Sailing To Survive

"Should I try to call daddy, when we get there?"

"To be safe, let's wait until we get past the city before you call. If he wants to see us, maybe he can drive down to Helena. I think that will be a better place to meet. Memphis is too open."

"You're the boss. Are we safe here?"

"As safe as anyplace. There isn't a way to get here from the shore. We seem to be fairly hidden from the air. The only way anyone could get to us would be by boat and they would have to know where we are first. We'll keep the blinds drawn tonight to not show any light."

"We don't have television reception here but we can get one Memphis radio station."

"I'll come on in and listen to their six o'clock news." While we listened to the radio, I motioned Emily over and showed her how to open the panel in the bulkhead next to the hatch. Inside, I pulled out a classic 30-30 rifle with scope, a pump shotgun, and three handguns. One was a .22, the second a 9mm, and the third a classic .45 automatic. "Are you familiar with these?"

Emily looked them over and as she picked each one up, she first checked the safety and then the magazine to see if it was loaded. It was obvious that she had been well trained in handling weapons. "Yes, I've fired all of these or similar ones at the range. The only one that I am not comfortable with is the .45. The first shot is ok but I lose control on the following ones. It's too heavy."

"Fine, if we need them and I hope we don't, you take the shotgun and the 9mm. I'll take the .45 and the 30-30. The holsters are in here with the ammunition. There are three clips for each handgun and I am going to load the rifle and shotgun now, just in case."

"Do you think we will need them?"

"I hope not but I always hoped that we wouldn't need them on a mission but we usually did. Some people think that they need to make a lot of noise and show their bravado to get your attention. I prefer to just work things out and go about our business. Putting people in the hospital or in the ground is not something I put on my resume but if it is necessary..."

"You sound like Uncle Tom. He always said that a weapon should put an end to a bad situation but not the start of one."

"That summarizes things pretty well. I have one more that is somewhere else. I won't get it out unless things are really bad. It will put an exclamation point to the situation."

"Is it legal?"

"The weapon is; some of the ammunition I have isn't, so don't ask any questions right now." When I planned my escape, I didn't think I would need the guns but I wasn't going to leave them behind. They were good quality weapons that I had collected and practiced with. I was glad that Emily didn't seem at all bothered by them and could tell that she would be an asset and not a liability if things got nasty.

The radio news didn't offer anything interested but as the news announcer turned it back to the regular host, the host said, "We've gotten a number of calls about a low flying Army helicopter flying down the river. It scared the pants off of several fishermen. Has there been a report about that?"

"Yes; the Army issued a statement that they were doing a search for a missing person who was reported on the river. They didn't give any more details."

"It's a big river to get lost in."

"That is a fact." Then the host turned on the music.

Emily asked, "Do you think that they were looking for us?"

"It would be quite a coincidence if it wasn't for us. That helicopter was looking for boats, not for people. I would guess that they have at least a basic description of the boat by now and they sent the copter to see if we could be found easily. They know that if we get down past Baton Rouge, we could go anywhere. Up here, we need to stay pretty much in the river basin." She nodded in understanding and went back to finish dinner.

I loaded the shotgun and 30-30 and put the weapons away, hopefully to not be needed."

The music on this station was Cajun dance music which is great to listen and dance to at a club but not so great in the confines of a boat's cabin. I turned it off and put on a cd which featured selections from the great romantic operas. Emily just turned and smiled at me and said, "Did you put that on so you could get in my panties tonight?"

"I'm pretty sure that you aren't wearing panties but that would be a nice plan even if you were."

"Dinner will be ready in five minutes and I will be ready fifteen minutes after that."

She was right. Dinner was ready in five and we were both ready fifteen minutes later. We adjourned the meeting to the bed and spent several hours negotiating a settlement which came several times before we fell asleep to the final strains of "Nessun Dorma", a rather appropriate ending for a busy day.

I woke up very early with a feeling of apprehension. I got up and looked outside and saw nothing. I went onto the deck and listened. There was an alien sound but I couldn't identify it. It seemed to be coming from the main river. I went back to the cabin and put on some shorts, shoes and a shirt. I woke Emily and told her to get dressed but to not turn on any lights or make any sounds. She nodded. Then I took out the shotgun and handed her the 9mm.

I quietly slipped off the platform in back and walked to the bank. Then I followed a path toward the center of the island. From there, I could hear the sound more clearly but still couldn't identify it. I moved quietly toward the sound but kept cover between me and it. Finally, I got to a clearing and saw what the sound was. Two men were working on a tree near the bank. The sound had been a chainsaw removing low hanging limbs. They were mounting a box on the tree while a third man was mounting and aligning an antenna on another tree. Two flood lights on the bow of a boat provided the light they needed to work.

When the chainsaw was shut off, I could hear the men talking. "Why the hell are we mounting this shit out here in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night?"

"Hey man, we are paid to do what we are told and this is what they want. They said something about counting the number of barges coming down the river every day."

"That makes no sense at all. The damn batteries in the camera won't last more than a day if they are lucky and who knows if the fucking satellite will work. The last time we put one up, it sent half the picture and scrambled the other half."

"That was because the idiot who hooked it up put the plug in wrong. Let's just get this done and get on back for breakfast. We are supposed to be ready to go again sometime later today."

"To do another one of these?"

"No, they want us to follow a boat and see where it goes. Hey, is that antenna ready yet?"

"Yes, bring the cable over here and hook up the battery so we can test it."

Ten minutes later, they put their tools back in their boat and backed away from the island. As they turned to go down river, I saw the name on the side of the boat. It read, "United Logistics Company." That was one of the names that showed up on the documents I shouldn't have seen. The net was spreading and there were a lot of tentacles to keep an eye out for. I went and took a quick look at he setup and recognized a military grade surveillance rig that was used to monitor remote locations. What the one guy didn't realize was that the battery only needed to work in the dark; it was recharged by a solar panel during the day.

I walked back to the boat and got in. I was met with a 9mm pointed at me. "Emily, it is me."

"I know, I just wanted to show you that I was prepared."

"Is it loaded?"

"The clip is in but I haven't put one in the chamber yet. What did you find out?"

"They mounted a surveillance camera on the other side of the island to look at all boats coming by here. The pictures are transmitted by satellite somewhere."

"Did you disable it?"

"No, that would be a dead giveaway that something was wrong and they would come back. My guess is that they think we left yesterday morning rather than late like we did. They figured that we would not have made it this far yet. All this will do is to give them a couple of hours warning that we are on the way so they can get things ready for us. I heard them say that they were supposed to follow someone later today. I guess that they aren't going to do anything out in the open. We'll just go on back to the river on this channel and avoid the camera but we need to come up with something to get past Memphis. That is where they will want to begin following us I am sure. Does that laptop have wi-fi?"

"Yes, but we don't have a signal out here."

"Let's get started but if you see a signal, let me know and we will stop and do some checking."

"You're the boss."

"No, you are the boss; I am the Captain. Remember?"

"I love you so much. Now get this tub moving while I make coffee."

I started the engine and untied us from the bank. I just idled our way past the island and back into the main river about a half mile downstream from the camera. Even if it had a wide angle, it wouldn't see us that far away. To be safe, I waited another half mile before turning on the running lights.

By then, I had a cup of coffee in my hand and Emily at my shoulder. "I checked the map and there should be an open wi-fi spot about ten miles from here. They set up a series of hot spots along the river so the boats could keep in touch. It probably will be hot for about ten or so miles."

"That is great. Let me know when you get a signal."

"I'll bring it up here and we can work together."

"I love working with you."

She went down and I turned on the radio to listen to the early morning news. There was only the usual chatter between unfunny people pretending that they had a unique insight into the human condition. I left it on because there might be something noteworthy during their periodic updates.

I was watching the sun rise when Emily came up with a plate of toast, fruit and some cinnamon rolls along with the laptop. She quickly got logged into the wi-fi and I asked her to see where the location of United Logistics was in Memphis. It was slower than a land line connection but she found that their location was just south of the main bridge over the river and that they did have a dock on the river. An aerial photo of their facility showed a dock with two boats docked. One of them looked like the one I had seen. The other one was smaller but probably faster than the bigger one.

"Can you send an e-mail to your dad from here?"

She didn't answer but a moment later, she asked, "What do you want to tell him?"

"If possible can he watch the United Logistics dock around noon to see if any boats leave? If yes, text your phone with a 'yes'. If not, don't send anything. And if he wants to, he can meet us at the town your age south of Memphis around two o'clock. Don't use your numerical age in case someone is reading his mail."

She nodded and typed in the message. She read it back to me and then sent it. We lost the signal ten minutes later. Emily took the laptop back down and I took a deep breath. So far, the decisions I had made had worked out. I hoped that we might still get a couple more breaks today. If so, we had a good chance to make it to the safe house before dark. Then we could breathe for a couple of days and perhaps these guys would give up.

I was getting tired of the mindless chatter on the radio and was searching for a cd to put in the player when I got the first break I needed from the radio. They were putting out a call for work boat and tow boat operators. A couple of barges had broken loose fifteen miles south of Memphis and were stuck pretty hard into the levee. They needed ten or twelve work boats to meet up south of the bridge at noon to go down and help pull them free. If I could get with several boats heading south to answer this call, I might be able to go right under the bridge without being spotted. Those are the kind of hide in plain sight breaks you need to make many operations successful.

I called down to Emily and asked her to monitor the radar for any smaller boats that might be heading south as we got closer to Memphis. She called back an affirmative. For the next hour, I could tell that we were getting closer to civilization as there were more and more cabins and homes along the river banks. Most were on stilts in case the river rose but they were definitely signs of life. Emily called up and said that there appeared to be three or four boats rafted together about five miles ahead. I sped up to get closer to them. When I saw them coming up, I slowed down to approach at a slower speed. Through the binoculars I could see four boats tied together. One of them had the name Pull of the River on its stern.

I called on the radio, "Emily's Ride to Pull of the River. Over."

"Pull to Emily's Ride. What's going on?"

"Are you guys going down to the barge pull?"

"Yes. We are waiting for another guy but he won't be here for another half an hour. Are you going too?"

"I thought about it. I just got this rig out of the shop up north and don't have all of my gear back on board yet but I thought I would go along and see if I can help at all."

"Raft up with us. We've got a mess of ribs coming out and we'd be glad to have you join us especially if you have some beer on board. We haven't had time to load our usual provisions." He laughed.

"I can contribute a couple of cases but they aren't cold."

"Cold or warm, it all goes into the river before the day is over. Bring them on and you will be most welcome."

"I'll be there in five minutes. Over."

I then heard radio chatter between him and the other boats that the beer was on its way. The others all tooted their horns in acknowledgement.

I called down to Emily, "Honey, we need to..."

"I heard, I got the first case outside the hatch and the second one is coming. I'll put the fenders out. Which side?"

I looked through the binoculars and said, "Port side."

"Got it." I looked down as she put three fenders out on the port side. I chose that side because it would put us one the bank side away from any boats that might be looking for us.

We rafted with the boat next to us and they eagerly took the two cases of beer and took a number for their boat and passed the rest down the line. A few minutes later, a speed boat came out to our starboard side and we brought up five boxes of warm and sweet smelling food. We passed four of them along to cheers from the crew of each boat. I told the guys on the next boat that there were only two of us and that they would get our leftovers. That offer and the beer made us a new friend. I figured that this was the cheapest security I could buy anywhere. The river people are notoriously protective of each other. They might fight like hell during off hours but when a stranger tries to nose in, they band together and protect their own.

The ribs were delicious and plentiful. We ate them and the sides and only finished about half of them. The other boat pulled up next to us and we passed the rest of them along with a couple of six packs of beer over to them. They were very appreciative.

Now that everyone was ready, the outer boat pulled loose and idled out followed by the others; when it became our turn, we followed the others and we made a fairly tight formation going the last ten miles to the bridge. We crossed under it shortly after noon and I kept an eye on the United Logistics dock for as long as I could but saw no sign of activity there. Emily had her phone on and there was no message for the next twenty minutes so I told her to shut it off. Either no one came out or Ray didn't get our message. Either way, we were fairly invisible in the flotilla of other work boats that had grown as we went south. There were now ten boats in the convoy.

As we neared the site, a river patrol boat approached and said that they needed four boats on the nearest barge and five on the other on. That was my cue and I had Emily get five bottles of scotch out while I idled up next to the Pull of the River. I yelled to the Captain, "It looks like we won't be needed. Thanks for the hospitality."

"Thanks for the beer. I wish we had more; this is going to take all afternoon to get these bad boys loose."

"I don't have any more beer, but these might help you get home in a good mood."

"Oh my goodness. This will make the trip back up river a good one. Thank you my man. I take it that she is Emily?"

"She is and the boat is supposed to be Emily's Pride but the damn 'P' won't stay on." He laughed and wished us well.

I pulled back out to the center of the river and then to the western bank. We would be in Helena in less than an hour and I needed to fuel up for our last leg for now. Hopefully, Ray would be there but if not, we would move on out when the fuel tank was full. I had chosen Helena because they had several fuel slips rather than one dock on the outside. When we got there, I backed into a slip and shut the engine down. Emily had tied of the bow and stern and I told the attendant to fill it with diesel. It was almost two o'clock as we walked up to the marina store. There sitting at the only outside table drinking a soda was Ray and Sylvia. They both smiled at us.

"Would you care to join us for a drink?" Ray said and then dropped his voice. "We might be watched."

I replied, "We would be glad to. I am Roger and this is my fiancé, Emily. And you are?"

"I am Ray and this lovely lady is Sylvia. We are just traveling around the area today and saw you pull in to the fuel dock. Going down to new Orleans?"

"No, we just took a river trip for a couple of days. We have to get Emily back home for her to go to summer school. We will probably turn back north from here." Ray nodded and Sylvia picked up the fiction.

"So Emily, where are you going to school?"

"I go to the University of Missouri in Columbia."

"How wonderful. I went to school at Washington University in St. Louis. There is store across the way. Are you up for a little shopping?"

"Sure. I need to stretch my legs some. He has been working me like a slave since we left. When we get married, I am going to be the boss and he will get his payback." She slugged my shoulder.

"Go spend some money and come back prepared to swab the decks."

"l'll swab your ass with a wire brush." She squeezed my hand and she and Sylvia walked across the street to a busy store. No one seemed to follow them. Both Ray and I watched for movement in their direction.

Ray said, "Would you mind showing me your boat? I have been thinking about getting something and yours looks really interesting."

"Sure thing. Let me get a case of beer to refill my stock." I went inside and bought a case of beer. Ray had stood up and I saw a young guy on a motorcycle sit up and pay attention. He was the watcher. I joined Ray and we walked toward the dock ramp. When we got to the gate, I used the key the attendant had given me to open the gate to let us in. They didn't want non-boaters wandering the docks. As I shut the gate, I saw the young guy standing under a tree nearby with a cell phone in his hand. We went down and climbed aboard. We were fifty yards from the watcher so we could talk but I went through the motions of showing Ray the engine and the steering station and then the cabin.

He told me that they were watching the United dock as we requested from a restaurant nearby and saw no activity during the period they watched. He said that he thought he recognized us among the group of work boats but wasn't certain. When they left, he noticed the kid on the motorcycle sitting out front. A mile later, he was behind them as they crossed the bridge to the west side and more or less stayed with them until they pulled into Helena to wait for us. He and Sylva had just enjoyed each other and made no effort to lose the guy. He said that they were having a wonderful time together and that I was wrong about a world class blowjob; it was more like a galaxy class one. I grinned at him and asked if there was a future for them. He replied that they were exploring that option at the moment. They would need some time but that she was coming to Columbia next week for several days. Tom and Carla were coming over also.