“DEPTH SOUNDING,” said Claire. She crouched over the map spread out on the small table in the centre of the cramped bridge, compass set in her right hand, her other hand tapping her pen. Her navigation officer, Sub-Lieutenant Barry, nervously looked outside as the jagged black wall of trees rushed by in the moonlight.
The junior bridge officer read the echogram on the green electronic display. A stream of vertical lines spilled from right to left on the screen. The lines were getting shorter. “I read eight metres sixty and shrinking fast, ma’am.”
The tidal current was fierce near this point, as water squeezed between the narrow peninsula on the Nova Scotia side and the New Brunswick mainland only a few kilometres away.
“Ma’am,” said the radio operator, “Hotel-one-oh is reporting movement on the New Brunswick side.”
Claire grabbed the microphone dangling from the ceiling. “This is the Kingston CO. Report Hotel-one-oh.”
“O’Brien here. Nice to be working with you again, Kingston. Hope this mission goes better than our first one.”
“I hope so, too, Captain. What do you have for us?”
“Infrared shows suspicious movement on the New Brunswick side. I’ve given the coordinates to your radio operator.”
Claire saw Sullivan nod.
“We have to leave. Low on fuel.”
“Roger, Hotel-one-oh. Thanks for the heads-up.”
Claire motioned to Sullivan to cut off the call. After he flicked a switch on his radio console, he sat tense, motionless, for a moment. He scribbled on his pad then swung in his chair to face Claire. “RCMP has cordoned off the area and is requesting our assistance to ensure that the suspects do not escape by sea.”
“Where?”
“Coordinates coming in now. Five kilometres west of Fundy National Park. Same area that Hotel-one-oh reported suspicious movement.”
Claire whipped around to the navigator. “Can we turn around here?”
Barry consulted the map, mumbled a few calculations, and said, “Yes, we have enough clearance. But we’ll have to hurry. The tide’s still going out fast.”
“Seven metres,” said the officer watching the echogram.
Time to turn, she thought. “Quarter speed. Helmsman, steer two seven zero, rudder thirty.”
“Aye aye, ma’am. Quarter speed. Steering two seven zero. Rudder thirty.”
The ship lurched in a high-g left turn, tilting the floor at a steep angle. The hull shuddered under the strain. Claire grabbed the overhead handle to steady herself. As the ship righted itself, she said, “Ahead full.”
“Ahead full, aye aye, ma’am,” said the helmsman.
She felt the slap of the ship’s sudden thrust. “ETA?”
The navigator looked at his chart. “Twenty minutes, ma’am.”
“Sullivan, advise the RCMP of our ETA.” She slouched a bit in her captain’s chair. She could relax for a moment.
Time to get some pre-authorization from HQ, she thought.
“Then contact Maritime Command. I want to speak with Captain Hall. In my ready room. XO, you have the bridge.”
“I have the bridge, ma’am,” said Wiseman.
She hopped up from her chair and walked to her cramped room directly behind the bridge. She closed the door, sat on her chair, and waited less than a minute before Sullivan called. “Captain Hall on the phone, ma’am.”
His voice was stern. “What are you up to?”
“Sir, Lieutenant Commander Marcoux. We are approaching the location of the second shipment. We have a few minutes before contact, and I want to know what options I have.”
“Be specific.”
“If I get into another RPG situation.”
“You know what you can use.”
“I want permission to use the Bofors, sir.”
“You cannot fire that cannon on Canadian soil without ministerial approval. You know that, Commander.”
“I don’t intend to use it, sir. I just want to know that I can use it if I decide I need it to protect the ship.”
“You can’t use it. Period.”
“I expect to face at least the same kind of resistance as before. But the opposition may have access to more weaponry on shore than on the first boat we encountered.”
There was a long pause before Hall said, “Your orders are not to engage. Just prevent them from escaping. Let the police do their work.”
“Police already en route. But we don’t know where they will land. We will be positioned to keep them from escaping at sea. But considering the fight they put up before, I expect fiercer resistance, especially if they feel trapped.”
She had thought a lot about the situation. When she heard no sound from Hall, she continued, “Wherever they go, we will pin them down on land, at their most vulnerable. When they’re transferring the cargo from ship to car. But timing is tricky. We are shadowing a suspicious vessel. I estimate maybe a ten-minute window to act. The police may not have enough time to catch them.”
Another long pause from Hall. “I’ll see what I can do. Until then, you do not have permission. Not. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. Kingston out.” She replaced the phone. A feeling of jitteriness grew in her stomach. Those people, the smugglers or whatever they were, would be better prepared this time. Defending their mysterious shipment would be easier on land than on a small fishing vessel alone in a snowstorm.
And this time, they would be expecting trouble.
She returned to the bridge, busy with electronic bleeps and the bustle of the six-bridge crew watching and reacting to an ever-changing situation. She had to trust them all. And they had to trust her. In another firefight, it would be a lot easier if she could use the cannon.
“Sounding. Six metres eighty,” called out the navigator. We’re losing manoeuvring space, Claire thought. I’ll have to move fast.
She’d been given a little wiggle room to deal with the threat. And she intended to use all of it. It was time to implement the plan that she had been working out in her head since they had left port. If it worked, she’d get both the smugglers and the mole.