Sailing Away

"I suppose that you are now going to swear me to secrecy?"

"Yes, that will be necessary, unfortunately."

"Why do I get the feeling that I've been used?"

"That was never our intention, but if Roderick had taken your rejection of his advances seriously and stopped trying to involve you, we would have allowed it to go down that path. We could not have stepped in and warned him off his pursuit of you without blowing the whole operation. We had to allow it to follow the course that it took."

"Was he aware of my involvement in this sting operation when he threatened to shoot me?"

"We didn't believe so, but we had no choice but to take him out of circulation. We couldn't allow him to contact those running the operation."

"When the full extent of this operation is made public, my involuntary participation in it will put me under a great deal of peril. I'm not overjoyed at this. Life as I know it has just come to a screeching halt."

"We ask that you don't act too hastily. We need the brokerage business to continue because we feel that those behind this may want to continue using it."

"Oh no, you can count me out, I'm not putting my arse in a sling for you or anyone, and that includes you, Brian, if you want me to get further involved in this you can have your beautiful, gorgeous, exquisite diamond ring back." I pulled on it, or that's what it looked like, there was no way this ring was leaving my finger.

"That won't be necessary. The brokerage will remain in business with you as the nominal owner, but the operation will be run by a task force made up of AFP members selected for their appropriate skills. This task force will be headed up by none other than Inspector Freeman here."

"Hold on, was I consulted about this?" Brian asked.

"We thought that having gone this far, you'd want to see this through to its logical conclusion."

"Things have changed. I have a fiance who I fully intend to marry as soon as possible. I do not want her placed in a position where she's in any danger. I have a great slab of leave due to me and I want to access that as of now. Jane and I are going to step back from this whole business to enjoy each other to the fullest."

To show my acceptance, I kissed him in such a way that not even Blind Freddy would be left in any doubt as to our intentions.

After half an hour of negotiations, threats and counter-threats, a truce of sorts was called. Brian began his leave, effective immediately.

I handed in my resignation just after doing a lap of the office flashing the rock. My last day at work was pretty full-on from the moment I walked through the door. A farewell luncheon was planned by the club members. This include dozens of ego-boosting speeches telling me how great I was and how lucky I was that Brian had eventually proposed, something that everyone knew would happen, eventually. I was presented with a going-away gift from my workmates, modesty prevents me from revealing the X-rated contents, suffice it to say that they had a pretty good idea how we would be spending our time together, although the inclusion of baby clothes was a bit much.

We contacted the guy in Grafton to see if his yacht was still available, it was. We flew up and checked her out to find that he had designed and built it himself some fifty years ago. She had a laminated strip hull over a Huon pine frame, something that will never happen again since the ban on felling this timber. The first strip was laid horizontally, the second at forty-five degrees, held in place by resin glue. The final layer was laid at ninety degrees to the second and the whole lot was covered with fibreglass. The deck was teak and the cabin was red cedar, again a thing of the past. Both the Huon pine and red cedar were close-grained and easy to work with a natural defence against water damage. She had beautiful lines, a broad beam that gave her stability for cruising. She was surveyed for ocean sailing.

Our test run down the Clarence to Yamba and beyond proved to us that she was just what we wanted for our planned honeymoon trip around Australia. The guy who sold it to us felt some empathy toward us setting out on our journey through life together, just as he had with his wife many years ago, so he insisted on dropping the price. The deal done, we sailed her back to Sydney to fit her out for our journey. She was now the 'Osprey' registered in Sydney. The cabin roof was clad now with solar panels that would give us all the lighting and heat we would need, plus additional power for the auxiliary propulsion that was now hybridised diesel/electric.

We timed our departure so that we could call in to major towns up the Eastern seaboard and get across the top well before the wet season. The last thing we wanted was to be hit by a tropical cyclone. (Those in less enlightened parts of the world call them hurricanes or typhoons)

We had just cleared Geraldton when I broke the good news to Brian. "Wonderful man.. "

"Oh-oh, what have I done wrong this time?"

"Nothing sweetness. I have to break some news to you. A couple of months ago I ran out of prescriptions for the pill. I knew that you didn't have condoms... "

"Where is this leading?"

"And I didn't want to force you to pull out when we made love..."

"Okay spill."

"We need to get a wriggle on if we're to get back to Sydney before he or she arrives."

"Are you sure of this?"

"Pretty sure, I've missed the last two periods. We should call in to Freo (Fremantle) and get a check-up, but don't be too shocked if I'm pregnant."

He just about hugged me to death.

Our next call was at Fremantle where my pregnancy was confirmed. Brian rang his work to ask for more leave, at least until we got back to Sydney when he would apply for paternity leave. That set a cat among the pigeons. "We are going to have to have a long talk about your future." His boss told him.

"I have been thinking about that and Jane's pregnancy has me thinking that my future may take a new and different course. By the way, any progress on catching the big guys?"

"No, and I don't think we will get any closer."

"How come? Our plan was going so well."

"I

m afraid that the bad guys got to our star witness."

"You don't tell me he's changed his mind?"

"No. they got to him. He was found dead in his cell in the remand centre. It seems as if a fellow inmate, no-one's talking, has been paid very well to see that he doesn't talk. We're concerned that he had leaked information about your and Jane's involvement in this investigation. If that proves to be the case we'll have to make suitable arrangements to protect you."

"I don't like the sound of that one bit." Brian's brain had shifted into top gear, he was now regretting involving me in this business.

"A change of plans is needed." He told me after the call.

"What do you mean?" Worse case scenarios were gathering in my thoughts.

"There's a good chance that your position has been compromised. Someone got to Roderick, he's dead, rumour has it that he committed suicide, but we're not convinced. We're hoping that he hasn't mentioned to anyone about you and your roles."

"And if he has, what happens next?"

"We need a contingency plan. Any ideas?"

"I've been thinking that we are pretty much sailed out. I think we'll take out a twelve-month lease on a berth for her in some secluded marina. and find another way to get back to Sydney, possibly the Indian Pacific."

As it was, the Osprey didn't stay long in Fremantle. Two days after we moored her at the marina, we cancelled the lease on her berth and informed the marina manager that we would be returning to Sydney after all. We sailed her down to Albany where we left her in the capable hands of a couple of policemen who were experienced sailors.

We said a sad farewell to our home of the past six months and boarded the Indian Pacific. It was a relaxing trip, we kept pretty much to ourselves, only appearing in public for lunch and the evening meals in the dining car. Breakfast was taken in our cabin. The story was that we were on our honeymoon, Junior was yet to make his public presence known.

Our arrival at Sydney Central station didn't go as planned. We had just finished packing our cases when there was a knock on the cabin door. Thinking it to be the steward, I opened it to be confronted by a large and menacing looking gun. The guy with the gun didn't have a chance to pull the trigger before he was rendered unable to further participate in whatever he had planned.

"Lucky we spotted him when the train pulled in." It was one of Brian's colleagues.

"You think so?" I was still shaking.

"Next time, don't use your real names when you book."

"We didn't have a choice, we had to show ID to make the booking."

"It didn't occur to you to contact us to make the booking for you?"

"We have a lot on our minds at that moment."

"No excuse. Come on, we're going for a long walk."

"Where to?" Brian asked.

"Down to the rear of the train, you are to become carriage cleaners and leave with the rest of them."

"What about him?" I asked, pointing to the comatose form at our feet.

"He's well on the way to disappearing from the face of the earth, along with the two of you."

"What devious plan do you have for us?"

"You and our friend here will go down with the sinking ship so to speak, during a particularly severe storm in Bass Strait."

"How are you going to arrange for just such a storm, and how will you be able to convince the world at large, that someone with my sailing experience will not be able to take evasive action, and seek shelter when we hear the news of an approaching storm?" I asked.

"Your daily position reports, which we will be providing, will put you south of Pt McDonald and approaching Bass Strait. Bureau of Meteorology has a severe low-pressure system moving towards your position from the West."

"How severe?"

"Bad enough. It will increase in force, not unknown this time of year, but you choose to continue."

"Against type, but go on."

"You will report a broken mast that severely damaged your solar panels, plus engine failure, a loss of power has rendered your navigational equipment inoperative, so you can not provide an accurate fix on your position. You have deployed your EPIRB. Search and Rescue will find wreckage but no trace of bodies. The case will remain open for some time until the authorities have declared that there is no longer any chance of your survival."

"So we are no longer alive? What about our friends and relatives, will they be told that we have somehow survived, or will they take part in our memorial service?" I was concerned about Mother, having lost her husband, now her only daughter.

"They will be in attendance but be informed later. When the dust settles and we can be certain that you are no longer persons of interest, you will quietly emerge and resume your lives."

"And just how are you going to manage that?"

"It will appear that you, at the last moment, had taken to your life raft. You were blown much further south than we thought possible and managed to survive on emergency rations for several days until you were picked up by a trawler."

"But won't the crew of this trawler alert the authorities?"

"This particular trawler will be crewed by a non-English speaking crew, who will not understand the necessity to immediately alert AMSA, at least that's the story that will emerge at a later date. When they arrive in port to refuel, you will go to the port authorities who, on contacting AMSA will be informed, that this was part of an ongoing operation by AFP, that utmost secrecy must be maintained."

"You're forgetting one minor detail." I said as I placed my hands on my expanding belly.

"Your child will arrive as planned, but its parents will have new identities. Unless there is some sort of drama, and we won't wish that on you, the arrival will not rate a mention."

"Our parents will know of this?" Brian asked.

"Yes. They will be aware that you are still alive as soon as practicable, in plenty of time to be part of the celebrations."

"At least that's something. But what about the rest of our lives, I want to skipper a yacht in the Sydney to Hobart, don't take that away from me."

"All in good time, you're still young enough to achieve that particular goal, just not in the immediate future. Look, it's too late to get your entry in for this year's race, but next year should be okay."

For once, the best-laid plans were carried out without any hitch. The operators of the drug ring had found a new person to take over from Roderick, this time not involving the yachting industry, so they had lost interest in us. When the time came we, after shedding a couple of kilos in weight, were ferried by chopper to the trawler and taken to Hobart. There was now no need to go along with all of the secrecy bullshit, we could, if we wanted, resume our pre-drama lives.

Brian chose not to, he had a new job running a yacht brokerage company, of which I was a Director. I had to wait until after my maternity leave had expired before returning to work.

Martin, our son, spent his early childhood, first in his baby capsule, then in a playpen followed by having the run of the office and being spoiled rotten by the rest of the staff, particularly the blokes.

A couple of years later he got a sister who went through the same experience until she could join him at school.

We had decided that two were enough, but that wasn't to be, I mean to say, when you have a bloke as randy as Brian, and me just as randy, the inevitable is bound to happen. We now had another son, we have now decided that enough was definitely enough. In a double whammy, I had my tubes tied and Brian had a vasectomy. We could now make love as often as needed to satisfy our urges, without any repercussions.

Our sailing ambitions were not satisfied until we competed in a Sydney to Hobart. Our new yacht, Osprey II, with Brian as the skipper and me the tactician finished a creditable seventh outright and second on handicap. We decided that if we wanted to do better, we would have to invest in a Super Maxi. We had many offers of naming right sponsorship, so money was not a problem, but we chose to rest on our laurels and call an end to competitive racing.

When the kids are old enough, we will take them on cruises around the harbour and up the coast, nothing more serious than that. You will not catch us sailing away any time soon.