Arctic Fire (27 page)

Painter nodded and ducking under the tow cable
and disappeared around to the other side. Bair stooped down and
examined the first of four two-inch bolts that held the winch to
the deck. As best as he could tell under the conditions, it looked
like the deck plating had a slight bow to it and was starting to
buckle under the strain.

He heard it first, the moaning of metal against
metal as the tension stretched the winch and tow cable to its
design limits as the stern began to rise. He heard it, then felt it
as a rogue wave came over the stern of the tug, pushing it away
from the berg, yanking the
Rachel B.
to a standstill. The
sudden jerk staggered him to one knee and he had just managed to
get one hand on the housing bar when the rest of the wave came
rolling over the stern.

He held on through the initial crest of the
wave, but the continual flow of thousands of gallons of water
ripped his hand away and carried him off like a piece of driftwood.
He tried to call out to Painter but his voice was drowned out as he
was submerged in the deluge. Bair was slammed into the deckhouse
and when the water subsided, he was left sitting on the deck,
leaning against the wall like rag doll carefully placed there by
its owner. Ignoring the pain from the beating he had taken from
being dragged across the deck, he staggered to his feet and yelled
for Painter. Bair half expected his friend to poke his head around
the corner and make some smart aleck engineer remark, but the only
reply he got was the mocking howl from the wind.

“A-L-A-N!” He shouted again, but still there was
no reply. Frantically he searched for any sign of his friend when
his eyes suddenly focused on Painter’s safety cable leading over
the side of the tug. Bair ran to the railing and began hauling in
the safety line as fast as he could pull it.

“No, no, no.” Bair kept saying, over and over,
his words building in a crescendo as he was pulling. The line was
coming up too easily; there no weight to it like there should be if
there was a man attached to it. Suddenly his spirit burned brighter
as he caught a flash of orange from Painter’s survival suit. But in
an instant, his bright rays of hope were devoured by the black hole
of despair; the safety line popped out of the water and landed on
the deck with only a torn piece of the suit.

The suit had torn at the section where the
safety line attached to the belt. Bair stood up and scanned the
turbulent waters, searching for any sign of his friend as he called
his name. He knew with a torn suit that his friend was in serious
trouble. With the suit, it would not only keep him afloat, acting
as a one-man raft but it would also protect him from the freezing
water. In these conditions, Bair knew the suit would insulate him
from the frigid water for 8 to10 hours but with a hole in it he
would be exposed and have minutes, not hours, to live before
hypothermia would set in and he would die.

Bair started for the hatch but was knocked down
by another wave and washed along the deck like seaweed. Between
swells, he was finally able to make it to the deckhouse and get in.
He dashed up the stairs, still in his survival suit, barking out
orders as he charged through the hatch.

“Get me the
Alyssa B
. and the
Cheri
B.
on the horn. Tell them we have a man overboard and to get
over here to look for him now!”

Beasley looked at Bair as they both understood.
There was precious little time before the rescue mission turned
into a recovery mission. Beasley had just grabbed the microphone
when the
Rachel B
. lurched abruptly. Beasley was thrown
down, and as he fell, he was still holding onto the microphone and
he yanked the cord out of the radio.

With a calm voice, Bair looked at his first
officer, “Matt, grab a walkie and raise the other two tugs with our
distress call, then see if you can raise the iceberg so I can
apprise them of our situation.” Bair then turned to the crewman
manning the helm. “I’ll take the wheel, Jeff, go get another cord
so we can fix the radio then find Palmer and tell him to bring us
some coffee, lots of it.”

Chapter Twenty
Eight

Thirty minutes later and feeling one hundred
percent better, Pike stepped on to the bridge, flexing his fingers,
still getting his feeling back.

“How’s it going back there?” Cain asked as Pike
entered the doorway.

“Good, sir. The door seal is holding and the
room should be filled by now and it should be frozen solid in an
hour or two.”

“How’s Elizabeth doing?”

“Beth will be fine. Tabatha… Ms. Amies, is
helping her back to her cabin.”

“And you?”

“I’m okay. I imagine I’ll be a little stiff and
sore in the morning, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.

“Good.” Cain said, nodding. “Come here and take
a look at this will you?”

Pike walked up to the console where Cain was
standing. It was the sensor board for the towing assembly he’d seen
earlier. It looked like a massive bank of traffic lights with all
its flashing yellow and red lights.

“We’ve got trouble.” Cain said as he explained
the situation with the
Rachel B’s
missing crewman and the
damaged soft brake. Pike stood there for a moment, staring out the
window at the lights of the
Rachel B.
and thinking.

“Can I talk to their captain?” Pike asked.

“Go ahead,” Captain Gregory said, “I’ve put it
on speak.”

“Thanks,” Pike nodded. “Captain Bair, this is
Gabriel Pike. I wish we could have met under better circumstances.
I’m sorry to hear about your missing man.”

“Thank you, Mr. Pike.”

“Please, call me Gabe.”

“Pat.”

“I’m an engineer, but I don’t have much
background in navel engineering, so help me out here. I understand
that the problem is that what you call the soft brake is broken and
that it acts as a buffer if you will to reduce the tension between
the tow line, the tug and the iceberg in rough weather?”

“Basically, yes.”

“And it can’t be fixed?”

“We were working on it…”

Pike could hear Bair’s voice tighten with
emotion.

“…when we lost Al.”

“So forgive my ignorance, why don’t we either
release the cable or just maintain slack in the line so neither one
of us gets torn apart?”

“If we release the cable it would be darn near
impossible to hook it back up at sea, even in perfect weather. We
could push the iceberg into port but it would mean at least a
week’s delay in arrival time. Second, and more importantly, if we
cut the cable or backed off we would lose steerage and the iceberg
would be running free before the storm. That thing is not built to
handle seas like this. The waves from this storm are large enough
that if the iceberg got turned sideways in the troughs, the waves
could capsize it.”

Pike thought for a moment, his mind turning
things over. “So at this point it’s not really about how fast we
go, it’s about keeping the bow straight, pointed into the
waves?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Okay, and our problem right now is that there
is no buffer between the two of us and we keep pulling against each
other?”

“Yes.”

“Kind of like a light bulb, it’s either on or
off?”

Bair thought about it for a couple of seconds.
“Yeah, I suppose you could put it that way.”

“So what we need between us is a dimmer switch?
Something to take up the slack slowly instead of all at once?”

Again, Bair had to think about it. “That’s kind
of a strange way to think about it but I guess you could compare it
that way.”

“How far away are you?”

“About five hundred yards.”

“How much cable do you have?”

“Our spool has 7500 feet of six-inch cable.”

“How much does all that weigh?”

“The cable itself weighs probably weighs three
to four tons and….” Pike could tell that the Captain was beginning
to follow his train of thought which was a good thing because if
the captain picked up on it then it must have some chance of
working. “…if we pay all the cable out, the cable itself will act
as a soft break. The cable will sink at least 200 feet and the
weight and depth of the cable moving through the water will put
less strain on both the winch and the towing bridle on the barge.
We won’t be making much headway but at least we’ll have steerage
and keep the bow into the waves and the tension on both vessels
will be greatly reduced. Brilliant Gabe.”

“In theory it sounds good, when can we put it to
the test?”

“Right now.” Bair replied. ‘We can make all the
adjustments from here in the wheelhouse. I want to pay the cable
out slowly, so it should take about ten minutes to deploy the
entire cable. Once that’s done, we’ll see if it works. I’ll let you
know when we’re done.
Rachel B.
out.”

Almost immediately, most of the red sensor
warning lights went to yellow and amber but the true test as
Captain Bair had pointed out was when all the cable was all the way
out and they were towing again.

“I certainly am getting my money’s worth out of
hiring you Gabriel.” Cain said smiling. “I wish all my employees
multitasked as well as you do.”

“Yeah, it’s amazing what you can do when your
neck is on the line.”

“Very true.” Cain nodded.

“Now Beth is the amazing employee,” Pike said,
“I don’t think it falls under her job description to be pouring
fifty pound bags of ice down a twelve foot deep hole in the middle
of a raging storm.”

“Actually it does. It falls under, ‘and all
other related duties.’”

Pike looked at Cain and they both burst out
laughing. “You are a hard man Mr. Cain. No wonder you rule the
world.”

Cain smiled, “Not yet, but I’m working on
it.”

“This is the
Rachel B
., do you copy?”

“Go ahead Captain Bair.” Cain said.

“We’ve payed out all the cable except for two
layers that I’m keeping for reserve. Our ride over here has
smoothed out greatly and we’re still maintaining a forward movement
of three knots. How are things on your end?”

Cain and Pike studied the board for a moment.
“All the sensors are looking good. Cain replied. “Barring anything
unforeseen, we should be okay. We’ll keep you posted if things
change.”

“Likewise.
Rachel B
. out.”

“Looks like a happy ending.” Cain said.

“Not for all of us.” Pike said, looking out the
window, search-lights slashing at the water as the other two tugs
searched for the missing crewman.

“I’m going to go and check on Elizabeth.” Cain
said quietly.

“I think I’ll check in with Dean and make sure
things are still on track in the anchor room.” Pike replied with
equal reserve. Neither man really wanted to think or mention that
someone had died. Pike could tell by the expression Cain wore that
he felt he was somehow responsible. Logically he knew he wasn’t,
but right now that didn’t seem to matter.

“We’ll meet in an hour or so in the Crystal
Palace,” Cain said, “you go ahead, I’ll be along shortly.”

Pike nodded and turned to leave. Just as he was
going through the door he looked back and saw Cain rubbing the back
of his neck then run his hand through his hair, clearly feeling the
agony of the lost sailor. Right now he wouldn’t trade places with
Cain for all the money in the world.

Chapter Twenty
Nine

“Is everyone okay?” Pike asked as he walked up.
Cain and Mallory were sitting alone at a table in the Crystal
Palace, nursing their coffee. They were staring out the window,
exhausted by the night. The seas had calmed, turning from angry,
foaming white crests, into long, rolling swells. The clouds too,
had lost their ominous, dark countenance and were beginning to
lighten as the new day began pushing back the night.

Pike immediately noticed that Cain looked a lot
happier than when he had last left him on the bridge. Cain spoke
before Pike had a chance to ask what happened.

“About twenty minute after you left, the
Rachel B
. called and said that one of the other tugs had
found the missing sailor, alive!”

“That’s great!” Pike said.

“Yes it is,” Cain beamed. “Seems that only the
outer shell of his survival suit had torn so he was still somewhat
protected. It had a built-in light and transponder so they were
able to find him in time.”

“I can’t believe they were able to pick him up
in such heavy seas.” Pike replied.

“Speaking of heavy seas,” Mallory said, “you
would have thought we were at a Martian convention last night from
all the green faced people. I’ve never seen so many seasick people
in my life. I passed a few of the more hardy ones outside at
Starbucks on my way here. I guess the rest are still in their rooms
sleeping, which is where I should be.”

“Thanks Elizabeth.” Cain said as he reached over
and patted her hand. “You performed above and beyond the call of
duty last night. Go back to your room and get some rest.”

“Does that mean I can take the day off?”

“We need to do a damage assessment, but it will
wait until two this afternoon.”

“Gee thanks,” she said with a weary smile, “I am
going to charge you overtime you know.”

Cain chuckled, “Fair enough. Now go get some
rest.” Mallory started to get up, then paused. “I was going to ask
you earlier, that coat looks awfully familiar. Didn’t I see one
very similar to that in one of the pictures of your grandfather
back at the office?”

Cain slowly nodded his head.

“You always said you’d tell me the whole story
behind that coat and your grandfather, now is as good a time as
any.”