The Americans may have figured it out first, but Qin now knew everything. And he would beat them there.
Unfortunately, Qin didn’t yet know that there was still more to the puzzle. And one of the missing pieces was presently scared out of her mind.
45
DeeAnn Draper wasn’t just scared. She was also pissed.
She glared at Caesare with a combination of fear and anger while Anderson stood behind her, cinching two nylon straps in place. The harness was composed of two thick straps running between her legs and up the back side, with two more crossing around and fastening tightly over her chest.
The area below the center plate of her harness left barely enough room for the IMIS vest. It remained on while both Juan and Dulce went through the same ordeal. Anderson cinched hard one more time, causing her body to stumble forward. DeeAnn caught herself against the bare interior wall of the plane.
How dare he, she fumed. How dare he hide this from her. From both of them! This wasn’t some joke. These were their lives Caesare was gambling with. She knew what was involved. There was no reason for him not to tell her. She still would have done it.
Glowering, DeeAnn looked around the cabin. The powerful rushing wind blowing through it filled her with a sense of reality and dread that she couldn’t shake. Okay. She was pretty sure she still would have done it.
Dulce, bound in her own smaller harness, said something that couldn’t be heard above the howling from the airplane’s open door. She seemed to let it go and gazed up as Caesare placed a child’s helmet on her head, fastening it in place. The helmet sat awkwardly atop Dulce’s cone-shaped scalp and she examined the top of it with her long fingers. It wasn’t until the goggles were secured that DeeAnn almost laughed out loud. With two enlarged eyes peering through her goggles, the small gorilla resembled something right out of a cartoon.
Even through her anger, DeeAnn marveled at how calm Dulce seemed to be in the presence of Caesare –– a man she clearly had a strong connection to. She watched as Caesare picked Dulce up in his powerful arms and moved to the other side of the cabin. He made eye contact with Corso and Tiewater, who already had their chutes on, then motioned to the small crates and held up three fingers.
Both men nodded and began detaching the straps that secured them to the wall.
Oh God, she thought. Three minutes! DeeAnn could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate. She didn’t know if she could go through with this. From the look in Juan’s eyes next to her, he was having the same thought.
She had been hoping that somehow they wouldn’t have to jump. That something would change. Maybe Joe would call back from the cockpit that they had to postpone it because of a mechanical problem or bad weather. She couldn’t believe she was hoping for bad weather in a plane!
The last couple of hours had actually been smoother than expected. A break in the storm gave them a surprisingly clear flight and calm conditions. Now, she found herself perversely wishing for the opposite.
She stared nervously at Caesare and raised her voice. “I don’t know if I can do this!”
She jumped back when Corso and Tiewater pulled one of the crates free, sliding it between them, toward the back of the plane.
“You’ll do fine,” Caesare replied loudly. “We’re at a low altitude. We’ll be on the ground before you know it.”
“It’s not the landing I’m afraid of. It’s the part about leaving the plane!”
He examined her calmly. “Are you afraid of heights?”
“I am right now!”
Caesare looked at Juan. “Juan?”
Juan glanced at DeeAnn before replying. “I’m pretty freaked out too.”
All he could do was nod. He understood their fear. Their inexperienced minds racing through all the things that could go wrong. But there wasn’t anything he could do about it. At least not at the moment. The best he could do for them was to make the experience as short as possible. They could yell at him later when they were on the ground.
He looked at his watch and held up two fingers to his men.
DeeAnn couldn’t believe how quickly those two minutes passed. The men had moved all three boxes to the door and unbundled the large parachutes on top. Suddenly, they all nodded to Caesare at once and pushed the first one out into the howling wind. They quickly followed with the next two, getting them all out within a matter of seconds from each other. She watched as Corso and Tiewater stepped back, and Caesare then made his way to the cockpit.
He slapped Joe on the shoulder and shouted something to him. Less than a minute later, DeeAnn grabbed one of the straps on the wall as the plane began to bank to the right.
“Okay. Here we go.”
It seemed to happen in a blur. Tiewater and Anderson moved behind them and began attaching her and Juan’s harnesses to their own. They pulled them in tight to ensure they were secure. Together, they pushed the two forward, with each pair shuffling awkwardly toward the door.
Behind them, Caesare fastened Dulce to his own harness, facing inward toward his chest. Her dark legs dangled in the air as he shuffled and joined them at the door.
Corso stood on the other side, ready to help them out. Through his goggles, he stared down at his watch. He held up one finger to the men and they nodded.
In a fog, DeeAnn yelled to Corso. “Why aren’t you attached to anyone?”
“It would exceed the weight limit of the chute.”
Her eyes shot open. “There’s a weight limit?!”
Corso ignored her and motioned to the men. Tiewater and Anderson both reached around, folding DeeAnn and Juan’s arms in across their chests.
Behind them, Caesare smiled into Dulce’s trusting eyes and whispered into her left ear. “This time like a bird.”
DeeAnn’s heart nearly froze as she peered straight out the door at the blue sky with green treetops far below. The last clear image she saw was Anderson’s hands reaching past her and gripping each side of the door, followed by a hard push.
OH…MY…GOD!
46
A minute later, Joe leaned out from his cockpit seat and looked back through the cabin.
Everyone was out.
He banked into a hard left turn, giving him a clear view of the ground below, and counted parachutes. Satisfied, he gradually leveled the DC-3 and headed back the way they came.
He was surprised to find signs of the storm still visible on the horizon. At that distance, he shouldn’t have seen anything. He didn’t know yet that the storm had once again turned east toward him.
It took less than an hour to realize how much trouble he was in. With nowhere to land before the Peruvian border, he was left with just one very bad option.
He would not make it back.
Two hours later, Joe Marcionek, a sixty-three-year-old ex-Army pilot who had helped thousands of suffering souls by flying in the face of political tyrants…would reach his final twilight.
His last moments would be a fight to the very end, and without a single regret.
47
Echo Pier was located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It served as the primary base of operations for all United States Coast Guard activity in the eastern Caribbean Sea.
Overlooking the Bahía de San Juan, the “Sector,” as it was officially known, was the region’s only Search and Rescue station. It was also the nearest marine dock both secure and large enough to accommodate most of the U.S. Navy’s larger ships.
The six shore units included management of two of the nation’s busiest ports and the protection of over 1.3 million square miles of open ocean. However, at that moment, the station’s commanding officer had his full attention glued to the window. Captain F. D. Arthur watched the arrival at Echo Pier with a touch of anxiety, particularly after receiving a call directly from Admiral Langford only hours before.
The gleaming white hull of the arriving ship was known well at the Sector, serving as not just one of the Atlantic’s primary research vessels, but perhaps its most distinguished –�
� the U.S.S. Pathfinder.
Captain Emerson stood on the ship’s bridge, stoically. He watched as it eased alongside the giant dock, its huge rubber fenders shrieking against the concrete pillars. Heavy mooring lines were lowered to where they were tied around bollards large enough for children to climb on. The dock’s twelve-foot fenders gave up their final protest, permanently coming to rest, pressed against the Pathfinder’s thick steel hull.
Emerson heard the Pathfinder’s diesel engines disengage and nodded to his first officer, Harris. Emerson then crossed the small room and opened the metal and glass door, stepping out into the warm sun. He continued along a lightly painted gangway until he reached the end and then descended a ladder to the ship’s main deck.
Emerson continued down two more levels before continuing aft. When he reached the stern, he stopped to observe the flurry of activity.
Two of the ship’s winches had been removed by his crew, making just enough room on the platform for a twenty-thousand-gallon water tank. This one larger than they’d built before…and for good reason.
Lee Kenwood briefly held up a finger over his shoulder before returning it to the keyboard and resuming his typing.
“Not yet.”
“It’s time, Lee.”
“I know, I know. I just need to finish this one module.” He continued typing hastily for another minute before stopping to double-check his work. When he was sure, he saved the window and clicked another button to begin compiling. He pushed himself away from the desk, rolling backwards and twirling his chair to face an impatient Alison.
“Done?”
“For the moment,” he nodded. “Enough to get things started. The rest I can do en route.”
“Good. Because we’re about to be late.”
“Sorry.” Kenwood leapt from his chair and stuffed his laptop into a backpack. “But believe me, that was something you definitely wanted me to do.” He then trotted to a wide cart holding several pieces of hardware. “Locked and loaded.”
Alison examined the computers stacked neatly on the cart, along with two large plastic containers packed with more equipment and peripherals.
“Fine. What were you working on?”
“I made some progress on that problem we had last time with IMIS getting confused with too many translations happening all at once. I identified the acoustical signatures for Dirk and Sally and am trying to create a filter based on those. It should help us single them out from other dolphin exchanges.”
“That’s great, Lee.”
He shrugged. “We shouldn’t get too excited yet. It’s probably going to take quite a bit of tweaking.”
That thought worried Alison. They were going to need to make it work sooner than that. But instead, she just nodded at his cart. “Are you sure you have everything?”
“Yep.” He patted one of the servers affectionately. “Redundant servers and as much data as they can hold. More powerful too.”
“Good.” She stepped in front of Lee as he began to move, reaching the door first and holding it open for him. Together, they wheeled their way to the elevator.
“Is Kelly here yet?”
“Yes. She and Chris are waiting at the dock. Everything else is packed.”
The elevator door opened and Lee rolled the cart inside, followed by Alison, who pressed the button for the bottom floor.
“So, about this audio signature thing.” There was a slight bounce as the elevator began to move. “How much tweaking do you think it will take?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never done it before. Probably a lot, but we can start on the way.”
Alison nodded. They didn’t have a lot of choice. They were in a rush, but she was worried about the trip for another reason. This wasn’t like their last trip where Dirk and Sally traveled alongside their small boat. That was much slower, but they had the luxury of multiple days, which made the arrangement possible.
This time, they were transporting the dolphins in order to get there faster. Something they had done only once before. On the same ship, as a matter of fact, but it was over a much shorter distance. This time, they were headed to Trinidad, which would take just over eight hours. The tank would be bigger, but still a very tight fit for two dolphins. And there was a finite amount of time they could remain in such a confined space with certain “needs.” It was also why they were swimming alongside them now to reach the Pathfinder in San Juan. It wasn’t something most people thought about, but Alison knew that without a bathroom break beforehand, they would soon have a natural problem on their hands.
The elevator reached the lower floor and opened again, where Alison and Lee wheeled out through one of the building’s side exits, into the warm morning sun. A strong wind blew against them when they rounded the corner of the building. Upon reaching the wooden ramp, Lee stepped around and guided the cart down slowly from the front.
Kelly Carlson ducked her blonde head out from the boat’s small cockpit when she heard the thumping over the uneven planks of the ramp. She’d been in Palmas Del Mar overseeing the purchase of another boat and the subsequent repair of its port-side engine. It still wasn’t perfect, but they weren’t going far, and she’d remain behind to continue the work.
She called Chris out of the salon to help Lee load the servers onboard and secure them for what was shaping up to be a short but somewhat exciting ride, given the morning chop.
Near the stern, Neely Lawton had already boarded. She was waiting, quietly staring out over the water. She didn’t appear anxious or excited. Instead, it was one of apprehension, knowing they were headed back to a place not far from where her father had just died. A place where he gave his own life to save them all.
That they were going back to the same area, and for the very same reason, was more than a little sobering.
A few hours later, Captain Emerson had an equally concerning thought. He didn’t know exactly what they were after, but given the close proximity to where the Bowditch was lost, it wasn’t exactly a stretch to suspect a relationship. And like the Coast Guard’s Base Commander, his orders too had come directly from Admiral Langford, which was unusual. It made Emerson wonder just how many others were aware of their new “mission.”
“They’re here, sir,” Harris said, sticking his head inside.
Emerson stepped back outside through the bridge door and joined his first officer at the railing. Harris handed him the binoculars and pointed out past the pier.
He spotted the Teknicraft aluminum-hulled catamaran heading directly toward them and recognized Chris Ramirez standing outside the pilothouse at one of the forward railings. He couldn’t make out anyone else except the two dolphins swimming next to them, occasionally jumping between the swells.
He returned inside and grabbed the handset, raising it to his ear. When his head engineer Tay answered on the other end, he asked the same question he’d asked less than a half hour earlier.
“How close?”
From the Pathfinder’s stern, Tay nodded confidently. “We’re ready, Captain. We’re done reinforcing the tank and it’s filling now. I’d say ten minutes.”
“Excellent. We’ll need to transfer them as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, sir.” Behind Tay, the heavy, fabric sling swayed slowly in the breeze. “We’re all ready for that too.”
“Well done. Let us know when everyone’s aboard.”
“I will, sir.”
Emerson hung up and placed the handset back in its cradle in front of his communications officer. He returned outside and peered back out over the water, this time handing the binoculars back to Harris.
“Any idea behind the urgency, sir?”
“Nope.”
Alison and Chris watched impatiently from the side of the metal tank while the tall orange winch moved Dirk smoothly across the open deck, lowering him into the tank beside Sally. After some difficulty unwrapping the sling, Tay’s team double-checked the integrity of the tank before giving a thumbs-up.
Behind t
hem, Kelly squeezed Alison’s shoulders. “That’s my cue.” She winked at Chris. “You sure you have everything before I untie?”
Chris nodded, hiding his disappointment. “I think so.” He started to add something to keep the conversation with Kelly going but didn’t know what else to say, without it sounding corny. Instead, he tried to stand there and appear cool while she hugged Alison.
“Drop me a postcard.”
Alison laughed. “Sure. I’ll put it in a bottle.”
Kelly turned and headed for the gangplank. “I’ll be watching the store, so let me know if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Kel. Will do.”
Alison’s eyes wasted no time. She turned to Tay, who was already on the phone confirming that they were ready.
The rest of the crew had begun pulling in the Pathfinder’s giant lines from the dock when Captain Emerson appeared above and promptly descended the ladder.
He raised his voice over the ship’s engines as they rumbled to life. “Dr. Shaw. It’s nice to see you again.”
Alison shook his extended hand. “Thank you, Captain. I guess this makes adventure number three.”
He smiled. “I suggest we don’t count the first two.”
Alison couldn’t agree more. The first time she and the team had to be evacuated from the Pathfinder by the Coast Guard. The second trip ended with the terrible fate of the Bowditch. As Steve Caesare once said, they weren’t exactly batting a thousand.
Emerson turned to Chris. “Mr. Ramirez.”
“Hello again, Captain.”
After looking at the dolphins, Emerson said, “Are we all set here? I understand we’re on a tight schedule.”
“Yes, I think we’re ready when you are.”
“Very good. I’m afraid we have some larger swells than usual, so for safety reasons I’ll need to ask you both to remain above on the main deck. You should still be able to keep an eye on your friends from there.”
Catalyst (Breakthrough Book 3) Page 22
