Great Bear Rainforest (14 page)

“My brother’s dead,” I said, somberly. “Alu went back to the ship to get help.”

Dr. Brezner looked to his men, who confirmed that they had seen Gannon slip and fall out of sight. Dr. Brezner stared at me, but didn’t say a word.

“You don’t believe me?” I said, angrily. “It’s true. My brother’s dead. I tried to save him, but I couldn’t. He’s dead!”

Having believed this to be true only hours earlier, the emotion came rushing back. Tears welled up in my eyes. My head sank and I cried. It was this bit of unintended acting that convinced Dr. Brezner I was telling the truth.

“It’s unfortunate that you had to endure such an experience,” he said. “But it wasn’t I who brought you onto this island. You assumed that risk on your own.”

Dr. Brezner stood and gave instructions to his men.

“Search the perimeter and make sure no one else is with him.”

The gunmen left the tent.

“What’d you do to my parents?” I asked, impatiently.

“Never mind your parents, right now,” he said. “You’ll be joining them soon enough.”

“Are they alive?” I asked, horrified.

“For now.”

“Why are you doing this?” I said. “Why are you destroying the forest?”

“You’re a clever boy, Wyatt. You and Alu were right. There is an explanation as to why so few salmon are making it upriver to spawn.”

“Because you’re netting them,” I said. “We saw your boats in the cove, but I don’t understand why you’re doing it.”

“It’s very simple. As you well know, the natural resources in this wilderness are worth billions. The question is, how does one get their hands on them? As long as this area is protected by the Canadian government, it’s simply not possible. I was hired to change that.”

Dr. Brezner put his hands in his pockets and strolled around the tent casually.

“You see, my clients are impatient people. They don’t want to wait around hoping the government will one day have a change of heart. They want the resources in this forest, and they want them now.”

“I don’t get it,” I said, hoping he’d continue.

“The sooner this rainforest ceases to be a vibrant wilderness, the sooner there are no spirit bears to protect, the sooner government protection will be lifted. At that point, a few select companies will be able to extract whatever resources they wish. I am simply speeding up the process by ridding this area of salmon.”

“You’ve betrayed your life’s work,” I said.

“Wyatt, my dear boy. In my career, I’ve learned that conservationists may be able to save small areas of wilderness here and there, but the protection will never last. It is only in place until a more powerful group with more money comes along and wants what the earth has to offer. There is no use fighting it.”

It was still hard for me to believe that the doctor could suddenly abandon everything he’d believed in for so long.

“So you gave it all up for money?” I asked.

The doctor leaned in, looking me in the eyes.

“For orchestrating this one deed,” he said, “I will make enough money to do whatever I wish for the rest of my life, and do so in peace. That is my desire. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to assist my men in detaining whomever else may have come snooping around with you.”

“I told you I was alone,” I said.

“You did. But I don’t believe you.”

“I want to see my parents,” I said, trying my best to hold it together. “At least give me that. Please, let me see them!”

As the doctor considered my request, traces of smoke floated through the tent.

“Something is burning,” the doctor said as he stuck his head outside the tent.

I knew what was burning. Alu and the Coast Guard had lit the Yew bush and were smoking out the camp with toxic fumes. I took a deep breath and held it.

Dr. Brezner ran outside yelling.

“What’s going on here?”

I heard men coughing. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. The more relaxed I was, the longer I would be able to hold my breath.

The coughing outside got worse. Someone sounded as if he was gagging. Others were shouting. A man yelled at someone to “get down!” It sounded like Officer Briggs.

The tent filled with smoke.

Tied to the chair, I began hopping toward the tent door.

A few feet from the door, the chair toppled over.

I was stuck.

My air ran out.

I had to take a breath.

I opened my mouth and gasped for air. It felt like I sucked a flame into my lungs.

Just then one of the Coast Guard officers ran into the tent. A bandana was tied over his face. He immediately pulled a knife from his belt and cut me free of the ropes. With his help, I stood and ran from the tent. I was gagging from the smoke. My eyes were burning.

He ran me up a slope, away from the fumes. I fell to the ground behind some rocks and fought to fill my lungs with fresh air.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” I said, still panting.

“Stay here,” he said and took off for camp.

Alu was there and wrapped me in a hug.

“We were so worried,” she said.

I looked around the rocks at camp. A thick smoke swirled around the tents. I thought of my mom and dad.

“I have to get back down there,” I said, still coughing.

“No, Wyatt!” she yelled. “Officer Briggs said to stay here. It’s too dangerous!”

But, I was already running back down the hill toward the camp.

“I have to!” I yelled back. “My parents might be in there!”

With the neck of my fleece pulled up and over my mouth and nose, I sprinted past the two officers tying up the gunmen, stopped just outside the biggest tent, and cautiously looked inside.

Dr. Brezner and Officer Briggs were in a standoff, each with a gun pointed at the other. Bound to a pole at the far end of the tent, was Captain Colin. My parents were nowhere to be seen.

Dr. Brezner and the captain were coughing violently, their eyes red and watery.

Officer Briggs demanded the doctor throw down his weapon, but he would have none of it. He held out his gun, his finger on the trigger. Then, suddenly, he lost his balance and stumbled, grabbing a hold of a tent pole to keep from falling over.

Assuming the doctor couldn’t see very well, I ran inside the tent toward the captain.

I assumed wrong.

The doctor turned his gun on me!

I dove for cover.

Officer Briggs made his move, charging Dr. Brezner and knocking him clean across the face with the butt of his rifle.

Dr. Brezner fell to the ground, unconscious.

The other officers ran inside the tent, guns drawn.

I knelt at the captain’s side, untying him and dragging him outside. He was trembling and too dizzy to walk. Gasping for breath, he rolled onto his back, looking like he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. He couldn’t talk. It took awhile, but the fresh air eventually overcame the toxins and he started to breathe easier.

“Your parents,” he said, still gasping.

“Yeah,” I said, anxiously. “Are they okay?”

The captain nodded.

“Dr. Brezner’s men put them in a cave,” he said, pointing into the forest. “Just down the hill.”

I took off like a deer, running through the woods with such speed my legs could hardly keep up. At the bottom of the hill I found the cave. Scrambling up and over several rocks I made my way to the entrance. Inside the cave, it was pitch black. I couldn’t see a thing.

“Mom?” I said. “Dad?”

“Wyatt?” a voice echoed through the darkness. “Is that you?”

It was Mom!

“Yes,” I said, “it’s me!”

“I can’t tell you how good it is to hear your voice!” my mom said, her own voice trembling.

Officer Briggs and his men came into the cave waving flashlights.

“Everyone okay in here?” he asked.

“We’re okay,” my dad said, his teeth chattering. “Just cold and hungry.”

“We’ll take care of that in short order,” Officer Briggs said.

I ran to my parents and hugged them as tightly as I could. Their arms were tied behind their backs, their bodies shivering.

“What are you doing here?” my dad asked, still shocked to see me.

“When we lost radio contact, Gannon insisted we come looking for you. Honestly, we thought we might never see you again.”

“Where is Gannon?” my mom asked.

“The Coast Guard took him back to the ship. He had a fall and is pretty banged up, but he’ll be okay.”

I was fighting back tears.

“Our radios stopped working when we came ashore,” my dad said, his voice still quivering. “We didn’t even have time to send up a flare. We were captured before we got back to the tender. They blindfolded us, took us into the forest, and left us in this cave. We haven’t seen anyone since. We thought we might never get out of here.”

I hugged them again, tighter this time.

“How about untying us so we can hug you back?” my mom said.

“You got it!”

SEPTEMBER 24
PACIFIC YELLOWFIN


Making our way to Hartley Bay, B.C.

When everyone got back to the ship my parents were hungry and dehydrated and the captain was battling fatigue and the effects of hypothermia. We sure have a long list of ailments between us, but none are life threatening, and thank goodness for that. The Coast Guard medics decided to stay on board and monitor us as Liam steers the Pacific Yellowfin to Hartley Bay, which is the nearest town with any sort of medical clinic.

Several of us have gathered in the ship’s galley. It sure does feel great to all be back together again, safe and warm. Looking around, I gotta say, we sure are an unsightly bunch—everyone with pale, ghostly faces all scratched and swollen with a hundred mosquito bites apiece. I mean, it looks like a zombie convention in here or something. The only exception, of course, is Alu, who still looks as beautiful as ever.

“Shall I grab my guitar for a sing-along?” the captain said, jokingly.

We all laughed.

“Please, Captain,” I said, still chuckling. “No more jokes. It hurts my ribs to laugh.”

Joe brought us some hot tea and we all grabbed a mug. After dropping two sugar cubes into his cup, Captain Colin carried on.

“If my adventures as a ship captain were to continue for 100 years from this day,” he said, “I would never guess that my life would be saved by a group of teenagers.”

“In addition to your life,” said Joe, “and quite frankly of greater importance, the rainforest itself was saved. No offense to the captain, of course.”

“None taken, Joe,” the captain replied with a widening smile. “A humbling statement, indeed, but quite correct.”

The captain went on to explain what had happened to him and all that he had learned while held prisoner in Dr. Brezner’s camp.

“The doctor had it all very well planned,” he said. “Upon coming to the island, we were met by several armed men and I was immediately detained. He knew I could help with his netting operation and offered me a hefty sum of money to cooperate. Of course, I refused straightaway. That’s when he ordered his men to sink the tender offshore, making it look as if the boat had capsized in the storm.”

“Did he want everyone to think you were both dead?” I asked.

“That was the idea. If people thought we were dead, he would be able to continue his work undisturbed. I attempted to escape several times, but that only put me in greater danger. I believe the men were feeling compelled to do away with me sooner rather than later. That’s when Wyatt and Alu showed up with the Coast Guard. Impeccable timing, I must say.”

SEPTEMBER 24, 12:46 PM
EN ROUTE TO HARTLEY BAY, B.C.
12° CELSIUS, 54° FAHRENHEIT
SKIES CLOUDY


I have to be honest, I’m having a hard time coping with all of this. It’s tragic that an environmental scientist best known for his work in conservation would use his knowledge of the environment to destroy it.

“I suppose you should never underestimate what people will do for money,” my dad said. “At least we stopped him before he finished the job.”

The captain noticed that I was in a bad mood and did his best to cheer me up.

“The doctor did lots of noble work in his day, Wyatt,” he said. “With your passion for the environment, you’re just the person to pick up where he left off.”

I hope one day I’ll be up to the task.

“Captain Colin’s right, Wyatt,” my mom said. “This could be your calling.”

“Maybe,” Gannon said with the smirk he always has before he cracks a joke. “But your map reading skills will definitely need to improve. Hard to study the environment if you’re constantly lost. Wouldn’t you agree, Wyatt?”

I know he was only teasing, but if he hadn’t been suffering from a concussion, I’d have stood up and smacked him one.

“I must confess,” the captain said, “at the start of this journey I had serious doubts as to whether the two young gentlemen on this ship had any backbone. Now, I have no doubt. You are certainly brave explorers. Some of the bravest I have encountered.”

“Truthfully,” Gannon said, “we owe it all to Alu. Without her, we may have been lost on that island forever.”

Alu smiled modestly.

“It’s a miracle we all made it out of this one alive,” my dad said.