Free Lifeboat by Zacharey Jane Page B

boat was to be unloaded by local teams and the ship sent on its way again, having paid a hefty fine. When I arrived the crew were boarding buses bound for where I had just come from. After two months at sea, no one was happy about it.
    I found the chief of security on the last bus. The captain and the mate were being led away by a couple of guards; both looked furious.
    The chief glanced up as I jumped on board the bus, alerted by the wolf-whistles and comments directed at me, but so intent was I upon my mission that I barely noticed what would usually have sent me running. He seemed unsurprised to see me and started talking before I even sat down.
    â€˜I’m glad someone had the sense to call you. It’s a terrible mess here and I’ll need statements taken from all the crew members.’
    He leant clumsily to one side, pulled a large, checked handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his brow. The tight, blue uniform did not suit his burly figure – he looked like an uncomfortably costumed father shanghaied into a part in his child’s Christmas pantomime.
    â€˜Have you been briefed?’ he demanded, as he attempted to stuff the handkerchief back into the pocket -it wasn’t going back in there willingly.
    â€˜No.’
    He let out a sigh of exasperation and rifled through the document case he was carrying, head down, thrusting individual papers to me as he came across them. I was holding half a dozen before I found the courage to correct him.
    â€˜That’s not why I’m here, sir.’
    He waved a hand at me, without raising his head.
    â€˜Well it is now. These men,’ he looked up and jerked a thumb at the glum-looking lot behind him, ‘are mostly from the Balkans somewhere, as far as I can tell. You speak that, don’t you?’
    Without waiting for me to answer, he continued: ‘Itinerant workers, no papers. It’s a huge balls up and we need it sorted.’
    He remembered himself all of a sudden and looked sheepish.
    â€˜Pardon the language.’
    I waved that away, wondering why men seemed to assume that women didn’t swear. I could repeat the expression back to him in half a dozen different languages, some with hilarious translations; none of them offended me.
    â€˜So why are you here?’ he asked, looking at me properly for the first time.
    â€˜You have two detainees I’m already working with. The lifeboat pair?’
    â€˜The old couple? How’s that going?’
    â€˜So so. The memory loss is a problem and I’d like to try a new tack. I’ve set aside this weekend to work intensively with them and think it would be beneficial to keep them in an informal surrounding for these purposes. We think trauma may be to blame, and a more personal approach would help. I’ve volunteered my time and expertise. All I require is your authorisation to remove them from custody for the weekend. And,’ I gestured behind us, ‘in light of these new pressures on your department, I think it would be better for all concerned if they were secured elsewhere, until these men are processed.’
    I hoped I had not overdone it. I had no permission from my department for what I was doing and could only hope that he would be too busy to double-check.
    â€˜Well,’ he said slowly. ‘I’m not sure … what about this lot?’
    I paused, as if considering what favour I could do him, playing it out as best I could.
    â€˜If you give me the old pair for the weekend, I can commit all of my time today to you, starting now. That should suffice. If not, I’ll give it first priority, next week.’
    He grunted his assent.
    â€˜Fine. I’ll organise release papers. But I think you’re wasting your time. We have an exchange agreement with the mainland – they’ll be deported next week anyway.’
    I spent that day hard at work. The crewmen were mostly Croatian, trying to make some money away from the hardships of