Authors: John Strauchs
We saw the news
about the explosion on the island.
I know you’re OK because I talked to you after the
place blew up, but Mom is worried sick. Even Lars called asking what happened.”
“I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“Where the Hell are you, Jenn?”
“I really can’t say,” said Jenny.
Jared whispered. “It’s OK. Tell her.”
“I’m in the Caribbean with Jared. We’re cruising. It is so beautiful. I can’t wait to
get you down here some time.
The water is ten shades of aquamarine. The weather is
marvelous.”
She kept glancing at Jared to see if she was saying anything she shouldn’t.
He kept nodding OK.
“His God Damned island blows up and you guys are cruising. I don’t believe
you.”
“I’ll explain all of that when I get home. People aren’t looking for me are they?”
“DUH! Like Mom and Lars. Every hour on the hour.”
“I mean other people,” said Jenny.
“No! No one else. Why should people be looking for you?”
“There are a few people who knew I was visiting Jared when that thing happened.
I thought the police might be searching for me.”
“No, not yet. I’ll ask Mom. Hell, you ask Mom. And what the Hell happened out
there. Like what blew up? Are you on the lam?”
“Don’t be so darned melodramatic. We just didn’t want to have to answer a lot of
dumb questions so we went on a cruise,” said Jenny. “This call probably costs a fortune.
I’ll call you again later, but right now I’ll give Mom a call and let her know I’m OK.”
“Good. Call,” said Krissy.
Jenny put the phone back in the cradle.
“Is it OK to call my mother?”
“Of course. And take your time. Don’t worry about the cost. It’s nothing.
Jenny gave Jared a curious look but went ahead and dialed out.
“This is going to be girl talk. You don’t mind?” She started to climb down to the
main cabin.
“Not at all. Take your time,” he said.
Jenny came back to the galley about fifteen minutes later.
sat phone.
“Jared.” She paused.
“We’re not running away from these Colombians, are we?
She handed Jared the
Like you said before,
you’re trying to draw them in, aren’t you? That’s why you’re letting me use the satellite
phone,” said Jenny.
“Yes!”
She already knew what his answer would be, but it still stunned her to hear it.
“They’re going to come with an army this time. They’re going to kill you Jared.
They’re going to kill ME,” she said.
“That is not going to happen. That is another reason I want to be in Panama when
they get here.
The rain forest is so dense that there is no way that they can mass.
They
are going to be spread out. Many will get lost. The Kuna will help me keep track of
where they are. Overhead infrared sensors won’t do any good in the jungle. The canopy
is too thick and there would be too many hits with IR. This is exactly why I decided
against going to Louisiana. I will have the advantage in Kuna Yala.”
“I’m afraid for you Jared. You still seem to be treating this like a game.”
“No game. Not this time. And, I wasn’t going to tell you this until later, but I plan
on leaving you with the Kuna for a few days.
You’ll be safe with them.”
“You’re dumping me?” asked Jenny.
“I am not dumping you.
It’s just safer for you to be away from me and, for that
matter, it’s safer for me. I am at risk if I have to worry about you. Trust me.”
“I do trust you but I can’t help worrying. That’s an understatement. I’m petrified.”
“You will be fine. Not to worry,” he said.
“Do you have a good friend with the Kuna?”
“Yes, several. They are proud and honest people.
I am a curiosity to them because I speak their language—quite well actually.
I would say they are friendly because
of that but no outsider is completely trusted. They don’t see me as an outsider. They have
resisted all kinds of pressure and offers for commercial development in their territory but
they will accept money if the offer is honorable. You can trust them.”
“Do they speak English?” asked Jenny.
“A few probably do. Do you speak any Spanish?”
“Not a word. I had Spanish in high school but I don’t remember any of it.”
“It will be fine. Don’t worry. I’ll help you,” said Jared.
Jenny was very worried.
It was midmorning and it was already getting hot. This part of the Caribbean was
often very shallow. Coral shoals and banks were all charted but required constant attention to navigation to avoid them.
Some banks were literally a foot or less beneath sea
level. The GPS navigation helped but it was no substitute for unvarying vigilance. It was
easy to run aground after just a few minutes of being inattentive.
The depths changed constantly, ever changing the color of the water. It was common to come across an area where there were stark contrasts in blue and aquamarine
bands across the water.
The smaller islands had a variety of vegetation and palms, surrounded by soft white sands.
It was idyllic and sometimes too beautiful to be believed.
The unwary traveler could be beguiled into not recognizing that danger can be seconds
away.
Jared dropped anchor at a coral reef for a few hours to fish. They needed dinner.
In no time at all he had taken two yellow-tail snapper. He had his shirt off. Droplets of
sea water clung to his skin. Jenny brought out iced tea.
Jared smiled.
She was sure it had been days since the last time she saw him
smile.
“I’m going in for a swim. These are my favorite shorts. I hope you don’t mind.”
He stripped off all of his clothes and dove naked into the sea. Jenny watched him closely.
He looked good.
His wounds had almost entirely healed. Jenny stood thoughtful for a
few minutes but then hurried to find the snorkel gear in the port lockers. She scanned the
horizon. There wasn’t another boat or island in sight.
“A little skinny dippin, mon. Good for the soul, don’t you know,” she said. It was
even worse this time, but at least she was trying. She hoped that Jared would snap out of
his foul mood. She undressed and pulled on her flippers and mask.
It was a graceless
moment even though he couldn’t see her from where he was. She dropped into the water
as quickly as she could and swam to Jared.
He put on the gear and they swam together
to the reef and began to snorkel.
It was breathtaking.
As soon as Jenny put her face
mask into the water hundreds—maybe thousands—of colorful tropical fish appeared.
They were invisible from above. It was a fantasy world.
She was startled when she spotted the first barracuda.
Jared dove beneath her to
signal OK to her underwater. The barracuda had several fishing hooks lodged in its jaw.
A yellow fishing line leader trailed behind one of the hooks. It was an eerie sight.
She
gradually relaxed as she realized that they weren’t going to bother her. Jared wouldn’t let
her stay in the water if there was any danger. She was sure of that. Then she saw the reef
sharks.
She panicked.
She lost the vacuum in her face mask and swallowed some sea
water. Jared swam to her. He was only a few feet away. They surfaced.
“Don’t worry about the reef sharks.
They aren’t interested in you.
You’re not
wearing a colorful bathing suit—what you have on—or should I say what you don’t have
on—is perfect.
Really! You have no flashy jewelry. You’re not splashing. You have
nothing to worry about.”
“Are you sure? They are really big,” she said.
“They’re only five or six feet. They look bigger than they are. The yellow-tail that
I caught probably attracted them. You’re not menstruating, are you?”
“No, I’m not,” she said.
“Then you have nothing to worry about.”
Watching her swim naked was unsettling for Jared.
She readjusted her mask.
They snorkeled again. They both took deep breathes and dove down ten or twelve feet
until they could almost touch the reef.
Jared waved her off when she tried to pick up a
large shell. The Caribbean reef sharks still made her nervous but it wasn’t long before she
forgot about them entirely. Jared was right. They were ignoring her.
This time it was Jared who spotted it.
It was a bull shark.
It looked like it was
about eleven feet in length. Jared recongized that it was a female; males don’t grow that
large. This was a very dangerous shark. Jared knew that the majority of shark attacks are
probably from bulls. He signaled Jenny to surface.
“Swim back to the boat and climb on board.”
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Just do what I ask.”
Jenny hadn’t seen the bull shark yet.
“
Just as well
,” thought Jared.
Jenny swam back toward the boat. She didn’t hurry. She didn’t see or hear Jared
as he began to splash the water.
He slapped it with the palm of his hand over and over
again. She got to the boat and climbed up the transom ladder.
She looked back to see
what was happening.
Jared was still out there.
He didn’t come back with her.
She
started putting on her underwear. Then she saw the ominous dark form pass beneath the
boat, heading toward Jared. It was huge.
“JARED, IT’S A SHARK.
A REALLY BIG ONE!
GET BACK HERE,” she
screamed out to him.
Jared gave her the OK sign.
He took a breath and submerged.
He swam toward
the boat under water. It was at least fifty feet.
He couldn’t see the bull anywhere.
He
came up on the starboard side.
“Do you see her? Where did she go?” he asked.
“Are you crazy? Get in the boat right now,” she said.
Jared hyperventilated and dove again.
He swam back to where he had seen the
bull shark.
Jenny watched him disappear below the surface in disbelief. She kept her
head.
She remembered seeing several rifles in the small closet in their cabin.
She ran
down and found a rifle.
She didn’t know what kind of rifle it was, but she could shoot
and she knew how to load. She found the shells and filled a clip as quickly as she could.
These were very big bullets.
She ran back to the open deck, inserted the clip, and pulled back on the slide to
chamber the first round. She couldn’t see the shark. She couldn’t see Jared. Suddenly he
surfaced.
Jared still hadn’t spotted the shark.
It might be circling.
It might have cruised
away. He looked back at the boat. He had to laugh. It was a cute sight. Jenny was standing naked with an M-14 at the ready. He smiled and waved at her.
She yelled as loud as she could. “GET BACK TO THE BOAT.”
He waved at her again and dove. It was play time. He badly need play time. More
importantly, he was starving for an adrenaline fix. Before he could get oriented, the bull
shark exploded on him. It brushed him at the hip and was gone again as quickly as it appeared. He had to pay more attention to the shark. Jenny was a distraction. He took several deep breathes and dove, deep this time. He went to the bottom. He was twenty feet
down.
The bull was circling.
He saw the dirty white underbelly as she swam directly
over him. She knew where he was as she quickly changed her direction and then, quickly
changed direction again.
She was swimming in decreasing circles.
Jared could hold his
breath a long time.
He was completely calm.
He knew that staying near the bottom
would limit the shark’s attack angle.
She might not even attack once she got close.
He
was wrong about that.
She made a sharp turn.
He saw her pectoral fins flatten slightly, trailing backwards. She was attacking.
Jared didn’t move. He waited until she was on him when he stiff-armed the massive body much as a running back would do in football. He slid off to the right. His hand
was scrapped and now was bleeding. That was a problem. The blood was not good. She
made another fast turn as soon as she passed him.
She was coming back.
Jared kicked
his flippers and porpoised toward her. This time he flung his arms and legs out as wide as
possible. The sudden change in his apparent size confused the bull. She turned again. It
was another charge.
Jared could see a thin crimson cloud coming from his scrapped
hand. She sensed his blood in the water and accelerated.
No human could swim as fast
as Jared, but he was no match for this bull shark. She came like a bullet.
Jared dropped to the sea floor.
An instant before the shark would have been on
him, he used the sea floor to propel him upwards.
He stiffed arm her again and rotated
quickly to an almost riding position.
He jammed his fingers into her left eye. His other
hand racked her gills.
A protective membrane had already closed over the eye, but the
affects on the shark were clear. She exploded away from him. She swam at least a hundred meters before she turned back to him.
Jared surfaced and drew a quick breath and dove again.
He didn’t look to see
how Jenny was taking this.
He spun around several times.
He couldn’t see where the
bull was.
He knew that she knew exactly where he was.
He kept turning in one spot
hoping he would see her before she was on him.
There was nothing.
Most of the fish
were gone as well. He swam back to the bottom to wait for the attack.
He waited eight
minutes until he began to feel the pressure in his lungs to breathe again. The exertion was
depleting his oxygen. He was vulnerable when he surfaced so he held on for another three
minutes.
He could usually hold his breath longer, but the adrenaline in his system had
caused him to use up a lot of oxygen. He had to surface now.
He broke the surface near the boat.
“Do you see her?” asked Jared.
“NO. NO. GET OUT OF THE WATER! GET OUT NOW! I thought it got you.
You were under so long,” yelled Jenny.
“Climb up to the fly bridge and tell me if you see her.”
“YOU IDIOT,” screamed Jenny.
She climbed up as high as she could.
She
couldn’t see the immense shadow she had seen before.
“I don’t see the shark. That just means I don’t see it. It’s still there, somewhere,”
she said.
Jared dove again.
He still couldn’t see her.
He swam back to the boat and
climbed on the boat.
He picked up the rifle that Jenny had dropped, removed the clip,
and ejected the round that had been chambered.
She scurried down the ladder.
“What is wrong with you? You have some kind of death wish?” asked Jenny.
“Sometimes.”
He picked up her discarded towel and began to dry off. He was
grinning. Jenny was in disbelief.
“Sometimes? What the Hell does that mean?” asked Jenny.
“I needed this.
I need a jolt sometimes.
It’s my version of electric shock treatment,” he said.
“I couldn’t see what was happening down there. Don’t you understand that? You
were under so long, I thought you drowned.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “Don’t you
care about me in even the smallest way? Couldn’t you imagine what I was feeling while
you were down there?”
“I’m really sorry. I am an insensitive bastard sometimes,” he said.
“You really are.”
“I love you Jenny. Forgive me.”
“YOU BASTARD!” She punched him in the shoulder as hard as she could. Then
she saw his hand. “You’re hurt.”
He grabbed her and hugged her close.
He kissed her. It was a hard kiss.
They
held it a long time.
She finally pushed herself away.
“Well, did you beat the heck out of it?” she asked.
“I think I did.”
“Let me get the first aid kit.
Looks like you need to be patched together again.”
She grabbed her blouse and put it on as she climbed down into the galley. She came back
with the kit and pulled out antiseptic and bandages.
“Give me your hand. And put on some pants or something,” she said.
Jared held out his hand. She cleaned the abrasions with a damp towel and sprayed
his hand with the antiseptic. She unrolled a bandage.
“Just get me the New Skin…you know, the liquid bandage. These are just superficial abrasions. I don’t think I need a bandage,” he said.
She found it and painted his scrapes.
“Don’t ever do anything like that again,” said Jenny.
“I don’t know if I can keep that promise.
We met while I was free climbing a
cliff for the very same reason,” he said.
“You just about killed yourself that time too.”
“I’ll try not to. Honest!”
“You better,” said Jenny.
“I love you Jenny. I don’t ever want to see you hurt or frightened. I’m really sorry.”
He pulled her closer. She kissed him. It was an even harder and deeper kiss. He
picked her up in his arms and carried her down to their cabin. They made love.
Things
were wonderful again. Jared had his adrenaline fix and now his libido fix. He was coming out of his doldrums.
Jenny sensed the change in him and was beginning to understand him a little, but just a little.
Jared got up a little before midnight.
Jenny was still sleeping.
He went into the
main cabin and began doing a little magic.
He bought some things while they were in
Florida and hid them from Jenny.
When he was ready he went back to the sleeping cabin.
“Wake up Jenny?”
She opened her eyes. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothings wrong. Get out of bed. I have something to show you,” he said.
She looked at the clock. It was one in the morning.
“What is it? What do you need to show me?” she asked.
“Just come. You’ll like it,” he said.
She pulled the sheet from the bed and wrapped it around herself. He took her hand
and led her to the main cabin and galley.
As she stepped in, she couldn’t believe her
eyes.
Jared had a small fake Christmas tree standing on top of the fold-down dining table. The galley was decorated with strings of lights and tinsel. A funny little Santa Claus
was hanging from the ceiling. He turned on the CD player. It was playing Christmas music. It was Barbara Streisand.
“Merry Christmas, Jenny,” said Jared.
“Christmas? Is it Christmas?
I guess it is. This is wonderful Jared.
This is so
wonderful,” said Jenny. Her exuberance was muted for a moment as she thought of Krissy, her mother, and Lars putting up her mother’s Christmas tree. The tree would be full of
her favorite ornaments.
Some were made by her, Krissy and Lars when they were kids.
Others were specially bought for the tree during family outings and vacations.
A few
were from Sweden. Each ornament was a memory.
Each ornament had a special significance in their lives. The best were the one’s handmade by Mormor and her father. She
missed it all so much.
“I really need to talk to my family. Do you think it would be OK? I don’t want to
be the cause of them finding us.”
“Of course. Not to worry. Please call them. I checked and we’re not in range of a
transmitter.
You are going to have to use the SAT phone again,” said Jared.
He pulled
out a metal case from under the storage bin and took out the satellite phone. He carried it
out to the deck and set it up.
“It’s a little tricky so let me dial the number for you.
Watch how I do it,” said
Jared. He dialed out, handed the phone to Jenny, and then went down to the cabin.
Jenny came down about twenty minutes later.
“That was so wonderful to talk to all of them. They were all at my mom’s house
as I thought they would be,” said Jenny.
She hugged him and put her head on his shoulder. She looked at the little tree. It
was a beautiful little tree.
Jared had done this for her.
The old Jared was back.
She
prayed that night that the old Jared would stay longer this time.