The Inside Passage (Ted Higuera Series Book 1) (6 page)

Toronto, Canada

The landing lights
from the Boeing 777 sliced through the night over Toronto. As usual, a slight
drizzle fell from the overcast sky.

“Ladies and
gentlemen, we ask that you return to your seats. The captain has turned on the
seat belt sign. Please return your seats to the upright position, fold your
trays, stow your electronic gear in preparation for landing.”

Ahmad whispered to
Mohammed as the big jet touched down. “Don’t forget: we must act casual. Do
nothing out of the ordinary.” He was exhausted from the long trip. From Tehran they flew to Cairo, then on to London, and finally across the Atlantic to Toronto. It seemed like they had been in the air for days.

****

“What was the
purpose of your trip?” The custom agent examined Ahmad’s passport.

“We were visiting
my family.”

“Do you have
anything to declare?”

“No sir.” Ahmad
recalled his training.
Look straight into their eyes, speak in an even tone.
“We only brought home some trinkets, gifts to my parents and sister.”

“I see. . . please
follow me.”

As usual, Ahmad
was pulled from the line. Once again, he heard the voice of his trainer.
Keep
a calm outward appearance. Don’t let your anger show. Remember to look casual
when going through customs. They’re teaching customs agents techniques to spot
liars.
Project a calm demeanor.

He was searched
and questioned while the custom agent pawed through his luggage. 

It amazed him at
how far he had come. All of the little slights, the blatant discrimination. It
was a little scary; he was putting his life on the line. On the other hand, it
was thrilling, joining the fight for Islam. What would his father say? It
didn’t really matter anymore, the die was cast.

****

Seattle

Ted rode shotgun
as Chris pulled his mom’s old Chevy Suburban into a parking space near the
dock. 

“If you guys’ll
round up a couple of dock carts,” Chris said. “I’ll start getting the stuff out
of the car.”

Ted pushed a
heavily-ladened two wheeled cart behind Chris. Meagan followed them carrying as
little as she could get away with. At low tide, the floats were far below the
seawall. Ted let Chris go down the ramp first, just to see how it was done. 

“Here we are.”
Chris
picked Meagan up by the waist, twirled her around and lifted her
aboard. “Home sweet home.” Chris hopped up onto the boat and lightly planted a
kiss on Meagan’s lips.

“Awkward!” Ted
groaned. “Get a room you two.”

Chris gave Ted a
guilty look, then got back into command mode.

“As soon as you
hand all that stuff up to me, bro,” Chris pointed towards the two dock carts,
“head back up to the car for another load. I’ll get this stuff passed down to
Meagan.”

“Sure, make the
Mexican kid do all the hard work.” Ted passed up a box of groceries. “Hey,
‘mano
,
look at that.” He pointed up the dock.

Candace, in jeans,
a white Oxford shirt with turned up cuffs and wedge sandals glided down the
dock, basket in hand.

Híjole, she’s
got legs all the way up to her ass.

“Hi guys.” Candace
brushed back a strand of long black hair. “I brought you a bon voyage gift.”
She handed the basket to Ted.

“Look at this.”
Ted peeked into the basket. “Champagne, paté, cheese. This is a mucho high-tone
picnic. A barrio boy like Ted, he’s used to a bagfull of burritos.”

 “Thanks.” Chris
stared at Candace for a moment, then took the basket from Ted and handed it
down the hatch to Meagan.

“I’ll help Meg put
things away in the cabin,” Candace said. “. . . If that’s all right.”

Ted appreciated
the view as Candace climbed aboard.

“Knock yourself
out.” Chris turned his back to her. “You must have a lot of time on your hands,
to come here and help us pack.”

“I want to get you
guys off to a good start. This is going to be an unforgettable summer for
you.” 

Chris ignored her
and continued to pass the boxes of stores down to Meagan.

****

 “Hi, Meg it’s
good to see you again.”

Meagan, bent over
a locker under the settee, straightened up to see Candace smile as she climbed
down the companionway ladder.

“How can I help?” Candace
asked.

Oh good, extra
hands,
Meagan thought. “We’ve got all sorts of beer, water and pop. You can
store them in this locker.” Meagan returned her smile and pointed to the
upholstered bench on the right side of the cabin.

Even dressed in jeans
Candace looked classy.
Large diamonds dripped from her ears and a
matching tennis bracelet sparkled under her turned up sleeves. Dressed for the
warm early July weather in running shorts, a tank top and flip-flops Meagan felt
like a slob by comparison.

She noticed
Candace’s manicured nails. “I love that polish, what is it?”

“It’s
Kinky in
Helsinki
.” Candace wiggled her fingers in front of Meagan’s face. “One of
my favorites.”

“I loves it. Your
nails are always so perfect.” Meagan put her own hands behind her back, hiding
her chewed nails. “I can’t seem to grow mine out.”

“Well, you
certainly seem to know what you’re doing down here.”

“Yeah, I hate to
say it, but I guess I learned a little bit from my Dad.” Meagan showed Candace how
to stow the beer. “We want to keep the heavy stuff down low in the boat. Besides,
it’s cooler there.” She wiped her brow with the back of her hand. 

“I’m really
impressed with you, going on this trip.” Candace looked up from the settee
locker. “I don’t know if I could spend a summer living with a boatful of
testosterone.”

“It’s no biggie.
We have a private cabin and the bathroom, excuse me,
the head
, is plenty
roomy.”

“I mean, the boys
are going to want to do guy stuff all summer. How’re you going to cope with
that?”

“They’ll probably
try to do some stupid macho stuff, but someone has to keep them in line.
Besides, if we sent them off by themselves, they’d probably never come back.”
Both women laughed.

“You know,”
Candace said, “I bet they’ll expect you to do all the cooking and cleaning.”

“”Well, they
better get over
that
right away.” Meagan accepted another box of
groceries from Chris. “I’m not going to spend my summer playing den mother to a
couple of frat boys.”

“You better let
them know that up front. If you aren’t firm from the beginning, you’ll end up
being their slave.”

“Hey, what’s the
deal with all of these beans?” Meagan shouted up the companionway as Chris
handed down a case of refried beans. “Who’s going to eat all of these?”

“Careful, chica,” Ted
bellowed from the dock. “Those are the source of my super powers.”

“Super powers my
ass,” she yelled back. “The only power they’re going to give you is the power
to blow us all out of the cabin.”

“I am
not
going to be eating refried beans all summer.” She turned back to Candace. “I
hate to say it, but I’m impressed with how well the boys cleaned up the boat. I
expected it to be a disaster.”

“That wasn’t the
boys, honey. I spent a couple of days scrubbing down here. You should’ve seen
it before I started.” Candace held her nose with one hand and waved the other
in front of her face.

“Well, thank you.”
Meagan stood in the center of the cabin with a box of produce in her arms,
looking for a place to put it. “God knows I didn’t want to have to do all that
cleaning.”

“How are things
going with Chris?” Candace took the box from Meagan and set it on the counter.

“Okay, I guess. .
. What do you mean?” Meagan filled the net hammocks strung along the cabin windows
with fresh produce.

“I mean with the
family. How are you getting along with them?”

“Well, ah. . . Sarah’s
really random. When I’m around her, it’s like she doesn’t even see me. I ask
her questions and she totally answers Chris.” Meagan stowed boxes of cereal and
bags of bread in the locker behind the settee back.

“Sarah’s not so
bad.” Candace straightened up, finished with stowing the beer and pop. “She’s
starting to come around a little. How about Harry?”

“Harry?”

“How are you
getting along with Harry?”

“He seems a little
awkward too.” Meagan stopped stowing dry goods and turned to Candace. She felt
her anxiety meter tick up a notch. “He looks at me like he’s always waiting for
me to make a mistake. I don’t think he likes me very much.”

“Why not?”
Candace’s voice had a soothing quality to it.

“We had the
strangest conversation at the party.” Meagan shook her head and went back to
stowing groceries. “I felt like he was trying to give me some kind of coded
message.”

“Really,” Candace
said. “Like what?”

“Like. . . I kinda
thought he was telling me to stay away from Chris.”

“You know, Chris
doesn’t like me much either.” Candace brushed back her long, dark hair.

“Oh, he’ll get
over it.” Meagan immediately dismissed the thoughts of Harry. She didn’t like
to think about what she didn’t like to think about. “He’s just not ready to
have a step-mom yet.” Meagan ran her hands through her hair. She was glad it was
short. Long hair would really get in the way on the trip.

“I think it’s more
than that.” Candace stopped and stared at her. “He thinks I’m trying to . . .
replace his mom. . . I’m not you know.”

A silence hung in
the air as the two women continued to stow the stores. Meagan climbed back into
the quarter berth on her hands and knees with four two and a half gallon jugs
of water. Finally, Candace spoke again.

“You know, Meg, we
can help each other.”

Meagan lifted the
mattress and stowed the water jugs in the locker underneath the bunk. She
looked out of her hole at Candace.

“What do you
mean?”

“Harry doesn’t
like you much. Chris hates me. I have a feeling we’re going to be family for a
long time. It could get pretty ugly.”

Meagan crawled out
of the bunk.

“I don’t know why Harry
doesn’t like me. Everybody loves me. . . “

“I could make
things a lot easier for you with Harry.” Candace took a step towards Meagan. “I
have ways of bringing him around.”

Meagan thought for
an instant.
What would I have to do for her?

Seattle

Ted thought the
round of trips back to the SUV under the hot sun would never end. Finally, the
last stores came aboard. “Dude, this is too much like ant work.” The last thing
he handed up was Meagan’s cat carrier. He climbed aboard and followed Chris
down to the cabin.

“What’s with the
cat?” Ted asked as Meagan removed the Burmese from his cage.

The small plump
cat was almost black, but in the sun, his fur shown a dark red. He had big
round yellow eyes that seemed to say “I know something that you don’t.”

“Oscar’s coming
with us, silly. I couldn’t weave him at home by hisself.” She cuddled Oscar
close to her face. He rewarded her with a loud purr and a lick. “Could I
snookums?”

Her baby talk to
the cat was disgusting.

Dios mió
,
Ted thought as Meagan removed an astonishing assortment of curling irons,
brushes, combs, lotions and creams from her bag.

“Whatcha gonna do
with all that stuff?” After all the trips back and forth to the parking lot, Ted
was in the mood to pick a fight. “We’re goin’ on a boat trip, not a beauty
pageant.”

“A girl’s gotta
look good, right Candace?” Meagan turned to the older woman. “We’re going to be
gone two months.”

Candace wisely
stayed out of the conversation.

 “Man, if I knew I
was carrying all that shit down from the car, I’d a dumped it in the bay.”

“Who died and made
you the baggage police?” Meagan snarled.

 “Hey, back off
bro. Leave the lady alone.” Chris put an arm around Meagan’s waist and planted
a little peck on her lips. Then he turned and put his arm around Ted’s
shoulder.

“I think I’ll head
home now,” Candace picked up her purse. “Your dad said to give you a big hug
and wish you well. He has court in the morning and can’t come down to see you
off.”

“Whatever,” Chris
said.

Candace hugged
Meagan and Ted. Ted felt her breasts firm against his chest and never wanted to
let go.

When she turned to
Chris, he turned away and went into the forward cabin.

“Oh well, you guys
have a good trip. And stay in touch.” Candace climbed out of the cabin and
jumped down from the boat.

After she was
gone, Chris returned to the main cabin.

“You can take the
quarter berth, Ted.” Chris pointed towards the large berth that extended back
under the cockpit. “Stow your stuff in the lockers under the mattress and on
that shelf over your head. Meagan and I’ll take the forward cabin.”

Ted shook his head
in disgust and started to unpack his duffle. After he stowed his stuff, he
carefully placed the computer bag with his laptop in the locker under the
navigation station seat.
I hope this is gonna be okay on a boat. I’ll really
be pissed if it gets damaged.

Finally finished,
he sat on his berth and just breathed.
Man, it’s been a long day
.
We
must a brought
hundreds of pounds of junk aboard.
 

Shileshole Bay, Seattle

Somehow, Ted had
managed to survive four years of living with Chris in college. Chris was an
early riser. Ted hated his energy in the morning. When Ted finally managed to
drag his sorry ass out of bed, Chris wanted to talk. Football, politics, girls,
school, the news. Jesus, couldn’t he just let a man wake up before being so
damned perky?

As usual it was
too damned early in the morning when Ted heard Chris rummaging around in the
galley. He turned over and pulled a pillow over his head. Was it going to be like
this all summer? The galley was less than four feet from Ted’s bunk. He could
just imagine Chris making his damned coffee every morning at oh-dark-thirty.

Thankfully, Chris
took the coffee and climbed up the companionway ladder to the cockpit. Ted stretched
and went back to sleep.

Sometime later, he
was aware of Chris climbing back down into the cabin. He detected the distinct
odor of burning propane when Chris lit the oven. In a few minutes, the
fragrance of cinnamon rolls filled the cabin. Now, that was worth getting up
for.

Ted swung his feet
over the side of his berth and hit the cold cabin floor. This was the first
time he had awakened on a boat. By the time he went to bed last night, he was
so wiped out he didn’t have the energy to think about it.

The C&C 40 was
a large, roomy boat. Just aft of the forward cabin was the head on the left
hand side (
Okay, Chris would call it port
) and a large hanging locker (
closet
to land lubbers
) to starboard (
In the real world, that was right)
.
Further aft in the main saloon, a large teak table folded down to allow walking
room, with settees on either side of the cabin.

Above and behind
the settees were narrow beds Chris called pilot berths. They reminded Ted of
coffins. Chris said that these were his favorite bunks when he was growing up,
but they only accommodated one person each. Since they only needed two berths
for this trip the pilot berths were a convenient storage area. They were also
Oscar’s favorite hiding spots.

“C’m’re little
fella.” Chris picked Oscar up and rolled him onto his back.

Don’t tell me
he’s gonna get all mushy about the cat too.

Chris rubbed the
cat under the chin and Oscar’s bones dissolved as he broke into a loud purr.
“You’re going to make a great ship’s cat.” Chris returned Oscar to the pilot
berth.

Not only would Ted
have to tolerate Chris’ girlfriend on this trip, he’d have to put up with Chris
going ape-shit over a damned cat too.

****

The strong coffee
and fresh cinnamon rolls helped make the early morning hour tolerable.

 “OK, guys,” Chris
was in one of his bossy moods this morning. “We need to stow everything. As
soon as we start sailing anything that’s loose is going to go flying.”

“
Sí,
mi capitán
.” Ted saluted.

“I hope you don’t
plan to get started this early every day,” Meagan griped.

Chris ignored her
comment. “I’ll fire up the engine while you get the dishes stowed.”  

“Hey, big boy,
don’t get the idea that I’m going to be the galley slave just because I’m a
woman.” Meagan carried the dishes to the galley sink.

Chris removed the
companionway steps and exposed the engine. He lifted the floorboards in front
of the engine and began his morning checklist.

Ted’s
Tio
Ernesto
always taught him “A place for everything and everything in its
place.” It was good to see the organized way that Chris began the cruise.

After completing
his checklist below decks, Chris replaced the stairs and climbed to the
cockpit. Ted followed to take in the procedure.

An intense
stillness hung over the docks. An occasional seagull mewed, but no one else was
estupido
enough to be up at this ungodly hour. The sun poked over the
Cascades, revealing a clear, pale blue sky.

Chris dropped down
into the lazarette.  “The oil level in the engine and transmission are good.”

Ted gave Chris a
hand climbing up out of the lazarette. Chris turned the key in the ignition and
hit the start button, then peered over the transom to make sure that cooling
water was flowing out.

Ted felt the
energy pulse through the
Defiant
as the engine caught. She was like some
great beast coming to life.

“Okay, Cast off
the stern line.” Chris was getting into this.

Ted unfastened the
rope from the cleat and coiled it around his forearm like Chris had taught him.
He shoved the stern away from the dock and climbed aboard.

“Cast off the bow
line.”

Meagan unfastened
the bow line and leapt lithely aboard.

Ted took a deep
breath of the salt air. The adventure had begun.

****

Ted clung to the
shrouds while Chris backed the
Defiant
out of her slip, put her in
forward and steered around the south jetty into Shileshole Bay.

“Totally awesome.”
Meagan grabbed Chris’ arm and snuggled up to him. “We’re on our way.”

Ted drank in the
orange glow of the Cascade Mountains’ silhouette behind them. Mount Rainier to
the south and Mount Baker to the north loomed over the mountain range. The Olympics Mountains on the west side of the Sound blushed with pink light.
We sure didn’t
have anything like this in East LA.

“We won’t be
seeing this view again for a while.” Chris put his arm around Meagan’s waist.

The
Defiant
motored out of Shileshole Bay and up Puget Sound in the still morning air. The
steady rumble of the diesel engine reminded Ted of a heartbeat. The boat felt
solid in the smooth water.

Two bright orange
inflatable boats with aluminum cabins, big outboard motors and fifty caliber
machine guns mounted fore and aft shadowed the ferry boats crossing the Sound
between Edmonds and Kingston on the Olympic Peninsula.

“What’re the
little red boats around the ferry?” Ted asked.

 “Coast Guard
patrol boats,” Chris replied. “Must be a terrorist alert on.”

As the
Defiant
neared the green and white ferry, one of the boats broke off and charged
towards them, putting itself between them and the ferry.

“What’re they
doing?” Ted noticed crewmen take their stations at the fifty cals.

“Guarding the
ferry.” Chris waved a dismissive hand toward the Coast Guard boat. “Whenever
there’s a terror alert the Coast Guard puts patrol boats around the ferries to
protect ‘em.”

“Dude, how’s
anyone gonna attack a ferry out here?”

“It’s not out of
the realm of possibility, bro. The Arabs blew up the
USS Cole
in Yemen. They came along side with a boat full of explosives. Imagine what they’d do to an
unprotected ferry boat.”

“Ol’ Teddy still
thinks it’s a joke. Who’s gonna bother a few commuters way out here?” Ted
seated himself in the cockpit and reached for his heavy computer manual. The
Security + exam in September wouldn’t take itself.

Around ten in the
morning they came abreast Point No Point, the point on the Olympic Peninsula that
marked the northern end of Puget Sound. A breeze began to stir out of the
Northwest. Ted looked up when Chris took the boat out of gear and let her slow
to a crawl. The wind ruffled the surface of the water into tiny ripples.

“Let’s get the
sails up.” Chris’ words came rapidly. “Meg, you take the helm.”

Meagan took over
behind the wheel while Chris unfastened the main halyard from the end of the
boom.

“Where do you want
Teddy, dude?”

“Take your station
up by the mast. When I hoist the main, I need you to keep the slides running up
the mast smoothly.” Chris turned to Meagan. “Bring us into the wind.”

Meagan turned the
bow of the boat dead into the wind. Chris began hoisting the main sail up the
mast with the winch on the coach roof. Ted insured each plastic slide entered
the track on the mast and went up without getting jammed. When the sail was up,
Chris coiled the halyard.

“Okay, let’s get
the jib up. Tail the line for me.” Chris cranked on the winch handle in the
cockpit.

It took Ted a
moment to figure out what Chris wanted him to do, then he grabbed the jib sheet
and kept a steady pressure on it. The jib opened from the roller furler like a
giant window blind. As the wind caught the big sail, it billowed out and began
to draw.

“Kill the engine,”
Chris commanded.

Meagan pushed down
on the throttle lever until the engine coughed and died.

The quiet was
deafening. Gradually, Ted began to notice the sluice of water past the hull and
the creak of the rigging.

“This is my
favorite part of the day,” Chris said. “The thirty seconds or so after we shut
off the engine.” 

Ted felt the
Defiant
heel slightly and accelerate. The knot meter hovered around five knots.

“This is what I
call livin.’” Ted stretched out in the cockpit, his hands behind his head. “The
sun’s even beginnin’ to warm up.”

“Hey, you’re a
pretty good sailor.” Chris said to Meagan as she held the sloop close to the
wind. “You must have learned something from your father.”

“I spent enough
summer vacations on his sketch boat to pick up a thing or two.”

As the day wore
on, the wind freshened and held steady from the northwest. Meagan grew bored
and handed the boat over to Chris. 

Ted followed his
every motion, absorbing as much sailing knowledge as he could.

The
Defiant
came out from behind Admiralty Head on Whidbey Island. Ted got his first
glimpse of the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

“
Jesu Cristo
,”
He stared across the broad expanse of water. “You mean we gotta cross that?”
Forty miles in the distance, he could just barely make out the outlines of a
clump of islands. “You didn’t tell me we were gonna havta cross the whole damn
Pacific Ocean.”