Operation Orca

by Ron Roy

  As the man passed him, Dink noticed words on the back of his shirt: COOL POOL BROTHERS.

  The man hurried down the steps and got into a white van parked out front. COOL POOL BROTHERS was painted on it. Under the words was a picture of children splashing in a swimming pool.

  Dink watched the man pull away into traffic. “Did that guy look familiar to you?” he asked Josh and Ruth Rose.

  “Nope,” Josh said.

  Chester, the hotel manager, was in his office sitting at a desk. A TV was showing a soccer game. The office also held a sofa and a small fridge.

  As they approached the counter, Dink saw Chester open the desk’s drawer and drop something inside. To Dink, it looked like a stack of money.

  “Hi, Chester,” Ruth Rose said.

  Chester locked the drawer, put the key in his pocket, and walked over to the counter. “Welcome back,” he said. “Did you find Rafe Johnson okay?”

  “Yes, and he took us out to see some orcas!” Josh said.

  “We saw a baby one!” Dink said.

  “We’re going back out tomorrow,” Ruth Rose said.

  “Great,” Chester said. “Rafe really knows a lot about whales.”

  Just then a stranger brushed past the kids at the counter. He was tall and wore khakis, a pressed shirt, and sunglasses. The man stuck his hand out over the counter. “Any mail for me, Chester?” he asked quietly.

  Chester smiled at the man. “Hi, Mr. Turner. I wasn’t expecting you for a couple of weeks,” he said. Chester handed him an envelope.

  The man studied the envelope, then sighed and walked toward the elevator.

  “How long will you be staying, sir?” Chester asked. But he didn’t get an answer. The elevator doors opened, and the stranger stepped inside.

  “Who was that?” Ruth Rose asked. “He seemed kind of sad.”

  “That’s Mr. Drake Turner,” Chester said. “He owns this hotel.” Chester shook his head. “He’s sad a lot.”

  “Hey, we saw his yacht when we were on Rafe’s boat!” Josh said.

  “Yes, the Miranda,” Chester said. “He often motors it up here, but sometimes he brings his helicopter instead.”

  “He has a helicopter and a yacht?” Josh said with wide eyes. “He must be pretty rich!”

  “Rich indeed,” Chester said. “He also owns a mansion on an island in Ketchikan. He built his own saltwater pond there, and he keeps it filled with fish and other sea creatures. I hear he has seals and dolphins.”

  Chester pointed up toward the ceiling. “You should see his penthouse on the top floor,” he added.

  “Wow, does he land his helicopter on the roof?” Josh asked.

  Chester shook his head. “No, he owns some land behind the town library,” he said. “That’s where his pilot sets the chopper whenever Mr. Turner wants to stay in his penthouse.”

  “Why doesn’t he just sleep on his boat?” Dink asked.

  Chester leaned closer to the kids. “I think he keeps the apartment upstairs because it reminds him of his wife and son,” he said. “That’s the last place he saw them before they disappeared.”

  Josh gulped. “Disappeared?”

  Chester nodded. “Gone,” he said.

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose stared at Chester. “Did they die?” Ruth Rose whispered.

  Chester shook his head. “No, they just walked out,” he said. “It happened about a year ago. While Mr. Turner was at a meeting, his wife took the boy and left. Mr. Turner hasn’t seen them since. He keeps expecting a letter, but it never comes.”

  “That is pretty sad,” Dink said.

  “How old is his son?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “Tyler was five when they left,” Chester said. “A real cute kid—hair as red as yours, Josh. Mr. Turner misses them terribly.”

  “Why doesn’t he just ask them to come back?” Ruth Rose asked.

  Chester picked up a brass nameplate that read: CHESTER TOOMEY, MGR. He gave it a quick polish with his sleeve and set it back on the counter.

  Finally, Chester looked at the kids. “Mr. Turner doesn’t know where they are,” he said. “His wife left a note telling him not to look for them, but he does anyway. He hired the best detective agency in Alaska. The detectives searched everywhere, but no luck.”

  “But doesn’t Tyler want to see his dad?” Josh asked. “Doesn’t he miss him?”

  “I don’t know,” Chester said. “But I sure do miss that little kid. The other staff here miss him, too. Mr. Turner never spent much time with Tyler. So we used to read to him all the time, and play games with him.”

  Chester smiled. “Tyler had a favorite book he carried around with him. It was called Wonderful Island. He’d beg us to read it to him, sometimes two or three times a day. I must have read that book to Tyler a hundred times.”

  “Why did Tyler and his mom leave?” Ruth Rose asked.

  Chester looked sad. “Mr. Turner spent so much time making deals and money that he had no time for his family,” he said. “I guess his wife got sick of it. So she took Tyler and left.”

  CHAPTER 4

  The kids got in the elevator. Their rooms were on the third floor. It was a small hotel, with just a few rooms on each floor.

  “Look,” Josh said inside the elevator. His finger was an inch from a button with 4-P printed on it. “I’ll bet P stands for penthouse, and it’s right above our floor!”

  “Don’t even think about pushing that button,” Dink said, pressing the button for the third floor.

  He and Josh shared a room, next to Ruth Rose’s. Dink’s father’s room was across the hall.

  Josh used the key card, and the three kids piled into the boys’ room.

  Dink ran over and pulled the drapes, revealing sliding glass doors and a balcony.

  Josh yanked the doors open, and the room filled with cool air that smelled like the ocean. The kids stepped onto the balcony, shielding their eyes against the sun. Seagulls soared and screamed over the water.

  “Look, there’s the Jamaica!” Josh said.

  Ruth Rose got out her binoculars. “I can see Rafe!” she said.

  The kids all yelled and waved, but the Jamaica was too far away for Rafe to hear them.

  Ruth Rose swept the binoculars across the harbor. “A lot of people are cooking and eating on their boats,” she said.

  “Can you see Mr. Turner’s yacht?” Josh asked.

  Ruth Rose moved the binoculars to the right. “Yup, it’s way out, tied to one of those buoy things,” she said. “It must be too big to tie up at the dock like Rafe’s boat.”

  “When I become a billionaire, I’ll buy a humongous boat,” Josh said. “I’ll grow a beard and wear a captain’s hat.”

  “Can we be your crew?” Dink said.

  Josh grinned. “Yeah, you can cook all my meals. Ice cream every day!”

  The kids showered and changed, and went out for pizza with Dink’s father.

  —

  That night, Dink dreamed he was back on a boat. It was longer and newer than the Jamaica. Josh was the captain, and they were going to look for whales. When they found a pod of orcas, Captain Josh stopped the boat.

  Suddenly the orcas rose out of the water, spy-hopping. They all started making noises and waving their fins.

  “What are you trying to tell me?” Dink asked the orcas. He finally woke up with his sheet and blankets twisted around his body.

  —

  Later, Dink told Josh and Ruth Rose about his dream. “They were making squeaky noises,” Dink said. “I wish I could speak orca.”

  After breakfast, the kids walked down to the boat dock with Dink’s father. They all wore baseball caps, and they had smeared sunblock on their arms, necks, and faces. Dink’s father wore sunglasses and a New York Yankees cap.

  Rafe waved as they approached the Jamaica. “Right on time,” he said, shaking hands with Dink’s father. “You and Dink look a lot alike!”

  Dink showed his dad where the life vests were kept, and they all chose one and put
it on. The four of them sat under the awning and watched Rafe back the Jamaica out of its slip.

  The engine was loud, so no one spoke. Rafe expertly took his boat over the waves without making too many big splashes.

  Dink and Josh stared over the side, hoping to see whales or sharks or dolphins.

  Ruth Rose was looking through her binoculars.

  “See anything interesting?” Dink’s father asked.

  She told him about the Miranda, Drake Turner’s big yacht. “It’s tied up right over there.”

  “May I see?” he asked.

  Ruth Rose handed him the binoculars.

  “Mmm, nice,” Dink’s father said when he had located the Miranda at its mooring. “Someone is looking back at us.” He handed the binoculars to Ruth Rose.

  Suddenly the Jamaica slowed and settled in the water. Rafe cut the engine to a low purr. “We’re here,” he said. He held his binoculars up to his eyes.

  Josh looked around at the miles of ocean. “How can you tell we’re in the right spot?” he asked.

  “The pod will be spread out over a range,” Rafe said. “But remember, they follow the fish or whatever they’re after.”

  After a few minutes, Rafe moved the boat to another spot several hundred yards away, cruising slowly. He saw no fins or spouts of water and air, so he moved the Jamaica again.

  “It’s so quiet,” Dink said.

  Then, just to prove him wrong, a group of seagulls flew low over the boat, screeching.

  “Good sign,” Rafe said. “That means there are fish nearby.”

  “I think I see a fin!” Ruth Rose said suddenly. “Over there!” She pointed while looking through her binoculars.

  “Good eye, Ruth Rose!” Josh said.

  Rafe moved the boat a little closer. Then he powered down, and the Jamaica sat quietly in the water. About a hundred yards away, they all saw waterspouts and black fins.

  “I see Jack!” Rafe said. “It’s the same pod.” After a minute, he added, “They’re acting strange. They seem to be just swimming around, not really doing anything.”

  “Can you see Lily and her baby?” Dink asked.

  “Can’t tell,” Rafe said. “I see females, but I can’t spot the nick in her dorsal fin from here.”

  They all watched quietly, looking especially for Lily and her calf.

  CHAPTER 5

  “Could Lily just be somewhere else today?” Ruth Rose asked.

  Rafe shook his head. “She wouldn’t go off alone. Members of pods are family,” he said. “Lily stays with the pod, and her calf would never leave her.”

  Then Rafe put a finger to his lips. “Listen,” he said. “You can hear the orcas’ cries right through the bottom of my boat.”

  The kids got down on the deck and put their ears to the wood.

  “I hear them!” Josh said. “It sounds like they’re calling to each other.”

  Rafe got down lower and listened. “Something isn’t right here,” he said. “The orcas are acting odd, and their underwater cries don’t sound normal, either.”

  “Is that Lily?” Dink’s father asked, pointing to a fin several yards from the boat. “You said she had a scar on her dorsal fin.”

  Rafe looked. “Yep, that’s Lily. But I don’t see the calf,” he said.

  Lily took in some air through her blowhole. Then her fin disappeared.

  They all watched for Lily to surface again. She did, every few minutes. But no one saw the calf.

  “Do you think something bad happened?” Josh asked.

  Rafe nodded, still staring at the water. “Yes, I think something very bad happened,” he said.

  Rafe stepped into his cabin. Dink, Josh, Ruth Rose, and Dink’s father kept their eyes on the water. Seagulls screeched and the boat’s engine hummed. Even with these sounds, the kids could still hear orca cries through the hull of the boat.

  Lily surfaced again, and she was alone. Other orcas were nearby, but the kids saw no calf.

  They told Rafe when he came out of his cabin. He was carrying a small wooden box.

  “That’s what I was afraid of,” Rafe said, opening the box. “I think Lily has lost her baby, and she’s grieving.”

  “Lost it?” Dink asked. “What do you mean?”

  “The baby might have died,” Rafe said. “Or it might have been taken by poachers.”

  The kids and Dink’s father stared at Rafe.

  “It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes baby whales get stolen and sold,” he said.

  “How old is the calf?” Dink’s father asked.

  “About three months,” Rafe said. “Still getting milk from Lily, which is why I’m really concerned. A young orca needs its mother’s milk for at least a year, sometimes longer.”

  From the box, Rafe took a silvery object attached to a long cable. He made a few adjustments, flicked a switch, and lowered the device and its cable over the side of the boat. He set the box on the deck and turned a few knobs.

  “What’s that?” Josh asked.

  “It’s called a hydrophone,” Rafe said. “Really just an underwater microphone.”

  After a minute, they all heard strange, eerie sounds coming from speakers above them. The same noises could be faintly heard through the boat’s hull.

  They heard a long cry. It went on and on.

  “That sounds…sad,” Dink whispered.

  “That’s Lily crying out for her calf,” Rafe said.

  The underwater noises went on for a minute or two, then faded away. Finally, all the sounds stopped. “I guess the pod left the area,” Rafe said.

  “But what happened to the baby?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “Did a shark get it?” Josh asked.

  “I doubt it,” Rafe said. “It’s very rare for a baby orca to be killed by a predator. Orcas are fierce fighters, and the pod would fight off any shark.”

  “Then someone really did take it?” Dink asked.

  Rafe pulled the hydrophone out of the water, coiled the cable, and returned the device to the box. “I think so,” he said.

  “But isn’t that illegal?” Dink’s father asked.

  “It sure is,” Rafe said. “The U.S. has strict laws about taking marine mammals of any kind. It’s also illegal to feed or touch them. The government almost never allows anyone to take a young whale out of these waters. If someone took Lily’s calf, they’re breaking the law.”

  “But how do all those theme parks get whales and dolphins and stuff?” Josh asked. “Like you see on TV?”

  Rafe shrugged. “Most of them do it the proper way,” he said. “They get an official permit from a government agency. But there are always a few bad guys who break the law. They wait till the middle of the night, when no other boats are around. They come out here, take a baby whale, then go back to shore. A poacher can sell a young whale or dolphin for a lot of money.”

  “How do they catch the baby?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “They need a big boat and nets,” Rafe said. “First they find a pod that has a baby with its mother. The guys on the boat surround the pod with a long net, so the whales can’t swim away. Then they go after the baby. When the mother and calf come up for air, they drop a small net around the little one. They haul it aboard, bring it to shore, and take the poor thing away to sell.”

  Rafe shook his head. “The mother calls for her baby, and the little one calls back at her,” he said. “What we heard before was all the whales crying out for the missing calf.”

  “But how do the bad guys take the whale away on land?” Dink asked.

  “This calf could easily be hauled off in a small truck,” Rafe said.

  “Doesn’t it need water?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “Sure,” Rafe said. “The poachers would keep it wet. Sometimes they put the calves in tanks of water. A whale would be okay for several hours that way.”

  “But that’s…that’s so cruel!” Ruth Rose said.

  “Worse than cruel,” Rafe told the group. “Lily’s calf—if it has been taken b
y poachers—will starve to death in a day or two without her milk.”

  “That is so disgusting!” Josh said.

  “You call it disgusting,” Rafe said. “I call it murder.”

  CHAPTER 6

  “Listen to this,” Rafe said. He pulled a small tape recorder from the box and inserted a tape.

  “A friend sent me this,” Rafe told them. “He’s really into whales, like me.”

  He turned up the volume and they all heard a loud crying noise. The crying went on and on.

  “That sounds just like Lily did!” Ruth Rose said.

  Rafe nodded. “You’re listening to another mother orca. My friend named her Naomi,” he said. “Naomi’s part of a pod south of here. Her baby drowned in a net, and she’s grieving. My friend caught the sounds off his boat with his hydrophone.”

  They all listened to the awful cries coming from the recorder. Dink got goose bumps on his arms.

  “Can Naomi have another baby?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “If she’s young enough, she might,” Rafe said, turning off the recorder. “Usually females wait three to five years between one birth and the next.”

  “What about Lily?” Dink asked.

  “Sure, she might have another calf in a few years,” Rafe said, powering up his boat. “We’ve done all we can for now. Ready to see some more whales?”

  As the Jamaica cruised slowly away, Dink kept his eyes on the water. He had his fingers crossed, hoping to spot Lily and her calf. He didn’t see them.

  —

  At four in the afternoon, Rafe pulled the Jamaica into its slip at the dock. Dink’s father and the kids were hot, tired, and a little sunburned. They all thanked Rafe as they climbed off his boat.

  As they walked toward the end of the dock, Dink noticed the Cool Pool Brothers van parked near a shady tree. The man he’d seen leaving the hotel was leaning against the van with binoculars up to his eyes.

  As the kids passed the van, the man said, “The boat won’t be here with the catch till midnight, so get comfortable. We’re going to be here awhile.”