one piece was concerned, but only if Stratton could get to it. He could make out the huge vertical pipe ahead and finned for all he was worth, sucking the air from the bottle as he increased to near-sprint mode. He was certain he could make it. The question was could he get back before the security boat challenged the boys. If not this phase would be a failure.
Stratton reached the umbilical - it felt like a fat conduit of rubber - and pulled himself around it, the nylon line following him. Once he’d got around to the other side the tide catapulted him back in the direction he had come.
A spotlight swooped across the small fishing boat and Todd looked up to see the top of the security vessel’s superstructure above the barge heading towards them.
The nylon line continued to unravel down into the water and Todd wrestled with the heavy bundle to balance it on the edge. ‘Come on, Stratton,’ he shouted at the water.
The security vessel made a wide berth round the corner and came into full view. If the security boat caught Todd in its light the bundle would be exposed.
The light struck the rear of the fishing boat and made its way along its deck. Todd had to make an extremely serious decision but then quickly determined he had no choice. He heaved the bundle overboard and it dropped beneath the water as the powerful beam illuminated him.
‘Cut the engines,’ Todd shouted.
Paul wasn’t sure that he’d heard Todd correctly and looked out of the wheelhouse as the security boat bore down on them.
‘Cut them!’ Todd shouted again.
Paul was in a mild panic, unsure what to do. Stratton was gone. Perhaps Todd knew something he didn’t. He reached into the wheelhouse and turned off the power. The engines died, the dull droning replaced by the wind and rain whistling across the boat, which quickly began to drift. As it left the calm leeward side of the barge the wind and sea returned to play with it like a toy.
‘STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND STAND IN SIGHT WITH YOUR HANDS IN VIEW!’ a voice boomed over a loud hailer as the security vessel powered towards them. Its fierce spotlight was blinding.
The security boat was a large cruiser of the type used by the coastguard and behind the bright lights Paul and Todd could make out men on the bridge wings and in the bows.They were carrying rifles.The big ship came alongside the little fishing boat and slowed abruptly, both vessels rapidly drifting away from the barge.
‘YOU’RE IN A RESTRICTED AREA!’ the voice boomed. ‘STAND WHERE YOU CAN BE SEEN!’
Paul stepped from the wheelhouse with his hands in the air. Todd raised his hands too, looking towards the barge that was almost out of sight and wondering where the hell Stratton was.
‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THIS RESTRICTED AREA?’
Neither man answered, unsure what to say or do, despondency suddenly threatening to overwhelm them. All they could think of was that their boss was somewhere behind them in the sea and this entire operation was falling apart before it had even begun.
‘Tell them we’ve a man overboard,’ Paul said in a voice just loud enough for Todd to hear.
Todd wasn’t sure whether to agree or not. He could see where Paul was coming from. It was concern for the man and not the operation.The question was, what would Stratton do, or want them to do? The answer was easy enough.‘No,’ Todd said, squinting at the security vessel.
‘Good answer,’ Stratton said as he stepped from behind the wheelhouse, wearing his oilskins and yellow sou’wester. He put his hands in the air. ‘Talk to them, Paul.’
Todd didn’t look back but he was so pleased with himself, let alone with his boss, that he almost smiled.
Paul breathed a sigh of relief. ‘We’re truly sorry,’ he called out in an Irish accent. ‘We’re a tad misplaced.’
‘We’ve got engine problems!’ Stratton shouted in his own version of the Gaelic twang.
One of the crew relayed the men’s reply to the bridge.
‘YOU WERE MAKING HEADWAY WHEN WE FIRST SAW YOU!’ the voice boomed.
‘Just runnin’ with the wind, sir,’ Paul shouted. ‘Why’d we want to be in here anyway? Only tear our nets on all these cables, sure we would.’
‘Can you throw us a line?’ Stratton shouted. ‘Tow us out of here?’
There was a long pause before the security boat’s captain came to a decision. ‘NEGATIVE. YOU‘RE GONNA HAVE TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM YOURSELVES.’
Stratton and Todd went to the rear of the wheelhouse, opened the engine compartment and pretended to fiddle with the engine while Paul held the wheel.
‘Thanks a bunch there, anyways,’ Paul shouted.
‘IF YOU ENTER THESE RESTRICTED WATERS AGAIN YOU WILL BE ARRESTED AND PROSECUTED!’
Paul made a gesture to signal that he understood and went back into the wheelhouse to give the impression he was working on their problem.
The security boat’s engines roared and it pulled back as the fishing boat drifted away from it.
Stratton kept an eye on the cruiser as it held its position. The captain was clearly still suspicious of them.
‘What about the bundle?’ Todd asked.
‘It’s on its way,’ Stratton assured him.
‘You connected the ends? That’s brilliant.’
‘That was close,’ Paul said, checking on them. ‘How long shall we keep the engines off?’
‘Who’s idea was it to kill them?’ Stratton asked.
‘Mine,’ Todd admitted, wondering if he was going to get in trouble.
‘Good,’ Stratton said.
A bell clanged and they all looked towards a perimeter-warning buoy a few metres away on the starboard side, a light swaying on the end of its short derrick as if it was a giant fishing float signalling a large bite beneath it.
When Stratton looked back towards the security vessel it had turned its flank to them and was still holding its position. ‘Start her up.’
Paul entered the wheelhouse and a moment later the fishing boat’s engine gunned to life. Stratton stepped inside to get out of the weather and Todd joined them, closing the door.
‘Why were we speaking in Irish accents?’ Stratton asked.
‘Yeah, I was wondering that,’ Todd said.
‘I don’t know,’ Paul said, shrugging. ‘I can lie better in Irish. Besides, everyone loves the Irish.’
‘That was a crap Irish accent,’Todd said.‘You sounded more like a Pakistani.’
‘Better than his,’ Paul said, indicating Stratton.
‘He’s right, Stratton,’ Todd said. ‘Yours was rubbish.’
The two young men glanced at Stratton, wondering if they’d gone too far.
‘Accents have never been my thing,’ he admitted.
The others laughed. Stratton’s face cracked slightly.
‘He smiles,’ Todd said, never having seen Stratton wear one before.
The two young men gabbled on, their tensions easing, and the sound of laughter rose above the chugging engine as the boat headed towards the glow on the horizon that was Galveston.
The bundle followed the curving umbilical down into the darkness, bubbles escaping from it as the pressure increased around it. A faint orange glow suddenly appeared below, the light coming from dozens of small windows and portholes in neat rows at various levels around a huge mound.
The bundle finally came to rest on a rocky ledge and hung by its line that went up and around the base of the umbilical where it disappeared into a massive concrete block.As the bundle settled it dislodged several rocks that cascaded down the side of the mound. The rocks dropped past one of the lines of glowing portholes, eventually disappearing into what could only be described as a thick layer of white water covering the sea bed around the underwater hill like an impenetrable mist.
