Operation Orca

by Ron Roy

  Another man was opening the van’s rear doors. “They’d better show up with the goods,” he said. “Those big nets we gave them were expensive!”

  Dink turned around and looked into the back of the van. He saw a long tank half-filled with water.

  Dink stopped, staring at the van. Thoughts buzzed around in his brain like angry wasps.

  He felt his dad’s hand on his shoulder. “You okay, bud? Did you get too much sun today?”

  “No, I’m fine, Dad,” Dink said. “In fact, why don’t you go back to the hotel without us? We’re going to hang out down here for a while.”

  “We are?” Josh said. “I need a shower!”

  Dink grabbed Josh’s arm and gave him a look. “Come on, Josh and Ruth Rose, let’s go check out some of those boats. See you later, Dad.”

  Dink’s father waved, then headed up the dock. Dink pulled Josh and Ruth Rose over to a bench.

  “What’s going on?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “Shhh,” Dink said. He pointed at the Cool Pool Brothers van.

  “What about it?” Josh asked.

  “Keep your voice down,” Dink said. “That van and one of those guys were at the hotel before. And I just heard the other one say something about buying nets. They’re waiting for a boat to come in at midnight! With a catch!”

  Josh and Ruth Rose just looked at Dink.

  “And,” Dink went on, lowering his voice even more, “there’s a tank of water in the back of their van!”

  “So they have water in their van,” Josh said. He grinned at Dink. “They’re pool guys, dude.”

  “Wait, let me finish,” Dink said. “Remember Rafe told us how you’d need a boat and nets to steal a baby whale? What if the boat these guys are waiting for has Lily’s baby? What if they’re going to bring the baby here at midnight? And what if those Cool Pool guys are going to take it away in their van?”

  Josh stood up to get a better look at the van.

  “Don’t stare!” Dink hissed, pulling Josh back onto the bench. Dink pointed at the man holding the binoculars. “That guy was carrying a briefcase when he came out of the hotel. When we got inside, I saw Chester put something in a drawer, real fast. I’m pretty sure it was money!”

  Suddenly Dink slapped his forehead. “I forgot something!” he said. “The briefcase had initials on it. D.T.”

  “Maybe Chester and those pool guys are in it together!” Josh said. “A whale-stealing gang! Maybe Chester’s job is finding someone with enough money to buy a baby whale. He works in a hotel, so he’d meet plenty of rich people.”

  “Oh my gosh!” Ruth Rose said. “Drake Turner is rich, and his initials are D.T. If the pool guy had his briefcase, that would mean Drake Turner is part of the gang!”

  CHAPTER 7

  “Why would the pool guy have Drake Turner’s briefcase?” Josh asked.

  “Maybe Mr. Turner gave the pool guy the money to give to Chester,” Ruth Rose said. “You know, paying him off.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Josh said. “Mr. Turner could pay Chester himself anytime he wanted just by coming down the elevator. Why have the pool guy do it?”

  Dink thought for a minute. “Okay, how’s this: What if Mr. Turner wants to buy a baby whale for his private pond? He knows it’s illegal. So he gets Chester to work out the deal. Chester hires the pool guys to find someone with a boat who can steal the baby whale. Then Mr. Turner gives the pool guys a briefcase full of money to pay Chester and the guys on the boat.”

  “It still doesn’t make sense,” Josh said. “If Mr. Turner got Chester to find the pool guys and hire them, Chester would be paying them; they wouldn’t be paying him.”

  The three kids sat for a minute, thinking about Drake Turner paying to have someone kidnap Lily’s baby.

  “Okay, so if the boat comes at midnight, and the pool guys put the baby whale in their van,” Josh asked, “what do they do with it next?”

  “I thought about that, too,” Dink said. “The fastest way to get the baby orca out of here is by helicopter, and Mr. Drake Turner just happens to own one! So after the pool guys get the whale, either they or Chester pay off the boat guys. Then they take the calf to Mr. Turner at his helicopter pad behind the library. They load the calf, and the chopper flies away. They do it all at midnight, when no one is around.”

  “Chester said he wasn’t expecting Drake Turner for another two weeks,” Josh added. “He must have come sooner because he knew Chester’s guys captured the baby orca!”

  “We need to spy on Mr. Turner,” Ruth Rose said. “He’s probably up in his penthouse waiting to hear from the Cool Pool guys that they have the calf. If his helicopter lands, the baby orca will disappear forever.”

  “I think we should call the police now,” Josh said. “If we tell them the plan, they can surround the helicopter when it lands!”

  “Josh, we can’t prove any of this,” Dink said. “We can’t ask the police to wait for a helicopter that might not even land.”

  “So what should we do?” Josh asked. “That baby orca will die without Lily!”

  “I think it would be smarter to keep an eye on those pool guys,” Dink said. He nodded toward the van. “If I’m right, we’ll see them putting the baby in the van. Then we call the police before they take it to the helicopter!”

  “It’s four in the afternoon,” Josh said. “You said the boat is supposed to come around midnight, right?”

  Dink nodded. “That’s what I heard one of them say.”

  “So do we just sit here all afternoon watching two guys who are waiting for a boat?” Josh looked at his watch. “That’s eight hours!”

  “We can leave and come back later,” Ruth Rose said. “We’ll hide somewhere and wait for the boat to come in.”

  “My dad will never let us come down here tonight,” Dink said. Then he grinned. “I guess I could tell him we were all sleepwalking.”

  “Your dad would be proud of us if we saved that baby whale,” Josh said.

  Dink nodded. “Let’s go back to the hotel,” he said. “After my dad goes to bed, we can…wait, how do we get past Chester or whoever is at the desk later tonight?”

  Ruth Rose grinned. “Chester is on duty until morning,” she said. “I happened to peek at his calendar. I bet he’ll be sleeping or watching TV. We’ll creep past the counter. He’ll never see us!”

  Josh put up his hand for a high five. “That’s an awesome plan, Ruth Rose Hathaway,” he said. “I love it when you get all sneaky!”

  The kids left the harbor. “Why don’t we try to find Mr. Turner’s helicopter pad?” Dink suggested. “His chopper could already be there, waiting.”

  “It’s behind the library,” Ruth Rose said. “But we don’t know where that is.”

  “Easy peasy,” Josh said. He walked up to a man with a black poodle on a leash. “Excuse me. Can you tell us where the town library is?”

  The man smiled and pointed along Main Street. “Juneau has three libraries, but the closest one is right up the street, past the Ho-Ho Doughnut Shop,” he said.

  “Thank you!” Josh said.

  The kids crossed the street and walked until they stood in front of a tiny brick building. JUNEAU PUBLIC LIBRARY was carved into the concrete over the entrance. A woman stood on the steps, washing the glass doors.

  She noticed the kids and dropped her cleaning cloth into a bucket. “Hello there,” she said, looking them over. “Do I know you?”

  “We’re from Connecticut,” Dink said. “I’m Dink, and these are my friends Josh and Ruth Rose.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” the woman said. “I’m Carol Waxman, the librarian.”

  “Is the library open?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “Oh yes—would you like to come in?” Carol asked. “I’m afraid you can’t take any books out since you don’t live here, but you can browse all you want!”

  Carol held the door open, and the kids walked in. Books were piled everywhere. Not just on the shelves, but on tables and chairs, eve
n stacked high on the floor and jammed tight on the windowsills.

  A man sat in a corner with a pile of newspapers on his lap, reading. Two teenage girls sat at a table, looking at magazines and whispering.

  “Please don’t mind the mess,” Carol told Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. “We ran out of book space years ago. The other two libraries in town are crammed, too. I stick books wherever I can find a spot. But don’t worry—I can find any book in the building!”

  “Can we just walk around?” Dink asked.

  “Of course,” Carol said. “If you see something you like, plop down somewhere and read to your heart’s content!”

  Dink headed for the rear of the library. He found a window and looked out. He saw a grassy field with a circle painted in black. “That’s it,” he mumbled.

  “What’s it?” Josh asked. He and Ruth Rose had walked up behind him.

  “Drake Turner lands his helicopter right there,” Dink said.

  “Fingers crossed it doesn’t land there tonight,” Ruth Rose said. She crossed her fingers.

  CHAPTER 8

  The kids walked through the children’s section of the library. Everywhere they looked, they saw stacks of books, boxes of books, bags of books. The shelves were packed with books, so tightly Dink figured it would be impossible to pull one out.

  Josh bumped into a stack, nearly knocking it over. “They need a bigger library,” he muttered. “How are you supposed to find the book you want?”

  Josh’s question gave Dink an idea. He turned toward Carol Waxman’s desk. “Excuse me. Do you have a book called Wonderful Island?” he asked.

  Carol closed her eyes. “Sounds familiar,” she said. “Do you know the author?”

  “No, sorry,” Dink said.

  “Is it a children’s book?” Carol asked.

  Dink nodded. “For little kids, I think,” he said. “We know a five-year-old boy who read it over and over.”

  “Oh, a five-year-old? That makes finding it simpler,” Carol said. “Give me a few minutes.”

  The librarian disappeared around a corner. The kids heard her moving books and muttering to herself. Then they heard “Aha! Found you!”

  Carol came back to the desk carrying a thin picture book.

  “Wonderful Island by Jamie Cooper,” she said, holding the book out to Dink. “Now I remember! A few years ago I read this to a group of kindergartners. As I recall, they adored it!”

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose sat at a table and read the book. There were lots of pictures and not many words. The story was about Jamie Cooper when he was a boy. One summer, his parents rented a house on an island in a lake in Maine. The kids read about how Jamie learned to swim and sail a boat. He learned how to read animal tracks in the dirt around his house. He found an orphan bunny and fed it milk from a baby bottle. He picked blueberries and fed them to the ducks and chipmunks.

  “Wow, that Jamie was a lucky kid,” Josh said.

  Ruth Rose read the front flap of the book jacket. “This is a true story,” she said.

  Josh asked, “So is this island a real place?”

  Ruth Rose turned to the back of the book and read aloud: “As a boy, author Jamie Cooper spent many happy summers on Sebago Lake and Frye Island with his family. Now that he is grown, Mr. Cooper brings his own family back to Frye Island every summer.”

  “There’s a picture of Frye Island,” Josh said. “It’s shaped like a whale.”

  “That’s so cool!” Ruth Rose said. “Look, that little beach area looks like the whale’s mouth!”

  They returned Wonderful Island to Carol and thanked her. She had an armful of books, trying to find room on a shelf. “You’re entirely welcome,” she said. Then she sighed. “Now if I just had a few more rooms for all these books, I’d be a happy woman!”

  “Why doesn’t the town build a bigger library?” Josh asked.

  “Money, honey,” Carol said, letting out a big sigh. “If I ever win the lottery, I’ll expand this library myself. There are two acres out back I could build on, but I doubt the owner would sell.”

  “Who owns them?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “A man named Drake Turner,” Carol said. “One of the richest men in Alaska. He uses the field to land his silly helicopter. You should hear the racket that thing makes!”

  “We know him,” Josh said. “Sort of. We’re staying at his hotel. He owns a big yacht, too.”

  “Ah, yes,” Carol said. “Mr. Turner owns a lot of things. I just wish he loved books as much as he loves his money!”

  The kids thanked Carol and left.

  “Let’s check on the pool guys and their van,” Dink said.

  They hiked back to the harbor and stood behind some bushes.

  The two pool guys were sitting in the shade. One was looking through a magazine. The other was sleeping with his shirt over his face.

  “Okay, let’s go back to the hotel,” Dink said. “My dad will wonder what happened to us.”

  “And I wonder what we’re having for dinner!” Josh added.

  —

  At eleven, the kids met in Ruth Rose’s room. They all wore dark clothes. Ruth Rose stuck her camera in a pocket of her pants.

  “What’s that for?” Josh asked.

  “If we see that baby orca getting kidnapped, a picture will prove it,” Ruth Rose said.

  They took the stairs down. Dink peeked across the lobby. No Chester. They tiptoed closer. Then they heard squealing car tires and gunshots.

  “Oh gosh, what’s happening?” Josh said.

  “That’s just the TV,” Ruth Rose whispered.

  Chester was in his office, lying on the sofa with his shoes off. The TV was on, but his eyes were closed. He was snoring.

  The kids crouched down and ran past the counter. Outside, it was dark. They raced toward the boat dock.

  CHAPTER 9

  The boat harbor was lit with lanterns on tall poles. There were more lights near the boats, making it seem almost like daytime.

  “Why are there so many lights here?” Josh asked.

  “I guess it’s so the boat owners don’t trip and fall in the water,” Dink said.

  They found the van where they had last seen it. The two pool men were standing near the dock, looking out to sea. One of them held a cell phone to his ear.

  “I’d give anything to know what he’s saying,” Ruth Rose said quietly.

  “We have to find a place to hide while we wait,” Dink said.

  “How about over there?” Josh asked. He pointed to a giant pine tree with lower branches that touched the ground. The branches created deep shadows.

  “Perfect,” Dink said. “We can watch the dock and the van from inside the branches, but no one can see us. Let’s go!”

  The kids ran over and crawled under the tree’s bottom branches. Old pine needles covered the ground, making a soft place to sit.

  “Cool, it’s like being in a cave,” Josh said. He made himself comfortable, leaning against the tree trunk.

  Ruth Rose got out her camera.

  Dink kept his eyes on the two men near the dock.

  Minutes passed. Mosquitoes and other tiny bugs flew around the kids’ faces.

  Josh closed his eyes. “Wake me when it gets exciting around here,” he said.

  Five minutes later Dink poked him. “Boat coming,” he whispered.

  Josh sat up. They all leaned forward, and Dink peeked between two branches. A boat the length of the Jamaica was pulling into an empty slip. A light shone on the deck, where three men were dragging a bulky tarp to the fore area of the boat.

  “Look at that tarp,” Ruth Rose whispered. “It’s wiggling!”

  The waiting pool men grabbed the front end of the boat, stopping it from hitting the dock pilings.

  One of the men went to the van and backed it as close to the boat as possible. Then he jumped out and opened the rear doors.

  The other pool guy and the men on the boat started laughing. Something shiny was flopping around on the boat’s deck.
It was a large fish, and it wriggled its way into the water with a soft splash.

  “Don’t worry, mate,” one of the men on the boat told the pool guy. “We got at least two hundred more of those for you.”

  “So are we even?” the pool guy asked.

  “Yep, like we agreed,” the guy on the boat said. “You give us a hundred bucks and new nets, we give you five hundred pounds of fresh salmon.”

  “Awesome!” the pool guy said, grabbing one end of the tarp. “Let’s get these beauties into our van. We have to be there early if we want to get the best price at the markets.”

  Josh let out a sigh. “Fish,” he said. “The pool guys are here to buy fish, not a baby whale.”

  Ruth Rose dropped her camera back in her pocket.

  The kids watched the men load the salmon into the tank in their van. When they finished, they slammed the rear doors and drove away.

  Feeling disappointed, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose walked toward the hotel. “Okay, so the pool guys didn’t steal the baby orca,” Dink said. “But somebody did, and the baby needs—”

  Suddenly Josh put his hands out and stopped Dink and Ruth Rose. “Hide!” he said, and pulled them behind some bushes. They dropped to the ground.

  “What are you doing?” Dink said.

  “There’s a guy walking right toward us!” Josh whispered. “Dink, I think it’s your father!”

  Dink sat up, peering along the walkway. The man was about the same height as his dad. He wore khaki pants, a blue shirt, and a baseball cap. He was carrying a gym bag with the letter B on the side.

  “Not my dad,” Dink whispered. “That’s a Boston Red Sox bag. Dad’s a Yankees fan.”

  The stranger came closer, passing only a few feet away from the kids.

  “It’s Drake Turner!” Ruth Rose whispered.

  Josh giggled nervously. “Maybe he wants to buy some fish for his pond!” he said.