The morning after the storm, as the seas calmed down and the sun crept over the horizon, they finally were able to rest. That was when they’d heard the helicopters.
David had heard the noise and looked over the inflatable rim of the boat. He’d been slightly horrified to find that they were still within sight of the island. It was far in the distance, but he had still been able to make out its silhouette on the horizon. It had to be the same island because he could see the three helicopters taking off from it and flying in formation to the south.
They were miles away and weren’t a danger to the two men. Still, David waited until the aircraft were completely out of site before starting up the motor and moving them away from the island. He didn’t want to create a wake that was visible from the sky and risk a chance of capture. The spare gas they’d found in one of the boat’s storage bays only gave them an extra two hours of propulsion.
Now they floated, out of gas, hoping the wind would catch their makeshift sail. Neither Henry nor David knew which way they should head in order to reach the closest point of land. They had settled on west. Given the climate and the fact that the flight to the island had taken around nine hours from California, they both figured that they were probably in the South Pacific. Closer to Southeast Asia than not. West was as good a heading as any, he supposed. South America might take longer.
David looked at Henry and said, “How’s your water purification contraption coming?”
Henry was taking little tiny strings of duct tape and binding the rings of the tarp to the metal handlebar that wrapped around the top of the inflatable rim of the boat. It created a small tent for shade. He used one of the shower rods to prop it up in the middle and placed bottles at the corners, hoping gravity would bring any drops of condensation down in to them.
“It’s coming,” Henry said. His face was sunburnt and tired. “You know, it’s not so much the heat out here… it’s the humidity…”
David tried to smile, but his mouth muscles wouldn’t make the shape. “Yep.”
“There,” said Henry. “That should do it.”
“Looks good. The shade will be helpful, too.” David leaned as far under the tent as possible while still holding on to the wheel.
Henry’s lips were chapped. His neck and shoulders were bright red and blistering from being in the sun. David imagined that he didn’t look much better.
They had made the sail as soon as the boat’s gas had run out. Henry’s design. He was pretty crafty, David would give him that. He had used the rope from the small anchor, several of the shower curtain rods, and a half-roll of the duct tape, and turned them into what David thought resembled a jib. Then they’d used similar parts to increase the area of the rudder. It was crude, but it did the job. There was a steady wind coming from a non-ideal direction, but David did what he could to make it work and maneuver them west.
Henry, putting away the “tools,” said, “Okay, let’s make a bet. We make it to land, get rescued by a boat, or die of dehydration. What do you think it’s going to be?”
“Don’t forget sharks.”
“Sure. Good point. So you’re taking sharks? I think we die of dehydration first, personally. But…” He stopped and froze his gaze to the west. His words became more rapid. “Actually, I’m gonna change my bet. David, look. I see something,” Henry said.
David leaned over and peered in the direction Henry was looking. There was a dark shape on the horizon.
Henry said, “Do you see that? Just to the right of where the front of the sail starts. I think it’s a boat.”
David thought so too, although he couldn’t make out what kind of ship it was. It would be a minor miracle to find someone else out here. Even more miraculous would be if they were spotted and rescued.
Henry said, “I’m going to signal it with the mirror.”
“Wait.”
“Look, we’ve been over this. We agreed that if we saw anything…”
David squinted as he tried to make out the features of the vessel. A mast, a radar, fishing nets… anything that might give them a hint as to whether it was a friend or foe. He said, “You sure you don’t want to wait until it gets closer to make sure isn’t a warship at least?”
“I’m sure. We might not want to pass up opportunities,” Henry said. He held up an empty water bottle. “Beggars can’t be choosers.” He scratched at the peeling sunburnt skin on his neck.
David bit his lip and jiggled his empty water bottle, then looked at the dark spot on the horizon. Even if they did signal it, that thing was so far away that whoever was on board probably wouldn’t spot them.
“Okay. But assuming they’re civilians and this doesn’t get us killed or captured, let’s remember the plan.”
Nathan heard one of his deck men yelling from the bridge. It sounded like Byron, his good-for-nothing nephew. Christ, now what was the matter? Their icemaker had been on the fritz for the past week. No fishing and a ten-day steam to Darwin. Could have been ten years, it would have been the same effect. You can’t store fish without a working icemaker. They were over one hundred miles west of the Philippines by the time they’d finally fixed it, only to discover a major hydraulic leak that prevented them from reeling in their catch effectively. Once again, no fishing. The ship was going to need major maintenance. Nathan’s chief engineer informed him that they needed to head back to port as soon as possible. Back to bloody Darwin.
Nathan climbed up the ladder to the bridge to see what that idiot nephew of his was blubbering about now. When he got there, Byron was looking through his binoculars — not wearing them the way he was taught, as usual — and getting more excited by the minute.
“Nathan, someone’s signaling us! They look like they’re in distress. Look.”
Nathan frowned. What the hell was he talking about? They were in the middle of the Pacific. Quite a ways from land. Nathan didn’t expect anyone else around these waters. He grabbed the binoculars from Byron’s hand. The chief engineer was coming up the ladder behind them now. Wonderful. Let’s just get the whole crew in here. A month-long sightseeing cruise with no fish to show for it.
Nathan centered in on the raft. Or was it a motor vessel? The thing looked like a security boat you would see around a naval base. But there were tarps covering it, and he could make out two men huddled together in the shade. One of them was flashing something at them that reflected in the sunlight. That’s what must have caught Byron’s eye. A good thing, too. There wasn’t anyone else out here for dozens of miles. This was one of Nathan’s favorite spots to haul in a catch because no one was ever around. And these assholes were floating on some navy raft in the middle of his secret fishing territory. He sighed. Better go help them out.
Nathan said, “Come right five degrees. And wake up McCormick. Tell him we’ll need him to put his nurse hat on today.”
Seven hours later, Nathan tapped his fingers on the metal table in his personal cabin. His two recent rescues sat across from him. The door was shut.
They were a sad sight. Peeling skin and chapped lips. McCormick had checked them out and given them plenty to drink. They had taken showers and put on oversized clothes borrowed from the crew. They were still guzzling down water nonstop. Like they were afraid it would run out.
Nathan took in a deep breath and let it out through his nostrils. If it wasn’t one thing it was another.
“So let me get this straight. You gents have been working for the US government on some type of secret project that you can’t tell me about. There are well-equipped Chinese criminals after you, and you think that if I was to call or radio or email anyone and let them know that I’ve picked you up, I would be putting us all in grave danger. Is that about the gist of it?”