Chapter Thirteen: The Henrietta
When Brian ended his call with the 9-1-1 dispatcher, Ellen said, “Let’s wait for the police down by the hatch to the receiving dock, just in case Rodney tries to leave before they arrive.”
“I don’t think I want to get involved in this,” Glenn said awkwardly.
“No worries,” Brian said as he offered his hand to the guide.
Glenn shook Brian’s hand. “Be sure you leave through the hatch rather than backtracking to the garden. It’s a lot easier to get lost down here in the dark than you might think.”
“We’ll be sure to do that,” Brian assured him.
As Glenn went on his way, back toward the Lan Su Chinese Garden, the rest of the group turned toward the dock.
“What if Rodney sees us?” Tanya, who took up the rear with Ellen, said nervously. “What if he has a gun?”
Sue pulled her gun from her purse, and Ellen groaned.
Sue turned back to Ellen with lifted brows. “What?”
“You scare the heck out of me when you wave that thing around,” Ellen said.
“This thing has already saved our lives more than once,” Sue pointed out. “You might sound more grateful.”
“Maybe Brian should carry it,” Tanya suggested.
“Oh, hush,” Sue said. “I know how to handle this piece. I’ve had proper training. Y’all need to have more faith.”
“Good, because I don’t know the first thing about guns,” Brian admitted.
When they reached the wide, chilly part of the tunnel, Ellen whispered, “Rodney should be out on the dock by now, don’t you think?”
“Should, could, would,” Sue whispered nonsensically. “Just be on your guard.”
A chill snaked down Ellen’s spine as she wondered if Rodney might be lurking in the shadows, knowing that they were the ones who’d discovered and freed Alani. What if he’d heard their plans to follow and was waiting to have his revenge? If he’d left the hatch doors open, they’d see light by now; so, he’d either closed the doors behind him, or he was still inside the tunnel.
As she continued forward, Ellen reminded herself that they had him outnumbered. There was no reason to be afraid. The police should be arriving up top at any moment.
She let out a sigh of relief when they reached the ramp and found no sign of the PBC manager.
“Well,” Sue said, returning her gun to her purse. “Should we go on up?”
“Keep the gun handy,” Brian said to Sue. “In case he tries to run off.”
Sue put her hand in her purse and kept it on the gun, without taking it out. “I’m ready.”
Brian climbed the ramp and pressed up on the doors. Unlike the hatch near the basement of the Blanchet, the doors swung out, like the ones at Hobo’s Restaurant.
“Here goes nothing,” he said, just before he pushed one of the two doors open until it lay flat on the floor of the dock above.
Light flooded in, making the tunnel seem so much more ordinary than it had seemed in the dark.
Ellen followed Brian and Sue up into the afternoon sunshine. It felt like walking out of a movie theater after an afternoon matinee. The sun temporarily blinded her. She blinked several times before she could make out the barge tethered to the dock. It was about two hundred feet long, with at least twenty large storage units on its deck.
“Where is he?” Tanya asked as she climbed up beside her.
“Over there.” Brian pointed to a red tugboat tethered to both the barge and the dock up ahead.
Rodney stood on the deck smoking a cigarette and talking to what looked like the captain of the boat.
As she followed Brian along the length of the barge toward the tugboat, Ellen prayed that the police would get there soon. She squinted against the sun and read the name of the boat. It was called The Henrietta.
“Can I help you folks?” the captain called from the deck of his tugboat.
Rodney gave them a startled look. “Did you follow me, or something?”
“We don’t mean to intrude,” Brian said. “We were just having a tour of the tunnel and wanted to see where it led.”
“Well, you’ve seen it,” Rodney said without pretending to be civil. “Not much, is it?”
“It’s breathtaking,” Ellen said, hoping to relieve some of the tension. “Much nicer out here than in there.”
Sirens could be heard from a mile or so away. Ellen wondered why in the world it was necessary to warn the criminals that the police were coming. Did they want the bad guys to have a head start?
When it was clear that the sirens were coming closer, Ellen expected Rodney to make a run for it, but he only stood and stared back at the two approaching patrol cars with curiosity.
“I wonder what this is about,” the captain said.
Brian met the two police officers as they left their cars and proceeded toward the deck. Ellen stayed back with Sue and Tanya to block the hatch as an exit point, but it wasn’t necessary, because Rodney just stood there like he had no idea why the police were there.
As Brian and the officers neared them, Ellen heard an officer say, “We can’t search a ship without a warrant, but I suppose we can ask the captain a few questions.”
The other officer said, “Now why is it that you suspect these men of human trafficking?”
Rodney’s mouth dropped open. “What the devil?” He looked over at Ellen and her friends. “What are you playing at?”
“You can ask Officers Jensen and Bradbury about the incident this morning in the tunnel leading from the PBC,” Brian explained. “A man named Alani was abducted and another named Sam killed. Didn’t you hear about this?”
“Yes, I did,” one of the officers said. “But from what I understand, no suspects were identified, and no body was found. What makes you suspect these men?”
Ellen stepped forward and told the officers about her interview with Rodney, about the Blanchet delivery and the need to prepare it for shipment, and then about finding Alani and barely escaping his abductor with their lives.
“Did you see the abductor?” one of the officers asked.
“No, sir, but I heard him,” Ellen said.
“And you can say with certainty that his voice belonged to one of these gentlemen?”
Rodney glared at her.
The fact was, she wasn’t sure. “Well, no.”
“All right then,” the officers said. “Why don’t you folks clear on out and we’ll ask a few questions, okay? For heaven’s sake, let us do our job. I know you want to find your brother, Mr. McManius, but getting in the way just slows us down.”
“Yes, sir,” Brian said as he took his phone from his back pocket.
Ellen’s cheeks flushed. She’d never been so embarrassed. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said in a tone that was much gentler than she felt she deserved. “I’ll call Kirk and have him pick us up.”
Ellen glanced over at Rodney and the captain of The Henrietta, who was now on the dock beside Rodney, answering the officers’ questions. They didn’t look like criminals that had been caught off guard. Instead, they looked amused. Ellen felt like a fool.