Arctic Fire (28 page)

Pike watched with great curiosity as Cain’s
expression and nearly his entire countenance slowly began to
change. He had been laughing only moments before, but now the smile
seemed a hundred years ago. His look was not one of sadness but
more of a reverence, or perhaps a longing. Pike could see that Cain
was trying to decide what, if anything to say and what words he
could possibly use to describe the way he felt.

Cain began to speak slowly, testing each word to
see if it would come out. He took a deep breath, then blew it out
slowly. “What I’m about to tell you… I have not shared with anyone
else. Anyone. And after hearing me out, you will either think me a
fool, or a crazy liar, or perhaps both.”

Pike and Mallory looked at each other, both
reflecting the same curiosity and bewilderment at what Cain was
telling them. “Elizabeth, you know my grandfather, Thayer Lehmann,
was a German immigrant who came over to this country around 1920.”
Mallory looked at her boss and nodded her head.

“Yes, well what you don’t know is how he got
here. Does the date April 14
^th
, 1912 mean anything to
either of you?”

Pike nodded his head. “Yeah, that’s the date the
Titanic
struck the iceberg and sank.”

Mallory’s eye popped open wide. “Your
grandfather was on the
Titanic
?”

“In a way.”

Mallory looked at her boss in total confusion
now. “In a way? What does that mean?”

“Grandpa Thayer wasn’t on the Titanic; he helped
sink it.”

“Sink it!” Pike and Mallory exclaimed in
unison.

“I know, I know,” Cain said, holding up his
hands. “Let me finish before you call in the guys with the straight
jacket.”

“Sorry,” Pike said, “but you did throw us a
might big curveball there.”

“I understand.” Cain said, nodding
understandingly. “Back in 1912, Thayer and his brother, Damien,
joined the Kaiserliche Marine, the Imperial German Navy, in search
of adventure where they volunteered for the fledgling Unterseeboot
service.”

“The what?” Mallory asked.

“U-boats,” Pike said, “Submarines.”

She nodded her head knowingly.

“Even in 1912,” Cain continued, “rumors of war
and unrest plagued the royal families of Europe. The potential of
the U-boat had not been realized as a weapon yet so instead of
preparing it for combat, it was used as a reconnaissance vehicle.
The boat Thayer and his brother were on was testing a new form of
camouflage to use to spy on enemy shipping.”

“And it was disguised as an iceberg?” Pike
said.

Cain nodded. “Exactly, Gabriel, very good.
Grandpa Thayer was up on deck as a lookout when the accident
occurred. The
Titanic
was passing close to the sub when
something happened to the steering and the sub ran into the side of
the great passenger liner. The forward dive plane of the submarine
punctured the hull and tore a huge gash down the side of the ship.
He was thrown clear and ended up floating on a patch of real ice.
The only thing that saved his life was this jacket. The dark blue
color stood out like a sore thumb against the white of the ice and
he was spotted and rescued.

“Afraid of what might happen if he told his
rescuers that a German submarine, not pack ice, was responsible for
the sinking of the
Titanic
, he decided to keep quiet.
Grandpa Thayer knew he would never get another opportunity like
this to come to America, and there really wasn’t anything left for
him back home with his brother dead, so he kept to himself and he
just disappeared after he landed in New York.”

Cain shifted silently in his chair and hung his
head low, like a nervous defendant in a courtroom, waiting
anxiously for the jury to reconvene, waiting to see if they
believed his story or not.

Both Mallory and Pike looked at each other, not
knowing what to say. It was Pike who broke the stunned silence.
“Wow. And no one else knows about this?”

Cain shook his head. “No one knows and there
would be no point in bringing out the truth.”

Pike nodded his head slowly in agreement. “Let
sleeping dogs lie.”

“Exactly.”

“Nigel, I had no idea.” Mallory said, putting
her hand on his arm. Pike watched as a sense of relief washed over
Cain, knowing that she believed him. “I don’t know why,” Cain
continued, “but I feel better now that I’ve told someone.”

Mallory started to smile but a huge yawn stifled
her in mid-grin. “Don’t take this wrong,” Cain said, “but you look
like you’ve been rode hard and put up wet. Now go get some rest.
And make it three o’clock and not two to come in.”

Mallory got up and slowly walked away. “Thanks,
but I’m still charging you overtime,” she said over her shoulder as
she left the restaurant.

Cain took a sip of coffee and turned to Pike.
“How are you doing there Mr. MacGyver? That was a pretty slick
trick you did back there with the duct tape and using the plane as
a crane.

“I wish I were as smart as him,” Pike grinned,
“but I’m doing okay, nothing that a few hours of shuteye won’t fix.
I’ll get some sleep then start inspecting the damaged areas of the
berg.” Pike took his coffee cup and wrapped his hands around it,
letting it warm up his stiff fingers. “I just hope this little
storm won’t keep us from entering the harbor.

A worry line shot across Cain’s forehead. “Why
would it? We’re still afloat and in one piece, thanks to you, so I
don’t see how any of this could upset our schedule?”

Pike nodded his head. “I agree. There shouldn’t
be a problem, but that’s what you’re paying me for, to make sure
there isn’t one.”

“Of course.” Cain’s expression lightened a bit.
“I’ll leave you to your work as I know you have a lot to do, as do
I.”

“I’ll check in this afternoon with a preliminary
report.”

Pike watched as Cain got up and left with
strong, purposeful steps. Doesn’t the man ever get tired? Pike said
to himself. He was just about to get up himself when he heard a
voice behind him.

“There you are.”

He turned to see Tabatha Amies.

“Hi. You’re either up really early,” she paused
for a moment as she saw his face then continued, “or up really late
and now that I think of it, definitely up really late.”

“Thanks a lot.” Pike replied with a mock scowl
on his face.

“When can we talk, Mr. Hero?”

Pike cringed at the word,
hero
. He
thought about correcting her but he was just too tired. “Talk about
what?”

“Part of the deal in helping Beth keep
everything quiet and calm was that I’d get an exclusive interview
with you on what happened and how you fixed it.”

“Okay, but not now. I’m really tired and I need
to grab some sleep then start inspecting any damage we might have
suffered during the storm. Maybe we can talk over dinner
tonight?”

“Sounds good,” she replied, “call me at six,
that is if you aren’t not too busy saving the world.” Getting in
the last dig, she got up and left before he could reply.

He smiled as he watched her leave, then got up
himself and went to his room where he collapsed on the bed and fell
asleep without even taking his clothes off.

Pike awoke with a start. He sprang up in bed,
disoriented, not sure where he was. He had a nagging thought
tugging at the back of his mind that he had neglected something
very important that he was supposed to. He sat still for a moment,
letting the fog of sleep slowly dissipate. Suddenly it hit him
harder than a plate of bad sushi. He was supposed to be inspecting
the storm’s damage to the barge. He looked around his room, it was
dark. Had he slept all day and into the night? He whirled around to
look at the clock, 2:00. He had slept until two in the morning! He
had missed his inspection, missed his date with Tabatha and would
probably be missing his job after this.

“Great! Just great,” he said out loud as he
plopped back down on the bed. As he lay there wondering what he was
going to do, he noticed a crack of light running down the side of
the curtain. Was there a ship passing by? He got up and threw open
the curtains and suddenly felt like Dracula, throwing up his arms
to protect himself from the penetrating rays of the sun. He shook
his head; it was 2:00 in the afternoon. He’d been asleep only for a
few hours. He felt very stupid at the moment, then suddenly stopped
in mid-thought, his
date
with Tabatha? Was he going on a
date? It was an interview right? Just an interview? He took a deep
breath and let it out slowly. He was not only feeling stupid, but
now also confused.

He grabbed some clean clothes and was on his way
to the shower when his phone rang. “Hello?”

“Hey Hot Shot.”

“K.D.! How are you?”

“The question is, how are
you
? We saw the
news last night and it showed the storm and pictures of the iceberg
and waves rolling over it. It looked pretty rough. Are you okay?”
For the next several minutes, Pike explained everything that had
happed with the anchor chain and the towing braces and how they had
fixed it and how he was getting ready to inspect the damage and she
filled him in with everything that was happening back at the
office.

“I hate to say this KD, I’ve enjoyed talking to
you and am really glad you called, but I gotta run.”

“I know, me too.”

“Speaking of which, it sounds like you already
are. Are you on a plane? I can hear a constant rumbling in the
background.”

“Yes, I am, and that’s why I have to go too.
Some of us have to work for a living. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay, it was great talking to you. Bye.”

As he hung up the phone, he suddenly realized
how much he missed home… and talking to her, but a quick glance at
his watch told him he didn’t have time to be homesick. If he took a
shower and hurried, and didn’t run into any major problems, he
could inspect the anchor room and the towing assembly and still
meet Tabatha on time. Tabatha. He sighed, suddenly feeling guilty
again for some reason.

Chapter T
hirty

Pike stepped out onto the pool deck. The breeze
was still brisk, a steady ten-knot stream but its coolness was
tempered by the rays of the sun. He took a deep breath and closed
his eyes, facing the sun and enjoying its warmth. It was a far cry
from the way it was last night. The sky was now clear and a
brilliant shade of blue. The
Yankee Clipper
was perched on
the corner of the iceberg like a giant weather vane, her silver
skin gleaming in the sun’s rays.

Directly behind the plane was a group of ten
people in a circle, looking like a football huddle or a group
singing around a campfire. At first he couldn’t figure out what
they were doing, then it occurred to him: they were staring in the
hole he had burned in the ice last night.

He flipped up his hood and zipped it all the way
up with just his eyes showing in hopes that no one would recognize
him. He walked over to the
Clipper
, checking her for damage
and was pleased to find that she had weathered the storm just fine.
Coming around from the far side of the plane, he walked over to the
hole and looked down. The edge tapered down about a foot and ended
in a three-foot crater, looking like someone had punched through
the ice with a giant sledge hammer.

The ice in the anchor room had frozen clear, so
the anchor could clearly be seen leaning up against the outside
wall. Its massive size was magnified even more by the ice, adding
to the rumors of the danger they had all been in and elevating his
feat last night to near Herculean proportions. Satisfied that there
were no problems, he turned and went back inside to check the
anchor room from below.

“Hi Mr. Pike.” Pike heard his name called as he
climbed up the last rungs of the ladder, popping his head up just
outside the anchor room like the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. He
reached up and Brian Centers helped him the rest of the way.

“Hi Brian, and call me Gabe, remember?” Pike
replied as he stepped onto the ice. “Have you seen Dean? I told him
I was heading up this way.”

Centers nodded. “Mr. Miles is down on the ships,
checking things out there, so he sent me up here to help you.”

“Good. Let’s go take a look.” They walked over
to the anchor room door and Pike began to examine it. “The seals
look like they held well with minimal leaking.” Pike kneeled down
and pointed to the bottom of the door where water froze while
seeping out. He examined the rest of the door and then stood.
“Looks good here, Brian. But since we have the time, I’d like to
see if we can find a way to secure the anchor chain.”

“Why?” Centers asked.

“There’s still a very slight possibility that
the block of ice in the anchor room could slip out like an ice cube
popping out of a tray. No use taking chances if we don’t have
to.”

Centers nodded his head. “I’ll talk to Mr. Miles
about it right away.”

“Great. Now let’s get up to the bridge and check
in with the captain and see what else we need to take a look
at.”

Pike stood on the bridge, staring at the control
screen for the towing bridle. Most of the screen was green but
several stress points held at steady amber and two points on the
left bridle flashed red intermittently. Still not good, he thought,
but a far cry better than it was last night.

“Is there any way to relieve the stress on these
two points?” Pike asked the captain.

Captain Gregory shook his head. “I’ve talked to
the captain of the
Rachel B
. and we both agree there’s
nothing more we can do until the seas calm a bit more. Once they
do, we’ll bring in the other two tugs on the stern and they can
push, relieving some of the burden on the bridle.”