Free Rocky Island by Jim Newell Page A

it’s a possibility. That would account for the fact that none of the three were wearing immersion suits, but not for the reason why one body washed ashore days later but the other two were found almost immediately. It would also account for the reason the Helen of Troy was so close in when its engines failed.”
    “Okay. But why are you telling me this?”
    “Because we want you to keep a sharp eye out for the ship if it gets close. The sub can only come in so close before it runs out of water deep enough to be submerged. We’ll keep you informed of developments.”
    “Well I’ll do what I can, but my vision is limited to the horizon and I don’t have radio contact with fishing boats.”
    “What I would like you and Allison both to do is monitor marine radio conversations on your radio with the scanner equipment. Concentrate on channels eighty-four to eighty-eight. Not just occasionally as you have been doing, but as close to twenty-four hours a day as possible. I’ve brought a voice activated tape recorder that I’ll hook up to your radio before I go. Here’s a box of two dozen tapes and before they’re used, we’ll have more for you. Our technicians will listen to them but if you have already picked up something that you think is important, then give us a call right away and we’ll have a listen to the tape.”
    The group proceeded en mass to the house for coffee once the unloading of the helicopter was complete. Corporal Brock explained to Allison what he wanted her to do, along with Toby, and she greeted the request enthusiastically.
    “I was always a curious little girl and now I can indulge myself,” she laughed as she poured coffee.
    “There’s one other thing,” said Toby. “If the Helen of Troy was transferring cocaine to local fishing boats, they weren’t getting three containers. The local in shore fishing boats aren’t big enough to handle a full-size container. Either they were getting small ones, or the ship’s crew was breaking open a regular container and off-loading whatever the fishing boat could carry.”
    “You’re right there, and that’s something else we need to investigate if and when the time comes,” replied Brock.
    The conversation steered to other topics including the medical condition of Terry Jenkins, the former co-pilot who had broken his shoulder in the crash four months ago. Luke reported that he was making progress, was out of hospital and taking daily physiotherapy.
    The morning passed quickly, the visit ended and the helicopter departed for another month.
    *
    When the Helen of Troy arrived in Kingston, Jamaica, on the first week of February, Manfred was there and sent word to Georgio that he needed to see him and both mates at his hotel. He told the Captain that he had a problem with the cargo that was being loaded while the old vessel was tied up in the harbor. Georgio left the Filipino boatswain in charge and the ship’s three officers made their way ashore. As they passed a warehouse near the wharf, five men armed with clubs and knives jumped them. The carnage only took a few seconds, and within ten minutes, the bodies had been disposed of in the turgid waters of the harbor.
    An hour later, three new officers arrived to take charge of the Helen of Troy . The crew accepted the change without question. In their lives, change was frequent, and since Manfred came aboard with the new officers, they accepted things as they were about to be and went on with their work. The new Captain, Rolf Braun, was Austrian, and turned out to be a disciplinarian. His crew also accepted the new regime, but not without some grumbles.
    The loading was completed in a couple of days, and after making sure that his new command was as ready for sea as possible in its ancient condition, Captain Braun gave orders to set course for the north. Slowly, the old vessel chugged out of Kingston’s inner harbor into the more open waters of the outer harbor, past the New Road peninsula. After