broken outboard engine, scowling, handing tools down to Vincente, who was in the water attempting to attach the new prop.

  The boat rocked gently as Zack woke up and stepped across the backpacks and other gear in the front of the boat to sit next to Fernanda. “Are you all right?”

  She turned to look at him blithely, determined to preserve her dignity for as long as humanly possible. “Never better.” I love being broiled alive on the open sea with six people in a boat the size of a large picnic table.

  “Pretty hot, huh?”

  Still fanning, Fernanda threw him a sideways glance and blew a sweaty black curl out of her eyes.

  He blinked. “What?”

  “Have you always had such a solid grasp on the obvious?”

  Zack feigned offense. “Are you kidding? This is a highly refined skill. In any case, don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll be on our way pretty soon. If not, I say we vote Carlos off the boat and steal his iPod.”

  “I heard that,” Carlos called without moving from his kicked-back perch on the other side of the boat.

  Fernanda laughed in spite of herself. Ooohh, don’t make me laugh!

  Zack grinned. “Anyway, if worst comes to worst, the good professor can call for help on his iridium.”

  Fernanda crossed her legs. “His what?”

  “His iridium satellite phone. He showed it to me last night. It looks like a sort of high-speed cell phone, and it works from anywhere.”

  She nodded. “That’s comforting.”

  The boat swayed again as Vincente climbed aboard, dripping wet and smiling. “Bueno.” He flashed a thumbs-up.

  Everyone cheered, but nobody was happier than Fernanda. The wind had come up a bit, which made for a rougher ride. Fernanda retreated to sit in the stern, where the ride was smoother.

  Hedi and Zack stood in the bow on dolphin patrol like twin blond figureheads, leaning into the forward edges as the craft bounced over the swells toward Coiba. Hedi was teaching Zack the German words for everything they saw.

  Soon the island was close enough to make out cliffs rising from the sea, white spray exploding against their feet. She could see several outlying islands covered with the same lush canopy as the larger one.

  As Vincente steered for the channel between the outlying islands and Coiba, Alex pointed to the largest of the other islands. “That’s Isla Rancheria.”

  Despite her discomfort, Fernanda was awestruck by how pristine it looked. As the boat passed between the two islands, the cliffs gave way to beaches on Coiba that seemed to stretch off to the horizon on her left, while Rancheria on her right looked so unspoiled it was hard to imagine that humans had ever set foot there.

  She smiled at Alex, trying to lighten the air between them after last night. “This is going to be an amazing week.”

  He nodded, the self-assured demeanor once again firmly in place. “I guarantee it.”

  Shortly they passed a smaller group of outlying islands and a small cove came into view on the left. A short pier was visible on one end of a long arc of white sand that ended in a lone steep-sided mountain covered in lush green jungle.

  “There’s the ANAM station.” Alex pointed to a row of low cement buildings arrayed along the coastline. “We’ll only be here for a few minutes while I get our paperwork stamped.”

  Fernanda tried to look interested. “Sure. That’s good.” What am I saying? “By the way, which building has restrooms?”

  “The washroom is in the small building with the water tank on top. It’s behind the long one there.” Alex indicated toward the cluster of buildings. “You can just see it beyond the covered patio.”

  She smiled again and picked her way up to the bow. The water had changed from an almost teal color to light aqua, and by the time Vincente throttled back the engine to approach the beach, she could see rocks on the bottom twenty feet below as if looking through liquid glass.

  She didn’t bother waiting until the keel hit the sandy shore. As soon as the water was knee deep, Fernanda was out of the boat and wading the last ten yards before making a beeline for the spartan his and hers washrooms behind the main building. She’d never been so happy to see an outhouse in her life.

  A few minutes later, when she could finally blink and form coherent sentences again, Fernanda stepped out of the ladies bathroom and heard the sound of retching coming from the men’s side.

  Uh-oh. Somebody’s sick. She looked around to try to figure out who the unfortunate person was but couldn’t see any of their team from where she stood.

  Alex and Zack were fine during the ride. Could it be Carlos?

  The toilet flushed and Hedi appeared at the men’s room door, looking very green.

  Oh no! “Hedi, I’m so sorry you’re sick. Do you think it’s still the food from yesterday?”

  Hedi clutched her stomach, grimacing. “Maybe. That boat ride didn’t help, but I don’t think that’s the problem. I don’t usually get motion sickness.”

  “I hate to say this, but our boat riding isn’t over yet. Alex says we have another thirty or forty minutes to our drop-off point.”

  Hedi lowered her head into her hands. “Noooo! I can’t get back in that boat.”

  Fernanda put a hand on her friend’s arm. “Let me talk to Alex and see what he thinks we should do. Why don’t you go lie down in one of those hammocks over there.” She pointed to a tattered fishnet hammock strung in the shade of two palm trees near the boat.

  Hedi nodded. “Okay.” She shuffled miserably back toward the beach.

  Fernanda watched her go and felt like she was witnessing a car wreck in slow motion. Why did it seem like the trip was falling apart? It wasn’t just pity for her friend feeling so wretched in such a beautiful place. Hedi was the only other girl on the trip.

  How am I going to do this alone?

  Fernanda looked around. Zack and Carlos were nowhere in sight, probably off exploring.

  The captain had anchored the boat by running a line to one of the palm trees that lined the beach. At the moment he was conversing with two other men she hadn’t noticed before. They were sitting at a table on the covered patio beside the main building.

  As she strolled past them, one of the men hissed at her playfully. She sat at an empty table across the patio and pretended to ignore him, even when he remarked to his compadres that she’d be welcome to stay on the island with him as long as she liked.

  Fernanda had never been the type of girl who craved men’s affections, though that was probably because she never ran short
of affectionate men. As a little girl, she had become aware of the power of her looks when she learned that being cute was an easy way to manipulate those around her. But later on, when biology turned cute into sexy, the game became more hazardous, and she had to learn to be much more careful about the messages she sent.

  But apparently for these two men—who she had concluded were ANAM eco-policemen after a glance at their olive drab uniforms—felt that her presence on the island was the only signal they needed. And they were still at it, throwing hard stares and lame comments her way.

  This is getting really annoying.

  “There you are, darling.”

  She jerked her head around and was surprised to see Zack coming across the patio toward her, grinning. “Wait until you see the flower I found you.”

  What in the world? Is everyone loco?

  Then she saw Zack’s subtle wink and realized what he was up to. She stood and threw her arms around his neck. “Hi, sweetie.”

  As they embraced, Zack whispered, “If it will help save you from the sharks over there, I’ll pretend to be your rent-a-date until we get back on the boat.”

  “My hero.” Fernanda kissed him on the cheek for added effect. She hoped she hadn’t overdone it.

  Alex emerged from the door marked Administración looking quite peeved. His expression soured further when he saw Fernanda with her arms around Zack’s neck.

  She felt like an idiot, but at least the bozos at the next table had gotten the message. They suddenly left.

  “What happened in there?” Fernanda asked when Alex slapped a thin folder of papers on the table.

  He shook his head. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say these jokers are under orders not to allow anyone on the island. The boss in there insisted that we don’t have the right forms and need to go all the way back to Panama City to get the correct ones before we can proceed.”

  The fender bender was becoming a seventeen-car pileup. “What? Why? I thought you already went to the office in Panama City.”

  “That’s just it! I was there three days ago and got exactly what I needed, exactly like I’ve done the last four times I’ve come here. But this isn’t the guy I usually deal with.” He jerked a thumb toward the door behind him. “This imbecile is new, and he swears I need some different form. I don’t know what his problem is.”