Chapter Seven
Karl may have dozed off for a few moments in the next two hours, but he rather doubted it, he felt as though all he had done was toss and turn in anxiety.
Finally he gave up in frustration. He could only listen to the howling winds for so long while laying on the bunk. He knew that Linda would call him if there was any problem, but he somehow felt as if the situation was out of his control and he wanted to do something. He took the time to shower before he headed for the wheelhouse and found that there was a pot of freshly made coffee in the galley as he passed through, so he poured two cups, taking them with him as he ascended the steps into the darkened wheelhouse.
"Hi Love." Linda said quietly. "I heard you in the shower, couldn't you sleep?"
"Nope." He answered as he waited a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, then setting down the coffee and taking her into his arms. "I missed my sleeping potion."
"Sorry." She sighed. "But like you said, someone had to watch out for problems if they should crop up."
"I know." He said quietly."But what with missing your loving as well as just too much wind noise, I didn't really sleep."
"Yeah." She snuggled against his chest. "I know what you mean. I'm glad we're in shelter. At least you laid down and rested."
"Some rest." He laughed sardonically. "What does the weather man say?"
"According to him, the storm is lessening a bit, but it could get worse."She sighed.
Karl looked out the windows, his eyes now more used to the lack of light, but he still couldn't see anything.
"I'm going to switch on some outside lights for a few seconds." He said quietly, moving away from her and over to the dashboard and the controls.
"Close your eyes for a second." He warned as he threw a switch.
The foredeck and perhaps a hundred and fifty feet of storm ruffled water was suddenly lit up. They were sheltered from the worst of the wind coming over the steep banks behind them, but at the far end of the lights reach, the waves were already building on the water. He threw another switch and the stern deck was alight as well, now they could see all the way to the towering cliffs that stood on both sides and behind them. Although the windows were somewhat obscured by the falling rain, they could still see that everything on deck appeared to be riding out the storm well.
"Okay, now for the gamble." Karl said quietly. "I'm hoping no one is close enough to see our light."
He switched on the search light and swung it down the small bay where they were hiding. On each side, cliffs towered a hundred or more feet upward, broken here and there by trees hanging precariously to the steep rocky banks. Rivulets of water gleamed and glistened as they fell to the water below. The further away from the boat that Karl aimed the light, the larger the waves grew, until they ran away out of sight into the darkness. By then he estimated them to be at least three feet in height and their tops were broken by white spume even though still inside the bay.
"Not a fit night for man nor beast." He said slowly. "Not unless you intend to be hidden in a storm while you smuggle people out of the country."
"It looks bad." Linda said slowly. "If anything, it's worse than when we were out on the water."
"Oh, I don't think so." Karl laughed softly, switching off the search light, then the other lights. "It was fairly rough out there before, you were just used to it then. Now it looks worse because we've been sitting in the calm water for a while. I haven't a clue how we're going to pick up George though. I'm impatient as hell waiting for his call so we can figure out what we're going to do."
"You really can't be planning to go ahead and pick him up on the water, are you?"
"Well, we can't get into shore with this boat and he seemed to imply that there was no other way." Karl said quietly. "We'll just have to talk to him, now that we're here and this close. . . ." He let his words trail off with a sigh.
"When you talked to him before, what time did he say to call?" She asked.
"About midnight, it's only ten-thirty now."
"As impatient as you are, why not try?" She shrugged. "He can't be much less impatient, if I were waiting for a rescue, I'd be on pins and needles by now."
"Well, I guess we could try."
He turned and switched on the night lights in the cabin, then sat down at the radio, switching it on as well. After waiting for a moment for it to warm up and steady down, he lifted the mic. to his mouth.
"Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater, had a wife and couldn't keep her, but now he's standing by" Karl said into the microphone.
"Pudding and pie." Came booming back immediately, so loud that the radio squealed. "Cut muscle, huh?"
Karl made an adjustment before using the mic. again.
"You too."
"Better?"
"Much, too close for comfort."
"Oh, where."
"Jack knifed and storm battered but fine and floating."
"That fast?"
"Double time. Storm tossed and fleet footed. You got visitors?"
"No contact. Pigs on the horizon in seventy-two or so."
"Ouch! Well, with us. They came. We saw. Storm came. We left. Vision clouded. Ident negative."
"Wonderful for you, damn small chance here."
"Oh no! Cancellation?"
"Tough with storm. Plus danger walking."
"Hang time uncertain. Tonight okay, then questions arise. Whither will the winds blow?"
"Momento, Mi Amigo. Conferencia."
"Si mi amigo."
Karl looked at Linda as the radio went silent and shook his head.
"This doesn't look good. The storm might be just too strong for them to get out to us and going in close to shore might just be too dangerous."
"We're too close to give up." She frowned at him.
"Yeah, I know, but with our draft we can't go ashore and if the storm turns so the wind blows from the south, we'll be in trouble here."
"Where is George's place actually at?"
Karl stepped over to the chart table and pointed to the last island of six in the chain.
"It's here on this island. I think about here. We're here" He pointed a finger at another spot on the chart then back to the first island again. "Their house is high on a hill, so they have to come down the hill at least a quarter of a mile to this bay, then they have to get out to us. Their boat house is here, right on the shore of the bay. They'd have to get a boat afloat without capsizing it in these waves and then get out to us while we stand by. After that we have to get them aboard and I'd like to do it all with no one seeing us. Since there are several families on the island, it has to be in the dark, otherwise, sure as shooting, there'd be witnesses."
"I see." Linda sighed, staring at the chart. "And we don't know what they've got in the way of a boat or anything do we?"
"No, just imagine if they have to get through a quarter mile of debris to get to the boathouse, like we had to get through to get down the hill when I found you. That could take a day or more in itself, particularly if George is in a wheelchair."
"That's just what I was thinking." Linda frowned.
Suddenly the radio clicked loudly.
"Hibernation is over. The Bear waddles."
Karl stepped back to it and picked up the mic. answering instantly. "Ah, oui mon capitan."
"The worry is ears. Try happy heaven with the kid's orchestra?"
Karl frowned for a second, then grinned.
"Conductor needs to tune up, gimme five?"
"Gotcha. See ya later."
Karl moved to another radio, switching the first one to standby.
"All right, what's happy heaven?" Linda frowned as she asked Karl.
"He meant channel seven. Haven't you heard of seventh heaven?" He asked.
"And a kid's orchestra?"
"Citizen band, you know how kids love to play with walkie talkies. George is suggesting channel seven on the CB." Karl grinned as he switched on his CB radio. "The problem is that this set is old and it needs to warm up, and then it drifts a bit for the first few minutes."
"Then why change? We could hear George fine the other way."
"And so could anyone else with a marine band radio for hundreds of miles." Karl explained. "Citizen band is strictly good for line of sight, maybe ten or fifteen miles at the most."
"You guys and your codes, and knowing so much about radios." She shook her head. "It sounds a bit melodramatic to me."
"It might be." Karl said slowly. "But we're here illegally, and we're planning on smuggling people across the border into Canadian waters, that's a federal offense, on both sides of the border. I'd rather be cautious than caught."
He picked up another microphone.
"Allee, allee outs in free. Is that a bear up in the tree?" He said slowly.
"Right on. We should be in the clear for a few minutes. Are you safe where you are for at least four or five hours?"
"We should be, the wind is blowing over us and down the cut. We're anchored solid enough."
"You're in Jack Knife Cove?"
"Yeah, we got here a couple of hours ago. The cliffs are protecting us from the wind at the moment, so we're snug as a bug, at least for now."
"As long as the wind doesn't turn and come from the south, right?"
"Yeah, I know."
"Well, we've lucked out here. We're at the boat house already. My old Chris was holed, but it was up on the cradle, so we've done a patch that will keep her up for a few hours. The engine is fine and we've got a dinghy just in case, it's sitting on the stern deck. We're going to come to you."
"Is that safe? That's just a runabout, a fair weather boat. We can come there." Karl argued
"Unh uh, we've managed to clear the ways on the cradle, but once we launch . . . well, the cable is gone and once we're on the way, we're committed. There's nowhere here where the wind is broken by cliffs, getting onto your boat would be impossible. Like I said, we'll come to you and we'll transfer to your boat in the shelter of the cliffs. The calm from the wind in that cove will make it easier to get everything aboard."
"I could get the derrick rigged and working, could we run parallel and do a lift?"
"Not in this wind, I think we can make it to you with no problem. I'll stay on the radio, if we do get into trouble, you can come to us."
"Wouldn't it be better if we came and acted as escort? We could always come back here for the transfer."
There was a brief silence from the radio.
"How long would it take for you to get here?"
"Probably an hour or more, by the time we get steam up." Karl said quietly, checking his steam gauge, but knowing that he'd let the pressure fall to standby.
"And how long to beat back there with us? At least another hour and a half, or maybe two hours, right."
"I suppose." Karl admitted.
"Cap'n Jack, you jus' stay wheah you is. You ben runnin' the risks 'til naow, you res' up. Ah's got this show undah mah wing and Ah's planned it all out. You jes set back an' reeeelax, Mammy's on the way." The voice on the radio was now female with a heavy and very fake southern drawl.
Karl had to laugh. "Are you sure, Mammy?"
"Yep, now shush yo mouf, we is gonna be busy foh a bit, so's we can't talk, but we be back showtly. Give us til 'bout midnight or so ta git this thing ova ta yo neck o' ta woods. We'll call ya back then. Ova an' out fer now."
The signal cut off.
"Damn that woman." Karl growled, setting down the mic. and standing up to pace to the back of the cabin and stare out the window at the cliffs behind them.
"Who was that anyway?" Linda asked quietly.
"Hm?" Karl said turning to look at her.
"That woman, on the radio, who was she?"
"Oh, that was Ely, George's oldest daughter."
"Was she putting that voice on?"
"Oh the voice was a put on, but she's black. Well actually, she's brown, light brown, like coffee and cream. I guess you could say she's half and half, her mother was black and George is white. Her sister, Keri, is far lighter, her skin looks like cream."
"What are they like? Are they pretty?"
"Hell, they're beautiful." He laughed softly. "At least to look at. Ely is the oldest by a few months and more of a natural leader, while Keri is more of a follower. Well part of the time, but she's the rebel of the two. Ely is willing to take her time and dot every 'I' and cross every 'T', Keri wants to take short cuts and get things done now. Ely has trained as a nurse, but she owned a boat too, while Keri has worked at all sorts of jobs, mostly with her hands. She's a good mechanic and a pilot as well."
"Both of them sound quite competent." Linda smiled as he paused.
"Oh sure, they're competent, but sometimes . . . sometimes Ely is so damn confident in their competence that she, may be overconfident, this time it might have gotten them in deep trouble."
"As if we aren't." Linda said slowly.
"That's exactly what I mean. We had a hard enough time finding this place and getting in here. This boat is designed to handle rough weather, they're in a runabout that isn't built for heavy waves and on top of that, they've had to do a patch job on it, just to get it to float."
The radio broke up their discussion.
"Whoopee, What a ride, but we're under way." Georges voice spoke again. "Ely just slashed the ropes holding us to the top of the marine ways and we slid into the water like we were launching a regular ship. We must have been doing ten miles an hour when we hit the water, thank goodness we went in bow first."
"How are you doing?" Karl asked.
"It's rough, but we're handling it. We can't make much speed, but the patch seems to be holding alright, we're not taking on much water."
"Keep an eye on it, it may start leaking from the pounding it's getting in these waves."
"Aye, aye Cap'n." George answered."Now don't bug us. We're busy."
"I'll just bet they are." Karl sighed. "Damn, I wish I could get close, in case they need help, but we just might miss them in the dark and then what the hell would we do."
"Couldn't we see them on radar?"
"Possibly, but they'd have a tiny radar profile and they were quite insistent that we stay put. There might be some reason that they don't want to mention on the radio."
They sat in silence for several minutes, Linda petting the tomcat and Karl fussing with the short wave radio.
"What are you doing?" Linda asked as he scanned slowly across the dial, but with the sound turned low.
"I was just checking for local radio traffic." Karl said quietly. "I'm hoping that the local authorities are asleep at the switch, but I'm listening just in case."
"We're across the first gap between the islands and in calmer water again." George's voice announced. "Keri and the kids are bailing because we took on a fair bit of water. It came in from a freak wave over the stern and you were right, the patch is leaking a bit, but we're all okay, even if we're shook up. Be sure you stay where you are. Keep radio silence but be ready to heave off at a moment's notice."
Karl listened to him and reached over to the boiler controls, adjusting one or two slightly before he spoke.
"George has to think someone can see or hear him." He said. "I really don't understand."
"I think you should just trust him." Linda said quietly.
"I know, but they're like family, I want to be out there helping them."
"I understand." She smiled, touching his hand. "Knowing what I do of you, you're more of a man of action than a couch potato. You don't seem to like waiting, so I can see why you're edgy."
"Yeah, I guess." He said slowly, going back to scanning the radio bands.
Linda stood and sighed slowly.
"I'm going below and making sure we've got everything ready. Should I leave the table up, or make up the bunk there, do you think?"
"I'd leave the table up for now." Karl advised. "After fighting their way here, they're probably going to want to warm up and I'm not even sure we're going to need it. I don't know who sleeps with who or if it matters. We've got two spare bunks and while we're under way we won't be using the captains berth much, so we can share it with Ely and Keri, I guess. They'll be the ones on the wheel when we aren't."
"You mean we're going to take longer getting back than coming down here?"
"Oh yeah, first of all we have to beat our way back against the weather, then we have to avoid well-travelled routes and be ready to hide if need be. That means that if possible we should travel at night, and also we're heading for Gull Island and that's further than the bay where you were."
"Oh, okay." She said, slipping below. "Then I guess having shifts makes sense. I'll go get the bunks all prepared."
After Linda was gone below, Karl switched on the forward lights and stared out into the blackness. The wind was blowing over them, unable to tear at them because of the shelter of the high banks of the gorge they were moored in, but he could make out the start of the waves less than a hundred feet from their bow. The rain was coming down in sheets, making visibility haphazard. One second you could see a hundred feet or so and then the next instant you could hardly see at all.
He checked to make sure their rain gear was at hand and was tempted to pull it on, then decided he didn't want to be overheated when he did have to go out on deck. He realised that mostly he was just anxious, but there was no way for him to calm himself. He was worried that something was about to go wrong and felt that he might not be able to help his friends. Right at the moment he was forced to simply wait and he found that extremely hard to do.
He forced himself to sit down in front of the radios and he spent some time again searching the bands for anything he felt might be related to them, paying particular attention to the bands where he had heard anything official or even quasi-official. He even turned on the old police scanner that he had and listened to it, but heard nothing relating to the local island group.
Finally he tuned to the weather station and listened to that.
"... moderate to strong north westerly winds with some heavy rainfall until tomorrow evening with a possibility of storm force winds tonight and a possibility of rising winds and heavy rainfall in the early morning. An incoming low pressure system has brought on a general small craft warning throughout the whole of the forecast area with a possibility of extremely heavy rainfall. If the trough deepens as expected there will be a strong possibility of gale warnings by tomorrow evening and extreme weather conditions for several days . . ."
The CB came to life again for an instant, and he heard someone seem to draw a deep breath, then it went quiet again. He leaned forward, tense and worried, then reached up, pointed the searchlight down the channel of the gorge, and snapped on the switch. He couldn't see much more, but remembering the difficulty they had finding the entrance, he left it turned on, but turned its beam slightly high, focussing it well above the waves.
"Light seen. That you Cap'n?" George asked.
"Yes." Karl answered immediately.
"Thanks, we've found the entrance, now cut it. It's in our eyes." George ordered firmly.
He switched the searchlight off and flipped on all of his deck lights instead. Instantly he could see a weaker light far down the inlet, coming toward them.
"Linda." He called as he stood up and started to finally put on his rain gear. "I think they're almost here."
"Coming." She called.
They had hardly gotten into their raincoats and out onto the deck when they caught a glimpse of a small boat coming out of the rain. A figure was standing at the bow, holding a line and they could hear the engine, but it wasn't running smoothly. It was spluttering and gasping, then when the boat was a few feet from them it died. The figure on the bow gave a mighty heave and the line arced through the air, but was caught by a gust of wind. Karl had to stretch as far as he could to reach it, but as soon as he had it, he immediately passed one end to Linda, who helped him heave the boat toward them in the wind. In a moment or two, they had the smaller boat tied off against the bumpers at their side.
Linda looked down into a mid sized runabout with a cabin forward. As well as the trim figure of a woman on the forward deck, there were five other figures aboard. A man who looked to be in his eighties sat on the seat just aft of the cabin, holding his arm about a small boy who carried a pair of canes. Opposite them sat a pleasant looking woman who looked to be almost forty and at her side Linda saw a small girl. Standing at the wheel was a tall black woman. Everyone was dressed in rain coats, but all of them looked wet and tired.
"Hello Karl." George's voice sounded weak. "Am I ever glad to see you."
"Hello George." Karl grinned. "I'm glad to see you too."
George heaved himself to the edge of the boat by sheer strength of his arms. The two women in the cockpit were instantly at his side, steadying him.
Karl grabbed his boat ladder and hung it over the side. George grasped it immediately and with the help of the two women from below and Karl and Linda above, he was soon on the deck of the 'Skolka'. Bracing himself against the handrail with one arm, he held out his other hand to Linda.
"Young lady, my name is George and my daughters have ordered me to ask you to get me to hell out of the way. So could I ask you to assist me to the wheelhouse. Once I am inside, you will be able to come back to help them aboard."
Linda had to chuckle as she introduced herself to him and helped him into the wheelhouse. Once he was sitting down, he ordered her back on deck, refusing her offer to help him any more.
"There are enough places to hold onto for me to be mobile, thank you, Linda." He said gruffly. "You will be of much more assistance if you are out on deck."
Linda grinned at him, in a way he reminded her of her own father, so to his surprise she leaned forward and hugged him briefly before rushing back outside.
On deck, Karl and a young woman were rapidly packing bags and parcels out of the way as those still in the boat passed them up. Linda joined in and in only a few minutes the flow of packages had dwindled. Another woman and the two children climbed the ladder to join them on deck.
Karl asked her to take everyone inside and swung down the ladder into the small boat, so grabbing an armful from the load on the deck, she opened a hatch dropping down into the aft end of the cabin and led the way inside.
She glanced up the passageway as she came down the ladder from the deck. George had managed to move down to the galley and was sitting at the table with a coffee.
"I have made myself at home." He announced.
"Good for you." She smiled, as she moved away, putting her armload of packages in Karl's workroom.
"I guess this will do for storage." She laughed. "We don't have a lot of room for extras."
"Oh, this is great." The smaller of the two young women had followed her and smiled, handing Linda her load and then the loads of those behind her. "We knew there wouldn't be much room and we were just hoping most of our stuff wouldn't have to sit out on deck. By the way, I'm Karen, but everyone calls me Keri."
Keri seemed taller than Karl had said and Linda found her amazingly attractive. It wasn't that she was exceptionally beautiful, in fact her face was almost plain, it was just that her colouration was wonderful and she had a presence that made her seem almost larger than life. Her smile lit her face with a glow that made you want to smile back and even wet and tired as she must have been, she seemed to be vibrantly alive.
"Hi Keri, I'm Linda." She said grabbing and stacking parcels and bags as they were passed to her.
In fact a sort of human chain was set up and it was several minutes before she was able to say much more, by then she could hear the boiler being fired up to full running pressure.
"Oh, Karl must have decided to move out right away." She said quietly, glancing toward the bow of the boat and the steps up to the wheelhouse.
"I think so." Keri smiled. "We think that one of our neighbours might have been a fink for the army reserves and Ely will have warned him. If we move out in the storm, they won't know where we've gone or be able to follow us."
"Darn, I'd better get up there and help. I made stew and I was hoping to be able to feed everyone before we set out." Linda laughed. "If anyone's hungry, it's on the stove and the bread is on the counter."
"Mom is probably helping Uncle/Daddy." Piped up the young boy who had worked as hard as anyone at moving all the things below decks.
"Your mom is probably cold and tired. I've had a rest and I'm still warm." Linda smiled at him as he ducked out the door and ran off.
"Too warm." Keri's voice purred. "You're sweating and if we're moving already, we should make sure this stuff won't shift in heavy weather. Ely can look after herself for a few minutes."
"Oh, it should be okay. " Linda glanced down at the pile of baggage.
She moved to go past Keri, who smiled and blocked her way. The smile she wore on her face made her look beautiful and she raised a hand to brush her finger tips gently along Linda's brow.
Linda felt a thrill pass through her at the soft touch and she stared into Keri's big eyes, her mouth slowly opening to say something, but finding she couldn't think of anything to say. Keri didn't say anything either, but her hand came back up and softly stroked Linda's cheek
"You are lovely." Keri purred softly. "It's no wonder Karl . . ."
Her quiet voice trailed off slowly.
"I'm sorry." Linda said quietly, almost whispering.
"So am I." Keri's smile became rueful. "But then Karl and I have a similar taste in lovers."
"Oh." Linda laughed softly and reached over Keri's shoulder to push the door to the workroom closed.
"Why did you do that?" Keri asked quietly.
Linda just smiled softly and reached her hand up to stroke along Keri's brow, returning the gesture Keri had made.
"You were warm too, so I closed the door to the boiler room." Linda whispered. "However since we're alone now, if you want to complete that pass, Karl and I aren't married and I do like women as well as men."
"Ah, not above cheating on your partner either?" Keri asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Oh no, but then Karl isn't really my partner either." Linda grinned. "And actually, since I know you and he have played around and as highly as he regards you, I'll brag about it to him."
"He knows that you swing both ways?" Keri laughed softly.
"Unh huh." Linda grinned. "And it doesn't seem to bother him."
"But how about sharing?" Keri grinned.
"Oh in your case, I think he'd be understanding."
"Hmm, but would you?" Keri asked quietly.
"Are you asking for a threesome?"
"No, but in your case that's not a bad idea either." Keri laughed. "Actually you should know that both Ely and I have had crushes on Karl since we were kids. I was wondering if you'd be understanding if I tripped him."
Linda leaned toward her slowly. Keri stared at her until the last instant, only closing her eyes as their lips gently touched. The kiss was brief and almost virginal. Linda stood upright and grinned.
"Trip him? Sweety, I understand that you have, I imagine that you will again. As to when you do it? That Darling, is up to you." She laughed softly as she moved past Keri and stopped at the door. "Just so you know, as long he wants me to, I'll still spread my legs anytime he asks. What you do is your business."
Keri was left staring after her. Linda walked forward and as she passed through the galley she smiled at George, the woman who sat beside him and the two kids. All of them busily eating her stew. She didn't dare stop to talk to them, Keri might have caught up, and right now, Linda didn't want that.
She paused on the steps up to the wheelhouse to accustom her eyes to the reduced light, but also to control her rampant feelings. She was tremendously aroused, she couldn't remember when she had been more tantalised by any person, but she knew she had done the right thing to walk away and retain control, even though it had been hard to do. She could hardly keep herself from giggling, she felt so euphoric.
"Calm yourself, woman." She said quietly to herself. "This is one weird situation and you need to keep control."
After a few deep breaths she felt much calmer. Up in the wheelhouse, she saw the other woman who she took to be Ely, at the wheel and Karl out on deck, finishing the raising of the anchor. Ely was taller than her sister and slightly darker, but while Keri had seemed attractive, Ely was stunningly beautiful. Linda paused and watched her for a second before speaking.
"Hi, I'm Linda, are you okay?" She asked.
"Oh, hi. I'm Ely and I'm glad you're here. I'm not sure if I remember all the controls, would you take over. Karl wants to get going though and he might need a hand out there. If you'd take the wheel, I'll go help him."
Before Linda could say anything, Ely was on her way outside and forward to help finish raising the anchor. As soon as the anchor was clear and they had moved slightly away from the shelter of the banks, Linda could feel the wind try to twist and shove the boat sideways, so she had to increase the throttle and pull away from the rocks on the side of the channel. The smaller boat was still tied at their side, making steering more difficult.
She managed to straighten out their movement, taking them back out of the little bay, retracing as best she could recall, the same course they had come in by. Before they hit open water, Karl was back inside, throwing off his raincoat and coming to take over the wheel.
"Thanks Linda." He smiled at her, immediately opening the throttle wider. "Ely will be a minute or two. First she's going to drop their boat astern, then as soon as we're clear of the entrance to the bay, so that we're in the full force of the wind, she's going to let it go. We can't tow it in this storm, not with it leaking so badly. Besides, the engine is dead. It's got a cracked block from over heating, but we don't want it to sink here in the bay. I should be all right for a few minutes, so since we're going to be heading up the channel between the islands and straight into the storm, you'd best pop below and warn everyone to hang on, it could get rough. Then I'd like you back up here, if you would."
Linda hurried below. Keri was now sitting at her father's side, facing the steps and greeted Linda with a broad wink. Linda was surprised to feel an instant surge of desire but managed to control it.
"Karl says it may get a little rough." She had hardly gotten the words out when she felt the motion of the boat become more violent.
"He's in a hurry and the storm is getting worse." She added, as she had to reach out and grasp a hand hold.
"We know, Darling." Keri said in a low musical tone. "It can't be as bad as the trip we just came through."
Her voice sent another thrill through Linda's body, centring in her loins. Linda's grip tightened on the hand hold, she didn't dare to move for an instant, the feeling of desire was so strong.
"We will be fine." George said quietly. "Do not worry yourself about us at all. I would imagine Karl would welcome your assistance."
"Actually he sent me to warn you that things would be rough, but you're right, I'd better get back up top, in case he needs me."
She forced herself to turn and go back up to the wheelhouse. Just as she came up the steps, Ely came in the door carrying a length of rope coiled in her hand and a hatchet in the other. Karl immediately shut off the deck lights and they now stood in the semi dark wheelhouse, with only minimum lighting on the controls and a set of headlights pointing forward as the only lights outside.
The lights were mounted on the roof of the wheelhouse and showed the water breaking over the bow of the 'Skolka' each time she headed into a wave. The bow of the boat would rise immediately however and the water would run across the deck, down the sides of the wheelhouse and then overboard through the scuppers, while the boat rose up and over the top of the wave and then down to meet the next one.
"You were right Karl." Ely said gesturing with the hatchet. "As soon as that wind hit us, I could feel the line stretch tight and I had to cut it."
"I could feel it let loose." Karl said quietly. "I'm sorry we couldn't save it but I'm glad you cut it loose as early as you did. It added quite a load on the engine and it made steering difficult."
"It served its purpose and I could feel the lead jerking, like the damn thing was doing a gandy dance." Ely said quietly. "We had to get rid of it."
"I suppose." He frowned. "At least we saved the safety equipment and the radios. I just wish we'd been able to salvage more or that we could have managed to save the boat altogether."
"I don't see how, not if old Santos called the army reserves about us. I'm just hoping that it wrecks on the island opposite where we let it loose and they find the wreckage. If they find the wreckage they'll think we didn't make it through the storm."
"We'll probably never know, at least I hope not." Karl said quietly. "I plan on being far away when they find it, if they do. Is everyone all right down below Linda? By the way, have you two met?"
"We said 'Hi' as I took over the controls." Linda answered.
She had been staring out the window past the flashing wipers as they cleared the rain splattered glass. Now she turned her head and looked at the beautiful woman standing at Karl's other shoulder whose face was lit by the soft green light of the radar screen. All of them were braced in some way for the rocking and twisting of the boat in the waves.
Just at that moment, Ely flipped off the hood she had worn over her head until now. Linda couldn't help the tiny gasp that escaped her lips.
"Alopecia." Ely stated flatly as she saw Linda's reaction.
"Wow, I thought until now that 'Bald is beautiful' was just an old man's saying to salve their egos." Linda managed to say with a smile.
Ely smiled back at her and Linda felt that this woman was one she wanted as a friend, but somehow she held back, strangely feeling threatened. In her heart she felt that if Ely wanted, she could steal Karl away and she knew they had been deeply involved in the past.
"You two are together, aren't you?" Ely said quietly.
"Yes, you could say that, we are in a way." Karl answered for them both, making Linda feel much better.
Linda smiled herself, saying nothing.
"Damn." Ely laughed softly. "Just my luck, I'm about to be marooned on an island with my favourite man and he's gone and gotten himself spoken for."
"Your favourite man? Don't swell his head too much." Linda had to laugh as much at Ely's honesty as anything else. "I like him the way he is."
"That means you've got brains as well as beauty." Ely chuckled. "If first impressions mean much, Karl, I think I approve of your taste in women."
"Thank you." He grinned then surprised Linda by wrapping one arm around her waist.
"You steer, with both hands." She ordered, pulling away. "I don't want the boat on a rock or something."
Ely laughed gaily and stepped back as well.
"I think you said you might have a bit of stew left and I'm starved. We haven't been eating too well the last few days." She said, looking at Linda in a suddenly far more friendly way.
"I'm not sure if there will be anything left." Linda smiled at her, accepting the verbal olive branch. "I told your family to help themselves and they looked hungry. I came up here to offer my help if it was needed, so I think Karl and I can handle everything, if you want to go down and check if there's any left."
"Why don't you go below too?" Karl suggested. "Now that I see what it's like, I'm quite sure that I can handle this alone for a while. There's nothing much anyone else can do here and you should meet everyone. Besides, if you'd make a fresh pot of coffee, I could sure use one. I promise, if I need help, I'll call."
"You and your coffee." Ely laughed. "She hasn't changed you much."
"Change him? Fat chance! He's stubborn." Then Linda gestured to the tossing waves. "You know, I'm astounded that you're hungry and that your family is actually eating in this. Most people would be sea sick."
"Hah, not us." Ely laughed. "Dad might get queasy and the kids might too, but Keri and Trudy are used to the water, so am I. We had a boat almost as big as this one and I used to fish commercially. If it was calm, everyone used to come along. When it was rougher, only my crew and I went out, but even then, Keri or Trudy came out several times. Dad would have loved to, but his legs made him more of a liability than an asset."
"I'm surprised you could drag him away from his typewriter." Karl laughed.
"Oh he's enthusiastic about being on the water." Ely smiled. "It's just as much of a passion as writing is. I'm surprised you haven't noticed it."
"When I'm on a boat, I concentrate on the boat and the sea." Karl laughed. "Like right now. I'm sorry but I've got to keep an eye on what I'm doing."
"Okay." Ely chuckled. "I know when I've been told to 'fuck off.' Come on Linda, let's leave the man to be manly and alone. Besides, my family is hungry and if I want some of that stew before they clean it all up, I'd better get my ass in the saddle."