Indies Inferno by Edward Hochsmann

Author:Edward Hochsmann [Hochsmann, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

GRIM PROGNOSIS

USCG Cutter Kauai, Moored, Jamestown, St. Ignatius, U.S. Virgin Islands

17:18 AST, 28 June

Haley

Haley watched the activity on the mole while standing beside the canvas-covered fifty-caliber machine gun on the starboard bridge wing. Unlike their previous visits, Kauai remained at special sea detail, with all three diesel generators running. They would remain moored just long enough to hand off the portable hard drive to Dr. Hernandez and load her three students and their baggage for the trip to San Juan. That her team was bugging out had come as a very unwelcome surprise, indicative that the situation on St. Ignatius was far more serious than anyone expected.

Ben was hard at work as usual, talking to Dr. Hernandez while her students stepped gingerly across the brow to the afterdeck, loaded with their baggage. Thank God this is all officially within U.S. territory. Who knows what those kids have picked up and packed for the trip back? Haley and Ben had agreed they would keep those bags under lock and key during the trip up to San Juan so that the crew would not get drawn into anything that would delay their next leg down to Guadeloupe or call attention to their mission.

Regarding the mission, Haley was thoroughly conflicted at this point. Kauai was invaluable here, where her shallow draft could facilitate quick loading and evacuation of the residents. Ben had told her after the Pan-Commonwealth airliner went down a year ago in March, they had been able to squeeze all one hundred twenty-six survivors into Kauai’s hull for the six-hour trip from the crash site to Nassau. They couldn’t hold that many of the islanders with their belongings, of course, but they could certainly hold more than any of the island ferries Haley had seen.

She hated the idea of sailing away from the scene of the action, even if it were only for a few days and the chances of the volcano popping in that time were vanishingly small. In fact, the only thing she hated worse was the alternative of disregarding her orders. There was no question that decision would result in her relief of command, court-martial, and dismissal from the Service—a terrible fate, to be sure, but not even remotely as bad as the one Pete faced if he were burned and left on Île Oiseaux. The orders had spared her that choice, and she was relieved. Had they gone the other way, she did not know if she could obey them. This was the real problem.

Haley was in love with Peter Simmons, and the reality of it weighed heavily on her.

The last few days they had together had clinched it. Everything argued against it: the brevity of their relationship, her fury at him over the surprise of his assignment, that she was far better off professionally with no personal attachments, and the intrinsic worry incumbent on loving someone who works outside all the normal rules of civilization. Yet, she could not go back to the way it was before she had met him.

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