The Inside Passage (Ted Higuera Series Book 1) by Pendelton Wallace Page B

seemed to drain away. “The
current can run up to eight or nine knots through the pass. If we’re going
against the tide, the boat can be going full speed ahead and still be going
backwards over the bottom.” Chris pointed at the far-away island across the
Straits. “If we don’t make Cattle Pass before the tide changes, we’ll have to
sit out here in the Straits for six hours until the tide changes again.” He
wiped a drop of moisture from the corner of his eye. “Damn that engine.”
    “Hey, dude, it
could be worse.” Ted placed a hand on Chris’ shoulder. “We got food, we got cerveza ,
we got tunes.” He cast an icy stare at Meagan. “The only thing we ain’t got is
my hat.”
    ****
     
    Port McNeil, Canada
    This has got to
be the God-forsaken end of the world. Ahmad sat on a hatch cover looking at
the fishing village clinging to the shoreline as Hani piloted the Valkyrie into the harbor.The small towns along the B.C. coast were all beginning
to look alike. The rock break waters, the small marinas, the ferry landings.
Tiny stores and a cluster of clapboard houses connected to the outside world by
ferry boats and telephone lines. Ahmad had spent his whole life in the city.
These tiny hamlets seemed isolated and dreary.
    It took the cell
three days to make their way the two-hundred and fifty miles north from Vancouver. As the sun began to sink low over the hills to the west, the Valkyrie slowly inched her way around the breakwater and into the marina. 
    Ahmad stood on the
foredeck with the bow line as Hani brought them up to the float. The short,
dark Mohammed waited on the dock to receive their lines.
    “I have the
truck,” Mohammed told Yasim as they tied up.
    “It is good one?”
    “It’s not much to
look at, but it runs well and will serve our purposes.”
    “And the Sea
Loader?” Ahmad knew that this was central to their plan.
    “That was a little
harder to find. It cost much more than we planned.”
    “No matter, as
long as you got it,” Yasim said to Mohammed as they tidied up the dock lines.
    “We’ll stick out
like sore thumbs here.” Ahmad looked around the docks at the other fishing
boats. “But at least we’re far away from the authorities.”
    “If we go about
our business quietly,” Mohammed replied, “no one should pay much attention to
us.”
    “We buy the
materials we need, then move to unoccupied island as planned,” Yasim
interrupted in heavily accented English. “Qayyum, join us later.” 
     
    ****
     
    Around two the
next morning, Ahmad heard shouting on the dock.
    “Hey, rag heads,
you in there?”
    Ahmad, whose bunk
was in the deck house, looked out the darkened window. Three roughly dressed
men stumbled up the dock.
    “We’re talkin’ to
you, you lousy terrorist sons a bitches,” shouted the small one.
    There was the
clang of beer cans flying against the deck house. The three ripped fresh cans
from a six pack and began downing them noisily.
    “You Allah worshipers
in there? C’mon out. We want to have a little talk with ya.”
    “I feared that
this would happen.” Mohammed was at Ahmad’s side. “Kalil, keep down.” Kalil
appeared with a gaff hook in his hands. Mohammed pulled his K-bar fighting
knife from its sheath.
    “We must remember
mission.” Yasim said as he and Hani joined the group. “Call no attention to
ourselves.”
    “We call attention
to ourselves just by being here” Kalil looked out the window. “We don’t have to
put up with this.”
    “Hey, you bloody
A-rabs, c’mon out an’ fight.”
    Ahmad felt the
movement of someone boarding the boat. His heart stopped. Would they have to
defend themselves? The small, loud one was standing on their rail.
    “Here’s what I
think of you,” he shouted as he unzipped his pants and sprayed the deck.
    “These are
Americans.” Ahmad sweat heavily, despite the cool night air. “I saw them on a
boat from Salmon Bay when I went up to the harbor master’s office.”
    “Whatsa matter?
You