Authors: Jinx Schwartz
“Better than nothing.”
“Not much.”
“Rescue units away, Captain Xavier.”
“Rich, get us underway again and break out the fire hoses.” In minutes
Endeavor
was up to speed, with coasties on the bow wielding hoses capable of spewing tons of seawater.
They were still out of water cannon range when a cheer rose from the decks.
All Bidness
, with most of her bow blown away, scooped tons of water, her stern rose into the air, and she slipped below the waves.
HiJenks
, flames spreading along her aft deck, kept going. Jaime yelled, “Bravo!” and slowed
Bananas
to steer the few pieces of still-burning flotsam that had once been
All Bidness
. “Nikki, get on the radio and tell
Endeavor
who we are, and that we will pursue
HiJenks
. Otherwise your fellow countrymen might think we’re villains and blow us out of the water.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Nicole saluted, her voice cracking with excitement. Grabbing the mic, she said, “United States Coast Guard Cutter
Endeavor
, this is DEA agent Nicole Kristin, over.”
A moment of silence, then a surprised Xavier responded. “This is
Endeavor
, Agent Kristin.”
“
Endeavor
, I am in the Donzi with
Comandante
Jaime Morales of the Mexican Federal Police. We are following
HiJenks
to ascertain the Jenkins's situation.”
“Understood. Stay with her. We’re launching rescue vessels to
HiJenks
, the plane crash, and where
All Bidness
sank. Keep a sharp eye out for survivors, Agent Kristin. And good luck.”
Xavier handed the mic over to the radio operator and said to his Executive Officer, “Arrington, I have a real bad feeling in my gut. Why isn’t
HiJenks
stopping?”
HiJenks
’s autopilot held her on course, directly into the gale. Still cruising at ten knots, the heavy trawler ploughed headlong into the worsening seas and, as green water washed as high as the flying bridge, the onboard fire was snuffed out.
“Looks like we won’t need the fire extinguishers,” Nicole told Jaime as he maneuvered
Bananas
alongside
HiJenks
. The trawler's blinding halogen spots were still blazing, making it impossible to see inside.
“See anyone on board?” Jaime yelled to Nicole. Nicole shielded her eyes and shook her head.
“Nikki, do you think you can hold
Bananas
steady enough for me to climb onto
HiJenks
?”
Nicole gulped. “I can try. Where do you want to board?”
“Let’s see if I can jump onto the swim platform. You’ll need to get as close as you can, match speed, then when I’m on the platform, veer off. Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be. Jaime?”
“What?”
“I’ve decided all Hispanic males aren’t shits.”
Jaime looked at her in disbelief, and then grinned. “
Gringas
!”
Nicole dogged
HiJenks
’s port beam while Jaime balanced on
Bananas
’ gunwale rails. Spray all but blinded both Jaime and Nicole, while waves assaulted them with rib-cracking ferocity. Slowing slightly to allow the trawler to move ahead, she gritted her teeth and held position. Jaime, after a couple of hair-raising tries, managed to grab
HiJenks
’s aft rail. He swung against her transom with a thud. Nicole steered a hard left, let out a victory whoop, and hoped Jaime hadn’t cracked a rib.
The norther picked up considerably since the drama in the central Sea of Cortez began. Steep six footers topped with one-foot wind waves turned the sea’s surface into a surfer’s dream. And a mariner’s nightmare.
Spotlights dotted an area three miles across as vessels converged on oil slicks that were once yachts and airplanes.
Here and there, like predator fish after bait, pangas, their drivers determined the night not be a total loss, darted in to snatch a packet of cocaine and speed away before the navy could stop them.
Search lights from the Mexican Navy ship and
Endeavor
played over the disaster area while rescue boats combed for survivors. Scanning the grim scene from his vantage point on the bridge of his cutter, Bill Xavier jumped when Jaime’s voice boomed from the speaker at his station.
“This is
Comandante
Jaime Morales of the Mexican Federal Judicial Police. I am aboard
HiJenks
and I am afraid I have disturbing news.”
Outside the reach of the spotlight glare, Gabriel decided to settle for what cargo he had in his panga, and head for home before he was caught. He didn’t know exactly what he would do with the four packages of cocaine he’d fished from the sea. He had no safe way of selling them, except maybe through Hector, and he truly hoped that Hector was aboard
All Bidness
when it blew up.
He was pondering this dilemma when he crested a wave and almost collided with
Jenkzy
. Veering off to miss the pangita, he circled back and snagged her bowline. A smile lit his face when he saw the fifteen horse Evinrude. Now there, he thought, is something worth finding.
“Sir, we have a survivor on board,” one of the Coast Guard rescue units reported back to
Endeavor
.
“Give me details,” Arrington said into the radio, giving a thumbs-up in Xavier’s direction.
“Mexican national, sir. He says his name is KiKi and he was crew on
All Bidness
.”
“What’s his condition?” Arrington asked, trying to mask his disappointment that the survivor wasn’t Hetta or Jenks.
“He’s fine sir, just a little shook up. He does have a nasty dog bite on his arm.”
“I can’t wait to hear the rest of that story,” Xavier said dryly. “Cuff him and turn him over to
Matamoros
. They can throw him in their brig with those two pilots and the shrimp boat captain.”
“Yes, sir. Sir?”
“Go ahead.”
“It’s getting real bad out here. What’s the weather report.”
“Not good. The winds have picked up to forty-five, gusting to fifty-five. You can’t stay out there much longer.”
“We’d like to give it a little while.”
“Use your discretion.”
“Yes, sir.”
Xavier and Arrington exchanged glances, both thinking the chances of finding the Jenkins anytime soon were deteriorating along with the weather.
Chapter 40
Now I would give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground.—Shakespeare
Hetta tried deep breathing, and then conjured up visualization techniques from every yoga class she’d ever taken. Nothing worked. Her heart jackhammered, thrumming her eardrums so hard she couldn’t differentiate between the roar of the waves and wind, and the freight train in her head. She couldn’t get enough oxygen, even when she was above water.
Deep, dark water, and what might lurk in those seemingly endless depths, stirred a primal dread far beyond anything that drug runners, storms, or bullets could. Only a tiny shred of self-control, and her love for Jenks, prevented her from climbing on top of him to escape the water. She strained to hear Jenks’s calming voice as he talked to her over the howling wind and crashing water.
“Hetta, hold my hand and don’t think about the water. I mean, what’s the difference between thirty feet and three hundred feet of water?”
“Is that a trick question?” she asked in a quivery attempt at humor. “Two hundred and seventy feet. And I can’t see what’s down there.”
A wave broke over them and left them choking and gagging. Jenks tugged on the tether holding their jackets together, pulled Hetta closer to him. “Let’s try to keep our backs to the waves if we can,” he shouted, “and don’t resist ‘em. Relax, roll over the top. If you fight you’re just wasting energy and body heat.”
Jenks’s voice undulated, coming in spurts between the drumbeats in Hetta’s ears, but she understood. “Jenks, body heat I’ve got. And I’m really, really, trying to relax. Really.” The “really” came out “r-r-r-eeellly.”
Jenks saw she was deathly pale. “Are you hurt, Hetta? Cold? Or just scared?”
“Nuh...no. I bit my tongue when we hit the water, but it’s not bad. You?”
“I’m fine.”
“How can it be so dark with all those stars and that moon?” Hetta asked, looking at the sky and trying not to think of what was probably zeroing in on her dangling legs. “And those boat and search lights seem so close. Can’t we try to swim to them?”
“Tex, they’re at least two miles away, against the wind and current. We’d just be wasting energy.”
“You could make it. Without me, you could.”
“I’m not leaving you. Not for anything. Besides it’ll be dawn before all that long, and these orange life jackets will stand out like a turd in the punchbowl. And by then they’ll have called in an air search.”
“I’d just as soon not wait that long, thank you.” Another wave crested over them, but this time Hetta managed to avoid swallowing water. “Damned square waves,” she growled, her voice gaining strength. “Why can’t the Sea of Cortez have waves like the rest of the damned world? We’re getting further and further away. And the moon is setting. How are they going to find us?”
“Oh,” Jenks said, his voice confident, “they’ll set up a search pattern in ever-widening circles.”
“Even if this norther gets worse?”
“Even if. And remember that guy who fell overboard last year? In a norther worse than this one? He just floated with the tide and ended up right back where he started.”
Hetta felt a surge of hope. “Yes, he did, didn’t he? And he didn’t even have on a wet suit like we do.”
A roller crashed over the couple and Hetta cursed again. A good sign, Jenks thought, better mad than scared.
“Jenks, I just remembered something. It took that man twenty-four hours to float back to where he fell off the boat. Twenty-four hours!” Hetta said, panic rising in her voice.
“It won’t be that long, I promise. We’ve got the United-damned-States Coast Guard looking for us.”
“You mean the ones who shot at us?” Hetta said dryly.
Jenks laughed.
That’s better
. “Not at us, I’m sure. That was only to warn
All Bidness
....” His voice trailed off.
“
All Bidness
blew up.” Hetta’s chin trembled. “Bud and Sam Houston. They’re gone, aren’t they?”
“Honey, we don’t know that for sure. Besides, it looked to me like Bud was doing his level best to run us down. I sure as hell hope he made it, because I want some answers from that big son of a bitch.”
“Jenks, I saw Bud driving
All Bidness
with my own eyes, and I still can’t believe it. Why? I’ll tell you one thing, this Texan plans to find out how that Texan got himself in this mess. If it’s the last thing I do. Unless this is.”
Jenks squeezed Hetta’s hand. “I wonder where
Jenkzy
is?”
“I’m sorry, Honey. I tried to hold on.”
“It’s not your fault. We just underestimated the force of the waves when we jumped. I figured we could hang on to the tow line and climb in when we were clear, but everything happened too fast.”
Jenks’s stomach growled. “I wonder if they have any Oscar Meyer wieners on that Coast Guard cutter? I think I’ll eat a whole package after they pick us up. What do you want?”
“Anything but fish. Speaking of which...never mind, I don’t want to talk about it.”
But Jenks knew what she was thinking, and had to get her mind on something else. “Are you sure you’re not cold?” he asked.
“No, not yet.”
“Good. You know, I’ve been thinking—”
“I hate it when that happens,” Hetta’s teeth glowed in the moonlight as she grinned. It was a strained grin, but a grin.
“That’s my certified sea wench. And you know what I’m thinking? That we don’t have to go back to the States yet. We can make it a while longer if we’re real careful.”
“What’s the point?
HiJenks
is toast.”
“Let’s be optimistic. We have insurance, we’re not hurt, and we’ll be picked up soon, so we’ll just—”
“What was that?” Hetta screamed as a wave crested over them. Flailing wildly, she tried to swim away, but the tether between their life jackets held her back.
“Hetta, what in hell? What’s wrong?” Jenks jerked her closer.
“Something bumped me! Oh, shit, it’s a shark. I just know it. Or a giant squid!”
“No, it’s not. Now calm down, lie back, and put your feet on my shoulders.”
She tried, but the weight of her legs pushed them dangerously low in the water and a wave buried them both again. Hetta surfaced thrashing.
“Hetta! Stop it! Right now!”
She went still, but her eyes were crazed with terror. “Jenks, I think I’m going to faint. Something nudged me. And it glowed. It’s a squid, I just know it.”
“Probably just seaweed, or—Jesus, what was that?” Throwing his arm out in self-defense, he snagged a handful of soggy fur.
Leaving the Coast Guard and Mexican Navy to their own search patterns, Jaime decided to try further south, even though
Bananas
was running very low on fuel.
“Damn, there goes the moon,” Nicole said, watching the last sliver of light slide below the heaving horizon. It suddenly became very dark. “How much longer till dawn? Or we run out of fuel?” she asked.
“Both will come soon, I think.”
“How are we going to find anything out here? We don’t even have a searchlight.”
“I have spent many years in the Sea of Cortez, my dear. First working on charter boats with my brother-in-law, then in the navy. I know these waters. This time of year the currents run very strong, like rivers within the sea. Whatever they carry south, they will bring back.”
“Do you think they’re alive?”
“I do not know. But if they are, we will find them. Well, we won’t, as we will soon be floating on the whim of the tide ourselves.”
“Oh, great, the old out of gas story,” Nicole grinned, then jerked her head around as something caught her eye. “Look.”
“What? Where?”
“There. Wait, I don’t see it now. Keep looking at three o’clock.”
“I still don’t see...yes, I saw a flash of light. Hang on, here goes the last of our gas.” Jaime jammed the throttles forward and
Bananas
soared over a cresting wave, racing towards where they had seen the light.
“I’ve lost it,” Nicole yelled. “Stop.”
Jaime put the boat in neutral and they waited. “There it is again,” he said. On the crest of a wave they saw what appeared to be a strobe light.