Richard threw himself back in the chair. His eyes opened beneath frowning brows and gleamed blue in the dull afternoon light. His mind raced. He had no doubt that Robin — and, indeed, Maxima — was in trouble. His first instinct was to go back and help her, in spite of the fact that there had been no distress call. But he knew that would not be possible unless he made certain of several other factors. First, he had to establish where she was — and whether she was still going to be there when he arrived, which in turn would depend on how he travelled and when he left. And he needed to know, at the outset if possible, precisely what the trouble was. Though, of course, he could guess. Or he thought he could, but he still had no idea of the fates of Katapult8 and Maxima in Pilar’s rogue drift net. And he had no knowledge at all of Pilar herself. His main temptation was simply to pull his mooring lines back aboard, call for the engine to be powered up and go down there in Sulu Queen to help her out. But then, he would have to establish that she wanted help, and whether a bloody great container ship could offer the help she needed. And whether he could find her — wherever in the east Pacific she was likely to be in the forty-eight hours it would take him to get down there. Not to mention the fact that he would probably find the National Guard coming after him mob-handed, demanding their containers back.
But he knew how to take care of at least one problem: that of finding her. Especially as he would be trying to find Nic and Liberty into the bargain. He pulled out his cell phone and hit predial. As the signal went through he took off the headset and put the cool crystal surface to his ear.
‘Greenbaum International, Glendale offices,’ came the reply. ‘My name is Martha. How may I help you this afternoon?’
‘This is Richard Mariner. I need to talk to Biddy McKinney.’
‘Just a moment, Captain Mariner. I’ll put you straight through to her.’
When Richard finished speaking to Biddy, he hit Robin’s number on the off-chance. ‘Stranger things have happened at sea,’ he said to himself. But the connection went straight to her messaging service. He dialled Nic. The same thing happened. He tried Liberty, thinking, third time lucky. But again with no result. So he put his phone away, put the headphones back on and started through the recording once again, eyes closed, concentration absolute.
He did not hear Major Guerrero come into the radio room. The major saw how fiercely he was concentrating and, uncharacteristically, hesitated to disturb him. Instead, the major leaned back against the doorjamb and rehearsed what he had come here to say, concerned that Richard — who had done nothing but try and help the National Guard so far — would be upset, perhaps angry, at the news he was bringing. After a while, Richard threw himself back in the chair, putting the whole structure at some risk of coming apart. His face dark with thought and worry, he pulled the headphones off his ears and threw them on to the table with enough force to send them skittering across the surface and into the radio with a considerable bang. ‘Shit!’ he said.
‘Captain Mariner,’ said Guerrero. ‘Excuse me, but I have some news.’
‘Oh. Sorry, Major. I didn’t know you were there. What can I do for you?’
‘I’ve just had new orders, sir, and as they affect you and Sulu Queen I thought I’d better alert you at once.’
‘I see. Carry on.’ What the major could see of Richard’s expression looked almost dangerous. Since assuming command, thought the major fleetingly, Captain Mariner seemed to have become even more decisive and dynamic, growing into his concept of the role.
The major cleared his throat. ‘As you probably know, sir, our President has promised el Presidente that we will offer all the help we can to Mexico — it looks as though the ARkStorm predicted for California will actually hit there instead. Is already hitting there, in fact.’
‘Yes, I was aware of that. I flew through some of it coming back up here.’
‘Of course. Well, my command and my supplies have been designated as a part of that help. We are geared up and ready to go.’
‘Very good. What is supposed to happen next, then?’
‘The current idea is that we unload the containers, put them on trucks and drive them down. A team has already been dispatched to Baja California Norte and another one is heading into Baja California Sur, though they’re having bad trouble with the roads.’
‘Bridges washing away all along highway one.’ Richard nodded. ‘I saw it.’
‘Quite, sir. Well, the mainland behind the Baja hasn’t been hit too hard as yet, but apparently USGS and NOAA predict that when the storm arrives south of the final section of the Baja at Cabo San Lucas and comes over the mainland there without the Baja to protect it — especially as it will go straight up against the Sierra Madre coastal mountains — the states of Sinola, Nayarit and Jalisco will be in trouble. The plan is to drive a convoy down through Mexicali, Hermosillo, down to the coast road through Los Mochis and Culiacan, then into Mazatlan, Tepic, Puerto Banderas and Guardalajara.’
‘I see. You have enough trucks to do this?’
‘Well …’
‘When you didn’t have enough to get the containers out of the docks?’
‘I understand the regular army will be helping, sir.’
‘I see. So, how are we going to get your containers off my ship and on to the army’s trucks, if and when they appear?’
‘Apparently I’m to request that you move to another berth — one with a functioning crane, as soon as one can be liberated. Though effecting repairs to this one has apparently been moved up the list of dockside priorities—’
‘I have to observe, Major, that those two things were precisely what Captain Sin was trying to arrange when he had his stroke. Apparently brought on by the authorities’ refusal to admit that either one was possible.’
‘I know, sir. As with you and the bridges on the Baja, I was here myself and saw what happened.’ The major’s tone was frosty. He, too, was beginning to run out of patience.
‘Let me shine a cold light of reason on to these proposals, Major,’ said Richard, swinging the chair round fully to face the major squarely as he counted off the points on his fingers. ‘First, it will take time to liberate a berth or repair the crane — Captain Sin proved that. Then it will still take a good while to unload your containers, especially as I can’t see the army coming up with the better part of a hundred trucks with drivers anytime soon — even if they try to commandeer them from local freight haulage companies and deal with the lawsuits later. Then I think you will find that the rundown to Guadalajara will be a long, slow and dangerous process, unless you take a regiment of sappers with Bailey bridges to get you across all the arroyos where the original ones are history.’
‘That’s as may be, sir, but we can’t just leave these people to whatever this ARkStorm is going to throw at them.’
‘I agree, Major. And, therefore, I have a counter-proposal for you to put to your commanders. Bring as many more people aboard here as you think you will need. Leave your containers where they are and let me take Sulu Queen south to Puerto Banderas. I can guarantee to have you there in forty-eight to fifty-five hours from the moment of departure.’