Off The Grid (21 page)

Chapter 43

Back on the surface Phil and Antoine continued to debate over the fuel line.

“Let’s make a deal,” Phil said. “I’ll prove to you that we’re not all thugs.”

Phil had taken Antoine’s jabs at his employer rather seriously. Clearly Antoine had underestimated Phil. Out of the corner of his eye, the communications device that was sitting in a cup holder near the wheel started to blink. They were headed up.

“OK, what are you offering?” Antoine said, stepping in front of the light, blocking Phil’s view.

“I’m sure I’ve got some mechanical tape back on the rig. I can easily fix your fuel line for you and you can be on your way.”

“All right, what’s in it for you?”

“How many fish have you caught tonight?”

“Three so far.”

“It’ll cost you your catch. It’s a fair trade. They don’t let us fish out here either my friend. At least we’re not supposed to. And even when I’m out on patrol alone, I never catch anything.”

“Three fish for some tape? Deal,” Antoine said, anxious to get rid of the helpful security guard.

***

Luke couldn’t wait any longer. They had to surface. He turned off their lights and released the glow sticks from their blinking state. When they went up top they needed to blend in as much as possible. The lights might attract the wrong attention. He hoped they had the energy to make it to shore. The extra oxygen might come in handy.

When they finally emerged from the water, they saw that Antoine hadn’t left them. A DWO patrol boat was tied up to the Anchor Point. Luke could see Antoine talking to a man in a uniform on the other boat. Not a good sign, because they couldn’t approach the Anchor Point with the security boat tied up to it.

“Did you get the samples?” Kathryn asked, bobbing up and down in the water.

“Yes,” Luke said, hoisting the bag out of the water to show her. ”Sorry I had to leave you, but I knew you couldn’t make it down any farther the way you were sucking down the air.”

“I get it. It sucked, but I get it.”

“Where did you go? I came back for you and you weren’t there.”

“There was a sunken boat down there near the edge of the ravine. I was looking at it. You didn’t see it?”

“No, but in my defense it was awfully dark. So, that’s what you meant when you made the boat signal? A shipwreck.”

“Shipwreck? It wasn’t Black Beard’s boat or anything. It was a little rowboat. It must have been a hundred years old, pretty cool.”

“When you made the triangle sign, I thought you meant our boat. How did you know to make that sign?”

“What sign?”

“The international scuba diving hand-sign for
boat
.”

“Didn’t know it was an official sign, I just made the shape of a boat with my hands.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter. You had me worried for a minute down there when I couldn’t find you.”

“Worried? I was petrified when you left
me
, jackass,” she slugged him in the shoulder rather hard. Even in the water, she packed a punch.

They heard the engine of the patrol boat roar to life and echo across the water. The boat pulled back from the Anchor Point and sped off. The face of Luke’s communication’s device finally blinked green.

“You ready to get out of here?”

“No, I think I should stay a while – yes, I’m ready!”

Exhausted, they started to slowly swim to the boat.

Once on board and before they had a chance to take their masks off, Antoine sped off in the opposite direction from the oilrig. He’d repaired the fuel line with the duct tape he’d been hiding in the cabin.

“Time to out run the Boy Scout,” Antoine said.

Chapter 44

Antoine tied up the Anchor Point to the dock at the Charlestown harbor as Luke and Kathryn stripped off the scuba gear below deck. Luke emptied the mesh bag of samples into his backpack.

“It seems like quite an ordeal to get these rocks back to the surface,” Kathryn said. “Why would
Estevan and Antoine’s family go through all that trouble just to make jewelry and sell it to tourists?”

“You have to remember that there isn’t a lot of industry on the island. Especially 30 or 40 years ago before this place even had reliable electricity,” Luke said, thinking of the marijuana patch in his sister’s backyard that helped
pay the bills. “People do what they have to do to make ends meet. It might be a lot of effort, sure, but they found something that no one else had ever found. They capitalized on that.”

“If that’s the case, why did they stop?
Estevan said that the government started requiring permits for dives, but couldn’t they have just continued to dive at night, like we just did?”

“I don’t think anyone would want to repeat what we just did. Besides, once Deep World Oceans built the oil rig, they restricted that area to all boats – not just dives.”

“We were a mile from the rig,” Kathryn said. “It doesn’t make sense that the company could have control over an area that large.”

“The government doesn’t have the means to patrol it, so they defer to the company who has the cash.”

“DWO does security or law enforcement for the entire island too. When I scouted out the airport security I made note of their uniforms. The patrol boat logo was the same as the port of entry security guards.”

“So the DWO is effectively controlling what happens in Nevis.”

“Looks like it.”

Antoine came down below deck.

“We might be in a spot of trouble,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Luke asked.

“I think the Boy Scouts just found us.”

Luke looked out a porthole window and could see that two DWO security guards were waiting at the end of the dock. One of them was talking on his phone while the other scanned the marina.

“You need to leave before they see you,” Antoine said. “They know the boat’s name and will be here any second. I’ll play along as the stranded boater, but you need to get going and don’t come back. Get these samples to Estevan. He’ll show you what to do.”

“But you’ll be arrested,” Luke said.

“I’ll be fine, just do some good with those rocks. They’ve only hurt our family.”

“What do you mean?”

“No time to explain. Just go.”

Antoine gave them instructions on how to avoid the guards. They went over the edge of the boat on to the opposite side of the slip from where the guards were standing. The marina had an elevated boathouse a few docks down. Wealthy boat owners used the boathouse during hurricanes and rough seas to protect their precious boats. Staying low to the dock, they crept behind a series of boats before reaching the building.

There was a two-foot gap from the walls of the large boathouse to the surface of the dock to separate the rocking dock with the fixed building. The waves were too high to safely enter the building at the gap. One large wave could crush them between the dock and the building.

Luke went into the water first, followed by Kathryn. Together they swam into the boathouse, hoping it was unoccupied. He found a ladder, climbed up and helped Kathryn onto the deck. There didn’t appear to be anyone else in the boathouse. Peering through a crack in the wooden slats, Luke saw the security guards approach the Anchor Point.

The guards and Antoine exchanged a few words, but Luke was too far away to hear what was being said. One of the DWO men boarded the boat and walked over to where Antoine was standing behind the cabin. They were out of Luke’s view.

Antoine’s gut-wrenching scream pierced the quiet night. Then silence again. Luke headed down to the ladder to help the boat skipper.

“What are you doing?” Kathryn asked, looking at Luke in bewilderment.

“I can’t let them hurt him.”

She grabbed his arm tightly.

“If you go now, its just a matter of time until you’re screaming like that.”

Luke knew she was right. He had no weapons and was unfamiliar with the marina. What was he actually planning to do? Time slowed to a standstill as they waited for the guards to leave. Could they have killed Antoine? But that punishment wouldn’t seem to fit with his crime of fishing in restricted waters, he thought. Five minutes went by before both guards left the boat, trotting down the dock and jumping into a waiting SUV that sped away.

“OK, they’re gone. Lets get out of here before they come back,” Kathryn said.

The man could be hurt or even dead because of them, Luke thought. He couldn’t just abandon him.

“Feel free to leave, but I need to go back to the boat,” Luke said, slinging the bag over his shoulder. “He might need our help.”

***

DWO Security Chief Ernesto Hines had just received a call from his bosses at DWO corporate headquarters, warning him to take extra care patrolling the waters around the oilrig tonight. When his patrolman, Phil, radioed in that he was helping a stranded boat, he worried that it might be too late. When the boat was miraculously repaired on its own, he alerted his men at the marina to investigate.

“Sir, the boat owner’s not talking,” the guard said into his cell phone. “We Tasered him when he tried to run. He lost consciousness. There’s no use wasting time with him now. The guy’s not got long to live.”

“Let’s not let that happen,” Ernesto said. “I’ll call the med unit and get someone over there. He was alone?”

“We found two sets of wet diving gear in the cabin, but the owner was bone dry. We talked to a local who said he saw a man and a woman board the boat earlier tonight.”

“The call from corporate said a couple might be out on the water tonight,” Ernesto said. “They must have hired the boat for a ride. Keep looking. Word is that they may have something that doesn’t belong to them.”

“We’ll fan out and find them.”

“This one came from the top,” Ernesto said. “So I don’t want to hear from you until you’ve found them.”

Chapter 45

Estevan
was stoking the fire in the pit behind his home, waiting for word from the underwater expedition. He was managing to keep his expectations low. The thought that MassEnergy would do anything to help the cause that he cared most about was pretty far fetched. He knew Luke and Kathryn only wanted the minerals for their own selfish use, although spreading wireless electricity to the far reaches of the world was undoubtedly a benefit, but not the one he’d hoped for. Further research on the mineral would be good and this might be the only shot he had to help push it along, so he was willing to tutor them a bit.

The fire pit was four feet in diameter and was dug into the ground roughly three feet. A cast iron grate covered the blaze. Resting in the middle of the grate was an old oblong whiskey still. It narrowed at the top where a copper tube curved down to the ground in a collection bucket.

He hadn’t used the still in years, but remembered the precise steps his father taught him for separating the rock and mineral. He was about to share a family secret. Hopefully it would do some good. He stoked the fire and waited for his guests to arrive.

***

Luke used a fireman’s carry to get Antoine to the car. The DWO SUV was long gone. Kathryn had to continually remind Luke he needed to keep the car under the posted speed limit as he drove to Estevan’s house. The last thing they needed was to attract attention from the DWO goons. She attended to Antoine in the backseat as Luke drove.

“He’s still out, but he’s breathing,” she said. “Luke, we can’t afford to let this guy slow us down. He’s lived a long life. We might need to cut him loose. If they find us with a dead body, we’ll never leave this place. Lets just head for the airport.”

“Are you serious? He just risked his life – twice – to cover our tracks. I’m not leaving him,” Luke said with both hands on the wheel to hold the car steady around a steep curve at a high speed. “We’re going to Estevan’s house like we planned. He can attend to him there.”

“I’ve got a lot to live for and I’m serious,” Kathryn said. “I’m not going to let this guy drag me down. We need to get off the streets.”

“It’s just around the corner up here.”

“There’s no way we can get through the port of entry with those guards looking for us,” she said.

“We don’t know that they are looking for us.”

“They were on the boat, Luke. They had to have seen the scuba gear and they know Antoine wasn’t in the water.”

“Let’s say you’re right. How do we get home?”

“We’ll charter a plane. I’ll call Portland and arrange it. Once I tell them what you’ve got in that bag, they will demand we fly home immediately.”

When they pulled up to the house, Kathryn walked away from the car with her phone to her ear, ignoring the dying man in the backseat. Estevan came to the side of the house where Luke parked. He took one look at Luke and knew something was wrong.

“Where’s Antoine? What happened?”

Luke filled him in on the pertinent details as they carried Antoine inside the house. Estevan noticed two dark circles on the front of his cousin’s shirt when they placed him on a bed. He had matching burn marks on his skin left by the Taser. Estevan gave him a full medical evaluation.

“It doesn’t look like he’s had a heart attack, which is the big fear with those electroshock devices, but his body is still in shock,”
Estevan said, in his best bedside manner. “I really won’t know anything for sure until he wakes up. I don’t have anything to monitor him with here and moving him to the hospital would be risky at this point.”

“He saved us out there and he didn’t have to,” Luke said.

“He’ll be fine, I suspect. He just needs some rest, really. He’s tougher than he looks. You, my friend are another story. You’ve got blood on your face.”

Luke had forgotten about the ocean depth he had just endured. The heavy water pressure caused his bloody nose.

“I got a bloody nose down below. It’s nothing.”

“Whatever you say.”

They left him resting in Estevan’s bedroom and went out back. Luke gave Estevan several of the rock chips from the bag for him to look over.

“You got the right ones. Not very many though.”

“I was sort of in a hurry. That’s not enough?”

“Oh no, this is fine, it’ll just separate down to almost nothing. I’m sure you have some pretty sophisticated stuff back in the States to separate the minerals, but let me show you how we used to do it. It’s not perfect, but it’s reliable.”

Estevan placed three rocks in a vise and clamped them down. He then attached a dull blade over the top of the rocks. It looked like an upside down blender. He affixed a hydraulic lever to the top and pumped it to lower the spinning blade onto the rocks. They settled in the vise as it clamped tighter. Once they were firmly in place, the blade began to slowly turn, grinding away the porous rock. Small bits of rock and dust fell from the vice into a collection drum below it.

“The rocks are rather soft really, which is why you were able to collect them with simple hand tools, even under water.”

“So you can just crush the rock into dust?”

“Essentially yes. But it takes a few times through and finer blades to get it just right.”

After the first pass of the grinding blade, Estevan sifted out the larger pieces of rock and repeated the process. On the third pass he emptied the collection bin into a small metal Petri dish, added a blade that looked like a meat grinder and pumped the hydraulic lever until the material was as fine as sand. The whole process took just minutes.

“This is silver sand. At least some of it is.”

“It looks like ashes.”

Estevan
used large oven mitts to open the hatch of the whiskey still on top of the fire pit’s grate. He added a few buckets of water, which began to boil and evaporate almost immediately, forcing steam out of the open hatch. He used a long pair of tongs to carefully empty the Petri dish into the still, then quickly closed the hatch and tightened down the lock to seal it.

“In a still, the pressure of boiling liquid inside forces the lighter elements to evacuate the main chamber through steam as it rises and looks for an escape route. Typically these stills are used for booze. Whiskey mash heats up and the alcohol escapes through the top of the still and into a collection tank.”

“But we’re not making Bourbon, right?”

“Not exactly, but the process is strikingly similar in its simplicity. The minerals we want to collect are carried by steam to the copper tube and then into the collection tank. After about an hour on a boil the material is separated and the waste rock sinks to the bottom of the still. I’ll disconnect the tube, use a swab to push out any excess material and you’ll have the same raw material we used to make the
viberock.”

“It seems very elementary.”

“Because it is,” Estevan said, pouring in another few buckets of water. “Remember, this was developed by my grandfather over 60 years ago.”

“But what about the purity of the material?”

“This is as pure as we’ve ever got it.”

Kathryn had ended her phone call and was watching the process from the side of the house. She stepped out into the light of the fire.

“I’m sure our guys at MassEnergy have the equipment to get this in a pure form,” she said. “This looks like a caveman developed it.” 

“I welcome your improvements on our design,”
Estevan said. He set about adjusting the collection barrel as Luke and Kathryn walked to the other side of the yard out of earshot.

“What’d they say?” Luke asked.

“Beckman is arranging a private plane to pick us up at the airport in the morning. To put it mildly, he’s excited to see what we’ve got. He’ll have a car waiting to take us to the office in Portland. We’ll just wait here until then.”

Luke could sense Kathryn eagerness to get back home.

“You feeling all right?” he asked. “I mean, you kind of freaked out back there.”

“What, because I don’t feel like getting held in some third-world prison?” She seemed annoyed by the question.

“You were ready to dump Antoine by the side of the road.”

“He’s fine, I saw him. He knew the risks better than we did when he agreed to take us out there. If this silver sand or
viberock  - or whatever they call it - is the same mineral as what is inside ARC, then we’ve just broken StuTech’s back. This is what we came here for Luke. Don’t be such a wimp. Grow a pair. There will be casualties in this fight.”

“I don’t disagree with you and that’s all I’ve ever wanted, but the ends don’t justify the means,” Luke said, calmly. “If not for
Estevan and Antoine, we’d never have found it. We owe them, personally.”

“Maybe you do. Not me. This is business,” she said, sticking her hand out abruptly. “Hand over the car keys. I’m going back to the hotel to get my things. Give me your room key and I’ll get your bags too.”