Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 02 - Peeking Duck

by Daniel Ganninger

  Saller couldn‘t think of any other rational explanation for the disappearance of the Trusian. It just didn’t make sense. Nothing added up. “Maybe the Coast Guard will produce some answers during their search,” he thought to himself while fighting through the commuter traffic on his way to San Francisco International Airport. He felt his heart rate quicken. “What if I have to inform the families of these men that they were lost at sea?” He shuttered at the thought. Saller desperately wanted to get to the airport and to Los Angeles. He had to get some answers.

  -Chapter 9-

  McDonnell Marine Cargo Insurance was gathering their team to travel to Los Angeles as soon as they had received the information from Thomas Saller, the head of logistics at Regentex. Many of the individuals needed for the claims team had already gone home after a full day, but one by one were contacted to meet back at the Fleming building where McDonnell was located. Once gathered they would travel by car to L.A. and begin their investigation.

  Marcus Hopkins was in charge of this particular claim for the McDonnell Insurance Company. His job was to determine how much the company would pay out to Regentex. It was almost that simple, but it never quite worked out that way. The amount of money involved was enormous, and it wasn’t as easy as writing a check. McDonnell Insurance had to determine what constituted a claim, investigate the claim, and determine who ultimately was at fault. Regentex wouldn’t see any money until the team from McDonnell knew exactly what happened to the Trusian.

  Hopkins assembled four members together to work on the case. Three workers would stay at the office to pore over an endless stack of documents while Hopkins would travel to Los Angeles. He was also informed an investigator from a company called OceanLogic would be joining him. OceanLogic owned four special security containers on board the Trusian, but he had never heard of the company.

  It was common for a shipper to use multiple companies to insure a ship, but it was unorthodox to send an investigator from a company that owned containers. He didn’t have time to worry about that now. His bigger concern was the bottom line and how the numbers would crunch out.

  Hopkins piled the necessary documents into a McDonnell company car and set off for the Port of Los Angeles. He planned to arrive about 9:00 P.M. and work late into the night and morning. He needed to find out all the facts of the case and determine what cargo the Trusian was carrying. This information would be sent back to the team waiting at McDonnell headquarters.

  Thomas Saller was already on a chartered flight to LAX and planned to arrive a few hours before the McDonnell representative. He needed the time to question the workers at SeaBoard who had been in communication with the Trusian, and planned to meet with the Coast Guard and agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Saller also figured he would be talking with the FBI. His primary concern right now, as callous as it may have sounded, was negotiating with the McDonnell Insurance reps. Every minute the Trusian wasn’t in port was costing Regentex tens of thousands of dollars. By the time morning came, the company would be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars due to penalties and fees from the lateness of the cargo. It was imperative for Regentex to get some type of payment to stop the bleed of money.

  Saller arrived at LAX at about 7:30 P.M., and he traveled straight to the SeaBoard headquarters. Tim Elway was already waiting for him at the door as he strolled in.

  “Hello, Mr. Saller,” Elway began as he motioned for Saller to follow him. “I’m Tim Elway, the agent in charge tonight. Let’s go to the conference room, and I’ll fill you in on the information we have.”

  “Nice to meet you. I wish it was under better circumstances,” Saller replied.

  Elway nodded his head and led Saller into a spacious conference room filled with computer monitors on the wall.

  “I’ve brought up the Trusian’s last known position on the map.” Elway gestured toward the large monitor on the wall and pointed to a single red dot on the screen. “This was where the ship was located when we were informed of the problem with the AISLive, about 270 miles southeast of Hawaii. These other six points were where we received radio communications from the vessel, but we didn’t have any GPS or satellite data to back up the position. The last communication from the captain’s position report was about 210 miles southeast of Hawaii and 150 miles west of the Port of LA. This is where the Coast Guard jet is searching, about a fifty mile radius of this point. According to their rate of speed and weather, they should have been on course for their approach into the port at 4:45 P.M.” Elway followed the points with his finger. “Unfortunately, we didn’t receive the last scheduled position report.”

  Saller followed what Elway was saying closely, writing down the pertinent information in a notebook.

  Elway continued his report. “I contacted the Coast Guard when we didn’t receive the last position report within the hour. No vessels steaming toward the port saw the Trusian or any evidence of an accident. The SK Star had the last known sighting, but that was way back, about 100 miles east of Hong Kong.”

  “The crew gave no reports of any engine trouble or onboard accident?” Saller asked.

  “No, sir, nothing. They were very matter-of-fact about the loss of the transponder and didn’t seem worried,” Elway responded.

  “That was the report I got from our company dispatch too,” Saller added.

  “The Coast Guard’s initial flyover of the area revealed nothing, so they are going to expand the search area.” Elway hesitated before talking further. “I understand that there are GPS enabled containers aboard the vessel that we’re tracking.”

  “Really?” Saller said, surprised. He hadn’t thought this vessel was carrying such high-value cargo. “Well, what of those? What location did those show?”

  Elway hesitated again. “I’m afraid those were inoperable when the vessel reported the transponder problem.”

  “Aren’t those independent of the ship’s transponder?” Saller inquired.

  “They’re supposed to be. That was the strange part. They are usually an independent system. Occasionally they will be coupled to the ship’s tracking devices, but I’ve learned that these were independent systems on the Trusian.”

  “So you’re telling me that the GPS enabled containers stopped working completely, right when the ship’s transponders stopped?” a shocked Saller asked.

  “Yes, sir, even before the ship’s transponder went dead.”

  Saller looked at Elway seriously. This was not good news. The chances of this happening were infinitesimal unless there had been a catastrophic loss of the entire ship, or an onboard fire. But even that was farfetched. The GPS containers were located at different locations on the ship. There could only be two reasons for the discrepancy. Either the Trusian had some catastrophic accident, or more realistically and shocking, the ship had been hijacked and its electronics sabotaged. Saller kept the thoughts to himself, but he could tell Elway had already come to the same conclusion.

  “I think you may want to talk to the FBI, the Navy, and the Department of Homeland Security,” Elway suggested.

  “Unfortunately, I think you’re right,” Saller agreed. He knew he had a major problem on his hands.

  -Chapter 10-

  Marcus Hopkins of McDonnell Marine Cargo Insurance finally arrived at the Port of Los Angeles around 10 P.M. and met the investigator from OceanLogic for the first time. Her name was Maddie Jenkins. He immediately sensed her strong demeanor.

  “Mr. Hopkins, nice to meet you,” Maddie said first, extending her hand.

  Hopkins reciprocated, surprised at how quickly she had arrived. “You too,” he started, “I hope we can figure out what is going on and help each other.”

  “I’m sure we can,” Maddie declared.

  They negotiated their way to the SeaBoard offices to meet with Thomas Saller. It was going to be an extremely difficult job to determine what was on the Trusian, and they each had preliminary reports of what the vessel was actually carrying. Cargo manifests were often ina
ccurate due to last minute changes in loading cargo when in a particular port. They would need to delve through the most recent cargo manifests to ascertain what the ship was hauling.

  Hopkins and Jenkins immediately set to work in the lobby as they waited to be escorted back to the conference room of SeaBoard. The pair pored over the ship’s statistics; its weight, size, and age.

  It was a massive vessel and only eight years old. It had no previous reports of damage or problems other than routine maintenance and minor engine or electrical problems. The crew were experienced seamen employed by Regentex. Most of them were foreign born and had passed all security background checks. The only potential blight on the ship’s record was the recent relief of duty of the Trusian‘s previous captain. He reportedly had been incarcerated in Hong Kong after becoming inebriated in public. The ship’s new boss, Captain Olgary Svenson, had a spotless record and had been a captain of a previous Regentex ship called the Alliance. He had a well respected name in the offices of the company.

  So far nothing looked out of the ordinary, but Hopkins and Jenkins had been formulating their own questions, just as Thomas Saller had on his flight from San Francisco. The facts so far were sketchy, and the pair was skeptical they would hear any new news that would help their case.

  Tim Elway came to the lobby and exchanged pleasantries with Hopkins and Jenkins. He then led them to the SeaBoard conference room where Saller was on the phone trying to explain the situation to his superiors in San Francisco. Hopkins and Jenkins quietly set up their papers on the conference table in neatly ordered stacks. They had many questions for Saller.

  Thomas Saller finished his call and turned to introduce himself to the reps from McDonnell and OceanLogic.

  “Thomas Saller, head of Logistics of Regentex,” he said and stuck out his hand to the pair.

  “Marcus Hopkins, head of the Claims Division for McDonnell.”

  “Maddie Jenkins, Lead Investigator for OceanLogic,” she stated while solidly shaking Saller’s hand.

  “OceanLogic? I’m not familiar with your company,” Saller responded, taken aback by the woman’s beauty.

  Jenkins was a natural beauty with light brown hair and an athletic build to her body. She didn‘t wear a lot of makeup and had striking, engaging eyes. Maddie had a cuteness to her that people took as naive, but she was a very confident, self-assured, young woman, and direct in her demeanor and actions.

  “We own four security containers that are aboard your ship. They are very important, and I’m here to make sure we get them back. We have a unique contract that was signed off by your board of directors,” she stated quickly.

  “Well, it’s nice to meet you both. I wish it were under better circumstances. Let’s not waste any time and get started, shall we?” Saller said.

  “Good. I believe we’re both ready to get down to business,” Hopkins announced.

  Saller sat down and motioned for the two to do the same. “Mr. Elway, you can take the lead,” he said waving a hand at Elway.

  “Yes, sir,” Elway responded nervously.

  Elway began his presentation again, just as he had with Saller. Hopkins and Jenkins sat riveted to the information.

  Both were very excited, if for different reasons, but they didn‘t show it. For Hopkins, it was his first opportunity to participate in this type of assignment, and Maddie Jenkins had her own, more private reasons.

  Most claims were for much more mundane things; broken parts, minor accidents, a few lost pieces of cargo. A lost ship was a huge and exhilarating deal. It also brought along with it a sense of terror, however. This case was out of the comfort zone for Hopkins, but Maddie had been down this road before.

  Elway concluded his presentation, conveniently omitting the information about the GPS laden containers. He looked at Saller and asked with his eyes if he should continue.

  “Go ahead and tell them the rest. I’m sure Ms. Jenkins would like to know about her containers,” Saller said flatly.

  “If you say so,” responded Elway as he turned back to Hopkins and Jenkins. “The Trusian was carrying four, high security containers enabled with GPS tracking devices. These were independent of any of the ship’s systems. I’m assuming those are yours, Ms. Jenkins,” Elway said nodding his head at Maddie. “As I have informed Mr. Saller, these were found to be deactivated before the AISLive tracking transponder on the vessel was reported inoperable.”

  Hopkins and Jenkins looked at each other, quickly arriving at the same conclusion Saller and Elway had—a possible hijacking. There was just no other rational explanation. This realization and little tidbit of information changed everything. Maddie’s demeanor reversed, and she was horrified. This altered her situation drastically, and Hopkin’s sat dumbfounded at the realization.

  She gazed at Saller. “I know you understand what this means,” she said solemnly.

  “I realize that it seems to be the most probable explanation, but we need more evidence before we jump to this type of conclusion,” Saller said to the pair, almost pleading.

  No one even said the word “hijacking”, as if it would cause some greater problem. But there was a greater problem. The extensive policy Regentex had with the McDonnell group clearly stipulated that in the case of a hijacking of a merchant vessel the company, Regentex, would be responsible for all dealings with the hijackers. If they wanted a ransom then it was up to Regentex to either pay or decide on some other course of action. The insurance company would not get involved. The policy also would not cover damage to the ship, crew, or cargo in the event of a hijacking. Saller knew this and knew that McDonnell Insurance would pay nothing until the Trusian had been found. Maddie knew her containers were off the tracking grid and bobbing somewhere in the ocean, hopefully still on the ship.

  The reasons for this type of stipulation were clear and for good reason. The policy was written in this way to discourage the company’s merchant ships from travelling into pirate waters, such as those East of Africa and in the Aden Sea. The ships with these policies frequented Asian, North American, South American, and European ports. They stayed away from ports in Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian Ocean. Regentex never would have guessed they needed to insure these ships against hijackers as they travelled through the Pacific Ocean.

  Saller had expected as much. It was clearly in the policy. He could have tried to keep the information from them, but that would have ended up costing the company even more money due to a withholding of information and fraud penalty.

  “I’m not sure what our contract states for your containers, Ms. Jenkins, but I would assume the insurance coverage falls under the policy we have with Mr. Hopkins here,” Saller stated slowly.

  “You’re correct, but we have certain stipulations in our contract if our containers are not delivered successfully.” Maddie said the comment coolly. Right now, she only cared about finding out where her containers were heading. Things had quickly become complicated.

  -Chapter 11-

  Hopkins and Jenkins worked together late into the night, using the SeaBoard Conference room as their makeshift office. Jenkins figured she should glean as much information from Hopkins as possible before moving on to the next phase of her plan. Besides, the more time she spent with him, the fewer questions he would ask about her involvement later. Thomas Saller had excused himself to talk to the FBI and Coast Guard, after which he planned go to his hotel to rest up for the next day.

  Personnel at the McDonnell headquarters were also working late, gathering the necessary information to send to Hopkins about the Trusian’s cargo. Jenkins maneuvered herself to intercept as much information as she could.

  The initial breakdown of the cargo manifest was just making its way into the hands of the pair over the fax machine. It was a tedious task. The original cargo manifest had been easily obtained, but there were always last minute changes and corrections. Containers needed to be certified that they physically made it on board the ship. To do this correctly meant waiting on the Hong K
ong port officials to produce the correct information. Luckily they were catching the officials at a good time, and the reports of what was loaded on the Trusian were beginning to move their way.

  Hopkins would have to compare the original cargo loading manifests with the updated versions. It was yet another tedious, but necessary task to get a big picture look at the value of the cargo the ship was carrying. He would have to delve through information on thousands of pounds of goods and materials throughout hundreds of containers that lay aboard the ship. After a proper amount of accounting, a value could then be placed on the cargo. Since the ship offloaded and loaded so much material during each leg of its journey, it was inevitable that something would be missed initially, but for right now he needed a monetary value to work with.

  After working for almost three hours straight, constantly receiving and sending faxes and emails, Hopkins finally had a preliminary value of the cargo that was aboard the Trusian. He estimated the value was 37.3 million dollars, according to his best accounting abilities.

  Maddie had a slightly bigger problem, though. She needed to know for sure what happened to the ship, what really happened to the ship, not how the tale would be spun by the government or Regentex.

  “That’s gonna be tough on the balance sheet at the end of the year,” Hopkins said, pointing at the huge monetary figure.

  “It seems about right. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Luckily they were carrying a large amount of cheap goods. I’m always amazed at what’s held in those containers,” Jenkins answered. “I remember one case where it was a hundred grand in high priced dog food made with Kobe beef from Japan in one container. And I seem to remember in the container next to it was a shipment of Gucci purses and handbags,” she recalled from a news report a few weeks ago.