All Ahead Full by Wayne Stinnett

Author:Wayne Stinnett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wayne Stinnett
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

It had only taken an hour to get underway. Matt and Val had been headed back when Axel called them, as was one of the tenders. So, we only needed to wait for the second boat. They’d been diving a reef just a few miles away.

“What’s going on?” Savannah asked, coming onto the bridge with Alberto and Fernando.

“We’re preparing to get underway,” I replied. “Jack gave me the green light to find out what we can and do something to stop it.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“We’re going to La Ceiba,” I said. “Then I’m taking a group of men into the jungle.”

“What?” she asked with alarm. “You can’t—”

“I can and I will,” I told her with resolve. “Look, babe, I was put here for a reason. Why? I have no idea. But I’m good at what I do and only get better with age.”

She started to protest; I could see the fire in her eyes. Just as quickly, it went away. “Then you should restrict everyone to the ship, so you have nothing to worry about. And I’ll take part in the watch.”

I grinned. “I would have thought of that.”

When Val and Matt arrived, I made an excuse and left him in charge on the bridge while I went down to help Antonio get the boats stowed in the garage. The divers had found a few conchs, which Kris Carter took down to the galley.

Although we had a job to do, I wasn’t forgetting Matt’s birthday and had every intention of being back to the dock before his dinner. My old platoon sergeant, Deuce’s father, Russ Livingston, always said that if an objective couldn’t be taken in a single day, you should back off and flank the enemy, then attack from a different direction.

Though the distance was less than thirty miles, I had Axel keep Ambrosia at trawler speed. The water between the Bay Islands and the mainland was a busy sea lane for cruising divers.

Besides, I knew preparations would likely have to be made for such a large boat at the ferry terminal, really the only dock big enough, and anchoring offshore could be choppy, with wave action from the east and the outflow from the Cangrejal River from the south. I called the ferry terminal as soon as we were underway.

La Ceiba is primarily known as the gateway to the Bay Islands and Galaxy Wave ran a regular schedule to Roatan twice a day, departing La Ceiba mid-morning and late afternoon.

When I told the dockmaster we were a research vessel and how big Ambrosia was, he informed me that they could make room for us, but it would take a couple of hours.

I glanced down at the chart plotter as Axel started turning the ship wide around the east end of Utila. “It will take us about that long to get there,” I told the man over the ship’s satellite phone. “We’re just leaving Utila.”

“Hail on VHF 68 when you are near the mouth of the harbor, Captain,” he said.

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