Going Down With the Ship: Chapter 4 Part 2 — The conclusion
If you missed any of the previous installments of this story, start at Chapter 1.
Chapter 4 Part 2 — The conclusion
There was only one entrance to the harbor and the second boat was directly between them and it.
Jackson got out his binoculars, but without night vision there was only so much he could do.
After a moment, he realized the people on the boat were preparing to make a night dive onto the ship. He saw them test dive lights and don their dive gear. He whispered to Andrea, telling her what was going on and to hold on.
“Why’re they doing that?” Andrea asked.
“Probably going to check on you. They can’t very well have people discover you tomorrow with a rope tied to your leg. They’ll want it to look as if you were snooping around, set the charges off and died in the process,” Jackson replied.
As soon as the other men jumped in the water, Jackson quickly moved to the captain’s chair on his boat and slammed the throttle of both engines all the way forward.
His boat leapt up and forward like it was shot from a cannon. Dark and distance had made it impossible for Jackson to see a third man on board the boat. With no regard for his fellows, the man started his boat and took off in chase. His reaction time was a little off and that gave Jackson a chance.
“Coast Guard, Coast Guard, this is Jackson Pauley on the Daydreamer, and I have an emergency. Am being chased by a man in a racing boat and I think…” Jackson was forced to duck as a bullet struck his boat, just in front of where he was standing. “Correction Coast Guard, am being fired upon by the chasing boat,” Jackson finished.
“Daydreamer, this is Coast Guard. Say again. What is the nature of your emergency?”
“Men tried to kill Andrea Perez on board the USS Beauregard tonight and are trying to kill both of us right now,” Jackson yelled into his radio microphone as he attempted to maneuver the boat toward land, while staying away from the cracks of gunfire he heard coming from the chasing boat.
“Daydreamer. This is Coast Guard. You said Andrea Perez. We have reports from Seashore Engineering that she is the one who sank the Beauregard prematurely. Local law enforcement is currently looking for her.”
“Well, she’s with me, but there’s a man in an unidentified boat chasing us and trying to kill us,” Jackson yelled.
“Daydreamer. What is your location? We are scrambling boats to your assistance and are alerting local authorities.”
“We are five minutes out from the Nitro Landing dock. We are heading straight in on a heading of 270 degrees. I don’t want to turn on any lights, though, because I don’t want this guy to get a clear shot at us.”
As Jackson was busy driving and talking to the Coast Guard, he didn’t notice the other boat was getting close. He only saw what was about to happen as the man driving the boat surfed his way up on Jackson’s wake and tried to drop down on top of the Boston Whaler’s stern.
Jackson swerved sharply back across the other boat’s path, and then pulled back hard on his engines, cutting off the wake the other boat was riding. The chase boat overshot the Daydreamer badly. By the time he had a chance to recover, Jackson had throttled back up and pulled away. Jackson needed to do something quick or they might not make it back to the dock or reach the help of the Coast Guard and county sheriff. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to pull that trick again.
Jackson heard another report from the pursuer’s gun and saw a hole appear just feet ahead of him in the center console of his boat. He was running out of time and space to maneuver. To get back to shore, Jackson had to enter the harbor through an opening in a man-made breakwater. The rocks were piled 20 feet high all along the front of the natural curvature, with an opening to one side.
The man in the other boat was herding him away from that opening. Any other place to make a landing was a few miles away and that would mean precious time for the chasing boat to catch him. Jackson continued to maneuver as best he could, but with each turn or twist, the other boat got that much closer. The next time would be it. He couldn’t stay out of his way forever. And obviously, the man had no concern about crashing the two boats together or shooting him. “Daydreamer. Daydreamer. This is Coast Guard. What’s your position?”
“We are almost to the opening of the breakwater, but I’m afraid we’re going to get cut off. Isn’t there anything you can do to help,” Jackson shouted over the roaring engines. “Where are you guys?”
“Hold on Daydreamer. The cavalry is coming.”
Jackson dodged to his left to get a better shot at the opening of the breakwater when the time came. As he cleared the opening, he suddenly saw the entire harbor bathed in light. Even over the noise of his own twin engines, he heard the overwhelming sound of every boat in the marina heading out to sea with every light on board lit up. The cavalry was coming indeed.
The fastest three boats rounded the corner and headed straight for Jackson. Five more boats broke clear of the harbor in rapid succession. Seeing the oncoming boats, the man in the chase boat broke off and attempted to head south. He was trying to get away. The three fastest boats ripped past Jackson and cut off the fleeing boat. They wanted to head him north, right into the responding Coast Guard patrol boat. Within a few minutes, the chase was over.
Back on shore, everything was in chaos. Glenn Downing was threatening everyone around him – telling anyone who would listen that Andrea had sabotaged his artificial reef ceremony. Finally someone pointed out to him that it wasn’t like stealing a 30-foot cruiser. To move a destroyer into a position, any position, took heavy equipment and tug boats. Downing would have known this if he had ever actually done anything with the preparation of the boat, or asked questions of the men from Seashore Engineering. He finally realized it wasn’t something she could do on her own. And then the reality of the situation began to dawn on him.
As soon as Jackson’s feet touched the dock, he grabbed the closest deputy sheriff and asked to speak to the man’s boss. Within minutes, Sheriff Waldo Porter was standing in front of him.
“Son, I don’t know what all is going on here, but I’m gonna get to the bottom of it,” Porter said before Jackson got a word out.
“Sheriff, I don’t have time to explain, but Andrea Perez here is an investigator with a group in Ft. Lauderdale. She uncovered evidence that the men preparing the Beauregard for sinking were actually using it to release toxic chemicals into the ocean to dispose of them. She was kidnapped and left to die on the ship. There are two divers out there right now who, I would guess, were supposed to cut her loose from the rope holding her leg and make it look like she sabotaged the ship,” Jackson said, all in one breath, trying to get as much out as possible. “You need to round up the owners of the company, Seashore Engineering, who put all this together. There is kidnapping, attempted murder and dumping toxic waste, just for a start.”
“Sounds like you got it all wrapped up, nice and neat,” Porter replied with a wry grin.
“No, Sheriff, I don’t have a clue what’s going on or why,” Jackson laughed. “I’m just glad to be back on shore. I never thought I’d say this, but that’s one dive I don’t ever want to make again – at least from the inside.”
Epilogue
It took a while for the police, the Coast Guard and everyone else to straighten it all out, but eventually they did.
Glenn Downing got a lot of media attention and press in the next few weeks, but not the kind he was looking for. He was revealed to be a fool and a complete dupe of the company preparing the ship. While he wasn’t criminally responsible, everyone blamed him for being too trusting and naïve. He never worked around the water again.
Colin Parker, the director of Seashore Engineering was charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, murder, extortion and fraud. He was also charged with improper disposal of toxic waste. It turned out, Parker’s company had been dumping toxic waste at night in the general area of where they sank the Beauregard for several years. That explained the overall unhealthy look of the reef. He was planning to leave the country with the final take from this contract, but local authorities caught him at the airport in Miami just as he was boarding a plane. Ultimately, Parker revealed – in an effort to get a reduced sentence – that they had placed the chemicals on board, hoping that it wouldn’t leak out for a while, but that the leaking would help cover up the barrels and crates that were already on the site.
Jackson and Andrea hadn’t seen the barrels on their first dive because, over time, they had gotten covered up with plant and coral life. The hull of the Beauregard striking the bottom exposed several barrels.
Commercial salvage divers were able to raise the Beauregard off the bottom and move it away from the reef, onto the patch of sand nearby. As soon as the ship was repositioned, the divers set to work removing the barrels of toxic waste from both the ship and the reef. By all appearances, they would be busy for several months. Local divers were forbidden to dive on the new wreck until it was all cleaned up.
Eventually, the coral reef would recover from the Beauregard landing on it. It would probably take years, but it would recover.
Andrea Perez got the media attention that Downing hoped would be his. She attracted new attention to overall concerns with the health of coral reef systems and the importance of protecting them. She was offered jobs all over the country as a consultant to help create artificial reefs.
Jackson Pauley continued diving and working as dive instructor in the islands. He still didn’t want to be a hero or be famous and deflected any attention he received for his role in breaking up the plot surrounding the sinking of the Beauregard. He just wanted to be left alone. He never made a dive on the Beauregard again.
Andrea’s career took her around the world. But, she made an effort to get back to visit Jackson whenever she could.
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