by Bill Myers
According to Eddie, Darrell planned to take his boat north in the morning. If he left before Harris showed up, it would be up to us to follow him.
We hadn't planned on being out here all night and hadn't brought any food with us, so I'd asked Buck if he wanted me to go back to shore and get some.
“No. It's too late to go back into town. Won't be anything open this late anyway. It's not like we're going to starve if we don't eat until morning.”
Buck was right. We weren't going to starve.
He pointed to his phone. “I'm going to call Polly and let her know what's going on. She'll be worried otherwise.”
“Good idea.”
Buck made the call and filled her in on our situation. When the call ended, he smiled.
“She said there's food in the pantry. Still there from when she planned her trip. Canned beans, jerky, salami sticks, crackers, some bottled water. Maybe other stuff too.”
We checked the pantry and found the jerky and bottled water. Neither one of us was hungry enough to eat the salami sticks, but bottled water sounded good.
With refreshments in hand, we each grabbed a folding chair and headed out on the back deck so we could keep an eye on the Toot Toot. For the next two hours we sat, watched the stars overhead and listened to the waves gently lapping against the hulls of nearby boats and made sure the Toot Toot didn't leave.
Right around midnight, the Toot Toot went dark. Apparently it was bed time for Darrell.
After a few minutes, Buck whispered, “Let's go inside.” He got up and went in, and I followed.
We sat at the map table and I spoke first. “No need for both of us to stay up all night. You want to do the first watch, or want me to?”
Buck yawned. “You do the first one. Wake me in three hours.”
I nodded.
Buck headed off toward the guest cabin while I remained at the map table and thought about what I needed to do.
Knowing it was going to be a long night, I put my phone in vibrate mode, and set two alarms. One in three hours, and a second one for twenty minutes before sunrise.
The alarms would be my insurance. If I fell asleep while on watch, the first alarm would wake me. And if Buck dozed off during his watch, the second alarm would alert me right before dawn.
I figured there was no way Darrell would sail off in the Toot Toot before daybreak. With a moonless sky and no lights on the intracoastal, it would be foolhardy to take off in a big boat in the dark.
Still, there was no shortage of fools in this world, so it was possible Darrell would leave before daybreak. I grabbed the seat cushions from the map table, and went outside on deck. I arranged the cushions so I had something soft to stretch out on, and laid down.
Out here it was so quiet that if Darrell started the motors on the Toot Toot, I would definitely hear them. Even if I were asleep.
Three hours later, my phone vibrated me awake. I had dozed off during my watch. I didn't know whether I'd been asleep for a few minutes or for the full three hours.
Either way, there was no harm. The Toot Toot was still anchored where it had been earlier. It hadn't moved.
The skies were still dark. No moon, but lots of stars. The slight breeze kept the mosquitoes and no-see-ums away and added a slight chill to the early morning air.
I saw no reason to wake Buck. I had slept through my watch and felt refreshed enough to stand watch for the next three hours. With my phone set to chime twenty minutes before sunrise, it provided backup should I fall asleep again.
Three hours later, my phone chimed me awake. Again, I had slept through my watch. Looking over, I could see the Toot Toot was still anchored. But the cabin lights were on and there was movement on deck. As I watched, I heard the motors on the Toot Toot rumble to life.
Darrell was preparing to leave. And we needed to be ready to follow him.
I went inside and found Buck asleep in the guest cabin. I shook his bunk. “Buck, time to get up. Darrell is getting ready to leave.”
When I was sure Buck was awake, I headed back to the main cabin and called Agent Harris.
After twelve rings, he answered.
“What?”
“Darrell is leaving. Your guys need to get here now.”
“Not gonna happen. We have other priorities today.”
“What do you mean 'other priorities'? You told me to find Darrell and I've found him. Now you say you have 'other priorities'?”
“That's right, Walker, we have other priorities today. That's all I can tell you. It's going to be up to you to handle this. Either follow Darrell until we can get some of our guys involved, or get the drugs back from him yourself. Your choice.”
Harris hung up.
Buck came into the cabin. “Walker, the Toot Toot is leaving.”
Pulling up the window shade, I confirmed what Buck had said. The Toot Toot was pulling away. Heading north on the intracoastal.
It signaled it's departure by sounding it's horn.
Toot toot.
Just like the name of the boat.
Buck pointed at the helm of the Escape Artist. “You remember how to start this thing?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”
Polly had shown me the steps three days earlier and I was pretty sure I remembered them.
Buck pointed at the helm. “You get the boat started and I'll get everything else ready.”
Looking at the console in front of me, I followed the steps as I remembered them. I lowered the motor into the water. Turned the blowers on. Turned the fuel pump on. Set the choke. Then turned the starter key.
The motor came to life. Running rough at first, until I remembered to adjust the choke. Then it settled down into a smooth purr.
Buck gave me a thumbs up. While I'd been working with the motor, he had raised the blinds on all the windows and opened the curtains on the big sliding doors overlooking the front of the boat.
“Walker, what do you want me to do next?”
“Move the dinghy up to the mooring ball, we'll leave it here. Then unhook us and I'll get the anchor up.”
Buck went to the dinghy, pulled it around to the front of the boat and connected it to the mooring ball. Then he unsnapped the main line connecting the Escape Artist from the ball.
While he was doing this, I found the switch on the helm labeled 'anchor'. When I pressed the switch, I heard the hum of an electric motor as the anchor chain was hoisted from the bottom.
The depth of the water in the mooring field was just shy of twelve feet, so it took less than a minute to raise and lock the anchor.
With the Escape Artist no longer tethered to the mooring ball and with the anchor up, the boat started to float free. The current of the intracoastal began pushing us toward the nearby mangroves.
Buck came back into the cabin. “Walker, he's getting away.”
I put the gear selector in forward, pushed the throttle up and steered toward the main channel. The Escape Artist responded. Moving slowly, but not turning. I gave it a bit more power. The boat finally started to turn in the right direction.
Buck pointed at a blank display screen built into the console. “Turn that on.”
I pressed the power button on the display, and after a few seconds, the screen lit up with a full color map.
“That's your GPS. The green line shows the center of the intracoastal. Try to stay on that line. The large numbers below the map show the water depth. Make sure it stays above three feet.”
I nodded.
I was finding that the steering on the houseboat wasn't very responsive. It would take a few seconds after I turned the wheel for the boat to respond. This meant I needed to plan ahead to change direction.
Following the GPS track would help me stay on course, but I still needed to keep alert to obstacles ahead.
Fortunately, there wasn't much boat traffic this early in the morning. The sun had just come, and the only boats we'd seen so far were small fishing boats.
The Toot Toot had a
n eight minute head start on us, and we'd already lost sight of it.
I was shaking my head when Buck said, “We'll catch him. That tug boat of his can't go very fast and there's no where for him to turn off in this part of the channel.”
Nodding, I pushed the throttle up another two notches and felt the Escape Artist slowly pick up speed.
Polly had told us the Escape Artist could run at nine or ten knots. Maybe even faster. Its shallow draft and light weight gave it speed that other houseboats didn't have.
Buck was standing beside me. “Just follow the line on the GPS screen. We'll catch him.”
The question was, when we caught him, then what?
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
For the most part, the Intracoastal Waterway from Englewood to Venice is a long narrow canal. There are no exits to the gulf, and no shortcuts.
Only after you pass the three Venice drawbridges and reach the jetty at Nokomis can you leave the intracoastal and move out into the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
But unless you're an experienced sailor with the right boat and know the weather conditions, going out into the Gulf -- especially with a one person crew in a tug boat -- is not a good idea.
We figured Darrell probably knew this and would stay in the intracoastal as long as he could.
It was unlikely he knew we were following him, so chances were good he was moving at a slow and safe pace and would be doing so most of the morning.
That was our big advantage.
We were behind him and knew where he was headed. And because we were behind him, we could increase our speed until he came into sight.
Twenty minutes after leaving our anchorage in the mooring field, we finally saw the Toot Toot in the distance. We had already passed under the north Manasota Key drawbridge, and according to the nautical maps, we were entering the narrow section of the intracoastal that split Venice mainland from Venice Island.
If we could catch up with the Toot Toot in this narrow section, we might have a chance of boarding him. Or at least getting him to stop.
Buck pointed ahead at the Toot Toot. “Walker, will this thing go any faster?”
To answer his question, I pushed the throttle all the way forward. The boat didn't immediately react but the speed display on the GPS showed that we had reached ten knots.
For most boats at full power, ten knots is pretty slow. But we weren't in most boats. We were in a houseboat. And for us, ten knots was good.
Fortunately, the Toot Toot was moving even slower than we were. We were starting to catch up with him. If Darrell were to look behind, he'd see us about a hundred yards back.
I pulled the throttle back two notches. Slowing the boat.
Buck looked at me. “You're slowing down?”
“Yeah, I've got an idea.
“Let's see if we can hail him on the radio. Let him think there's a Coast Guard inspection boat ahead.
“Tell him they have drug sniffing dogs and are looking for a boat carrying contraband. Maybe it'll scare him and he'll dump the drugs overboard.”
Buck smiled. “You think it'll work?”
“Maybe. He probably has his marine radio on since he needs it to contact the drawbridge operators.
“You can hail his boat by name, ask him to go to a different channel, and then tell him the Coast Guard is dead ahead.”
Buck smiled. “I like it. We'll trick him to dumping the drug package, and he'll never know it's us.”
I nodded. “All you have to do is convince him the feds are up ahead, and they're going to inspect his boat.”
Buck smiled. “Hey, I'm an actor. I can make him believe anything.”
Our marine radio was already on and set to channel nine, the channel used by boaters and bridge operators. This would the channel Darrell was monitoring,
I handed the microphone to Buck.
In a voice straight out of a Smokey and the Bandit movie, Buck spoke into the radio. “Breaker channel nine, this is Top Hat. Hailing the Toot Toot.”
No response.
“Breaker channel nine. This is Top Hat. Hailing the Toot Toot.”
No response.
“Toot Toot, come in.”
This time, we got a response.
“This is the Toot Toot.”
“Toot Toot. I have a private message for you. Go to channel thirty.”
“Yeah. Changing to channel thirty.”
Buck changed the radio channel to thirty.
“Toot Toot, you there?”
“Yeah, this is Toot Toot. Go ahead.”
“Toot Toot, just a friendly warning. The Coast Guard is set up three miles ahead of you doing boat inspections. They have drug dogs.”
No response.
“Toot Toot, do you copy?”
No response.
Buck looked at me with a 'what now' expression.
I pointed ahead. “He's slowing down. He's thinking about what to do next.”
We slowed down as well. Didn't want to get too close or pass him.
“Buck, go back to channel nine. Use another voice, say something about the Coast Guard stopping boats. Get people talking about it.”
Buck flipped to channel nine. With a distinct southern accent, he said, “If any of y'all boaters are carrying wacky tobacky today, better get shed of it. The Coasties are stopping all boats and boarding.”
Then in a Brooklyn accent he replied, “Yo, I just got stopped. They got them dogs. Nobody's getting by them today. If you got anything, dump it before you get to da Jetty.”
Then in yet another voice, he said, “They just set up another checkpoint at the north Manasota bridge. Won't be able to get by them today.”
Up ahead, we could see the Toot Toot slow down to a stop. I put our boat in neutral and just watched.
Buck brought out the binoculars he'd used the night before.
“Darrell's just come onto the back deck.”
“He's holding a package.”
“He's looking around.”
“He just went back into his cabin. Still has the package.”
We waited.
A voice on the radio asked, “The Coasties working both ends of the intracoastal? They still there?”
It was Darrell's voice.
Buck put down the binoculars, and picked up the microphone.
“They're still there. Seem to be looking for someone in particular.”
Buck put the microphone down and picked up the binoculars.
“He's just walked back out on deck. He's still carrying a package.”
“Now he's moving to the right side of the boat, close to the sea wall.”
“He just dumped it! He threw the package up on the rocks. Now he's back in the cabin.”
“The boat's moving. He's heading out!”
I smiled. Our plan had worked.
“Buck, think you can handle this boat? Think you can get me close to where he threw the package?”
“I'll give it a try.”
Buck took over the controls and brought our speed up to just above idle. I used the binoculars to guide him in.
“A little to your right. We're getting close.”
“Okay. See if you can hold it here. I'm going in after it.”
Grabbing the mooring line on the front of the Escape Artist, I slipped over the side into the chilly water. I could see the package up on the rocks, no more than ten feet in front of me.
Holding onto the mooring line, I swam toward shore. As soon as I could touch bottom, I stood and walked to the rock seawall, and grabbed the package Darrell had discarded.
Holding the package over my head, I swam back to the boat and tossed it up on deck.
Buck had dropped a ladder over the side and I used it to climb back aboard.
I was wet and chilled, but it didn't matter. I had recovered the package and could deliver it to agent Harris.
An hour later, Buck and I were tying up the Escape Artist back in the mooring field in Englewood.
“Well,
” said Buck. “We made it.”
“Yeah, that was quite an adventure. You going to call Polly, tell her we're safe?”
Buck nodded, and pulled out his phone.
While he was calling Polly, I called Agent Harris.
He answered on the third ring.
“What?”
“When can I drop off the package?”
“What package?”
“The ten pound package.”
“You got it back?”
“Yes, I got it back.”
“What about Darrell? You got him too?”
“Nope. Not my job.”
“You know where he is?”
“Last time I saw him, he was heading north on the intracoastal in the Toot Toot.”
“Good, I'll let our friends know. Let them deal with him. You really got the package back?”
“Yes, I've got it right here.”
“Well, hot damn! Bring it by my office. You've got thirty minutes.”
He ended the call.
I turned to Buck. “What did Polly say?”
“She said she was glad we made it back safely. Said it was time to come home to Serenity Cove.”
I nodded. “Harris said we had thirty minutes to get the package to his office.”
Buck smiled. “Well, we better be on our way then.”
After Buck and I secured the Escape Artist, we took the dinghy back to Chadwick Park and loaded it onto the trailer behind the Jeep.
Our next stop was Lucy's, where we dropped off the boat and trailer. She wasn't home so it didn't take us long to get the job done.
From there we headed to Agent Harris's office. Buck came in with me and acted as my official witness as I handed the package over.
Buck made Harris produce and sign a document stating that I had returned the package as requested, and that everything we had done had been at the request of Homeland Security.
The document might not be official, but if anything ever came up about me transporting pot for the federal government, it would be my 'get out of jail free' card.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
