The Inside Passage (Ted Higuera Series Book 1) (11 page)

William and Mary Island, Canada

Ahmad gathered
with the others in the
Valkyrie’s
hold as they turned east to Mecca. He
spread his sajada on the deck while Yasim began with “Allah, Akbar.”

After morning
prayers, the group went to work. W
e’re already functioning as a team,
Ahmad thought.
When your cause is just, great mountains can be moved.

Ahmad looked at
the bay around him. Hills dropped sharply to the water everywhere in a cascade
of green. On shore, the tide line showed where the sea rose and fell six or
eight feet every day. At the head of the bay lay a small patch of beach.
Less
than three hundred miles from Vancouver and we might as well be at the edge of
the world.

Out here there was
no civilization, just wild country and wild animals. The chance of seeing
another human being was almost non-existent.

A strange-looking
craft lay anchored in the bay, a small barge with a huge ramp off the bow and a
tiny deck house on the stern.

“What’s that
floating abortion?” Ahmad asked.

“It’s the
SeaLander.” Mohammed beamed with pride. “I bought it and the pickup in Port
McNeil. We can land our supplies with it.”

“It reminds me of
a World War II landing craft.”

“That’s exactly
what it is, only smaller.”

Mohammed, Kalil
and Hani took the skiff to retrieve the SeaLander. Ahmad climbed to the
operator’s seat of the cargo boom while Yasim unstrapped the truck from the
deck.

Ahmad took the
controls of the winch and hoisted the truck free of the deck. He swung it out
over the rail and lowered it to the waiting SeaLander.

From his perch at
the cargo boom’s controls Ahmad watched Hani run the SeaLander onto the beach.
The ramp dropped onto the sand and Kalil drove the big four-wheel drive pickup
through a couple of inches of water onto the hard shore.

After disgorging
the truck, Hani brought the SeaLander back to the
Valkyries’
side.

“How did we get
use of this island?” Ahmad asked over the grumble of the machinery. 

“We leased it from
the British Columbia government.” Yasim shouted up at Ahmad from the hold. “The
kafirs will sell us anything we need to hasten their own downfall. The first
pallet is ready.”

Ahmad engaged the
engine and the cargo boom lifted the pallet out of the hold. He swung it over
the rail above the SeaLander and lowered it to the deck. Hani undid the cargo
slings and slid the pallet to one side.

“Ready for the
next one,” Hani shouted up.

Ahmad swung the
boom back over the hold and lowered the slings to Yasim.

“How are we coming
on our timetable?” Ahmad shouted over the roar of the machinery. “Do you think
we’ll be done in time?”

“If Allah wills
it,” Yasim yelled as he attached the sling to a pallet of sheet metal and
rails. “We need to set up our camp in time to rendezvous with the freighter and
receive the goods.” 

Ahmad hoisted the
aluminum rails and steel plates out of the hold. Hani secured them on the SeaLander,
then ferried them ashore where Mohammed and Kalil took charge. They finished up
by unloading boxes of electronic gear.

“Be careful with
the electronics,” Ahmad shouted down to Hani. “And make sure they’re covered.
We can’t take a chance on them getting wet.”

****

The Haro Straits

“Holy Shit! Man
overboard!” Chris yelled.

In an instant, he
was at the stern pulpit, tossing the horseshoe shaped life buoy into the water.
Acting on instinct, he hit the “mark” button on the GPS and punched “Man
Overboard” on the menu. The GPS fixed the location where Ted went overboard and
calculated a course back to the spot.

“Swim to the
buoy,” Chris yelled, his heart in his throat. “We’ll come back and get you.” As
the line from the buoy paid out, it pulled the man overboard pole with it.

“Oh God, oh God,
oh God.” Meagan’s hands flew to her cheeks. The
Defiant’s
wheel spun
free and the boat turned into the wind.

“Goddamn it, keep
your hands on the wheel,” Chris shouted. “Keep an eye on the flag,” he said as
the pole went over the side. It hit the water and popped upright, flying a
bright orange flag six feet above the water.

“It’s almost
impossible to find a man in the water,” he screeched at Meagan. “The flag’ll
show us where he went over.”

“Oh God, Chris,
I’m sorry,” Meagan screamed.

Chris didn’t have
time to respond.

****

Ted felt the
blinding explosion of pain in his shoulder, the cold embrace of the water. The
little knife stabs of the frigid water almost helped numb the pain. As he broke
the surface and gasped for breath, he saw the blue sloop sailing quietly away
from him. Somewhere, in the distance he heard a voice and realized that it was
Chris, shouting to him, but he couldn’t make out the words.

He saw Chris throw
the bright yellow buoy from the stern of the boat. Ted wasn’t wearing a life
jacket.
Have to get life preserver.
In a matter of minutes, he forgot
about the cold as his body adjusted to the chilly water.

Pain coursed
through his right shoulder. He couldn’t use it to swim. He tucked his right
hand into his left armpit and clutched himself, while he used his left arm and
kicked his way towards the life ring. The salt water’s buoyancy kept him
afloat. He reached the life buoy exhausted. He slid his hand into the canvas
strap and held on. His breath came in short pants, his mind numbed.

A few yards away,
he saw the man overboard pole floating straight up in the water. The
International Orange flag waving in the breeze gave him some comfort.
At
least they’ll be able to find me.

The
Defiant
made a big turn, her main sail dropping to the deck. From the water, the boat
looked enormous. As Ted rose to the wave crest, she looked like a destroyer
bearing down on him, shoving aside a white wave of water as she came.

“Chris! I’m here.”
He waved his good arm in the air. He noticed a red plastic whistle attached to
the buoy. He put the whistle to his lips and blew. 

Jesu Cristo,
he’s going to run over me!

****

Seattle

“Mr. Wilson,” the
well-dressed attorney said into the microphone, “When did you first become
aware of my client’s disability?”

Harry looked past
opposing counsel. From the sixty-fifth floor of the Columbia Tower, the conference room had an unrestricted view of Puget Sound, the islands and peninsulas
beyond. Late afternoon sun danced on the water, turning it a golden hue. White
sails dotted the scene.

His mind was not
on the deposition. He had associates for that.
My piranhas
, he called
them.
I wonder how Chris is doing? He should be well into Canada by now. Why hasn’t he called?

Harry really
didn’t expect Chris to call him. Somehow a large gulf had developed between his
son and him.
Whatever happened to that toe-headed little boy?
He
pictured Chris as an eager ten-year old, anxious to learn everything there was
to know about sailing.

He could see the
beautiful child at the helm. Before he was a teenager, Chris could handle the
Defiant
by himself. If there was anything in this world that Chris was good at, it was
sailing. He knew everything he needed to know to make his summer cruise a
success. He just lacked confidence in himself.

How could such a
smart, strong kid not be confident? When he was that age, Harry had the world
by the balls. After graduating near the top of his class, he went to U-Dub Law
and finished in the top five. He came out of Law School with the same brawler
mentality that he carried onto the football field. He didn’t just want to beat
his opponents, he wanted to
destroy
them.

Why can’t Chris
be more like that?

”Mr. Hardwick?
Your witness. . . “

****

The Haro Straits.

 “Bring her into
the wind.” Chris shouted at the top of his lungs. “I’ve got to get the main
furled so we have room to work on deck and can use the boom to hoist him
aboard.”

“Listen, I hear a
whistle.” Tears flowed from Meagan’s eyes. “Oh God, Chris, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t
paying attention. . . “

Chris glared at
her. The two minutes or so that it took to douse the main sail seemed like two
hours.

“Keep her coming
around until you’re on a course of a hundred eighty degrees. That should be
opposite the course we were on when he went over.”

Meagan brought the
Defiant
around to as close as she could get to the wind, following the
bright purple line on the GPS screen.

 “Look! There’s
the flag.” Meagan shouted.

“Do you see him
yet?”

“No, but he’s got
to be there somewhere. Oh God, I hope I didn’t hit him in the head.”

“There he is! He’s
got the horseshoe buoy.” From his vantage point on the cabin roof, Chris was
several feet higher than Meagan. “That’ll do the main for now. I’ll take the
wheel. You get the boat hook out and get ready to grab the man overboard pole
as we come along side.”

Chris hit the
starter button and a miracle occurred. The engine fired. He let the jib fly and
slowly motored up to the man overboard pole.

 Meagan reached
over the life lines with the aluminum boat hook and grabbed the line attached
to the pole. “Got it.”

****

The
Defiant
towered over Ted. From water level, the decks seemed impossibly high. How was
he ever going to get back on board?

“Hold onto the
life ring, bro.” Chris tossed him the life sling. “Here, slip this under your arms.” 

Ted grabbed the padded
sling and dropped it over his head with his good arm, then waved at Chris.  

“Pull him in,”
Chris ordered Meagan as he moved to the stern pulpit over Ted’s head. “Can you
climb the step?” he shouted down, “or should we hoist you aboard?”

Ted looked up at
the swim steps on the transom. “I can make the step, dude.”

Chris unfastened
the swim step and lowered it into the water. Meagan walked the line around to
Chris. He hauled it in, bringing Ted to the rear of the boat.

“Ted, I’m so
sorry,” Meagan sobbed.

Ted reached up
with his left hand and grabbed the swim step. Chris took Ted’s weight on the
line. Ted put a foot on the lower rung and reached for a higher rung.

“I can’t use my
right arm, you’re goin’ ta have to lift me.”

“No problem, bro.
Just grab the next rung.”

Ted managed to
lift himself onto the swim step as Chris hauled on the line. Eventually he
climbed back up into the cockpit.

“Ted, Teddy, I’m
so sorry.” Meagan rushed to throw her arms around Ted’s neck and hug him tight.

“Easy, chica.” Ted
pulled away. “You’re killin’ my arm.”

 “Let’s look at
you,” Chris said. He gently took Ted’s wrist in one hand and his elbow in the
other.

“No broken skin,
no purple bruises. I don’t think anything’s broken.” He lifted Ted’s wrist and
rotated his elbow.

Ted winced. “Take
it easy, dude. You tryin’ to kill me?”

“Your shoulder
seems to be working. I don’t think it’s dislocated. I think you’re going to be okay.”

“Does it hurt a
lot?” Meagan danced around on her toes. “I have some of my mother’s pills in my
bag.”

“Yeah, it hurts
like a son of a bitch. I been hit by three hundred pound linemen that didn’t
hit that hard.”

Meagan dashed
below and returned with a little orange prescription pill bottle. Ted sat in
the cockpit and stared into the distance in the silence.

“Hey, the God damn
engine quit again.” Ted’s breathing started to ease.

“I was so busy
trying to get you out of the water that I didn’t even notice.”

“Here, take two of
these.” Meagan poured a couple of pills out into Ted’s hand and handed him her
water bottle.

The Haro Straits

 “We need to get
you out of your wet clothes. I think you better lie down for a while, Teddy,”
Meagan brushed back a lock of Ted’s dark hair. “Let me get you down below.”
Meagan took Ted’s good arm and wrapped it around her shoulder, leading him to
the companionway stairs. She went down first and helped him climb down after
her.

Ted stood dazed in
the center of the cabin.

“Let me dry you
off.” Meagan grabbed a towel. She rubbed his hair and gently patted down his
shoulder. 

“Uhhh,” Ted
muttered.

She pulled down
his shorts and he didn’t even care. He felt a slight tingling as she stripped
off his soaked boxers and toweled him off.

“Well, look at
you, stud.” Meagan gently led Ted towards the quarter berth. “Here, climb in
your bunk,” she whispered. “You grab the hand hold with your left hand and I’ll
help you in.”

Ted reached up and
grabbed the teak rail over the berth. Meagan cradled his right arm and took his
weight as he lifted his feet and slid forward.

“Can I get you anything?”

“No, I’ll be
fine.” In a matter of minutes the Percocet took effect. Meagan brushed back his
mop of black hair and kissed him on the forehead. “I’m so sorry, Teddy.” Ted
drifted off.

****

“I’m so sorry,
Chris.”

Chris gave her an
icy stare as she climbed back to the cockpit.

“It was all my
fault.”

Chris ignored her
as he began sheeting in the jib.

“Chris, say
something. . . I’m really sorry.”

He spun to face
her. “Sorry doesn’t cut it. You could’ve killed him. You’ve got to take this
trip more seriously.” They stared at each other in silence for a minute. “Take
the wheel while I get the main up again.”

In a few minutes,
Chris had the
Defiant
on a broad reach, sailing north towards South Pender Island again.

“Chris, say
something to me.” Meagan stamped her foot. “I’ve already said I’m sorry.”

Chris thought for
a long moment while he coiled down the jib sheets.

“Just saying your
sorry doesn’t make it all better. Meagan, sometimes you’ve got to think about
someone besides yourself. You’ve got to be part of the team.” Chris took the
wheel again. Meagan paced back and forth in the cockpit.

She stopped and
turned to Chris.

“I know what would
make it better.” She unhooked her bikini top.

Jesus Christ!
“Meagan,
not now. We’re out it public for God’s sake. Ted’s in the cabin.”

“Don’t worry about
him. I gave him enough drugs to make him sleep until tomorrow.” She slid off
her bottoms.

“Jesus, Meagan.
There’s other boats around here.”
 

Meagan slipped
over next to Chris on the helmsman’s seat. His heart rate went wild when she
reached into his shorts.

“Your mouth may
protest, but Mr. Winkie says something else.”

“Meagan, stop it.”
His breathing quickened.

She pulled down
his shorts and took him into her hands.

“I can make it all
better . . .” She took him into her mouth.

“Jesus Christ.
There’s boats all around us. There’re people on shore with binoculars,
telescopes . . .” He felt the pounding in his loins.

Meagan climbed
over him, standing with one foot on each side of him as he sat on the
helmsman’s seat, her golden triangle right at eye level.

“What’ll they say?
What’ll they think?”

“They’ll be
jealous,” she said as she pushed a nipple into his mouth. “They’ll say ‘that
lucky bastard.’” With that, she put one hand on each side of his head on the
stern pulpit and lowered herself onto him. His hardness slid into a pool of
desire. Chris’s half-hearted protest melted into nothingness. He felt her hands
grasp his face and pull his lips towards hers. His mouth parted and her tongue
darted in. His brain clicked off.

****

Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho

It looks just
the same. Nothing here ever changes.
Candace pulled her turbo-charged
Porsche Cayenne SUV off the two-lane black top road and headed up the long
gravel driveway. Blackberry bushes and ferns crowded the tall firs along the
drive. In early July, everything already had a layer of dust on it.

The drive wound
through the firs and came out at a clearing on the top of a rise. The little
frame house said “home” to Candace. Scooter, the aging golden retriever, and
Mom scurried down the porch steps.

“Candy, sweetie.
It’s so good to see you.” Her mother threw her arms around Candace and pulled
her tight. Candace looked over her mother’s head to see Dad coming around from
the back yard, garden trowel in hand.

“Hi, Mom, Dad.
How’s my sweet puppy?” Candace squatted down and rubbed the old dog’s ears. His
tail went wild.

Standing, she
surveyed the scene. Little had changed since she left home fifteen years ago.
Her annual trips home for Christmas or Thanksgiving always revealed the same
house, the same land.

Mom and Dad are
beginning to look old though,
she thought. Her father’s wavy hair, mostly
gray now, betrayed his boyish good looks. Her mother was thickening around the
middle.

“Come inside,
sweetie. John, get her bag.” Mom led Candace towards the porch. “It’s already
hotter than Hades. Let’s get in the shade.”

The three steps up
to the porch transported Candace back in time. She was fifteen again, the good
daughter, obedient to Mom and Dad.

Inside the front
door she looked around the living room. The same flower patterned sofa and
overstuffed chair matched the same flower patterned wall paper. The ashes from
the winter’s last fire still lay in the fire place. Pictures of her sisters and
their children sat on top of the TV. A small table covered with pictures of
Candace, her awards and trophies stood under the window. A shrine to the
prodigal daughter. There were no awards or trophies for her sisters.

“Honey, you look
beautiful as ever.” Her dad brought her luggage through the door. He set the
bag down and gave her a big hug, then carried it through to her bedroom.

Her bedroom
.
Well, for the last five years she lived at home anyway. She shared it with her
sister Jennifer until Trish, the oldest, got married. Trish always had a room
of her own. Now Jenn had Trish’s room. She and her kids moved in with Mom and
Dad when she left her abusive husband. Her two kids, who usually stayed in Candace’s
room, would be sleeping with their mom during Candace’s visit.

“Sit down, let me
look at you. Tell me all about your Harry.” Mom steered Candace towards the
sofa.

“Oh, Mom, I can’t
believe it. It’s all like a fairy tale.”

“He sounds like
Prince Charming all right.” Dad re-entered the living room. “But he’s a little
long in the tooth, isn’t he honey?”

“He’s young and
vital, Dad. You don’t want people thinking of you as old, do you?”

“No. And I’m not,
but I’m also not marrying a girl my daughter’s age.”

“John! Enough.
Candy, your sisters are both coming for dinner. Jenn was able to get the night
off.”

****

“I want to sit
next to Aunt Candy.” The toe-headed five-year old grabbed the chair.

“No me.” His
little sister could barely get the words out.

“That’s okay,
Johnny. You can sit on this side and Amy can sit on the other.”

Mom’s favorite
meal, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green peas, fresh-baked
biscuits with homemade strawberry jam, and a summer salad, crowded the table.
Candace managed to ignore the chicken and make a good meal from the vegetables.

“You girls go sit
in the living room while Dad and I clean up the kitchen.”

Trish
looks
old and worn out. I can’t believe she’s only seven years older than me.
Crow’s
feet appeared near her eyes and her hands showed too many days in dishwater.           

Jenn was no prize
either. She put on at least ten pounds since the last time Candace saw her.
They both showed signs of a hard life in rural Idaho.

“Well, Candy, tell
us all about him.” Jenn blurted. “Mom says he’s a lawyer. . .”

“I heard he was
the head of the law firm. Mom says he owns the tallest building in Seattle.” Trish spoke on top of Jenn.

“I thought you
were never going to get married. . . “ Jenn added.

“Slow down, both
of you. Yes, he is a lawyer. No, he doesn’t own the Columbia Center. His firm just leases space there. And I guess he’s kind of the head of the firm, he’s
the senior partner.”

“Tell us about his
house. Does he really drive a Jaguar?”

The Inquisition
went on for an hour. Mom and Dad joined in and Candace couldn’t answer
questions as fast as her family fired them at her.

“Do you have any
pictures, dear?” Mom asked.

Candace slipped an
envelope out of her Dooney and Bourke bag. “Here’s Harry. . .”

“Oh, he looks like
Harrison Ford!”

“And these are his
kids . . .”

“Candy! They’re all
grown up. How old are they?”

“Chris is
twenty-two and Sarah’s eighteen.”

“Oh, Candy, you’re
going to have problems with grown step-children.”