Laura 01 The Jaguar Prophecy (15 page)

Laura can see that it is a double story wooden villa with a lit pathway on the left that leads to a canal, where she can make out the front of a boat, but is not sure what kind.

“Let’s go meet my friend,” Victor says as he climbs out. To the right of the villa is wooden stairs that lead to the balcony on the top floor. After climbing the stairs they come to a glass door, through which Laura can see the kitchen and living room. On the far side she can see glass doors that open up onto another porch with a view of the canal. To the right of the living room are two rooms, possibly bedrooms.

Victor knocks on the glass door, nothing happens. Again he knocks, this time louder. Suddenly a light goes on in the last room and moments later a man in his forties comes to the door, wearing only shorts.

Upon seeing Victor he quickly opens the door and greets him with a surprised but happy face. Seeing Laura he greets her with a hug and before Victor can introduce him, he announces that he is Nathaniel.

“Come in, come in.” As soon as they enter he closes the door and motions them towards the living room where they each take a seat.

“So, I presume this is not a social visit due to the sun not being up yet?”

Victor smile, “Directly to the point. We need a boat ride.”

Nathaniel laughs as he replies, “This time of night? You’re crazy, there’s a storm coming, do you know that? Wait until tomorrow.”

When she hears about the storm, Laura looks at Victor who remains motionless when he replies, “It is important that we leave tonight.”

“Where to?” Nathaniel asks, now a bit more serious.

“Cancun.”

“Now I know you’re crazy,” Nathaniel says as he stands up and then asks, “Coffee?” Both Victor and Laura reply yes and Nathaniel starts to make a fresh pot of filter coffee.

Looking at the two he finally asks, “You serious?” Victor has been fiddling with his bag and stands up, then walks to the kitchen counter where Nathaniel is putting cups out.

“100 000 dollars cash serious” he says as he places a pile of money on the counter. Nathaniel almost drops a coffee cup when he sees the money.

“You know it’s going to be a wet and uncomfortable ride?” Victor nods. Looking at the money again, Nathaniel replies, “Then I better make us some spare coffee for the trip.” Both men just smile at each other, both always keen for an adventure.

Chapter 10

Laura makes sandwiches while Victor and Nathaniel make ready the boat. The boat is an ex-navy seal rib that has been converted into a dive boat, with seating for thirteen people plus two crew. It has twin inboard 450 horsepower turbo diesel motors and can cruise at just over 40 knots. Using a unique twin jet drive system, the boat can maneuver in very shallow water and turn on the spot by placing one jet system in forward and the other in reverse.

Nathaniel loads additional diesel cans due to the boat’s inboard tanks only giving a range of around 250 miles. Laura looks on from the balcony as Nathaniel activates the spreader lights around the boat and opens the engine hatch. The boat has three rows of seats on the bow facing forward, followed by two rows of four seats on either side of the boat, facing inwards. These last seats are bolted on top of the engine hatch that is split into two massive steel doors operated by hydraulics.

Behind the engine hatch is the steering console with a driver and crew seat. A passage is cut between the driver and crew’s seat, allowing access to the front of the boat. Behind the driver’s seat is a central bench with place holders for 10 scuba tanks in the middle and seating on either side of the tanks. The boat has a low solid platform that allows easy entry into the water and a central ladder for divers to return, the ladder can hinge up and out of the water when not in use.

Nathaniel pushes a button on the console and the engine hatch opens. The whole floor splits in two as the hatch opens up, tilting the chairs backwards.

Hydraulic pumps push the heavy steel lids open and once they are fully open, Nathaniel checks the oil and water levels of each engine. Satisfied that all is in order, he pushes another button that causes the hydraulics to pull the two lids back together and close the engine hatch; a unique system.

When they are ready to go, Nathaniel quickly goes upstairs again and comes back with three sets of foul weather gear. He gives Laura and Victor each a set and takes a set for himself.

“You’re going to need these.”

Nathaniel starts the engines while Victor frees the ropes holding the boat to the dock. Laura takes position opposite Nathaniel on the crew seat and stares at the complicated electronic controls. Everything is digital. All the readouts are displayed on two massive LCD displays, from engine oil pressure and temperature to fuel level for both tanks. The boat even has a radar system so accurate and sensitive it can pick up boat moorings with the boat at full speed.

Nathaniel proceeds to show Laura all the functions of the display and activates the radar system with GPS and built in maps. Switching the running lights off, they run in darkness, using the map system and radar to navigate out of the Sound, through the reef channel and into open ocean. Nathaniel shows Laura how his radar displays boat moorings and small fishing boats that are out at night without lights. He loves to do night diving, and due to the speed of the boat, the radar is a necessary addition to the boat to avoid him running into a boat mooring or over a small fishing skiff at night.

Two hours into the trip the sea starts to become rougher, with swells in the range of six to eight feet. Nathaniel backs up on the throttle and switches on all his running and spreader lights. There is no need to run in the dark now as they are about 70 miles from Grand Cayman and do not need to worry about anyone seeing them.

Victor had waited until they were an hour away from the island before he pulled his phone card from his cell phone and switched his phone off. He deliberately wants anyone that tracks his phone to know that he has left the island. This way, they would not interrogate his friends about his whereabouts on the island.

There is still just over 300 miles to go and it starts to rain. Waves start to crash over the front of the boat, causing water to splash over them. Although the foul weather gear helps to keep them dry, it is still not an enjoyable ride. Both Victor and Laura are still exhausted and huddle up together next to Nathaniel on the floor, trying to keep warm and somehow out of the sea spray. Nathaniel looks down at the two sleeping people and wonders what they have gotten themselves into and why they need to get off the island and go to Cancun of all places.

Looking up again, he focuses his concentration on keeping the boat afloat in the big waves and rain that is now pouring down. He is glad about the canopy that is fitted to the boat, giving some protection from the downpour.

Four hours after leaving Grand Cayman and 120 miles of hard-earned travel later they are doing 30 knots with the seas calmer.

The rain still pours down relentlessly, reducing visibility to near zero, forcing Nathaniel to run only on his GPS system.

Suddenly a blip appears on the radar screen, dead ahead, 10 miles off. Nathaniel looks at the data the computer gives and decides to wake Victor. Slowing the boat down to five knots, he bends down to wake Victor, but before he can do so, Victor is already awake, sensing the boat slow down.

“What’s wrong?”

Nathaniel points at the radar screen, “We have company, fishing boat maybe.”

“What size and speed?”

“Not moving and same size as us.”

“It’s Tornado, the stolen police boat. Open her up and let’s go have a look,” Victor replies while waking Laura. “You may have a chance to say ‘thank you’ to the man who put you to sleep,” he says, giving her a wink.

Victor takes the pistol he had taken from the dead assassin out of his backpack and makes ready to go to the bow of Nathaniel’s boat as soon as they near the police boat. Taking the crew seat opposite Nathaniel, Laura stares wide eyed into the rain.

They reach the police boat 17 minutes later, and when the search and spreader lights fall upon the boat, it is immediately visible that something is wrong with the boat. Laura recognizes the boat as the same one that was used to pick up her and Victor from the lifeboat, however the canopy and the whole structure is torn and busted. All the windows are broken, and the sliding door is half ripped open. Of the four engines, only one is still attached to the boat, the others are ripped off.

“What happened?” Laura asks to no one in particular.

“Must have gone too fast, not paying attention, and caught a wave wrong, causing the boat to flip and roll at high speed. Somehow the boat came to land right-side up,” replies Victor as he moves to the bow of the boat, pistol ready. He waits for Nathaniel to bring the two boats alongside each other, and before the two boats even touch, Victor jumps from one boat to the other.

All eyes are focused on the half-open door. No one sees the shadow moving under their boat, heading towards the swim platform to climb aboard the boat behind Laura and Nathaniel. Victor tries to pull the door open, but it is stuck. He tries to see inside the cabin for a body, but can only make out papers, emergency gear and other equipment lying around. It is possible that the man is under all that stuff.

Russtoff slowly pulls himself up onto the swim platform, hunching down, waiting for the right moment to strike. Victor strains against the door and finally it budges, sliding open. He gives one last look at Laura and Nathaniel, all seems ok, then he enters the cabin. Just the moment Russtoff is waiting for. As soon as Victor enters the cabin, Russtoff jumps up and grabs Nathaniel from behind, pulling him backwards away from the controls.

Before Nathaniel can respond, Russtoff drops down behind him, grabbing Nathaniel’s legs while putting his shoulder under Nathaniel’s butt, he stands up, throwing Nathaniel overboard.

Laura screams loudly when she sees Nathaniel being thrown overboard. Inside the police boat’s cabin, Victor puts five rounds at random into the pile of life jackets and emergency gear on the floor, in case Russtoff is hiding under it. He is just busy lifting a life jacket from the floor to look under it when he hears Laura’s scream.

Before Nathaniel even hits the water, Russtoff jumps forward and puts the boat in full power to get away from Victor and Nathaniel. There are four levers on the console, two with red tabs on and two with black tabs on. Russtoff grabs the two black tabbed levers with his right hand and pushes them all the way forward while turning the steering wheel all the way to the left. However, nothing happens.

Russtoff is unfamiliar with jet drive systems and does not know that each engine has a bucket that directs the water being pumped out. These buckets can be rotated independently of each other a full 360 degrees and although the steering turns the buckets left or right, the black levers change their position from forward, to down or backward, allowing the boat to have forward or backward motion. What Russtoff effectively has done is the same as putting an automatic car in gear while not pressing the accelerator. Russtoff glances at the console and sees the markings above the black lever which say “FORWARD”.

Realizing his mistake, he quickly grabs the red levers and is about to push them fully forward when a small fire extinguisher hits him directly in the face, dazing him and causing him to stumble backwards.

Grabbing onto the scuba diving tank racks, Russtoff steadies himself just in time to see Victor emerging from the cabin. Laura is standing by the console with a fire extinguisher in her hands, lifting it up and running forward to deliver a crushing blow to Russtoff’s head. He jumps forward, shouldering Laura out of the way and pushes the red levers as far forward as he can. The boat launches forward, crashing into the police boat and pushing it sideways into the waves.

The police boat’s side that is in contact with Nathaniel’s boat starts to lift up until the boat flips over, causing Victor to fall backward into the cabin, sea water rushing in pinning him to the cabin wall. He struggles to breathe, yet fights his way back to the door against the incoming water.

Russtoff is now fully in control of Nathaniel’s boat and quickly pulls the black levers backwards while turning the steering wheel all the way to the right, causing the boat to go in reverse and away from the turned over police boat.

As soon as there is a 30 foot gap between the boats he pushes the black tabbed levers forward again, causing the boat to launch forward, and he turns sharply to the left.

A rogue wave slams into the overturned police boat just as Russtoff steers Nathaniel’s boat past it, causing the two boats to collide and scrape against each other as Russtoff pushes past the police boat to get away.

Victor has managed to swim out of the overturned boat and has climbed on top of the bottom of the boat. Just as Russtoff speeds past the police boat, Victor jumps towards Nathaniel’s boat, grabbing the life rope at the end of the boat that is attached to the side of the rubber pontoons and runs all around the boat. He is immediately pulled under the water and swallows a few mouthfuls of sea water before he manages to drag himself far enough out of the water and over the pontoon to roll into the back of the boat by the tank racks.

Immediately Victor jumps up and attacks Russtoff, punching him in the kidneys from behind. Russtoff’s knees give in from the pain, and as he goes down Victor pushes the emergency stop on the boat, cutting out the engines. Russtoff turns around as he lies on the floor and kicks Victor in the stomach, causing him to fall backwards.

Both men get up at the same time and again Victor jumps forward, this time slamming his left shoulder into Russtoff’s chest, causing him to crash painfully into the console. Two of the flip switches for the lights puncture Russtoff’s back and push into his flesh, pain fills his back and Russtoff uses his left arm to grab Victor by the throat while he pushes off the console with his right.

While pushing himself off the console, Russtoff accidentally pushes the button that controls the opening of the engine hatches. The two heavy metal doors dutifully open as the hydraulic pistons, operated by electric pumps, push them up.