A Drop in the Ocean

by James Cooke

  This is ridiculous, who the hell doesn’t this woman know? Thought Brian.

  Brian was about to go and find Sarah when an hour and a half later, she emerged, followed by a man carrying a very large holdall. They both got into the car, the stranger sat in the front opposite Brian, while Sarah climbed into the back next to Lucy. He extended his hand to Brian.

  ‘Hi, I’m Ray. Sarah’s told me everything, and if it’s okay with you, I’d like to help.’

  Oh yeah, and who the hell are you, jerk off?

  Brian made sure Sarah saw his frustration.

  ‘Sarah no disrespect but who the hell is Ray, and how do we know if we can trust him?’

  Ray interjected ‘Hey bud, is it okay if I call you Brian? The names Wharf, Ray Wharf. I’m an ex-air force pilot. I run my own charter flight business now, you know, small commissions, one or two people to small airports or landing strips, that sort of thing. I got to know Sarah a couple of years ago after getting court marshalled.’

  ‘Court Marshalled! Oh yeah, how come?’ Brian asked.

  ‘Well not to put too fine a point on it, I was involved in extraordinary rendition flights; bringing terrorist suspects to Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay. At first, I accepted it as part of my job, you know how it is, “just following orders” as they say.’

  ‘So, what?’ Brian replied.

  ‘Well the longer it went on, with the abuses I witnessed, it made me feel bad, really bad. I disagreed with it up to the point where I flatly refused to carry out my orders. That’s when they lost their patience with me and booted me out. I lost everything, the pension included. You see Brian, I’m not a fan of the Government; I know first-hand exactly how unethical they can be in the name of national security. From what Sarah’s told me, I think what you’re doing is admirable and I’d like to help, in any shape or form, if I may?’

  To Brian’s naturally trusting mind, he sounded sincere enough; his story rang true to a point. He didn’t need any more convincing.

  ‘Okay fine, but what’s the big bag for?’

  ‘Ah yes, that’s very observant of you. Well, it’s a long way to this Marion Island, I don’t know about you, but I don’t intend wearing the same undies all the way fella.’

  Brian admitted to himself that he had a point, he was right, so he loosened up a little, cracked a wry smile and shook Ray’s hand. Sarah sighed with relief.

  ‘That’s a great idea of Ray’s, isn’t it, Brian? I think we should stop off at Walmart on the way, we might as well get some Island in the middle of the ocean gear as well.’ Sarah enthused.

  Jesus, here we go again. I guess she might be right, thought Brian.

  ‘Sure, why not? Where the hell are we headed now, Sarah?’ Brian asked.

  ‘To the airfield, of course, where Ray keeps his Cessna.’

  Chapter 16

  Foss couldn’t figure Eghert out.

  She was sure there was something definitely odd about him. It annoyed her immensely that she couldn’t put a finger on it. Eghert appeared to know only too well what was happening before she did, which irritated her. Neither was she impressed by him so far, his people skill’s for a start were non-existent. No doubt he got things done, but at what cost. Things hadn’t been that easy for Foss, getting to where she was in the bureau had been a real challenge, but now wasn’t the time to take the foot off the gas pedal. This assignment would serve as an excellent opportunity, so long as she succeeded, as a great stepping stone for her career. At the moment it was just a case of act the part, feign innocence and report back.

  For reasons currently unknown to Foss, Egherts team had been checking all the major airports going south. Earlier on that day she’d overheard Eghert talking to somebody about South Africa, and that sealed it as far as she was concerned, the chances of it being unrelated seemed impossible. It all seemed a bit odd, and she tried to figure out why that would have anything to do with finding three people whose last known whereabouts was Yellowknife.

  Although she might not have had all the answers she wanted, she damned well intended to find out and report back to her boss as previously agreed.

  Foss had been assigned to her current role by the Assistant Director of the CIA; Shirley Tucker. Tucker was passionate about women’s roles in the upper echelons of government. It had taken her a great deal of arduous work and determination over the years to get to her current position, and now that she was Assistant Director, she was very keen to appoint more female field agents. When her old friend Ann Baker, head of special operations at the FBI had contacted her about a potential candidate, she was only too happy to find Foss a position, which just happened to be working under the lead of Eghert. What Tucker wasn’t fully made aware of, was that Baker was only loaning Foss out to the CIA and that she would effectively remain employed by the FBI.

  Eghert headed up a special team who were primarily concerned with threats to national security of a unique nature. Foss incorrectly assumed they’d be chasing down Islamic terrorist cells, so it came as a great surprise to learn that they were instead using an inordinate amount of resources on a potential UFO incident. Baker’s team had discovered a few years ago that the CIA was involved in some ultra-secretive operations with the authorities in South Africa and the Brazilian government to the extent that certain operations were carried out over and above even the CIA’s remit and not entirely in the best interests of the USA.

  This knowledge came to the FBI’s attention after receiving a number of secret files credited to a retired air force engineer; John Hopper, who had passed away many years ago. In the event of his death, he had instructed his lawyers to have these files sent to the head of the FBI, but only after a period of 37 years had passed. The files made for disturbing reading, implicating a number of people in the cover-up of an incident that took place which was later passed off as an illegal nuclear test. Of special mention within the files were Captain Westlake, Major Trent, and First Lieutenant Eghert. All three were accused of colluding to hide evidence from the Senate Select Committee, contrary to the best interests of the United States.

  The incident in question was thought highly likely to have caused the disappearance of the MS Berge Vanga and the loss of the entire onboard crew, which might have otherwise been avoided if certain precautions and protocols had been in place. But the truth of the matter was brushed under the proverbial carpet, and it was later to become known as the Vela incident. In typical fashion, the CIA had colluded with foreign Governments and national agencies to paint an entirely different set of events at great cost to the American taxpayers over many many years. Baker had been asked to investigate this with the purpose of ultimately holding to account any persons involved as necessary once all the facts were known.

  Baker had been impressed by Foss’s performance at the Bureau and came to see her as her protégé. When asked if she was prepared to undertake a special assignment that would require the utmost secrecy, Foss was only too pleased to agree and with that Baker called her former colleague: Tucker. Tucker and Baker had trained together at the FBI and had remained in contact with each other over the years exchanging information here and there when they mutually felt it beneficial to both organisations.

  When Foss’s application came to CIA Director Westlake, he immediately had reservations about the position, but it was too difficult to stop it without raising suspicion upon himself. He had been left with no choice but to sanction Foss’s new role. Nevertheless, he figured he could keep her on a leash by assigning her to Egherts division. Westlake had no idea that classified files from the deceased Engineer had already been sent to the FBI. Consequently, he didn’t realise what Foss might know about his command of the Marion Island team back in 1979 and that he was at the time Lieutenant Trent’s commanding officer, who in turn was Eghert’s commanding officer.

  In the temporary field office, Foss stood chatting with team leader Harrison.

  ‘How are you finding things officer Foss? I take it Eghert hasn’t driven you insane
yet?’ Harrison asked.

  Foss smiled back, acknowledging the insinuation.

  ‘Between you and me, no not quite yet, but yeah a bit of a challenge.’

  There was no one in immediate earshot, and Foss felt safe to carefully probe further.

  ‘So how long have you worked with Eghert?’

  Harrison was in his mid-forties, still single and fancied himself as a ladies man. Since Foss had joined the team a few weeks ago, he saw her as fair game. He took a step closer and inhaled Foss’s perfume. Her long silky black hair glinted in the overhead lights. Foss’s captivating green eyes were accentuated beautifully by a discreet amount of makeup and Harrison’s lecherous thoughts went into overdrive.

  ‘I’m sorry, what did you say?’

  Foss wasn’t too happy about Harrison being in her face and increased the distance by moving towards the coffee machine.

  ‘I was asking you how long you’ve worked with officer Eghert?’

  Harrison stiffened up a little, taking the hint.

  ‘A few years now, I guess. You’ll soon get used to him, it’s just his way. We’ve gotten used to his mood swings, just part of the job I suppose.’

  A bit noncommittal, which is fair enough I suppose, he doesn’t know me thought Foss.

  ‘That’s right, early days yet.’

  Foss finished her Starbucks and went into Eghert’s office, through an open door. Eghert sat staring into space.

  ‘Excuse me, sir; there’s been nothing reported at the major airports so far, shall we carry on with surveillance?’ Foss asked.

  Eghert preoccupied, threw Foss a churlish glance.

  ‘Okay but for fuck’s sake keep that to the minimum level, let the local boys do their stuff. I want all the minor airports around here checking, see if anything stands out from the ordinary. God, you’ve got a lot to learn Foss.’

  Foss let it ride and thought, just you wait, I’ll nail your ass yet, you arrogant bastard.

  ‘No disrespect sir, but that’s going to take days if not weeks. I think there are probably hundreds if not thousands of airfields between here and Mexico.’

  ‘Really, is that so Foss, so you’d better get cracking then, eh? Co-ordinate things with that dip shit team-leader Harrison and have them contact me if anything turns up. I’ll be in my office if you need me.’ Eghert replied brusquely.

  Foss felt genuinely pissed that someone like Eghert could be on the taxpayers’ payroll and yet here he was barking out mad-cap orders. Eghert seemed cocksure that the suspects would be flying and due south at that. Foss then remembered her brief from Baker; just observe and report back, for the time being anyway. We’re gonna nail those sons of bitches, eventually.

  Chapter 16

  Sarah sat up front with Ray, while Brian and Lucy took the two rear seats in the Cessna. Shortly after 7 a.m., they were cruising South at 6000 feet at 160 m.p.h. Brian tried to work out roughly how long it might take to reach Houston, let alone Mexico or South America, on his iPhone calculator. Realising Ray wouldn’t be able to hear him unless he was wearing a headset, Brian tapped Sarah’s shoulder and gesticulated in a child-like fashion, that he wanted to talk with Ray. Sarah leaned over and handed Brian a spare headset already connected.

  ‘Sorry to bother you Ray, but can I ask, what’s the range of this plane and how far did you say Houston was?’

  ‘No problem, buddy. Well let me see, fully fuelled up and with four people, it’s about eight-hundred miles give or take a hundred, and Houston is about another seventeen-hundred miles from here. So, I’m afraid we won’t make that in a day. Hell no, it’s going to be two or three stops for fuel, besides I can only fly for so many hours a day, checks need to be made on the plane and all that, so I’d say three or four days to play it safe.’ Ray explained.

  Sarah, on overhearing the conversation, shook Brian’s arm.

  ‘Brian is that thing still switched on, you should turn it off. They could be tracking us right now.’

  She was right, something that never occurred to Brian, despite seeing it done in countless movies.

  ‘Yes, of course, you’re right, sorry I didn’t think of that.’ Brian replied, switching his iPhone off.

  ‘That’s okay; it’s just that I’ve been in this kind of situation before, not in a plane of course, but having my phone tracked. You have to learn how to be invisible, as it were, off the grid as they say.’

  ‘It all sounds a bit spooky to me Sarah, after all, I’ve got nothing to hide.’ Brian replied.

  ‘Come off it Brian, are you forgetting who you're sat next to. Right now, you’re probably the most wanted man in the world. If we are to stand any chance of getting Lucy to where she’s got to go, the last thing we need is a load of grief from the spooks. Did you noticed I said, “where she’s got to go”? Can we all not mention that from now on please, “where we are going,” all agree?’ Sarah asked.

  ‘Sure, got it,’ Brian replied. Ray also nodded his head in agreement.

  ‘I can’t thank you enough Ray, and I’ll see that I cover your costs. Where’s our next stop?’ Sarah asked.

  ‘Sarah, believe me, if I had any doubts about this I wouldn’t be here, besides how often do you get the chance to escort a….’, Ray hesitated, ‘a special person to a certain place if you catch my drift.’

  Just at that moment, Ray caught the first glimpse of trouble.

  ‘Hey guys, I think we’ve got company, over there on the right. See the chopper; it’s been following us for the last ten minutes.’

  Lucy and Brian glanced across at the black chopper, it appeared to be military as it clearly had dual rocket launcher pods attached to each mini-wing.

  ‘Shit Ray, what can we do?’ Sarah exclaimed.

  ‘Not a lot I’m afraid, we can’t outrun it, let’s just hope they might go away after checking us out.’ Ray replied.

  That proved to be wishful thinking, the chopper hailed Ray’s plane and asked for identification. Ray responded, saying it was a business flight, but when asked for the occupancy, he hesitated.

  We all heard the next command over the intercom.

  ‘Cessna B234, you are ordered by the state of Idaho police department, to land at Drummond airport, immediately, is that understood? Over,’ came the response.

  Ray didn’t have a lot of options.

  ‘This is Cessna B234, message understood, setting a new course for Drummond over.’

  Ray switched our intercom system back into private mode.

  ‘Listen, guys, we don’t have a lot of time, I think I can lose them near the airport. I’ll make a slight detour and land near the town, you three jump out as soon as we touch down and make a run for it. I’ll take my chances if and when they catch up with me.’

  Ray could already see the airport ahead and pushed the joystick forward to make a rapid descent.

  ‘Hold on folks; this could get bumpy.’

  The police chopper followed closely behind. As Ray approached the runway, the police chopper veered off to land at another part of the airport. When Ray saw this, he pulled up sharply and accelerated away north to Highway 90 and headed straight for Main Street. The plane pinned us down into our seats.

  ‘Jesus Christ Ray, what the hell are you doing?’ Sarah screamed.

  ‘Sorry guys, just sit tight, I know what I’m doing. See, there’s no traffic, perfect.’

  Brian closed his eyes, praying everyone would survive. Lucy, meanwhile, sat quietly, totally un-phased by Ray’s flying. She sensed Brian’s anxiety, and so reached over and placed her hand on his, which gripped the armrest like a vice. It was a sign that she had empathy and cared for Brian’s well-being. Brian immediately felt better for it.

  Ray touched down at a hundred miles per hour and stood on the brakes as hard as he could. The plane slewed left then right as Ray fought to keep it straight, and then he saw the problem up ahead, a huge eighteen-wheeler barrelling straight towards him; its lights flashing and horns blaring away.

  He swerved seconds b
efore impact, off the main road, and into a field.

  The big rig flew past without stopping, horns blaring. The plane eventually came to a grinding halt. Nobody was physically hurt, but they were pretty shaken up, apart from Lucy who remained calm throughout the whole ordeal.

  After piling out of the plane, Ray asked everyone to follow him to a side street leading off the main Road into Drummond.

  ‘Brian, isn’t this a bit odd?’ Sarah asked. Brian shrugged his shoulders as if to convey an assumption that Ray was familiar with the area.

  They had just walked past a black Suburban parked a bit further up the side street, when all of a sudden, the doors flew open, and several men dressed in matching black suits with white shirts quickly jumped out and drew their handguns. Sarah instinctively froze while Brian grabbed Lucy’s hand. One of the men approached Ray and had a discreet conversation, before shaking his hand. After realising was what happening, Sarah shouted, ‘What the fuck! You bastard Ray, you sold us out, and all this time I thought that we could trust you. That cock and bull story about Guantanamo Bay was all just bullshit then?’

  ‘Sorry, Sarah no hard feelings but I’ve got to earn a living like everyone else, nothing personal. Oh, Guantanamo was real if that’s any consolation.'

  Before a slanging match could ensue, the boss goon said to Sarah, ‘Please get in Miss, don’t make this difficult, you too sir,’ and with that said, he motioned for Brian, Sarah and Lucy to get into the Suburban with his gun. Two other goons accompanied them and quickly drew down the blackout blinds.

  The Suburban chirped its tires, as the driver headed off at speed. After a couple of hours of non-stop driving, Brian could just see enough through the gaps in the blinds, that they had long left Drummond and the main highway. Now they appeared to be going down a rough potholed road, Brian judged from the bumpy ride. He couldn’t see anything but rundown buildings, only a few of which had any lights on. He figured that they were in a different part of town or a different one altogether. Eventually, the Suburban came to a halt, and then the blinds went up. Brian thought it was twilight outside, but his watch said six-thirty, so he reasoned sundown wasn’t due for another two to three hours. Something doesn’t feel right thought Brian, I just can’t quite work where we are. It was only when they had come to a stop, and they were ordered out of the vehicle, that Brian and Sarah could see that they were in fact inside a building of some sort; a derelict warehouse judging by the dozens of broken windows and general debris scattered all around.