Gardens of the Queen

by Nicholas Harvey

  AJ had never been comfortable as the centre of attention surrounding the discovery of the U-boat location but her mother had parleyed it into an income stream for a while, for which she was grateful. It all happened two years ago so she had no idea if the people she met were still reachable. She played it down, shy to offer something she couldn’t deliver. “I did meet a few people I can try and contact but I’ve no idea if they’ll even respond now; it was a while back all that happened.”

  Carlos was excited by the prospect of help with the part he hadn’t planned out very well. “Perfect. One of your contacts must be interested in this, surely? We’re talking about a government covering up a major impact on the environment! People must care about that, don’t they?”

  AJ cautiously replied as no one else seemed willing to burst Carlos’s bubble, “Well… many people are concerned but only a few truly do much about it, and governments, especially the American government, are very slow to do anything meaningful. Usually it takes a catastrophic event to get the ball rolling.”

  Frustrated, Carlos threw his arms up. “Believe me, this will be catastrophic!”

  “I get that,” AJ sympathised, “but getting enough worldwide attention to make a difference won’t be easy and it needs to be in the American press to create any real pressure.”

  Reg sipped a beer, leaning against the wall. “What you need is someone who knows all the press and is used to working with them, rather than you lot trying to figure out who to go to at every paper in every country. Needs to go out on the AP wire to get picked up.”

  Pearl smiled at AJ. “What about your young fella, AJ?”

  AJ shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “First of all, he’s not ‘my’ fella.” She thought a moment. “But I could ask him if they’d get involved – they’re certainly not afraid to take on governments for a worthy cause.”

  “Your boyfriend could help us?” Carlos asked enthusiastically, “Who is he?”

  AJ rolled her eyes, “He’s not my boyfriend. I happen to know a guy that works for Sea Sentry, they’re an ocean environmental group that take on issues all over the world, and they’re aggressive about it. They’ve been fighting governments for years to stop the mass slaughter of sharks for their fins. Jackson works on one of their boats but maybe he can put us in touch with their PR people.”

  “That’s exactly who we need!” Carlos eagerly exclaimed. “I’ve seen what these guys do on the Internet, they’re always being shot at or rammed when they put their boats in the way to stop these bastards taking the shark fins and illegal fishing. If your friend Jackson can help us, that would be incredible.”

  Thomas chuckled. “Pretty sure Jackson thinks he’s your boyfriend…”

  Reg and Pearl both laughed and AJ just hung her head, hiding behind her purple-streaked blonde hair that fell around her face.

  Chapter 19

  The storm was moving south faster than the old trawler was chasing it from the north-east and it appeared to Silvio that the winds and rain were lessening. The rough seas were still hammering them but he could tell they were starting to abate, although the seasick Russian probably didn’t agree. Silvio was dog tired. He had been worn out before the phone call yesterday evening and now, on four hours of restless sleep, he was exhausted mentally and physically. He took another swig of coffee but the caffeine had lost its effect hours ago and the liquid tasted bitter. It also made his tongue feel like it was covered in a weird velvet but the action of sipping kept his eyes from closing, so he kept sipping. The door slid open and he tensed as Mikhail entered.

  “How much farther?” The Russian demanded.

  Silvio glanced at the GPS. “We’ll approach the east end of Grand Cayman in less than an hour and then another forty-five minutes to an hour around the island to George Town harbour. I was planning to go around the south side as the storm came from the north – not sure it’ll make much difference but hoping it’ll be a bit smoother.”

  Mikhail eyed Silvio while he hung on to the console as the boat still rolled and heaved in the swells.

  “Do you have a radio frequency for the Port?”

  Silvio slid from his captain’s chair and rifled through a drawer of maps and books. Selecting one he settled back in the chair that at least made it easier to ride out the waves. He flicked through the pages until he found what he was looking for and reached to the VHF radio and tuned it to 156.7, the frequency for George Town’s port security.

  Mikhail removed the microphone and pressed the transmit button on the side. “George Town port security, George Town port security, this is Explorador de la Reina, over.”

  A short time later a crackly reply came, “Explorador de la Reina, six eight?”

  Mikhail reached over and turned the radio to channel sixty-eight, the general chat frequency and after waiting a moment to make sure the channel was clear Mikhail keyed up again. “George Town port security, George Town port security, this is Explorador de la Reina on six eight, over.”

  The same crackly voice came back, “Explorador de la Reina this is George Town port security, how can we help you this fine day? Over.”

  Silvio glanced around at the rain still lashing the windows and raised an eyebrow at the man’s optimism. Mikhail made no reaction or expression, he simply pressed the button.

  “George Town port security this is Explorador de la Reina under the Cuban flag requesting customs and immigration clearance upon arrival, we’re ninety minutes from you, over.”

  The pause was a little longer this time and the voice less jovial, “Explorador de la Reina, may I ask the purpose of your visit… And… Has any paperwork been filed prior to arrival? Over.”

  Mikhail replied without hesitation, “George Town port security this is Explorador de la Reina, we are marine biologists under Cuban and Russian government papers, no paperwork has been filed prior to our departure, we apologise for the clerical error on our end.”

  There was silence for a long time before a different voice was heard, “Explorador de la Reina this is George Town port security, please radio back on 156.7, channel sixteen, when you are approaching George Town, and we request you fly the Q flag per procedure. The harbour is closed from the storm but we can send a boat out to meet you, please have all your paperwork in order when we board, over.”

  “George Town port security this is Explorador de la Reina, roger and over.” Mikhail hung up the microphone on the VHF radio and turned to Silvio, “I’ll be back in an hour, alert me if they attempt to contact us before then. Do we have a Q flag on board?”

  Silvio thought a moment, trying to recall if they had the plain yellow flag that signifies you’re a foreign vessel requesting inspection to enter the country. “I believe we do, I’ll have Julio find it.”

  He presumed Mikhail was satisfied by his answer as he left without another word.

  Chapter 20

  AJ stared at her laptop computer screen as she sat on her sofa in her apartment. She’d left Carlos and Sydney at Reg’s place where they had a spare room, a bit more comfortable than AJ’s fold-out sofa. They’d decided it was best to keep them both out of sight until they figured out what to do and how to do it. Besides, Sydney needed some space to work on the hard drive. As AJ left she’d been connecting to Reg’s computer to try and figure out how to access the data.

  Now AJ sat conflicted about hitting send on the email she’d typed to Jackson.

  As a crew member on one of Sea Sentry’s ships, the Sword of the Sentry, Jackson had stopped over in Cayman for a week about six months earlier on their way to South America. Early in the week members of the crew had given a presentation about their work at a restaurant in George Town, which AJ along with most of the diving community attended. Jackson Floyd was a tall, slender, twenty-eight-year-old with a close-shaved beard and straggly long dark brown hair, tied up in a ponytail. An American from northern California, he had a soft-spoken voice which emanated passion and commitment when he addressed the crowd. After the talk the crew ming
led late into the evening and Jackson appeared popular with the young girls, who swarmed around him and his shipmates.

  AJ, despite her bold appearance, was generally shy and not at all into the singles scene and dating as a sport. Once the girls flocked around the crew guys she stayed back and was happy to hang out chatting with friends. When she heard a voice say her name she turned and was surprised to find it was the good-looking guy from the crew she’d really enjoyed listening to.

  “Hi, sorry to bug you but I really wanted to say hello. I read all about the U-boat discovery you made. I was blown away when someone said you were here tonight, so had to meet you and at least shake your hand. I’m Jackson, Jackson Floyd.”

  He extended his hand which AJ shook firmly while unable to find any words.

  “Do you still get out there and dive the submarine? It’s a ways offshore right?”

  She managed to regain some composure and conjure an answer. “Hey, yeah, we go out usually once a month when the weather allows – we get a restricted number of permits each year to dive it. Kind of a deal we worked out with the Cayman DOE.”

  He spoke with enthusiasm without being boisterous. “Man, that’s gotta be a thrilling dive, crazy to think the interior is still dry and everything is as it was left in, what? 1945?”

  AJ relaxed; talking about diving was much easier for her than talking about herself. “We’re working on a project to penetrate the inside before the hull breaches, which it will eventually do. The only reason it hasn’t so far is because it was completely undamaged when it went down; they sat it down there rather than it being sunk. Once the decay thins the pressure hull enough the water pressure will be too much and it’ll flood. Hopefully we can safely rescue a lot of the artifacts before then.”

  Jackson was fascinated and wanted to know all the details and the two talked until the restaurant kicked everyone out at midnight. They made plans to meet up the next day after AJ got back from morning dives, and she took him shore diving from cemetery beach. He’d learnt to dive in the cold waters off northern California and hadn’t done a lot of warm-water diving, so he soaked up the abundant sea life, the beautiful coral and crystal clear water. She couldn’t believe he was interested in spending time with her when there were lots of pretty and racier catches, keen to show him a good time on the island. Her diffidence and cautious nature wouldn’t let her see he was thoroughly besotted with her and had no interest in the others. She began to believe when they finally kissed after the third day of spending all their free time together, and he graciously said goodnight without pressing for more. She found him easy to be around, relaxing, amusing and conversation came naturally between them. They shared common interests in the ocean and the preservation of the reefs and natural balance. He had believed in Sea Sentry enough to give up his job at the Monterey Bay Aquarium research department to work for food and lodging which was supplied aboard a ship spending most of its time in perilous waters and situations.

  The week went by swiftly and on the final evening after a dinner party thrown for the crew by the Cayman Islands Department of Environment they walked along Seven Mile Beach in the moonlight with the gentle sea lapping up the white sand over their bare feet. He told her he was having a seriously hard time getting back on the boat and leaving her. She told him she couldn’t be responsible for depriving the cause of such a committed team member, but tears rolled down her face and gave away how her heart felt about him leaving. They spent that last night together, sleeping, making love but never leaving each other’s embrace. He quietly slipped out early the next morning and the Sword of the Sentry left Cayman at sunrise. She woke to find a note where he’d lain in her bed. AJ, a girl who rarely cried and had always taken her time to get emotionally involved, found tears on her cheeks for the second time that night.

  ‘I cannot describe how you make me feel. But know that it is unique and profound. This won’t be easy but I’m all in if you’ll have me, JF.’

  He’d been away at sea since. When they docked somewhere in South America it was only for a few days and there’d been no time to meet up, even if she could take time away to fly down to him. They kept in touch by online video chat and email when they had Internet service on the ship, but the time and distance was murderous. He never seemed to waiver in his interest or desire in AJ but her own self-doubt slowly ate away at her confidence that he’d return – or, when he did, would it be the same? It had been nearly a month since they last spoke.

  She finally hit send, set the laptop aside and went to the kitchen to grab a Strongbow cider from the fridge. No sooner had she closed the fridge door than her computer dinged, indicating a video chat request. She rushed back to the screen and froze with her finger hovering over the enter key to accept. There it was again. That doubt her stupid brain had conjured up, especially over the last four weeks when she hadn’t heard a word from him. Had he given up on her? Or forgotten her? He probably had an AJ Bailey in every country they stopped in, a girl waiting on his email or call thinking they were the one.

  With trepidation she hit enter and a video window opened; the fuzzy, pixellated image slowly cleared and there sat Jackson with a big smile.

  “Hi there beautiful! Man I’ve missed seeing your face, it’s been a mess down here, we’ve been at sea since we spoke last. Our Internet on the boat has been down, we’ve been sending all our reports over the radio. We’re finally in port at Limón in Costa Rica. It’s so good to see you!”

  AJ sat there staring at the screen. What an idiot I am, she thought. He’s fighting shark finning in the open ocean for four weeks and I’m dreaming up scenarios to destroy the best thing that ever happened to me. Being cautious was one thing but being self-destructive was another and she kicked herself for being such a fool.

  “Are you okay AJ?” He leaned in as though that would bring him closer across the web. “What’s the matter? Something happen?”

  She realised she hadn’t uttered a word and pulling herself together she broke into a big smile. “Everything is fine, I’ve just missed talking to you. Well, there’s some stuff going on but I’ll tell you about that in a bit, I want to hear all about your voyage first.”

  Chapter 21

  From the roof of the small police and customs boat the officers were able to scramble aboard the old Cuban trawler. Port security had guided the Explorador de la Reina to an area outside the tiny harbour in George Town where the bottom was sandy and directed them to anchor there. The rain had finally died down to a steady drizzle as both boats rolled around, tied together in the lumpy seas. Mikhail had everyone on deck and they clung to the railing in the stern as the three officers carefully negotiated the precarious boarding.

  The Russian greeted each official with a handshake and offered for them all to go below deck out of the weather. Two of them were in government department coats and hats while the third was an armed policeman in a bulletproof vest complete with Velcro-affixed accessories and an intimidating presence. Errol Watson, a burly brown-skinned Caymanian, introduced himself as an officer of the Department of Immigration and eyed Mikhail suspiciously.

  “Do you have any firearms aboard the vessel or on your persons, sir?”

  Silvio nervously shuffled and was glad they weren’t asking him but Mikhail was ice cold as usual. “No sir, we’re marine biologists, no weapons aboard; I have our papers below if you’d care to get out of the rain?”

  Watson glanced at the other official, who’d introduced himself as Jaden Porter, Customs Department of the Cayman Islands, and with a nod from Porter they followed Mikhail and crew below deck.

  The galley and dining area was the largest room in the trawler but was cramped for nine dripping-wet men in jackets and coats. The armed policeman shuffled about trying to get a spot where he could keep an eye on everyone and the three Russians instinctively noted his every move.

  Mikhail offered the ship’s papers, laying them on the table along with each man’s passport and their Cuban-issued ID cards showing their
government approved profession. Two of them were real, two of them had been created for this trip and one was chosen from Mikhail’s collection of identification papers he used for various situations.

  Watson examined each passport and ID, using the pictures to associate the person while Porter looked at the registration paperwork.

  Watson looked up at Silvio and addressed him in Spanish, “Boat captain, huh? It says here you work for the Institute of Geological Surveys; that’s not marine biology now is it?”

  The man had a friendly smile which said trust me but his question was clearly weighted and Silvio felt a lump in his throat and his voice came out shaky, “We do… We do a lot of work on the reefs.”

  Struggling to find the words and knowing Mikhail understood Spanish he stole a quick look at the Russian. Mikhail blinked. The man never normally seemed to blink – he just held that blank, piercing stare. Buoyed by a touch of confidence that the blink was an affirmation, Silvio managed to continue, “The reefs off our coast, often I take these biologists on the boat to the reefs for their studies.”

  Watson grinned, noting the subtle exchange between the two men. He turned to Mikhail and continued in Spanish, “May I ask why Russian nationals are leading Cuban geology expeditions, sir?”

  Mikhail knew it would be more suspicious if he didn’t speak Spanish as he worked with the Cubans and replied in kind, “Marine biology, sir, we’re working with them in marine biology.” Mikhail was too sharp to be caught out by this wily official but he was slightly impressed the man was good at his job. “We have many cooperative projects with Cuba – both states benefit from our combined knowledge.”

  Watson nodded slowly, switching back to English. “I see, and why, pray, would you choose to travel through this storm to get here unannounced? Surely it would have made more sense to wait a day? What’s the big hurry – our beautiful reefs have been here a long time, I don’t think a day would make a difference?”